behind AotW

In September 1889 James Canning Lynch made the keynote address at the dedication of the monument to the 106th Pennsylvania Infantry on the Gettysburg battlefield. He’s seen as #9 in the photograph above, from J.R.C. Ward’s History of the One-Hundred and Sixth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865 (2d ed., 1906 – Ward is #4). Inset is a wartime carte-de-visite of him, sold by Cowan’s Auctions in 2014.

Lynch was First Lieutenant and commanded Company A of the 106th Pennsylvania in action at Antietam in September 1862 and was Captain of Company B when he was wounded at Gettysburg and Bristoe Station, VA in 1863. After a stint on General John Gibbon’s staff in 1864 he was appointed Colonel of the new 183rd Pennsylvania Infantry in June and mustered out in October 1864. He was honored by brevet to Brigadier General to date from March 1865, which explains his title in that 1889 photograph.