Benjamin W. Ellison Civil War Hospital Record

Here is a copy of the original record of Benjamin W. Ellison’s admission to Harper Hospital USA General Hospital in Detroit, Michigan on July 16th, 1865. He was suffering from malaria.

The record reads:

Benjamin W Ellison Prvt 16 Mich Infantry Company G  Admitted from Transfer

This means Private Ellison was in another civil war general hospital and transferred to Detroit.

This record is held at the Burton Historical Collection at the Detroit Public Library. My transcription of some of these records is set to be published in the spring edition of the Detroit Society for Genealogical Research Quarterly.

I sought out this record because Private Ellison’s pension increase requests were denied by the federal government. Their response to him was that there was no proof he’d gotten ill during his service as a soldier or been treated for his illness during the war. Their denial forced his wife to have no alternative but hospitalize him at Traverse City State Hospital, when she wanted to hire a private caretaker so he could live at home with her in Boyne Falls. It broke her heart to send her beloved husband away.