Great Great Grand Uncle of Stephen D. Arthur
Henry Van Baalen was born in 1846 in New York State according to the 1850 Federal Census. His father was Emanuel Van Baalen and his mother was Mary(ian) Van Cleef both of whom were born in Amsterdam. The family was residing in Buffalo as of the 1860 Federal Census. Henry was the fourth of seven children in the family. His younger brother, Lewis, later enlisted in the Federal Army at Chicago, as a 15-year old in 1865. Some of Henry’s family migrated across the Midwest, his parents to Detroit, and Lewis and his older sister Sarah (Stephen’s great great grandmother) to Chicago via Michigan leading up to and during the war years.
Henry enlisted as a Private in Company E, 49th NY Infantry Regiment in 1861, probably at the age of 15. The 49th was organized in September of that year and departed for Washington that same month where it was assigned to Stevens’ Brigade, W. F. Smith’s Division, in the Army of the Potomac (AoP). A few months later the Brigade was reassigned to the 4th Army Corps, and eventually reassigned to the Sedgewick’s 6th Corps in Neill’s 3rd Brigade, Getty’s 2nd Division.
By November, 1863, the 6th Corps was camped near Culpeper. That month, AoP Commander MG G. C. Meade ordered the forces toward the Wilderness where he hoped to meet Gen Rebert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia (ANV). The action became known as the Mine Run Campaign. The action resulted in a stalemate and by the first days of December the AoP had returned to their Culpeper camps for the remainder of the winter.
In May, 1864, upon the arrival of Gen Grant, the AoP again moved toward the Wilderness. Gen Meade was intent upon passing the right flank of Gen Lee’s ANV and beating him to Richmond. Gen Lee trumped the plan by moving North from his camps near Orange, VA and engaging the AoP in the Wilderness. Over the May 4-7th days of fighting, neither of the two Armies achieved success. The 49th NY, as part of the 6th Corps, fought south of the Germanna Road, on the right of the 5th Corps. The area was heavily wooded with scrub vegetation.
Late on the 5th of May, three Brigades of Getty’s Division were sent to a position on the 5th Corps’ left flank, filling a gap in the Federal line; the 2nd Corps was positioned to its left. Neill’s brigade, including the 49th NY Inf, was left behind stationed along the Culpeper Mine Road. Pvt Henry Van Baalen was mortally wounded there.