Franklin Gardner

A 20 year old painter in Leominster, he enlisted as Private in Company A, 15th Massachusetts Infantry on 12 July 1861. He was promoted to Corporal on 1 August 1861.

He was mortally wounded in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862:

Corporal Franklin Gardner was one of the "color guard," and at the battle of Antietam, Sept. 17th, took up the colors from the third color bearer, who had been shot dead at his side. He received three balls; the first passed through a limb, the second through his thigh, the third in his stomach. Regardless of these wounds he managed to keep the flag waving until the next guard took it. From Wednesday morning, Sept. 17th, until Friday morning of the same week, he lay within the enemy's lines ...

Initially treated at a field hospital near Sharpsburg, he was transferred to the Patent Office Hospital, Washington, DC on 25 September. He died there of wounds on 6 October 1862.

Basic information from Commonwealth of Massachusetts1. The quote above and his picture are from William A. Emerson's Leominster: Historical and Picturesque (1888), discovered and posted by Susan L. Harnwell on her excellent 15th Massachusetts Infantry website. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

1841; Sterling, MA

10/06/1862; Washington, DC; burial in US Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery, Washington, DC