George T. Woodward lived in Franklin during the Civil war time period.  He was born in 1836 (not known specific date) and died on February 1882 at the age of 46 years old.  Before George enlisted into the army, he was a school teacher in Franklin.  His parents were Austin Woodward, born May 21, 1792 – died 1872, and his mother was Mary Ann Vox, born December 3, 1818 – died July 26, 1841.  George Woodward had many brothers and sister, the exact number is not known, but we know of eleven so far while some names were not mentioned of his father’s second wife.  Three known siblings of his were William Woodward, born November 25th,1825, Elizabeth Preston Woodward, born September 17th,1827, and Alfred Allan Woodward, born June 25th, 1829. 

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            On September 15, 1862, George Woodward enlisted into the army. He was apart of the 45th Massachusetts regiment, Company ‘C’.  Company ‘C’ was a volunteer regiment and a cadet regiment.  Before departing back to Boston from Morehead City, he joined the 45th Mass Company A. He enlisted for only 9 months and on September 26 the regiment departed for Beaufort, N.C.  When they arrived at Beaufort, they went by rail to Newbern where they were assigned to Amory’s Brigade under the command of General Foster.  They set up camp near the banks of the Trent River near Fort Gaston. At Fort Gaston, they remained on post duty until December 12th 1862, where eight companies, not including company ‘C’ or ‘G’, went to Goldsboro, North Carolina. Company ‘C’ went on a special duty to Morehead City.  While the other eight regiments went off to fight in the battles of Kinston and Whitehall under Foster’s Division, Company C stayed stationary in Morehead City.  They were in charge of the transports of troops in and out of the area.  Company ‘C’ with there special mission never saw any battles but while serving in the war fifty-one cadets of their regiment did die. The soldiers may have died from accidental friendly fire in the air or of various diseases that may have been circling around. George Woodward did not die while in the service and would not die until 1882 at the age of 46. 

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          On June 24th, the other regiments arrived at Morehead City and all the 45th Massachusetts gathered to embark for Boston.  Some where along here, it is assumed that Company ‘C’ joined along with Company ‘A’.  When arriving into Boston, they stayed there and were formally welcomed back to their old camp at Reedville, where they remained there until the final muster out of the service and out of the war on June 8th.  The 45th Massachusetts was not apart of the celebration that was going to be held before the assassination of President Lincoln. 

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          After the war, George could not be found in any records. All we know is that he had died in February 1882. He probably returned to his old job. He was not married before he went into the war and may have got married after the war. It is not known if he lived in Franklin after the war. It could not be found if he was buried in a Franklin cemetery or in another town or not.