Pvt Lotwig Evans, Co. A

Lotwig Evans was a Welsh miner who immigrated to the United States in 1860. He sailed on the Bridgewater and landed in New York on June 19.  While his journey from immigrant to soldier wasn't quite as drastic as the stories about Irish immigrants walking off the boat and into the recruiting office, it wasn't far off either. Lotwig fought with Compay A, 142nd PVI out of Mercer County, PA and was wounded twice during his service time.

Location of Mercer County, PA

In 1906, at the age of 68, he wrote a letter back to his family in Wales. Of his time as a Civil War soldier in his adopted country, he wrote:

"I was in the Civil War in this country. I was wounded twice. The first was a flesh wound in the left thigh. The second was pretty near the centre of the right leg between the knee and the groin. The bullet, a large one, hit the bone and flattened right out. I carried the bullet in my leg for 20 months and 18 days. I had to undergo a surgical operation. I was put under the influence of chloroform. When the surgeon started to use the knife I could feel it and I knew I was saying something. All at once I lost myself and when I awoke I could taste liquor on my lips and I felt pretty sick. I asked an American fellow (a Yankee) laying on a cot next me if the doctor had given some whiskey and he replied that they had given me liquor of some kind. He said they did not give you enough chloroform and when they started to cut at you, you tried to get up and hit the doctor and you was talking very patriotic in English. Then they put the chloroform to your nostrils again. You then started to curse in French like anything. The fellow thought that I was a Frenchman and I guess I was talking Welsh. Well, I was shot the second time in the first day's fight 1st July 1863 at the great battle of Gettysburg PA. I was taken prisoner in the Lutheran college becuase I could not walk. I was retaken by our men on the morning of 5th July 1863."



Lutheran Seminary where Pvt. Evans and the 142nd fought, and where many were captured

 After the war, Lotwig married another Welsh immigrant, Sarah Bingham, and the two moved to Lawrence Township, Stark County, OH, where Lotwig continued mining and became a sheriff's deputy. Lotwig died on 20 April 1922 and is buried in Newman's Creek cemetery.

A special thanks goes out to Pvt. Evans' great-grandnephew John Jenkins, and to his extended family in Wales, for providing the information and letter about their ancestor.