Austin Lee Hackman
Austin Lee Hackman was born more than 143 years ago @ the District of Columbia on August 16th, 1876 to his Father Benjamin Franklin Hackman and Mother Ella Turner.
** Interesting events that occurred around the World during Austin's birth year of 1878 included.
• On February 2nd, 1876 baseball's National League forms at the Grand Central Hotel @ New York City with inaugural teams in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Hartford, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis.
• On March 7th, 1876 Alexander Graham Bell is granted a United States patent for the telephone.
• On June 25th and 26th, 1876, 300 men of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer are wiped out by 5,000 Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho Native American's, led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.
• On August 1st, 1876 Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state.
• On October 31st, 1876 the great 1876 Bengal cyclone strikes the coast of modern-day Bangladesh, killing 200,000 people.
• On November 7th, 1876 a counterfeiting ring lead by "Big Jim" Kinealy, hatched a plot to steal Abraham Lincoln's body from its tomb. The plan was to hold the 16th Presidents remains for ransom until the government paid $200,000 in gold and freed their master counterfeiting engraver Ben Boyd from jail.
Kinealy who operated in saloon in Chicago accepted a man by the name of Lewis C. Swegles who patronized the bar into his gang but little did he know that Swegles was actually a secret service agent.
Lincoln's body was to be stuffed into a long sack, put in the back of a horse-drawn wagon, taken to Northern Indiana, and temporarily hidden in the sand dunes there.
On this day the gang went to the cemetery, sawed the padlock from the iron door of Lincoln's tomb, pried the marble lid off the sarcophagus, and attempted to lift the heavy wooden coffin but to their dismay it was far too heavy.
Kinealy ordered Swegles to bring the horses and wagon up to the tomb but instead he alerted 8 detectives that were in hiding who with revolvers at the ready rushed the gravesite.. The tomb robbers somehow escaped on that night in November but were captured in Chicago 10 days later.
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Austin was the youngest child born to his Mother and Father. We found that he had two older Brothers, Turner, and Franklin Gardner, as well as a single Sister, Emma.
** According to Census records from 1880 their father Benjamin supports his family as a "Publisher"
** Hackman Patriarch, Benjamin enlisted with with the Confederate States Army on February 27th, 1862 during the American Civil War. He served with Company D, 1st Regiment Virginia Infantry, Purcell's Battery and Company B,1st Regiment,Maryland Cavalry.
He fought in the battles of Front Royal, Cross Keys, Gaines Farm, Malvern Hill, Bristow Station, Groveton, Chantilly, Harpers Ferry, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the second Battle of Fredericksburg and Gettysburg.
Benjamin was wounded twice and taken as a prisoner of war where he was held at Fort Delaware ( Which was nicknamed the "Confederate Hellhole" ) for 4 months and Point Lookout for 5 months. Point Lookout was the largest and one of the worst Union prisoner-of-war camps. It was established on August 1st, 1863 and located at the extreme tip of St. Mary's County, where the Potomac River joins Chesapeake Bay.
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On November 10th, 1899 Austin (23) enlists with the United States Army in New York City for a 3-year term to serve his Country. His listed occupation upon enlistment was that of a type writer. According to military Census records from 1900 Austin was stationed in the Philippine islands.
A variety of records indicate that Mr. Hackman remains in the United States Army at least through 1911 and is stationed at Fort Hancock in Sandy Hook, New Jersey
Eventually Austin Lee makes his way to the Sunshine State of Florida and City of Tampa.
Ninety six years ago today, on December 26th, 1923 Austin at the age of 45 marries 37 year old Maggie Evelyn Cameron in Tampa, Florida. The couple do not have any children.
Mr. Hackman supports his family while working for the Tampa Electric Company predominantly as a "Trainman" / conductor.
Austin would lose his life on Friday night January 3rd, 1929. He was 52 years old. ( Copy of his death certificate in comments below ).
Austin Lee Hackman. Beloved Husband, Son, Brother, and Patriotic Veteran of the Spanish-American War.