Stephen Remington Whitney
Stephen Remington Whitney was born on February 5, 1837, in Woodbridge, New Jersey, to Oliver and Rachel Whitney. His father was a farmer. Whitney grew up and attended school in Woodbridge, and by the early 1860s, he was working as a farmer.
 
He enlisted in the Union army on August 4, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company C of the 7th New York Heavy Artillery two weeks later. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 10 inches tall, with brown hair and gray eyes. He denounced the Confederate “rebellion” and the “blasting curse of slavery.”
 
He remained devoted to the Union, writing that Virginia’s soil was “dotted with little hillocks that mark the last resting place of some patriots who have sacrificed their lives on the Altar of Our Country. If the soil of Virginia was sacred before the rebellion it is doubly so now for it has been baptized with the blood of heroes and patriots.” The regiment took part in the Overland Campaign and the siege of Petersburg. He supported Abraham Lincoln in the election of 1864, urging friends back home to “support Lincoln & Johnson if they want the war to end soon, and honorably to the Nation.” He mustered out on June 16, 1865.
 
He settled in Galway, New York, after the war and married Orcelia Mosher. They moved to Black Creek, Missouri, in the late 1860s, and their son Edwin was born there around 1869. By 1870, Whitney was working as a grocer, and he owned $400 of real estate and $700 of personal property. His wife died in the early 1870s, and he married Melissa Howard on May 21, 1872. They had at least four children: Howard, born around 1875; Sarah, born around 1879; George, born around 1881; and Frank, born around 1885. He applied for a federal pension in February 1879 and eventually secured one.
 
They moved to Republican, Nebraska, in the early 1870s. By 1880, Whitney was working as a real estate agent. They moved to Washington, D.C., in the early 1880s, and he earned a living as a government clerk. He died on May 8, 1924.
1860
DATABASE CONTENT
(1860)Whitney, Stephen Remington1837-02-051924-05-08
  • Conflict Side: Union
  • Role: Soldier
  • Rank in: Private
  • Rank out: Private
  • Rank highest: Private
  • Gender: Male
  • Race: White

Documents - Records: 20

  • (6087) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Friend, 6 July 1863
  • (6088) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Edward Livingston, 19 May 1863
  • (6089) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Edward Livingston, 5 April 1863
  • (6090) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Friend, 16 March 1863
  • (6197) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Edward Livingston, 1 February 1863
  • (6201) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Friend, 13 December 1862
  • (6204) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Edward Livingston, 5 April 1863
  • (6206) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Edward Livingston, 14 September 1864
  • (6208) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Edward Livingston, 12 May 1864
  • (6209) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Friend, 29 November 1862
  • (6298) [associated with] ~ Gilbert Keenholts to Edward Livingston, 15 April 1864
  • (6299) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Edward Livingston, undated
  • (6300) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Edward Livingston, 13 March 1864
  • (6301) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Friend, 31 January 1864
  • (6302) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Friend, 30 January 1864
  • (6304) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Edward Livingston, 20 December 1863
  • (6305) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Friend, 29 October 1863
  • (6306) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Friend, 25 September 1863
  • (6307) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Friend, 8 July 1863
  • (6308) [writer] ~ Stephen R. Whitney to Edward Livingston, 18 October 1862

People - Records: 2

  • (1861) Livingston, Edward is the [friend of] (1860) Whitney, Stephen Remington
  • (1944) Keenholts, Gilbert is the [friend of] (1860) Whitney, Stephen Remington

Places - Records: 2

  • (1475) [birth] ~ Woodbridge, Middlesex County, New Jersey
  • (75) [death] ~ Washington, DC

Show in Map

Regiments - Records: 1

  • (574) [enlisted] [C] ~ 7th New York Heavy Artillery

Groups - Records: 1

  • (3) [member/supporter] ~ Republican Party
SOURCES

1850, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; 1865 New York State Census, available from Ancestry.com; Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, available from Ancestry.com; Nebraska Marriage Records, 1855-1908, available from Ancestry.com; New York Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts, 1861-1900, available from Ancestry.com; Veterans’ Gravesites, ca. 1775-2019, available from Ancestry.com; General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934, available from Ancestry.com; Stephen R. Whitney to Edward Livingston, 18 October 1862, DL0923.001, Nau Collection; Stephen R. Whitney to Edward Livingston, 14 September 1864, DL0923.022, Nau Collection.