5th Minnesota Battle Flag Amos E. Barber

Name: Amos E. Barber
Company: H
Veteran.
Birth
  • Date:  about 1843
  • Place: Wisconsin
 Mustered In
  • Date: December 24, 1861
  • Rank: Private
  • Age: 18
  • Residence prior to military service: Wisconsin; Gilford Township, Wabasha County, Minnesota
  • Vocation prior to military service: Farm Laborer
Death
  • Date: August 16, 1920
  • Place: at the home of his step-son, J. R. Jenkins
  • Burial: Long Prairie, Todd County, Minnesota
 Mustered Out
  • Date: September 6, 1865
  • Rank: Private
  • Age: about 22
  • Residence following military service: Iowa; Burnhamville Township, Todd County, Minnesota; Long Prairie, Todd County, Minnesota
  • Vocation following military service: Farmer; Mail Carrier

Amos E. Barber Biography and Civil War Narrative

Amos E. Barber was born about 1843 in Wisconsin, the son of John and Sallie Barber. John was born about 1814 in Vermont, and Sally was born about 1822 in Ohio. Amos had an older brother James who was born in Michigan about 1841. After the John Barber family moved from Michigan to Wisconsin, a second son Charles was born about 1842. Charles died from a ruptured blood vessel some time before 1860. After Amos was born, four more sons were born in Wisconsin. The family moved to Minnesota in 1856, and son Nathan was born in Minnesota.

In 1860, the U.S. census shows the John Barber family living in Gilford Township, Wabasha County, Minnesota. Members of the family included:
 On Tuesday, December 24, 1861, Amos E. Barber enlisted as a Private in Company H of the 5th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Barber and most of the 5th Minnesota were sent south in mid May, reporting to General John Pope near Corinth, Mississippi, on Saturday, May 24. The Battle of Shiloh had been fought just across the Tennessee border on April 6-7, and the Minnesota boys joined the Union forces who were carefully approaching the Confederate-held city of Corinth. The following Wednesday, the newly arrived 5th Minnesota engaged the enemy at Farmington, Mississippi. On May 29th, the Confederate Army feigned preparations to attack, but during the night they abandoned the city of Corinth and withdrew to Tupelo, Mississippi.

On October 3-4, 1862, the 5th Minnesota participated in the Battle of Corinth under General William S. Rosecrans. Led by Major General Earl Van Dorn, the Confederates attacked from the northwest on Friday, October 3. The Fifth Minnesota was about 4 miles southeast of town guarding a bridge across Tuscumbia Creek. That day's fighting forced the Union Army back from their positions outside of town into trenches immediately surrounding the town of Corinth itself. The 5th Minnesota--under the cover of darkness--was also commanded to advance into town to assist Davies. Arriving at their new position on the northwest of town, they formed a line facing westward on the Mobile and Ohio railway and bivouacked for the short night. The Union troops were called to battle early on Saturday morning by pre-dawn rebel cannon fire. The first shot was "a shell from a rebel Parrott gun [which] exploded not a dozen feet from where the colors of the Fifth Regiment lay firmly grasped by its ever-vigilant though now sleeping guard" [Hubbard, Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars, Volume 1, p. 262.]. The general assult by the Confederates began about 11:00 am. The rebels pierced the Union right and poured into the streets of Corinth, but the Fifth Minnesota attacked the flank of the intruders with a blazing crossfire that turned them back. Van Dorn's army eventually retreated and Amos and the Fifth Minnesota joined in pursuing them to Ripley, Mississippi, before returning to Corinth.

