Julian Wisner Hinkley

He moved with his family to Wisconsin at age 11 (about 1849) and worked on his father's farm. He left home in 1858 and was a teacher and carpenter in Waupun, WI. He enlisted in the Waupun Light Guards on 25 April 1861 and was appointed First Sergeant. In May they became Company D of the 3rd Wisconsin Infantry and he was appointed 2nd Lieutenant on 6 February 1862.

He was with his company in Maryland and commanded it in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862. He later wrote:

Capt Clark .. could scarcely walk and so did not get into the fight. Capt. Stephenson, of Co B, was wounded before we fired a shot, and Lieut. Howard sent to take command of his company so I commanded Co. D in the fight. I was hit three times, but not disabled. One ball struck me on the ankle making a severe flesh bruise, which has made me a lttle lame; one grazed my lower jaw, and one struck the buckle of my haversack, over my right breast. I had 31 men with me in the fight ... but 4 men of our company [do not] have the marks of bullets on them.

He was promoted First Lieutenant, Company E on 1 November 1862 and Captain on 21 April 1863. He was wounded in action at Dallas, GA in 1864. He mustered out with his Company on 18 July 1865, by which time he was "acting Major" of the Regiment.

After the War he was "engaged in erecting public buildings."

Basic information from Bryant1, with details from Hinkley's own A Narrative of Service with the Third Wisconsin Infantry (1912). His picture is from a photograph (CDV) in the collection of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, Madison. His gravesite is on Findagrave, source also of another excellent Wartime photo of him. Wartime diaries and correspondence are in the Hinkley Papers [finding aid], at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, as is a 1908 reunion photograph which includes Captain Hinkley.

He wrote a letter to a friend back in Waupun from Sandy Hook, MD on 21 September giving details of his experience at Antietam, source of the quote above. Thanks to Dan Masters for the pointer to that letter.

03/12/1838; Vernon, CT

04/15/1915; Minneapolis, MN; burial in Oak Hill Cemetery, Janesville, WI