William Cogswell

(1838 - 1895)
Home State: Massachusetts
Command Billet: Company Commander
Branch of Service: Infantry
Unit: 2nd Massachusetts Infantry

Before the Antietam Campaign:
A lawyer from Salem, he mustered into service as Captain, Company C, 2nd Massachusetts Infantry at age 22 on 25 May 1861.

The remainder of the War:
He was appointed Lieutenant Colonel on 23 October 1862, and was wounded in action at Chancellorsville, VA on 3 May 1863. He was promoted to Colonel on 6 June 1863. He was honored by brevet to Brigadier General to date from 15 December 1864. He mustered out of service in June 1865.

After the War:
He returned to his law practice and held a number of elected offices: he was Mayor of Salem for terms in 1867–69 and 1873-74. He was in the Massachusetts House of Representatives 1870-71 and 1881–1883 and the State Senate 1885-86. He was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1886 and served there until his death in 1895.

References, Sources, and other notes:
Service data from the Massachusetts AG1. Further details from his Congressional Biography2. The photograph here from a CDV auctioned by Cowen's in 2003.

Birth Date: 08/23/1838    Place of Birth: Bradford, MA
College: Dartmouth, Harvard Law
Death Date: 05/22/1895    Death Place: Washington, DC    Burial Place: Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, MA

Notes

1 Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Adjutant General, Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the Civil War, 8 Vols, Norwood (MA): Norwood Press, 1931-35, Vol. 1, pg. 88 [AotW citation 9772]

2 US Congress, Congressional Biographical Directory, Published c. 2000, first accessed 01 January 2002, <http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp>, Source page: /scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000595 [AotW citation 9773]

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