Bouldenhistory.org - Joseph Louis Boulden, a Military History

Military History of Joseph Louis Boulden

Key: What we know:(K)
What we are Pretty Sure of:(P)
What we surmise:(S)

K: Joseph Louis Boulden was born Sept. 12, 1838 in Piqua, Miami Co., Ohio, the son of William Henry Boulden and Dorcas Warner Boulden (b). In the 1840 census, his family has left Piqua, and appears in adjoining Auglaize County. We surmise that they found work there on the great canal project, driving a canal between local rivers to permit shippers to reach lake Erie. At that time, Great Lake St. Mary was dredged as a water supply for the canal, and thousands of laborers flocked to the area to find work. (e)

K: Within the next few years, his parents divorced, and his father, William Henry Boulden, married Elizabeth Daniels. The 1850 census finds William Henry living with his new family, and his son, Joseph Louis, was living with his grandmother, Nancy Anne Patterson Bouldin, in Piqua, Ohio. (e)

K: At the age of 17 (ca. 1855), JL traveled west to live with uncle Joseph P. Boulden Sr., near Council Bluffs, Iowa. From there, he went west to the Territory of Colorado, probably in connection with the Colorado Gold Rush, where he remained in the area of Parkville, Georgia Gulch, until he enlisted in the Army in August, 1862. This is from a sworn statement by his sister, Anna Cruea. (b)

K: Enlisted Aug. 16, 1862, at Parkville, Georgia Gulch, in Summit County, C.T. (Colorado Territory) by Capt. “Deus, to serve a 3 yr term. It was noted that he was 23 years old, 5ft 8in tall, of light complexion, light hair, and blue eyes. It was noted that he came from “Rigna” (Piqua) Ohio, and his occupation was (Blackschmid). (On the form he filled out, he spelled “Piqua” and “Blacksmith” correctly, but the army clerk, possibly of Germanic extraction, miscopied it.) He enlisted in Co. M of 1st Regiment of New Mexico Volunteers, which organization became Co. M, 1st NM Cavalry. (a)

K: His unit was mustered in at Parkville on October 4, 1862. It was noted that the company commander for company M was Captain Dues. (a)

K: In Nov. and Dec. 1862, he was on detached service at Fort Stanton, NM until Dec. 11, 1862, at which time he moved to Fort Rincon (?), NM. Returning to his home assignment in Jan. and Feb. 1863, it was noted that he owed the two company laundresses: Mrs. Harrville was due $4, and Mrs. Heyatt due $2.50

K: JL was a Corporal in Company M of the 1st New Mexico Volunteers (hereafter, 1NMV) of the 1st New Mexico Cavalry (1 NMC) for the month of July 1863, received at Camp Easton, NM on July 2. (a)

K: As a corporal with Company M, 1 NMC, he was sent to Fort Union, NM on Nov. 5, 1862 by verbal order of Major Mayer of 1NMV. This was called “Detached Service.” He remained on detached service at Fort Union until Dec. 11, 1862. He was on detached service to Fort Stanton, NM per verbal orders from Headquarters, |Turner,| March 24, 1863. From June 1863 until March 1864, he was on detached service at Camp Easton, NM, per orders from Headquarters at Forth Union dated June 23, 1863. This pay voucher summary included the following notes: (a)

“Transferred from Co. M to Co. I, 1st Cav. NMV by SO Ft Canby, NM dated April 1, 1864.” This confused me; I knew of an officer named Canby, but not of a Fort Canby. It turned out that Fort Defiance, near Gallup, NM, was temporarily renamed Fort Canby during the Civil War. He was apparently promoted to Quartermaster Sergeant at the same time he was transferred.
“Apr. 1864, Co. I Gain, Corpl, at Fort Canby.” One piece of paperwork notes the transfer; another notes the promotion to quartermaster sergeant.
“June 1865, Sgt Co. I.”

