Charles Mullen

A 25 year old puddler (ironworker) in Pottsville, he enlisted in Philadelphia on 27 August 1861 and mustered into service as Private, Company D, 69th Pennsylvania Infantry on 31 October at Camp Observation, MD.

He was wounded on the left side of his head by a saber cut at Antietam on 17 September (or possibly on South Mountain on 14 September) 1862.

He was treated at a field hospital near the battlefield and admitted to US Army General Hospital (USA GH) #5 in Frederick, MD on 4 October. When he arrived there he was in a stupor and could not talk. His consciousness and speech slowly returned and he was transferred to USA GH#1 on 2 January 1863. He went through several operations in March and April to remove damaged and dead pieces of his skull, after which his wound healed over but his mental capacity was diminished and he suffered from hemiplegia - paralysis on one side of his body. He was discharged for wounds on 5 June 1863 and sent home with a pension of $8 per month.

He was examined again in September 1867 and was still paralyzed on one side, and that was thought to be permanent. He lived in Bloomsberg and later Danville, PA, where he became an American citizen on 14 September 1868.

Service information from Bates1 and the Card File.2 Wound and hospital details from the Patient List 3 and the MSHWR,4 which says he was wounded on South Mountain. His gravesite is on Findagrave, source also of personal details above, probably from research by Hayes Knorr.

He married the widow Sarah M. Arewine Sessler (1844-1926) and they raised her son and 3 more children of their own.

c. 1836; County Antrim, IRELAND

11/07/1899; burial in Odd Fellows Cemetery, Danville, PA