Fifteen and Riding: The Civil War Service of James Marshall Ricketts

Have you ever discovered that a military record doesn't tell quite the whole story?

While researching the Civil War service of James Marshall Ricketts, I initially had a fairly straightforward account of his service. James enlisted in the 7th Indiana Cavalry, was hospitalized in Memphis, returned to his regiment, was promoted to corporal, and eventually mustered out in Texas.

Then I looked more closely at his age.

Enlisting in the 7th Indiana Cavalry

According to his military records, James M. Ricketts enrolled on 18 August 1863 at Indianapolis, Indiana, for a term of three years. He was mustered into service on 11 September 1863 as a private in Company K, 7th Indiana Cavalry.

His Company Descriptive Book provides additional information about the young soldier. It describes James as about 5 feet 4½ inches tall, with a light complexion, gray eyes and light hair. He was born in Clinton County, Indiana, and had been working as a farmer. Most importantly, the military record gives his age as 18 years.

But was he really 18?

Census records suggest otherwise.

James was recorded as three years old in 1850 and twelve in 1860. Later records are equally consistent with a birth in about 1847 or 1848: he was 32 in 1880, 38 in 1885, and 48 in 1895. The 1900 census gives his birth as November 1848.

Even James's own later pension records support the earlier birth. In a 1912 pension declaration, he reported that he was born 28 November 1847 in Clinton County, Indiana.

If that birth date is correct, James wasn't 18 when he enlisted.

He was only 15 years old.

The wartime Company Descriptive Book clearly records his age as 18, so it appears that James entered military service under an overstated age. However, the records I've found don't tell me whether James himself claimed to be 18, whether a recruiting officer recorded that age, or whether there was some other explanation.

Injured Within Months of Enlisting

James had been in the Army only a short time when his service took a difficult turn.

Years later, when applying for a pension, James described what happened near Germantown, Tennessee, on 15 November 1863. He said that while on a march, his horse fell with him, catching his right leg underneath.

According to his pension declaration, the leg was severely crushed and bruised. The injury disabled him from duty, and he was sent to Overton General Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

The military records don't describe the horse accident, so that portion of the story rests on James's later testimony. However, his military record provides substantial support for the hospitalization that followed.

A company muster roll covering 31 October 1863 through 29 February 1864 records James as absent and:

"Sick in hospital at Memphis Tenn."

Even more significant are the hospital muster rolls in his military file. They place James at Overton U.S.A. General Hospital in Memphis during the first months of 1864.

Thus, while the military records don't identify the cause of his hospitalization, they independently place him in the hospital where he later said he had been treated following the accident.

And if his 1847 birth date is correct, this injured cavalry soldier was only about 16 years old.

Back with His Regiment

James did not spend the remainder of the war in a hospital.

His March-April 1864 company record still shows him absent sick in the hospital at Memphis. However, later muster rolls show that he had returned to his company. He was recorded as present on the July-August 1864 roll and again on the September-October roll.

Whatever the condition of his injured leg, James had recovered sufficiently to return to active service.

His later pension records indicate that the problems with the leg did not disappear. In 1892, James described himself as unable to support himself through manual labor because of varicose veins of the right leg resulting from the injury. He also listed lung disease, partial deafness in his left ear, trouble with his left eye and general nervous disability.

Promoted to Corporal

Another entry in the military record adds an interesting chapter to James's story.

The November-December 1864 muster roll states:

"Promoted to Corpl Dec. 13/64."

If James was born on 28 November 1847, he had turned 17 years old only about two weeks earlier.

Think about that for a moment.

At fifteen, James entered the cavalry.

At about sixteen, he was hospitalized in Memphis following the injury he later said occurred when his horse fell on him.

He recovered and returned to his regiment.

And shortly after his seventeenth birthday, he was promoted to corporal.

Serving Until September 1865

James continued serving after the end of the major fighting in the Civil War.

The surviving muster cards show him present during May-June and July-August 1865. A September 1865 record identifies him as a corporal and indicates that he was being transferred for the purpose of being mustered out.

His Detachment Muster-out Roll records his discharge at Hempstead, Texas, on 19 September 1865.

Thus James served for roughly two years.

If the birth date he later supplied is correct, his entire Civil War military service occurred before his eighteenth birthday.

The Rest of the Story Was in the Pension File

James's military record tells us when he enlisted, where he served, when he was hospitalized, when he returned to duty, when he was promoted and when he left the Army.

His pension file adds the personal story behind some of those entries.

On 14 April 1870, only a few years after leaving the Army, James applied for an invalid pension. He described the 1863 accident and said his injured leg was still sore and swollen and interfered with his ability to earn a living through manual labor.

In 1883, James explained why he could not obtain an officer's statement verifying the original accident. According to James, none of his officers had been with him when he was hurt. His company had gone out on a scout, and Captain Hubbard was himself in the hospital at Memphis.

The Pension Office continued trying to verify the circumstances. In 1887 it requested James's full military history from the War Department. The resulting report confirmed that he had been absent sick in a Memphis hospital but stated that the military records provided no further evidence concerning his disability.

Eventually, James became a pensioner under certificate number 361910.

More Than Dates on a Muster Roll

When I first looked at James Ricketts's military service, the basic facts were interesting enough. He served in the 7th Indiana Cavalry, spent months in a Memphis hospital, returned to duty, became a corporal and mustered out in Texas.

But combining the military file with his pension records and census records changes how I see his story.

The military record says James was 18 when he enlisted.

The other evidence says he was probably 15.

That means the soldier injured shortly after entering the Army wasn't an eighteen-year-old man. He was probably a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old boy. The corporal serving with the 7th Indiana Cavalry in 1865 was probably only seventeen.

And yet, despite the injury and months spent in a Memphis hospital, James returned to his regiment and continued serving until September 1865.

The discrepancy in his age also leaves me with another research question:

How did fifteen-year-old James Marshall Ricketts manage to enlist as an eighteen-year-old?

Perhaps another record will eventually provide the answer.