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Jordan Coller: Fayette’s forgotten Civil War hero

By: Robert Wiegers, Charles Thompson, and Charles Straatmann
Posted 2/16/22

Little is known about Jordan Coller in Fayette, although his name appears inconspicuously on the cornerstone of the town Municipal Building’s southeast corner.

He gradually became noticed …

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Jordan Coller: Fayette’s forgotten Civil War hero

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Little is known about Jordan Coller in Fayette, although his name appears inconspicuously on the cornerstone of the town Municipal Building’s southeast corner.

He gradually became noticed with the accidental finding of his Civil War equipment in boxes long hidden in the library attic in the early 1980s.

In this time of recognizing heroes in the 21st century, we are seldom introduced to such a talented hero of yesterday. So, in using some of his own words, “Being a veteran in the service - never knowing what it is to surrender,” here is an introduction to a very interesting character from the past.

Coller was born in 1841 in Reading, Pennsylvania, the oldest of six children, to Henry William Beidler, then 21 years old, and Sarah Ann Coller, who was 18. The couple never married, and Jordan took his mother’s surname. His boyhood home still stands, though much altered from its original state, at 421 Spruce Street in Reading. 

In the 1860 census, Coller was still living at his mother’s house and he was listed as a “miller’s apprentice,” although in 1857, at age 16, he was apprenticed to a tinsmith. The Civil War terminated his apprenticeship when he was 19. 

According to his Muster Roll, Coller enrolled in the army on August 14, 1861 in Company E, 46th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment for three years and became Private Jordan Coller.

Between August and October 1861, Coller trained at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg, Pa. In March 1862 the regiment occupied the town of Winchester, Va. He joined the regiment in Winchester in May 1862, and while at Winchester Jordan made a tin cup he would carry throughout the rest of the war. 

On May 25, 1862, Coller participated in his first military engagement when Company E and the whole 46th PVI had a leading role in the first Battle of Winchester. Eventually the Union forces were forced to abandon Winchester and retreat all the way to the Potomac River at Williamsport. 

On August 9, 1862, the 46th PVI engaged Confederate forces south of Culpeper, Va. The Confederate forces were marching on Culpeper to stall a Union advance into central Virginia. 

The battle at nearby Cedar Mountain was the first combat of General Stonewall Jackson’s famous Valley Campaign. By 7:45 p.m. the Union line was in full retreat. The 46th PVI suffered 48% casualties, and 111 were taken prisoner, including Private Coller. 

Prisoners were marched to Libbey Prison in Richmond, Va., where enlisted men were sorted out and transferred to Belle Island prison in the middle of the James River. This was an 80 acre island near the fall line of the river outside Richmond. Coller was held captive for three months, and to fight boredom he carved the details of his capture on the leather bill of his army forage cap.

The top of the bill reads: “Jorden Coller, Co. E 46 Reg Pv, Taken prisoner at Cedar Mountain on 9 Aug.” The underside of the bill reads:   “Jorden Coller, Co. E 46 Regiment PV, Prisoner on Belle Island Richmond Va.”

Coller, along with many other prisoners, was eventually paroled in the first Civil War prisoner exchange in October, 1862. Thousands of Union prisoners passed down the James River aboard a Union ship, and landed at Annapolis, Md., the next afternoon. 

Coller eventually rejoined the 46th PVI at Harper’s Ferry, Va. While a prisoner, he missed the second Battle of Manassas and the 46th PVI action at Antietam. As a seasoned soldier, he was promoted from private to corporal. Early the following year, he was with the 46th in the May 2-6 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville.

Of the four hundred and five men of the 46th Pennsylvania who marched to Chancellorsville, only two hundred and ninety-one rejoined General Joseph Hooker in the withdrawal.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Two months later, the 46th PVI arrived at Gettysburg on the morning of July 2, after the terrific fighting of the first day. The regiment was placed in position on Culp’s Hill, near the famous landmark, Spangler’s Spring, where soldiers on both sides fought to get water.  

