Fredrick (T) G. Peaslee (Peasley)

Fredrick (T) G. Peaslee (Peasley)

I Co. 127th Ill. Vol. Inf.

Three Years Service

Elgin Sharpshooters

   Mustered In Sept. 5, 1862.
   Home of record listed as Elgin, Ill's.
   Issued .577 1857 P-53 Enfield rifled musket.
   Mustered Out June 5, 1865 at Ft. Slocum in Washington, DC.

Known actions;
Chickasaw Bayou, Miss.   Dec. 26, 1862
Arkansas Post, Ark. Jan. 11, 1863
Tuscumbia, Ala.          May 13, 1863
Vicksburg, Miss.         May 19, 1863
Milliken’s Bend, La.     June 13, 1863
Collierville                   Oct. 11, 1863
Resaca, Ga.                   May 13, 1864
Conasine Creek, Ga. May 14, 1864
Dallas Hills, Ga.          May 26, 1864
Kennesaw Mt., Ga.      June 27, 1864
Peachtree Creek, Ga. July 20, 1864
Atlanta, Ga.                Aug. 13, 1864
Jonesboro, Ga.          Aug. 31, 1864
Marietta, Ga.                Sept. 15, 1864

Post war;
   Joined Elgin GAR Veteran's Post #49 Aug. 2, 1887.
   He never talked about the war and didn't attend any veteran's reunions.
   In 1908 he suffered a Stroke of Paralysis from which he never recovered.

   As recorded on the Elgin Sexton's ledger:  Died March 1, 1918 at 342 Jewett St.  Aged 74/3/17.  Cause of death listed as Suicide by Shooting, Dispondent.  Undertaker retained, Wait & Ross Co.  Physician, E. H. Norton, Coroner.  Permit #17335.  Buried in South Elgin.

   Obit; March 2, 1918 issue of The Elgin Daily News.
   Frederick G. Peaslee, 342 Jewett street, ended his life yesterday with a shot from a revolver that had lain, unused and practically forgotten, in the top dresser drawer of his sleeping room for more than thirty years, loaded and ready for emergency use.
   Mr. Peaslee was 73 years old.  During his service was a member of Co. I, 127th Illinois infantry in the Civil war, he suffered a sunstroke and some twenty years ago he had a stroke of paralysis.  He had never fully recovered from either attack and during the last three years of his life poor health had been the cause of a moroseness that he constantly feared would lead to insanity.
   Since the termination of the war Mr. Peaslee had studiously and systematically tried to avoid refreshing his memory with the scenes of it.  He never attended any of the meetings of the Grand Army post and the only weapon that had been kept in the house was the little 32 caliber revolver that had lain, accumulating dust and rust, in the top dresser drawer.
   Wednesday afternoon Mr. Peaslee was rummaging in the drawer and came upon the weapon.  He picked it up and was examining it curiously when suddenly it was discharged.
   Mrs. Peaslee rushed to the room.  He showed her the hole the bullet had made in the woodwork.
   She was hysterical for a while, partly because of what she had feared and partly because of her fear of what might happen.  When she became calm again she made him promise he would never try to use the weapon on himself.  He insisted, however, on keeping it in his room.
   Shortly after 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon he asked her to go to the doctor's for him.  she returned at 4 o'clock and found him dead, with a bullet hole in the right side of his head and the old revolver lying on the floor beside him.  She called Dr. O.L. Pelton, Sr., who said, when he arrived, that Mr. Peaslee had been dead for more than an hour.
   Besides the widow, two sons and an adopted daughter survive him.  They are Edmund Peaslee, 189 Grove avenue, Frederick Peaslee, 410 Washington street and Mrs. Fred Frike, Jr., 607 Walnut avenue.
   Mr. Peaslee was born Nov. 12, 1843, in Port Kent, new York, and had lived in Elgin for the past 30 years.  The funeral will be held Monday at 1;30 o'clock from the house.  Burial will be at South Elgin.

Used with permission Dan Mallett

Many members of Post #49 sewed watch faces to their ribbons to show they were from Elgin.