‘My Lancashire ancestor fought for President Lincoln’
Ron Bygate’s great grandfather travelled across the Atlantic and rose up through the ranks of the Union Army during the American Civil War
My ancestor was clearly a good soldier. Within a month he was promoted to the rank of corporal
The American Civil War remains the bloodiest conflict in US history. For four long years, the Confederate South locked horns with the Union North in a bitter power struggle over slavery, resulting in the deaths of over 750,000 people.
While most genealogists across the pond will be able to find a Civil War veteran in their family tree, it’s far more unusual for British researchers to find a forebear who served.
One of the exceptions is Ron Bygate, whose great grandfather Paul Caldwell started off life as an ordinary Lancashire lad and rose to became a respected sergeant in President Lincoln’s Army.
“I knew nothing about my ancestor while growing up,” Ron says. “My grandparents and parents never mentioned him.
“However, in the mid-1980s my wife and I went to visit my mother’s cousin, and we mentioned that we were planning a trip to see a friend in the United States. Out of the blue, she said ‘Oh, your great grandfather was in America during the Civil War!’ and went upstairs to fetch a book about his regiment.
“I became fascinated about my ancestor and decided to find out as much information as I could about him.”
Born in 1838 in a village just outside Bolton, Paul Caldwell initially led a typical rural working class existence. Like many other men of his generation, he spent his formative years employed as an agricultural labourer. However, aged just 23, Paul emigrated to the United States.
“I can only assume that he must have got fed up with menial farm work and wanted to leave village life behind,” says Ron. “He sailed from Liverpool and landed on the East Coast in the early part of 1861.”
Shortly after Paul’s arrival, the United States ceased to be united. Incensed by the election of Abraham Lincoln, who sought abolition, a confederacy of slave-owning states launched an attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina, plunging the country into a bitter civil war.
Through records held at the US National Archives, Ron discovered that Paul joined the Union Army in Ohio on 17 April 1861 – just five days after the Fort Sumter attack. It was a brave move for the young Englishman, who was thousands of miles from home.
“Paul was attached to E company of the 20th Ohio Infantry Regiment as a private soldier,” explains Ron. “On 16 August 1861, after four months of basic training, he was transferred to C company of the 31st Ohio Infantry Regiment and garrisoned in Columbus.
“My ancestor was clearly a good soldier. Within a month he was promoted to the rank of corporal and by July 1862 he was a sergeant.”
For two gruelling years, Paul’s regiment marched through Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia, engaging in numerous clashes with the Confederate forces – including the Battle of Stones River, which saw more than 23,000 casualties on both sides.
But the constant fighting ultimately proved too much. By September 1863, Paul was suffering from battle fatigue and forced to withdraw from duty. Despite a brief period of recuperation in Nashville, he was discharged from the Union Army in 1864.
“Unless you were in a cavalry regiment, no forms of army transport existed at the time,” says Ron. “Infantrymen marched around on foot in all sorts of weather, meaning that many died as a result of ill health and disease. It must have been a dreadful experience.”
In 1865, the American Civil War finally came to an end: the Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished and the United States embarked upon a programme of reconstruction.
Paul returned to England, where he found a job at a wagon works in his native Lancashire. He married a widow named Elizabeth Bunting in 1873 and fathered several children, including Ron’s grandmother, Ann.
Every year for the rest of his life, the unlikely war veteran travelled to the American Consulate in Liverpool, where he collected a modest army pension. He died in 1919 and was buried in Newton-le-Willows, close to where Ron lives today.
“I don’t know why I wasn’t told about Paul – perhaps he was the black sheep of the family!” muses Ron. “However, it has been amazing to find out about him. I don’t think anyone else in my family achieved quite as much as he did.” Jon Bauckham RON BYGATE lives in Warrington, Cheshire