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Charles Harrison Bristol was born March 12, 1840 at Newhaven, Middletown, Connecticut to parents Stephen Bristol and Harriet Hall. By the year 1850 they had relocated to New Haven, Connecticut where his father worked as a plumber. His mother died in 1859, as did his father in 1861, while Charles was learning to be a painter. Charles voluntarily enlisted as a private into the US Army on April 22, 1861, serving in Company “G”, 2nd Connecticut Infantry as a Private; being mustered in upon the Regiments formation on May 7, 1861. The 2nd Regiment, Connecticut Infantry was organized at New Haven on May 7, 1861 as a three-month unit and left Connecticut for Washington, D. C. on May 19, 1861. It was attached to Mansfield's command, the Department of Washington, until June, 1861, then to Key’s 1st Brigade, Tyler's Division, McDowell's Army of North-eastern Virginia until August 1861. The 2nd Connecticut Infantry saw service at Camp Corcoran, in the defences of Washington, D. C., until June 1, advanced to Vienna and Falls Church, Virginia from June 1 through the 3rd and served picket duty tat Fall’s Church until July 16. They then advanced on Manassas, Virginia from July 16th through the 21st, participated in the occupation of the Fairfax Church House on July 17th, participated in the Battle of Bull Run on July 21st and mustered out on August 7, 1861. Bristol was mustered out on August 7, 1861, with the regiment, at New Haven, Connecticut. On September 23, 1861, forty-six days after leaving the 2nd Connecticut Infantry, Bristol reenlisted in the U.S. Navy under the name “Charles Brown” aboard the ‘North Carolina’ at the Brooklyn Naval Yard. The reason for his using an assumed name is not known, but he went on to serve honourably aboard the “Unadilla” as a Landsman, attached to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. The USS Unadilla was the first of a class of twenty-three "90-day gunboats" built at New York for Civil War service. Commissioned in September 1861 under the command of Lieutenant Napoleon Collins, the Unadilla participated in the capture of Port Royal, South Carolina, in early November. For the next three years the Unadilla was mainly employed on Federal offensive and blockading operations in the coastal waters of South Carolina and Georgia, participating in several actions and capturing three blockade runners; two, the Lodona and the Princess Royal, were later inducted into U.S. Navy service. The Unadilla was transferred to waters off North Carolina in November 1864 and was part of the fleet that assaulted Fort Fisher in December1864 and was successful in capturing it in January 1865. Following further operations against Wilmington, Virginia the Unadilla moved to the James River in Virginia, for her final service during the Civil War and was decommissioned in May 1865. The Unadilla returned to active duty in December 1866, however, and made a voyage to the Far East. In 1867-68,where she participated in efforts to put down piracy in Asian waters. The Unadilla was sold in November 1869 and renamed the Dang Wee, after which she was employed in merchant marine service until she was lost at Hong Kong in 1870. After
leaving the “Unadilla” Bristol also served aboard the
“Britannia”; being discharged at Norfolk, Virginia in 1864.
The “Britannia” was a side-wheel steamer built in 1862 at
Leith, Scotland, captured as a blockade runner by the
“Santiago de Cuba” in the Bahama Islands off the Florida
Islands June 25, 1863. It was sent to Boston, Massachusetts
for adjudication and was purchased by the U.S. Navy
Department in September 1863 and commissioned on September
16, 1863 with then Acting Master H. H. Savage in command. According to the “Connecticut Record of Service of Men during War of Rebellion”, on December 17, 1864 Bristol again enlisted for a period of three years as a private into Company “G”, 15th Connecticut Infantry and was captured at Kinston, North Carolina on March 8, 1865. He became a prisoner of war, on March 23, 1865, was transferred to Richmond, Virginia and was paroled three days later on March 26, 1865 at Boulware & Coxe's Wharf in Virginia; being furloughed on March 30, 1865, from which he never returned; making him a deserter. Accounts of his subsequent service differ with one source showing he was furloughed and never returned and another showing he was transferred to the 7th Connecticut Infantry on June 24, 1865; although he does not appear on the roster. Having been paroled once, it is very likely if he did enlist in the 7th Connecticut Infantry, he likely did so under an assumed name; lest he was captured again. Still another source records him as having enlisted in Company G of the 15th Connecticut Infantry, at a much later date, on December 17, 1864; as a private again. On this recording his discharge and date of departure are not recorded. It does record, however, that he was a prisoner of war on March 8, 1865 at Kinston, North Carolina, was paroled on March 26, 1865, furloughed on March 30th, that he was born in Connecticut, died in Australia and was buried in Numurka, Victoria. After the war he went back to sea for some four years, arriving in Victoria, Australia around 1868 aboard the Kathair. On October 19, 1876 he married Eliza Ann McCarron of County Tyrne, Ireland, at Kaarimba, Victoria. The service was conducted by Rev. Swift in the Kaarimba Church. In Victoria, Bristol worked on a farm and later worked as a carpenter and was naturalized as an Australian citizen on February 15th, 1913. Charles and Eliza had a total of eleven children; Harriet Eliza, Gerald Edgar Hall, Charles Francis Leonard, Stephen who was still born, Martha who died in infancy, Donald Stephen Schubert who was killed in World War I, Henry “Cleve” Cleveland, Dora Iradina Harriet, George Franklin Osborne, Olive Ruth and Winfred Ann. The family relocated to and made their home in Katunga, Victoria in the latter part of the 1890’s. In Katunga Charles worked as a carpenter and Eliza worked as a midwife in the delivery of many local babies. Of all the children, Cleve was the only one to remain in Katunga, marrying Lil O’Brien who moved there with her family in 1929. Her father worked as a linesman and her mother was the Railway Station Mistress. Cleve and Lil had three children in Katunga, Barbara, Len and Rhonda. Cleve, like his father, was a carpenter and regarded as a perfectionist in everything he constructed or renovated; including many of the districts finer homes and public buildings. With the establishment of the Soldiers Settlement Commission, Cleve teamed up with a Mr. Tommy Davies and served as head carpenters for the commission; building and maintaining the timber framing and moulds for commission concrete work. Cleve continued in that capacity until he retired and passed away in August 1972. Lil continued living in Katunga until April 1982, when she moved to Numurkah. Charles Harrison Bristol died, however, on July 22, 1931, of bronchitis and cardiac failure and was buried at Numurkah Cemetery in Victoria, Australia in the Presbyterian Section in grave number 620. Descendants of Charles Harrison Bristol include Mrs. Lorna Berry, mother of Mrs. Maureen Denham and sisters Mrs. Freda Smith and Mrs. Margaret Walker who are grand daughters of Charles Bristol. Mrs. Maureen Denham is the great granddaughter; and are located in Victoria, Australia. |
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Bristol General Index Card Connecticut: Record of Service of Men during War of Rebellion Historical Data Systems, Inc. History of the Britannia, 1862 History of the USS Unadilla Katunga Centenary, April 9th & 10th, 1988 Maureen Denham, Victoria, Au. Middletown, Connecticut Birth Records, 1861 Numurkah Leader, newspaper, Obituary and funeral notice, July 26, 1932, August 2, 1932, August 23, 1932. Numurkah Cemetery Regimental Histories, UNION CONNECTICUT VOLUNTEERS Veterans Records, Film Number M535 roll 2 |
