FIND A GRAVE:

From The Chaffee Genealogy, by William H. Chaffee, 1909 Grafton Press, pgs. 260-262:

 

"Orestes Parmeno Chaffee, born in *Bloomfield, Ohio, October 3, 1832; married in Holbrook, Arizona December 8, 1885, Mrs. Helen (Jenkins) Nichols, daughter of Upton Jenkins of Maryland; no children; residence, 1886, Holbrook, in 1904, New Orleans, Louisiana. The following story of his life is taken from the New Orleans Times-Democrat: "Major O. P. Chaffee, a brother of General Adna Chaffee, chief of staff of the United States Army, after many vicissitudes now in the office of Quartermaster Bloom, in New Orleans, yesterday, told a startling, strenuous story, with the elements of both the fairy tale and the dime novel. He was born on a farm in Ashtabula County, Ohio, and when merely a boy, started off to St. Louis, to enter a bank as clerk, not to see his family again for thirty-five years.

 

He became an express rider with General Joe Johnston and Harney shortly after the Mountain Meadow massacre in '57. Then he settled in Wilcox County, in Alabama, as a young planter, and was accumulating capital when the war between the States broke out. Enlisting as a private, he was made a major for gallant conduct on the field of action at Shiloh, was on the staff of Gens. Bragg, J. K. Duncan, Hood and Joe Johnston, and served throughout the war. '

 

After the civil war was ended,' said the kindly old major, 'I started off to Brazil. I embarked on a steamer from New Orleans to New York, where I remained for a couple of months, and then left for Rio Janeiro. I arrived there in August, 1866. Emperor Dom Pedro, hearing of my arrival along with several other Americans, asked me to come and see him. I did so, and found that he spoke excellent English. The war with the Paraguayans, under Gen. Lopez, was going on at that time. The Paraguayans contended that the Brazilians should not be allowed to use the River Parana, and Brazil fought against that contention. I was immediately placed upon the staff of Gen. Dhu as major and inspector of cavalry. I remember a peculiar sight which occurred at the battle of Humaytaia when we drove Lopez back to the mountains. There were men protecting the fort on the other side and about 17,000 men with us. I never saw men fight like they did. They stripped, and with nothing but cartridge belts and guns rushed upon the foe and fought like demons. They placed all their clothes in piles. Two days the battle lasted and then Lopez fled. The war lasted three months more, during which time we were joined by Gen. Rosas, of Uruguay, one of the finest soldiers and most elegant gentlemen I ever met in my life.

 

When I arrived in Brazil I had only 10 cents, and it was fortunate for me that I was given the position I received at the hands of the government. After the war was over I took a thousand acres of land given by the government to those who wished to cultivate.

 

I established myself at Santarem, in the Amazon Valley, in October 1867, and immediately commenced the work. I cleared the land and planted tobacco, coffee and corn. I had a man and his wife to help me, and especially to teach me how to speak Portuguese. They aided me, and tobacco of the finest kind in the world was grown in Brazil, but still I did not prosper, and after wasting three years I got the rubber craze. The rubber craze in Brazil at that time was similar to the gold craze in California in '49. In '69 the excitement on the Amazon was like unto that in California in '49. Everybody was crazy to make a fortune in rubber, and so I went with them. I worked for a year in the interior cutting the rubber with my own hands, and then went into the business of buying and selling it.

 

I had in the course of a few years accumulated a snug fortune, and was getting along nicely. I left home one morning, leaving all my possessions in the thatch house some one hundred yards from the shore of the river. When I returned at night I had nothing in the world. for the river had washed away the banks and there was no vestige of where the house stood. The sixteen people whom I had working for me had scattered to the four winds. I went to a neighbor's house, borrowed a canoe and went twenty miles to a man whom I had had dealings with, and told him that I was going to pay every cent I owed. And then I worked for a year in the rubber fields until I had paid every cent, and with $10 to my name I was ready to start out again.

 

Then I returned to the Amazon again and went into the cane business. I built it up from small to large accumulations, put in machinery, and was doing well in the manufacture caxexa liquor. So it went along for three years, and then one afternoon, after I had been away in my canoe with my man all day, I was returning when a terrible storm came up. The rain poured in torrents, and when we tried to make our way through those woods we were lost, and hour after hour we trampled through those woods, and finally, when we arrived at my home I was taken to my hammock and did not arise again for three years more. I suffered no pain at all, but I could not use my limbs. They were abnormally swollen. The doctors could do nothing, and there I remained until 1883, when I was enabled to move easily enough for me to come back to my native land. Upon my return I went to Arizona, where I was quartermaster's agent at Fort Holbrook for ten years.

