Some New Thoughts on the First U.S. Service Member to Die During the Civil War
Most who study the United States Civil War know the story of the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter. Confederates opened fire in the early hours of April 12, 1861, and Maj. Robert Anderson’s garrison sustained a withering bombardment into the next day. Anderson surrendered on April 13 and held an official ceremony on April 14. During that ceremony, one of the cannons used for a final salute to the U.S. flag prematurely fired, killing Irish-born Private Daniel Hough, mortally wounding Irish-born Private Edward Galloway, and wounding four other men.[1] Hough is considered the first uniformed service member to die in the war, but I recently uncovered some evidence that another service member died on April 12, 1861: United States Marine Corps Private John C. Applegate.
First some qualifiers. Applegate was not present at Charleston, South Carolina, when he died. He was in Sicily. He also did not die from a cannon or musket, but of inflammatory bowel disease. Next, we know he died on April 12, 1861, but not the exact time of day, which is important if you want to make a definitive claim of being the first service member to perish during a war.
I stumbled on Applegate’s story while researching the early blockade. I found a logbook for USS Richmond, a ship that was overseas when the war began and was recalled to join the Gulf Blockading Squadron. While reading the log and searching for the exact date the ship was recalled, I found an interesting entry on April 13, 1861: “Called all hands to bury the dead, and sent the remains of Pvt. John C. Applegate, Marine, who died yesterday of inflammation of the bowels, on shore for internment.”[2] There was nothing on the April 12 log entry regarding Applegate. Wanting to confirm if this “yesterday” was indeed April 12, I began digging. A newspaper article was quickly found listing Applegate’s death as March 20. More digging and I found Richmond’s Marine muster roll, instead confirming his death as April 12.[3] Two pieces of physical evidence, a logbook and muster roll, confirming the date, and only one newspaper printed after the fact claiming otherwise. The preponderance of evidence supports the April 12 claim.
Unfortunately, little is known of John C. Applegate’s life before he joined the U.S. Marine Corps. He enlisted in Washington D.C. in December 1859 and was initially assigned to the city’s Marine Barracks, training alongside veterans who had just helped capture John Brown at Harpers Ferry.[4] It is possible that before becoming a Marine, he worked as a blacksmith in Washington, as the city’s directory lists a man with that job and name working on E south Street.[5] The 1860 census has two Washington D.C. entries for John C. Applegate. One lists the name next to a notation for “Marine Barracks,” identifying Applegate as a 40-year-old man from New York whose occupation was soldier.[6] A second lists a man named Applegate as being 44 years old, living with his 48-year-old wife Eliza, their 16-year-old son William, and their 12-year-old daughter Rebecca. This entry also lists John Applegate as a soldier from New York.[7] It is likely they are entries for the same man, with the age incorrect on one entry.[8]
Applegate was transferred from the Washington Marine Barracks to the Gosport Navy Yard near Norfolk, Virginia, in late September 1860.[9] From there, he was assigned to Capt. Duncan Ingraham’s newly commissioned steam-sloop Richmond. By October, he was crossing the Atlantic Ocean on Richmond’s shakedown cruise, helping test the steamer’s machinery as the ship served as the Mediterranean Squadron’s flagship.[10] The ship made ports of call in Gibraltar, mainland Italy, Sardinia, and Sicily, showing the U.S. flag in the western Mediterranean.
Shortly after reaching station however, the secession crisis and looming war started impacting Richmond. One by one, officers requested permission to leave the ship and return home to resign their commissions. The first to do so was Lt. William G. Dozier, whose request was dated for December 4, even before South Carolina’s secession.[11] Lieutenant Alexander Warley was next, asking to depart Richmond on December 24, only assuming South Carolina was in the process of seceding.[12] Captain Ingraham himself left the ship on January 2, 1861, and Flag Officer Henry Bell had to personally fill in as skipper until Capt. John Pope arrived from the U.S. to assume command on March 19.[13]
Pope assumed charge of Richmond while the vessel was anchored at Messina, Sicily. Days later, Pvt. Applegate was on the ship’s sick list with inflammation of the bowels.[14] It proved fatal, and he passed away on April 12, 1861. On April 13, Applegate’s body was brought ashore and buried “with military honors.”[15]
Though Richmond’s crew knew states had seceded and formed the new Confederate States of America when Applegate died, they were unaware that Fort Sumter was being fired on that same day. Pope’s sailors and Marines spent that April 12 training with small arms and overhauling the vessel’s sails. They would not hear official word of the war’s commencement until May 4, when the steamer was recalled to the United States to join the fledgling blockade.[16]
There are certainly many technicalities here, and some unknowns as well. Applegate passed away on April 12, 1861, but his exact time of death is not known. To properly determine if he died after Fort Sumter’s bombardment commenced (and thus during the war), one would have to both know the exact time of death and factor in time-zone changes (at a time when there were no standard time zones to even start with). If Applegate died in the afternoon (Messina time) then he did so after the bombardment of Fort Sumter began. If instead he died in the morning, then he did so before the bombardment of Sumter commenced. Another factor to consider is that Applegate died for health reasons, not from combat operations. Though to be fair, Pvt. Hough in Fort Sumter also died from not-combat activity.