K: In May and June of 1865, he was on detached service to Fort Sumner. (a)

K: Sergeant in Company I of 1st NMC on mustering out date of August 31, 1865 in Santa Fe, NM. He had recently been at Fort Bascom, NM, because his final records indicate that he owed sutlers Stapp and Hopkins there the sum of $49.75. His enlistment expired August 16, but he was expected to serve until the end of the month. He wrote a nice letter to the post adjutant at Ft Bascom, Lt. Ellis, asking if he could be furloughed beginning on the 16th. Ellis approved the request, and sent it up the line, where it was approved by Capt. C. W. Hubbell, Major E. H Bergmann, finally by the Brig. General commanding, James H. Carleton. The approval noted that “…the Sergeant is a good man and well deserving…”(a)

K: Sometime after his discharge in 1865, he returned to the home of his uncle, Joseph P. Boulden Sr., near Council Bluffs, Iowa. (b)

S: According to family stories, he crossed the river into Omaha and found employment with the Union Pacific Railroad as a blacksmith, and he worked his way out to Utah. Family stories say he was present for the driving of the Golden Spike that united two railroad lines into the transcontinental railroad at Promontory Point, Utah near Ogden.

K: As the railroad work crews entered Utah, they laid the line down Echo Canyon toward Ogden. JL was known to work on the Echo Canyon segment of the line, where he met Orange Seeley, later to be his Bishop and friend in Castle Dale, and for whom the town of Orangeville, Utah is named. This is from Bishop Seeley’s affidavit. (b)

K: He married Matilda C. Curtis, a 15 year old Mormon girl, in Ogden on June 11, 1869. (b)

P:JL and his wife, Matilda, moved with her folks to the Sanpete County area of central Utah and lived there for several years.

P: Shortly before his death, President Brigham Young of the LDS Church asked the Sanpete settlers to colonize the Castle Valley area of Utah. Joseph and Matilda were asked to go, because he was one of only two blacksmiths in town, and the other refused to resettle.

K: JL and Bishop Orange Seeley traveled to Castle Valley and lived in a dugout home during the winter of 1878 to 79, making preparations for their wives and families to be settled there the following summer. This we know from the Seeley Affidavit. (b) Their baby boy, Erastus Curtis Boulden, died during this trip when the families made the journey.

K: JL and Matilda played roles in the first theatrical production ever staged in Castle Valley. Titled The Lost Ship, the play was staged in the little log schoolhouse in Orangeville during the 1880 Christmas season. (f)

S: Family recollections are that JL worked seasonally as a blacksmith at Winter Quarters, Utah for some years, while his family remained in the Castle Dale area. Matilda's obituary says that they both lived there for a time in 1891. (d)

K: About 1892, JL was elected a County Selectman for Emery County, and that since he lived in a remote part of the county at that time, he lodged and boarded with Bishop Seeley, and subsequently worked in Seeley's blacksmith shop for six years. (b)

K: Per pension application, he lived in Barton, Custer County, Idaho on Dec. 6, 1897, and in Houston, Idaho on Oct. 18, 1898. He may have been there as late as 1900 (b)

K: Per pension application, he lived in Price, Carbon, Utah on Nov. 11, 1901.(b)

K: Per pension application, he lived in Castle Dale, Emery, Utah on June 11, 1903 and April 13, 1904. (b)

K: Per pension application, he lived in Castle Dale, Emery, Utah on March 1, 1907, and Sept. 19, 1908. (b)

K: Per pension application, he lived in Castle Dale, Emery, Utah on May 27, 1912. (b)

K: Died June 28, 1913 in Castle Dale, Emery, Utah. (b)

a. Per official Army documents from National Archives
b. Per official documents in pension file from Dept. of Veterans Affairs
c. Per statements made in pageant commemorating settlement of Castle

Valley
d. Obituary in the Emery County Progress, January 30, 1942
e. U.S. Census reports for 1840, 1850, 1860, 1880.

f. History of Emery County