Herring, Simon

Simon Herring

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Significance:

Private- Company F, 64th Ohio Infantry

Place of Birth:

Ohio or Pennsylvania

Date of Birth:

1835

Place of Death:

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Date of Death:

December 31, 1862

Place of Burial:

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Cemetery Name:

Stones River National Cemetery

Simon Herring was born in 1835 to Jacob and Lana Herring. He was the second born of eight children in the Herring family. His siblings’ names were Rowlan, Leah, Catharine, Ervin, Manuel, Samuel, and Levy. In 1850, Simon, his father, and his older brother worked together as farmers in Colerain, Hamilton County, Ohio, where they lived. 

In the late 1850s, Simon moved to the Allen County, Ohio area, where he met Lydia Piper. The two married on March 14, 1858, and began having children. By the 1860 U.S. Federal Census, they had two boys: a five-year-old listed as “D. L. Herring” and a one-year-old listed as “P. F. Herring”- “P. F.” likely standing for Perry Foster. The family of four lived in Auglaize, Allen County, Ohio, where Simon continued to work as a farmer. 

In 1861, Simon was called to service. He enlisted on October 26, 1861, with the U.S. Army, at the age of 26. That same day, he mustered into Company F of the 64th Ohio Infantry as a private. 

The 64th Ohio, along with Private Herring, started its service in Kentucky, before making its way to Tennessee to participate in the battle of Shiloh in April 1862. After Shiloh, they moved to assist in the Siege of Corinth, in Mississippi. Then, they made their way back north to Kentucky in October 1862 to fight in the Battle of Perryville. Finally, they were sent to Nashville, Tennessee, where they remained until late December 1862. 

On December 26, the 64th Ohio marched to Murfreesboro to capture the area. 

At dawn on December 31, the 64th Ohio was positioned on McFadden Road. About midday, the 64th Ohio pushed back against Confederate forces on Asbury Lane who had successfully collapsed the right flank of the Union’s line earlier that day. It was in this engagement that Private Herring was killed in battle. He was one of 108 men from the 64th Ohio to be killed in action during the Civil War.

Simon Herring was first interred on the battlefield and later reinterred at Stones River National Cemetery in plot N-5396. Records can be found under the alternate name “Simeon Hering.”  

Tags: stones river national battlefield, stones river national cemetery, american civil war