15 year old local boy Harris Mellinger was killed at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

His hometown of Middleburg was just north of Sharpsburg on the PA-MD state line – halfway between Hagerstown and Greencastle.

He gave his age as 18, but had only reached 15 years the month before he enlisted in the 107th Pennsylvania Infantry in February 1862.

This is a report of the medical care Private Thomas Kinsley, Company C, 107th Pennsylvania Infantry after he was wounded at Antietam. It’s from the Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1870), online from the US National Library of Medicine.

Two days after his 18th birthday, Private John Dice of the 107th Pennsylvania Infantry was wounded at Turner’s Gap on South Mountain by a gunshot through his right wrist into in his abdomen. A few days later he had some pretty tricky surgery to his wrist to save his hand.

An illustration in the Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1870) of the procedure is shown here. John’s was one of 6 such operations described on page 1000 (he’s #2) of Volume 2, Part 2 of the MSHWR, online from the US National Library of Medicine at NIH.

That’s Lieutenant Colonel James MacThompson of the 107th Pennsylvania Infantry in the back row, hand in his jacket. The photograph is of a group of officers – General Abner Doubleday, right-center front – of the Philadelphia Courts-Martial Commission in February 1865. It was was sold by Heritage Auctions in 2009.

In September 1862 he was the Captain of Company D but led the regiment at Turner’s Gap on South Mountain and at Antietam in the absence of all the more senior officers. He was promoted to Major in October and Lieutenant Colonel in January 1863, and again commanded the regiment in action, at Gettysburg in July 1863. He was wounded there but returned to duty, was honored by brevets to Colonel and Brigadier General for gallantry at Gettysburg and for his war service, and mustered out in July 1865.

His name is a puzzle. He signed his official Report after Antietam as James MacThomson, and that’s generally how he appears in military records – suggesting he used that name himself. I’ve chosen that option on AotW. He was probably born James McLean Thomson, and it’s likely that was his legal name.

This is Colonel Thomas A Rowley who commanded the 102nd Pennsylvania Infantry in Maryland in September 1862. His regiment was in reserve at Antietam on the 17th. This photograph of him was sold by Heritage Auctions in September 2016.

He was made Brigadier General in November 1862. He apparently went to pieces while in command of Doubleday’s Division at Gettysburg in July 1863 and was court-martialed and convicted on several charges, but remained in service on local defense duty in Western Pennsylvania. He resigned at the end of December 1864.