William Edward Glover

My 3rd great-grandfather, William Edward Glover who descends from a long line of Quakers from Monmouth County, New Jersey, was living with his wife, Ruth Ann Franklin, and their four young children in Randolph County, Indiana when the Civil War threatened their peaceful existence. The decision of whether or not to fight must have been a difficult choice for a pacifist to make.

As the war waged on, William answered the call to arms and was drafted into the Union’s 9th Indiana Volunteer Infantry along with a handful of his Quaker neighbors. William would see action in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana before being mustered out. Just eleven days before he left to fight, Ruth Ann bore her fifth child, my 2nd great-grandfather, William Robert Glover. How frightening it must have been to be left alone to run the family farm and raise five children under the age of ten and not knowing whether her husband would return from battle. Fortunately, she could rely on her Quaker neighbors help during her husband’s absence.

During the Western Campaign, William became ill from exposure to chilling winds and laying in freezing mud and water, developing a deep cough that would plague him for the rest of his life. William mustered out in June 1865 at Nashville, Tennessee and returned home to his family in Indiana where he and Ruth Ann welcomed four more children. William was one of the lucky ones, living a long and purposeful life, passing away at the age of sixty-six. His Friends community must have forgiven him his transgressions and accepted him back in the fold because he is buried in Cherry Grove Quaker Cemetery beside his beloved Ruth Ann.

Please note that William is wearing his Grand Army of the Republic participation medal in the photograph.