Charles Cox 93, of Pawnee Oklahoma is the son of Joseph H. Cox an Illinois infantryman for the Union Army from 1862 to 1865. Charles was born when his father who married three times was 73. "I think I was an unexpected child" said Cox.
Only 52 children of Union Civil War Veterns are still living according to Sons of Union Veterns of the Civil War. The Sons of Confederate Veterns has located more than 100 sons and the United Daughters of the Confederacy has found more than 150 daughters. "Unless the order learns of family members of a vetern due to a news item or the survivors make themselves known it is not possible to know of them."
Joseph H. Cox was a corporal of company F, 127 Illinois enlisting in August 1862, he served in the 15 Corps under Gen. Sherman before being wounded and taken to the notorious Andersonville Prison in Georgia. He escaped in December 1864 while being moved to Jacksonville and reached Union lines in February. J. H. Cox wrote his remembrances of the war on stationery dated July 10 1875. J. H. Cox fathered 12 children. He made the first of two land runs in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) in 1889. Charles Cox who served in four continents in the U.S. Army was the last child born to J.H. and Emma who was 30 years her husbands junior. J. H. bought property in Arkansas but rode a train to Indian Territory while sending his wife, teenage son and Charles in a covered wagon. It was in Arkansas, near a place called West Fork, that Cox was treated for diptheria at age 4. He recalls the physican saying, "I don't know whether he will make it though the night." "I proved them wrong, I'm still here." The family eventually settled in Pawnee.