Sanford Nelson BILLINGS was born on May 18,1841 in North Stonington, CT. His father, Horatio Nelson Billings, born 1803, was a sailor. Around the year 1849, Horatio sailed to CA hoping to find gold, as a first mate on a sailing-vessel, as did many other young men from this area. Word was received that Horatio arrived safely in CA but he was never heard from again.
Private Sanford N. Billings
Sanford thus grew up without a father! He worked hard as a farmer on his uncle’s Griswold farm to help support his mother and siblings. At age 21, Sanford enlisted as a Private in Company G, 21st CT Regiment with many other volunteers from North Stonington. They all expected it to be a short war and easy to win!
Fortunately for him, he missed a year and half of fighting because he was assigned to work in a Norfolk,VA Union jail as a “turnkey”. The turnkey was in charge of locking the prisoners inside.
Sanford rejoined his regiment in 1863 and was captured at the Battle of Drury’s Bluff, on May 18,1864 with many others from his company including his friend, Franklin T. Bentley . 107 Union soldiers were killed, wounded and missing after this battle. He was imprisoned at several notorious prisons after his capture : Libby Prison in Richmond, Andersonville Prison (fortunately for only a few months) then prisons in Charleston, Florence, Wilmington and Goldsboro.
Libby Prison, VA
Supposedly “Sanford endured untold horrors and had become so reduced that he could scarcely walk. He had barely clothes enough to cover him, but in sheer desperation he and a comrade wandered away( from his last prison in NC) and were fortunately picked up by” boys in blue”. Mr. Billings was so feeble in his mind that he knew not his name or where he was, but after weeks of faithful nursing he was partially restored.”
Jane Preston, past Denison Homestead historian, was related to Sanford through marriage. He was the great-grandfather of her husband, Roger, and grandfather of a friend of mine, Mary Star Wheeler. According to Jane, the family story is that a cousin from Griswold went to bring him home and that they walked all the way back to Connecticut.
WhenSanford returned home he weighed 94 pounds!( Before going off to the war, he had weighed 175 pounds). He described his prison days as being “hell upon earth” and worse than being shot by a bullet. It was said that his brown hair had turned white upon his return.
Sanford fortunately recovered from his trials of war. He married Miss Lucy Main in 1867 and they had 8 children! He became a prominent farmer in North Stonington owning several farms and about 300 acres.
Denison Connection– Sanford Nelson Billings,124-31, Horatio Nelson Billings,124-25, Jane Preston-
Sources- Family Papers, Jane Preston, George Stone papers of North Stonington, New London County,CT Biographies,
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ctnwlbio/billingssanford.html
Denison Connection- Sanford NelsonBillings,124-31, Hoartio Nelson Billings,124-25, Jane Preston
Mystic and Stonington- A Storied Past and Present! 