Treasure Chest Thursday: Civil War Ancestor: Richard G. Brown

I can hardly contain my excitement!  I just discovered that my great great grandfather, Richard George Brown, fought in the Civil War.  With a popular surname like Brown, how did I determine it was him?

Through his death certificate, I was able to determine that Richard Brown was buried in Cedar Bluff Cemetery in Rockford, Illinois.  I posted his information on Findagrave, and hoped that someone would take a picture of his tombstone for me.  Good luck and bad luck....someone claimed my photo request...but there was no tombstone marker....but.....Richard is listed in the cemetery record book as: Richard G Brown, buried Block 21, Lot 2, Grave 24, buried March 13, 1920, age 72 years old, Notes: G.A.R.

Richard was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R)!  I did some searching on ancestry.com and found his record.

Richard enlisted on February 1, 1864 at the age of 18.  He served for the Union for the state of Illinois.  He enlisted as a Private in Company E, 95th Infantry Regiment, Illinois and was transferred out of Company E on August 17, 1865, and transferred into Company E, 47th Infantry Regiment, Illinois.  He mustered out on January 21, 1866 at Selma, Alabama.

Now, I'm going to do some searching on his two regiments to discover more about his life as a Union Soldier.