Sunday, June 20, 2010

Struggling to find a Civil War ancestor

Footnote's Civil War records are open for free this month leading me to decide to search for Civil War records for my husband's Hopp family.  There were three possibilities. Charles Hopp (1821-1877) would have been in his early 40's during the war. He had two sons, Charles Hopp (1849-1868) who would have been about 13 during the Battle of New Orleans in the spring of 1862.  The youngest son, August Ignantz Hopp (1850-1879) would have been just 12.

The Civil War records at Footnote show one record for a C Hopp. According to the record, C. Hopp, served in Company 8, Chasseurs a pied, Louisiana Militia, (Confederate) as a private. Page two shows an enrollment of February 24, 186- in New Orleans. There are a number of records for this same enrollment month and day but no year. Footnote has no other records for C Hopp, Charles Hopp or details on Company 8, Chasseurs a pied, Louisiana Militia.

I think it is most likely that this record is for the elder Charles Hopp.

Confederate pensions for Louisiana did not start until 1898.  Charles was dead by this time as was his wife Susanna. I found no record of a pension for a C Hopp or Charles Hopp or Susanna Hopp or any Hopp.

Next I decided to try to find out more about this Company 8, Chasseurs a pied, Louisiana Militia.  Charles Hopp was German not French.

In Google Books I found the following information in The Confederate Army 1861-65: Virginia and Arkansas, Volume 4, Osprey Publishing 2006 by Ron Field and Richard Hook.

Pg5 "Organized under Col Charles A. Janvier on May 8, 1861, the Bataillon des Chasseurs d'Orleans or Orleans Rifle Battalion was composed of French, Italian, and German volunteers. All eight companies of this unit adopted a service uniform described in the New Orleans Bee on May 9, 1861 as consisting of 'a blue jacket, loose brown linen pantaloons, white gaiters and blue caps.'"

A Guide to Louisiana Confederate Military Units 1861-1865, LSU Press, 1996 by Arthur W. Bergeron on page 183 lists a Chasseurs-a Pied under Colonel J. Simon Meilleur and Lieutenant Colonel C. A. Janvier.  It lists only 7 companies with their commanders.  I haven't been able to find a captain for Company 8.

More research is needed to find out anything more about Charles Hopp and his Civil War record.

1 comment:

kinfolknews said...

Jamie,
Nice piece of work! Keep it up, the answer is out there.

Regina