I. J. Wistar

Federal (USA)

Colonel

Isaac Jones Wistar

(1827 - 1905)

Home State: Pennsylvania

Command Billet: Commanding Regiment

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 71st Pennsylvania Infantry

Before Antietam

He was commissioned Lt Colonel of the "California Regiment" - the 71st Pennsylvania Infantry - 28 June 1861 at its organization, and was promoted its Colonel on 11 November 1861.

On the Campaign

In his Antietam after-action report, Gen Howard said:

In my brigade ... Colonel Wistar, Seventy-first Pennsylvania, with his right arm nearly useless from a former wound, had his left, disabled. He also was prompt and efficient."

He was disabled and left behind on the battlefield near the Dunker Church when the II Corps was overrun and retreated. Later in the day he got back through the Confederate lines, and got medical treatment at Keedysville.

The rest of the War

He was made Brigadier General of Volunteers 29 Nov 1862, and resigned 15 September 1864.

After the War

After the war he made his fortune by financing railroad building. In 1892 he established the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology in Philadelphia with gifts of $1 million.

References & notes

Source: Heitman, Francis Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army 1789-1903, Washington, US Government Printing Office, 1903.