A soldier in the Civil War, enlisting in July, 1861, in the 18th Massachusetts Regiment for three years. He was in several battles, was wounded in the head, had a sunstroke, yet he served his full time and came home from the war in good fighting trim and looking remarkably well in spite of the hard service he passed through (Severance, B. Frank. Genealogy and biography of the descendants of Walter Stewart of Scotland and of John Stewart who came to America in 1718 and settled in Londonderry, N.H. Greenfield, Mass. : T. Morey & Son, 1905, pg. 69, 111).
Civil War veteran
Private, Co. A, 18th Massachusetts Infantry
The son of Dennis F. and Eliza (Stewart) Daniels.
John was an 18 year-old Farmer from Colrain, when he enlisted on Sept. 11, 1861 and was mustered into the 18th Mass Infantry on Oct. 12, 1861 as a Private in Co. A. Per records he was 5 ft. 5-1/2 in. tall, with a light complexion, blue eyes, and light hair.
On June 18, 1863 he was admitted to King St. General Hospital, Alexandria, VA due to sunstroke and was transferred to Knight General Hospital, New Haven, CT on June 27, 1863. John entered the Convalescent General Hospital at Fort Wood, Bedloe's Island, NYC on Dec. 10, 1863. He was examined for transfer to the Veteran Reserve Corps at Alexandria, VA on Jan. 13, 1864, but was subsequently admitted to Harewood General Hospital, Washington on Feb. 8, 1864. John was transferred to Knight General Hospital, New Haven on May 11, 1864, where he remained until he was discharged from the army on Sept. 10, 1864 at the expiration of his three year enlistment .
John was residing in Lowell, MA and most probably working in textile mills when he applied for an Invalid pension on May 18, 1874, claiming disability due to a shell wound of the right leg suffered on July 1, 1863 near Centreville, VA, while he was being transported in an ambulance after falling ill due to sunstroke. He was not issued benefits as his claim was considered abandoned.
John committed suicide at St. John Hospital in Lowell, MA on June 23, 1875 and was buried at the Colrain West Branch Cemetery in his hometown of Colrain (findagrave)
Severance claims he married a Mary E. Harris. Marriage records show marriages to Maggie Burns (1870) and Sarah Simmons (1874), though the record for the marriage to Maggie says he was born in Bernardstown while his birth record says Colrain, but his parents listed in that record are correct. The probate of his estate (he died intestate) list his widow as Sarah, and two surviving children "of tender years." Since he only married Sarah less than nine months before he died, it is likely these two children are from one of the two prior marriages. I find no record other than in the Severance book of his marrying a woman named Mary Harris.