ISAAC A. BLACKMUN -- 153rd INFANTRYRECEIVING NEW GRAVESTONE THANKS TO RELATIVE - Thanks, once again to JillStephenson who sent information on another Blackmun (Blackman). Isaac A.Blackmun enlisted on August 31, 1862, in Mooers. He agreed to serve for3 years when he was mustered into Company G of the 153rd Infantry with 9other men on September 23rd. All but one of them came home. About a month after enlistment, and before they left for Washington inOctober, Isaac was promoted to corporal. A month after that, theregiment found themselves in Alexandria, VA, as provost guard, andduring most of 1863, they did garrison and guard duty around thecapital. On November 1st, 1863, before leaving for the south, Isaac waspromoted to sergeant.In the spring of 1864, the 153rd was with the Department of the Gulf inLouisiana, where it was assigned to the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 19thCorps, and took part in the Red River Campaign. At Pleasant Hill theylost their first blood -- 5 killed, 24 wounded and 4 who went missing.They stayed in Louisiana until July, then returned to Washington. InMaryland the regiment confronted General Jubal Early, then travelledwith Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. They took part in the Battles ofthe Opequan, Fisher\'s Hill, Strasburg and Cedar Creek, besides numerouslesser skirmishes -- sustaining over 150 casualties. The regimentremained in the Valley until April 1865, when, with Dwight\'s Division,it participated in the Grand Review of the Armies in May.In July they sailed for Savannah, GA, for more provost duty and weremustered out there on October 2, 1865.We recently received information from Jill Stephenson that they havereceived a new gravestone for Isaac, whose stone was destroyed. Thestone is in the small Florida cemetery in which he is buried -- theOrleans Cemetery in Inverness, FL.On March 14, 2016, Jill wrote - I am currently trying to get a Civil Warheadstone for Isaac Blackmun who is buried at Inverness Florida. It\'staken quite a while because he is buried in a small cemetery in theWithlacoochee State Forest. They just signed the approval last week onhis application and now it\'s been sent to the VA. When the headstonecomes, I will be transporting it to Florida and my family, and I will besetting it along with the Florida State Forest Service and the InvernessHistorical Society. I will send some pictures on to you when it is done.On April 27, we received this message from Jill: Just wanted to let youknow that Isaac Blackmun\'s headstone came. We hope to have it placed inJune. Pretty excited. We\'re planning a ceremony when we do it. I\'llvideo it and send you a copy.We can't wait to see the video. Thank you, Jill. We hope that otherswill follow Jill\'s example to get new stones to replace those that aremissing or destroyed for their ancestors.
