David Van Buskirk
tall soldier from Indiana (1826–1886)
David Campbell Van Buskirk (November 23, 1826 – August 12, 1886), also spelled as David V. Buskirk, was an American soldier and politician from Bloomington, Indiana, made famous for his great height. He was 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) tall and weighed roughly 300 lb (136 kg). Dubbed "the biggest Yankee in the world", Van Buskirk is noted by multiple sources as being the tallest man in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Early life
David Campbell Van Buskirk was born on November 23, 1826, in Bean Blossom Township near Gosport, Indiana, to parents James Van Buskirk (1796–1874) and Mariah Campbell Van Buskirk (1804–1886), he was the eldest of ten children. The Van Buskirk family was of Scotch-Irish and German ancestry and traces its lineage to Isaac Van Buskirk (1760–1843), a veteran of the American Revolutionary War who settled land in modern-day Monroe County, Indiana, in the 1820s. Van Buskirk's uncle, John Van Buskirk (1792–1846), was a veteran of the War of 1812 and was wounded at the Battle of Tippecanoe. Van Buskirk had a normal upbringing and was well-educated, he later worked his family's farm raising and trading cattle. The Van Buskirk family farm consisted of 450 acres of land near the White River complete with a main house, storage houses, an orchard, and family cemetery. Indiana historian Harvey Morris described Buskirk as "weighing 390 pounds, and stood six feet ten inches in his stockings".
Military service
At the outbreak of the American Civil War Van Buskirk enlisted as a Private into Company F of the 27th Indiana Infantry Regiment on August 30, 1861, under Captain Peter Kopp (also spelled Kop).
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