Marcus Remus Canfield, (USA)

From "Company F's Father Figure," Civil War Times August 1997, by William G. Chrystal.

Name: Marcus Remus Canfield

Dates: August 23, 1824 to December 4, 1903

Allegiance: Union

Highest Rank: Corporal

Unit: 27th Massachusetts Infantry, Company F

Service Record: Enlisted on September 14, 1861. Mustered in on September 20 at Camp Reed, Springfield, Mass. Promoted to corporal on October 1. Assigned as a nurse to Hammond General Hospital, Beaufort, North Carolina, on January 1, 1863. Discharged on August 5, 1864, and reenlisted on September 1 at Fortress Monroe, Virginia. Discharged on December 4, 1865.

BY CONTEMPORARY STANDARDS 37-YEAR-OLD Marcus Remus Canfield was fairly old when he enlisted in the Union army late in the summer of 1861. He fought valiantly for the next four years, but it was not for any battlefield heroism that his fellow soldiers remembered him. To them, some of whom were little more than half his age, it was Canfield's caring nature that mattered most. He was their surrogate father.

Canfield enlisted in his hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on September 14, 1861, and less than a week later he was mustered into the 27th Massachusetts Infantry's Company F at Camp Reed in Springfield. The respect his younger comrades held for him led to a promotion to corporal on October 1. On February 8, 1862, Canfield was part of a 15,000 man force under Major General Ambrose E. Burnside that made an amphibious landing on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, under heavy enemy fire and captured the island and 2,500 Confederate soldiers. From there, the Union troops traveled to the mainland and captured New Berne on March 14.

Weakened by rheumatism, Canfield remained in North Carolina after Burnside's expedition. After he recuperated he was detailed as a nurse at Hammond General Hospital in Beaufort on January 1, 1863. When his three-year enlistment expired, Canfield reenlisted on September 1, 1864, as a hospital steward at Fortress Monroe, Virginia. He was serving there when Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his private secretary, Burton Harrison, were brought to the fort as prisoners after their May 1865 capture in Georgia. According to his discharge certificate, Canfield "had the management of their rations." He remained at Fortress Monroe until his discharge on December 4, 1865. [Photograph discussion omitted.]

After the war Canfield returned to Massachusetts, worked as a bookkeeper, and served for many years as the adjutant of Post 125 of the Grand Army of the Republic. The men who served with him always remembered him as a gentle, caring man. Daniel Bates of Company F recalled Canfield's "care of men...and others of Co. F, when they were sick and in distress." In a letter to Canfield in August 1899, Bates wrote, "Although you may have forgotten the many kindly acts and services that you conferred on the boys of the Company, you may rest assured that the boys of '61 have a good memory and still have a kind regard, appreciation and filial affection for yourself." Canfield died on December 4, 1903, in Pittsfield.

Birth:
Aug. 23, 1824 New Marlborough Berkshire County Massachusetts, USA

Death: Dec. 4, 1903 Pittsfield Berkshire County Massachusetts, USA

m1..Ellen Jeanette Lebaron (1826-1851) m...10 Nov 1846 mp..Sheffield, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts, USA ....Children: 2; Ellen (1846- ) and Henry (1849- )

m2..Margaret Amelia Meachem (1834-1926) m...24 Apr 1852 mp..Sheffield, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts, USA ....Children: 4; Ellen (1853-1931), Raymond (1856-1925), Homer (1858-1942), and Clara (1875-1962)

Military:

14 Sep 1861-5 Aug 1864 Co. F Mass 27th Inf Reg

Family links:

Parents:

 Gideon Canfield (1776 - 1847)

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Canfield&GSfn...

 Ruth Norton Canfield (1777 - 1861)

Spouse:

 Margaret Amelia Meachem Canfield (1834 - 1926)

Children:

 Homer Wells Canfield (1858 - 1942)*

*Calculated relationship

Note: bu..7 Dec 1903

Burial: Pittsfield Cemetery Pittsfield Berkshire County Massachusetts, USA