Civil War Pension File
Louis Tank is an immigrant ancestor of my husband on his mother’s side. He lived most of his life in Michigan and was an American Civil War veteran. He has proved somewhat difficult to track down. He is found on several census records, birth and death records for his children, and his marriage record, but there is a lot of missing information that I have been unable to find after years of searching. After exhausting the resources online, I took a chance and ordered his military pension record from the National Archives. The file was well worth the money spent as it gave quite a lot of information on his life and his time in the military.
Louis F Tank was born in Demmin, a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in north-eastern Germany, on 10 April 1835. His name in the birth register at his local church was Karl Heinrich Friedrich Ludwig Tanck. Louis grew up in Germany as “Ludwig” and immigrated to the US in about 1856. While I have yet to find a passenger list for his arrival or departure, Louis reported the 1855/1856 dates on 2 census records and his sister Lisette arrived in the US in August of 1856.
After arrival in the US, it seems that the Tank siblings spent some time in the Chicago area. Lisette married in about 1857, probably in the Chicago area, and was living in Cook County, Illinois in 1860 with her husband, Christian Fricke, and their oldest 2 sons. Louis was a mason and by 1860 he was living in Pentwater, Michigan in a boarding house with other laborers. Louis explains in a letter in his military pension file that he found a job at a store when he first arrived in the US. There was another man named Ludwig on the payroll and so the store manager listed him as “Louis” in the books and so he became known as Louis in daily life. After the American Civil War broke out, Louis enlisted at Chicago in Company L of the 8th Illinois Cavalry.
Louis enlisted on 3 February 1864 and was mustered out 17 July 1865 after the end of the war. Louis was listed as 21 years old and 5 feet 6 inches tall at the time of his enlistment. He was said to have a dark complexion with dark brown or black hair and blue eyes. The 8th Illinois Cavalry was known as the Army of the Potomac and were famously at Gettysburg and were well known for being scouts and spies. Louis would have been on scouting patrol around Washington D.C, and Fairfax, Virginia. The 8th was involved in several conflicts with John Mosby’s Rangers and the Black Horse Cavalry. They were also involved in the hunt for John Wilkes Booth after the Lincoln assassination and some members were part of the honor guard for Lincoln as he lay in state at the Capitol and as his body was transported to Springfield, Illinois for burial. The 8th lost 75 men in battle and 175 men from disease through the course of the war.
It was possibly on one of these scouting missions in August or September 1864 that Louis was thrown when his horse slipped and fell while crossing the Potomac River at night. Louis was moving with other men from near the Muddy Branch toward Georgetown. The Potomac River was swollen from heavy rain and Louis’s horse got its foot caught between the rocks and went down on top of him while attempting to cross. Another member of Louis’ unit had to pull the horse up off of him. Louis spent the better part of a week in the Regimental Hospital with an injury to his left side beneath the rib cage – an injury that would plague him the rest of his life.
After the war, Louis moved back to Michigan and lived for a time with his sister Lisette and her growing family in Weare. Also in the home in 1870 is Charles Blank who was listed as a farmer. Louis married Frederike Conklin (born Frederike Marie Sophie Kunkel) on 22 November 1872 in Pentwater, Michigan. Frederike was 20 years his junior. In 1880 the family was living in Pentwater with 4 children next door to Frederike’s brother Charles and his family. Meanwhile, in Weare, Charles Blank is now living next door to Lisette with his new wife Christina, who happens to be Frederike Tank’s mother.
By April 1883, Louis filed for his invalid pension for his time served in the military during the Civil War. He claimed partial disability due to his injury. He wrote a request for pension with a description of the events that happened to cause the injury and stated that he did not know how to reach any witnesses to the accident. Louis stated that his commanding officer was killed on the Mississippi River in 1865 and that the doctor who originally treated him after the war had since died as well. Louis included an affidavit by a new doctor and a sworn statement from Charles Blank who said that he had been acquainted with Louis before the war and since the war had regularly interacted with him since he “lived about 80 rods from him”. Charles said that Louis had worked for him helping on the farm since about 1878 and that Charles had known Louis to be bed ridden for 1 to 2 weeks at a time from the pain in his side. He said that Louis was able bodied before the war.
Christian Fricke also provided a statement to the effect that he had known Louis since 1858 and that from the years 1866 to 1869 Louis worked in the lumber business with him. During that time, according to Fricke, Louis would frequently have to quit work from “pain in the breast and rheumatism contracted while in the service of the war of the Rebellion”. Fricke goes on to report that from 1869 to 1878, Louis worked for him and was “laid up” for 2 to 3 weeks at a time and could probably only do about half the work of the average man.
In all, Louis spent 8 years trying to convince the army to grant him an invalid pension. His first application was in April 1883 and his pension was granted in August 1891 for $8.00 per month. Louis sent 8 different physician’s exams during that time and 6 affidavits from people who knew him in his attempt to prove he was disabled. Louis also wrote a personal letter to the Commissioner of Pensions imploring him to reconsider his pension allowance. Louis wrote, “Please. I wish you would look after my claim and my evidences and if I have not put in enough to allow a pension – if I have not put in enough – please let me know what more I could do. I have been sickly all this season and could do hardly no work and I am in very much need of it.”
Louis and Frederike had 9 children at home by 1891 and Louis immediately applied for an increase in his pension after the first pension was granted. His application for an increase was rejected in October 1891. Louis and Frederike had their last known child in 1893. In 1897, a Diphtheria outbreak hit Pentwater and the Tanks lost their 3 youngest children and their oldest daughter in the span of 2 weeks.
Louis was granted an increase to $10 per month in 1903 after 2 more physician’s exams and another affidavit from Louis again explaining his condition. Louis received subsequent increases to his pension in 1904, 1907, and 1910 due to acts of Congress increasing the pension entitlements based on the age of the veteran.
Louis and Frederike moved from Michigan to Oshkosh, Wisconsin in about 1904 with their family. In 1910, the US Federal Census records the family living with Louis still as head and sons John, Henry, and Chris still at home. Also living in the home in 1910 is Frederike’s brother William Conklin. Louis does not list any profession but “own income” is recorded under the occupation heading. Louis was receiving $20 per month as his pension at that point in time. I am assuming that the three sons, listed as employed in the local planing mill, were combining resources to allow their parents to maintain their home. Louis died on 24 August 1911 in Oshkosh but his body was shipped back to Michigan where he was laid to rest with his children in the Pentwater Township Cemetery.
After Louis died, Frederike applied for a widow’s pension. Her pension process was somewhat smoother than it was for Louis. She had to submit her marriage certificate, birth information from the church in Mecklenburg where she was baptized, and 6 affidavits from people who had known both Frederike and Louis for as long as possible. She was awarded a $12 per month pension in 1912. In 1930, her pension was increased to $40 per month because she was over 70 years of age. Frederike died 15 March 1940 at the age of 84.
Louis’ pension record and military service file offered so much new information and contained so many details about his life that I didn’t have before. Louis still has some mysteries that I need to solve. I have yet to find his immigration/emigration information, I have not located the family on the 1900 US Census, and I have been unable to find his naturalization paperwork anywhere. As is usually the case, solving 1 mystery creates several more. I will continue digging!
Pro Tip: Order your NARA records from Gopher Records! They are less expensive and MUCH faster than NARA’s service.
WitzEnd Family History 