Month: December 2019

Private William P Harrison, Company K, 6th Wisconsin Infantry was mortally wounded at Antietam on 17 September 1862 and died at the Smoketown Hospital 3 days later. This arresting tinted photograph of him is from the Scott D. Hann Collection.

Before the war, Heber Wells was a type-maker and a newspaper compositor for the Paterson (NJ) Guardian, which was established in 1856 by Orrin Van Derhoven and Hugh Crowell Irish. In August 1861 he enlisted in Company K, 13th New Jersey Infantry and mustered as First Sergeant. His Captain was Hugh Irish. Sergeant Heber was…

Joseph White Latimer, Virginia Military Institute Class of ’63, was a drill instructor in Richmond at the start of the war and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in his cousin A.R. Courtney’s battery in September 1861, barely 18 years old. He became their Captain when Courtney was promoted to Major and battalion command in July 1862.…

Thanks to Jim Smith for the pointer to Corporal Franklin Murphy of the 13th New Jersey Infantry. His is the story of an Antietam veteran who made good. Along with having a rewarding business career, he was Governor of New Jersey 1902-1905. For fun – do you know the only other Civil War veteran elected…

Private James Martin Runyan of the 59th New York Infantry was wounded in the right thigh at Antietam and his leg was amputated at a field hospital near the battlefield. He was mostly healed by January 1863, but additional dead bone was removed in March. He was finally discharged and sent home in May 1863.…