General Notes

REFN: 5933
[lillief.ged]
Volunteered at Greensburg, Kentucky on September 1, 1862 at the age of 38.
Mustered in October 31, 1862 at Louisville, Kentucky was paid at $25. bo
un ty and $4 premium pay. Listed as AWOL since February 13, 1863. Sho
wn as pr esent and "in arrest" in the September/October company muster rol
l. Died D ecember 02, 1863 of chronic diarrhea in the hospital at Knoxvill
e, Tenn. D ischarge by reason of death issued Januaary 6, 1865. LT. Jes
se DeSpa in of Company H provideda statement in support of the pension req
uest of E lijah Skaggs' widow, Harriet Skaggs. In the statement, Lt. DeSpa
in noted t hat Elijah Skaggs died of typhoid fever in Knoxville and was "b
uried decen tly at Knoxville". He futher stated that when the 13th Regime
nt left Kentu cky for Knoxville, "this man Skaggs and some others obrtain
ed leaves of ab sence on furlough with directions to come on and repo
rt to the Regime nt at Knoxville" Elijah Skaggs did report, "but not in t
he time requir ed " and was pput under arrest for AWOL pending a trial. Ho
wever, he di ed before being bought to trial. Lt. DeSpain stated that "t
he reason offer ed by Skaggs for his absence as we learned from him and ot
hers was regard ed as good and resaonable and if he had been tried he wou
ld have been acqu itted and restored".  The cause of his failure to repo
rt on time was the o bstruction of the road by armed bands of Rebels and G
uerrillas which preve nted him from passing. He came however voluntari
ly as soon as he cou ld do so with safety."