Thank you very much for posting your research about Daniel Deroy Emmons. It brings to light much about his background that has always been shrouded in mystery. In this note I’ll call him Daniel Emmons, although I think you’re probably correct – he probably preferred to be known as Deroy because he usually signed his name that way.

One reason we don’t know much about him is that, according to a family letter, he died in Mississippi in 1878. Daniel Emmons and his second wife had moved to Mississippi probably between 1874 and 1875. Their daughter Grace was born there in January 1876. As you may know, during the summer of 1878 the lower Mississippi Valley was engulfed in a yellow fever epidemic. That year, Daniel contracted yellow fever and died; all of his personal effects were burned, the thinking at that time being that yellow fever could possibly be transmitted through an infected person’s belongings. Thus, we know very little about him because none of his papers survived. His gravestone is in the Masonic cemetery in Ironton, but that may be simply a memorial marker. He perhaps is buried in Mississippi...we really don’t know.

His military career in the Union Army is certainly a puzzle. Outrageous accusations were made against him and came to naught. As you wrote, there’s no evidence of actual trials or verdicts. In the end, he resigned his commission and was discharged because of a medical condition. In reading his service papers from the National Archives with the accusations from the enlisted men and the letter of support from his commanding officer, we can imagine that, although his skills in medicine were no doubt accomplished, his skills in leading these men during a time of war were possibly lacking. I think it’s important to note that, when he entered the Union Army, he voluntarily became a cavalry officer, not a physician. Apparently, that’s what he wanted to do – he wanted to lead men. His brief but poignant letter of resignation makes that point indirectly – that he realized he was more suited to duties as a physician. He may have been discharged for a medical reason, but the actual reason may have been that he simply was in over his head in leading men in a cavalry unit during a time of war.

One should also note that after he was discharged, Daniel Emmons went to Pilot Knob to settle down. Evidently this is where he wanted to be; he didn’t return to New York, his birthplace, or head out further west. Despite everything that had happened during his military career, he chose to return and settle at the site of his enlistment in the Army. Later, as you noted, he moved to Allenville, and then Patterson.

I’ve read his papers from the Archives with sadness because his service during the Civil War was so unsettled, with so many personnel issues that must have been distracting and chaotic for him. He became a widower soon after the birth of his first daughter. He then remarried but died of a horrible disease shortly after that. All of his belongings went up in flames and all we’re left with is fragments of memories.

I want to thank you again for your research and work. Because of your diligence, I think what you’ve accomplished will help us in understanding what little we know about the life of our great-great-grandfather.

Sincerely yours,
Jeff Ross