site logo
R.H. Chapin

R.H. Chapin

Federal (USA)

Lieutenant

Robert Hunter Chapin

(1840 - 1877)

Home State: New York

Branch of Service: Artillery

Unit: 2nd United States Artillery, Battery M

 

see his Battle Report

Before Antietam

In 1860 he was a 20 year old merchant's son in Albany, NY. He enrolled in April 1861, and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, Company G, 3rd New York Infantry on 13 May 1861 and promoted First Lieutenant on 14 August. He resigned to accept a commission as 2nd Lieutenant, 2nd US Artillery on 24 October 1861. He was promoted to First Lieutenant on 25 August 1862.

On the Campaign

He commanded an independent Section of his battery on the Maryland Campaign.

The rest of the War

He was honored by brevets for service at Hanover Courthouse (to First Lieutenant), Antietam (Captain), and for faithful and meritorious service during the War (Major).

After the War

He remained in Regular Army service and was appointed Captain, 8th US Cavalry on 28 July 1866. He was cashiered on 26 May 1870.

References & notes

Basic service data from Heitman1 and the State of New York2. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860. His gravesite is on Findagrave. His photo from an 1862 group portrait by James F. Gibson, at the Library of Congress.

Birth

04/01/1840; Albany, NY

Death

05/15/1877; New York City, NY; burial in Albany Rural Cemetery, Menands, NY

Notes

1   Heitman, Francis Bernard, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army 1789-1903, 2 volumes, Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1903, Vol. 1, pg. 295  [AotW citation 13247]

2   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 17 (for the year 1898), pg. 361  [AotW citation 13248]