Michigan Civil War Veteran Orlando LAVALLY was the last member of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) in Michigan. He died on 19 April 1948, just months shy of his 100th birthday. LAVALLEY (or LEVALLEY) served first in the 23rd Michigan Infantry and was later transferred to the 28th Infantry. (The 23rd was recruited in the 6th Congressional District and rendezvoused at Saginaw.)

Orlando was born on 19 September 1848 in Marathon Township, Lapeer County. He was the middle child of four boys and four girls, but the first sibling born in Michigan. His parents, Esther Elizabeth CUTTING and Leander LeValley were married in Niagara county, NY. At the age of 13, Orlando tried to enlist in the army but was chased away by the recruiters. He returned three years later (on his 16th birthday) and was accepted for service and mustered in as a replacement for Perry KROLL.

Young Orlando was sent to Jackson, MS where his first detail was guarding trains from Chattanooga. After serving for a short time there and Atlanta, GA, he was assigned to the 23rd Michigan Infantry; a part of the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Dividsion of the 23rd Army Corps. This unit saw action at the battles of Frankin and Nashville, TN and participated in the final engagement of the Civil War in North Carolina. LeValley was given an honorable discharge at Raleigh, NC in December of 1865.

Surely a highlight of his days as a soldier came in March of 1865 when he got to hear President Lincoln deliver his famous second inaugural address . . . "with malice toward none . . . " He was on furlough in Washington, D.C. at the time.

Orlando married Hannah J. TITUS the first of October in 1873 (Vassar, MI). Three years later they moved to their farm near Fairgrove (five miles west of Caro, MI.) Hannah died there in 1918.

When the first world war began, Orlando was 70. Friends told him to slow down and that he was too old to work so hard, but he contributed to the war needs by extending his farm efforts. By the time WWII came along he was in his 90's and still doing what he could for the war effort. Three of his grandchildren entered the service at that time: two grandsons enlisted, and a granddaughter joined the WAVES.

Not only did LeValley outlive his wife and his siblings, but one daughter preceded him in death as well. At the time of his death he was survived by five other children, 15 grandchildren, and 29 great-grandchildren. Today there is an award conferred by the Department of Michigan Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War on the unit that demonstrates the largest percentage growth in the past year. This award is called the Orlando LaValley Membership Award. Finally, Orlando was my third great granduncle AND my second cousin, four times removed!

Here's a link to a site about Michigan's role in that war: Michigan in the Civil War 1861-1866

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Sources: Research of Brian Howe and Jill Clark; Don Harvey, historian and genealogist; literature from the Department of Michigan Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

This article was previously published in 1999 at Great Lakes State Origins and is used here by permission of the webmaster/author.