Edward Hickman
Edward Hickman was born around 1818 in England. He immigrated to America by the 1840s and probably settled in Boston, Massachusetts. He married Mary Shepherd there on January 17, 1847, and they had at least four children: John, born around 1848; Sarah, who was born in 1850 and died sometime in the 1850s; Samuel, born on December 30, 1852; and Sarah, born on August 7, 1858. The family moved to Pennsylvania in the late 1840s, and by 1850, they were living in Morgan County, Illinois. Hickman worked as a farmer, and by 1850, he owned $300 of real estate. The family may have returned to Massachusetts in the early 1850s, but by the early 1860s, they were back in Morgan County, Illinois.
Hickman enlisted in the Union army on August 5, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company I of the 101st Illinois Infantry on September 2. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 6¾ inches tall, with dark hair and brown eyes. Confederate forces captured him later that fall, and he signed a parole “not to bear arms…until regularly exchanged” on December 20, 1862. He sent the parole to his family with instructions to “take care of this as a moment of the Great Rebellion.”
He was eventually exchanged, and he rejoined the regiment. He was a devout Christian, and he frequently asked his wife and children to pray for him. He also remained devoted to the Union cause, and he was determined to “stand up manfully for our country’s cause.” In July 1863, he wrote that his “hourly prayer” was that “God may, in his infinite mercy, bring this Rebellion to speedy but honorable and permanent close.”
Hickman was wounded in the arm on May 15, 1864, in the Battle of Resaca. He assured his wife that “it is not danjerous for there is no bones broken.” A hospital steward, however, noted that he suffered a “compound fracture” in his left arm, and that “boath bones [were] broken.” Infection set in soon afterward, and he died on June 7, 1864. The steward described him as a “brave soldier beloved by his comrads and respected by his commanders. [H]e gave his life for the glorious cause of liberty [and] he was a martyr for his country enshrined in our hearts.”
DATABASE CONTENT
| (1733) | Hickman, Edward | 1818 | 1864-06-07 |
- Conflict Side: Union
- Role: Soldier
- Rank in: Private
- Rank out: Private
- Rank highest: Private
- Gender: Male
- Race: White
Documents - Records: 17
- (5803) [writer] ~ Edward Hickman to Mary Hickman, 8 October 1862
- (5804) [writer] ~ Edward Hickman to Mary Hickman, 16 October 1862
- (5805) [writer] ~ Edward Hickman to Mary Hickman, 30 October 1862
- (5806) [writer] ~ Edward Hickman Parole, 20 December 1862
- (5807) [writer] ~ Edward Hickman to Mary Hickman, 6 April 1863
- (5808) [writer] ~ Edward Hickman to Mary Hickman, 13 May 1863
- (5809) [writer] ~ Edward Hickman to Mary Hickman, 3 June 1863
- (5810) [writer] ~ Edward Hickman to Mary Hickman, 19 June 1863
- (5830) [writer] ~ Edward Hickman to Mary Hickman, 23 June 1863
- (5831) [writer] ~ Edward Hickman to Mary Hickman, 12 July 1863
- (5832) [writer] ~ Edward Hickman to Mary Hickman, 3 August 1863
- (5833) [writer] ~ Edward Hickman to Mary Hickman, 16 October 1863
- (5834) [writer] ~ Edward Hickman to Mary Hickman, 5 March 1864
- (5835) [writer] ~ Edward Hickman to Mary Hickman, 1 April 1864
- (5836) [writer] ~ Edward Hickman to Mary Hickman, 27 May 1864
- (5838) [associated with] ~ "The Faded Coat of Blue," Poem, 29 May 1875
- (5839) [writer] ~ Edward Hickman to Mary Hickman, 7 July 1863
People - Records: 2
Places - Records: 2
Regiments - Records: 1
- (537) [enlisted] [I] ~ 101st Illinois Infantry
SOURCES
1850 United States Federal Census, available from Ancestry.com; Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, available from Ancestry.com; Databases of Illinois Veterans Index, 1775-1995, available from Ancestry.com; Widow’s Pension Record for Mary Hickman, available from Fold3.com; Edward Hickman Parole, Nau Collection; Edward Hickman to Mary Hickman, 19 June 1863, Edward Hickman to Mary Hickman, 7 July 1863, Nau Collection; Edward Hickman to Mary Hickman, 27 May 1864; W. H. C. Johnson to Mary Hickman, 11 June 1864, Nau Collection.
