Joseph Wiley Gelray (1837-02-28 – 1900-03-10) was my 4th-great-uncle, being the son of Robert Gelray and Mary Jane Wiley, and a career officer who served in the Union army during the American Civil War. Born in (or near) Manchester, England, he immigrated to America as a young child. He served in the Civil War in the 2nd Massachusetts infantry, and lost his right arm from a wound at the Battle of Gettysburg on 1863-07-03. Afterwards, he was involved in Reconstruction efforts in the South, particularly Tennessee. He never married nor had any children of record.
He died at the age of 63 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His gravestone identifies him as Captain Joseph W. Gelray, Brevet Lieutenant Colonel.
Character
Author Wyn Craig Wade (
Joseph Gelray was a highly intelligent, fair-minded, religious, and intrepid soldier whose beautifully written reports are laced with quotations from Shakespeare and Euripides.
As an example, in a letter of his dated 1868-08-28 he veers into philosophical reflections on human society, which he also explains his reason for including:⟮3⟯
Social ostracism on account of political opinions or theories is the great disturbing element in Tennessee to-day. Men of different political views never meet each other to exchange ideas on public affairs except on the stump and through the medium of the press, where all differences are diametrical, all turns and right angles. If the same parties who bandy epithets through the newspapers or on the stump could meet occasionally at the social board, surrounded by their families and friends, they would be astonished to learn how very little they differed. They would also learn that generally men’s motives are correct, individuals only differ.
Prejudice is the greatest enemy of reason. A republican government is founded on reason, and until these people of Tennessee learn mutual forbearance, mutual respect, and tolerance of all shades of political opinions, without reference to social relations, and mutual confidence in the motives of the others, we will have mobs, bloodshed, bankruptcy, “bad blood,” poverty, and (which God forfend) perhaps civil war, or still worse, one of races.
I have taken the liberty of particularizing and giving my individual opinions in this report, which ordinarily and militarily speaking would be inexcusable, but as I saw a report of mine on the troubles at Waynesboro published in the Nashville papers, I have thought it possible that you might publish this, and as those who know me well know that I am entirely unbiased by party politics or hope of reward from any individual, party or organization, and conscious of the purity of the motives, I beg to be excused for indulging the hope that what I have said may be accepted by both parties in the spirit in which it is offered, and as coming from an unprejudiced source.
Service
There are many collections of summaries of the soldiers who served in the war. This one, The Record of the Second Massachusetts Infantry, 1861–65 by Alonzo Hall Quint, provides a readable and informative account of Joseph:
Joseph Wiley Gelray, son of Robert Gelray, was born 28 Feb., 1840, in Manchester, England. Came to America in 1844. Was printer, in Lowell, Mass., and Richmond, Va. Enlisted in A, 11 May, 1861. Corporal, 25 May, 1861; transferred, as sergeant, to Company H, 22 Dec., 1861. Wounded, severely, in right shoulder and right thigh, 17 Sept., 1862, at Antietam. Second lieutenant, 25 Dec., 1862; first lieutenant, 4 July, 1863. Wounded, 3 July, 1863, at Gettysburg, in right arm, so near the former wound as to require amputation. Discharged 13 Oct., 1864, to receive commission of captain, dated 25 July, 1864, in Fifty-seventh Massachusetts. Was put on General Bartlett’s staff, as assistant inspector-general. Was appointed, 22 Aug., 1864, colonel of the Fifty-ninth Massachusetts, but the regiment was too small to allow of his being mustered as such. Major in Fourth Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, 14 Nov., 1864. Mustered out, 17 June, 1865.
The birth in 1840 appears to be an error; see below.
After the war, he travelled to Tennessee on orders to oversee Reconstruction efforts. He served several times to negotiate between warring factions, especially between those supportive of and opposed to the Ku Klux Klan. His letters are from this time period, and include reports of his actions, recommendations, and reflections.
The most high-profile case he worked on was investigating the 1868 lynching of Samuel Bierfield, a Jewish shopkeeper.⟮4⟯
Other records
There is a Joseph Gallery living in Lowell, Massachusetts in the 1855 state census.⟮5⟯ If, as is likely, this is Joseph, then this is the earliest record I have found of him. However, it says he is in his 20s, but this could be an error.
He is listed in a directory of Lowell in 1861, also as Joseph Gallery.
There is some variation in his reported or inferred year of birth. The above service summary has him born in 1840. In the 1880 census, taken in June, his age is reported as 42⟮6⟯, which implies a birth in 1838. However, most sources have his birth as 1837, including his gravestone, and his service records, where the muster roll lists his age as 24 on 1861-05-25.⟮7⟯ Thus, it is most probable that the latter sources are correct and the other reports are minor errors.
My attempts to find his birth in Manchester, or his sister Martha’s, or any record of his presence in England, have borne no fruit. Civil birth registration in England began on 1837-07-01, barely four months after Joseph’s birth.
Death
Several documents from late in life refer to him as disabled; it’s not clear if this was in reference to his lost arm or more serious incapacity. His cause of death was listed as “apoplexy”, likely what would today be called a stroke.
His military-style funeral was held at his home at 30 Union Park St., Boston, Massachusetts, on 1900-03-13, three days after he died. His coffin was draped with an American flag, and proceedings were overseen by his fellow officers.
In attendance also was his sister Martha’s daughter Fannie Edna Burgess, who accompanied his remains as they were taken from Boston to Arlington for burial.
See
Footnotes
- ↑ Find a Grave memorial for Wade.
- ↑ https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Fiery_Cross/6O_XYBMhNYAC
- ↑ https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annual_Reports_of_the_War_Department/p5jmCXhp1wkC?gbpv=1&pg=PA179
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_of_Samuel_Bierfield
- ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQ4M-J1C
- ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHX5-34X
- ↑ https://www.fold3.com/image/317103886