Albert Handel Brown on 18 October 1925 in Raymond, New Hampshire. We find him in Marion, Ohio, on 12 October 1848, when he married Ann D. Elder. They would have children listed on the Census of 1860; Mary J. Brown 8 years old; Edwin S. Brown 4 years old; Jane Brown 2 years old. Ann D. (Elder) Brown died in 1862. He then married Sally J. (Lyon) in 1866. He and Sally had three children: Elva, born in 1868, Annie, 1870, and Alice H., 1872. Sally died in 1923.

By the time A. H. Brown married Ann D. (Elder), he was a veteran of the Mexican War. He was with the 3rd Ohio Regiment. He was mustered out in May of 1847. Brown is listed as the Postmaster in Marion, Ohio, in 1852.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, A. H. Brown would organize a company of militia in Marion, Ohio. On 17 April 1861, A. H. Brown set up a recruitment office, in the Bennett Building, later to be the sight of the Marion County Bank. It was described as a “dingy back room of the Bennett Building.”

The evening of 17 April 1861, he would have twenty-two men enlisted in the company. By 18 April 1861, ninety-two men were enlisted. On 22 April 1861, the unit would meet at the old city hall to elect it’s officers. They elected A. H. Brown as Captain of this company. The company left Marion, to Camp Dennison, for “Three Months Service,” on 23 April 1861.

This company of militia from Marion, Ohio, became K Company and they were mustered into service under the Fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry (O. V. I.) They were mustered into Federal service 7 August 1862, for “3 years service.”

In a letter from Nancy Anderson, wife of Judge Thomas J. Anderson, to her son dated October 14, 1861; we see the patriotic character of A. H. Brown.

Dear Son: – We are anxiously awaiting your letters. Our government is calling for more volunteers. Many of the three months men are re-enlisting. Eugene was sworn in last week for three years, also his brother Charlie, Bryant Grafton, and others. D. A. Scott is recruiting another company.
Captain Albert H. Brown came home just before the election, and dismayed and scattered the half-hearted and the disloyal. He made no bones of calling all traitors who did not vote the Union ticket, and you know that he had always been an ultra Democrat. He made several speeches while at home that would have surprised you. We had no idea he could speak so well. I heard him in court-house yard, and I am now inclined to think that the subject and the occasion, more than the speaker’s educational advantages, enable him to acquit himself well, and to satisfy and entertain his audience. To be sure no great oratorical power was displayed; it was a plain impressive matter of fact talk. Nor was he daunted though the assemblage was large. You will naturally suppose there was a good deal of wincing by persons called out and charged with falsehood, treason, and conspiracy against the government. He said that those who refuse to vote the Union ticket were giving aid and comfort to the enemy. He said that while he and his fellow-soldiers were fighting the battles of the country, keeping the enemy from invading our own state, that they were safe at home, secretly plotting, and forming infamous organizations against the government, for the purpose of securing the petty offices that they imagined to be within the gift of the Democratic party. He said that he intended to stay till after the election and take the news back to Camp Pendleton that the Union ticket was elected. Brown said that those opposing the Union ticket would “find themselves gloriously missing.” And so, it came about. The soldiers of the 4th regiment who went from this country, sent home by Captain Albert H. Brown, to be given to their families, Five Thousand Dollars. So you see they are beginning to live on their own earnings.
By the way, I forgot to tell you that Marion is now lighted with gas. A lamp post is near our house, – in front of the Episcopal church. Mrs. Kate Godman informed me that she had just received a letter from Princie…

Letter from Mrs. Thomas J. Anderson to James H. Anderson
Marion, Ohio, Oct. 14, 1861.

Note: Judge Thomas J. Anderson was an outspoken opponent to slavery and lived in Marion. Letters that he wrote during the civil war give descriptions of the men we seek to give honor.

Brown served as Provost Marshall until his wife became ill. After she died in 1862, he would offer his services again for the Union. He was then assigned to the 96th Regiment, O. V. I.
James H. Godman would also form a company of militia in Marion, Ohio. This company would elect him as Captain of the company, and they were designated as H Company in the Fourth O. V. I.

Cpt. A H. Brown would eventually attain the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and take command of the 96th Regiment, O. V. I., after the death of Colonel Joseph W. Vance. Colonel Vance was killed the at Battle of Sabine Cross Roads, Louisiana on 8 April 1864. Colonel A. H. Brown was greatly revered by his men, many of whom were from Marion.

After he was mustered out after the Civil War, he would be employed in farming. Brown also served two terms in the Lower House of the Ohio State Legislature.

Colonel A. H. Brown died on 27 August 1905, and is buried in Bloomfield Cemetery, South Bloomfield Township, Morrow County, Ohio.

A. H. Brown is remembered on the walls of the Soldiers & Sailor Memorial Chapel, in the Marion Cemetery on “Column 37, under 96th OVI.”