Stephen Decatur Cagwin

Probably known by Decatur, in 1855 he was a single 20 year old teamster in Chenango, Broome County, NY and boarded with the Rood family there. In 1860 he was married and living in Binghamton, still a teamster. At age 26, on 9 August 1861, he enlisted in Binghamton to serve three years and mustered in as a Private in Company B, 89th New York Infantry on 10 September 1861.

He was slightly wounded on the inside of his left leg above the knee by a piece of buckshot in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862. He was briefly treated at a field hospital by his regimental surgeon, Dr Truman Squire, then was sent back to his Company.

He was discharged on 28 December 1863 but reenlisted for the duration and was mustered out with the regiment on 3 August 1865 in Richmond, VA.

He lived in Walnut Grove, IL, then farmed at Koszta in Iowa County, IA. In January 1880 he applied for a pension as an invalid due to the effects of his Antietam wound, but took his own life on 15 August 1880.

His service from the State of New York,1 which has him also as Stephen D. Cagdin, Cagryan, and Cogrim. His Antietam wound and further service information from his January 1880 pension application, and the manner of his death in a news clipping, both kindly provided by his descendants through J.O. Smith. Personal details from family genealogists, the US Census of 1850 and the New York State Census of 1855, the latter two as Decatur Cagwin, and the US Census for 1860, as S. Decatur Cagwin. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Harriet A "Hattie" Nelson (1836-1926) in September 1856; one of the two witnesses was his landlord Salah P. Rood. Hattie and Decatur had a son, Tracy Ellsworth Cagwin (1861-1925).

c. 1835; Binghamton, NY

08/15/1880; Koszta, IA; burial in Koszta Cemetery, Koszta, IA