behind AotW

After service with the 2nd New Hampshire Infantry in 1861 and earlier in 1862, Herbert Bradwell Titus was commissioned Major of the 9th New Hampshire in July and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in August. Near the lower (“Burnside”) bridge at Antietam on 17 September 1862:

Among the officers who were severely wounded were Lieut. Col. Herbert B. Titus and Captains John B. Cooper and Smith O. Whitfield. Lieut. Col. Titus was himself taking an active part in the conflict, having picked up the rifle of a disabled soldier, when he was struck in the side by a bullet and compelled to leave the field. As the word was passed along the line, expressions of sorrow and regret were heard on all sides.

He recovered and was promoted to Colonel in November. He was discharged for disability in September 1864 but was re-commissioned in November, honored by brevet to Brigadier General of Volunteers on 13 March 1865, and mustered out on 10 June 1865 in Alexandria, VA.

For about three years immediately after the war he was a “special agent” of the US government, collecting captured and abandoned property in the South and recovering Confederate ships in England and France. He later farmed and was a lawyer in Washington, DC and New York City.

His photograph is in the Library of Congress.