Last updated: September 14, 2025
Person
Arza Bartholomew
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Significance:
Corporal - Company G, 21st Michigan Volunteer Infantry
Place of Birth:
Crockery, Michigan
Place of Death:
Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Date of Death:
May 8, 1863
Place of Burial:
Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Cemetery Name:
Stones River National Cemetery
Arza Bartholomew enlisted in the 21st Michigan Volunteer Infantry in June 1862 and was mustered into the United States' service on August 14, 1862 as a corporal in Company G. A month later Arza and his regiment moved to Kentucky leaving behind his pregnant wife Sarah Francis. In his letters, Arza affectionately referred to her as Frank.
Arza missed the October 8, 1862, Battle of Perryville due to illness and learned his son Harry was born on October 25, 1862 through a letter he received six days later. He rejoined his regiment as they marched to Nashville, Tennessee. On December 31, 1862, Arza got his firts taste of combat at the Battle of Stones River. In January 5, 1863, letter he described his battlefield experiences.
"William and myself came off without a scratch but I can’t see how it was, for I never heard such a perfect crash of balls. They were as thick as hail and the shot and shell cut the trees down like grass. It is a sight that I hope to be spared from ever witnessing again. ... The first fire we got they were right on our right before we knew it and they drove the whole brigade and of course we were obliged to fall back, and we did fall back to a fence and behind their right. Well we had to leave that place and they got us into a swamp and fired in from front and rear and piled our men in there in heaps."
Arza's letters in the months following indicated a deep concern for his wife's health and that of his little boy. In his last letter dated April 26, 1863, he wrote, "I am well except a slight cold, but it is getting better fast and the warm weather is favorable for colds. I think by what we hear that it is more sickly there than at this place." He was wrong!
Arza contracted typhoid fever as it swept through the Army of the Cumberland's ranks that spring and died on May 8, 1863 never having seen his son. He rests in plot C-1323 of Stones River National Cemetery.
Arza Bartholomew's Civil War Letters and Records