1860 Miss Carrie Gilluly

In 1886, Miss Carrie Gilluly, of Brighton, died on Sunday evening of quick consumption, aged 26 years. She was the daughter of Col. John Gilluly, of Co. I, fifth Michigan, who was killed at the battle of Fredericksburg, and in memory of whom John Gilluly Post, G.A.R., of this place, bears its name. Miss Gilluly was a most estimable young lady and a prominent worker in church matters.

This very short obituary showed up in The Fowlerville Review. As I have spoken at various author talks and book signings, one of the reasons my book, The Fowlerville Chronicles, materialized was in part to find out what the rock and plaque at the northeast corner of North Second Street and East Grand River represented.

As I soon learned, John Gilluly was a teacher from Brighton that lead many of the Fowlerville men into battle, fought courageously, yet died, during the Civil War. When the Fowlerville post was created, it was named in his honor. At the time I learned of this history, I never considered him to have a family, children even. But he had a daughter, Carrie, who probably didn't even have a chance to get to know him or could hardly remember him. She would have been two or three years old when he left to fight the battles between the north and the south.