behind AotW

First Lieutenant Charles P. Knowlton, Company B, 10th Louisiana Infantry was senior man present in his Company and commanded it at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862, where he was wounded in action and captured. He was promoted to Captain and exchanged in November, but was wounded again – in the knee – at Payne’s Farm (Mine Run), VA on 27 November 1863. His knee cap was removed by surgeons and his leg bones – femur and tibia – were allowed to grow together.

In 1864 he was retired for wounds and went to the Bahamas to recover, but he returned to Louisiana in 1866. By 1868 and to at least 1876 he was a purser on a Pacific mail steamer out of San Francisco, CA. He lived to be at least 85 years old.

This 1868 photograph is from the Otis Historical Archives at the National Museum of Health and Medicine, online from their Flickr account.