Thomas C. Coady was born in 1844 in Boston Township, Summit County, Ohio. His father was Richard Coady, born in 1811 in Ireland, his Mother Margaret O’Brian Coady. More on that later.
On August 20, 1862 Thomas volunteered for the Civil War and joined the 115th Ohio, Company C. The regiment served a variety of guard duties until October, 1863 when it was moved to Tennessee. There they were assigned to Murfreesboro for duty along the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad. That road was a major supply line for General Sherman’s Army in the south. Troops were assigned to block houses and at bridges in an effort to prevent Confederate forces led by Lt. General Joseph Wheeler and Lt. General Nathan Bedford Forest, who were in the area, from destroying the line.
Murfreesboro is just a short horse ride to Franklin and Nashville where in late 1864 battles were raging against the Confederate Army of John Bell Hood. I have written extensively regarding these battles and the men that fought there on this site. While thousands of Union troops were resting at Nashville in early December, after the Union’s courageous fight at Franklin, many members of the 115th were in their own battles with the enemy.
A significant number of men, particularly from Companies C, F, and G, assigned to blockhouses, were captured by Wheeler’s forces, obviously overwhelmed and unable to defend against the enemy. Over half of companies C and G were taken prisoner. As the war wound down in early 1865 prisoners from all over the south were being released. This was the case for nearly 200 men from the 115th. Ships were loaded with parolees in New Orleans headed up river and back home.
Late in April, 1865 a steamboat, the Sultana, left New Orleans and made a stop at Vicksburg. Hasty repairs were made there on a troublesome boiler rather than take a couple days to replace it. Delaying the ship would later lose the last load of troops and POW’s to leave New Orleans for this ship’s captain. Between 1800 and 2000 gaunt, tired men, who had survived disease, poor housing, and malnutrition, were jammed aboard, in addition to passengers and troops returning home. Many men from the 115th O.V.I. were aboard.
The ship slowly made its way north and stopped briefly in Memphis, TN. After unloading some cargo and passengers it left port and struggled north against strong currents in a flooded Mississippi. It got seven miles when the hastily repaired boiler gave out. That boiler and two others exploded, the ship began to burn and smoke stacks collapsed onto the decks and eventually the ship sank into the muddy bottom. No definite count of the killed was possible because there was no compete list of the number of POW’s aboard, but it is estimated that 1700 died. The official count is 1547.
Many men were never found, some who were found were interred in the Memphis National Cemetery, and some remains were claimed by family and were returned home. Thomas C. Coady’s remains made it home. Richard and Margaret D Coady (Spelled Cody on Pension) filed for Pensions for Thomas Cody of Company C, 115th Ohio Infantry.
Coady Grave Stone & Cemetery
A small cemetery, Mater Dolorosa Cemetery, is located in Peninsula, Boston Township., Summit County. Originally it was called the Cassidy Cemetery. In 1869 it was established as the burial grounds for parishioners of the Irish Catholic Mother of Sorrow Church. Thomas Coady is buried there. Previously mentioned Richard and Margaret Coady are also buried there. Richard, near the end of his life, lived with the Cassidy family.
While on the Subject of Peninsula and an Undeserved Fate
While the 115th POW’s, and other prisoners of course, deserved a better fate, one of the 115th early leaders received much the same, delivered differently. The Regiment’s 2nd Lt., George Waterman, while stationed at Dayton in September 1863, was shot and wounded by a Copperhead. Within days George died from his wound. His assassin was a vocal faction Democrats called Copperheads, likening them to the venomous snake. The Anti-War Copperheads collapsed after the war. George is buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery, Peninsula, Ohio. The Peninsula G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic) Post is named in his memory.
Waterman at Cedar Grove Cem., Peninsula
G.A.R Hall Peninsula, Ohio
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