Open main menu
Open main menu
W.J. McKaig
(1832 - 1908)
Home State: Delaware
Command Billet: Commanding Regiment
Branch of Service: Infantry
Unit: 3rd Delaware Infantry
Before Antietam
He served in the 1st Delaware Infantry, a 3-month unit, commissioned 1st Lieutenant, Company C on 22 May 1861 in Wilmington. He was commissioned First Lieutenant, Company F, 3rd Delaware Infantry on 30 December 1861 in Camden, DE and was promoted to Captain, date not given.
On the Campaign
He took command of the regiment at Antietam after Major Maginnis was wounded on 17 September 1862.
The rest of the War
He was discharged on 23 July 1864.
After the War
In 1865 he became one of 23 shareholders in the new Diamond State Oil Company, incorporated in Wilmington, DE.
References & notes
Service from his Compiled Military Service Records (via the Historical Data Systems database). Details from family genealogists. His gravesite is on Findagrave. His picture from a group photograph of officers of the 3rd Delaware taken in May 1862, now in the Delaware State Archives.
More on the Web
See much more about the 3rd Delaware and its fractious officers in a great post from Timothy Orr on his Tales from the Army of the Potomac blog, my source also of the group photo.
Birth
01/1832
Death
03/31/1908; burial in Riverview Cemetery, Wilmington, DE