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J. Egan

J. Egan

Federal (USA)

Lieutenant

John Egan

(? - 1906)

Home State: New York

Education: US Military Academy, West Point, NY, Class of 1862;Class Rank: 16

Branch of Service: Artillery

Unit: 1st United States Artillery, Battery I

Before Antietam

A member of the West Point Class of 1862, he was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, 1st US Artillery on 17 June 1862 and joined his battery on the Peninsula Campaign.

On the Campaign

He commanded a section of his Battery on the Maryland Campaign. He was honored by brevet to First Lieutenant for Antietam.

The rest of the War

He was in action at Fredericksburg and at Gettysburg, where he was given his second brevet, to Captain (3 July 1863). He was promoted to First Lieutenant on 19 May 1864, and commanded Battery K in that year. He got his 3rd brevet, to Major, for service at Cold Harbor, VA (1 June 1864). He was captured in action at Reams' Station, VA on 29 June and held as a prisoner to 8 December 1864. He was back in action with the Battery at Petersburg to 2 April 1865.

After the War

He continued in Regular Army service as an instructor at West Point from May 1865 to 6 February 1869, having been promoted to Captain, 11th US Infantry on 28 July 1866. He transferred to the 23rd Infantry on 1 September 1869. He transferred to the 4th US Artillery on 1 January 1871. He was on garrison duty at the Presidio and on Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, CA to June 1878. He had been under arrest, on trial, and under sentence of a Court Martial from August 1876 to January 1877 (charges unknown). The sentence of the court was mitigated by the President to suspension from rank and command, and 1/2 pay for a year.

He was on the Bannock Campaign (to Sep 78) and in garrisons at Ft. Canby, WA, Ft. Point, CA, Madison Barracks, NY, Ft Warren, MA, Ft. Adams, RI, and Ft. Trumbull, CT into 1889. He was appointed Major, First US Artillery on 15 January 1889 and was again on garrison duty at the Presidio and Ft. Canby, which he commanded to May 1890. He served lastly at Forts Hamilton and Wadsworth, NY. He lived in New York City after retiring from active service on 1 September 1896.

References & notes

Basic military data found in Heitman1, and Cullum2. His photograph from the 1862 West Point Class Album, online from the USMA Library. His death from the US Army Register for 1907.

Birth

Date not known in VT

Death

07/23/1906; New York City, 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. 399  [AotW citation 14664]

2   Cullum, George Washington, Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the US Military Academy, 2nd Edition, 3 vols., New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1868-79, Vol. 2, pp. 579 - 580  [AotW citation 14665]