After Gettysburg, the 46th PVI was refitted and replenished and transferred west to the newly-created army of the Cumberland under General Ulysses S. Grant. 

In September the 46th was detailed to guard the rail junction at Decherd, Tenn., north of Chattanooga. As spring arrived, initial battles on General Sherman’s march south did not involve the 46th until the army met General Joseph Johnston at the Battle of Resaca on May 14-15, 1864. 

Coller survived to fight another day. On May 25, the 46th were engaged in the Battle at Dallas, Ga. The Reading, Pa. newspaper, the Moravian, reported the 46th was in the thickest of the fight for three hours. Some time during the  fight Coller was hit by a minnie ball below the knee and taken out of the action, according to the Company Muster Roll. 

Company records indicate he was in a hospital July through August of 1864. As with so many veterans released directly from a hospital, Coller left the hospital and cleared the army with little fanfare, according to a November 16, 1864 individual Muster-Out Roll.

After three years in the army, Coller went back to Reading, where he resumed civilian life and tin smithing. In 1865 he was the subject of a local newspaper article about an accident at a local tan yard fire. 

As a member of the Junior Fire Company, Coller was riding on the fire company engine when he lost his grip and fell under the vehicle’s wheels. One wheel passed over his chest and he was not expected to survive. 

But he did survive, and after his recovery he decided to leave Reading and head west to St. Louis, ultimately arriving in Fayette where he began working as a tinsmith. 

Mid-century Fayette was an attractive destination for a roving Easterner. The town of 1,000 was a thriving market and commercial center, and a way-station for trails heading west. Its courthouse, business square, and Central College were coming back to life after the long war years. A thriving commercial center needed a tinsmith.

After his arrival in Fayette, Coller was employed in various businesses as a tinsmith and possibly a salesman. In 1865 Fayette had one tinsmith, John Zimmerman, and as the economy recovered from the war new stores, like the George Tatum hardware in 1866 and the Samuel Miller Hardware in 1868, began to open. 

The first mention of Coller in this context was in 1877 when a new business was opened by W. C. Ritchie who bought the the business of J. D. Tolson. Ritchie placed a large advertisement in the Fayette Advertiser for July 19, with one part opening announcement and one part humor based on the Civil War experiences of Ritchie and Coller. 

One section of the advertisement began with a humorous paragraph introducing Coller as his business partner: “Being a veteran in the service - never knowing what it is to surrender, and having selected as my chief-of-staff, Brigadier General Jordan Coller, you may look out for heavy skirmishing all along the line, and if there is no dead and wounded found on the field, it will not be our fault.”   

   In 1877, Coller was praised in the Advertiser for his heroic actions fighting a fire on the south side of the square. A smoldering fire in the drug store of J.C. Withers in the Shafroth building burst into flames at daybreak. The newspaper marveled that the combustibles including black powder, coal oil, and nitroglycerine cached in the store, did not consume the whole building. 

Coller was the only experienced firefighter to reach the center of the inferno and douse it with buckets of water, saving the structure and possibly the whole block. This was not the only time he would be mentioned in the newspapers fighting a fire. 

In 1880, the census noted Coller was a boarder and a hardware dealer living on 2nd Main Street (now Morrison Street). In 1881, Coller placed an add in the Fayette paper for The Hardware and Stove Emporium dealing in stoves, hardware, tin ware, table and pocket cutlery. The Missouri State Gazetteer and Business Directory also noted Coller was in the hardware business.                                                                            

In 1882, during a major fire on the south side of the square, he again played a prominent role at great risk of his own life. The fire began in the rear of Norris and Knaus’ furniture business, in the middle of the block, in the early hours of July 13. 

Someone organized a bucket brigade. Coller reached the roof of the Tolson Hall building and fought the fire from that vantage point. A total of eight businesses were totally destroyed and many others affected. 

