Spink Letters 

George W Spink

 

George Washington Spink was born in April of 1839. In 1856 while playing ball with his cousin, Spink suffered an injury to his eye. June 6th, 1861, George Spink enlisted for a three-year stint and was assigned to Company D of the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry, which was officially mustered that June.  The 2nd Rhode Island Infantry was attached to the Army of Northeastern Virginia which eventually became the Army of the Potomac.  The 2nd Rhode Island were involved in some of the more major battles of the Civil War, including the those at Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and the  Wilderness[1], just to name a few.  The original 2nd Rhode Island was mustered out on June 17th, 1864. George Spink did not re-enlist. There is not much record of what he did following the war except that he was a jeweler. On May 23rd, 1892 Spink did apply to have his pension raised on the fact that he had disease of the eye and disease of the rectum. He was awarded the raise in his pension.  While unable to attain a marriage record of his first marriage, it appears that he was married to Mary M. Spink as early as the 1880s. She passed away January 3rd, 1901. It was after this that Mary Potter began keeping house for Spink. After years of keeping house for George, the two married on June 11th, 1903. George died a few months later, on September 25th, 1903 after he went missing September 22, 1903 while “out of his mind”. His body was not located until December 23rd, 1903. His cause of death was exposure.

 

[1] https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=URI0002RI