Shanklin, William Ervin – Pvt. Co. H, 71st IL Infantry

On 26 July 1862, 23-year-old William Ervin Shanklin enlisted and reported to the Union Army, 71st Regiment Infantry, Company H – from Champaign County, originating at Camp Douglass, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, serving until 29 October 1862. Here he was one of about 1,000 men who were assigned to Companies of about 100 men each.

Camp Douglass was the largest training camp in Illinois. On the east side of the camp was the parade ground and administrative buildings: on the south side was the camp hospitals: on the west side was the prison camp. Captured Confederates were incarcerated at Camp Douglass, which was a gallery of horrors on the fringes of the bustling urban center of Chicago.

William entered as a Private. After some quick organizing and outfitting and the issuance of Henry Repeating Rifles, the men were photographed, then loaded onto the train and carried to their first post at Cairo, Illinois on July 27, 1862.

Beginning in July and carrying on throughout August Illinois experienced continuous downpours of rain, reaching 9 inches in several areas. The heat was in the mid-80’s most days and tornadoes continued to roll through Kentucky and Illinois. As was the custom, the soldiers made camp, erecting their tents and bedrolls as they arrived at their duty stations. The exposure proved to be a debilitating burden for all the men. Almost immediately several began feeling ill. As they were relieved by another Regiment, they moved on to Columbus, Kentucky, where the harsh weather continued to abuse them. From Columbus, Kentucky, the 71 st Regiment broke into Companies, some being assigned to guard the Big Muddy Bridge and the Illinois Central Railroad. Two Companies went on to Mound City, north of Cairo on the Ohio River in Illinois to guard against any Confederates that might make their way into the area.

Three Companies were taken to Moscow, Kentucky to guard a rail line and bridge over the Ohio River. The final three Companies made their way to the Little Obion Bridge in Kentucky, ever watchful for incursions.

As the end of October approached, they returned to Camp Douglass, where they were mustered out on October 29, 1862. Fortunately for the men of the 71 st Regiment, they never faced battle against the Confederate Army. However, the cruel weather and lack of sanitation led to the death of 23 men who had suffered from typhoid, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and measles. William would eventually succumb to tuberculosis at the age of 76.

When he enlisted William was given a bounty of $75, and he was paid $13 per month. He arrived home after three months with about $100, which he added to his savings.

By November William was back in Farmer City, DeWitt County, IL.  Within 49 days of being mustered out of the Army, William proposed to and married Nancy Marie Cox of Farmer City.

17 December 1862, William married Nancy, daughter of Marcus D. Lafayette and Melissa Graves Blasdel Cox, at her home in Farmer City, DeWitt County, IL.  He was seven years and three months older than Nancy.  He is 23 and she had just turned 16 in October.  This young couple showed great courage as they mapped out their course and then followed it to a new life in California.

They took a train to New York.  There they boarded a boat belonging to the Panama Railroad and sailed south along the American coastline to Aspinwall, Panama.  This was always dangerous due to the Confederate Navy and Confederate pirates trolling the waters.  The ocean steamer took about ten days to reach what is today the city of Colon.

A letter written home to family read, “The main street in town was crossed by alleys, these covered with planks to aid pedestrian passage. The abundant rain and uninterrupted heat contributed to the oppressive atmosphere. Houses were mostly shanties built on stilts above the soft soil. Most of the houses only have Venetian blinds all around them, the partitions only go to a certain height, so as not to block the circulation of air. Having enjoyed the novelties of the country, where everything for us was a curiosity. We retired to the Aspinwall Hotel. our room was on the upper floor where there was a big bed on which there was a little mattress, about an inch thick, all dirty and disgusting.”

“At 7:00 a.m. the next morning, we proceeded to the station to board the Panama Railroad that crossed the isthmus and joined Aspinwall with Panama City, where we boarded a boat to San Francisco. The 47-mile, 2 1/2-hour journey was pleasant enough.”  They crossed over 170 bridges and culverts, one of the bridges was over 600 feet long.  There were no tunnels, and the summit grade was 258 feet above sea level.  Their personal baggage cost them 5 cents per pound.  This was the most expensive railroad in the world.  In modern terms, the cost was a total of $375 to travel less than 50 miles.  With multiple trains making the trip more than 1,500 passengers were shuttled to the Pacific Ocean in a single day.

