The Nankin Township Historical Society

I was searching for a photo of Pike's Peak and while looking in the wrong book for it came across these two pages from one of the Images of America Westland book. They feature Hiram Fulton, a Civl War soldier from Nankin who was injured in the Second Battle of Bull Run, in which he was shot in the right arm, causing a fracture and the loss of use of the limb. He was the brother of Janetta Felton who married Ebenezer O. Bennett, also a Civil War veteran, and future Superintendent of the Wayne County House and later Eloise.

During the Civil War noted poet Walt Whitman visited battlefield hospitals to give comfort to the maimed, including his own brother. He wrote about many of them in his poetry and prose and eventually wrote in his official capacity for the U. S. government on behalf of veterans receiving pensions. One such recipient was a Nankin farmer named Reuben Farwell (or "little Mitch" as he referred to him in his book "Specimen Days".). Several references refer to both Plymouth and Nan kin, of which Plymouth was a part of said township, as his home but Nankin is the preferred location.  They met in 1864 while Farwell was suffering from a crippling foot injury at Armory Square Hospital in Washington D. C. After spending several months there Farwell was released back to the 1st Michigan Calvary where he finished out his enlistment. The men exchanged letters for a short time afterwards and then rekindled their correspondence in 1875 when Whitman began recollecting on his past f...

I wasn't aware that among his seemingly 9 million books written that Richard Bak had penned a rather impressive pastiche on Michigan's involvement in the Civil War. It's more a condensed scrapbook history of the skirmish but gives the local touch that somebody with the attention span of a fruit fly, namely myself, can get into and out of without missing much.  The featured personage here is Henry Loss of Nankin. Who was too young and small in stature to join as a man-child but was inducted into the cause as a drummer before growing into a soldier.  In the Battle of Baton Rouge he was struck in the temple by a minie [sic] ball and thought to be dead. In fact, he was reported dead and had his customary funeral sermon only to have been knocked unconscious but very much alive despite his injuries. ( enlarge ) When his 3 year term of service was up he went back home to Michigan only to grow tired of civilian life. He re-enlisted in the 24th Michigan Infantry and saw battle at Ga...