This is the burial of Henry J. Dean of the 5th Michigan Cavalry who was wounded at the Battle of Yellow Tavern and taken to a nearby farmhouse where he died the following day on May 12, 1864 and was originally buried on that farm.
Henry's nephew, Henry White, a corporal at the time of Dean's death later wrote the following for his local newspaper:
"....We met the Rebs again on the 11th, at Yellow Tavern, about ten miles from Richmond. We had been marching all day till about the middle of the afternoon, when the command came, "prepare to fight on food, action front and left." The cavalry always count by four and march in sets of fours. When we dismount to fight on foot Nos. 1, 2, 3 dismount and No. 4 remains with the four horses. Dean had been riding all day, no. 4, but when the command was given to dismount he exchanged with one of the other men and went with the skirmish line. When asked why he did not stay he replied: "I have been away from the company a good deal and I am afraid the boys will think I am a coward." The skirmish was a hot one and lasted about an hour. When we got back to the horses I was told that Dean was wounded and taken to a large brick house near by, which had suddenly been turned into a field hopital. I obtained permission from the captian to go and see him. I found him shot through the abdomen by a minnie ball, coming out at his back. He did not seem to be in much pain but in a stupid state. He knew me, said he thought there wasn't much chance for him, that he thought he was ready to go and asked me to write to his family. I took his hand, bade him a last good bye and left him with ten or twelve wounded comrades alone among strangers and enemies at that. I hurried on to overtake the command which I did not reach till after dark.
We were gone from the army of the Potomac seventeen days during which we had no mail and no chance to send any. I wrote as soon as I had a chance.
One year from the day the cavalry passed over the same ground. On my way from Richmond to Washington at the close of the War I went to the house where Dean was left and found that five of our men died there. There were two ladies alone at the house, I told them in which room Dean lay and they told me he died the next morning. They showed me where he was buried. They did not know the names of those who died there. They said they did the best they could, there were no men on the place and with the aid of an old darkey they dug the graves and buried them. Again it was my sad duty to write, this time dispelling the one chance of a hundred to which the loved ones had clung as the weary days had passed to months and rounded to a year...."
[Northville [Michigan] Record, Friday September 28, 1888, OUR HONORED HEROES Henry J. Dean, who was killed in Battle. by Lieut. H. M. White]
Henry's family erected a cenotaph in the Dean family lot at Newburgh Cemtery where two of his young children were buried and where his wife and other children would later be buried.
Before the War:
Henry J. Dean was the fourth child and oldest son born to Gabriel & Lydia (Bradner) Dean in what is now Marion, New York. There he spent his first 17 or 18 years. Gabriel Dean, bought a farm near Newberg, Livonia Township, and moved the family to Michigan about 1835 or 1836 settling near his brothers, William and Luther. Henry's younger sister Mary said the family came "to Michigan in a covered wagon" and further described their Presbyterian parents as "sturdy Puritan stock" saying they were "so strict they refused to cook on Sunday. Food was cooked the night before and placed on a table and the members of the family ate when they chose."
Henry was about 21 years old when his grandfather David Dean died and was buried at Newburgh Cemetery. No doubt that Henry was one of the grandchildren whom David enjoyed telling stories about his service in the Revolutionary War. In the house that Henry grew up in was the Musket that David Dean carried in the Revolutionary War and was later used by Henry's father in the War of 1812 and after that to supply the family with game.
Henry spent a year or more in the south receiving his education in the vicinity of Louisville, Kentucky with his cousin Thomas J. Dean.
After his marriage to Miss Calista Clara Durfee in 1846 he took to clearing land and farming in Livonia Township. Henry and Calista had 4 or 5 children.
In August of 1862 Henry J. Dean enlisted in a company of volunteers being recruited by his cousin, 2nd Lt. Thomas J. Dean, to fight in the Union Army-- "Co. D., First Michigan Mounted Rifles," afterwards known as the 5th Michigan Cavalry.....
[Biography by Troy S.]
---------------------------------
Source for this memorial: "Civil War Burials Fredericksburg, Virginia" compiled and edited by Maude E. Mercer Sellman 1979., p 47.
