Captain George Duncan Simmonds - Civil War Veteran

Captain George Duncan
Simmonds

Relationship: George was my third cousin, three times removed.   We both descend from John Campbell and Mary Scott.

Captain George D. Simmonds was born on the 29th of November 1843 in Londonderry, Colchester County, Nova Scotia.  When he was a young man, he left Nova Scotia and emigrated to the United States.  As the Civil War progressed he joined the Union Army and took part in many of the major battles, including Shiloh, Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, Kenesaw Mountain, Chattahooche River and Nashville.

At Shiloh he was shot through the shoulder and suffered some debility from that wound for the remainder of his life.  

In late 1862, he was detailed to accompany the bodies of several fallen comrades to their homes in Madison, Wisconsin.  Among them was the body of Private James Bridges.  On the day of their wedding, following the ceremony and wedding dinner, Private Bridges received his orders to report immediately to his regiment.  He left later in the day and never again saw his bride, Eliza Jane Sigsby.

Simmonds Homestead
Cedar, Kansas

Eliza was ever grateful for the kindness shown by Captain Simmonds and the two began a correspondence.  On December 7th, 1864 George and Eliza married in Bristol, Wisconsin.  On the completion of the war, the couple moved to Cedar, Kansas and settled down to farming.  They raised five children and had a very happy life until Eliza's death in 1883.

A year or so after Eliza's death, George married Sylvia Baker, who herself was a young widow.  They met at a convention of Civil War Veterans, being introduced by Sylvia's father.

George and Sylvia moved to Abilene, Kansas where they had a cattle ranch and lived there until George's death in 1911.