Private Mahlon H Beary had his right index finger “shot off” in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862 but he returned to duty and mustered out with the 128th Pennsylvania Infantry in May 1863. He finished his law studies and was admitted to the bar in Allentown, PA, but went West in 1869 and bought land, then went to medical school and was a doctor in Missouri. In 1891 he returned to Allentown and went back to practicing law.

He was active in veteran’s events, was a speaker at the dedication of the monument to the 137th Pennsylvania on the Antietam battlefield in 1904, and attended the massive 50th anniversary reunion at Gettysburg in 1913, the year before he died.

Above is a group photograph of members of Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Post 158 – including Beary, circled – at a reunion meeting at Salt River, Shelby County, Missouri in August 1895. It’s part of a study [pdf] of that GAR post online from the Sons of Union Veterans.

Captain Will Andrews of Company E, 128th Pennsylvania Infantry was killed in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862. His photograph was contributed by L. L. Crookshank to the Family Search database [free membership required].

Two days after fighting for the first time, at Antietam, 2nd Lieutenant Joseph G Cummins of the 124th Pennsylvania Infantry observed, in part

We marched, not knowing really where we were going. Our first position was lying down near a fence, and we were immediately under cross fire. From the position we were in it was strange that every man was not killed.

He’s seen here on a page from Green’s History of the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion 1862-1863 (1907), which is online thanks to the Hathi Trust.

We were hurried forward, and Company A passed through Miller’s yard, crossed the [Hagerstown] pike, past the barn into the field, advanced part way up the hill, and lay down [near Miller’s famous cornfield]. We were soon ordered up, and the Rebs fired at us; one ball took off my cap and nearly took my little finger, and one passed through the right sleeve of my coat. We were again ordered to lie down, and in a few minutes were ordered forward [into the cornfield]. I had fired about three loads when a ball went through my [right] leg.

— Corporal David S. Wilkinson, Co. A, 124th Pennsylvania Infantry at Antietam on 17 September 1862

This is Lieutenant Colonel Simon Litzenberg, who probably commanded the 124th Pennsylvania Infnatry at Antietam after Colonel Hawley was wounded. His photograph is from Green’s History of the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion 1862-1863 (1907), online from the Hathi Trust.