My great-great-grandfather, Stephen Russ, arrived in New York August 9, 1858 after departing from Le Havre, France aboard the ship named Galena. The Wuertemburg, Germany Emigration Index indicated that Stephen had applied to emigrate to the United States in June 1858 and gives his date of birth as November 23, 1832, and his place of birth as Ulm, Einsingen, Wuertemburg, Germany.
Although Stephen was the only person by the name of Russ listed in the passenger's list for the ship Galena, I am convinced that there may have been members of Stephen's family already living in Ohio by the time he arrived. I found a Gotthard Russ in Cincinnati who was born in the same town as Stephen. He was a year older, born on October 17, 1831, and had also enlisted for service during the Civil War. Gotthard had enlisted with Co. "F", 6th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry on September 2, 1862. He married a woman named Barbara, and together they had a daughter named Francisca. Gotthard died on January 21, 1874 of dropsy in Cincinnati, and he is buried at the Spring Grove Cemetery in the Civil War section.
When Stephen arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio, I am not sure, but it must have been shortly after his arrival in New York. On June 13, 1861, Stephen enlisted in the Union Army at Camp Dennison, which was located in Cincinnati. He was a private in Company "C", 28th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served for a little over a year when he received an honorable discharge on November 17, 1862 at Camp Brownstown, West Virginia due to an illness affecting his eyes, lungs, and his throat while in active duty. His illness was said to have been attributed to lying on cold, wet ground under Gauly Bridge in West Virginia. At the time of his discharge, Stephen had lost most of his sight and was considered unfit for military duty as a result.
There were medical statements included in Stephen's pension file which indicated that he had several surgeries done on both of his eyes for removal of cataracts. He was completely blind out of his right eye while the vision in his left eye had been severely impaired. As a result, he had to wear glasses and walked around with a cane for the rest of his life. His illness had been described in other notarized statements as being like "a constant cold that had never gone away since his service in the military."
During the years that followed his discharge and until the day he died, Stephen often complained of pain in his throat and chest. According to notarized statements in his pension file, sometimes the pain was so severe, he would be bedridden for days at a time which made it impossible for him to hold down a regular job. He suffered from hoarseness which was sometimes so severe, he could barely speak, and had a horrible cough. A death record indicates that Stephen died of tuberculosis. He is buried at the Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio in the Civil War section, and according to their records, Stephen's parents were Joseph and Christina Russ.
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