| Amos Shisler (Shesler) | 17th Ohio Voluntary Infantry |
| by Jen Wall |
Amos Shisler was an ordinary citizen who took up the call to serve for the Union on September 10, 1861. He served in the 17th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company K. Shisler’s connection to Otterbein College was not found. He was a man who after 1870 basically disappeared and little to no information can be found on him.
Shisler was born in 1840 in Liberty Township in Fairfield County, Ohio to John and Elizabeth (Alspach) Shisler.[1] John Shisler served in the War of 1812 from Fairfield Co. as a Private in the Ohio Militia. Because of this, he was awarded bounty land.
In the 1850 census for Liberty Township, Fairfield Co., Ohio John Shisler has nine children still living in his home. Emanuel Shisler is the eldest son and is not living at home, therefore is not listed in the census. There are however, two other children listed in the family Bible that are not in the 1850 census, they are Jacob and Nancy. Emanuel was born in 1817; Jacob may have come between Sarah and Caroline and Nancy may be just older then Amos.
In the 1860 census, Amos is 19 and in college.[2] The college he went to is not listed in any records but he was still living at home. Amos enlisted in 1861 in the 17thOVI. He was a Private in Company K. What he did in the war is not known. He served three years and mustered out with his company July 16, 1865.
His brother John moved to Illinois and after the war, Amos followed. He is listed in the 1870 census from Watseka, Iroquois Country, Illinois. He is living with his brother. Shisler never married, there is no marriage license nor is there a wife buried near him in Illinois.
Between 1870 and his death in 1927 Shisler disappeared. There is a record of an Amos Shisler filing for a Civil War Pension in the 1890s in Missouri. In a list of survivors of the 17th Regiment of the OVI from 1889, Shisler is listed as being in St. Louis, Missouri. There are no records of him living with other relatives. In addition, there are no land deeds listed in his name. A theory given by family historian Irene Baker is that he was probably wounded in the Civil War and lived in a Soldier’s Home.
According to the burial records in Watseka Court House, Iroquois Co., Illinois Shisler is buried at Belmont Cemetery in Section W, Row 14. His tombstone reads:
[1] "Croulet Genealogy," Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc (1998), http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=curtiser&id=1180&ti=5535 (accessed November 7, 2003).
[2] Ibid.
Bibliography
Baker, Irene Parrish. A Portrait of our Ancestors- Jury, Troxell, Shisler and Parrish: Vol. 3. Bountiful, UT: Family History Publishers, 1992.
"Croulet Genealogy." Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc. (1998). http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=curtiser&id=1180&ti=5535 (accessed Novemer 7, 2003).
DeVelling, C.T. History of the Seventeenth Regiment, First Brigade, Third Division, Fourteenth Corps, Army of the Cumberland. Ohio: E.R. Sullivan, Printer and Binder, 1889.
Nevin, David. The Civil War: Sherman’s March Atlanta to the Sea. Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1986.
Ohio Roster Commission. Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion 1861-66 Vol. II. Akron: Werner Co., 1886.
Reid, Whitelaw. Ohio in the War: 1861-65 Vol. 2. Cincinnati: The Robert Clarke Co., 1895.