behind AotW

Captain William Henderson Baird had been at First Bull Run with the 38th New York Infantry in July 1861 and was commissioned Major of the 126th New York when they were organized in August 1862. He commanded the regiment after Colonel Sherrill was wounded on 14 September at Harpers Ferry, and was surrendered with the rest of garrison there.

He was dismissed from the service on 8 November 1862 as a scapegoat for Harpers Ferry, but the “disability” was “removed” by Secretary of War on 26 June 1863 and he was mustered back into the regiment, soon after appointed Lieutenant Colonel. He was their Colonel when he was killed not quite a year later in action at Petersburg, VA on 16 June 1864.

In the background here is that 1863 letter from the War Department (online from New York Heritage). His picture is an engraving from a photograph, in the collection of the NY Sate Military Museum.