Robert Smith Swords

(1816 - 1881)
Home State: New Jersey
Branch of Service: Infantry
Unit: 13th New Jersey Infantry

Before the Antietam Campaign:
He practiced law in New York and was judge-advocate there until retiring and moving to Passaic, New Jersey in 1849. He was then magistrate of Union Township. He was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the 13th New Jersey Infantry in August 1862.

In the Antietam Campaign:
Commanded the regiment on the march 13-14 September. Relieved Colonel Carman, who went to the hospital sometime on the 17th.

The remainder of the War:
He resigned in 1863 and afterward resided in Newark, New Jersey. He was active in public organizations and published a number of historical papers.

References, Sources, and other notes:
Basic information from Toombs1. Biographical details from Appleton's2. His photograph here from a CDV in the collection of the New Jersey State Archives.

Birth Date: 07/12/1816    Place of Birth: New York City, NY
College: Columbia University    Graduating Year: 1834
Death Date: 01/15/1881    Death Place: Newark, NJ    Burial Place: Woodlawn Cemetery, the Bronx, NY

Notes

1 Toombs, Samuel, Reminiscences of the War ... the Thirteenth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers, Orange (NJ): The (Orange) Journal, 1878, pp. 15 - 21 [AotW citation 7829]

2 Fiske, John, and James Grant Wilson, editors, Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, 6 vols., New York City: D. Appleton and Company, 1887-1889 [AotW citation 7874]

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