George Campbell
George Campbell was born on January 27, 1837, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Hugh Campbell and Cynthia Kimberly. His father was a farmer who died in June 1854. Campbell grew up and attended school in Wayne, Indiana, and he moved to Panora, Iowa, in the 1850s. By 1860, he was working as a carpenter in Panora, and he owned $200 of personal property.
He enlisted in the Union army on August 13, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company I of the 29th Iowa Infantry eight days later. As he explained later that year, “I have left home and friends at the call of my country to assist in defending and protecting this glorious land of ours from the reign of terror and despotism.” He confessed it was “a hard trial for me to leave a happy and cheerful home…yet I think my country calls louder for my aid than home or kindred or friends.” Several months later, he declared the United States the “best government that has ever existed upon the face of the earth.”
By May 1863, he supported emancipation and Black enlistment. He favored “doing any and every thing in our power” to defeat the Confederacy, and he “welcome[d] all those negroes who are willing to come in to the ranks and fight in defense of the union and their rights and liberties.” He was “in favor of laying waste every foot of southern soil that the union army passes over. I would have them burn every fence, out-house, stable, cotton gin, dwelling-house and every thing else that could afford them any comfort or protection.” Nonetheless, he opposed racial equality. After the war, he hoped to colonize African Americans “in some climate congenial to their nature,” and anyone who sought to return “should be put to death.”
He supported Presidential Abraham Lincoln in the election of 1864. By June 1865, with Union victory secured, he “long[ed] to exchange the tented field for the quiet peaceful cottage home in the far west.” He hoped to “roam at will those prairies and plains of Iowa and Nebraska from the Mississippi river to the Rocky mountains.” He mustered out on August 10, 1865.
He returned to Panora after the war, and he earned a living as a farmer. He married Mary A. Batschelet on April 29, 1866, and they had at least three children: Zenas, born around 1867; Grace, born around 1870; and George, born around 1879. By 1870, he owned $1,800 of real estate and $1,000 of personal property. He applied for a federal pension in September 1892 and eventually received one. He died of diabetes in Panora on March 24, 1927.
DATABASE CONTENT
| (2917) | Campbell, George | 1837-01-27 | 1927-03-24 |
- Conflict Side: Union
- Role: Soldier
- Rank in: Private
- Rank out: Private
- Rank highest: Private
- Gender: Male
- Race: White
Documents - Records: 15
- (8014) [writer] ~ George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 4 November 1862
- (8022) [writer] ~ George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 26 November 1862
- (8023) [writer] ~ George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 14 February 1863
- (8024) [writer] ~ George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 28 March 1863
- (8041) [writer] ~ George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 4 May 1863
- (8042) [writer] ~ George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 24 May 1863
- (8043) [writer] ~ George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 22 June 1864
- (8044) [writer] ~ George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 27 February 1864
- (8045) [writer] ~ George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 12 May 1864
- (8055) [writer] ~ George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 6 August 1864
- (8060) [writer] ~ George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 18 November 1864
- (8062) [writer] ~ George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 26 December 1864
- (8063) [writer] ~ George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 29 June 1865
- (8075) [writer] ~ George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 12 October 1865
- (8076) [writer] ~ George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 3 December 1865
People - Records: 2
- (2917) Campbell, George is the [friend of] (2912) Conaroe, Gabriella
- (2965) Campbell, Mary Jane is the [sibling of] (2917) Campbell, George
Places - Records: 2
Regiments - Records: 1
- (860) [enlisted] [I] ~ 29th Iowa Infantry
Groups - Records: 1
- (6) [member/supporter] ~ Grand Army of the Republic
SOURCES
1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, available from Ancestry.com; Iowa Grand Army of the Republic Membership Records, ca. 1866 – ca. 1950, available from Ancestry.com; Iowa Marriages, 1851-1900, available from Ancestry.com; Iowa Death Records, 1880-1972, available from Ancestry.com; George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 4 November 1862, DL1366A.004, Nau Collection; George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 14 February 1863, DL1366A.006, Nau Collection; George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 24 May 1863, DL1366A.012, Nau Collection; George Campbell to Gabriella Conaroe, 29 June 1865, DL1366A.021, Nau Collection
