The Genealogy of
                               Eli martin Hewitt
                                                        1824 - 1864

On 26 July of that year Eli married Artimesia Holsten, believed by some researchers to be a younger half-sister to Franey.  Eli and Artimesia also had three children, Sarah Isabel, Charles Wesley, and Eli Franklin.  Eli may well have never seen his youngest son, Eli Franklin, since he had left for Civil War duty some 5 months before the child was born. 

(See Wives and Children for details of both families.)

In August of 1862, after to enlisting for the Civil War, but before being mustered to duty, Eli made several land transactions.  He sold the parcels of 80 acres and 10 acres, then purchased a nearby 5 acre plot.  It seems that he was relieving his family of the responsibility of caring for more property than necessary during his absence.

Eli enlisted in the 125th Illinois Infantry as a Private on 12 August and was mustered for duty on 3 September.  His regiment went first to Ohio and down to Kentucky.  It was there his medical training and skills were being used while assigned duty to "wait on the sick" in Louisville, KY.  He himself ended up in a convalescent camp in Nashville, Tennessee, "unfit for active duty as a soldier."  But in September 1863 he requested to meet the commissioning board to try to get an appointment as an Assistant Surgeon.  Approval was long in coming, but effective 23 March 1864 he was discharged from the 125th Illinois to accept his commission as Assistant Surgeon in the 15th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment that was being newly formed in the Nashville area.  (see Civil War for many related document images)

On 9 July 1864 he penned a letter to his wife from Camp Donaldson in Nashville, TN.  This area was 'occupied territory' wherein no uniformed troop battles were taking place.  In his letter he spoke highly of the brave soldiers, the conditions they faced, and admonished her for not writing more frequently.  He also urged that the children be obedient and especially not be liars. A short 15 days later he met an untimely death at the hands of a band of civilian guerillas partisan to the Confederacy.  Though unarmed and traveling only with his ambulance driver, he was ambushed, stripped and murdered .  He is buried with Franey in the Makemson Cemetery in Oakwood, Vermilion County, Illinois.

Surprisingly, for a man of some education and business sense, and for the planning he did with his land holdings, Eli died without a will.  The documents of the probate of his estate survive in the court records of Vermilion County, Illinois.  Therein can be found notes due from those for whom he performed services but had not collected payment.  There is also a note payable for supplies that he had purchased.

Eli's Parentage