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Samuel SeelySamuel Seely – son of Oliver and Eliza Seely Residence: Shawneetown, Illinois
Of the many hundreds who were aboard the General Lyon, but 28 were known to have been saved; they were picked up by the steamer General Sedgwick four hours after the burning of the General Lyon. The non-veterans of the 56th Illinois Volunteers, 205 in number, were passengers aboard the General Lyon. Five of those men were saved by the Sedgwick, and they reported the rest of their comrades as lost. After the lapse of more than ten years, one more of the passengers of that ill-starred vessel, long ago given up as lost, turns up at Guy Hospital, London, England, and writes to his father near Golconda, Illinois, giving an account of himself. The name of this man of misfortune is Henson G. Raines; he belonged to Company K, 56th Illinois Volunteers. After his time of service expired, he and his comrades were started home for muster-out and were furnished transportation on the steamer General Lyon. Very soon after sailing, the vessel encountered a storm off Cape Hatteras, and in the midst of it took fire and was totally destroyed. Raines escaped into the sea, and, with Lieutenant Butler, clung to a cabin door. They drifted upon the billows for four days without food or drink, and, more dead than alive, were picked up by a schooner and left on an island, where Butler died and Raines remained ten years. In March, last he escaped aboard the British man-of-war Vengeance, and was taken to London, and being sick, was placed in Guy Hospital. Application has been made to the Secretary of War to have our Minister at London requested by cable to have Raines properly cared for and funds furnished him for his return. Sources: Illinois: Roster of Officers and Enlisted Men; The Golden Era. Date unknown, article submitted to the Illinois Magazine by Mrs. Roy Capps (1984); The New York Times - Monday, April 3, 1865; Wikipedia for USS General Lyon. |
