I found a couple of excellent accounts which nicely bracket the military career of Captain Samuel A. McKee, 2nd United States Infantry. They are too good not to share and I hope both of my readers will appreciate them.
McKee was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, USA on 5 August 1861 and First Lieutenant 5 days later.
He led Company I of the 2nd US at Antietam, part of a consolidated battalion of companies from the 2nd and 10th United States Infantry regiments. They crossed the creek over the middle bridge about midday on 17 September 1862 and pushed a line of skirmishers up the pike toward Sharpsburg.
Battalion commander Lieutenant John Poland reported “Lieutenant McKee, commanding Companies I and A, Second Infantry, while deploying to the front, was severely wounded and compelled to leave the field.”
Robert Gideon Welles was a Lieutenant in the 10th US Infantry when he commanded Company K of the 2nd US in action at Antietam near the Middle Bridge on 17 September 1862.
His Uncle Gideon Welles (1802-1878) was US Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to 1869 under Presidents Lincoln and Johnson.
This is part of an entry Dr. Bacon wrote on the march near Fredericksburg, VA on 3 June 1863. It concerns First Lieutenant Abraham Grafius, 2nd United States Infantry.
Lieutenant Grafius led Company C of the 2nd Infantry at Antietam in September 1862.
Transcription:
… as we arrive near our intended camping place, Lieutenant Abraham Grafius, 2nd Infantry, falls in the road in convulsion. I was having my horse led in front of me but came up at once. Convulsions severe. Respiration nearly ceasing. I took him by the side of the road on a blanket. Put a bower over him to protect him from the sun. Again and again his convulsions occurred. I had to work Marshall Hall on his breathing twice. Toward evening, I had him taken to his tent. I had sat right over him the whole day, scarcely being away from his side. It is the result of drinking. He drinks hard. If he wants to live, he had better sign the pledge.
More from the diary:
[June 4] Grafius better. Slight convulsions, two during the day. Is irrational. Hot. Have a shade erected over his tent.
[June 5] Hot. Grafius better.
[June 6] Grafius is delirious. Is controlled with some difficulty. I never saw a man come so near death and not die … make a recommendation to send Lieutenant Grafius to General Hospital at Washington.
[June 7] Grafius grows worse … Lieutenant Grafius must go to Corps Hospital. As it will not do to send him alone, I go with him [and] ride in the ambulance.
[June 10] Mrs. Grafius … I took with me the order to send Lieutenant Grafius to General Hospital at Washington. (Received last evening. So much “red tape.” It had been to General Hooker.) Arriving at the hospital, [I] find that he died yesterday morning. His family had been telegraphed of his sickness, and almost immediately his mother had come on, arriving this morning. Poor woman, how terribly she felt. For he was almost the entire support of herself and family and says she has none but God to look to now.
(She is a widow, one son sick) another delicate, and one daughter Ellen Grafius. I told her of her son, and coming away, she clung to my hand as though her heart was breaking. She sobbed. She wished me to say her gratitude to the 2nd Infantry for their care of her son.
Her daughter had knit a smoking cape for Abe & Captain McKee. One was sent to the Captain, the other was pressed on me. I told her I should prize it as a memento of her son.
She has all nearly, or rather Ellen has, of the pictures of the officers of the 2nd Infantry, and wishes me to send mine which I promised. Address: Miss Ellen Grafius, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.
Born in Edwardsburg, MI, in 1837, Dr Bacon died in 1868 while still in Army service. He was only about 31 years old. This photo of him was contributed to his Findagrave memorial by user El Merlo.
First Lieutenant William Findley Drum led Company B of the 2nd United States Infantry in their foray over the Middle Bridge at Antietam on 17 September 1862.
In 1865 he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel (soon Colonel) of the 7th New York Veteran Volunteer Infantry regiment.
He continued in active Regular Army service after the war, eventually promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the 12th US Infantry in 1886.
William was the son of Captain Simon Henry Drum (USMA 1830) who was killed at Mexico City in 1847.
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Photo sources
First Lt Drum (c. 1862) from a CDV contributed to Findagrave by Darryl Smith.
Colonel Drum (1865) from a CDV sold at auction via lotsearch.
Lieutenant Colonel Drum (c. 1886) from family genealogist Susan Kay Keel via Geni
father Captain Drum (c. 1847) is from Burg of Greene, in Pictures Seen (1927) – a book about Greensburg, PA – It’s online from the University of Pittsburgh Libraries.
A photograph from the collection of the US Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, PA. Probably taken in 1862, it was donated by Richard Woodbury.
Pictured (l to r) in the foreground are 8 members of Company F, 2nd US Sharpshooters: Pvt Charles R. Applin, Pvt Isaac H. Farnum, Sgt Horace Caldwell, Pvt Amos S. Abbott, Pvt William C. Beard, Pvt William Spead, Pvt Leonard Spead, and Pvt Cyrus R. Farnum. All but William Spead and William Beard survived the war and went home to New Hampshire.
Spead was killed at Petersburg, VA in October 1864. Beard was wounded at Antietam and killed at Gettysburg in July 1863.
