Cpl. Stephen Nolan

Corporal Stephen Nolan was born in Franklin County, Virginia, c. 1827. He enlisted at Black River Bridge, Mississippi, on November 29, 1863, for a period of three years and served in the 2nd Battery Light Artillery. He was 36 years of age, 5’5.5” tall and is described as having a black complexion, brown eyes, and black hair. His occupation was laborer. Nolan’s enlistment followed the Battle of Big Black River Bridge, earlier in the year. This was a resounding Union victory and part of the campaign to capture Vicksburg and control the Mississippi River, under Major General Ulysses S. Grant. Following such Union victories, “contraband” camps—refugee camps for people escaping enslavement—sprang up. From these camps, the Union Army recruited soldiers for the USCT.

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The Louisiana Volunteers 2nd Battery Light Artillery changed designation to Battery D 2nd USCT Light Artillery on April 26, 1864. Nolan was posted on garrison duty at Goodrich’s Landing on the West Bank of the Mississippi until December 1864. He was promoted Corporal from Private on Nov. 2, 1864, and soon after posted to Vicksburg serving as reserve artillery until the regiment mustered out a year later, on December 28, 1865.

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Stephen Nolan stayed in Mississippi as his name turns up on Freedman’s Bureau lists and records after the war. In October 1867, he received a payment of $195.92, presumably the balance of the bounty due him. After that time, we find no evidence of Corp. Stephen Nolan until 1891, when he first applied for a veteran’s pension at age 67.

The "Civil War pensions act of June 27, 1890" was formally known as the Dependent and Disability Pension Act, which granted pensions to any Union veteran who served at least 90 days (about 3 months), was honorably discharged, and was unable to perform manual labor, regardless of whether the disability was service-related; essentially expanding pension eligibility beyond war-related injuries to include general disabilities that prevented manual labor.

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In September of 1894, Nolan was still struggling to authenticate his service record with the War Department, Record and Pension Office, until it is finally recognized that Louisiana Volunteers 2nd Battery Light Artillery was the same as Battery D 2nd USCT Light Artillery. In 1897, Nolan’s Declaration for Invalid Pension stated that he was “partly unable to earn support by manual labor by reason of Rheumatism, weakness of each eye, and shortness of breath. That said disabilities are not due to his vicious habits and are to the best of his knowledge and belief, of a permanent character.” At this time Stephen Nolan was still living in Vicksburg, Mississippi. There was no evidence found of this soldier subsequently receiving a pension, nor have records of his death and burial been identified.

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