"Dean, Henry J., 5th Cavalry, Company D, National Cemetery, Fredericksburg, Va." Michigan In The Civil War, Veterans Gravesites, presented by Don Harvey
ROSTER OF KNOWN UNION SOLDIERS BURIED IN FREDERICKSBURG NATIONAL CEMETERY: (4006) Dean, Henry L. (ROH has Damn) Private. MI. Died May, 1864. Originally buried at W. Pemberton's Farm, North Anna River (ROH)." [National Park Service, *ROH=Roll Of Honor]
Henry's nephew, Henry White, a corporal at the time of Dean's death later wrote the following for his local newspaper:
"....We met the Rebs again on the 11th, at Yellow Tavern, about ten miles from Richmond. We had been marching all day till about the middle of the afternoon, when the command came, "prepare to fight on food, action front and left." The cavalry always count by four and march in sets of fours. When we dismount to fight on foot Nos. 1, 2, 3 dismount and No. 4 remains with the four horses. Dean had been riding all day, no. 4, but when the command was given to dismount he exchanged with one of the other men and went with the skirmish line. When asked why he did not stay he replied: "I have been away from the company a good deal and I am afraid the boys will think I am a coward." The skirmish was a hot one and lasted about an hour. When we got back to the horses I was told that Dean was wounded and taken to a large brick house near by, which had suddenly been turned into a field hopital. I obtained permission from the captian to go and see him. I found him shot through the abdomen by a minnie ball, coming out at his back. He did not seem to be in much pain but in a stupid state. He knew me, said he thought there wasn't much chance for him, that he thought he was ready to go and asked me to write to his family. I took his hand, bade him a last good bye and left him with ten or twelve wounded comrades alone among strangers and enemies at that. I hurried on to overtake the command which I did not reach till after dark.
We were gone from the army of the Potomac seventeen days during which we had no mail and no chance to send any. I wrote as soon as I had a chance.
One year from the day the cavalry passed over the same ground. On my way from Richmond to Washington at the close of the War I went to the house where Dean was left and found that five of our men died there. There were two ladies alone at the house, I told them in which room Dean lay and they told me he died the next morning. They showed me where he was buried. They did not know the names of those who died there. They said they did the best they could, there were no men on the place and with the aid of an old darkey they dug the graves and buried them. Again it was my sad duty to write, this time dispelling the one chance of a hundred to which the loved ones had clung as the weary days had passed to months and rounded to a year...."
[Northville [Michigan] Record, Friday September 28, 1888, OUR HONORED HEROES Henry J. Dean, who was killed in Battle. by Lieut. H. M. White]
Henry's family erected a cenotaph in the Dean family lot at Newburgh Cemtery where two of his young children were buried and where his wife and other children would later be buried.
Before the War:
Henry J. Dean was the fourth child and oldest son born to Gabriel & Lydia (Bradner) Dean in what is now Marion, New York. There he spent his first 17 or 18 years. Gabriel Dean, bought a farm near Newberg, Livonia Township, and moved the family to Michigan about 1835 or 1836 settling near his brothers, William and Luther. Henry's younger sister Mary said the family came "to Michigan in a covered wagon" and further described their Presbyterian parents as "sturdy Puritan stock" saying they were "so strict they refused to cook on Sunday. Food was cooked the night before and placed on a table and the members of the family ate when they chose."
Henry was about 21 years old when his grandfather David Dean died and was buried at Newburgh Cemetery. No doubt that Henry was one of the grandchildren whom David enjoyed telling stories about his service in the Revolutionary War. In the house that Henry grew up in was the Musket that David Dean carried in the Revolutionary War and was later used by Henry's father in the War of 1812 and after that to supply the family with game.
Henry spent a year or more in the south receiving his education in the vicinity of Louisville, Kentucky with his cousin Thomas J. Dean.
After his marriage to Miss Calista Clara Durfee in 1846 he took to clearing land and farming in Livonia Township. Henry and Calista had 4 or 5 children.
In August of 1862 Henry J. Dean enlisted in a company of volunteers being recruited by his cousin, 2nd Lt. Thomas J. Dean, to fight in the Union Army-- "Co. D., First Michigan Mounted Rifles," afterwards known as the 5th Michigan Cavalry.....
[Biography by Troy S.]
---------------------------------
Source for this memorial: "Civil War Burials Fredericksburg, Virginia" compiled and edited by Maude E. Mercer Sellman 1979., p 47.
"Dean, Henry J., 5th Cavalry, Company D, National Cemetery, Fredericksburg, Va." Michigan In The Civil War, Veterans Gravesites, presented by Don Harvey
ROSTER OF KNOWN UNION SOLDIERS BURIED IN FREDERICKSBURG NATIONAL CEMETERY: (4006) Dean, Henry L. (ROH has Damn) Private. MI. Died May, 1864. Originally buried at W. Pemberton's Farm, North Anna River (ROH)." [National Park Service, *ROH=Roll Of Honor]
This is the burial of Henry J. Dean of the 5th Michigan Cavalry who was wounded at the Battle of Yellow Tavern and taken to a nearby farmhouse where he died the following day on May 12, 1864 and was originally buried on that farm.
