Finding Charles C. Tufts for my cousin Chuck (Charles K. Tufts)

Charles Crittenden Tufts was a Civil War soldier from Illinois who is buried at Vicksburg National Cemetery in Vicksburg, Mississippi. My first cousin Hugh Tufts had visited Vicksburg and told his brother Chuck that a Charles Tufts was buried there. Charles C. Tufts was the son of Thomas Tufts, Jr. of Brookfield, Massachusetts and Gorham, New York.

This branch of the Tufts family is a family of storied patriots and soldiers. Thomas Tufts, Jr.’s father, Thomas Tuffs (a common spelling of the name in this family), was a second Lieutenant in the Revolutionary War. Thomas’s father, John Tuffs, was from Brookfield, Massachusetts where he had a family with Agnes Foote (of Scots-Irish descent). John’s history before this is up to debate. Some say he was from Ireland and Scots-Irish, while others relate him to the family of James Tufts (1670-1722) a descendant of James Tufts (1650-1675), the son of Peter, the common Tufts immigrant ancestor.

In his Kinsmen 2010 edition, Herb Adams relates how Dr. James Hayden Tufts (1862-1942), an eminent Professor of Philosophy at Chicago University, claimed John Tuffs was from Ireland.  The story of John Tuffs ancestry may relate to the mystery of John Tufts from Windham, New Hampshire and Belfast, Maine. In the early 1700's there were several John Tufts and both theWindham John and Brookfield John spelled their name Tuffs. If John of Brookfield was descended from James (1670-1722), he came from good soldier stock. The first James was killed in King Phillip’s War at the Battle of Bloody Brook (Deerfield Massachusetts). The second James served at Fort Saco in Maine during the French and Indian War. There will be much more on this family.

Charles C. Tufts was born in Gorham, NY in 1829 and grew up there with his nine brothers and sisters. In 1853, he married  Adelia(Roxie)Foster and they settled in Illinois. The census of 1860 lists them as residents of Illinois in “Subdivision 17” of Sangamon County. Before Charles went off to war in 1862, he and Roxie had three girls: Adelia M., Flora A., and Mary E. 

Charles enlisted in Company C, Illinois 114th Infantry Regiment on September 18, 1862. His unit went straight into the action upon activation.  According to  The Union Army, vol. 3 (from ancestry.com).

[This] regiment was organized in the months of July and August [1862] and was mustered into the U.S. service at Camp Butler on September 18, 1862. Companies A and D were from Cass county [Illinois]; Companies B, C, E, G, H, and I were from Sangamon county; and Companies F and K were from from Menard County. On November 8, the regiment left Camp Butler, and arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, on the 16^th. ...

On May 2, 1863 the regiment joined in the movement to the rear of Vicksburg; was engaged in the battle of Jackson, losing 5 men killed and wounded; arrived at the rear of Vicksburg on May 18 and participated in the siege, with a loss of 20 men in killed and wounded. On the surrender of Vicksburg [July 4, 1863], the regiment was ordered to move against the Confederate General Johnston, who retreated to Jackson Mississippi, and during the siege of [Jackson] the loss of the regiment in killed and wounded was 7 men. It was then ordered to Oak Ridge, Mississippi, and while doing picket duty there, [the regiment] had several skirmishes with the [Confederate] guerrillas, 1 man being killed and 2 men captured while on duty.

Charles C. Tufts mustered out in Vicksburg on November 3, 1863 when he died of disease (according to the record, he died of chronic dysentery).

I have found record of several Charles Tuftses. They include one from our home state of New Hampshire, others from New York, Ohio, Vermont, and even a Confederate soldier.

Charles H. Tufts was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on October 8, 1830 and was the son of Zebulon and Abigail A. (Gage) Tufts. He married (second) Adelaide Wright on April 30, 1859 in Boston and they lived in Manchester, New Hampshire with her family in 1860 (from census).  Charles H. Tufts enlisted on August 20, 1862 as a wagoner. He served in Company E, 11th New Hampshire Infantry Regiment. He mustered out on June 4, 1865 at Alexandria, Virginia.Charles and Abigail had two children; Bion and Hattie. Eventually he and his family moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts where he was a painter.  He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1886.

Charles H. Tufts’s family was from Medford Massachusetts. His father, Zebulon, was the son of Jonathan, from Jonathan, James, James, Jonathan, and Peter the immigrant.

Much of the information in this story comes from records available at ancestry.com and Tufts Kinsmen 2010 by Herbert Adams and The Tufts Kinsmen Association available by e-mailing tuftskinsmenbook@gmail.com

Please excuse any errors or omissions. More information on these families is always available by request. Please leave comments for requests and check for updates.