Hooked on History: Mexican War veteran had strong opinions on politics, funerals
James Allen, a Mexican War veteran from Wilmot, was a man who possessed strong opinions and wasn't afraid to share them with people with whom he disagreed.
Shortly before the start of the Civil War, Charles Frederick Manderson, a Canton attorney, came to the Wilmot area to make a speech. After Manderson concluded his remarks, Allen stood up at the meeting and said he wanted to respond from a Republican standpoint.
He was given the opportunity. In plain, blunt language, he disputed statements Manderson had made in his speech. Finally, Manderson, a future U.S. senator from Nebraska, rose to his feet and asked Allen if he had lied to the audience.
According to the Canton Repository, Allen responded, "No, but I'll be damned if you didn't prevaricate the gol-darnedest."
James Allen was born Dec. 8, 1809, in Somerset County, Pa., the son of Phineas and Ruth Smith Allen. He married Ann Agler on Jan. 7, 1836, in Sugar Creek Township, Stark County. Their children were William, Melissa, Joseph, Margaret, Mary and James Jr.
He started life in Stark County as a cabinet maker. In 1835, a cholera epidemic hit the county, which "carried victims away by the hundred, at which time he toiled night and day, making plain cases to measure, in which to bury victims of the scourge," the Repository said.
He later became a farmer.
When the Mexican War began, Allen was appointed captain of Company K of the 3rd Ohio Regiment on May 30, 1846. The company, known as the Stark Rangers, was organized in Massillon between May 30 and June 12, 1846.
Once organized, the regiment marched to Cincinnati, traveled down the Mississippi River by steamboat to New Orleans and then by the brig Orleans to Brazos Island, Texas. The soldiers spent the summer and fall of 1846 encamped near Matamoros, Mexico, along the Rio Grande.
The regiment marched to the Mexican city of Camargo, located about 4 miles south of the Rio Grande and about 160 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, in February 1847 to perform garrison duty.
Allen wrote to a friend from Camargo on Feb. 22, 1847, and the letter was later published in the Repository.
"This Camargo is not the most beautiful town in the world," Allen wrote, but he added that the weather was delightful, like June in Ohio.
The war thus far had taken a toll on his company. Of the 84 men who left Massillon on June 13, 1846, eight had died, 12 had been discharged on account of disease and one had deserted.
"It was unprecedentedly unhealthy on the Rio Grande last summer, and our poor fellows did suffer horribly," Allen wrote. "No one, who has never experienced such scenes, can imagine the cares and griefs of an officer, with a heart in his bosom, who sees his soldiers, the sons and brothers of his friends and neighbors, daily and hourly sinking before an invisible enemy, against whom strength and courage are but as the shaking of a rush.
"For my part, and I lay no particular claims to bravery, I would rather share in a dozen battles, such as that at Monterrey, than pass through the horrors of one week — such weeks as we experienced last September."
Allen apologized that he hadn't written more letters to his friends in Canton and Massillon.
"I have an almost insuperable horror of writing tedious letters, about nothing," he said. "Had the 3rd regiment been actively employed as the 1st was, I should have literally deluged my Ohio friends with letters; but, alas, we were condemned to the horrid monotony of garrison duty, with no enemy to contend with but disease; & when I choose to bore my friends, in the epistolary way, I prefer to have joyous subjects for my pen."
He was mustered out of the service on June 23, 1847.
When Allen died on March 30, 1890, he was, according to the Repository, one of the wealthiest men in Stark County. He left $15,000 in property ($467,000 in 2021 dollars).
Besides possessing strong opinions on politics, he also had strong opinions on how his funeral should be conducted.
In accordance with his will "the body was placed in a $15 home-made coffin and carried direct to the cemetery with no services, hymn singing or bell ringing," the Repository said. He did not want anybody to preach over his remains who believed in the doctrine of damnation.
The will further stated that no tombstone should be erected and his wife was not to wear mourning clothes but that a sumptuous supper should be served to mourners.
"Those who knew him say he was a good and sympathetic man," the paper said.
According to local historian Linda Doyle, Allen's wife, Ann, did not follow his last wishes, as she had a tombstone erected when their daughter Mary died in August 1894.
The marker is located in Section 5, Lot 38 of Green Lawn Cemetery in Wilmot. It is an impressive monument made out of zinc and notes that Allen "married Annie Agler with whom he lived happily for 53 years."
Jon Baker is a reporter for The Times-Reporter and can be reached at jon.baker@timesreporter.com.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: History: Mexican war veteran had strong opinions on politics, funerals