Henry's nephew, Henry White, a corporal at the time of Dean's death later wrote the following for his local newspaper:
"....We met the Rebs again on the 11th, at Yellow Tavern, about ten miles from Richmond. We had been marching all day till about the middle of the afternoon, when the command came, "prepare to fight on food, action front and left." The cavalry always count by four and march in sets of fours. When we dismount to fight on foot Nos. 1, 2, 3 dismount and No. 4 remains with the four horses. Dean had been riding all day, no. 4, but when the command was given to dismount he exchanged with one of the other men and went with the skirmish line. When asked why he did not stay he replied: "I have been away from the company a good deal and I am afraid the boys will think I am a coward." The skirmish was a hot one and lasted about an hour. When we got back to the horses I was told that Dean was wounded and taken to a large brick house near by, which had suddenly been turned into a field hopital. I obtained permission from the captian to go and see him. I found him shot through the abdomen by a minnie ball, coming out at his back. He did not seem to be in much pain but in a stupid state. He knew me, said he thought there wasn't much chance for him, that he thought he was ready to go and asked me to write to his family. I took his hand, bade him a last good bye and left him with ten or twelve wounded comrades alone among strangers and enemies at that. I hurried on to overtake the command which I did not reach till after dark.
We were gone from the army of the Potomac seventeen days during which we had no mail and no chance to send any. I wrote as soon as I had a chance.
One year from the day the cavalry passed over the same ground. On my way from Richmond to Washington at the close of the War I went to the house where Dean was left and found that five of our men died there. There were two ladies alone at the house, I told them in which room Dean lay and they told me he died the next morning. They showed me where he was buried. They did not know the names of those who died there. They said they did the best they could, there were no men on the place and with the aid of an old darkey they dug the graves and buried them. Again it was my sad duty to write, this time dispelling the one chance of a hundred to which the loved ones had clung as the weary days had passed to months and rounded to a year...."
[Northville [Michigan] Record, Friday September 28, 1888, OUR HONORED HEROES Henry J. Dean, who was killed in Battle. by Lieut. H. M. White]
Henry's family erected a cenotaph in the Dean family lot at Newburgh Cemtery where two of his young children were buried and where his wife and other children would later be buried.
Before the War:
Henry J. Dean was the fourth child and oldest son born to Gabriel & Lydia (Bradner) Dean in what is now Marion, New York. There he spent his first 17 or 18 years. Gabriel Dean, bought a farm near Newberg, Livonia Township, and moved the family to Michigan about 1835 or 1836 settling near his brothers, William and Luther. Henry's younger sister Mary said the family came "to Michigan in a covered wagon" and further described their Presbyterian parents as "sturdy Puritan stock" saying they were "so strict they refused to cook on Sunday. Food was cooked the night before and placed on a table and the members of the family ate when they chose."
Henry was about 21 years old when his grandfather David Dean died and was buried at Newburgh Cemetery. No doubt that Henry was one of the grandchildren whom David enjoyed telling stories about his service in the Revolutionary War. In the house that Henry grew up in was the Musket that David Dean carried in the Revolutionary War and was later used by Henry's father in the War of 1812 and after that to supply the family with game.
Henry spent a year or more in the south receiving his education in the vicinity of Louisville, Kentucky with his cousin Thomas J. Dean.
After his marriage to Miss Calista Clara Durfee in 1846 he took to clearing land and farming in Livonia Township. Henry and Calista had 4 or 5 children.
In August of 1862 Henry J. Dean enlisted in a company of volunteers being recruited by his cousin, 2nd Lt. Thomas J. Dean, to fight in the Union Army-- "Co. D., First Michigan Mounted Rifles," afterwards known as the 5th Michigan Cavalry.....
[Biography by Troy S.]
---------------------------------
Source for this memorial: "Civil War Burials Fredericksburg, Virginia" compiled and edited by Maude E. Mercer Sellman 1979., p 47.
"Dean, Henry J., 5th Cavalry, Company D, National Cemetery, Fredericksburg, Va." Michigan In The Civil War, Veterans Gravesites, presented by Don Harvey
ROSTER OF KNOWN UNION SOLDIERS BURIED IN FREDERICKSBURG NATIONAL CEMETERY: (4006) Dean, Henry L. (ROH has Damn) Private. MI. Died May, 1864. Originally buried at W. Pemberton's Farm, North Anna River (ROH)." [National Park Service, *ROH=Roll Of Honor]
Henry's nephew, Henry White, a corporal at the time of Dean's death later wrote the following for his local newspaper:
"....We met the Rebs again on the 11th, at Yellow Tavern, about ten miles from Richmond. We had been marching all day till about the middle of the afternoon, when the command came, "prepare to fight on food, action front and left." The cavalry always count by four and march in sets of fours. When we dismount to fight on foot Nos. 1, 2, 3 dismount and No. 4 remains with the four horses. Dean had been riding all day, no. 4, but when the command was given to dismount he exchanged with one of the other men and went with the skirmish line. When asked why he did not stay he replied: "I have been away from the company a good deal and I am afraid the boys will think I am a coward." The skirmish was a hot one and lasted about an hour. When we got back to the horses I was told that Dean was wounded and taken to a large brick house near by, which had suddenly been turned into a field hopital. I obtained permission from the captian to go and see him. I found him shot through the abdomen by a minnie ball, coming out at his back. He did not seem to be in much pain but in a stupid state. He knew me, said he thought there wasn't much chance for him, that he thought he was ready to go and asked me to write to his family. I took his hand, bade him a last good bye and left him with ten or twelve wounded comrades alone among strangers and enemies at that. I hurried on to overtake the command which I did not reach till after dark.
