Gabriel Rene and Mary Ann Paul
The entire article was originally published in the Campbell County Historical & Genealogical Society newsletter January 1999. This is a condensed version. The above photo comes from the Wikipedia web site for Gabriel Rene Paul.
"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, so testing whether that
nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure...."
Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address-1863
Two years into the Civil War survival of the nation was very much in question as Confederate and Union troops clashed in the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The resulting battle was the largest and bloodiest ever held in North America resulting in 51,000 casualties during the first three days of July 1863.
The July 4, 1863 Cincinnati Daily Enquirer was filled with news from the war and included in their Newport News section the following: "Brigadier General Paul-This officer who was killed in the Battle near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania was a resident of Newport. His wife and family are now here.
The report of Gabriel Rene Paul's death was incorrect but understandable. The July August 1996 issue of Military Images magazine included information from a descendant who explained that on July 1, 1863 at about two pm, Paul's brigade was attacked from three directions by elements of four Confederate brigades and after a stiff fight, was overwhelmed. A musket ball struck General Paul's right temple an inch and a half behind his eye. It severed the right optic nerve, passed through the left eye socket removing the eye. Paul fell unconscious and was left for dead on the field, a dispatch from General Meade to Halleck reporting him killed. He was found alive by Union prisoners working as stretcher bearers, carried to a local residence and placed under the care of the surgeon of the 11th Pennsylvania.
The Paul family can be traced to grandparents Eustache Paul and Marie Anne Scholastique Masse. Eustache Paul was a native of France who settled Cape Francais, Santo Domingo. He son Rene Paul was a Colonel of engineers under Napoleon, serving on the French flag ship at Trafalgar where he was severely wounded. Rene Paul immigrated to Philadelphia Pa. and then moved to St Louis Mo. where Gabriel Rene Paul was born on Mar 22, 1813. His mother was Eulalie Chauteau, daughter of August Chouteau and Marie Therese Cerre.
Gabriel Paul began his military career by obtaining an appointment to West Point from which he graduated in July 1834. He was assigned to frontier duty in the Seventh Infantry and stationed at Fort Gibson in present day Oklahoma. On March 24, 1835 he married Mary Ann Whistler, daughter of Colonel William Whistler. Mary's father and grandfather were both military men previously stationed in the Newport Barracks.
Children of Gabriel Rene Paul and Mary Ann Whistler
1. Julia Paul b-1836 in Arkansas
2. Harriet Paul b-1838 in Arkansas
3. Gertrude Paul b-1840 in Albany New York
4. Augustus Chouteau Paul b-16 Apr 1842 in Albany New York; d-19 Sep 1904 in
Hampton City Virginia; m-Josephine C Bradshaw 21 Jan 1866
5. Gabriel Paul b-10 Oct 1849 in St Louis Mo. d-10 July 1853 in St Louis; br-St
Vincent Cemetery in St Louis
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In 1854 Colonel Paul moved his family back to Newport possibly including Mary and her children. Mary Ann Whistler Paul died 11 Nov 1871 in Burlington Kansas and was buried there. Gabriel Paul married Louise Rodgers 13 Apr 1858 in Newport, the daughter of John Doxon and Elizabeth Neland. She was the widow of Alfred H Rogers of Cincinnati.
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Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, 17 May 1865, page 3
NEWPORT NEWS
BRIGADIER GENERAL PAUL-This gallant officer, who received a terrible wound at the battle of Gettysburg, causing the loss of his eyes, has removed his quarters from Washington City to Newport Barracks.
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Children of Gabriel Rene Paul and Louise Doxon
1. Beatrice Chouteau Paul b-1864 in Newport;
d-14 Mar 1941; br-Arlington National Cemetery; m-Robert A Marmion
2. Genevieve Paul b-1868 in St Louis Mo. d-15 Mar 1961 in Emmittsburg Maryland;
m-Hosley
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Gabriel served in the Utah expeditions from 1858 to 1860 during which he was engaged in the surprise and capture of a camp of hostile Indians. He was promoted to Major and transferred to the 8th infantry in April 1861, serving as acting inspector general of the Department of New Mexico from July to December 1861. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in April 1862 and brigadier general of volunteers in Sep 1862. He then transferred to the Army of the Potomac in March 1863 taking part in the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.
At the time he transferred east, his wife Louise returned to Newport appearing in the 1863 tax list with a town lot valued at $6000. Gabriel returned to Newport to recover from is Gettysburg wounds since the 1864 and 1865 tax list both Louise & G R Paul and indicate they had two slaves.
The July 19, 1888 Kentucky State Journal, a Newport based newspaper reported on page 4
"The following from the Courier-Journal will be found of interest to our Newport readers, in so much as it gives an insight to why one of our elderly and highly esteemed citizens has not been able to obtain a well deserved pension. For two years the widow of General G R Paul has been asking congress to grant her a pension. So far she has been unsuccessful. They eyesight of Gen Paul was destroyed at Gettysburg and for over 20 years it was an every day sight in Newport Ky. their home to see Mrs. Paul with the hero on her arm walking the streets of that city." The article goes on to accuse a couple of Republican representatives of "keeping the widows of officers out of their pension because the bills were introduced by Democrats."
The widow's pension paper show General Paul was absent from duty on count of wounds until February 1865 when he was retired from active military service "for disability resulting from wounds received in the line of duty." Despite being totally blind, suffering from violent attacks of pain in the head and having epilepsy, he was at that time made deputy governor of the Soldier's Home near Washington DC. In June 1865 he was placed in charge of the military asylum at Harrodsburg Ky. where he served until December 1866. He was reported as unemployed from 1866 until his death. He died "at his residence in Washington DC at 10 am on May 5, 1886. He was given a heroes burial in Arlington National Cemetery.
His widow was granted a pension of $50 per month August 4, 1866 but applied for an increase because of financial hardship. The pension increased to $100 per month on August 21, 1888 and remained at that amount until she died in December 1898.