Alfred Harrison Foster

(1835 - 1919)
Home State: South Carolina
Command Billet: Commanding Regiment
Branch of Service: Sharpshooters
Unit: Palmetto (SC) Sharpshooters

Before the Antietam Campaign:
Before the War he had been in school in Spartanburg, and worked in the family store - Foster & Judd - there. He enlisted in the 5th South Carolina Infantry in April 1861, and was elected Captain, Company F in June. His Company was made part of the new Palmetto Sharpshooters (as Company D) when they were organized in Spring 1862.

In the Antietam Campaign:
He was in command of the Sharpshooters at Sharpsburg, but was wounded in action there.

The remainder of the War:
Captain Foster continued in service through the War and was in command of the Sharpshooters at the surrender at Appomattox in April 1865.

After the War:
After the War he was in Spartanburg, New York City for a year 1867-68, and then settled in Union, South Carolina, being in business there for more than 30 years. In 1899 he was a founder of the Lockhart Railroad, a short line in South Carolina that was in operation into the 1970s.

References, Sources, and other notes:
Basic service details from the Soldiers and Sailors System1, with personal details and dates from a Foster Genealogy (online from GoogleBooks), also source of a post-War photo of him.

Birth Date: 12/07/1835 Place of Birth: Union County, SC
Death Date: 05/13/1919 Death Place: Union County, SC

Notes

1 US National Park Service, Department of the Interior, Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, Published c. 1999, first accessed 01 January 2000, <http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/index.html>, Source page: /search-soldiers-detail.htm?soldier_id=0298429e-dc7a-df11-bf [AotW citation 2308]

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