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Federal (USV)

Sergeant

James Winfield Staples

(1838 - 1890)

Home State: Massachusetts

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 78th New York Infantry

Before Antietam

He enrolled at age 24 on 2 December 1861 in New York City to serve 3 years; mustered in as Private, Company A, 78th New York Infantry on 24 April 1862 and promoted Sergeant-Major, same date.

On the Campaign

He took command of Company I after the death of Captain Mitchell on on 17 September 1862 at Antietam. He was commissioned Captain 7 November to date from the battle.

The rest of the War

He resigned and was discharged 10 April 1863 at 12th Corps Headquarters, Stafford Court House, VA.

After the War

He moved to San Fransisco, CA and was active in the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). He had also been a Colonel in the California National Guard.

References & notes

Basic information from State of New York1 and his death notice in the Oakland Tribune of 26 December 1890. Details from a bio sketch (and a fine post-war photo) of him from the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. Commissioned Captain, 7 November 1862, with rank from 17 September 1862, vice P. M . T. Mitchell, killed in action.

Birth

07/14/1838; New Bedford, MA

Death

12/23/1890; Oakland, CA; burial in Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, CA

Notes

1   State of New York, Adjutant-General, Annual Report of the Adjutant General of the State of New York [year]: Registers of the [units], 43 Volumes, Albany: James B. Lyon, State Printer, 1893-1905, for the Year 1901 (Serial No. 29), pp. 732 - 789  [AotW citation 15421]