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Joseph Robinson Milliken was born in 14 September 1840 to Samuel and Sarah (Robison) Milliken in Oldston, Trumbull County, Ohio. When still a boy, he accompanied his parents and siblings to Wells County, Indiana in 1849 where he spent most of his time learning the printer's trade. He returned to the area of his birth in Trumbull County, Ohio shortly after his sister Martha Jane's marriage to Joshua Fox in 1855 to strike out on his own in his new profession. Census records for 1860 Trumbull County show him living with his sister and brother-in-law, Joshua Fox.
But the growing conflict that was settling on the United States interrupted this pursuit and at the age of 22, Joseph enlisted for 3 years for military service in the Union army on September 7th, 1862 in Warren, Ohio. He enlisted in Company C, 19th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment and immediately was pressed into service being officially mustered in on September 26th in Alliance, Ohio. The first battle he found himself in was the at 'Pittsburgh Landing' in Tennessee (or more commonly referred to as 'Shiloh') in April of 1862.
His records indicate he may have been wounded at Shiloh. In any regards, he was in ill health after this time with his service records reflecting he "left sick before Corinth, Mississippi on May 11th, 1862". He was transported to Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri where he was incapacitated with spinal fever.
On account of his weakened condition upon recovery, Joseph was discharged here on a surgeon's certificate on June 11th, 1862 for "chronic rheumatism of the larger joints, persistent & intractable in character, complicated with invitatous spinalis, and incomplete paralysis". His service records also indicate he was later received another "discharge on surgeon's certificate" at Camp Dennison near Cincinnati, Ohio, after a brief stay in a hospital in Nashville in October, on November 1st, 1862.
He returned to his parents home in Ossian, Jefferson Township, Wells County, Indiana. There he recuperated rapidly and soon felt well enough to rejoin service to the Union on New Year's Day of 1864 in Ossian along with his brother, James Abraham Milliken, who was forming Company F, 130th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Joseph mustered in on January 28th, 1864 at Kokomo, Indiana. He was described as 22 years old with blue eyes, black hair, dark complexion and standing five feet, eleven inches tall.
This company was pressed into immediate service joining Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's 'March on Atlanta' in 1864. Detailed as a wagon master, Joseph experienced battles and skirmishes at such places on Sherman's campaign (May 1 to September 8, 1864) as Rocky Face, Buzzard's Roost, White Church, Lost Mountain, Kennesaw Mountain, and Allatoona Pass in Georgia. On March 1st, 1865, Joseph was promoted First Sergeant and Orderly. He mustered out in Charlotte, North Carolina on the 2nd of December 1865.
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CSA