Information Sheet

 

 

R         Denny, Franklin Spilman, 1825-1902.

548                  Papers, 1853-1917.

                                    Three folders, photocopies and typescripts.

 

 

 

This collection contains family correspondence, a Civil War diary, and military service and pension records of Franklin S. Denny of Company C, 1st Missouri Cavalry.  The correspondence in­cludes letters from relatives in California, Nevada, and Wisconsin, 1853-1874.  The Civil War diary covers operations around Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Independence, Missouri, and Little Rock, Arkansas, 1862-1864.

 

Franklin S. Denny was born 7 October 1825 in Bond County, Illinois.  Before the Civil War, he was a blacksmith in Platteville, Wisconsin.  He married Mary Ann Pennington, who died in 1859.  On 1 August 1861, he enlisted in Company C, 1st Missouri Cavalry, at Litchfield, Illinois.  He was elected third sergeant, but, by February 1862, had been promoted to first ser­geant, the top non-commissioned officer in his company.  He served in that capacity until 17 Sep­tember 1864, when he was discharged at the expiration of his enlistment.  In 1868, Denny mar­ried Susan Dule­bon at Freeport, Illinois.  By 1874, Franklin and Susan Denny were living in Springfield, Missouri, where Franklin operated a carriage shop.  They died in 1902 and 1917, re­spectively.

 

The family correspondence includes an ante-bellum letter from Platteville, Wisconsin, by Denny’s first wife, Mary Anne Pennington.  There are also postwar letters written by Denny’s brothers from Millerton and Visalia, California, and the Palmetto Mining District in Nevada.

 

Denny’s Civil War diary spans two years of military service in Kansas, Missouri, and Ar­kan­sas.  The entries in the diary concern three different periods.  The first begins at Fort Leaven­worth, Kansas, on 14 February 1862 and follows Denny’s activities in operations around Fort Leaven­worth and Independence, Missouri, to the end of May 1862.  The second section of the di­ary cov­ers the march from Rolla to Pilot Knob, Missouri, and thence toward Little Rock, Arkan­sas, as part of Davidson’s Cavalry Expedition in June-August 1863.  The last entries detail op­erations near Lit­tle Rock in March 1864. 

 

Folder 3 contains copies of Denny’s military service and pension papers from the National Archives.

 

 

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