Henry G. Rising

Name: Henry G. Rising Company: G Veteran; Musician.
Birth Date: about 1844-1845 Place: Rochester, Ulster County, New York	Mustered In Date: January 20, 1862 Rank: Musician Age: about 17 Residence prior to military service: Rochester, Ulster County, New York; Sparta, Monroe County, Wisconsin; Plainview Township, Wabashaw County, Minnesota
Death Date: September 28, 1916 Place: San Diego area, California Burial: Masonic Cemetery, San Diego, California	Mustered Out Date: September 6, 1865 Rank: Private Age: about 20 Residence following military service: Sparta, Monroe County, Wisconsin (1870); Litchfield area, Minnesota (1871); Tyler, Hope Township, Lincoln County, Minnesota (1880; uncertain); Marshall, Missouri (1890); Faribault area, Rice County, Minnesota (1899); Marion, Grant County, Indiana (January-April 1908); Louisville, Kentucky (1908); Fullbrook Township, San Diego County, California (May 1910); Sawtelle, Los Angeles County, California (June-December 1910); Chula Vista, San Diego County, California (1912, 1916). Vocation following military service: Newspaper Printer/Publisher/Editor

Henry G. Rising Civil War Narrative and Research

Henry Grant Rising was a musician in Company G of the 5th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment, serving under Captain Orlando Eddy (primarily) and Captain John King (for a few months after the Confederates had surrendered). He was mustered in on January 20, 1862, at St. Paul, Minnesota. Along with Company G, he went south in May, where most of the 5th Regiment reported to General John Pope near Corinth, Mississippi on May 24. The 5th Minnesota Regiment participated in a battle at Farmington (May 28, 1862) during the Siege of Corinth (May 26-30, 1862), the Battle of Iuka (September 19, 1862; 5th Minnesota held in reserve), the Battle of Corinth (October 3-4, 1862), Grant's Central Mississippi campaign (November 1862-January 1863), the Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi (May 18-July 4, 1863), and the Red River Campaign (March 10-May 22, 1864).

On February 26, 1864, Rising re-enlisted as a veteran. Credit for his service at the time of re-enlistment was given to Wabasha County. Veterans were given a furlough between June 17 and August 17 that summer, allowing them to return to their homes for a month. Following the veteran's furlough, the 5th Minnesota participated in Mower's Expedition to Brownsville, Arkansas (September 2-10, 1864), the pursuit of Price through Arkansas and Missouri (September 17-November 15, 1864), the Battle of Nashville (December 15-16, 1864), and the Siege of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely near Mobile, Alabama (March 26-April 8, 1865). Henry G. Rising was mustered out with the 5th Minnesota on September 6, 1865, at Demopolis, Alabama.

Henry Rising would apply for and receive a disability pension, suffering from chronic rheumatism and cystitis. He was 5' 7" tall with a dark complexion and blue eyes. His religious affiliation was protestant, and his primary occupation was a printer.

Each company had at least one musician--most commonly a drummer, but also possibly a fifer or bugler. Other musicians in the 5th Minnesota included Michael Fury (Co. G), Maitland Wilcox (Co. G), Charles M. Culver (Co. B), Ezekiel Rose (Co. B, Field & Staff, Principal Musician), Anton Cantieni (Co. E), Henry Ley (Co. E, Field & Staff, Regimental Bugler, Principal Musician), and Jacob Metzgar (Co. F, Field & Staff, Principal Musician), among others. Drummers

Musicians for the company and regiment played a vital communication role. They would sound calls at various times during the day to direct the soldiers' activities. The musicians also led and united the marching of the soldiers. A description of the military service of musicians is found as a caption to the photograph (right) in The Photographic History of the Civil War:

"The rub-a-dub-dub of the drums and the tootle-te-toot of the fifes inspired the Union armies long after there remained in the service but a few of the bands which marched to the front in '61. All the calls from "reveille" to "taps," "assembly," breakfast call, sick call, were rendered by the brave little boys who were as ready to go under fire as the stoutest hearted veteran. Many a time a boy would drop his drum or fife to grab up the gun of a wounded soldier and go in on the firing-line." [The Photographic History of the Civil War in Ten Volumes: Soldier life, secret service. By Francis Trevelyan Miller, Robert Sampson Lanier. Published by The Review of Reviews Co., 1911]

Other document references to Henry G. Rising are scarce and brief, so it is difficult to piece together a biography. The roster of Company G in Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars does not include an age for Henry G. Rising. According to the registers of Disabled Veteran Homes in which Henry later resided, he was born in Rochester (Ulster County), New York. Census and other records suggest a most likely birth year of 1844 or 1845.

