Columbus
Daily Herald: June 21, 1929
SURVIVOR OF
SULTANA DIES
Matthew
Patterson, 87, Had Thrilling Experiences During Civil War.
Matthew Patterson,
87 years old, veteran of the Civil War and for fourteen years a resident
of
East Columbus, passed away this morning at 2 o'clock at his home
on Jones street. His death was due to bowel trouble of which he had
been ill for a week.
Funeral arrangements have not been made pending word from
relatives in
California.
Mr.
Patterson was the eldest of a family of twelve children of Samuel and
Eliza Patterson, and was born
December 25, 1841 in
Guernsey county, Ohio. With his parents he moved to
Indiana when 12 years old and located in Brown county.
Prisoner
for Ten Months
At the
age of 21 years Mr. Patterson joined Company A, 93rd regiment, Indiana
volunteer infantry, and was in some of the largest engagements of the
Civil war. He was wounded in the battle of
Guntown, Miss., where he was captured. He was imprisoned at
Andersonville and at Cahaba, where he was kept for ten months. He had
just been released from prison and was on his way home on the Sultana at
the time of the explosion on that vessel, in which 1,320 lives were
lost. He was one of the 786 men rescued. Mr. Patterson was discharged
from service July 15, 1865.
After
the war he returned to Brown county and for ten years taught school in
Brown and Bartholomew counties. He also operated a general store for a
time, and was successful at farming, in which he afterward engaged. He
retired from farming fourteen years ago, when he moved with his family
to
East Columbus.
Celebrated
60th Anniversary
Mr.
Patterson was a member of the Burnsville Methodist church and of the
local post of the G. A. R. He was a highly esteemed man and well liked
by all who knew him.
In 1869
Mr. Patterson was married to Miss Eliza Barton, and to the union were
born five children, two of whom preceded him in death. On June 14 he
and his wife observed their sixtieth wedding anniversary. Besides the
wife, three daughters survive--Mrs. Milla E. Yates, of
Sacramento, Cal.; Mrs. Della J. Jewell, of
East Columbus, and Mrs. Edith B. Jackson, of
Burnsville. There are also 20 grandchildren, six
great-grandchildren, four brothers and tow sisters--Charles
Patterson, of Franklin; Joe, Harvey and Oliver P.
Patterson, Mrs. Sarah Cooper and Mrs. Ida McKay, all of this
city.
submitted by:
Cindy Martin