James Parke Postles

He enlisted in Co. C, 1st Delaware Regiment under Col. Henry Lockwood in Wilmington, Delaware. The enlistment was for only three months and Postles was mustered out as a 1st Sergeant. Upon reorganization of the regiment, Postles was commissioned 1st Lieutenant of Company A on October 1, 1861.

Postles' Company, Company A, lost 44 of its 85 men, including Captain Evan S. Watson in their attack on the Confederate positions in the Sunken Road. Postles was cited by his commanding officer who wrote of Acting Adjutant Postles as having "behaved with exemplary coolness and bravery". Postles was then named the new Captain of Company A.

He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on 2 July 1862 at Gettyusburg, Pa - delivering orders under fire.

After the war, Postles returned to Delaware and went into his father's leather business with his brother. In 1878, he was named Adjutant General of Delaware by Gov. John Cochran. He died of a brain concussion after falling down the stairs of the Wilmington Masonic Temple (now the Grand Opera House).

Sources: The Delaware Government Information Center, biographical sketch on delaware.gov - originally from Martin, Roger A., Delaware's Medal of Honor Recipients - much of the text above. His photograph from one in the Seville Collection of Civil War Soldiers carte de visites at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Washington, DC.

9/28/1840; Camden, DE

5/27/1908; Wilmington, DE; burial in Wilmington-Brandywine Cemetery, Wilmington, DE