Ebenezer A. Rice

Name: Ebenezer A. Rice Company: F Promoted Major Second Minnesota Cavalry.
Birth Date: September 1820 Place: New Hampshire	Mustered In Date: March 24, 1862 Rank: Captain Age: 42 Residence prior to military service: New Hampshire; Wilton Township, Waseca County, Minnesota (1860) Vocation prior to military service: Farmer
Death Date: after 1910	Mustered Out Date: December 5, 1865 Rank: Major Age: 45 Residence following military service: Walcott Township, Rice County, Minnesota (1870); Troy, Pipestone County, Minnesota (1880); Pipestone, Pipestone County, Minnesota (1889, 1900); Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota (1910) Vocation following military service: Farmer (1870, 1880); Postmaster (1889)

Ebenezer A. Rice Biography and Civil War Narrative

Ebenezer A. Rice was born September 1820 in New Hampshire. He married Jane J., born about 1820 in New Hampshire. While still living in New Hampshire, Ebenezer and Jane had a son George F. (born about 1847) and a daughter Orinda H. (born about 1854). By 1860 the Rice family had moved to Wilton Township, Waseca County, Minnesota, where Ebenezer worked as a farmer. Another daughter, Josephine, was born about 1861 in Minnesota.

On March 24, 1862, 42-year-old Ebenezer A. Rice enlisted in Company F and served as its first Captain. Ebenezer's 16-year-old son, George, also enlisted as a musician. With Rice as Captain, Company F performed its military duty in the Siege of Corinth, Mississippi (May 26-30, 1862), the Battle of Iuka (September 19, 1862), the Battle of Corinth, Mississippi (October 3-4, 1862), Grant's Central Mississippi Campaign (November 1862 to January 1863), and the Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi (May 18-July 4, 1863). The Captain's son George was discharged for disability on April 30, 1863.

On January 12, 1864, Ebenezer Rice was promoted to Major of the Second Minnesota Regiment of Cavalry at age 44. Late in May 1864, the Second Cavalry left Fort Snelling to rendezvous at Fort Sully on the Missouri River. They participated in the Battle of Ta-Ha-Kouty Mountain on July 28, 1864. They participated in action at Two Hills, Bad Lands, Little Missouri River, August 8 to 9, 1864, and in the rescue of Fisk's Emigrant train, September 10 to 30,1864. They returned to Minnesota arriving at Fort Ridgely on October 8, 1864. Rice was mustered out on December 5, 1865.

Ebenezer and his wife and two daughters lived in Walcott Township, Rice County, Minnesota, in 1870, where they farmed. By 1880 they had moved to Troy, Pipestone County, Minnesota. Between 1880 and 1900, Ebenezer's wife Jane died. In 1900 he lived with his daughter, Josephine, now age 39 and married to 53-year-old Franklin Plank. In 1910, 90-year-old Ebenezer continued to live with Franklin and Josephine, who now resided in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota.

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