Civil War soldiers from around here

The Soldiers' and Sailors' monument in Downtown Cleveland.

Many from the Collinwood community served during the Civil War; some gave all and others served only months. What is important is that they served. As they were born and raised in the Collinwood community as a part of Cuyahoga County, they were eligible to be memorialized with their names engraved in the marble tablets at the Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument. 

Our goal through our continuing research in the Collinwood Nottingham Historical Society is to have a good list of those who served from our communities, identify them on the walls of the monument and identify their final resting place.  If a new marker needs to be placed at this site then we will get that taken care of well.  

We sit at the edge of the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, one of the most pivotal times of our lives as Americans. We wish to honor with great dignity the memory of our early community residents.

Charles Dille was born March 11, 1820 in Euclid, Ohio and died July 22, 1864. He rests in peace at the East Cleveland Township Cemetery.

On  September 1, 1862, at the age of 42 years, he enlisted in the Army and was assigned as a private in Company I, 23rd Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry. During one of the campaigns, Dille was captured at Cloyd’s Mountain (West Virginia) by Confederates and was taken to Andersonville Prison in Georgia on May 9, 1964. 

Andersonville Prison was a great travesty. By June, 1864 there were at least 26,000 men confined in the prison that was intended to hold only 13,000. The Confederate government had difficulty maintaining adequate living conditions at the prison in the form of housing, food, clothing and medical care for its prisoners and the mortality rate was high as a result. This is where Dille's career ended, for Charles died at Andersonville Prison on July 22, 1864, due to starvation.Dille is one of the fortunate ones who died there because his body was able to be identified and eventually was sent back home for interment. 

Samuel Ruple

Samuel Ruple was born and raised in the Collinwood Village community. His family were founding members of the 1st Presbyterian Church at 16700 Euclid Avenue and had a farm in the village. By the close of the war Samuel and several other family members including cousins and a brother—in-law or two – would serve their country in the Civil War.

Samuel served in Co. B of the 1st Ohio Light Artillery under the command of General James Barnett, the highest decorated general in the State of Ohio, and served in the Tennessee Campaigns. While on pickett duty at Stone’s River (Murfeesboro), Tennessee in December 1862, Samuel was mortally wounded and died January 1, 1863. He was nineteen years old.

The Battle of Stone’s River continued for the next few days. Samuel's body was shipped home to his family and is supposedly buried in the church yard at the 1st Presbyterian Church now New Life Cathedral. A marker with the name RUPLE marks the grave but a new one needs to grace this spot. His Bible is supposedly at the Cleveland Metroparks museum at Frostville; we are checking this out this summer.

He is s relative of the Daley clan (my husband's family) in Cleveland.