The Niles Star

The Scorse family plot marked by huge cross

By By Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery
NILES – We count the cost of wars not only in dollars, but in the loss of human life commonly referred to as casualties. The hidden costs paid by those who stay behind often remain unmeasured.
Those who stop for gas at Shell on South 11th Street often admire the large, but at the same time, simple cross in Silverbrook Cemetery just across the street. It is engraved with the letters "Ihs" that represent the first three letters of Jesus' name in the Greek alphabet and marks the Scorse family plot. Records suggest that the first member of the family buried there was Leah Catlett, wife of John and mother of two daughters and one son.
Alcetas Jerome Scorse would eventually join his mother in the family plot. However, not before he served his country in both the civil and Indian wars.
As his father and sisters waited in Niles, Scorse took the long way home.
Imagine the angst of his parents and sisters as he volunteered with the 10th Ohio Infantry before his 16th birthday. By the time of that milestone birthday in 1862, he was taken prisoner during the Civil War at Winchester.
Reports suggest he was paroled from infamous Libby Prison. Libby Prison was normally reserved for officers, who were routinely exchanged with the north.
An article in "The Journal of Southern History" by Frank L. Bryne entitled Libby Prison: A Study in Emotions states: "To a Union prisoner, Libby was a 'filthy prison' controlled by 'fiends of perdition' who delighted 'to find some pretext, whether real or imaginary, for which to inflict suffering and humiliation upon their unfortunate victims."
Once paroled, Scorse became part of the Invalid Corps with which he served two years in Chicago. The corps, according to the "Historical Times Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil War," was comprised of two "battalions."
The first was for those who could bear arms and perform garrison duty and the second for the severely handicapped fit only for hospital service.
Although it is not clear to which of these battalions young Scorse was transferred, there are several references to Invalid Corps and hospitals in Chicago.
Did he make it home for the burial of his mother in 1864? Reports do not say.
His obituary in the Niles Republican of Feb. 22, 1877, explains only that he was ill for several years after the close of the Civil War, but did re-enter the service and continued until being discharged because of "utter disability" in September of 1877.
He died at Fort Union, New Mexico as the detachments there helped fight the Apache raids which had intensified during 1876. Though Fort Union saw its share of excitement during this period, the principal activity continued to be the operation of the Quartermaster's Depot and therefore was appropriate assignment for a disabled soldier.
The Republican article stated: "Mr. Scorse had wonderful tenacity of purpose, powers of endurance and reticence and patience under suffering. He had a peculiar personal power in attaching friends to him."
Friends and family at home were obviously not the only ones attracted to the young determined soldier. In the article loved ones here shared "grateful recognition of the kindness of Dr. Carlos Carvallo, the Post Surgeon at Fort Union, who was physician, friend and ready correspondent and said also they would ever remember the survivors of Mr. John V. Varvason Noel, who was with Mr. Scorse night and day for six long weeks of agony and who administered the consolations of the Prayer Book in its forms for "the Visitation of the Sick."
The fact that the wife of a former commander, Mrs. Conrad, and her lady friends were credited with being sure Scorse was supplied with "every delicacy," must have comforted his sisters.
The Niles Weekly Mirror recorded that convinced of his impending death, "…with trembling hand and touching pathos he wrote to his sisters telling them of his hopeless case but still cheered by the thought that he might reach home to die in the midst of loved ones and to be laid in beautiful Silverbrook Cemetery beside his sainted mother."
This article too spoke of letters from the post physician and others who ministered to the Niles native and spoke in terms of his manly, noble character.
Written two weeks after his Feb. 9, 1877 death, the Mirror article told of the grief of not only his sisters but his "invalid father, who is utterly unable to leave the house." While no direct mention is made, it seems his father did not survive long enough to see his son's arrival home.
In the eloquence of the day, the Republican report, speaks to the immeasurable hidden costs to those whose loved ones arrive home from war for burial.
"…his remains, through the kindness and attention of Generals Sheridan and Pope and other officers high in rank, were sent on their long journey by wagon train and railroad, to their last resting place without either care or cost to his relatives here. These very unusual attentions speak volumes for the good fellowship and manly character of the dead soldier."
Though a military funeral was held at Fort Union, it was not until December 1877 that Scorse's remains were finally interred in the family's Silverbrook plot. His sisters Minerva Almeda, wife of Matt M. Clay, and Mary E. Bacon are buried there with their brother and parents. James, possibly a younger brother to John, is also buried there.
One cannot help but think of all those today, one hundred and thirty years later, who look for letters from battlefields far away. Who daily pray that their loved ones' new companions will see value in their brother or sister, son or daughter as did those who cared for the ailing Scorse.
Just as the Scorse family appreciated the care of those so long ago, we know they would appreciate the care Silverbrook Cemetery is receiving today.
Should you wish to become a member of the Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery as they prepare to continue the chronicling and cleaning and maintenance of the historic graves, contact: Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery c/o 508 E. Main St. Niles MI 49120, Tim and Candace Skalla at 684-2455, wskalla@sbcglobal.net or contact Ginny Tyler at 684-3687, SPHINX1974@aol.com.