William R. Holliday
William R. Holliday was born around 1839 in Pennsylvania to Lazarus and Martha Holliday. His father died on July 17, 1846, in Boonville, Missouri. He grew up and attended school in Fayette, Pennsylvania, and he probably moved to Ohio by the early 1860s. According to friends and neighbors, Holliday “contributed to [his mother’s] support by giving her money to purchase both provisions and clothing ever since he was sixteen years of age.”
 
He enlisted in the Union army on June 4, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company E of the 4th Ohio Infantry. The regiment took part in the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the Overland Campaign. He was promoted to corporal on February 26, 1862, and to sergeant on October 6, 1863. In May 1863, he confessed that “I wood like verry well to be at home.” He added, however, that “if I was at home I wood not be satesfied as long as my Cuntery was in danger and I cood give Assistents in helping to poot this rebelion down.”
 
He was “severely wounded in the left arm near the shoulder by a shell” at Spotsylvania Court House on May 18,1864. He died soon afterward, possibly while being transferred to Washington, D.C.
2749
DATABASE CONTENT
(2749)Holliday, William R.18391864-05
  • Conflict Side: Union
  • Role: Soldier
  • Rank in: Private
  • Rank out: Sergeant
  • Rank highest: Sergeant
  • Gender: Male
  • Race: White

Documents - Records: 5

  • (7763) [writer] ~ William R. Holliday to Sister, June 1861
  • (7822) [associated with] ~ Samuel Breck to John D. W. Henderson, 20 June 1865
  • (7823) [writer] ~ William R. Holliday to Sister, 3 February 1864
  • (7824) [writer] ~ William R. Holliday to Sister, 27 March 1863
  • (7825) [recipient] ~ Samuel B. Caveny to William R. Holliday, 25 April 1861

People - Records: 3

  • (2750) Holliday, (?) is the [sibling of] (2749) Holliday, William R.
  • (2751) Holliday, Martha is the [parent of] (2749) Holliday, William R.
  • (2784) Caveny, Samuel Brady is the [friend of] (2749) Holliday, William R.

Places - Records: 1

  • (277) [birth] ~ Pennsylvania

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Regiments - Records: 1

  • (144) [enlisted] [E] ~ 4th Ohio Infantry
SOURCES

1850 United States Federal Census, available from Ancestry.com; Mother’s Pension Records of Martha Holliday, available from Fold3.com; Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, available from Ancestry.com; William R. Holliday to Sister, 27 March 1863, DL0513.002, Nau Collection