Ferdinand W. Bell

In 1860 he was an unmarried 28 year old carpenter in Easton, Northampton County, PA. By the start of the war he was captain of a local militia company - the Easton National Guards - and he mustered with them for 3-months Federal service as Company H, First Pennsylvania Infantry on 21 April 1861 in Harrisburg. They mustered out in July and he enrolled again, as Captain, Company B, 51st Pennsylvania Infantry at Easton on 16 September 1861.

He commanded his Company on the Maryland Campaign of September 1862.

He was killed at Fredericksburg, VA on 13 December 1862. Major William J. Bolton (Captain of Company A at Antietam) wrote:

The death of Capt. Ferdinand W. Bell was a very serious loss to the regiment. Very unassuming, and a grand disciplinarian, and as fearless as a lion.

"Oh! smother the damp hair over his brow;
It is pale and white, and gastly now;
And hide the wound in his gory breast,
For his soul has fled to its final rest."

His basic service from the Card File 1 and Bates.2 Further details and his picture - a woodblock print from a photograph - from Rev. Uzal W. Condit's History of Easton, Penn'a (1885). Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860. His gravesite is on Findagrave. Thanks to Ed Catterson for the poke to look into Captain Bell.

09/29/1831; Easton, PA

12/13/1862; Fredericksburg, VA; burial in Easton Cemetery, Easton, PA