HAMMOND C. MUZZY CIVIL WAR PHOTO
Research and Photos provided by BRUCE MUZZY
Born: Oxford, Massachusetts, March 29, 1834
Died: Lawrence, Kansas, December 27, 1906
Hammond Clark Muzzy was born March
29, 1834 at Oxford, Massachusetts and died December 27, 1906 at Lawrence,
Kansas.
In 1854 the Kansas Nebraska Act created the
Kansas Territory, forming a new state for the Union. The Massachusetts Emigrant
Aid Company was formed, later known as the New England Emigrant Aid Company. The
purpose of the company was to fill the territory with free inhabitants to vote
the territory non-slavery. Hammond signed on with the Fourth Party of Emigrants
and was listed as a farmer. They left Boston on Tuesday, October 17, 1854. After
a lot of hassle and unexpected expenses in Chicago, St Louis and Kansas City,
Hammond arrived in Lawrence approximately . November 4, 1854. He found about
fifty huts, some log, some sod, and most with grass roofs. By November 29, 1854,
Hammond had settled on land up stream from Lawrence at the mouth of the
Grasshopper River, now the Delaware River. On April 24, 1862 the First Kansas
Battery Light Artillery of the Kansas Volunteers was formed at Fort Leavenworth
for the War of the Rebellion. The Battery manned six ten-pound parrott rifled
guns of three-inch caliber; six caissons; a portable forge; a, battery wagon for
carpentry and harness work; a water wagon containing several water barrels;
twelve Army wagons; six mule teams each; six wagons for commissary stores, camp
and garrison equipment; and six were loaded with ammunition. Also, one mule team
pair pulled an ambulance wagon.
The Battery arrived in Lawrence on June 4,
1862. On June 7, 1862, Hammond took the oath of service from Orderly Sergeant
John B. Cook and was assigned as a teamster to one of the mule-drawn wagons. The
Battery broke camp that day and made its way to LeRoy on the Neosho River. There
they joined the Osage Indian Forces. By July 3, 1862, the Battery was combined
with four other companies. The First Confederate troops were taken at Locust
Grove.
By August 14 the unit made a forced march
from Fort Scott in an attempt to surprise Colonel Coffee at Lone Jack, Missouri.
The mission was unsuccessful and the unit returned to Fort Scott, covering about
150 miles round trip in 84 hours. This was the unit's severest physical test
during its existence.
On August 24, 1862, the First Battery became part of
the 2nd Brigade of the Army of the Frontier and moved to Sarcoxie, Jasper
County, Missouri, having minor roles in the battles of Newtonia and Cane Hill.
At Prairie Grove they loaded the cannon with canister - a tin can charged with
85 round lead balls, one ounce each. Firing point-blank into a column of men
standing shoulder to shoulder and seven ranks deep. It was estimated that 1,000
Confederate men were killed and 2,000 wounded that day.
The Battery engaged in a brief
battle at Van Burer and returned to Lawrence, Kansas early in 1863. In May of
1863 they returned to Fort Leavenworth, then South to Rolla, Missouri. Here word
was received of the death by pneumonia of their Captain, Norman B. Allen in St
Louis. Lieutenant Marcus D. Terry was made Captain and the Battery moved by
train to St Louis, Missouri on July 9, 1863 and was there the remainder of 1863
and 1864. The Battery moved to Waverly, Missouri, Johnsonville, Missouri and
about November 29, 1864 the Battery moved to Nashville. On October 1, 1864
Hammond was promoted to Corporal.
Hammond was mustered out of service on June 6, 1865 at Chattanooga, Tennessee after a severe bout of bronchitis. He married Sarah Helen Haile at Waverly, Missouri and later moved back to Lawrence, being employed at various jobs until his death on December 27, 1906 at the age of 72 years.
Hammond’s children were:
Mary, born October 8, 1866
William, born February 9, 1868
Fannie, born January 19, 1871
Robert, born November 17, 1872
Charley, born January 23, 1875
Harry, born June 27, 1876
Carl, born June 16, 1882
*Frank, born September 20, 1884
Grace, born November 18, 1888
*Children of Frank R. Muzzy:
Willard Max, 1923, US Army WWII Europe,
Retired Master Sergeant USAF
Marion Frank, 1925 US Army WWII Pacific
and Korea
Robert Lewis, 1931
Jean Wright Muzzy, 1932
Bruce Hammond, 1934, Kansas National
Guard, US Army Vietnam, Retired Major USA