Because of all this, there is a chance Applegate was indeed the first U.S. service member to die after hostilities commenced, though that death had nothing to do with the start of the Civil War itself. There is also a chance he died right before those hostilities began. Interpretations will differ on whether Applegate’s death “counts” in any claim of being first. Regardless, Applegate died on the other side of the world, with his fellow shipmates knowing nothing about that day’s historic events in Charleston.
It is ultimately irrelevant whether Pvt. John C. Applegate, USMC, was the first uniformed service member to die during the Civil War, or whether he was instead the last uniformed service member to die before the war officially began. What does matter is that Applegate was a person who volunteered to serve his country in peacetime and whose life ended as the United States ripped itself apart. His story is worthy of attention, both to remember his sacrifice, and to better understand the complexities of how the nation shifted from peacetime to civil war.
Endnotes:
[1] James Farrell, “First casualty of the US Civil War was an Irish soldier,” IrishCentral, November 24, 2022, https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/daniel-hough-irishman-first-casualty-us-civil-war, accessed July 18, 2024.
[2] April 13, 1861, Journal of a Cruise in the U.S. Steam Sloop Richmond, MSS 0097, Item 0041, University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press.
[3] “Naval Intelligence,” New York Herald, New York, May 18, 1861; USS Richmond, April 1861, Roll 45, 1861, Muster Rolls of the U.S. Marine Corps.
[4] Marine Barracks Washington, December 1859, Roll 43, 1859, Muster Rolls of the U.S. Marine Corps, 1798-1892. T1118, NAID: 922159, RG 127, U.S. National Archives.
[5] Congressional Directory for the Second Session of the Thirty-Second Congress of the United States of America and Guide Book through the Public Offices, (Washington: Alfred Hunter, 1853), 3.
[6] Source House 1003, Family 1027, Ward 6, Washington, D.C., 1860 U.S. Census.
[7] Source House 613, Family 634, Ward 6, Washington, D.C., 1860 U.S. Census.
[8] I have previously found double entries like this for sailors before, even with different ages on each note, adding to my belief they are the same person.
[9] Marine Barracks Washington, September 1860, Roll 44, 1860, Muster Rolls of the U.S. Marine Corps.
[10] October 13, 1860, Journal of a Cruise in the U.S. Steam Sloop Richmond.
[11] December 4, 1860, Ibid.
[12] Warley to Bell, December 24, 1860, Mediterranean Squadron, Letters Received by the Secretary of the Navy from Commanding Officers of Squadrons, M89, RG 45, U.S. National Archives.
[13] January 2 and March 19, 1861, Journal of a Cruise in the U.S. Steam Sloop Richmond.
[14] USS Richmond, March 1861, Roll 45, 1861, Muster Rolls of the U.S. Marine Corps.
[15] “Naval Intelligence,” New York Herald, New York, May 18, 1861; April 13, 1861, Journal of a Cruise in the U.S. Steam Sloop Richmond; USS Richmond, April 1861, Roll 45, 1861, Muster Rolls of the U.S. Marine Corps.
[16] April 12 and May 4, 1861, Journal of a Cruise in the U.S. Steam Sloop Richmond.
Wow … that’s some pretty slick detective work — good for you … i am reminded there were a lot of ways to die in those days … especially when you were a 44-year-old private in the Marine Detachment on a deployed ship eating bad food, drinking bad water, and going to bad places on liberty.
Great article – thanks!
Good story. The first fatalities of the Civil War occurred in Baltimore on April 19, 1861, as Massachusetts militia troops passed through the city in route to Washington. They were attacked by mob of Baltimoreans. Several were killed, as were a number of Baltimore citizens.
Great detective work. Is Pvt. Applegate still interred in Sicily?
Hey Kevin. I did not find any records of exactly where he was buried (as in a specific cemetery or site), nor did I find any records of a disinterment and re-internment later at another location. My best guess is his body is still interred there, though whether there is a marker still around to denote such is another story.
Another mystery for future solution.