William Snethen Collier

He enrolled at Pittsburgh in the 12th Pennsylvania Infantry on 25 April 1861 as 2nd Lieutenant, and mustered out of that 3 month unit on 5 August 1861. He was commissioned 2nd then First Lieutenant, 4th US Infantry in August 1861. He served as acting Regimental QM during 1862, and was present at Yorktown, Gaines Mill, Malvern Hill, Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville.

Detailed as Aide-de-camp to the First Brigade of Regular Infantry in 1863 and was engaged at Gettysburg. On mustering and recruiting duty at Detroit 1863-64. Brevetted Captain for Chancellorsville. Promoted Captain in June 1864. Brevet Major in April 1865 for War service.

He continued in Regular Army service with the Fourth Infantry. He was at Fort Laramie, WY at the 1870 US Census, and retired on 27 April 1880.

Basic information from Powell1, with details from Heitman2. His birthdate from his gravesite on Findagrave. His death place from a notice in the Pittston (PA) Evening Gazette of 17 June 1889, page 1.

There are references to a problem with alcohol while he was commanding Company K, 4th Infantry in South Dakota and Wyoming. See Paul L. Hedren's Drunk on the Black Hills Road in 1876: Army Reprisals against Doctor Reynolds, Lieutenant Taylor, and Captain Collier in South Dakota History, Vol. 41, Issue 4 (Dec 2011).

07/15/1839 in MD

06/15/1889; Washington, DC; burial in Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburg, PA