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J.W. Walsh
(? - 1873)
Home State: Pennsylvania
Branch of Service: Cavalry
Unit: 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry
Before Antietam
He had considerable pre-war service in the Regular Army, enlisting as Private in Company G, US Mounted Rifles on 19 December 1850. He was promoted to Corporal, Sergeant, and First Sergeant by his discharge on 19 October 1860. He enrolled in Company I, 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry on January 1, 1862, as Captain.
The rest of the War
Promoted to Major on 4 December 1863 and Lieutenant Colonel on 31 October 1864. He was honored by brevet to Colonel of Volunteers 9 April 1865 for operations resulting in the surrender of Richmond and General Lee's Army. He transferred to the 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry on 8 May 1865, and honorably mustered out on 7 August 1865.
After the War
He returned to the Regular Army, commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, 5th US Cavalry on 4 May 1866 and was promoted to Captain, 10th US Cavalry - the Buffalo Soldiers - on 28 July of that year. He died in service in 1873.
References & notes
Birth
Date not known in IRELAND
Death
03/03/1873; in OK; burial in Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery, Fort Leavenworth, KS
1 Rawle, William Brooke, and Regimental History Committee, History of the Third Pennsylvania Cavalry, Sixtieth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers in the American Civil War, 1861-1865, Philadelphia: Franklin Printing Company, 1905, pp. 119 - 125 [AotW citation 13533]
2 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. 999 [AotW citation 13542]
3 Bates, Samuel Penniman, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-65, Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1868-1871 [AotW citation 13543]