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J.B. Callis
(1828 - 1898)
Home State: Wisconsin
Command Billet: Commanding Regiment
Branch of Service: Infantry
Unit: 7th Wisconsin Infantry
see his Battle Report
Before Antietam
He was a Captain, Company F, from August 1861 up to Brawner's Farm in August 1862, and then assumed command of the 7th in the absence Col. Robinson, Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton, and Major George Bill, all wounded.
On the Campaign
In command of the 7th Wisconsin Infantry, part of the famous 4th 'Black Hat' Brigade of the 1st Division, I Corps. He led the Regiment at South Mountain on September 14th. The Brigade was the spearhead of the initial I Corps attack down the Hagerstown Pike against the Confederate Left early on the 17th.
The rest of the War
He was promoted to Major January 5, 1863. He was seriously wounded at Gettysburg in July 1863, and resigned in December because of medical disability. He was appointed Major (May 1864) then Lt. Colonel (February 1865) in the Veteran Reserve Corps (VRC). He was honorably mustered out of the VRC 14 May 1867.
After the War
He was appointed Captain, 45th United States Infantry on 7 March 1867 but resigned that commission on 4 February 1868.
References & notes
His service dates from Heitman.1 His gravesite is on Findagrave. His picture from a c. 1864 photograph now in the collection of the US Army Heritage and Education Center.
Birth
01/03/1828; Fayettville, NC
Death
9/24/1898; Lancaster, WI; burial in Hillside Cemetery, Lancaster, WI
1 Heitman, Francis Bernard, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army 1789-1903, 2 volumes, Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1903, Vol. 1, pg. 275 [AotW citation 29385]