The Start of a Civil War Mystery

John McCafferty died on July 10, 1899 and is buried in the Immaculate Conception Cemetery on Canton Street. According to Chaffin's History of Easton  McCafferty "left college at Worcester, and entered service in April, 1861, on the USS Cairo, and afterward on the USS New Era, and has remained in the navy most of the time since." His record of Civil War service men says McCafferty was on the Cairo from April, 1861 until April, 1862 when he joined the crew of the New Era. A military record found at Ancestry.com notes that John McCafferty joined the navy on April 4, 1862 as a "landsman" and continued in service until April 3, 1865. During his term of service he was appointed a "Full Ship's Cook" His age in 1862 was listed as 19 which means that when he died he was only 56 years old. So far that's all we know about Mr. McCafferty.

A Catholic boy in college in 1861 might have been a first for Easton. His service during the war was on riverboats not regular seagoing vessels. The fact that he mostly remained in the navy at least until 1886 is interesting since many Easton veterans simply returned home, often to their pre-war jobs. Did he continue in the navy and serve as perhaps the only Easton enlisted man in the Spanish American War? We'll spend tomorrow looking a little more deeply into this mysterious man-I promise some interesting finds!