George Benton, 124th., Ohio.

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George Benton.

Born: April 10, 1839.
Death: September 19 or 20, 1863.
Father: Abram Cook Benton.
Burial: Litchfield Burial Park. Litchfield, Medina county, Ohio.

Service Record.

George Benton, Private, Age 23, Enlisted Co. B., August 12, 1862, for 3 years.  Lost September 19, 1863, in the battle of Chickamauga Georgia.

Authors note.  Although there is a head stone at Litchfield Park, he is not in the grave?, There are no records that he was Killed in battle only that he was lost.  Some researcher say he mustered out on September 19 or 20, 1863, at Chickamauga.  This is in error, any time any one is killed in battle or dies from wounds of a battle the date of his death is the date of his being mustered out.  You will read below how his Captain looked for years to find any records that he was killed and found nothing. So is he in the grave or not?

The following is told by his Captain.

There was one member of our company, George Benton, that by his kindness of heart, and implicit and cheerful obedience to orders, had won the respect and confidence of his officers and the hearts of his fellow soldiers. In speecH, modest and kindly, yet in the battle he had shown himself as brave as the bravest. George came to me loaded down with canteens, and asked permission to go to the rear and try to find water. I, with some emphasis, refused. The men at that set up a clamor, and insisted that they were suffering for want of water. I explained the hazardous nature of the enterprise. I assured them from the firing that our right was well turned, and that anyone going back, alone and unattended, was liable to be killed, wounded, or captured, which all dreaded more than death or wounds by reason of the inhuman treatment our soldiers received while in rebel prisons.

I said to George, "I am afraid you will never come back." With a smile of determination lighting up that noble young face, he replied, "I will come back, captain, or I will be a dead Benton." I was not quite strong enough for the emergency. I made a mistake. That mistake cost George Benton his life. He never returned. Whether he fell by a stray bullet, in those deep woods and thickets, or whether he was captured and murdered in prison, I know not. The records of Salisbury and Andersonville were searched, after the war, but on none could the name of George Benton be found. After we had fallen back on Chattanooga a letters came from his. father and sisters, inquiring concerning the fate of son and brother. No one can know with what bitterness I reproached myself for allowing myself to be pursuaded against my better judgment; and learning by that sad lesson no member of company B was ever again reported "missing in action."

I saw the father and sisters when we came back from the war, and told them what I had already written them before of the way George was lost; but "hope, like an anchor to the soul, sure and steadfast," would not suffer them to give up their dear boy as lost. They hoped that some day, like a lost mariner, he would come from perphaps captivity and sickness, to gladden their hearts and relieve the suspense that was crushing their lives. But twenty-seven autumns have returned since that brave boy was lost to sight in the smoke that covered that dread field of Chickamauga, but no tidings ever came of that one, who was gladly willing to risk his life to alleviate the sufferings of his comrades, and was permitted to do so by the weakness of his commanding officer.