Oscar D. Ladley Papers

Oscar Derostus Ladley was born about 1837 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the eldest child of Rev. Derostus F. Ladley and Catherine (Griffiths) Ladley. Oscar had two younger sisters: Mary (born about 1844) and Alice (born about 1846). Derostus Ladley served as a minister in several Ohio towns before moving his family to Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1852. Oscar attended Antioch College from 1853 to 1857. After leaving school, Oscar took employment in Columbus but returned to Yellow Springs in 1858, where he worked as a clerk in a dry goods store.

On April 23, 1861, less than two weeks after the Civil War began, Oscar enlisted. He served his first 90 days as a private in Company E, 16th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Then, he re-enlisted for three years, serving in Company G, 75th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The 75th fought at a number of minor battles, as well as at Second Bull Run, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. Oscar eventually reached the rank of captain in April 1864. He was mustered out at Jacksonville, Florida, in January 1865.

Oscar returned to the U.S. Army as a career in 1867. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 22nd United States Infantry. He was stationed at Fort Sully in the Dakota Territory for about 7 years. From 1874 onward, he had a number of assignments, including: New Orleans; Madison Barracks in New York; Fort Wayne and Fort Mackinaw in Michigan; Fort Gibson in the Indian Territory; and Fort Lewis in Colorado.

In February 1877 in Washington, DC, Oscar married Clementine Eulalia Davidson, a young woman whom he had met a few years earlier while stationed in New York. They had at least one child, a daughter named Clementine, who was born about 1879 in Michigan and married Edward Olmsted in 1901.

Oscar died of pneumonia on January 11, 1880, near Farmington, New Mexico. He is buried at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery in Kansas. Oscar's wife Clementine died in 1924.