Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2024
Andrew Baldwin was born in Ireland in March 1813. He arrived on the ship Nimrod to New York on June 16, 1836. He was a laborer, born in Ireland, and arrived from Liverpool at age 18.
Andrew lived in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and he married another person from Ireland, Ann Joyce. Ann and Andrew married on February 18, 1846, in Boston.
Ann and Andrew had six children. In Massachusetts, they had Anne Maria (1848); John (1849); Andrew (1851); and George (1855). Then they headed west, where in 1860 they had another daughter, Susan. And finally, in 1862 in Shakopee Ann and Andrew had their last child, Joseph. George and Joseph died and were buried at Calvary Cemetery – George in 1874, and Joseph in 1882.
On September 30, 1861, Andrew was inducted into the military at Fort Snelling. Private Andrew Baldwin joined the Co. A Fourth Minnesota Infantry in the Civil War.
The Fourth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry was organized in October 1861, according to Civil War Era Infantry Units from Minnesota. The Fourth Minnesota was first deployed on the frontier but were sent south in early 1862. They took part in the siege of Corinth in the summer of that year and in the battles of Luka and Corinth in September and October 1862. As part of the 17th Army Corps, they were part of Grant’s campaign against Vicksburg, Mississippi taking part in the battles of Champion Hill and the assault of Vicksburg in June of 1863. In June of 1864 they were part of Sherman’s campaign to capture Atlanta and took part in the Battle of Allatoona on October 5. The following month the Fourth Minnesota joined Sherman’s March to the Sea and subsequent siege of Savannah, Georgia. In February 1865 they were part of the Union Army’s march through the Carolinas taking part in the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina March 19-21.
They were present at the surrender of General Joseph Johnston’s army and took part in the Grand Review in Washington, D.C. on May 24. The regiment was discharged at St. Paul on August 7, 1865.
But for Private Andrew Baldwin, on October 30, 1862, just a little more than a year after induction, he was discharged for disability.
The United States Federal Census 1900 showed Andrew Baldwin as living with his son in Staples, Minnesota. He was an 87-year-old person who was born in Ireland. Evidence shows little more, including when he died.
But on September 4, 1935, R.T. Schumacher of Shakopee helped get a tombstone of an unmarked grave of a veteran.
And so, in 1935, a tombstone was placed in Calvary Cemetery for Private Andrew Baldwin, Company A, 4th Minnesota Infantry.
Bibliography
“4th Regiment.” Civil War Era Infantry Units from Minnesota. https://libguides.mnhs.org/infantryunits/4th.
“United States. Bureau of the Census.” Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900: Minnesota, Todd County, Staples. Population schedule. NARA microfilm publication T623, reel 792.