By Paul Huff
Kate Mosteller will have Civil War reenactors marching in front of her as she rides in the Cuyahoga Falls Memorial Day Parade on Monday. But in 1926 she rode in the parade with a real Civil War soldier beside her.
Then six-years-old, Mosteller rode with her grandfather, Dwight Shumway, one of the city's last surviving Civil War soldiers. Mosteller remembers little of that particular day, but she does remember getting a new dress to wear in the parade. 'I have a picture of me wearing that dress. Back then it was really something when you got a new dress.'
She recalls Grandpa Shumway with fondness. Born in Massachusetts, he came to Cuyahoga Falls in March 1860 to work in farming when he was 22 years old. In August of 1861, he enlisted in Company K of the 19th Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
While marching with the 19th, Shumway fought in some of the worst battles of the war including Pittsburg Landing (Shiloh), Stone River, Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge. During General William T. Shermans's Atlanta Campaign the unit shed blood at Dallas, Dalton, Resaca, Pumpkinvine Creek and Kenesaw Mountain.
Federal records show Shumway's war ended at a place called Pine Knob, Georgia on June 17, 1864. Shumway would spend the rest of his service shuttled from hospital to hospital, starting out at a field station then to Chattanooga and Nashville in Tennessee and then Jeffersonville, Indiana. Coming back to Ohio he went to hospitals in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Camp Dennison and finally mustered out from one in Columbus at the end of the war.
One biography states, 'He was shot through the right arm by a minie-ball, which completely disabled it, the bone being shot out for two inches and shattered from three to four inches.During this time he suffered greatly and many pieces of bone worked out of his arm.'
Mosteller said, 'He was missing two inches of bone between his elbow and shoulder, but once he swung his arm up he could still use it. He built the family house on 2236 3rd street on his own.'
'My brother said he used to scare kids by winding it around like a rubber band and letting it twist back into place.'
Shumway returned to Cuyahoga Falls after the Civil War and spent the rest of his life here. He ran a drug store for fifteen years and then became a farmer. He held a number of public jobs as well. When he died in December of 1928, a Falls Reporter obituary said, 'He was a former postmaster here and a member of the city council and was instrumental in establishing the municipal waterworks system.' Mosteller said, 'He was 88-years-old when I rode in the Memorial Day Parade with him. I'm 88-years-old now.'
She will be riding in Model A Ford sponsored by the General A. C. Voris Camp, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. The Civil War Color Guard to march in front of her belongs to the Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry reenactors. The original Fifth Ohio fought in many of same battles of the Atlanta Campaign as Shumway's regiment.
Following the city's regular Memorial Service in Oakwood Cemetery, the Voris Camp and the Fifth Ohio will dedicate a Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) marker at Shumway's Grave in Oakwood Cemetery.
The GAR was the most popular and powerful of all Civil War Veterans organizations. It provided relief to local veterans, supported state veteran's homes and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home in Xenia, Ohio.
It also lobbied Washington for soldier's pensions.
Shumway was active in the local Eadie Post of the GAR, serving in many positions including Commander. When the Eadie Post folded due to age and mortality, Shumway joined Akron's Buckley Post.
The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War were originally an auxiliary of the GAR. The Voris Camp will perform an original GAR burial Service as part of the dedication ceremony.
