Francis Sanderson
3rd great-grandfather of Bobi J. Foster
Private Co. K 27th MI Infantry
Dates of Service: 6 Dec 1863 - 12 Jun 1865
Francis Hall Sanderson was born 2 April 1846 in New York, the youngest of ten children born to John Sanderson and Clarissa "Clara" Covey Sanderson. His family moved from Watertown, Jefferson Co., New York, to Woodbridge, Hillsdale Co., Michigan by 1860 where his father farmed.
Francis "Frank" Sanderson enlisted in the 27th Michigan Infantry at Woodbridge, Michigan, December 1863, mustering in 5 January, 1864. He was discharged 12 June 1865 at Washington, D.C.
ORGANIZATION -- Organized at Port Huron, Ovid and Ypsilanti, Mich., and mustered in April 10, 1863. (…Co. "K" January 4, 1864.) Left State for Kentucky April 12, 1863. Attached to 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Ohio, to June, 1863. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, to August, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Ohio, to April, 1864. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to September, 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 9th Army Corps, to July, 1865.
(Cos. "I" and "K" Join Regiment at Mossy Creek, Tenn., March, 1864.) Moved from Knoxville, Tenn., to Nicholasville, Ky.; thence to Annapolis, Md., March 17-April 5. Campaign from the Rapidan to the James River May 4-June 15. Battles of the Wilderness May 5-7. Spottsylvania May 8-12. Ny River May 10. Spottsylvania May 12-21. Assault on the Salient May 12. North Anna River May 23-26. Ox Ford May 23-24. On line of the Pamunkey May 26-28. Totopotomoy May 28-31. Cold Harbor June 1-12. Bethesda Church June 1-3. Before Petersburg June 16, 1864, to April 2. 1865. Mine Explosion, Petersburg, July 30 1864. Weldon Railroad August 18-21. Poplar Springs Church September 29-October 2. Reconnoissance on Vaughan and Squirrel Level Roads October 8. Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher's Run, October 27-28. Fort Stedman March 25, 1865. Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9. Assault on Fort Mahone and fall of Petersburg April 2. Occupation of Petersburg April 3. Pursuit of Lee April 3-9. Moved to Washington, D.C., April 20-24. Grand Review May 23. Duty at Washington and Alexandria until July. Mustered out July 26, 1865.
Regiment lost during service 10 Officers and 215 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 3 Officers and 204 Enlisted men by disease. Total 432.
The Twenty-seventh was of the "Three Hundred Fighting Regiments" of the Union army, receiving special mention by the War Department and Congress in 1866, these regiments showing casualty lists of over thirty per cent of total enrollment."
~Sources - "A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion" by Frederick H. Dyer (Part 3); Michigan in the Civil War website; the Civil War Archive
website.
On 18 October 1867 in Fremont, Isabella Co., Frank married Esther Hungerford of Hillsdale. Their first child, a son Orlando, was born in 1869. By 1870, he and Esther were farming in Fremont alongside four of Frank's brothers and their families. By 1880, Frank and Esther had three more children, Horace, Clara, and Lucy, and were still farming in Isabella Co. According to an unsourced family tree, one more more child, an infant son, died in 1880 and Esther herself died before 1893. On 31 January 1893, Frank married Jenny Shores Swaine in Edmore, Montcalm Co., the 2ndmarriage for both. It is unknown what became of Jenny, but on 18 December 1897, Frank married Minnie Ostrander in Weidman, Isabella Co.; he was 50 and she was 18. It was the 3rd marriage for him and the 1st for Minnie. By 1900, he was a farm laborer living in Sherman Twp., Isabella Co., with Minnie and their 1-year old daughter. On 29 February 1908, Frank filed for divorce from Minnie in Gratiot Co. The suit states they had four children (daughters Frieda, Frances and Aletha and a son Marion). His divorce was granted on 31 October 1908. On the same day, Frank married Emily Gorl Putnam, in Breckenridge, Gratiot; it was the 4th marriage for both. Two years later, Frank was a farm laborer in St. Louis, Gratiot Co., living with his brother-in-law's family and his wife Emily. Frank filed for divorce from Emily in July 1911 in Missaukee Co., but the case was pended and not finally granted until May 1923 in Kent County Circuit Court. By then, when Logan Post 1(B) first listed his membership on 30 June 1914, Frank was already living in the Soldier's Home, Grand Rapids, Kent Co., Michigan. In 1920, he was enumerated as widowed and living in the Soldier's Home; however, Emily actually lived until 1926 and died at the age of 90 in Gratiot County. Frank died at the age of 80 at the home of his daughter Frances in Grand Rapids on 15 January 1927 and was buried in Fairplanes Cemetery. Frank Sanderson had been a member of the GAR Logan Post 1(B) and Custer Post 5(B) of Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan.
SOURCES: Compiled from Federal Census Records, pension cards, civil marriage and divorce records, 27th Regiment of Michigan Infantry records, family trees, findagrave.
GRAVESITE: Fairplanes Cemetery, Grand Rapids, MI
Written by Dorotha Piechocki, February 2020