The 1860 U.S. Census shows a Harriet B. Rising family living in Sparta, Monroe County, Wisconsin. Harriet was 40 years old, born in New York. She had 4 children: son Henry (age 15, born in New York), daughter Ella (age 12, born in New York), son Eugene (age 6, born in New York), and daughter Ethel B. (age 3, born in New York). Given the ages and birth locations of the children, the family had apparently moved from New York to Wisconsin sometime between 1853 and 1857.

Since Company G was recruited primarily from Wabasha and Dakota counties, and since Wabasha county was credited when Rising re-enlisted, Henry was most likely living in Wabasha County at the time he originally enlisted in Company G. Supporting the idea that Henry Rising resided in Wabasha County, Minnesota, when he enlisted is the 1870 census which shows Henry's mother, Harriet (age 49), and sister, Ella (age 20), living in Plainview Township, Wabasha County, Minnesota. Ella worked as a School Teacher, while Harriet kept house. Meanwhile, Henry was living back in Sparta, Wisconsin, about 25 miles east of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and 80 miles east of Plainview, Minnesota.

In a list of Civil War and Spanish American War Veterans with Meeker Co., MN Connections, H. G. Rising of Company G, 5th Regiment Minnesota is listed as the Editor of the Litchfield (central Minnesota) Republican newspaper in 1871. Nine years later, the 1880 U.S. Census shows Henry G. Rising (age 35) working as an Editor and living in the unincorporated village of Tyler, Hope Township, Lincoln County, Minnesota, about 120 miles southwest of Litchfield. He was married to Alma E. (age 19, keeping house, born in Pennsylvania).

The 1890 Veterans Census shows Henry G. Rising living in Marshall, Missouri. By 1899, Rising had moved to the area of Faribault, Rice County, Minnesota, where he published the Faribault Journal newspaper.

On January 9, 1908, Henry G. Rising was admitted to the Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Marion, Grant County, Indiana. He was released at his own request on April 5 of the same year. The Home records list his "residence subsequent to discharge" as Louisville, Kentucky, where his wife, Eva J. Rising, lived at 209 W. St. Catherine St.

The 1910 U.S. Census (enumerated May 24) shows Henry G. Rising as a boarder living with the George Westfall family on Alverado Street in Fullbrook Township, San Diego County, California. He was age 65 and married for 11 years (second marriage), but his wife is not listed with him. On June 2, 1910, Henry G. Rising once again entered a Home for Disabled Volunteers, this time in Sawtelle, Los Angeles County, California. He was discharged on December 30, 1910, again at his own request.

Voter registration records show Henry G. Rising as a Republican with the occupation of "publisher" in the Chula Vista precinct of San Diego county, California, for the years 1912 and 1916.

Henry G. Rising died September 28, 1916, and was buried in Masonic Cemetery, San Diego, California.

Other possible references to Henry G. Rising of Company G include:

A Henry G. Rising is listed as a County Superintendent for Pope County in the Minnesota Teacher and Journal of Education, January 1873, p. 265. His post office is listed as Glenwood.
According to an online index of La Crosse [Wisconsin] area newspaper articles by James R. Prucha, a Lottie Thompson married a Henry G. Rising [p. 17; Vol. 20, No. 1, February 1998]. The date of the marriage is not yet known.

Links about the role of musicians and drummers in the Civil War:

The Drummer Boy - A Poetry Lesson Plan - from Michigan History, Arts and Libraries
Civil War Drummer Boys - Photo from Old Pictures web site
Military Drum Calls from A New, Useful and Complete System of Drum Beating by Charles Stewart Ashworth (Boston, 1812)

Links about the National Home for Disabled Volunteers:

National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers Wikipedia Article
National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (part of Marion, Indiana, Wikipedia Article)
Sawtelle Veterans Home Wikipedia Article
Pictures of Sawtelle and the Veterans Hospital

[5th Minnesota Home] [Company G] [Tim Bode] [Tim Bode's Music Page]

This page is maintained by Tim Bode (timbode@juno.com ). Page created on 6/14/09. Last modified on 7/27/09.