Private Mahlon H Beary had his right index finger “shot off” in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862 but he returned to duty and mustered out with the 128th Pennsylvania Infantry in May 1863. He finished his law studies and was admitted to the bar in Allentown, PA, but went West in 1869 and bought land, then went to medical school and was a doctor in Missouri. In 1891 he returned to Allentown and went back to practicing law.

He was active in veteran’s events, was a speaker at the dedication of the monument to the 137th Pennsylvania on the Antietam battlefield in 1904, and attended the massive 50th anniversary reunion at Gettysburg in 1913, the year before he died.

Above is a group photograph of members of Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Post 158 – including Beary, circled – at a reunion meeting at Salt River, Shelby County, Missouri in August 1895. It’s part of a study [pdf] of that GAR post online from the Sons of Union Veterans.

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