Not all Civil War veterans who lived or died in Campbell County were born in the area. In fact, many were born in other nations or states, often hundreds of miles or more away. One such example is Daniel Joseph Myers (sometimes spelled “Meyers”) Jr., who entered this world September 26, 1837, in Buffalo, New York. Unlike most of these local men, he saw action in the most famous region of the war, the Eastern Theater.
He eventually made his way west, settling in Newport, Campbell County for his final few decades.
His first appearance
on a census record was in 1850, in Buffalo. His father Daniel worked in
construction as a paver, and the household included his mother Catharine and his
four siblings.
By 1860, Daniel lived with his first wife Louisa, their daughter, and his father. He was a real estate agent.
He was an early entrant into the war, as he enlisted just a month after it started, joining company G of the 21st New York Infantry, sometimes called the “1st
Buffalo Regiment,” on May 9, 1861, in,
of course, Buffalo. This regiment had originally mustered in as a three-month
unit, but officials soon had it reorganized for two years, a decision that many
of the men “received
with ill feeling” leading to forty-one soldiers being placed under arrest.1
He was
commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant on July 4, 1861, to date from his
enlistment date of May 9, then was promoted to captain on January 12, 1863, to
date from December 8, 1862.
During his time
in the regiment, he fought in a few of the war’s most famous battles. He was
wounded at 2nd Bull Run, on August 30, 1862, and was possibly in the fighting at South Mountain and Antietam, before seeing action at the bitter Union defeat
at Fredericksburg in December.
He mustered out
of the unit on May 18, 1863, in Buffalo after his two year term expired, but his military life was only
temporarily paused.
On September 10,
1864, he joined the 187th New York Infantry as a 1st
lieutenant and adjutant. He was never commissioned into those ranks but was
commissioned as the regiment’s lieutenant colonel on December 3, 1864, to date
from October 11.
The 187th
left New York on October 11, 1864, and Daniel was involved in several fights of
the Overland Campaign as the war’s end neared, including at Hatcher’s Run, Weldon
Railroad, and Five Forks. He probably was present for the fall of Petersburg
and at Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, as well as the
Grand Review of Union Armies in Washington D.C. in late May of 1865.
Daniel was
discharged from the army with the regiment on July 1, 1865.
He married Ida
Smith in 1878, and they had three children born in Buffalo through 1885. By 1890, however, they had relocated to Newport, where six years later, their home suffered enough damage
in a bad storm to have it mentioned in the newspaper. During the tempest,
lighting struck their home “and glanced off, breaking a widow and striking a
sewing machine,” knocking that machine over and leaving behind "a stain
as though a red hot iron had been placed upon it.”2
Fortunately, everyone
in the house was unharmed.
Four years later,
Daniel still lived on Columbia Street in Newport with his wife, daughter, and
two sons. He worked as a railroad claims agent. He continued to live in the same
city, collecting a $15 monthly pension as of November of 1907, and working as a
railroad rate clerk in 1910, when he and Ida shared their home with two sons.
The start of the
1920s brought no change to where he lived or worked, but his household now
included two sons, a daughter, a daughter-in-law, and a grandson.
Daniel passed away on May 23, 1921, in Newport, due to “lymphangitis, septic.” This disease was likely an infection of his lymphatic system and perhaps a complication of skin infections.3
A contributing factor was a “traumatic fall on sidewalk,” and his family agreed that he had “never fully recovered from injuries received” in that recent accident.
He
had been a ticket agent at the Cincinnati depot of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and had supposedly worked for the railroad for nearly forty years. His
obituary claimed he had lived in Newport for sixty years, though the actual
number was probably just more than thirty, as his youngest child had been born
in Buffalo in 1885, and his first known appearance in Campbell County records occurred
in 1890.
He also
had been a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Two
sons, one daughter, and his widow survived him.4
Daniel was buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
