Ex-POW was on mend in county

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on August 27, 2007 at 10:30 AM, updated August 27, 2007 at 10:35 AM

Edward Easling was promised $100 when he joined the Union Army.

The robust, 23-year-old farmer stood just 5 feet 5 inches tall, but he topped out at more than 170 pounds. But after five months at the Confederates' Andersonville Prison, Easling weighed just 77 pounds.

The former prisoner of war later spent 20 years in Grass Lake, trying to recuperate.

Pvt. Edward Easling was a prisoner at Andersonville, Ga., a Confederate Civil War camp known for its overcrowded, starving conditions.

Easling was born Feb. 14, 1838, in Yates County, N.Y.ew York. On Sept. 21, 1861, he joined Company A, 8th Regiment of the New York Cavalry. On Feb. 23, 1862, he married 17-year-old Sarah J. Boone.

Easling was injured May 25, 1862, at the Battle of Winchester in Virginia. A bullet ripped through his right arm below the shoulder. He was hospitalized in Frederick, Md., and sent home to recover.

On Nov. 16, 1862, Easling was shot in the arm and broke his leg when his horse fell on him. After that incident, he was never again able to lift his arm above the shoulder.

Once again, Easling was granted a 30-day leave. Because of the severity of his injuries he was unable to report back until seven months later. He was at one point labeled a deserter, although the issue was eventually resolved.

Easling continued his recovery at Culpepper, Va., and went back into action May 1864.

While on a raid June 29, 1864, near Stony Creek, Va., Easling was attacked by bushwhackers and shot in the left hand. He was captured and imprisoned at Andersonville for five months. He received little medical care, bad food and slept on the open, bare ground. He suffered from scurvy, eye problems, severe intestinal ailments and dropped down to 77 pounds.

After his release and discharge, Sarah Easling wrote in a government disposition that "his mouth and gums and throat were so affected that he could only speak in a whisper. It was three months before he could speak a loud word."

Easling couldn't see clearly and would never read or write again. In his pension application, Easling stated that his "mouth became sore ... my jaws, head and face swelled up and pieces of jaw bones with flesh attached to it came out. .. From that time on, I kept loosing (sic) my teeth until there only five left."

By 1867, the Easlings had moved to Grass Lake, where they lived with George Boone, Sarah's brother.

Easling worked as a brickmaker and continued working with horses while collecting a government pension.

Twenty years later, the couple moved to Hillsdale where Easling worked as the Hillsdale Cemetery sexton.

Easling died May 11, 1918, at age 80 of stomach cancer.