| Joseph Schrock | 133rd Ohio Voluntary Infantry |
| by Aimee Lewis |
Joseph Schrock was born on April 6, 1835 in Blendon Township Franklin County, Ohio. His father, William Schrock, and mother, Rachel Gulick, were both born in Romney County, West Virginia. The couple traveled to Ohio in 1832 with other Schrock family members. Joseph was born fourth in a total of fourteen children. While there is no direct evidence linking Joseph to Otterbein College as a student, many of his immediate family members as well as cousins attended the school. Joseph was also not the lone family member to fight in the Civil War. His brothers William H. Schrock and Henry T. Schrock were both early volunteers in the 95th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. A few years later, Joseph, his brother Homer and his cousin Vause enlisted in the 133rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Therefore at this given time, four out of the five surviving males had participated in the war, and the last male born was too young to volunteer (only 13 at the end of the war). This war affected the Schrock many in a massive way.
As stated before, Joseph was part of the 133rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry in Company C. He entered service on May 6, 1864 at the age of 28. During this period, the 133rd started in Parkersburg, West Virginia where they did drills to be fit for service until the 7th of June. Their next destination was Bermuda Hundred, Virginia. Their orders were to destroy the Richardson and Petersburg Railroad to stop the Confederates from sending re-enforcements. The 133rd was assigned to open cannon on the enemy while also tearing up four miles of railroad track. The men held the Confederates back for a total of five hours. On July 17th they moved once again to Fort Powhatan, which is on the James River. Their duty was to work on fortifications as well as repair telegraph lines from the fort to Swan’s Point. The fortifications they built included a magazine and a signal tower 80 feet tall. Unfortunately, a number of the men became ill. This is where they lost their largest number, totaling 29 men by disease. The other fatality in the unit was an enlisted man who was killed. The troops stayed at Fort Powhatan until their 100 days service was complete on August 20, 1864.
Joseph must have come home after the war only to move later to Wayne, Henry, Iowa. Here he had a wife and was a farmer. Joseph died in the year of 1897.
Bibliography
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