We were gone from the army of the Potomac seventeen days during which we had no mail and no chance to send any. I wrote as soon as I had a chance.
One year from the day the cavalry passed over the same ground. On my way from Richmond to Washington at the close of the War I went to the house where Dean was left and found that five of our men died there. There were two ladies alone at the house, I told them in which room Dean lay and they told me he died the next morning. They showed me where he was buried. They did not know the names of those who died there. They said they did the best they could, there were no men on the place and with the aid of an old darkey they dug the graves and buried them. Again it was my sad duty to write, this time dispelling the one chance of a hundred to which the loved ones had clung as the weary days had passed to months and rounded to a year...."
[Northville [Michigan] Record, Friday September 28, 1888, OUR HONORED HEROES Henry J. Dean, who was killed in Battle. by Lieut. H. M. White]
Henry's family erected a cenotaph in the Dean family lot at Newburgh Cemtery where two of his young children were buried and where his wife and other children would later be buried.
Before the War:
Henry J. Dean was the fourth child and oldest son born to Gabriel & Lydia (Bradner) Dean in what is now Marion, New York. There he spent his first 17 or 18 years. Gabriel Dean, bought a farm near Newberg, Livonia Township, and moved the family to Michigan about 1835 or 1836 settling near his brothers, William and Luther. Henry's younger sister Mary said the family came "to Michigan in a covered wagon" and further described their Presbyterian parents as "sturdy Puritan stock" saying they were "so strict they refused to cook on Sunday. Food was cooked the night before and placed on a table and the members of the family ate when they chose."
Henry was about 21 years old when his grandfather David Dean died and was buried at Newburgh Cemetery. No doubt that Henry was one of the grandchildren whom David enjoyed telling stories about his service in the Revolutionary War. In the house that Henry grew up in was the Musket that David Dean carried in the Revolutionary War and was later used by Henry's father in the War of 1812 and after that to supply the family with game.
Henry spent a year or more in the south receiving his education in the vicinity of Louisville, Kentucky with his cousin Thomas J. Dean.
After his marriage to Miss Calista Clara Durfee in 1846 he took to clearing land and farming in Livonia Township. Henry and Calista had 4 or 5 children.
In August of 1862 Henry J. Dean enlisted in a company of volunteers being recruited by his cousin, 2nd Lt. Thomas J. Dean, to fight in the Union Army-- "Co. D., First Michigan Mounted Rifles," afterwards known as the 5th Michigan Cavalry.....
[Biography by Troy S.]
---------------------------------
Source for this memorial: "Civil War Burials Fredericksburg, Virginia" compiled and edited by Maude E. Mercer Sellman 1979., p 47.
"Dean, Henry J., 5th Cavalry, Company D, National Cemetery, Fredericksburg, Va." Michigan In The Civil War, Veterans Gravesites, presented by Don Harvey
ROSTER OF KNOWN UNION SOLDIERS BURIED IN FREDERICKSBURG NATIONAL CEMETERY: (4006) Dean, Henry L. (ROH has Damn) Private. MI. Died May, 1864. Originally buried at W. Pemberton's Farm, North Anna River (ROH)." [National Park Service, *ROH=Roll Of Honor]
Inscription
H.[I]. DEAN
MICH.
Gravesite Details
Middle initial looks like an "I" but is likely a slightly sloping "J"
Family Members
Siblings
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Harriet Dean White
1811–1902
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Almira Dean
1812–1819
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Fanny Dean Griswold
1815–1886
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Henry J. Dean
1817–1864
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Charlotte Ann Dean Smith
1820–1888
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Peleg Holmes Dean
1822–1828
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Miranda Dean
1824–1828
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Edmund Dean
1827–1905
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Edwin Dean
1827–1828
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James Calhoun Dean
1830–1910
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Lafayette Dean
1832–1921
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Mary Dean Robinson
1835–1935
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Nancy Jane "Jennie" Dean
1837–1926
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Records on Ancestry
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