Memorial Day Remembrance: Gideon Mellen

Gideon Mellen was a corporal in Company E of the 58th Illinios Infantry.  He is also my great-great-great grandfather. He was born in Ohio sometime around 1816. His first wife, Lucretia Baldwin Anthony of Atwater, Ohio died in the second year of their marriage leaving one son, Charles Mellen. Gideon remarried in 1843 to my great-great-great grandmother Sarah Ann Miller in Bucyrus, Ohio. They came west and ultimately settled in Jefferson Township, Green County, Wisconsin.

In December 1861 Gideon enlisted in Company E which was based mostly from the Chicago area with volunteers from the Freeport, Illinois area. When he enlisted he may have been around forty-five years old with a family of four children, the oldest fifteen and a fifth child he would never meet.

Here is a summary of the 58th regiment's activity through the battle of Shiloh

"This regiment was recruited at Camp Douglas, Chicago, and was
mustered in to the U. S. service on Feb. 11, 1862. It left
Camp Douglas, 887 strong, via the Illinois Central railroad,
for Cairo, and reported to Brig.-Gen. E. A. Paine on the 12th.
It was immediately furnished with arms and started from Cairo
about midnight with orders to proceed up the Ohio to Smithland,
Ky., thence up the Cumberland to the vicinity of Fort Donelson
and report to the officer in charge of the United States
forces. In the afternoon of Feb. 14 two companies were de-
ployed forward and were briskly engaged for a short time, and a
few casualties occurred during the evening and night. The reg-
iment was under fire a short time on the morning of the 15th
and again in the afternoon, and while attempting to secure an
advanced and desirable position was considerably cut up and
thrown into confusion by a masked battery, upon which it ap-
proached to within 250 yards. The conduct of the men on this
occasion was remarkable - raw in the matter of experience and
armed with the most worthless guns, they behaved as well as
veterans of a hundred battles. During the first day of the
battle of Shiloh the 58th was almost continuously under fire,
and when charge after charge had been repulsed, the regiment
was obliged to surrender a few minutes before 6 o'clock in the
evening. The loss to the regiment in the engagement was
frightful, amounting in killed, wounded and prisoners, to up-
wards of 450, of whom 218 were prisoners."

Gideon was taken prisoner after fighting in the area known as the "Hornet's Nest".  He ended up in a southern prison called Camp Oglethorpe in Macon, Georgia.  He died in October 4, 1862 in the camp mostly from starvation and sickness. This is just a brief summary.  I hope to write more.