Soldier Information
Name: Washington Herndon
Alias:
Place of Birth: Warren KY Year of Birth: 1843
Occupation: Farmer
Eyes: Black Hair: Black Complexion: Black
Height in Feet: 5 Inches: 9 1/2
Enlistment Information
Enlistment Date: September 12, 1864
Enlistment Place: Bowling Green
Enlistment State: KY
Compiled Military Service Record
Document: View
Congressional District: 3
Company: G Regiment(s): 115th Regt USCI
Mustered Where: Bowling Green, KY (Warren County)
Mustered Out Date: February 10, 1866
Rank at Muster Out: Corporal
Notes:
On September 12, 1864, Washington Herndon enlisted at Bowling Green, Kentucky (Warren County). He was mustered in as a corporal on the same day as when he enlisted. His CMSR noted that he owed service to his enslaver, Edward Temple Herndon (1844-1916). Washington Herndon was described as having black eyes, black hair, and a black complexion. He stood 5’ 9 ½” tall. In September/October 1865, he owed 95 cents for a haversack. In September 1865, he was reported as “sick” [chronic diarrhea] and in the Army hospital in Indianola, Texas, and returned to duty on October 19, 1865 (CMSR page 15). His last reported pay was on December 31, 1865. Corporal Herndon was mustered out with his company on February 10, 1866 in Indianola, Texas. At the time, he was owed $31.05 from his clothing account. After he was mustered out, Herndon and others in Co. G 115th USCI, boarded a steamboat heading for New Orleans and then northward to Louisville, Kentucky via the Mississippi River and eventually, the Ohio River. In Louisville, they were to be officially discharged and receive their final paychecks. But Corporal Herndon died before he reached Louisville. Conflicting accounts of Herndon’s death can be found in both his CMSR and in his widow’s pension file. A CMSR “War Department” document dated November 5, 1866 stated that it was “known” that Herndon mustered out at Indianola with the rest of Co. G 115th USCI. But it further stated that, “It is also known that by the records that the soldier died while enroute from Texas to Louisville, Ky., subsequent to muster out but before final payment [and discharge]” (CMSR page 17). The date of his death and exact location were described as “unknown” in the CMSR. Information regarding Herndon’s death was also found in the widow’s pension file, however, those additional details but were based on faulty recollections regarding Herndon’s death date and location. Corporal Herndon died on February 22, 1866, while aboard the steamer “Indiana,” on the Mississippi River, near Port Hudson, Louisiana. NOTE: Although Herndon was a Corporal from his mustering in date, some CMSR pages incorrectly listed his rank as a Private.
Soldier Death Information
Died in war? Yes
Military Death Date: February 22, 1866
Military Death Location: Port Hudson, Louisiana (East Baton Rouge Parish)
Military Cause of Death: Chronic diarrhea/fever
Death Date: February 22, 1866
Cause of Death: Chronic diarrhea/fever
Soldier Pension Information
No pension card found
Widow Pension Information
Widow Pension Card: Pension Card
Widow Application Date: April 2, 1866
Application No.: 124.471 Certificate No.: 115.796
Other Family Pension Information
Pension Card Link:
Application Date:
Application No.: Certificate No.:
Pension File Information
Pension File: Pension File
Pensioners: Sarah Davis
Pensioner County: Warren Pensioner State: KY
Number of Pages:18
Pension Notes:
Washington Herndon’s widow, Sarah Davis Herndon (1842-not before 1866) applied for a widow’s pension on April 2, 1866. Washington and Sarah Herndon were married for less than a year when he enlisted and they had no children. She was granted a widow’s pension at a rate of $8 per month. Her pension benefits, ended, however, on September 15, 1866 when she married William Proctor (1844-not before 1880). The lack of children from her marriage to Herndon, and her remarriage just months after her pension application was processed, may explain why the widow’s pension file was only 18-pages long. Despite its short length, the widow’s pension file did yield some important information about Washington Herndon’s life and death. For example, Sergeant Squire Crowdus and Corporal Edward Mahan (both born in Simpson County, Kentucky), served with Herndon in the 115th USCI, and provided testimony regarding Herndon’s death onboard the steamship “Indiana” (widow’s pension file page 17). They said that prior to their enlistment, that they knew Washington Herndon. Mahan and Crowdus described him was a “stout” and hearty man and Herndon died of a fever on a riverboat headed for Louisville, Kentucky. Crowdus said that they took Herndon’s “corpse” off the boat and buried him at Port Hudson and on the Ohio River. Crowdus’s testimony, however, was incorrect. Port Hudson is not on the Ohio River. It is located on the Mississippi River in East Baton Rouge Parish in Louisiana. Crowdus and Mahan gave Herndon’s date of death as March 1, 1866, but that too was incorrect. The “Indiana,” the riverboat that carried Herndon, Crowdus, and Mahan up the Mississippi River, arrived at Vicksburg, Mississippi by February 25, 1866. Vicksburg is located about 130 miles north of Port Hudson. The “Indiana” docked at Vicksburg three days after Corporal Herndon died. Another inconsistency in the pension file was the date of Washington Herndon’s and Sarah Davis’s marriage. Crowdus and Mahan stated that “[Washington Herndon] and Sarah Herndon lived together as man and wife for many years….” That recollection may have been an exaggeration, especially since the Sarah was only 20-years old in 1864. According to Sarah Herndon’s statement, she married Washington Herndon on May 1864, in Auburn, Kentucky (Logan County), about four months prior to his enlistment in the 115th USCI.
