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C.P. Knowlton

C.P. Knowlton

Confederate (CSA)

Lieutenant

Charles P. Knowlton

(c. 1838 - 1924)

Home State: Louisiana

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 10th Louisiana Infantry

Before Sharpsburg

A 24 year old clerk in New Orleans, he was commissioned First Lieutenant, Company B, 10th Louisiana Infantry in July 1862.

On the Campaign

He was senior man present in his Company and commanded it at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862, where he was wounded in action and captured.

The rest of the War

He was promoted to Captain to date from October 1862 and was exchanged at Aiken's Landing, VA on 8 November 1862. He was wounded in the right knee by gunshot in action at Payne's Farm (Mine Run), VA on 27 November 1863. His knee cap was removed by surgeons at General Hospital #4, Richmond, VA on 9 December and his thigh and shin bones - femur and tibia - were grown together. He was discharged from the hospital in April 1864 and was retired for wounds at Richmond, date not given.

After the War

He traveled to Nassau, in the Bahamas to recover and returned to Louisiana in 1866. By that time was able to walk well without crutches and dance (!), but obviously could not bend his leg. By 1868 he was working as a purser on a Pacific mail steamer out of San Francisco, CA. He was there to at least 1876.

References & notes

Service from Booth.1 His role and wound at Sharpsburg from the Military Record,2 which has him as Captain at Sharpsburg. His Payne's Farm wound and other medical details from the MSHWR.3 His picture from a photograph (1868) in the National Museum of Health and Medicine, Otis Historical Archives [via Flickr] His gravesite is on Findagrave.

Birth

c. 1838 in NY

Death

05/18/1924; burial in Saint Joseph Catholic Cemetery, Baton Rouge, LA

Notes

1   Booth, Andrew B., Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Louisiana Confederate Commands, 3 Volumes, New Orleans: State of Louisiana, 1920, Vol. 3, Book 1, pg. 589  [AotW citation 19867]

2   Bartlett, Napier, Military Record of Louisiana including Biographical and Historical Papers ..., New Orleans: L. Graham & Company, 1875, pg. 14  [AotW citation 19868]

3   Barnes, Joseph K., and US Army, Office of the Surgeon General, The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, 6 books, Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1870, Volume 2, Part 3, pg. 391  [AotW citation 19869]