67th Ohio Volunteer Infantry · Co. C · Holmes County, Ohio
William D. Wallick
Private · Died of Disease · February 26, 1862 · The Youngest Wallick Soldier
Regiment
67th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Co. C
Rank
Private
Enlisted
December 26, 1861 · Holmes County, OH
Mustered In
January 2, 1862 · Camp Chase, Columbus
Service Time
2 months
Born
1845/46 · Holmes County, Ohio
Age at Enlistment
18 (possibly 16–17)
Occupation
Farmer
Physical Description
5′ 5″ · Light hair · Gray eyes · Occupation: Farmer
Died of Disease
Measles · Cumberland, Maryland · February 26, 1862 · Buried as Unknown, Antietam National Cemetery
Family Lineage
Son of Michael · son of John Sr. · son of "Bedford County" Michael · son of Hans Michael and Esther Wallick
The Shortest Biography — A Boy Soldier Gone Too Soon
It is truly unfortunate that William D. Wallick will have the shortest biography of all the Wallick soldiers. He only served two months before passing away February 26, 1862, in an army hospital at Cumberland, Maryland. It also appears that he was the youngest Wallick to have ever served in the Union Army. Conflicting records indicate that he could have been as young as sixteen but certainly no more than seventeen years old when he signed his enlistment papers. The National Archives state his age as eighteen years old but considering all the other genealogical evidence, that seems unlikely.
William joined the army the day after Christmas, 1861, following cousin Henry M. Wallick into the 67th Ohio Infantry — he was actually a first cousin, once removed. Henry was five or six years older than his young cousin and a 2nd Lieutenant in the new company of soldiers from Holmes County. Perhaps this influenced the family's decision to let William enlist. The two families could draw comfort from the fact that their sons would be serving together in the same company and could look after each other. The irony is that neither William nor Henry would survive the war.
Charles Wallick, William's older brother by three years, had enlisted in the 16th Ohio Infantry in September 1861. It must have pained young William very much to watch his older brother shoulder arms and parade off into military glory while he had to stay home and clean out the barn. Though underage, he was determined not to miss this opportunity of a lifetime. Stretching one's age was done quite often by new recruits and it appears this is exactly what William did.
Disease: The Real Killer of the Civil War
Many new recruits, such as William, came from isolated rural farming communities and had little exposure to what we now consider "childhood diseases" like measles, mumps, and chicken pox. This made them very susceptible to sickness in general. The miracle drug aspirin was years away from development, so the simplest fever was a serious threat. The real life-threatening danger to a Civil War soldier — by a margin of two-to-one — was camp life, not the battlefield. Whereas approximately 200,000 men died in combat during the war, 400,000 were laid waste by disease. Unfortunately, William was one of them.
Service Record · 1861–1862
William D. Wallick with the 67th Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Dec 26, 1861
Jan 2, 1862
Jan 19, 1862
February 1862
Feb 26, 1862
Antietam National Cemetery — Buried as an Unknown
The Official Roster of Soldiers from the State of Ohio in The War of the Rebellion, 1861–1865, Roll of Honor lists William D. Wallick as buried in Antietam National Cemetery, Sharpsburg, Maryland. Obviously, he did not fight in the September 1862 Battle of Antietam, for he died nine months before that engagement ever began. But the soldiers who were killed at that battle are not the only ones buried in the national cemetery. Many other soldiers who died and were buried in the surrounding countryside were moved to Antietam after the war.
Identification was a real problem during the American Civil War and Antietam has numerous soldiers buried as "Unknown." A total of 4,776 soldiers are interred at Antietam National Cemetery; one-third of them are unidentified. Dog tags were not used by either side during the war. When fierce battles were anticipated, soldiers often wrote their names on pieces of paper and pinned them to their clothing so they could be identified if they were killed.
When there was a major battle with many casualties, the army didn't have time to collect all the dead and transport them to national cemeteries. The fallen were often buried on the battlefield to be re-interred later. The same was true with those who died in hospitals when relatives were unable to claim the bodies. William D. Wallick appears to be just such a case in point. Some soldiers who died at Cumberland hospital were later moved to Antietam National Cemetery. All indications are that William was one of those moved.
But if William was buried at Antietam National Cemetery, why is he not identified in the interment records? The obvious answer is that his identification must have been lost when he was first buried or when his body was later moved. Grave markers at hospital cemeteries were not intended to be permanent, and one can imagine the problems of transporting hundreds of bodies across many miles to be re-interred. Burial details in Civil War armies were known to be careless and haphazard in their duty, especially after a battle when quick interment was a priority. The labor provided for this gruesome work was not always done by military personnel, but also by hired civilians or ex-slaves. The opportunity for losing a soldier's identity was great.
Although the mammoth twelve-volume Official Roster of Soldiers from the State of Ohio is far from perfect in all its documentation, for lack of any other evidence this author accepts, as fact, that William D. Wallick is buried in Antietam National Cemetery at Sharpsburg, Maryland, as an unknown.
