Civil War Veterans Buried In Washington State - Ozro Allen

25^th WISCONSIN VOLUNTEER INFANTRY
Organized/Mustered In: 9/14/62 Camp Salomon, La Crosse, WI
Mustered Out: 6/7/65 Crystal Springs, MD

REGIMENTAL HISTORY:

   A three-year “western theater” unit, the 25^th left the state immediately after Federal muster and proceeded to Minnesota to aid in restraining Indian outbreaks.  That done, in Feb. ’63 it was ordered to KY and MS before, in the latter part of the summer and fall, being assigned to the district of eastern Arkansas.

   Winter and spring of ‘63/’64 found the regiment employed in expeditions into MS and AL before joining Union Gen. Sherman’s Atlanta campaign.

   Following actions at Resaca, Dallas, and Kennesaw Mountain in Georgia.  It was in (in July) ordered to Decatur to guard a train.  There, a part of the 25^th along with elements of an Ohio regiment engaged in a hot contest with two divisions of Confederate cavalry intent upon capturing the train. Though compelled to fall back on the reserves they fought to such effect that the enemy was held off.

  The regiment reached Atlanta on 7/26 and performed effective service during he ensuing siege.  After the fall of the city it accompanied the army to Savannah then proceeded north through the Carolinas.

   Participation in the Grand Review in the nation’s capitol preceded final muster. 

SOLDIER:
Residence: Durand, WI   Age: 20 yrs (est)
Enlisted/Enrolled: 8/8/62 Durand, WI   Rank: Pvt.
Mustered Out: 6/7/65 Crystal Springs, MD
Highest Rank: Pvt.

PERSONAL/FAMILY HISTORY:

NOTE:  The original birth-to-death biographical written on Ozro Allen was completed during the early years of the Civil War Veterans Buried In Washington State project. As such, it suffered from the availability of detailed research sources available today. The profile which follows was created in May, 2018 and although infused with previously unavailable information, still suffers from a lack of depth and detail when compared to more recent, fully researched creations drawing upon files from the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

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   Ozro B. Allen was born in Cattaraugus Co., NY to parents Alonzo (b. 1805 NY) and Lydia (no b.d. no nee) Allen. Alonzo was a blacksmith by trade.  The year of Ozro’s birth was 1842, but as of this writing no birth month or birth date has been located. As far as can be determined from available documentation, Ozro was the first of only two Allen children. In 1851 he was joined by Sister Josephine.

In 1850 the U.S. Census placed Alonzo and Lydia in or near the community of Alfred located in Allegany County, NY. A decade later they were found in Bear Creek Pepin County, WI. What had prompted the Allen’s to quit New York in favor of frontier living is not known, but likely it was the lure of new, unexplored and untamed land.

 When Ozro joined the U.S. Army 8/8/1/62 we learn that the 6’2”, blue-eyed Allen had followed in his father’s occupational footsteps as he listed his own occupation as “blacksmith.”  One of his unit’s first duties was to deal with Native American Indian uprisings that, during the summer had caused Minnesota to run with blood.

  On 10/1/62 while on duty at Richland, MN Private Allen was stricken with the measles.  In later life when applying for a government disability a pension based on his period of military service he noted that while sick he lay out on an open prairie in a small tent with but one blanket and so contracted a violent cold.  Ever since he had been troubled with weak lungs, a serious cough, violent headaches, nose bleeds and “great dizziness when stooping over.” 

Indian problems behind them, Ozro’s unit headed east to deal with Johnny Reb.  So it was that about 7/22/64 while in battle at Decatur, GA Private Allen received a gunshot wound to the right foot which carried away his second toe.  The wounding, which prompted his only absence from his unit, was to continue to bother him in later life and resulted in his receiving a $6 per month government pension stipend.

  With the ending of the War Ozro returned to Durand, Wisconsin where it appears he once again took up blacksmithing.  There, too, on 5/14/67 he married Permelia Isabele/Isabella Warner (b.1844 NY). Strangely, while it seems the union produced one child: Frank C. (b. 9/69 WI d. 9/9/35 WI) during the census of 1900 Permelia noted that she had borne no children, but she and Ozro had adopted a son identified only as S. C.

In 1880 the Allens were in Wheaton, Chippewa Co., Wisconsin. Twenty years later, in 1900 they were in Snohomish County, Washington. When and why they moved to the Puget Sound area where they settled in the city of Everett is not known.  It appears, however, that at some point following the move Ozro gave up blacksmithing to become a policeman.

  The Everett Daily Herald of 11/11/08 noted, in part as follows: “(Ozro Allen) died March 18, 1902 (in Everett, Washington), the sorrowing wife was unwilling that he should be buried without her and made arrangements for The John F. Jerread Funeral Parlor to embalm her husband’s body and keep him in a vault….until she too died so they might be buried together.  All these years the body has been lying on a slab waiting until death should also claim the wife. She died 11/10/08.” 

Ozro and Permelia were/are buried side by side The Grand Army Of The Republic Cemetery located in Snohomish, Snohomish County, Washington.

Buried at Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery Snohomish
Row: 20
Site: 6

George Carson
Renton, WA