John Stockham

John Stockham of the Algona vicinity enlisted early in the war. His friends never have been able to learn to what regiment he belonged. Ambrose A. Call's Pioneer Press, in its issue of May 3, 1862, says that he joined the Sixteenth Iowa Infantry and that the Press had learned that he had been wounded at Shiloh, and later that he had died at Cincinnati. Stockham's name does not appear in the roster of the Sixteenth regiment, neither has it been discovered in the roster of any other Iowa regiment after the most painstaking research with that object in view. It is not probable that this county ever received credit for his enlistment.

SOURCE: Benjamin F. Reed, History of Kossuth County, Iowa, Volume 1, p. 185.

NOTE: The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System shows a John C. Stockham, Corporal, Company I, 3rd Iowa Infantry.  Of this John Stockham the Roster And Record Of Iowa Soldiers In The War Of The Rebellion, Volume 1, p. 384 names him as “Stockan, John. Age 22. Residence Waterloo, nativity Ohio. Enlisted May 20, 1861. Mustered June 10, 1861. Wounded slightly in back April 6, 1862, Shiloh, Tenn. Promoted Eighth Corporal Sept. 15, 1863. Mustered out June 18, 1864, Davenport, Iowa, expiration of term of service.”  The roster of the 16th Iowa Infantry found in the Roster And Record Of Iowa Soldiers In The War Of The Rebellion, Volume 2, does not list anyone with the last name of Stockham, Stockan or anything resembling it with a first name of John.  There is no pension index card at Fold3.com for John Stockham/Stockan, or for any Iowa troops with the surnames of either Stockham or Stockan.

Per Beverly Pettys’ gedcom file on ancestry.com John Stockham was the son of William W. & Elizabeth (Duncan) Stockham of Scioto County, Ohio.  He was born about 1838 in Ohio and resided with them in the 1850 Federal Census in Adams, Hartford County, Indiana.  Sometime between 1850 and 1856 John Stockham removed to Waterloo, Black Hawk County, Iowa where he was enumerated in the 1856 State Census of Iowa, an 18 year old laborer in the household of A. McHugh.  The 1860 Federal Census for East Waterloo, Black Hawk County, Iowa lists him as a 22 year old law student residing with the family of Arthur McHugh (a merchant’s clerk).  It is probable and very likely that John Stockham named above is the same individual in the 3rd Iowa Infantry as all the facts line up with the exception of his death in Cincinatti prior to May 3, 1862.  As of this writing I do not have a casualty list of the 3rd Iowa from the Battle of Shiloh, nor have I come across his name on any hospital lists.  Since the History of Kossuth County, Iowa (published in 1913) seems to rely on two sources: the first, John Stockham’s unreliable friends, who were not able to identify to which regiment he belonged.  Newspaper casualty lists are laden with errors and often erroneous reports of a soldier’s death due to wounds.  Which calls into question the reliability of the Kossuth County History’s second source, the May 3rd issue of Ambrose A. Call's Pioneer Press, not even a month after the battle) that reported of John Stockham’s wounding at Shiloh, and his death at Cincinnati.