Richard Charles Bentley

Age 31, he enrolled on 22 May 1861 at Troy and mustered as First Lieutenant and Adjutant, 30th New York Infantry on 1 June. He was discharged 14 February 1862 to take the commission as Major of the new 63rd New York Infantry.

He was wounded in the arm in action at Antietam on 17 September 1762.

He was promoted Lieutenant Colonel on 31 October 1862. He was wounded by a piece of shell in the head at Chancellorsville, VA on 2 May 1863, and again, in the leg, at Gettysburg on 2 July 1863. He was discharged for disability on 18 September 1864. He was honored for War service with the brevet rank of Brigadier General of Volunteers to date from 13 March 1865.

By 1865 and to at least 1870 he was a life insurance agent working and living with his father in Albany, NY. He died relatively young in 1871 at 40 years old, probably from the effects of his Chancellorsville wound.

His service from McLernon1 and the Adjutant General.2 Personal details from family genealogists, the NY State Census of 1865, and the US Census of 1870. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Mary E Horn (1830-1894) in January 1852 and they had 3 children. They do not appear to have been living together by 1865.

See much more about him by way of Joseph Maghe's collection of Bentley's personal items, online in a fine blog post from John Banks. His picture here from a tintype in that collection, which also includes a CDV photograph of his wife Mary and one of his small children. There's a sad story behind those pictures, I'm sure.

04/06/1831; Columbia County, NY

12/01/1871; Albany, NY; burial in Albany Rural Cemetery, Albany, NY