Capt James S. Piper, 1846

     ©  Kathy Duncan, 2024

In honor of Memorial Day, I am kicking off a series of posts about my first cousins' ancestor, James S. Piper, who was a Mexican War veteran. For decades, I only knew that James S. Piper was a Captain in the Mexican War from Baltimore, that he was in Lamar County, Texas by 1880, that his wife was named Mary Ann, and that his descendants had some of his effects, which I remember as being a uniform and some documents that I never saw. 

Over the years, I came across a James S. Piper on the 1860 District of Columbia census who was the same age, was also born in Maryland, and was a contractor but had a different wife and son. There was never enough information to connect the two men. The years rocked by.

Then last fall, my cousin posted a photograph of James S. Piper's Mexican War Veteran medal, which inspired me to take another stab at trying to find more information.

I turned to newspapers, and the floodgates opened. Newspapers allowed me to connect the dots and revealed a man who led a very, very active life.

The newspaper clippings for 1846 provided important family information for James S. Piper.

On 23 May 1846, The Sun, of Baltimore, Maryland, reported that Captain James S. Piper was raising an infantry company and had already recruited 60 men. It's notable that he already has the title of Captain. Was he elected Captain, or was Captain an honorary title that he already had?

Five days later, the Baltimore Daily Commercial, reported that the volunteers had elected James S. Piper as their captain. However, just because this was reported five days later does not mean that he was elected captain between May 23 and May 28. This election may have occurred before the 23rd and was merely reported later.

By June 2nd, Capt. Piper's company was in Washington D.C. where they were to receive their uniforms and equipment.

Even though he was in Washington, D.C., Piper continued to recruit men from Baltimore.

By 24 July 1846, Piper's company was in Brazos Santiago. The American Republican and Baltimore Daily Clipper printed letters written by members of his company. 

On 11 August 1846, the Easton Star of Easton, Maryland published a letter that James S. Piper had sent from the mouth of the Rio Grande to his brother in Washington D. C. Unfortunately, his brother was not named. 

James S. Piper wrote this very lengthy letter from Monterey in October of 1846:

On 6 November, Capt. James S. Piper wrote yet another letter to his brother in Washington D.C., but this time his brother was named: Dr. John R. Piper.

The obituary for Dr. John R. Piper that appeared in the Baltimore Sun on 18 March 1871 revealed that his father, and therefore, Capt. James S. Piper's father was Philip Piper of Baltimore:

The newspaper clippings of 1846 reveal that James S. Piper was a well-educated individual with a penchant for letter writing. I hope that more letters will turn up among his extended family members. 

The next post will cover the events of 1847 to 1848..