Jesse Hull Rice
Jesse Hull Rice was born on May 14, 1843, in Connecticut to Lemuel and Maria Rice. His father was a farmer who owned $6,000 of real estate by 1850. He grew up and attended school in Cheshire.
He enlisted in the Union army on August 22, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company A of the 20th Connecticut Infantry on September 8. The regiment took part in the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Atlanta campaign, the March to the Sea, and the Carolinas campaign. Confederate forces captured him at Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863, and he was paroled later that month. He was eventually exchanged, and he rejoined the regiment.
He was wounded twice in the Battle of Bentonville in March 1865. Surgeons amputated his arm two months later, on May 7, 1865. He received an artificial arm in September 1865, and he mustered out on October 17, 1865. He applied for a federal pension that November, and government officials granted him an $8 monthly pension in March 1866.
He returned to Cheshire after the war, and he married Caroline Holbrook on May 14, 1868. They had at least four children: Franklin, born around 1869; Frederick, born around 1875; Grace, born on July 1, 1876; and Howard, born on July 28, 1881. He worked as a farmer, and by 1870, he owned $2,000 of real estate. By the late 1800s, however, the pain in his arm stump had reportedly “broken his health.” He sold his farm in 1892 for $2,500 and moved to New Haven, Connecticut.
According to his pension records, he had trouble digesting food, which resulted in gastritis, diabetes, dizziness, and weight loss. According to one doctor, his “system [was] weakened by the shock of the wound and operation and contribute[d] largely to the train of diseases that exhaust[ed] him.” His pension steadily increased, and by the early 1900s, he was receiving $55 per month. He died from an abdominal aortic aneurysm in New Haven on January 9, 1915.
Image: Jesse H. Rice (Approved Pension File for Caroline E. Rice, Widow of Private Jesse H. Rice, Company A, 20th Connecticut Infantry, WC-790181, NAID 200186008 and 122162332, National Archives and Records Administration)
DATABASE CONTENT
| (4193) | Rice, Jesse Hull | 1843-05-14 | 1915-01-09 |
- Conflict Side: Union
- Role: Soldier
- Rank in: Private
- Rank out: Private
- Rank highest: Private
- Gender: Male
- Race: White
Documents - Records: 11
- (11656) [writer] ~ Jesse H. Rice to Brother, 5 February 1863
- (11657) [writer] ~ Jesse H. Rice to Mary Bishop, 22 September 1863
- (11658) [writer] ~ Jesse H. Rice to Mary Bishop, 22 January 1864
- (11659) [associated with] ~ Jesse H. Rice Pass, 6 March 1864
- (11660) [associated with] ~ Oliver R. Post Order, 14 March 1864
- (11661) [associated with] ~ Isaac N. Himes to Unknown, 8 November 1864
- (11662) [writer] ~ Jesse H. Rice Left-Handed Writing, 1865
- (11663) [recipient] ~ Rand & Patton to Jesse H. Rice, 4 March 1879
- (11664) [recipient] ~ Sara E. Rice to Jesse H. Rice, 9 November 1888
- (11665) [writer] ~ Jesse H. Rice and Grace E. Rice to Eliza Hubbard, 28 March 1890
- (11666) [associated with] ~ Jesse H. Rice Contract, 1894
People - Records: 5
- (4194) Rice, Julius is the [sibling of] (4193) Rice, Jesse Hull
- (4196) Bishop, Mary is the [sibling-in-law of] (4193) Rice, Jesse Hull
- (4200) Rice, Sara E. is the [half sibling of] (4193) Rice, Jesse Hull
- (4201) Rice, Grace E. is the [child of] (4193) Rice, Jesse Hull
- (5586) Hubbard, Eliza is the [aunt/uncle of] (4193) Rice, Jesse Hull
Places - Records: 2
Regiments - Records: 1
- (781) [enlisted] [A] ~ 20th Connecticut Infantry
SOURCES
1850, 1870, 1880, 1900, and 1910 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; Hartford (CT) Courant, 10 January 1915; General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934, available from Ancestry.com; Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, available from Ancestry.com; Jackie Budell, “Beneath his Shirt Sleeves: Evidence of Injury, Part II,” The Text Message, National Archives and Records Administration, available from https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2022/05/19/beneath-his-shirt-sleeves-evidence-of-injury-part-ii.
