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Lyon Post #10

Biography of

George Nelson Copp

I recently had the pleasure of discovering the web site of Lyon Camp #10, Son's of Union Veterans.  Your archive identifies my great-great-great-grandfather, George Nelson Copp, as a member of Lyon Post #10, Grand Army of the Republic.  He was born in Rockingham County , New Hampshire , in 1826, and enlisted in the 13th New Hampshire Infantry in 1862.  By 1864, he received a commission as a first lieutenant, and trained with his regiment, the 25th United States Colored Troops, at Camp William Penn, outside Philadelphia .  The regiment was used primarily for garrison duty, manning the fortifications guarding Pensacola Bay .  By the fall of 1864, George was in command of Company B, and was later given the rank of Captain.  After the regiment was mustered out in December of 1865, George, his parents, his wife and their five children, moved from New Hampshire to Newfield, Gloucester County, New Jersey [where "a Northern Man will find himself among Northern Society," the brochures read].  When his eyesight began to deteriorate, and his earning capacity as a carpenter began to suffer, he applied for and received a Federal pension, tracing his ailment to wartime exposure to the bright sandy beaches of the Florida coast.  By 1901, he was granted full disability, and admitted to the Soldier's Home in Vineland .  He died May 22, 1905, and was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery , Newfield.

      1st Lt. George Nelson Copp in war time photos and his wife.