It is sobering to uncover how many of the soldiers listed on Clara Barton’s “Roll of Missing Men” perished at Andersonville Prison. While it is not surprising that those who were imprisoned at this heinous site met an unfortunate fate, it speaks volumes about wartime communication. Regiments had a difficult time locating captured combatants: Which prison were they taken to? Have they been released or exchanged?

Families of prisoners of war similarly ask questions, but have even less intelligence on their loved ones’ conditions: Are they hurt? Did they catch a wretched disease? Will they make it to the end of the war? The family of Pvt. Philip Defendall, Company D of the 58^th Indiana Infantry, was desperate for answers and, like thousands of others, turned to Clara Barton to help resolve these longstanding fears and to put their minds at rest.

Philip Defendall, also spelled “Deffendoll” or “Daffendall” on some records, enlisted in the U.S. Army on December 1861. The eldest of six children, he worked as a farm laborer and was illiterate. Both of his parents were migrants to Indiana: his father Joseph, having been born in Pennsylvania and mother Martha in Kentucky. In 1841, they settled in Pike County with a land grant provided by the Tyler Administration. Philip’s younger brothers Abraham and Joseph also enlisted. Both survived the war.

The 58^th Indiana Infantry fought in Georgia intermittently after the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863. By the time of his imprisonment on November 17, 1864, Pvt. Defendall had survived major fighting in the hot Georgian summer of 1864, including the battles of Atlanta and Jonesborough. It can be assumed that his capture coincided with the start of Sherman’s “March to the Sea,” which began two days prior.

Across several records from Andersonville Prison, including from its hospital, Pvt. Defendall arrived on November 17 and perished from “scorbutus” (scurvy) the next day.^1,2 He is buried in Andersonville National Cemetery in plot #12087, alongside nearly a dozen other soldiers who fell the same day.³ Philip likely fell ill during the grueling campaigns of 1864, weakened by over a year of constant marching and the absence of fresh food in his diet.

Pvt. Defendall left behind his wife Rachel and their three children, born between 1855-1858. She filed for a widow’s pension on July 1, 1865,⁴ indicating that for least eight months, his family did not know of his whereabouts – possibly longer. Did Clara Barton receive a letter from Rachel or Philip’s parents inquiring about him? Did she find him in Andersonville with Dorence Atwater that summer, finally putting their mind to rest? Rachel’s pension application soon after Barton and Atwater visited the site to help identify prisoner remains and bury them, leads us to believe so.

About the Author

Madeline Feierstein is an Alexandria, VA, historian and founder of the educational and historical consulting company Rooted in Place, LLC. A native of Washington, D.C., her work has been showcased across the Capital Region. Madeline is a writer for Emerging Civil War and the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. She leads significant projects to document the sick, injured, and imprisoned soldiers that passed through Civil War Alexandria. Madeline holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminology from George Mason University and a Master’s in American History from Southern New Hampshire University. Explore her research at www.madelinefeierstein.com. 

Sources

¹“Phil Deffendolf,” U.S., Civil War Prisoner of War Records, 1861-1865, Ancestry, 2007, from Selected Records of the War Department Commissary General of Prisoners Relating to Federal Prisoners of War Confined at Andersonville, GA, 1864-65, National Archives Record Group 249, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1124/records/1277783.

 ²“P H Daffendolf,” U.S., Civil War Prisoner of War Records, 1861-1865, Ancestry, 2007, from Selected Records of the War Department Commissary General of Prisoners Relating to Federal Prisoners of War Confined at Andersonville, GA, 1864-65, National Archives Record Group 249, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1124/records/1259870.

³“P H Daffendall,” U.S., Burial Registers, Military Posts and National Cemeteries, 1862-1960, Ancestry, 2012, from Burial Registers of Military Posts and National Cemeteries, compiled ca. 1862-ca. 1960, National Archives Record Group 92, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3135/records/233532.

⁴“Rachel Defendall,” U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934, Ancestry, 2000, from National Archives Record Group 15, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/4654/records/11577735.