I received the Civil War pension file for James Calvin Slavens today, and thought I'd summarize the information in it for the benefit of other researchers. James was a son of Philip Slavens and a grandson of Isaiah Slavens.
James married Elmina Clodfelter in 1868 in Putnam County, Indiana, and she died Jan. 13, 1879. The file doesn't mention his children by this marriage but they're documented elsewhere as Ollie Belford and Bertie Solomon Slavens. Elmina is buried at Union Chapel, near Morton, Indiana.
He was married to Sarah E. Fritz on April 1, 1880, in Clay County by justice of the peace Samuel T. Waters at Ashboro. Their children were John H., born Aug. 30, 1881, Mary, born May 18, 1887, and George H., born Aug. 16, 1890.
James enlisted in Co. C, 6th Indiana Cavalry, on July 30, 1862, at Greencastle. (Actually it was the 71st Indiana Infantry at the time; it was reorganized as a cavalry unit later.) The company was in action at Richmond, Kentucky on Aug. 28, 1862, and was forced to surrender. He was paroled Sept. 1, arriving in Indianapolis on Sept. 5, and furloughed home.
(Early in the war, prisoners were often paroled-- sent home by their captors with the understanding that they would not take up arms until a like number of prisoners were exchanged by the other side. To me, this is a huge indicator in how times have changed, to think that soldiers captured at the front would go back through their own lines, go home, and
wait to be exchanged before going back into service. Now *that's* a code of honor.) The unit was reassembled at Camp Dick Thompson near Terre Haute in October. There's no further information on the unit in the pension file, but you can find the history of the unit pretty easily online. James was mustered out June 17, 1865, at Pulaski, Tennessee.
James applied for a full pension in July 1875, claiming that he had a disease of the lungs as the result of measles (most of the "disease of the lungs" I've seen in other pension files was TB, but this could have been something else), and piles and disease of the heart and stomach as the result of diarrhea. He got the measles when the unit was at Terre Haute in
October 1862 and was in the hospital there about 15 days, and then was furloughed home sick. He remained there two to three months, when he was sent to Indianapolis where he was unfit for duty because of sickness. After sixteen(?) weeks there he was sent to Kentucky to rejoin his unit. He became sick with diarrhea some seven months before the battle of Dalton, Georgia (Nov. 1864) and was in and out of the hospital. He claimed that he had never been well since and was unable to do much labor. Sarah's widow's pension claim states he died of the illnesses he acquired in the war.
James is buried in Brown Cemetery at Center Point, in Sugar Ridge Twp., Clay County, Indiana. On the same stone is Daisy S. Slavens, aged 2 years 9 months 12 days, died Aug. 24, 1887.
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