Alexander Kocher
Information from Pension and Military Records:
Born: 1841 in Luzerne County, Pa
Died: May 15, 1905
Buried: Laurel Cemetery, White Haven, Pa
Occupation prior to war: Laborer
Marital Status: Married May 5, 1872 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa
Wife: Jane Thomas from Tioga County; b. 1853 d. 11/23/25
Children: Annie Alberia b. 3/6/73; Emma Jane b. 10/1/75; Franklin B. b. 6/16/77; Samuel J. b. 5/22/79; Loren A. b. 9/30/82; Stanley H. 10/12/84; Leroy J. b. 6/22/87
Residence: White Haven, Pa
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 157
Hair: Sandy
Eyes: Grey
Complexion: Fair
Service: Enlisted September 24, 1861 at Eckley, Pa
Discharged: July 13, 1865 to date June 29, 1865 as muster out of company
Rank: 1st Sergeant
Pension: # 224.625 Disability from wounds, #854.007 Widow’s Pension
Other: Alexander was slightly wounded in the left foot at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863. He reenlisted on December 23, 1863. He was wounded in the left arm and hand by shell fragments at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 12, 1864. Alexander enlisted as a private and was promoted to sergeant on November 1, 1864. He was wounded again with a gunshot wound to the left thigh at the Battle of Farmville on April 7, 1865.
The picture of Kocher (above) was taken quite some time after the war for a newspaper article on local veterans of the Civil War.
The following affidavit was included in Alexander's pension file and is of interest because it discusses his wounding at Spotsylvania:
State of Pennsylvania
County of Luzerne
Personally appeared before me Alexander Kocher, an ex soldier of the war of 1861 reputable and entitled to credit who being duly sworn states, that at the battle of Sposylvania Court House in a charge ont the enemy brest works I received the wound in the left arm and hand by the bursting of a sperical case shell the peases wounded me in the left arm and hand. Said battle was on the twelfth day of May, 1864
My wound wer dressed by the surgeon of the Second Army Corps, on the field of battle, and I was sent to Fredericksburg, Virginia and from their was sent to Washington, DC Carver Hospital.
Alexander Kocher further states that I was wounded in a charge on the Rebels Redoubt on the Seventh of April 1865. the wound is in the left thigh.
Sworne to and subscribed before
me this 30th Day of October, 1876
and I certify that I am not interested
in this claim
H. H. Wood
Justice of the Peace
Alexander Kocher
