behind AotW

Corporal Addison A. Townsend of Company I, 3rd Wisconsin Infantry was wounded at Antietam in September 1862 and discharged as disabled for further military service in April 1863.

Here he is in about 1883 in a lovely photograph cared for by his great-great-granddaughter Nancy Faulkner Brooke and sent to us by Tony Townsend.

You’ll notice the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) pin on his tie – in 1883 he was a founding member of the Union G.A.R. Post 96 in Shullsburg, WI (later renamed for their first commander Thomas H. Oates). He was the last surviving member of the post at his death at age 87 in 1926.

Private Michael Ball of the 6th Wisconsin Infantry may have been as young as 16 years old on the Maryland Campaign of 1862 and was probably wounded twice there, on South Mountain on 14 September and at Antietam three days later. By the end of 1862 he was back home with his parents, and afterward had a long career farming in St. Croix County, WI.

This excellent post-war likeness was sent by great-great grandson Ryan R Ball.

Their great-great-grandson Phil McLane sent me this lovely photograph of Catherine and Nicholas Broadwater, who married in 1868. Nicholas was a Private in the 7th South Carolina Infantry when he was wounded at Sharpsburg in September 1862. He survived the war to return to farming in Edgefield County, SC for the rest of his life.