Remarks:
Became a member of Congregational Church.
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Copied from "Names and Service 1861-1865" of the Nelson, NH Picnic Association August 18,1915
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Reuben Phillips, who was elected deacon of the Nelson Church in 1829, had six sons, viz: Joseph S., Rufus, Washington, Simeon W., Minot R., and Judson. Washington was the father of Rev. Elsworth W. Phillips, who now lives in the town. To this family the war brought tragedy in many and peculiar forms. It was "a house divided against itself." Brother fought brother.
In 1861, all except Washington and Minot were living in Missouri, where some of them had married and all were active, prosperous men.
Joseph S. was at Tuscombia, where the secession sentiment was so strong that he had to flee for his life. Enlisting in the Thirty-Third Missouri Volunteer Infantry, Company E, he became a Corporal, was wounded in the battle of Helena, AK, 4 July 1863, and died as the result of such wound 17 Sep 1863. His eldest son, Clayton, a lad in his teens, also enlisted on the Union side and died in the service. (***note that Clayton's death during the war is incorrect**)
Simeon enlisted in a Missouri regiment on the rebel side, was taken prisoner and confined for a time at Fortress Monroe.
Rufus and Judson, living at Falkners Hill in Laclede County, were also influenced by their environment, and became Southern sympathizers. Rufus organized and became Captain of a company of Guerillas, and Judson was his first Sergeant. The former received a severe cut on the head at Springfield, MO, in an engagement with Fremont's forces, and later was taken prisoner and confined, until the close of the war, in the Federal Prison at Alton, IL. Judson was shot through the head by a United States Cavalryman at Lincreek, MO.
When Deacon Reuben, who was an ardent patriot, heard that three of his sons were with the enemy, he was driven nearly frantic, and the fact probably cost him his life. He dropped dead in the Keene Post Office where he had just mailed a letter bearing on the subject to his youngest son, Judson.
Minot R. left wife and young children to enlist in the Union Ninth New Hampshire. As a soldier he was one of the best. He escaped the shot and shell of the "Slaughter Pen" at Fredericksburg, only to succumb to the more terrible pestilence that lurks on every battlefield. In the History of the 9th Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers, at page 250, a comrade thus tells the particulars of his death: "After the fight (Fredericksburg) Wheeler, Phillips and myself were detailed to go over with the party that was to bury the dead. The trenches were dug six feet wide and three feet deep, and in one trench in particular I remember helping put in two hundred and seventy-five men, all of them entirely nude, for the rebels were short of clothing at that time. We were there burying the dead two days and one night. The night we returned to camp Wheeler, Phillips and myself were taken sick with typoid fever and in a few days were loaded into a freight card and shipped to Aquia Creek with the sick and wounded. On arriving there we were put into a tent that would hold twelve small cots. We had one man to attend to us, and he had to walk around with rubber boots on, halfway to his knees in mud. In a little while Phillips, who laid opposite to me on the other side of the tent, died in the forenoon; and that afternoon Wheeler, who had a cot close beside mine, also died."
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Cousin Beverly Marston has a letter from Simeon, while in a Union prison camp for captured Confederate soldiers, to his brother Washington asking for help in getting out of prison. Apparently there was help because Simeon did get out early.
Rufus was on the Confederate side at the battle of Vicksburg. When the surrender happened, Rufus and the other prisoners were led out of the city along a road lined on both sides by Union troups. Joseph was one of those troops and saw Rufus, who hung his head low and pretended not to see Joseph. Rufus was soon released because there were so many prisoners that they let most go based on a pledge not to fight again. Joseph found Rufus and, seeing how cold, hungry, and dirty he looked, gave him his blanket. Later on Rufus took Joseph, who was ill - possibly from wounds, back to Miller Co., MO, where Joseph died. Apparently Rufus had a hard time complying with his pledge. He took his family to Red River, TX and eventually hooked up with the Confederates in Horsehead, AK, but there is no further word of any actual battles that he participated in.
Joseph's discharge papers (a copy of which are in the hands of Martha Wright Matthews) from the Union Army indicate that he died of an illness. Whether he had any wounds in a battle that led to the illness is not indicated. Therefore the Nelson Picnic Association could be in error about his cause of death.
Beverly also read in another Phillips family letter that the reason the Phillips boys went to Missouri in the first place was primarily because of Rufus. Apparently Rufus was having a feud with a neighbor and cut the neighbor's horse's mane and tail. The neighbor became upset and called the sheriff. Rufus (and three of his brothers) made a quick exit from New Hampshire.