tombstone

  • By Tami Lange Mosser
  • January 22, 2014
  • 504
                        
During the Civil War, it was a big honor – and a huge risk – to be the soldier who carried the flag into battle. But Michael Silver, a Wooster volunteer, did not hesitate to grab up the flag during the May, 1864 Battle of Mary’s Bridge. “He leads them up the hill to push back the Confederates,” said Charles Leopold of the Wayne County Historical Society, “and he gets shot. “And that’s how his life ends.” He was buried on the battlefield because, Leopold said, “They didn’t have a lot of time. They had to move on.” The Battle of Spotsylvania lay ahead. At the time, graves were marked as best they could be and makeshift markers were later replaced with wooden ones. The wooden ones were not meant to be permanent and the vast majority disintegrated over time and became victim of the weather. But Michael Silver’s family wanted him returned to Wayne County from Virginia, Leopold said. His brother-in-law and another man later went to the battlefield and recovered Silver’s body and the wooden marker with his name. Years later, the descendants of the Silver family donated the marker to the Wayne County Historical Society, where it is the centerpiece of an exhibit dedicated to the role of Wayne Countians in the Battle of Spotsylvania. It is very rare, according to Leopold, and will remain part of the Society’s permanent collection. Its simple inscription: “M. Silver, Co.B, 60 Ohio, Killed May, 1864, Wooster.” Aside from some discoloration, it is in excellent shape. The man for whom the marker was made was 23 years old. According to information compiled by the Society, Silver had resisted volunteering, since he was the man of the family. His father died when Silver was a young boy and he had two sisters and a mother to concern himself with, not to mention running the family’s Plain Township farm. By February of 1864, Silver could wait no longer. He and 100 of his fellow Wayne Countians signed on for a three-year term with the 60th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. After a brief training at Camp Chase in Columbus, Leopold said, Silver and his fellow Company B soldiers, “fresh off the farm,” headed for Washington, D.C. After only a few weeks, the company set off on a 40-mile march to a site near the Rapidan River. The novice soldiers toted anywhere from 40- to 60-pound packs on the march, according to Leopold, who noted, “the march separated the men from the boys.” Silver was selected by Capt. Robert Eddy to serve as his 1st sergeant, a role reserved for the top non-commissioned officer. “Silver must have had a good reputation,” Leopold said, to be selected. The march took its toll on Silver, who spent time in a field hospital after being stricken by sunstroke. But he recovered sufficiently to rejoin his company and march to Mary’s Bridge over the Nye River. In addition to the marker, Leopold said, the family also donated the company roster from the 1887 State of Ohio Roster Commission, which details the casualties, the survivors and the deserters of the group At the time he volunteered, a local newspaper described Silver as “one of the finest looking men in the county, of stalwart build and the picture of health.” Silver was re-interred in Pioneer Cemetery on the west side of Wooster, where a masonry tombstone marks his final resting place.


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