The passenger cars were furnished with cane-bottomed seats.  Out the windows, they caught sight of richly feathered tropical birds, huts built of bamboo, lush vegetation, bogs filled with stagnant, muddy water, and mountain peaks.

The train arrived in Panama City around 11:30 a.m. and they, along with the other passengers bound for San Francisco, waited in a depot for a boat to shuttle them to their vessel. Not knowing the steamer’s schedule, they could not explore the city. At 5 p.m., a small ship arrived with the tide and was soon crammed…

“…where the passengers were packed together like sheep in a pen. The crowd was so great in the little steamer that it was necessary to remain standing; the heat was so intense that several people fainted… The children were crying. The men were impatient, yelling and cursing for light.”

In the evening, exhausted, hot, and hungry, they left the confines of the shuttle boat and boarded the SS Golden Age, for their journey to San Francisco. The Golden Age, the fastest steamer of the Pacific Mail Fleet, sailed the San Francisco-Panama run from 1854 through 1869. The ship’s typical manifest would identify approximately 100 first- and second-class passengers, more than 400 unidentified souls in steerage, and cargo of U.S. Mail, packages, and gold coin.

“Finally, evening having come, we had to climb the big rope ladder that placed us on the deck of the Golden Age. A luxurious steamer, whose magnificence and comfort was in great contrast with the first ship, which we had taken from New York, and which was most filthy. We were given a small cabin.”

They took some time in San Francisco, sightseeing and having a portrait taken, copies of which were sent home with their letters.

16 June 1880, the US Census Santa Barbara Co, CA, the Shanklin family was living in Ballard.  William was farming, Nancy keeping house and busy with her four children George, Harry, Lowell, and Effie.  That same year the Township of Ballard was established by the government.  Soon, the residents got busy and built the now historic Red School House.

William became a member of the Starr King Post No. 52 of the G.A.R. – Grand Army of the Republic while living in Santa Barbara.

By 1902, William’s health was declining.  He was 63-years old when he checked himself into the newly built Sawtelle Veterans Home in Santa Monica.  A new hospital had just been built as well as a chapel.  It was open to Civil War Veterans, who had no adequate means of support and were incapable of earning a living.  The buildings were shingle-style frame barracks and at the time there were about 1,000 men living on the 700-acre campus.

27 August 1915, William died in Lompoc at the home of his daughter and son-in-law Effie and Walter “Asa” Lewis.  He was 76 years old.  The family used a “Cabinet Card” known as a Remembrance/Mourning/Funeral card, manufactured on a black background with gold lettering as the handout to those attending the funeral.  It was printed by H.F. Wendell of Leipsic, Ohio, a well-known producer of funeral cards.  It read:

In Loving Remembrance of W.E. Shanklin,
Died August 27, 1915, aged 76 years. Gone but not forgotten.

A precious one from us has gone.
A voice we loved is stilled;
A place is vacant in our home
Which never can be filled.
God in His wisdom has recalled,
The boon His love had given,
And though the body slumbers here,
The soul is safe in Heaven.

William’s obituary was printed in the Lompoc Record (weekly publication) in September 1915

He died due to Tuberculosis

ANOTHER CIVIL WAR VETERAN PASSES AWAY

Death removed one more of Lompoc’s old Grand Army men last Friday when William E. Shanklin was called to the Great Beyond.

Mr. Shanklin passed away at the home of his daughter, Mrs. W.A. Lewis (Walter Asa Lewis and Effie Mae Shanklin Lewis), Friday evening, August 27, 1915.  He had been ailing for almost a year and this became serious about two months ago.

The deceased was born in the state of Illinois, June 12, 1839, and at the time of his death, he had reached the ripe age of 76 years, 2 months, and 15 days.  He resided near Vandalia, IL in the southern part of Illinois until he had reached manhood.  At the breaking out of the Civil War, he answered the call to arms and joined the 71^st Illinois Infantry.  At the expiration of his enlistment, he moved to Farmer City, where he was married to Miss Nancy Cox, who survives him.  They came to California in 1864 by way of the Isthmus of Panama, making their home for a number of years at Point Arena, where most of their children were born.

They moved to this county in the year 1880 and resided at Ballard for many years.  On account of ill health, Mr. Shanklin moved to Santa Barbara where he has made his home for the past sixteen years.

