Beeks line: David Wise, Civil War veteran: Did anyone know?

David Wise is the great grandfather of some descendents still living, and the great great grandfather of more, and the "ancient" ancestor of many, many Beeks descendents.  I wonder if there is anyone in the family, though, who knows that this man was a Civil War veteran.

I just learned this fact a couple of days ago.  David was the son of Andrew Jackson and Mary Serfass (Ceirfoss, or many other spellings) and was born in 1838 near Sidney, Ohio.  Sometime between 1840 and 1850 the family moved to the area of Lagro, in Wabash county, Indiana, and during that same period Mary disappears from the records.  David is with his father in 1860, and in 1864 married Matilda Martin in Wabash County, Indiana.  A child was born shortly after that, and shortly after that, David and his younger brother Philip were drafted.

They were both "enrolled" on October 21, 1864 and assigned to company I of the 23rd Indiana Infantry Regiment. They were replacement troops for a unit formed around New Albany, in southern Indiana, in 1861.  This unit had lost many of its soldiers due to death, wounds, and illness.  Because they were replacement troops, it's been hard to determine just where they were trained and for how long.  Typically the training for replacement troops was minimal.  This regiment was involved in a lot of battles, but the campaign that was going on when the men likely arrived was Sherman's March to the Sea, from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia.  From Savannah, the men marched north through the Carolinas, and General Sherman accepted the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston and his troops in North Carolina on April 26, 1865, eleven days after President Lincoln was assassinated. 

The regiment marched in the grand Washington Review, a three day parade of victorious Union troops, and were finally discharged on July 20, 1865 at Louisville.  I'm not sure what happened with David then, because there is a note that he had been ill in the hospital since June 20, 1865.  Did the hospitals continue to treat sick and wounded soldiers?  At what point was David well enough to travel home? Did Philip stay with him until David was ready to go home? 

Obviously I am going to need to save up big bucks to order David's Civil War and pension records.   I hope to learn more about him from the records, but I wanted to get this much of his story written now, while I'm excited to learn about a new Civil War veteran for the family.  I promise another post, when I get the records.

 I also need to learn where he was from 1870, when he and his young family are in Dallas Township, Huntington County, Indiana to 1900, when he is a widower living with his son-in-law and daughter,  John and Elizabeth Wise Beeks, in Andrews, Indiana.  In 1910 he is living with his daughter in Lagro, Indiana and then in 1920 he's back with John and Elizabeth.  He died April 5, 1927 in Andrews.  I don't know where he was buried, but as a Civil War veteran, he is entitled to a marker and I'd like to make sure he has one.

I've learned one new fact and now there are so many unanswered questions.  If someone knows more about David than I've been able to find, please contact me at  happygenealogydancing AT gmail DOT com.  It's always more fun to work together to solve some of these challenges.

The line of descent is:

David Wise-Matilda Martin
Elizabeth Wise-John Beeks
Wilbur Beeks-Cleo Aldridge
Mary Margaret Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger
Their descendents