Individual Details

Census-shared

Rosanna Davis F 44 New York
Ebenezer Davis M 21 Ohio - Laborer
Milton Davis M 7 Illinois

Military Service - Civil War

Ebenezer W. Davis
Event Type Military Service
Event Date from 1861 to 1865
Event Place Illinois, United States
State or Military Term Illinois
Military Side Union
Military Company B
Military Unit 59th Regiment, Illinois Infantry
Military Beginning Rank Private
Military Final Rank Private
Affiliate Publication Number M539
Affiliate Publication Title Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations From the State of Illinois.
Affiliate Film Number 21

Death

The story is told in the family that after serving in the Civil War, Ebenezer returned to Oquawka. One day around Christmas 1868 or New Year 1869, he and another soldier decided to skate to Burlington to visit a soldier friend. Rosanna did not want him to go, but he told her he would bring her a nice present when he returned.
Their long absence caused a search for them. There were so many air holes in the thick ice that it was supposed that they had fallen into one. When the ice broke up in the Spring, the river was drug and the body of Ebenezer was found, but not the body of his companion. A rough box was lowered to raise his body. The authorities would not let anyone else see it. Ebenezer's body was identified by the tattoo on his arm of a dancing girl and some letters and papers in his pocket.
Ebenezer had left home with ninety dollars in his pocket, but the money was not found. He had got only part way to Burlington, and there was no place he could have stopped to spend the money. The authorities concluded that the companion had killed him, taken the money, and pushed him into an air hole under the ice.

Burial

Inscription: Company B, 59th Illinois Infantry
PLOT 125
Possibly buried 26 May 1869 or May 29 1869 or 1886.