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Charles Gammage was born On December 8, 1829 at Whitney,
Oxfordshire, England; the son of
James
Gammage born around 1807 and
Elizabeth
Flexney.
He immigrated to America on the same ship with Hanna Barnes and her
family and Charles and Hanna’s marriage was arranged at Rhode
Island; occurring on November 25, 1852 at Massachusetts, or possibly
Connecticut. Charles at the time was 22 years of age and
Hannah
Barnes was 20. On
July 1, 1861 Charles enlisted into service with the 15th
Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry as a Corporal, being credited to
the quota of Blackstone, Worcester County, Massachusetts and was
mustered into Company K on July 12. He was 31 years, 6 months and 23
days old.
The 15th Massachusetts was organized at Worcester, Massachusetts and officially mustered in on June 12, 1861. They then moved to Washington, D. C. on August 8th through the 11th and was attached to Gorman's Brigade, Stone's (Sedgwick's) Division, Army of the Potomac until March, 1862 and the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac until July, 1864. They were at Camp Kalorama till August 25, 1861, marched to Poolesville, Maryland on August 25th thru the 27th, did picket and outpost duty on the Upper Potomac from Conrad's Ferry to Harrison's Island until October 20th, and at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff on October 21st. Charles was reported missing in fierce action at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff at Leesburg, Virginia, being taken prisoner on October 21, 1861. Gammage was captured and transported to and confined in the Confederate prison at Richmond, Virginia. He was later paroled in a prisoners exchange program on February 23, 1862. Suffering severe effects of wounds received in battle and imprisonment, he was discharged at Blackstone, Massachusetts on May 15, 1862, ending his military service with the 15th Massachusetts. Gammage in a short time deserted his wife Hanna and his two young sons, Edwin Charles born in 1857 and Lincoln Herbert born in 1860; and rumors had it that he had gone to the western United States or back to England. Hanna was forced to take work in a local textile mill to support herself and her two sons. Charles disappeared so completely that it was 1900 before his family discovered he had in fact boarded a ship for Australia. Hanna eventually obtained a divorce, even though he could not be found, and remarried. Cpl.
Charles Gammage's former family was enumerated in the household of
Hannah
Barnes in the 1870
US Federal Census on June 15, 1870 at Blackstone, Worcester County,
Massachusetts. It included Hannah Gammage age 38 working in a woolen
mill; Edwin Gammage age 12 attending school and Lincoln H. Gammage
age 9 also attending school. Charles arrived in Australia in 1863 and began both a new life and a new family. He married Catherine Hennessy at Wangaratta in January 1869 and they had four sons; James Henry in 1869, William Henry in 1871, George Thomas in 1872 and Charles Edwin in 1874. Catherine died at Gapstead, Shire of Beachworth, Victoria in 1886. Charles later married Mrs. Jane Martin LaFoe, a widow of Hurdle Flat, Beechworth, Victoria in January 1889. On the Special Register of Jurors 1880-81 at Beechworth Courthouse, Victoria, records reveal that Charles made his home at Murmungee and worked as a farmer. He also appears as a plaintiff in court, on February 21, 1882, items No. 48, 49 and 50 in the Court of Petty Sessions, for failing to send his children James, Charles and George to school for a 30 day period in the quarter ending on December 31, 1881; no small surprise seeing that he abandoned his first wife and son. He was fined a sum of one shilling for each offence. Cpl. Charles Gammage submitted an application from Australia for a veteran's pension on January 13, 1900, and received pension under certificate no. 1064581. In November 1901, July 1902, March 1914 and June 1915 pension applications, all originating from Beechworth reveal he had defeated one “m” from his surname, spelling it “Gamage”. He did receive a pension, however, and received $22.50 (US) a month until his death at Wonthaggi, Victoria on July 9, 1916. He was 86 years, 7 months and 1 day old. On August 22, 1916 Jane Martin received a pension as a surviving wife, based on Charles's service, and received widow's pension of $30 (US) a month until the time of her death on May 26, 1927 under certificate number 850585. Wonthaggi was a remote Victorian coalfield town. Charles Gammage was buried in Wonthaggi Cemetery without a headstone. In 1992 a headstone was supplied by the American Veterans Administration in Washington DC and it was placed on his gravesite. |
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15th Massachusetts Regimental History Brian Lafoe, indirect step-descendant “Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War” National Archives, Washington, D. C. Pension Papers, Charles Gammage “Richmond Prisons”, William H. Jeffery Veterans Administration Papers, Washington, D.C. Wonthaggi Cemetery |
Charles' sons, Edwin and Lincoln, are all buried in Oak Hill
Cemetery in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.