Profile
Catalog Number
2020.9.591Title
Van Dyke, Jacob J.Description
Image of Holland MI area resident Jacob J. Van Dyk's record of service in the "Record of Service of Michigan Volunteers in the Civil War, Vol. 8" and obituary in the Nov. 12th, 1908 edition of Holland City news, page four.History
Jacob J. Van Dyk was born on March 17th, 1835 in the Netherlands. On September 11th, 1861 he enlisted in the 8th Michigan Infantry Co. D. He was promoted to Corporal on December 29th, 1863, and completed his service on July 30th, 1865. He passed on November 5th, 1908 in Holland, MI and is interred in Pilgrim Home Cemetery.The 8th Michigan Infantry was organized on September 23rd, 1861. The regiment was engaged in the Second Battle of Bull Run from August 29th -30th, 1862. From there, the regiment was involved in the Maryland Campaign and fought at Antietam on September 17th. The regiment arrived in Vicksburg Mississipi on March 17th, 1863, where the regiment spent the next 6 months engaged in numerous battles. After a harrowing encounter with the Confederate General Longstreet west of Knoxville TN, the regiment returned to Detroit and reorganized. The regiment rejoined the army in March 1864. The regiment was involved in the battle of the Wilderness on May 6th, 1864, where the regiment counted 99 killed, wounded, and missing, including the Colonel. Lastly, the regiment was engaged in the battle of Spotsylvania and the siege of Petersburg, and was one of the first Union regiments to enter the city when it fell.