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C.H. Carlton
(1836 - 1923)
Home State: Ohio
Education: US Military Academy, West Point, NY, Class of 1859;Class Rank: 18
Command Billet: Company Officer
Branch of Service: Infantry
Before Antietam
After graduating from West Point in 1859 he was assigned as 2nd Lieutenant to the 4th US Infantry. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in May 1861.1
On the Campaign
He commanded part of the 4th US, Companies G, I and K, as advance skirmishers on 17 September (see Historical Tablet), as acting field officer of the regiment at Antietam.
The rest of the War
He was later promoted to Captain, Company E, 4th US Infantry, effective 30 June 1862, but accepted the post of Colonel of the 89th Ohio Volunteer Infantry on 7 July 1863.1 He was captured, along with many of his Regiment, in their first major action, at Chickamauga (September 1863) and was at Libby Prison, Richmond.2 He was exchanged, and rejoined the Regiment in May 1864, for the Atlanta Campaign. Soon after he was put in command of the post at Chattanooga, TN. 3
After the War
He was honored, by Brevet rank, for meritorious service on the Peninsular Campaign, July 1862 (to Major) and Chickamauga, September 1863 (Lt. Colonel).
He mustered out of the Volunteers in June 1865 and resumed his Regular Army career. He was unassigned in 1869, and then transferred to the 10th US Cavalry in December 1870. He was promoted to Major, 3rd US Cavalry in May 1876, Lieutenant Colonel of the 7th Cavalry in 1889, then Colonel of the 8th in January 1892.1 During this post-War period he served in the West at Fort Davis, Texas; Ft. Sill, Oklahoma; Camp Augur and Fort Sidney, Nebraska; Fort Fetterman, Fort Laramie, and Fort Saunders, Wyoming; and at Fort Sedgwick, Colorado.2
He got his star as Brigadier General, USA, in June 1897, and retired two days later.1
References & notes
The photograph above is part of a full standing portrait at the Library of Congress,4 and another of him has been posted online by his descendents, at AncientFaces. Death information is from the roster compiled by Fenner. 5 His role at Antietam from Captain Dryer's Report.
Birth
09/01/1836 in OH
Death
03/21/1923; Atlantic City, NJ; burial in Cleveland, OH
1 Heitman, Francis Bernard, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army 1789-1903, 2 volumes, Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1903, pg. 282 [AotW citation 368]
2 Carlton, Caleb Henry, and Sadie Pollock Carlton (wife), Papers of Caleb Henry Carlton, 1831-1954, Washington, DC: US Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, 1962, catalog summary [AotW citation 369]
3 Reid, Whitelaw, Ohio in the War. Her Statesmen, Generals and Soldiers, 2 vols., Cincinnati: Moore, Wilstach & Baldwin, 1868, Volume II [AotW citation 370]
4 Shoulder straps indicating rank of 1st Lieutenant suggest photo was taken between May 1861 and late 1862.
US Library of Congress, Selected Civil War Photographs Collection, Published c 1998, first accessed 01 January 1998, <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwphome.html>, Source page: http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3c00000/3c05000/3c05700/3c05785v.jpg [AotW citation 371]
5 Fenner, Lee, 89th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Published c. 1999, first accessed 08 January 2005, <http://www.89thohio.com/>, Source page: http://www.89thohio.com/Roster/roster.htm [AotW citation 372]