The following spring, the Fifth Minnesota was sent south and west to Confederate-held Vicksburg, Mississippi, to assist in General Grant's Bayou Operations and the Siege of Vicksburg. They were attached to Mower's 2nd Brigade in Tuttle's 3rd Division of the 15th Army Corps (Sherman) in the Army of the Tennessee (Grant). The Siege of Vicksburg started on Monday, May 18, 1863. During the course of the Vicksburg Campaign, the Fifth Minnesota participated in work on the Duckport Canal to the west northwest of Vicksburg (early April); a demonstration on Haines and Drumgould's Bluff to the north of Vicksburg (April 29 to May 2); the Battle of Mississippi Springs, Mississippi (Wednesday, May 13); the second assault on Vicksburg (Friday, May 22); an expedition to Sartaria (Thursday, June 4) and Mechanicsburg (Saturday, June 6), Mississippi; and an expedition to Richmond, Louisiana (Monday, June 15). When Vicksburg finally surrendered on Saturday, July 4, some of the 5th Minnesota Regiment, including Private Barber, were among the first to enter and inspect the fallen city.

From March 10 to May 22, 1864, the 5th Minnesota participated in the Red River Expedition, a union initiative under the command of General Nathaniel P. Banks. The "apparent purpose" of the campaign was to destroy the army led by Confederate General Richard Taylor whose headquarters were located in Shreveport, Louisiana, in the northwest part of the state. About 15,000 troops under the command of A.J. Smith's 16th Corps were transported to Simmesport, Louisiana, where they disembarked on Saturday, March 12. On Monday, March 14, the Union Army assaulted and took Fort De Russy, described by Colonel Lucius F. Hubbard as "a casemated battery that commanded and blockaded the river." After being transported up the Red River to Alexandria, Louisiana, the 5th Minnesota awaited the arrival of Banks' 20,000 troops, marching the 200 miles from New Orleans. While waiting, they captured a rebel battery at Henderson Hill on Monday, March 21st. After Banks and his men arrived at Alexandria on Friday the 25th, they continued northwest along the Red River toward Shreveport, Louisiana. On Saturday, April 9, they fought the Battle of Pleasant Hill, the Union line holding its position until the Confederates retreated. Early the following morning, General Banks ordered his entire army to retreat to Grand Ecore, abandoning the objective of reaching and taking Shreveport. During the remaining six weeks of the campaign, the Fifth Minnesota frequently engaged in skirmishes while serving as the rear guard of the Union Army. They arrived at Bayou De Glaise, Louisiana on May 18, and were transported to Vicksburg on May 22-24.

According to the Todd County Histories, following the Red River Campaign Amos Barber was sent to southern Mississippi where he was at the end of the war. Private Barber was mustered out with the regiment on September 6, 1865. After the war, Amos returned to Minnesota. He married Susan Jenkinson at Waterloo, Iowa. Susan was born about 1843-1844 in New York. Three children were born to Amos and Susan, all in Iowa: daughter Eva V. (born August 1872), son Harry E. (born about 1873-74), and son Nathan C. (born April 1878).

By the time of the 1880 census, Amos, Susan, and their children (ages 7, 6, & 2) had moved to Burnhamville Township, Todd County, Minnesota. Amos worked as a farmer. Amos's mother, Sally, and his brothers, James, Francis, George, and Nathan, were also living in Burnhamville Township in 1880. His father, John, had died in 1872.

On March 24, 1894, Amos's mother, Sally Barber, died from cancer in Burnhamville, Minnesota, at the age of 72 years. About 1896, Amos and Susan's daughter Eva married Jay H. Perkins, born January 1873 in Minnesota. The 1900 U.S. Census possibly shows Amos and Susan Barber living on Oak Street in Long Prairie, Todd County, Minnesota. Boarding with them is a 70-year-old German-born widower. That same year, daughter Eva lived and farmed with her husband and two sons in Burnhamville. Also living with them was Eva's brother Nathan, age 22, and working as a farmer.

In 1910, 66-year-old Amos worked as an R.F.D. Mail Carrier. The census records show them living in Long Prairie Village, having been married 48 years. Susan Barber died February 10, 1916, in Todd County. Amos E. Barber died 4 1/2 years later on August 16, 1920, at about the age of 77. He was buried at Long Prairie, Todd County, Minnesota.



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