Veteran of the Month: Civil War
Charles Brigham Goulding
Charles Brigham Goulding, a son of the late John Goulding, M.D., was born in Stratford in the Goulding homestead in 1834, and was a veteran of the Civil War.
Charles B. Goulding entered service February 25, 1860, in Company H, 1st U.S. Infantry. He joined the Company for duty at Fort Stockton, Texas. He was promoted to Corporal on December 1, 1860. From Texas they moved to St. Louis, Missouri. In March 1862, they moved to New Madrid, Missouri, and participated in operations there and at the siege of island #10. On April 20, the unit moved to Hamburg, Tenn. via Cairo, Illinois. He then participated with the Army of Mississippi, in the siege of Corinth, Mississippi, a strategic point at the intersection of two major railroads.
Goulding was wounded by a gun shot in the stomach at the Second Battle of Corinth, October 4, 1862. From December, 1862, Goulding was in the 1st Brigade, 14th Div. 13th Corps, Army of Tennessee. He was promoted to Sergeant on May 1, 1863. They joined forces under General Grant near Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana, in June 1863, participating in movements and campaigns in preparation for the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi.
During the siege of Vicksburg, Goulding served with siege guns as an artilleryman and was promoted to 1st Sergeant on the battlefield at Vicksburg on June 16, 1863. After the surrender at Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, he moved to Brashear City, LA, then to New Orleans where he remained on duty until the expiration of his service.
First Sergeant Goulding was honorably mustered out on February 25th, 1865, at New Orleans, LA. He returned to Connecticut and was a house painter. He was a member of the Union Veterans #39 Union. On August 19,1889, he applied for his Civil War pension, application number 722945 and certificate number 1003675 from Connecticut. He stated that he was an invalid. Goulding died on January 2,1905 at the age of 70, not from the bullet he carried from the war, but from peritonitis of a burst appendix.
The Ladies of Lincoln placed a Union flag on the breast of the deceased. The members of Grand Army of the Republic took charge of the remains and draped the casket with the American flag. He is buried in Union Cemetery. It has been the family’s honor to have displayed his original discharge paper and other memorabilia in their various homes since 1865. It will be the Stratford Veterans Museum’s honor to continue carrying on that tradition.
