13996. Benjamin Richards McAllister
U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records
Name: Benjamin McAllister
Residence: Lynn, Massachusetts
Class:1
Congressional District: 5th
Age on 1 July 1863: 33
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1830
Race: White
Marital Status: Married
Place of Birth: Massachusetts
13997. Mary A. Holbrook McAllister
It appears that Mary was born as Mary Holbrook and was adopted by Archibald and Ann.
Her death record lists her mother as Ann Haskell
14003. William Haskell Wormstead
Marblehead Messenger
August 19, 1938Marblehead's "grand old man" was taken by death Tuesday evening when William Haskell Wormstead, Civil War veteran, passed away following an illness of a few weeks at Mary Alley hospital. The old soldier was 94 when his final marching orders were issued.
Soldier Wormstead was an Independence Day baby, born in Marblehead on the Fourth of July, 1844. He was the son of the late Joseph I. and Mary Haskell Wormstead. Marblehead schools furnished him his education. On August 15, 1862, when but 18 years of age he tossed aside his boyhood and became a man, a volunteer soldier in Company C of the 32nd Massachusetts Regiment of infantry, the same regiment which contained Dr. Philip B. Laskey.
A week later he left for the front. On the 27th of August in '62 he heard his first guns roar. He was then at Alexandria, Virginia, a few miles from where the second battle of Bull Run was in progress. He marched through Virginia to Maryland and got his first taste of action at the battle of Antietam, a spot where he gave a tired Union general a cup of coffee.
He fought in every major battle of the Army of the Potomac. He was at Brandy Station, Gettysburg, Mine Run, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Laurel Hill, North Anna, Merchanicsville, Cold Harbor. At Gettysburg he passed his nineteenth birthday as orderly to General Meade, on guard before the general's headquarters in a tiny, white farm house.
On June 18, 1864, he was fighting in the battle of Petersburg. There his days as a soldier in the front line trenches were ended, for he received a wound in the hand which incapacitated him for the rest of the war. He received a wound in the hand which nearly cost him the loss of his arm and which for a time threatened his life.
In the hospital his recovery was hastened by the girl he left behind, Harriet Gilbert Manning, who had made a promise to him to come to his side if he was wounded, fulfilled her pledge, and it was through her efforts and the attentions of a Marblehead doctor that Soldier Wormstead became himself again.
He was discharged from the federal hospital at Satterlee. He was a sergeant. William Wormstead returned to Marblehead, married and entered business as a painter and interior decorator. From military life he entered politics and the tender age of 25 years found him a member of the Massachusetts General Court, the youngest member in that body. He also became worthy master of Philanthropic Lodge, A.F. & A.M.
In 1883 he moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where he followed his same trade. He became prominent in veterans' affairs. He became commander of Farragut Post in that city, senior vice commander of the department of Missouri in 1916 and a year later was elected Junior National Vice Commander.
Mrs. Wormstead died in 1918. Five years later Mr. Wormstead returned to his native town to conduct a business as a painter contractor. Back in Marblehead he became noted for his keen wit, his ability to speak and write stories. As a hobby he engaged in literature, as did his late brother, Joseph. He was a well known student of history and military tactics. One of his favorite stories was a description of the battle of Gettysburg as it would have occurred in Marblehead.
He spoke at many veterans' gatherings, and to almost his last day, impressed every one who heard him with his agility of his intellect.
One of the greatest moments he leaves behind in his own war story, written in 1912 and entitled "Candlelight Stories of My Service in the United States Army." It was written, as he pointed out, as "just a humble story of a very commonplace service. Those who perform great deeds find many willing of hand and active of brain, who with song and story, with brush and chisel record the glories of the great, as it is right that they should, but the inconspicuous may be forgiven if they speak for themselves."
The book, typewritten and published, he presented to the Marblehead Historical Society.
One of the happiest experiences of his life occurred when, on last July 4, he was priviledged to attend the seventy-fifth reunion of the Blue and Gray on the battlefield at Gettysburg. Here he observed his ninety-fourth birthday on exactly the same spot he observed his nineteenth, before the tiny house that was General Meade's headquarters.
He was admitted to Mary Alley hospital shortly after his return from Gettysburg. He steadily grew worse, but reports indicate that on Sunday and Monday of this week he was more active than he had been since he was admitted. Death came, however, on Tuesday evening, shortly after 10.30 P.M.Mr. Wormstead leaves a son, Samuel Wormstead of Marblehead and two daughters, Mrs. Allan Dumbreck, with whom he made his home here and Mrs. Edwin Judson of Kansas City.