William Edward Hayden – Union Bodyguard

We rely heavily on William’s census responses in the 1900 federal census to establish where his parents are from. We find him, his younger brother, mother, and two half-siblings living in Cincinnati in 1850. We then lose track of him until he volunteers for service during the American Civil War.

He enlisted 3 Sept 1861 in Gallipolis, OH, at the age of 18. He was 5 feet, 9 inches tall, fair complexioned with dark hair and blue/gray eyes. He served in the First Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, U.S.A., as the bodyguard for General George Thomas.

Those who do not look upon themselves as a link, connecting the past with the future, do not perform their duty to the world

~Daniel Webster

Discharged 3 Jan 1864 in Pulaski, Tennessee, he re-enlisted the next day in the same company and regiment. It was during his second term of service that he was injured during the Battle of Stones River, Murfreesboro, Tennessee. At the close of the war, he mustered out of service at Hilton Head, South Carolina 13 Sep 1865.

In the 1870 Federal Census, Lyon County, Kentucky, William (last name spelled Haden) is listed as a farmer, married, with two children, Mary and J.H. William died at the age of 78 of a cerebral hemorrhage.