George A. Barnes

Type Value
Name George A. Barnes
Born 1837-07-14 Xenia, Green County, Ohio
Gender M
Died 1907-09-19 Xenia, Green County, Ohio
Buried Woodland Cemetery, Xenia, Green County, Ohio
Type Value
Father Henry Barnes b. (1814-11-30, Green County, Ohio) d. (1872-12-05, Xenia, Green County, Ohio)
Mother Ruth Linkhart b. (1818-08-02, Green County, Ohio) d. (1888-07-10)
Married 1836-02-01, Green County, Ohio
Type Value
Family Julia Lousia Wright b. (1839-09-12, Ohio) d. (1921-02-16, Green County, Ohio)
Married 1872-12-27
Children 1 Barnes b. (1879-10-31)

Notes

George A. Barnes, furniture dealer, Xenia, Ohio, was born in that city, July 14, 1837. He is a son of Henry and Ruth Barnes, who had a family of thirteen children. George A., the subject of our sketch, was married December 27, 1872, to Miss Julia Ann Wright, daughter of George and Sarah Wright, of Xenia, Ohio. They have a family of five children, two sons and three daughters, Clarence, Anna, Lester, and a pair of twins, Ethel and Ester. He spent his time with his father at the carpentering business until he was twenty-one years of age, and in 1856 he left home and went to Pike’s Peak, and, not liking things there, continued his travels to California, where he remained but a short time. He came back to Salt Lake; and then to Kansas, where he took charge of a mail train. He then resided at St. Joe, Missouri, when he went to Kansas City, Ad thence to Santa Fe, New’ Mexico. While at Salt Lake, his business was with General Percival Smith, as superintendent of supply trains for the government. He then went to Santa Fe, and from there to the Rio Grande, to Texas, and when the first notes of war were sounded he was in New Orleans, and had to make his way overland, as best he could, to Evansville, Indiana, where he enlisted in the first regiment he met, the Twenty-Fourth Indiana, Colonel A. P. Hovey. He went into camp at Vincennes, where he joined Company A, and was mustered in as a private, then promoted to corporal, and in a short time was promoted to duty sergeant. When the regiment was ordered to St. Louis, they joined Fremont, and his company was ordered on duty to guard the first gun-boat built,. the ironclad “.Benton.” He then went with Fremont to West Missouri, where the famous Zagoni charge was made. He was again promoted, to orderly sergeant, and, returning to Jefferson City, Missouri, they took boats for the Tennessee River, and participated in the fight at Fort Donalson, Fort Henry, and Shiloh, where the regiment was assigned to Lew Wallace’s division. He was then promoted to sergeant-major. They then crossed the country to Memphis, arriving in time for the naval engagement, and remained in command of the city for a week; thence to Helena, Arkansas, when they were ordered up White River, to reinforce General Curtis; was in several engagements on White River; then returned to Helena, where he was promoted to captain, and assigned to the First Arkansas regiment, to raise the first colored regiment on the Mississippi River, by order of Adjutant: General Thomas. He was promoted to major of the regiment, which was mustered in as the Forty-Sixth United States Infantry, equipped and in service inside of two weeks, at Lake Providence. It. Was then assigned to Goodrich’s Landing, where one entire company, officers and men, were captured and shot down. He was also in the massacre at Millakin’s Bend, and in three months they had only three hundred and eighty-one left out of one thousand and fifty men. From there they went to Vicksburg, where he was under Sherman ; up the Yazoo, and had a light at Chickasaw Bayou; then returned to Memphis, and took charge of a picket post in 1863 and 1864; thence to New Orleans, where he was made enrolling officer, under General Banks; and from there to Brazos Santiago, on the western coast of Texas; thence up the Rio Grande, and captured the last rebel stronghold. The war being over, he got a leave of absence for six months, and raised a. company of three hundred men called Cortenas’ Guerrillas, who were equipped by the United States, and crossed the river and organized the liberal movement under the ‘great Mexican chief, General Cortenas, at Bagdad, Mexico. They then went to Matamoras, and after a week’s siege captured the entire garrison, consisting of French and Austrian troops. Afterwards the prisoners were sent to Viseconise. When their army gained force sufficient, they went into the interior and through the war until Maxamillian was captured at Queratta, and saw him shot. He afterwards joined his regiment at Brownsville, and from there returned to New Orleans, where he took the yellow fever in 1867, and was compelled to resign on account of ill-health. He returned to Xenia, and was soon appointed superintendent of the county infirmary, which position he held three years, since which time he has been engaged in the furniture business, and has a trade second to none.