 

I had other experiences after that, but as I look back now, I must tell you that I would rather live in Brazil than anywhere. The people are perfectly frank and true, and life is more enjoyable there, I think, than any where.' He was four years in the office of General Wood when he was military governor of Cuba. Finally he came to New Orleans in the Quartermaster's Department. He died May 7, 1908, in Kansas City, Missouri."
*[NOTE: Bloomfield is presently in North Trumbull County, which borders Ashtabula County. Bloomfield is close enough to the present day county borders and may possibly have been in Ashtabula County in 1832 - twc 2011]

 

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Alabama Civil War Muster Rolls, 1861-1865: Name: Orestes P Chaffee Military Unit: 7th Alabama Infantry Regiment Military Unit - Company: H Rank: Private Place of Enlistment - State: Alabama Roll #: 82 Archive Collection #: SG025015-10

Per U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865: Name: Orestes P. Chaffee Birth Date: abt 1833 Age: 28 Enlistment Date: 1861 Military Unit: Third Cavalry

Per http://www.tarleton.edu: "The Third Alabama Cavalry Regiment was organized at Tupelo, Mississippi, 01 July 1862, by companies that had been in the service some months, and several of which, such as "Murphy's Battalion," had fought at Shiloh. These companies were from Autauga, Calhoun, Choctaw, Dallas, Mobile, Monroe, and Perry counties. The regiment accompanied the army into Kentucky and was engaged in daily conflicts with the enemy, particularly at Bramlet's Station and Perryville. It fell back with the army and was on constant and arduous duty during the remainder of the war, protecting its communications, guarding its rear and flanks, and often raiding upon the enemy's trains and outposts. It was part of the brigade composed of the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 9th, 12th, and 51st Alabama cavalry regiments, commanded first by Gen'l William Wirt Allen of Montgomery, subsequently by Gen'l James Hagan of Mobile. The 3rd was engaged at Murfreesboro, Shelbyville, Chickamauga, Kingston, Knoxville, Mossy Creek, Strawberry Plains, losing continuously in casualties, and suffering severely during Gen'l James Longstreet's winter campaign. In the Dalton-Atlanta campaign, it performed arduous service, fighting with severe loss at Decatur, and helping to capture US Gen'l George Stoneman's column. In front of US Gen'l William T. Sherman, the regiment shrouded Hood's movements, then harassed the former on his march, participating in the fights near Macon, at Winchester, Aiken, Fayetteville, Bentonville, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill. Reduced by its losses to a skeleton, the regiment was surrendered at Durham Station, Orange County, North Carolina on 26 April 1865."

Per History of Holbrook Arizona: "Elevation 5,080 feet. County Seat. Formerly known as Horsehead crossing. "Named, 1880, after H.R. Holbrook, first chief engineer of Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. He was the builder of the Rocky Ford Colorado Irridation system." A.G.W. James H. Wilson was the first P.M., September 18, 1882. Orestes P. Chaffee, brother of General Adna R. Chaffee, USA, was PM and quartermaster agent here from March 4, 1888, to September 9, 1989. He was a crippled Confederate soldier."

Per 1900 U.S. Federal census Orestes P. Chaffee is living in Westport, Jackson, Missouri, born Oct 1831 Ohio Head Married Farmer, spouse name Nellie, both parents born OH [census states Orestes has been married 15 years]

New Orleans Passenger Lists, 1820-1945: Name: Orestes P Chaffee Arrival Date: 15 Mar 1902 Age: 71 Gender: Male Port of Departure: Havana, Cuba Ship Name: WHITNEY Port of Arrival: New Orleans, Louisiana National Archives' Series Number: M259_92 Per List information Orestes is in the U.S. Army

Per New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957: Name: Orestes Chaffee Arrival Date: 1 Jul 1903 Birth Date: abt 1835 Age: 68 Gender: Male Ethnicity/ Nationality: American Port of Departure: Havana, Cuba Port of Arrival: New York, New York Ship Name: MEXICO

From The Kansas City Journal, 01 May 1908 regarding In Memory of Jefferson Davis's Birthday Being Kept, http://www.vintagekansascity.com/100yearsago/labels/birthdays.html: "Members of the Stonewall Jackson chapter met at the home of Mrs. W. D. Johnson, 3621 Belleview avenue. They decided to hold the celebration at the home of Mrs. Logan Swope, in Independence. Memorial day, May 30, will be observed jointly by the two chapters, by the placing of floral offerings on the graves of the Confederates and the unveiling of seven markers at Forest Hill cemetery. The Kansas City chapter will also place an offering on the grave of Orestes P. Chaffee, of Confederate fame, who died in this city a short time ago. He was a brother of Adna R. Chaffee, the retired head of the United States army."

Per MO Birth & Death Records Database,

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http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/birthdeath/deaths.asp?id=37086: Orestes Parmeno Chaffee died 06 May 1908, age 78, in Jackson County, Missouri. He died at Wesley Hospital as the result of diseased kidneys & bladder. Doctor stated K. P. Jones

From the Kansas City Star Newspaper regarding the death of Major Orestes Chaffee, a former Confederate officer exiled after the Civil War to Brazil, returning in 1882 to the United States: "Major O. P. Chaffee Is Dead: The Home of the Ex-Confederate Had Been Here Eighteen Years" Source: Kansas City Star Date: 05-07-1908 Location: Vertical File: Civil War--Personalities Illustrations: No Notes: "Major Chaffee was a personal friend of Generals Longstreet, Bragg, and Wheeler. After the war he was one of six men who were not included in the general amnesty and left the country. He went to Paru, Brazil where he lived 18 years."