Henry Bloomfield McIlvaine

He enlisted in Company A of the 5th New York Heavy Artillery on 29 November 1861 at New York City for three years service. He mustered as First Lieutenant on 2 December, and was promoted Major of the Regiment on 7 March 1862.

He supervised artillery operations at Harpers Ferry on the Campaign, and was captured there with the rest of the garrison on 15 September 1862. According to the Colonel's aide Lieutenant Binney, the Major was among the few mentioned by Colonel Miles "upon his death-bed" for his actions there:

Major H. B. McIlvaine, chief of artillery, was also mentioned as deserving much credit for bravery, and for his cool and firm manner of placing batteries under the galling fire of the enemy on Camp Hill and other places, where the most danger existed, encouraging the artillerists.

After being exchanged he returned to service, and was promoted briefly to Lieutenant Colonel, serving from 2 February to 7 March 1863, but that appointment was "revoked", and he mustered out at the rank of Major 16 Dec 1864 at Harpers Ferry at the end of his term of service.

Sometime after his son Harry was born in 1870, "H.B." moved to Minnesota, and by 1880 he was living and farming in Faribault, Rice County.

Military record from Phisterer1 with additional details from family genealogists online, one citing Ordway2. 1880 Information from the US Census of that year. Death year is estimated by the year of his widow's application for a pension. His last name is alternately spelled without the "e" at the end in some records. His wife Margaret's correspondence of 1862-1931 is in a collection at the University of Iowa Library.

1828 in KY

1887; burial in Maple Lawn Cemetery, Faribault, MN