Born in Ohio 1840.

Son of Elisha Allen and Lucy Ann Godfrey. His father was born circa 1790 in Pennsylvania, and his mother was born circa 1800 in Virginia.

Listed in 1850 US Census for Ottawa Twp, Putnam County, Ohio. 10 yrs old

Listed in 1860 US Census for Ottawa Twp, Putnam County, Ohio. 20 yrs old

Entered service 26 April 1861 with Co. D 21st OVI for a 3-month period of service. He mustered in at Camp Taylor as Private and was promoted to 1st Lieutenant on 19 July 1861 after Battle of Scary Creek WV. He mustered out with Company on 12 Aug 1861 at Columbus, OH.

He re-enlisted with Co. D 21st OVI on 19 Sept. 1861 for a 3-year period of service. He was promoted from 2nd Lieutenant to 1st Lieutenant 21 Jan 1862. He was promoted from 1st Lieutenant to Captain 20 Feb 1863. He was wounded on 20 Sept. 1863 in battle of Chickamauga. He was discharged on 4 Oct. 1864.

Died 30 December 1864, aged 25 yrs, 3 months.

The following excerpts are personal recollections of Edward Settle Godfrey (MoH), BG USA(Ret) while serving during the Civil War, and other soldiers he served with:

In Company D, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry was a family connection of twelve cousins and one uncle. Seven of them were officers. And they sustained the only casualties in the only engagement the Company had, with Second Lieutenant Guy Pomeroy being fatally wounded and Captain Thomas G. Allen being killed.

The former expired on an Ohio River steamboat while being taken to Gallipolis, Ohio. Captain Allen had said-- "If I am killed I want to be shot right here," placing a finger at the center of his forehead. And that was where the bullet struck.

First Lieutenant Charles William Allen, a student of medicine under Dr. Charles Moore Godfrey and brother of the Captain, reenlisted and died at home of wounds received at the battle of Chickamauga in Georgia in September, 1863. Those brothers lie under a double monument erected in Pomeroy Cemetery, Ottawa, Ohio, and Second Lieutenant Guy Pomeroy also lies nearby.


Edward Settle Godfrey's first military experience was in the so-called three months' service in the Civil War, in Company D, Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, that lasted from April 26 to August 12, 1861. That Company was mustered in at Camp Taylor, Cleveland, Ohio, May 21, 1861, and was mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, August 12 following. It was recruited in and near Ottawa by Lawyer Thomas Godfrey Allen, who became captain, and the volunteers mainly were enrolled by him at the railway station and on the street. The drilling was done on the village common, just east of the Blanchard River and just north of the Ottawa-Kalida road.

The drill instructor was Jacob Wolf, a recently discharged regular army sergeant from Delphos, Ohio, who was visiting in Ottawa, was persuaded to enroll for the Company, and was made a corporal. During the last few days before entraining for Cleveland, camp was made at the large barn of Dr. Calvin T. Pomeroy just south of the village and just north of Williamstown Road.

Before being mustered in our young volunteer Mr. Godfrey experienced two rejections before acceptance could be had. He there stood in the physical examination line three times, going immediately from the head to the foot twice. Finally and although his age was below the minimum, persistence and resourcefulness won over the examining surgeon -- Dr. Miller. And in vindication it may be noted that during that Company's sole engagement, at Scarey Creek, West Virginia, July 17, 1861, Private Godfrey while under fire carried water to the wounded. And he assisted in carrying from the field Second Lieutenant Guy Pomeroy. For a time that wounded officer was carried in a blanket, so that eventually the carriers' fingers were much pained. Arriving at a tobacco shed and finding therein a ladder, immediately there was discussion as to the right and the wrong of taking and utilizing it for litter purposes to ease the injured one and his comrades. As a result the ladder was not left.