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Federal (USA)

Sergeant

William Mitchell

(c. 1835 - 1886)

Home State: New York

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 2nd and 10th United States Infantry

Before Antietam

A 20 year old plasterer, he enlisted in New York as Private, Company D, 2nd United States Infantry on 4 January 1855, reenlisted as a Sergeant in November 1859 at Ft. Laramie in the Nebraska Territory, and was First Sergeant by 1862.

On the Campaign

He was noted by Lieutenant Poland among "[t]hose who most distinguished themselves for excellent behavior" in action near the Middle Bridge at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

The rest of the War

He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd US Infantry on 22 April 1863 and was promoted to First Lieutenant on 10 November 1864. He was honored by brevets to First Lieutenant (2 July 1863) and Captain (13 March 1865) for his bravery at Gettysburg.

After the War

He continued in Regular Army service, served as the regimental Quartermaster from 1 August 1866 to 11 August 1869, and was promoted to Captain on 31 May 1883. He was granted six months leave in October 1885 and retired on 24 April 1886.

References & notes

Service information from Heitman1 and the Register.2 The Lieutenant Poland quote above is from his after-action Report. Details from the Army & Navy Journal of 17 October 1885 and Hudson's Army and Navy List of May 1886.

Birth

c. 1835 in IRELAND

Death

05/21/1886

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. 717 [AotW citation 26405]

2 US Army, Registers of Enlistments in the United States Army, 1798-1914, Washington, DC: National Archives, 1956, Vol. 051, pg. 132 [AotW citation 26406]

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