Coventry Roots: Coventry in the Civil War - Casualties

Samuel Myrick was born in Pawtucket, MA, which is now Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the son of Joseph and Eunice (Jencks) Myrick. He was married to Sarah E. Hopkins, daughter of Elisha and Wealthea (Tillinghast) Hopkins, in Cranston on November 27, 1851, by Elder John Tillinghast. He worked as a painter before the Civil War and lived in the village of Washington in Coventry.

He enrolled September 5, 1861, and mustered on October 30, 1861, into the 4th Rhode Island Infantry Company B with his brothers Cromwell and Solomon. He was killed in action March 14, 1862, in the Battle of New Bern in North Carolina and was the first man from Company B to die. According to men who served with him, he was of pleasant disposition and would share his snuff with them. He was the oldest of Joseph and Eunice Myrick’s sons to die in the Civil War.

William Brown was the son of John and Mary Brown and was born in Ireland in 1843. He was a resident of Coventry when he enrolled as a Private and mustered on November 19, 1861, in Providence into the 1^st Rhode Island Cavalry Company G. William was 19 years, eight months and 26 days old when he died of Typhoid Fever on March 26, 1862, in camp in Washington, DC. He was buried on March 27, 1862, at the Soldiers Home in Washington, DC. The soldiers’ home was the second White House during the Lincoln Administration.

Richard S. Hawkins was born in Coventry, the son of Elisha and Rhody (Comstock) Hawkins. In 1860 he worked as broom maker and lived in Mount Vernon, Foster. On September 4, 1861, he enrolled and mustered as a Private, Battery D 1^st Rhode Island Light Artillery. December 16, 1861, he was on the roll as absent sick in the hospital and remained on the roll until February 11, 1862, when he was discharged at Georgetown, DC, as a result of a Surgeon’s Certificate. He died March 27, 1862, from Phthisis Fever that he contracted in camp at the age of 19 years, 11 months and 15 days. A gravestone for Richard Hawkins is located in Coventry Historical Cemetery #22 Deacon Hawkins Lot.

According to the “Genealogy of the Stone Family” Richard S. Hawkins heard the call of his country when the Union Flag was first trampled at Fort Sumter beneath traitor feet, and he was among the earliest to respond to her voice. He died of consumption contracted by exposure in the army of the Potomac. He was a noble boy, and his memory is cherished with tearful esteem by all who knew him.