Philip's parents are Robert and Bathsheba (Barton) Topham.

He served in the Civil War and fought at Gettysburg and incredibly survived. He was one of Abraham Lincoln's Minute Men joining the 3rd Massachusetts Regiment at the beginning of the War.

Due to his Whaling ship experience, near the end of the war, he was transferred to the U.S. Navy as a Master Mate on a ship called the USS Calypso. This ship went down to Savanah, GA to pick up the New England survivors of the Anderson, GA prison camp then take them back up to Boston, MA.

From this point on there are 2 sides of the story -
1. The Navy claims that he left without notifying them when his ship docked in Boston in 1865.
2. Many family (including his son-in-law Henry W. Hammond) and friends noted in the 1800's Pension Request that he was Honorably Discharged by the Navy in 1865 while in Boston, MA.

Per Grace Williamson Edes the author of William Ricketson and William Ricketson, Jr. and their Descendants book, prior to the Civil War, Philip was a mariner and in the Merchant Services. He enlisted in the Company E 3rd Massachusetts Volunteer Militia and also served on the United States ship Calypso.

After the war he was a clerk at his father Robert's lumber business. Philip was paralyzed on his right side and the family is not sure if this was from a war injury or not.

We believe due to sloppy Navy paperwork, he and his wife (after he passed) were denied any type of pension and he died at an Old Sailor's Home in Chelsea, MA.

He not only has a veteran's stone at Rural Cemetery - his family has also honored him with a memorial here on Find-a-Grave, on the FOLD3 website and has his name in the Fort Taber/Fort Rodman Military Museum. His name is also documented via an interactive database computer in the New Bedford Whaling Museum and on their website as a past Whaling ship crew member. It lists Philip on a ship called the "Rapid" at the age of 17 with Florid skin, dark hair and a "greenhand or a greenhorn" in 1856.

He is a direct descendant of Mayflower Pilgrims Thomas Rogers/John Rogers and John Alden. Our family GSMD number is 86,222.

These are a list of other books (excluding the John Alden and Thomas Rogers Silver Mayflower book) that the Philip's family lines are documented in:

The Richmond Family by Joshua Bailey Richmond
A genealogical history of the descendants of Joseph Peck by Ira Peck
Elizabeth (Alden) Pabodie and Descendants by Mary Langford Taylor Alden
John Vial of Swansey, Mass and Some of His Descendants by David Jillson
History of Bristol County, Massachusetts with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men by D. Hamilton Hurd

http://www.newbedfordguide.com/americana-topham-street/2016/04/25

Rhode Island History PDF about Philip's grandfather - his namesake…starting on page 72: http://www.rihs.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/RHS_Journal-74-2.pdf

Philip M Topham