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C.R. Layton

C.R. Layton

Federal (USA)

Captain

Caleb Rodney Layton

(1826 - 1887)

Home State: Delaware

Command Billet: Company Commander

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 11th United States Infantry

Before Antietam

He was a cadet at West Point 1843-45, then read the law with his father. He was admitted to the bar in 1848 and practiced in his father's office in Georgetown, DE. He was commissioned Captain, Company G, First Delaware Infantry on 16 May 1861 and Major of the Regiment on 1 July. He mustered out on 17 August and was then commissioned Captain, 11th United States Infantry to date from 5 August.

On the Campaign

He commanded Company F, 11th US Infantry on the Maryland Campaign.

After the War

He remained in the Regular Army as Captain, serving as Assistant Adjutant General on at least one occasion, and transferred to the 16th US Infantry on 4 April 1869. He was promoted to Major of the 20th US Infantry on 4 March 1879 and to Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment on 2 April 1883. He retired for disability on 8 October 1885.

References & notes

Military service dates from Heitman1. His command at Antietam from Reese.2 Details from family genealogists. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

His father was Caleb Sipple Layton (1798-1882) a State legislator, lawyer and judge.

More on the Web

William Griffing transcribed an 11 November 1862 letter from the Captain to his father on his Spared & Shared blog in 2014, source also of his picture, from a photo of unknown provenance.

Birth

03/10/1826; Georgetown, DE

Death

08/20/1887; burial in Saint Pauls Episcopal Cemetery, Georgetown, DE

Notes

1   Heitman, Francis Bernard, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army 1789-1903, 2 volumes, Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1903, Vol. 1, pg. 620  [AotW citation 21484]

2   Reese, Timothy J., Sykes' Regular Infantry Division, 1861-1864: A History of Regular United States Infantry Operations in the Civil War's Eastern Theater, Jefferson (NC): McFarland&Company, Inc., 1990  [AotW citation 21485]