James H. Tyson
According to the “U.S. Find a Grave Index, 1600s to Current for James H. Tyson,” Tyson was born in 1821 in Carroll County, Maryland[1]. While Tyson does not appear in any official capacity until 1864, he made his way to Carlisle, Cumberland County, PA sometime before 1864. In Carlisle, Tyson enlisted as a private in the 32nd USCT, Company F on February 25, 1864[2]. Upon his enlistment, Tyson was listed as a forty-three-year-old laborer who stood at five feet two inches[3]. After his regiment was organized at Camp William Penn in Philadelphia, Tyson and his fellow soldiers were then was made a part of an engineering detachment that was active in Hilton Head, South Carolina from November 27, 1864 until the end of the war[4]. Tyson was honorably discharge in back in Philadelphia on August 22, 1865[5]. He received a $300 bounty for enlisting and paid $6.00 to keep his service rifle[6].
Tyson does not reappear officially until 1891, wherein he was reported in the Carlisle Sentinel as receiving an $8 a month pension from Squire Thos. Reighter on February 24, 1891. By this time, Tyson resided in Mount Holly, Cumberland County, PA.[7] Later that year, in September, Tyson was accused and convicted of giving liquor to a known drunk. The drunk man’s wife prosecuted Tyson for giving her husband liquor. Despite being deemed “a man well-liked in the community and bears a good reputation” on September 18 by two newspaper out of Carlisle, the Sentinel and the Carlisle Evening Herald, Tyson was convicted by a jury for “furnishing liquor to a man of intemperate habits.”[8] Tyson was ordered to pay a fine of $500 for the costs of prosecution and was sentenced to ninety days in the county jail[9]. James H. Tyson died less than two years later on February 22, 1893.[10] While no official cause of death was given, old age was likely the culprit. He is buried in the Mount Holly Colored Cemetery in Mount Holly. [11]
Bibliography
[1] ”U.S. Find A Grave Index, 1600s to Current for James H. Tyson”.
[2] ”U.S. Find A Grave Index, 1600s to Current for James H. Tyson”.
[3] U.S., Colored Troops Military Service Records, 1863-1865, James H. Tyson. The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Compiled Military Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served with the United States Colored Troops: Infantry Organizations, 31st through 35th; Microfilm Serial: M1992; Microfilm Roll: 30
[4] ”U.S. Find A Grave Index, 1600s to Current for James H. Tyson”.
[5] “James H. Tyson.” Historical Data Systems, comp. U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009.
[6] ”U.S. Find A Grave Index, 1600s to Current for James H. Tyson”.
[7] “Granted a Pension.” The Sentinel, February 24, 1891
[8] “Friday Morning: Com vs. James Tyson.” The Sentinel, September 18, 1891. “Furnishing Liquor to a Drunkard.” Carlisle Evening Herald, September 18, 1891.
[9] “Furnishing Liquor to a Drunkard.” Carlisle Evening Herald, September 18, 1891.
[10] Headstones Provided for Deceased Union Civil War Veterans, “James H. Tyson.” The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General; Record Group Number: 92; Series Number: M1845
[11] Headstones Provided for Deceased Union Civil War Veterans, “James H. Tyson.” The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General; Record Group Number: 92; Series Number: M1845
Entry edited by Mia Ramano.