Daniel Hoover was a determined man. At the approximate age of 55, he took up the gun and enlisted in the Civil War. On September 23, 1861, he enlisted with the 8th Kentucky Infantry USA. During the march from Lebanon, Kentucky to Louisville, Kentucky, he developed a "fever". In his war record, the diagnosis given as possibly measles. He stayed in Louisville for a few weeks before he traveled to his unit. Shortly after this, he was sent to hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. The rest of his unit proceeded south - Stones River, Shellmound, Chattanooga.
Daniel was finally sent home in 1863, but he was never the same. Testimonies in his pension file tell of a man that was once "stout and strong". They tell of a man who could work hard all day. And they tell of a man who, at the time, became occasionally bed bound and unable to work at all. With rheumatoid arthritis and heart diseases, Daniel died in horrible pain in 1901. He was 96.
Daniel was my 4th g-grandfather. He is buried in the middle of the Hoover Cemetery atop Barnes Mountain in Estill County, Kentucky. This cemetery is a special place. It is so quiet that you can hear the wind blow. The silence is occasionally broken by the cows lowing just across the fence or dogs barking on the next ridge. In this place, I am surrounded by five generations of my family. And in this place of memories, I am home.
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