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D.B. Penn
(1836 - 1902)
Home State: Louisiana
Command Billet: Regimental Commander
Branch of Service: Infantry
Unit: 7th Louisiana Infantry
Before Sharpsburg
From New Orleans, in May 1861 he was Captain of Company D (Virginia Guards of Orleans Parish) of the 7th Louisiana Infantry. By May 1862 he was Major of the Regiment. He was promoted to Lietenant Colonel in June on the death of Lt. Colonel DeChoisel, and was appointed Colonel to replace Colonel Hays who was promoted to Brigadier General on 22 July 1862.1
The rest of the War
He remained in command of the Regiment, including service at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, through late 1863. 2 He was captured in action at Rappahannock, Virginia on 7 November 1863, and passed through the Old Capitol Prison, Washington DC, on 11 November enroute to Johnson's Island, Ohio. He was a prisoner there for the remainder of the War until paroled 12 May 1865.3
After the War
He was Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana (1872).4 In 1874 he may have been a leader of the "White League", a vigilante group which temporarily displaced the (Republican) Reconstruction goverment in Louisiana by armed action known as the "Battle of Liberty Place" - in the city of New Orleans, then the state capital - 14 September 1874.5
References & notes
Birth
1836 in LA
Death
11/15/1902; New Orleans, LA
1 Sifakis, Stewart, Compendium of the Confederate Armies, The, State vols., New York: Facts on File, 1995, Louisiana, p. 12-14 [AotW citation 265]
2 US War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (OR), 128 vols., Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1880-1901, various citations [AotW citation 266]
3 Booth, Andrew B., Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Louisiana Confederate Commands, 3 Volumes, New Orleans: State of Louisiana, 1920, Alphabetical Roll, Pg. 102 [AotW citation 267]
4 Krick, Robert K., Lee's Colonels: A Biographical Register of the Field Officers of the Army of Northern Virginia, Dayton (Oh): Morningside Press, 1979, pg. 278 [AotW citation 356]
5 Welch, David, Encyclopedia Louisiana, Published 1998, first accessed 17 September 2005, <http://www.enlou.com/>, Source page: /time/year1874.htm#september1874 [AotW citation 268]
6 Transcribed online from RootsWeb
State of Louisiana, Orleans Parish (La) Vital Statistics, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Archives, 1804-1938, Deaths, 1902, Names M-Q [AotW citation 269]
7 Davis, William C., editor, and National Historical Society, The Image of War, 1861-1865, 6 volumes, Garden City (NY): Doubleday, 1981-1984, Vol. 3, pg. 86 [AotW citation 952]