Hannah Lewis Glover Carlisle

Hannah was the youngest of twelve children born to David and Tamesin (Hall) Glover. She was born in the town of Phelps, Ontario Co, NY on April 22, 1823. I have been able to find very little on the family’s time in Phelps other than they had borrowed money from one of Tamesin’s brothers, which they were unable to repay.

I really know nothing about her childhood or what she did as a young adult. Sometime between 1850 and 1852 her sister Louisa died leaving a husband and seven children. On July 11, 1852 Hannah married her brother-in-law, Daniel Carlisle who was 25 years older than her. She went from being an aunt to being a step-mother. She and Daniel had a farm south of Buchanan, Berrien Co, MI. A daughter, Arabella, was born there in 1857.

In Oct 1861 her two surviving stepsons joined the 2^nd Michigan Calvary and so did she. A record of her service is found in History of Berrien and Van Buren counties, Michigan. With ... biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers. Philadelphia, D. W. Ensign & Co., 1880.

pg184

Services of a Buchanan Lady in the War of the Rebellion

Mrs. Hannah L. Carlisle was born in Phelps, N.Y., in 1823. The family moved to Orleans
Co, N.Y., when she was four years old. In 1850 she came to Cassopolis, and in
1852 married Daniel Carlisle, and in 1854 removed to near Buchanan on a farm.
Upon the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion she was strongly impelled to
offer her services as nurse, and upon the organization of the 2d Michigan
Cavalry she left her home and family and went with the regiment, Nov. 14, 1861, to St. Louis. After reaching the city
she was assigned to the regimental hospital, where she remained until the
regiment was transferred to Fort Donelson, in February 1862, when she
returned home. On the night of July 14,
1862, she received a telegram from the Sanitary Commission in Chicago, asking her to report for
duty the next day. She did so, and was met by a gentleman at the train, and
reported at the Massasoit House. Orders were soon received to report at Post
Hospital No. 1, Columbus, Ky., under the charge of Dr. Ransom , of Roscoe, Ill.,
and Gen. Quimby, in charge of Fort Halleck. Mrs. Carlisle remained at this
hospital until the close of the war, when she entered the Freedman's Department
as superintendent and teacher, and reminded in that connection one year, and
returned to the duties of home July 3,
1866. Mrs. Carlisle is now living in Buchanan.

What the article does not tell is that Arabella was only four at the time she left. From notes written by W. W. Osborn, husband of Arabella I learned that just before being assigned to the hospital in Columbus she had charge of a Hospital boat for a few weeks and as the boat was old and leaky she worked in water to her knees for ten days or more. Her daughter, Arabella, was with her at Columbus for two years and was in the hospital with her mother when the Confederates bombarded the city, her mother having refused to leave the sick and wounded in her charge, when advised to leave on account of the danger of capture by the Confederates. She received a nurse’s pension in her later years.’

She joined the M. E. Church at the age of sixteen and donated in membership until her death. She was a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Woman's Relief Corp., and took a very prominent part in Temperance, Religious and Grand Army of the Republic Work, and was well known in these circles in Buchanan, MI., Deadwood, SD., Council Bluffs and Sioux City, Iowa.

The family donated several of her diaries and letters to The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. They are between her and other members of the family written between Aug 17, 1862 and Apr. 7, 1866 during her civil war service. They are mostly from the Post Hospital at Columbus, KY. She expresses her dislike of Copperheads and Secessionists, tells of troop movements on the river, raids on guerilla bands, the destruction of Secessionist's homes, hospital life, food and a Thanksgiving dinner, the celebration at the fall of Vicksburg, and the capture of Jefferson Davis. During the time that she was in charge of a Columbus, KY school for the American Freeman's Aid Commission, and she tells of the clashes between military and civil officers, the plight of the Negroes, and the rough treatment accorded them. I have looked into obtaining these records, but the cost is prohibitive. Due to the number of pages they will not photocopy them. Maybe at some time in the future I will be able to visit the library and read her thoughts for myself.

This originally appeared at The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree on 25 January 2006. Since I originally wrote this I have retieved her letters from the University of Michigan and they will begin appearing here later this year. She also kept diaries in her later years and I hope to retrieve them in April and begin transcribing them also.