Freedman’s Bank/Freedmen’s Bureau Information
No Freedman’s Bank information found
No Freedmen’s Bureau Documents found
Family Information
Mother First Name: Mother Maiden Name:
Father First Name: Father Last Name:
Siblings:
Wife #1 First Name: Sarah Maiden Name: Davis
Wife #2 First Name: Maiden Name:
Wife #3 First Name: Maiden Name:
Children:
Family Notes:
According to the widow’s pension file, Washington Herndon and Sarah Davis were married in Auburn, Kentucky (Logan County) in May 1864. Sarah’s maiden name appeared in the widow’s pension file in several forms, including variants of “McLay” (McCay, McClearly, McLean, etc). Davis, however, appeared more frequently as Sarah’s maiden name. The marriage ceremony was performed by Willis McLean, “preacher of the gospel,” which provides some indication that the “McLean” family may have had a close connection to Sarah Davis. More research is needed to determine if any such link exists. On September 15, 1866, about five months after Sarah Herndon applied for her widow’s pension, she married William Proctor (1844-not before 1880) in Warren County, Kentucky. After Sarah’s marriage to William Proctor (whose surname also appeared as “Procter”), she vanished from the record. William Proctor was enumerated in the 1880 Census as a “widower” and a boarder (day laborer) living in the household of Sarah Nicoll (1840-unknown) in Woodburn, Kentucky (Warren County). William Proctor disappeared from the record after the 1880 Census. No further information was found for Sarah or William Proctor.
Family Tree:
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1870 Census
1870 Census information not found
1880 Census
1880 Census information not found
1890 Census
1890 Census information not found
1900 Census
1900 Census information not found
1910 Census
1910 Census information not found
1920 Census
1920 Census information not found
Enslaver Information
Name: Edward Temple Herndon Location:
Previous Enslaver: Nancy Walker Herndon
Enslaver Notes:
Enslaver Edward Temple Herndon (1844-1909) was not listed as an enslaver in either the 1850 or 1860 Slave Schedules. It is most likely that Washington Herndon was first enslaved by E. T. Herndon’s father, John W. Herndon (1785-1858), and then by his widowed mother, Nancy Walker Herndon (1798-1888). The Herndon family lived in the Rockfield community of Warren County, Kentucky, about eight miles southwest of Bowling Green. In 1850, J. W. Herndon enslaved 20 persons, two of whom were good matches for Washington Herndon. In 1860, his widow, Nancy Walker Herndon, enslaved 10 persons, one of whom was a possible match for Washington Herndon. The 1858 Last Will & Testament for John W. Herndon was long and detailed regarding the dispersal of his land and property. His widow, Nancy W. Herndon, received all his land for use during her lifetime plus enslaved persons named, “…my boys Pleasant, Dick and Jack, also, Viney, Inez and Ann…” He left land to his children to be “charged” to the estate including 280 acres to son E. T. Herndon. He made specific wishes regarding other enslaved persons. “It is also my will and testament that my two aged servants Isaiah and Silby, be permitted to choose them a home among my children and that the child with whom they may elect to live shall not in any wise be charged by my estate for the same.” Herndon’s daughter Anne Thompson was to inherit “my Negro girl Angeline….” There was no mention of an enslaved person named Washington in the document. After the death of his father, E. T. Herndon was enumerated in his mother’s Warren County household from 1860 through 1880. In 1860, Nancy W. Herndon owned $4,000 in real estate and $$7,915 in property, while her son, E. T. Herndon owned no real estate or property. In 1870, E. T. Herndon owned $11,400 in real estate and $200 in property. His widowed mother, Nancy W. Herndon owned no real estate in 1870 but had $600 in property. E. T. Herndon died in Warren County in 1909. He never married and had no immediate survivors.
1850 Enslaver Census
1850 Census Link: View
1850 Slave Schedule Link: View
1850 Number of Enslaved: 20
1860 Enslaver Census
1860 Census Link: View
1860 Real Estate Value: $4,000 1860 Personal Estate Value: $7,915
1860 Slave Schedule Link: View
1860 Number of Enslaved: 10
1870 Enslaver Census
1870 Census Link: View
1870 Real Estate Value: $11,400 1870 Personal Estate Value: $200
1880 Enslaver Census
Compensation Information
Compensation Application not found