George
H. Bonebrake
by Mark Valot
George H. Bonebrake was born in 1863 in Winchester,
Indiana. He is a graduate of Otterbein Class of 1861. Upon
graduation he returned to Indiana and mustered into the 69th Indiana
Volunteer Infantry in August of 1862 at the rank of Captain. He
served under Colonel Thomas W. Bennett, and was promoted to
Major. The 69th Indiana Infantry played a part in some major
campaigns of the Civil War. After being captured at Richmond,
Kentucky in 1862, they were paroled and attached to Sherman’s Brigade
during his Yazoo expedition from December 20, 1862 to Jan 3,
1863. They then took part in the siege of Vicksburg on May 19 and
22 of 1863. After the Union gained control of the west, the Indiana
69th Volunteer Infantry did mostly patrol duty for the remainder of the
war.
There is not a great deal of information regarding
George Bonebrake’s movements during and after the war. There are
no records of his death during the war, and the fact that other
Bonebrakes attended Otterbein after he did suggests that he did in fact
survive the war. It’s unclear where he settled after his term of
service was up but again, given that others of that name attended
Otterbein, evidence suggests that he was in the Westerville area.
Bibliography
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http://www2.cr.nps.gov/abpp/battles/bycampgn.htm
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http://www.thinkwestkentucky.com/civilwar/region4/richmond.htm
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