Edwin D. Levings (1841-1914)

Edwin Daniel Levings was born January 3, 1841, in Madrid, New York,  to Daniel Hall Levings and Rebecca Loomis Levings.  He died June 27, 1914, in River Falls, Wisconsin.  In a Civil War letter written to his parents on May 13, 1863, Ed stated that “7 years ago to-day I entered R. F. for the first time,” which means that he and his parents and family arrived in River Falls to settle there on May 13, 1856.

Ed served in Company A of the 12th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment during the Civil War, along with his brother, Homer W. Levings.  He enlisted October 30, 1861, and mustered out on July 16, 1865.  His and his brother’s letters home to their parents are preserved in the Edwin D. Leavings Papers (River Falls Mss BO) in the University Archives and Area Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

On October 22, 1867, Edwin D. Levings married Mary E. Dickinson, who died April 18, 1870.  He then married Lucy May Clack on April 18, 1870.  They had two children: Willis (1890- ) and Mary (1891- ).

Following is his obituary that appeared in the June 25, 1914, issue of The River Falls Journal.

 EDWIN D. LEVINGS

 Edwin D. Levings was born January 3, 1841, at Madrid, St. Lawrence county, New York.  He died at his home in this city June 22, 1914, leaving one son, Willis, and one daughter, Miss Mary, to mourn his loss.

Mr. Levings came to River Falls with his father’s family in 1851.  On September 23, 1861, he enlisted in Company “A”, 12th Wisconsin Infantry.  He was one of the 519 members who re-enlisted as veterans at Natchez during the early part of January, 1864, and received his final discharge July 16, 1865.  During his regiment’s service it belonged to the 13th Corps, the 16th Corps and the 17th Corps, seeing the hardest services in the latter.  This regiment was at the siege of Vicksburg from June 11 to July 4, 1863, at which date Gen. Pemberton surrendered to Gen. U. S. Grant.  On the 13th of March, 1864, the regiment started for Wisconsin on thirty-day veteran furlough, and on its return from Wisconsin joined General Sherman’s army at Big Shanty, Ga., June 8, 1864, and from that time on was in the Atlanta campaign as a part of the 17th Army Corps on its famous “march to the sea,” and then through the campaign in the Carolinas.  From April 29th to May 19th they marched from Raleigh, N. C., by way of Richmond to Washington, D. C., where on the 24th of May it proudly marched in the historic Grand Review.

During this regiment’s service it was transported by boat and train more than 6,000 miles, and marched over 3,838 miles, Mr. Levings always on duty with his comrades over every mile. Comrade Levings joined I. L. Nicholas Post, G. A. R., April 13, 1886. He was elected Quartermaster in 1877 and served six years, performing his duties faithfully and promptly.

We, his comrades, mourn his loss. It will be but a few short years when we will join him on the other shore.

Committee,

         I. L. Nicholas Post, G. A. R.

Following is the “Veterans’ Graves Registration” form for Edwin Levings from the Miscellaneous Genealogical Documents collection in the University Archives and Area Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) have a national database of burials of Union Civil War soldiers. “The SUVCW National Graves Registration Project was established in 1996. Since then, hundreds of dedicated people from within and without our Order have graciously devoted thousands of hours of their time and energy visiting cemeteries, recording, verifying, researching and entering the final resting places of Civil War veterans.”  Edwin is listed in this database.  He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in River Falls.

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