Coller lost a two-story frame house, valued at $3,000, and Dan Kelly, his neighbor, lost a frame house. Coller was praised for his bravery and leadership in fighting the fire with the following newspaper article:

“J.M. Coller sustained his reputation as a hero in cases of emergency, and to him, perhaps, more than any other man, we are indebted for the saving of the remainder of the block, and much more valuable property. By almost superhuman effort, and at imminent risk to his life, he ascended to the roof of the Tolson building, where by the aid of brave and willing hands water was brought, and the further spread of fire prevented.”

   In 1882, a new hardware business of Coller and Kelly was advertised in the Fayette Advertiser as the “Red Front,” dealing in builders’ hardware, carpentry tools, wire, stoves, and tinware and cutlery. 

According to one article Coller was the builder of three two-story business buildings on the square and five private houses on vacant lots near the square. In the 1880s, Jordan formed the first fire company in Fayette called the “Juniors” possibly after the Reading fire company. He also donated $2,000 for a firehouse.

In the 1900 census Coller was noted as 58 years old, a resident of Fayette, not married but still making a living as a tinsmith. The census stated he could read, write, and speak English. He was an urban dweller, not living on a farm, and his house was not mortgaged. His neighbor was long-time associate Daniel P. Kelly. 

In the 1910 census Coller resided on Monroe Street. He was not married, still a tinsmith and self-employed. He lived in a house he owned with no mortgage. Both Kelly and Coller were heads of households, originally from Pa., and both were tinsmiths.

By the turn of the century Southern Florida had become a haven for retirees seeking warmer weather. St. Cloud, Fla. roughly 26 miles southeast of Orlando, was founded in 1909 as a retirement community for Union Civil War veterans. 

The town became home to the largest concentration of Union veterans in the south. The first streets in the community were named after Union states. The town’s nickname was “Soldier City,” and veterans were given the opportunity to purchase a 5-acre lot for $50. In 1909, Coller purchased a second home at 719 Maryland Avenue in St. Cloud.  

On December 26,1915, at age 74, Coller died in St. Cloud at age 74. He was buried in his home town of Reading, Pa., at the Charles Evan Cemetery. His headstone is not ornate, but simple and dramatic, a large back diamond on a curving stone base with details of his Civil War service. 

Jordan’s will was a reflection of his success as a businessman and dedicated citizen of his adopted city. He bequeathed the sum of $18,000 to several causes. The bulk of the money went to the city of Fayette to buy land for the future city hall, fire department, and public library. 

A sizable cash sum went to the local Black Methodist church in Fayette. His house and all furnishings were left to a Black woman, Evalena Boggs. Boggs had been his housekeeper and the adopted daughter of close friend Harriet Boggs.

The story of Coller’s life includes several mysteries. For instance, the mystery of his longtime business partner Kelly, and the parallel circumstances of their lives. 

When Jordan died in 1915, for unknown reasons Kelly, ten years Jordan’s junior, announced to the Fayette Probate Court that he was the brother of Coller, and Kelly also became known as Paris Coller. Kelly, or Paris Coller, did not contest his brother’s will. Instead he blessed the gift and continued his daily routine. 

If the kinship was a secret for 43 years, why divulge it to the public in 1916? This mystery struck a vein of curiosity in papers across the state. The St. Joseph Observer and Kansas City Star ran articles on The Mystery Brothers of Fayette. 

About the Coller brothers, it may be best to conclude their story is one of many that make up the folk culture of Fayette. 

Jordan left items of his Civil War army uniform and accoutrements, including his Springfield rifle, bayonet, haversack with its contents, backpack, his forage cap with prisoner of war information inscribed on it, canteens,  and even his ammunition pouch with live ammunition inside.

These artifacts and copies of his service records are on display at the CMU’s Central Museum of History.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The name Jordan is spelled differently in different documents and locations: Jordon, Jorden, and Jordan. For the sake of continuity we have used “Jordan” throughout this article except in the description of the carvings in his hat, which clearly read “Jorden.”

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