The Riegel Family Tragedy

All of us have had to cope with death.  When we lose someone we love, it is crushing and, at times, unbearable.  In 1864, the Riegel family had to deal with circumstances that probably none of us have ever faced.

At the time of the 1860 census, the Riegels lived in Woodford County.  Another source said they lived in Washington, so it was probably somewhere in between.  They moved here from Ohio in 1852.  David and Mary (Hittle) Riegel had the following known children.  Solomon, William, John, "Mendon," whom researchers have also said could be "Hannah" or "Emanuel," Oliver, Jeremiah, and Mary.  They also possibly had another son Benjamin. 

On June 1, 1864, son John Riegel, then 18 years old, was mustered into Company C of the 139th Illinois Infantry for military service.  The 139th was pre-determined to be a 100-day service regiment, so it had a reputation of being stocked with very young boys, very green and ill-prepared for the hardships of the Civil War.  According to military records, after training the 139th Infantry spent about two weeks in Kentucky and then was moved to Cairo, Illinois, during July and August.  Cairo, a river town, was plagued with disease during this hot summer.  Since the beginning of the Civil War, Cairo had been reported as a cesspool of disease.  In 1861, the Union camp at Cairo was a swampy, poorly sanitized outpost where overcrowding and stagnant water sparked rampant outbreaks of measles, typhoid, and malaria among the newly recruited troops.  Records show that typhoid fever and dysentery among others were very common in that area during that summer of 1864, and the 139th suffered disease fatalities almost from the time it arrived in Cairo:

Samuel Patterson, Dover, died at Cairo July 9, 1864
Fernando Hosley, Lamoille, died at Cairo July 10, 1864
George R. Lear, Princeton, died at Cairo July 12, 1864
Peter Randall, Galesburg, died at Cairo July 26, 1864
James Camp, Peoria, died at Cairo August 2, 1864
Alexander Harsh, Milo, died at Cairo August 6, 1864
Joseph Longfellow, Eureka, died at Cairo August 9, 1864
William Bartley, Pekin, died at Cairo August 22, 1864
Oscar Bartlett, Sheffield, died at home Aug 30, 1864
Henry Bubert, Havana, died at Cairo Sept 4, 1864
Daniel Ganter, Geneseo, died Sept 26, 1864
Jonas Fuller, Peoria, died at Merrimac Station, Missouri Oct 8, 1864
George W. Carmichael, Sparland, died in Sheffield, IL, Dec. 25, 1864
Col. John Bryner, Peoria, died March 19, 1865

The 139th lost 16 total men to disease, and another 10-15 succumbed to disease at home in the months after discharge, which was on October 28, 1864.

At some point, John Riegel was sent home on sick furlough.  He died at home on October 4, 1864.  The family would have been completely shaken by this tragedy, but it becomes even more tragic.

Although we do not know for certain what happened, both of John's parents, a brother, Emanuel, and possibly an infant brother, Benjamin, all died in 1864 as well.  While it is speculated that the disease that John suffered from was brought home and attacked the family, we cannot say for sure exactly what happened.  All four (or five) of the deceased were buried in the Old City Cemetery in Washington.

The remaining family members at home, Oliver, Jeremiah, and Mary, were split up.  

Son Solomon Riegel had been out on his own for years and had been living in Washington as a farmhand.  Soon after the 1864 tragedies he married Annie Jones in January 1865 in Woodford County.  They moved away soon after, first to Loda, Illinois, and then in 1878 to Ashland, Nebraska.  He passed away in 1921. 

Born in 1842, William was 22 when his family members passed away, and probably out on his own.  Right around the same time John was sent home sick, William entered the service, being mustered into the 8th Illinois Infantry on September 20, 1864, and serving for one year.  As a result, he was nowhere near home when it all happened.  In 1872, he married 18-year-old Mary Ella Hibbs in Ford County, Illinois, who passed away just 10 years into their marriage.  He died in 1924 and is buried in Milford, Nebraska.

Oliver Riegel was around twelve years old in 1864.  In the 1870 census, he lived on the Samuel Stitt farm in Woodford County, then 18, as a laborer.  Like his brothers, he soon made his way to Nebraska.  He died in 1895 at the age of 42, and in his obituary, it states he had married nine months earlier to a woman named Mary.  It also mentions in his obituary that Col. Robert Ingersoll stood over the grave of his brother, presuming to be John.

Jeremiah Riegel (born around 1857) - At first, Jeremiah lived with his brother Solomon and his new wife and family.  In 1882, he married Nellie Van Meter in Tazewell County.  They moved to Nebraska as well, and Jeremiah was killed in a freak buggy accident involving a train in 1899.  He and his wife are both buried in Glendale Cemetery.

Mary Riegel - Mary moved in with the Lewis & Sarah Tobias family in Washington.  She would have been less than five years old when her parents passed away.  She lived with them into her 20s and in 1891 was married to Charles Wilson of Peoria.  When Bessie (Tobias) Millington died in 1907, the funeral was held in the home of Charles & Mary Wilson in Peoria.  Bessie and Mary would have grown up in the same Tobias home essentially as sisters.  She died in 1951 and her and Charles are both buried in Glendale Cemetery.