Quakers in the CIvil War in Warren County

Dolly McKeehan who is the curator of the Museum at the Friends Home spoke to us Saturday after lunch while we visited the museum.  A story that in particular caught my attention was about Quaker men who lived in the Warren County area during the Civil War.  These men had almost for certain been very anti-slavery....perhaps had participated in the Underground Railroad.....they must have had very strong feelings about doing anything that they could do to rid our nation of slavery!

These men decided that they wanted to serve in the military against the wishes of their Quaker Meeting because their desire to end the issue of slavery and their belief in the equality of all men out weighed their fear of being disowned by the meeting.

The 79th Ohio Volunteer Infantry was formed with Azariah Doan as their commander. The men promised their respective Meeting Houses that they would never carry a weapon.  They served three years and mustered out in Washington DC in 1865.

I copied some of the pages from a notebook that named men who served in the 79th.  If you had Quaker grandfathers in Warren County during the Civil war keep prodding me until I get those names posted.

There was some discussion about Quaker involvement on the Quaker mail list and I received this from:

Marsha,

Not from Ohio, but my great grandfather moved from Philadelphia to Kansas because the war was approaching.

To the disfavor of his family, he joined the 11th Cav, Kansas. From his letters and what I can tell, he held a clerks position. Did a lot of writing. Have seen nothing in my research that he fought, although his unit was involved if military action. One set of letters was from the Battle of Pea Ridge.

I have not way to prove either way, about being armed, except with a pen. Apparently, some of his military writing appears in an Ohio newspaper.

But your story appears much like mine. (Will have to do some more research to see IF I can confirm he is every carried a weapon)

Thank you,

Russ   rworthington@att.net

I am filing the pages naming these men in a file in my bedroom labelled Warren/Miami MM Homecoming Sept 2013.