Ephraim Goodwill

Added by: Eric Lowman on 22 Apr 2012 (findagrave.com)  (click to enlarge)
Added by: Eric Lowman on 22 Apr 2012 (findagrave.com) (click to enlarge)

2nd great-grandfather of Dawn Robinson

 

Private    Indiana 11th Light Artillery Battery

Dates of Service:  17 Dec 1861 - 21 Nov 1864

    * Transferred to *

Private   Indiana 18th Light Artillery Battery

Dates of Service:  21 Nov 1864 - 14 Jan 1865 - Died of Wounds

 

Ephraim Goodwill was born in 1839 in Trumbull, Ohio to William (1807-1875), and Jemimah (Patten) Goodwill (1807-1850).

 

He married Susanna Billington on September 21, 1861 at Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana. That date was just 3 months before he enlisted on December 17, 1861. 

 

 

 

 

Regimental History of the 11th Battery / 18th Battery

“The eleventh battery was recruited at Fort Wayne and mustered into the service at Indianapolis on the 17th of December 1861 with Arnuld Sutermeister as Captain. Soon after its organization the battery proceeded to Louisville, and moved with General Buell’s army to Nashville, arriving there on the 26th of February, 1862. From there the battery moved with its division to Pittsburg Landing arriving there at the close of the battle of Shiloh, and participated in the siege of Corinth which followed.”

 

Then they moved through northern Mississippi to Tuscumbia, Alabama, then to Huntsville and went into camp in July. Confederate General Bragg transferred a large part of his army into Alabama and Georgia. Buell’s forces moved back to Nashville. Following the battle of Stone River and occupation of Murfreesboro they went into camp the 24 of June 1863. Assigned to General Sheridan’s division they were guarding the railroad during July and parts of August. Then the division crossed the Tennessee River and headed south. On the 19th of September the battle of Chicamauga began. The Eleventh Battery suffered many killed and wounded. Then on to Chattanooga where they were in that siege and on to the battle at Mission Ridge on the 25th of November, and remained there for the winter.

 

On the 5th of March 1864 a number of the members of the battery re-enlisted as veterans at Chattanooga. In May the battery moved with General Sherman upon the campaign of Atlanta. After the capture of Atlanta, the battery returned to Chattanooga where it remained unto the 21st of November 1864. Sixty-five of their members were transferred to the Eighteenth Indiana Battery, merged with it and became the 18th Battery. Orders were received to proceed to Indiana for muster out on the 7th of June 1865 at Indianapolis.                            (Source unknown)

 

Ephraim Goodwill did not survive the war. He died of wounds on January 15, 1865. 1Date of death: January 15, 1865 at General Hospital No. 8 Nashville, Tennessee.  Cause of Death: V.S. Face (Vulnus Sclopet: Latin term for gunshot wound)

 

GRAVESITE: Nashville National Cemetery, Madison, Davidson County, TN

Compiled by Susan Norder, March 2020

 

1Source:  Ancestry.comU.S., Registers of Deaths of Volunteers, 1861-1865


Marriage Record of Ephraim Goodwill and Susanna Billington - September 21, 1861 (ancestry.com)  (click to enlarge)
Marriage Record of Ephraim Goodwill and Susanna Billington - September 21, 1861 (ancestry.com) (click to enlarge)
Ephraim Goodwill Pension Record (ancestry.com)  (click to enlarge)
Ephraim Goodwill Pension Record (ancestry.com) (click to enlarge)