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Was Daniel Miller of Enders a Civil War Veteran?
Posted By Norman Gasbarro on December 23, 2014
Daniel Miller (1817-1893) is buried at Fetterhoff’s Cemetery, Halifax Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. Until recently, it was assumed that this was the same Daniel Miller who served in the 210th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company I, as a Private. However, there is no G.A.R. star flag holder at the grave site and no actual military or pension records have been located to substantiate this assertion. Daniel’s wife, Catherine [Enders] Miller who died nearly five years after Daniel, never applied for a Civil War pension.
Russ Ottens, one of the two authors of Captain Enders Legion, is now revisiting the biographical and genealogical material on Daniel Miller, and has come to the conclusion that the Daniel Miller who is buried at Fetterhoff’s Cemetery is not the same Daniel Miller who served in the 210th Pennsylvania Infantry. The Daniel Miller who lived in Enders married a direct descendant of Captain Johann Philip Christian Enders (1740-1809), a soldier of the American Raevolution, and therefore is included in the first edition of the Enders Genealogy. Somehow, records of Captain Enders descendant became co-mingled with the records of the man served in the 210th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company I, resulting in the following incorrect stories of Daniel Miller of Enders (incorrect text is in boldface and underlined):
1. From Findagrave:
Daniel was the son of John Miller and Anna Eva Paul Miller of Enders. He married Catherine Enders (born Aug. 3, 1818), the daughter of John Conrad Enders and Elizabeth Whitman Enders. Daniel was a blacksmith and at age 46, he enlisted in Co. A, 210th Pennsylvania Infantry.
2. From Captain Enders Legion, pages 140-141:
At age 46, Daniel Miller enlisted 19 September 1864 at Camp Curtin in the 210th Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment, Company I. He fought in various battles such as Hatcher’s Run, Bellefield Raid, Destruction of the Weldon Railroad, Dabney’s Mills, Gravelly Run and the final skirmishes at Appomattox Court House. At Gravelly Run, they were upon the front line to the last, the flag of truce proclaiming the Confederate surrender, passing through the lines of the Brigade in which it stood…. Daniel marched in the Grand Parade in Washington and was mustered out 30 May 1865, with the rank of Private and resumed his blacksmith trade.
The Daniel Miller who served in the 210th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company I, enrolled at Harrisburg, 23 September 1864 and was mustered into service on 24 September 1864 at Camp Curtin. He was 29 years old at the time of enrollment. He was discharged at Alexandria, Virginia, on 30 May 1865 – reason given, “mustered out with company.” Shown below are the two records from which this information was obtained, the Pennsylvania Veterans’ Index Card, and the Register of Pennsylvania Volunteers, both available on-line from the Pennsylvania Archives.
Click on document to enlarge.
From the above information, the birth year of this 29-year old Daniel Miller was around 1835. It is still possible that this Daniel Miller lied about his age making himself younger, so a death date, if found, might help confirm that this is a different person. Fortunately, a Fold3 Pension Index Card was located which contained a death date:
As can be seen from the above card, this Daniel Miller, who served in the 210th Pennsylvania Infantry, died on 18 February 1875. He never applied for a pension nor did his widow apply until 41 years after his death! She did not receive the widow’s pension. This card confirms that the Daniel Miller of this specific service was not the same Daniel Miller of Captain Enders descent.
So, who was this Daniel Miller who was born about 1835 and died in 1875? One way to find out is to go to the widow’s pension application file #1082657 at the National Archives. Another way is to search the Ancestry.com family trees to see if there is a match. And, another way is to search the Findagrave database, but a preliminary search revealed no one who could possibly be a match. Perhaps a reader can answer the question.
Turning back to the original question of whether the Daniel Miller of Enders who died in 1893 was a Civil War veteran, we have only concluded from the above exercise that he definitely was the not the one who served in Company I of the 210th Pennsylvania Infantry.
A search of the U.S. Civil War Draft Registration Records of 1863 produced the following: there was a Daniel Miller, a farmer, age 36, who was living in Mifflin Township, Dauphin County. Ages in the draft registration records are fairly accurate, and it is unlikely that this is the Daniel Miller of Enders, who would have been 46 years old in 1863.
A search of the Pennsylvania Veterans’ Card File resulted in more than 100 cards for person(s) named Daniel Miller, many not containing an age of enrollment. Every one of that name would have to be researched and eliminated to find the one that may have been the one from Enders who was born in 1817.
Thus, there is one answered question and one unanswered question, and with the answered question, there is still the question of who is the veteran who served in the 210th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company I.
Anyone who can give information on the Daniel Miller of Enders – whether or not he was a Civil War veteran, and if a veteran, what regiment did he serve in – please add the information to this post or contact Russ Ottens directly by e-mail.
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