He is survived by four children, two sons, and two daughters, all of whom reside in Lompoc.  They are Lowell F (Lowell Francis and Ella Jane Muncton Shanklin) and Harry L. (Harry Lafayette and Rose Angelia Beatty Shanklin) and Mrs. W.A. Lewis (Walter Asa and Effie May Shanklin Lewis) and Mrs. L.F. Jennings (Louis Frederick and Linnie Estelle Shanklin Jennings).  His only living brother, Uncle John Shanklin is also a resident of Lompoc.  He was preceded in death by his eldest son, George Samuel in 1899.

William Ervin Shanklin was a member of King Starr Post No. 52, G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic), at Santa Barbara.  The remains were taken to Ballard and interred in the cemetery at that place Sunday.  The pallbearers were Messrs. N.T. Saunders (Nathan T. Saunders), H.E. McCabe (Henry E. McCabe) and George Ingamells of Lompoc, and Mr. Frank H. Smith of Ballard.

William Ervin Shanklin (GAR) b. 13 Jun 1839 White Hall, Greene Co., IL to Samuel Withrow Shanklin and Frances “Fannie” Duncan Shanklin; d. 27 Aug 1915 Lompoc, Santa Barbara Co., CA; m. 17 Dec 1862 Farmer City, DeWitt County, IL Nancy Marie Cox, b. 9 Oct 1846 Dearborn Co., IN; d. 22 Oct 1918 Lompoc, Santa Barbara Co., CA; dau. Marcus D. Lafayette Cox, b. 31 Oct 1824 Lawrenceburg, Dearborn Co., IN; d. 16 Jan 1900 Farmer City, DeWitt Co., IL; m. Melissa Graves Blasdel, b. 24 Apr 1824 Dearborn Co., IN; d. 13 Jan 1899 near Farmer City, DeWitt Co., IL

Effie May Shanklin b. 11 Apr 1872 Point Arena, Mendocino Co., CA; d. 11 Jul 1944 Lompoc, Santa Barbara Co., CA; m. 29 Sep 1895 Ballard, Santa Barbara Co., CA Walter Asa Lewis, b. 25 Jun 1872 Santa Maria, Santa Barbara Co., CA; d. 1 Mar 1949 Peoria, Maricopa Co., AZ; div. 1917 Santa Barbara Co., CA , son of Joseph Marion Lewis (Jul 1925 Center Twp, Greene Co., PA; d. Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Co., CA 11 Apr 1909) and Margaret Anne Tomer (b. 30 May 1846, Louisville, Jefferson Co., KY; d. 5 Jul 1915, Lompoc, Santa Barbara Co., CA)

Walter Ervin Lewis b. 31 Oct 1896 Buell Flats, Santa Barbara County, CA; d. 8 Feb 1974 Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Co., CA; m. 22 May 1918 Glendale, Maricopa Co., AZ Willie Fay Onstott, b. 11 Apr 1899 Sanger, Denton Co., TX; d. 13 Jul 2001 Solvang, Santa Barbara Co., CA (dau. William Henry “Frank” Onstott, b. 15 Oct 1868 Corsicana, Navarro Co., TX; d. 4 May 1966 Santa Ana, Orange County, CA; m. Lula Mae Beck, b. 17 Dec 1879 Weston, Collin Co., TX; d. 10 Nov 1979 Lompoc, Santa Barbara Co., CA)

Sarah Margaret Lewis b.25 Dec 1924 Bell Street, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., CA; d.  8 Sep 2019 Lompoc, Santa Barbara Co., CA; m. 19 Dec 1945 at Long Beach Los Angeles Co., CA Roy Elton Courtney, b. 7 May 1923 Berthoud, Larimer Co., CO; d. 7 Dec 2002 Lompoc, Santa Barbara County, CA; son of Novella Mae Weatherford, b. 6 May 1894 Choctaw County, City of Goodland, 2^nd Indian Territory, TX; d. 10 Dec 1954 Perris, Riverside Co., CA; m. 11 Nov 1920 Fort Collins, Larimer Co., CO Ira Tipton Courtney, b. 8 Feb 1887 Broken Bow, Custer Co., NE; d. 11 Jun 1930 Bijou, El Dorado Co., CA (near Lake Tahoe)

 Daughters of Roy and Sarah Margaret Lewis Courtney: Susan Lorayne Courtney Warnstrom, Elizabeth Fay Courtney