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R. McKechnie
(1834 - 1893)
Home State: New York
Branch of Service: Infantry
Unit: 9th New York Infantry
Before Antietam
A typesetter (typographer) from Ireland, he arrived in New York in 1854. He gave his age as 25 years when he enlisted May 3,1861 at New York City; mustered in as Sergeant, Company H, May 4, 1861. He was promoted First Sergeant June 10, Second Lieutenant December 22, and First Lieutenant March 5, 1862.
On the Campaign
[On 17 September near Sharpsburg]
... I saw four commissioned officers in front of the line. Kimball, Horner, Libaire and McKechnie, all shouting forward as the men sprang to their feet. McKechnie was on the stone wall with his fez on the point of his sword waving his men on ... the next minute the regiment was gone; over the wall and out of sight ...
The rest of the War
He mustered out with his Company May 20, 1863.
After the War
He was active in unionizing typographers in New York City, and was President of the National union by 1868.
References & notes
Birth
10/24/1834; County Antrim, IRELAND
Death
03/04/1893; Hoboken, NJ; burial in Flower Hill Cemetery, North Bergen, NJ
1 State of New York, Adjutant-General, Annual Report of the Adjutant General of the State of New York [year]: Registers of the [units], 43 Volumes, Albany: James B. Lyon, State Printer, 1893-1905, Issue 18 (for the year 1899), pg. 716 [AotW citation 12603]
2 Graham, Matthew John, The Ninth Regiment, New York Volunteers (Hawkins' Zouaves), New York: E.P. Coby & Company, Printers, 1900, pg. 297 [AotW citation 12604]