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J.McL. Murphy
(1827 - 1871)
Home State: New York
Education: US Naval Academy
Command Billet: Commanding Regiment
Branch of Service: Engineers
Unit: 15th New York Engineers
Before Antietam
He had served in the US Navy as Midshipman and Passed Midshipman from 1841 to 1852 (graduated from the USNA?) including action in the war with Mexico. He was then a first officer for the Collins Steamship Line. In 1855 he was Surveyor of the City of New York, 1857-58 construction engineer at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and 1860-61 in the NY State Senate. On 17 June 1861 he was appointed Colonel of the 15th NY Regiment of Engineers.
On the Campaign
In command of the 15th NY Engineers, part of the Volunteer Engineer Brigade of the General Headquarters, Army of the Potomac. The brigade was detailed to Washington DC September 7, 1862 for the duration of the Maryland Campaign.
The rest of the War
He resigned his Colonelcy on 4 December 1862 to take a commission as Acting Lieutenant, US Navy. He commanded USS Carondelet - an ironclad gunboat - and saw action at Vicksburg. On 30 July 1864 he resigned his Navy commission, and returned to New York to work as a civil engineer.
References & notes
Biographical details from Appleton's1 and his New York Times obituary of Wednesday, 2 June 1871 (pg. 8). Additional service information from Phisterer2. The photo here is from a CDV offered for sale (11/2009) by Steve Meadow on waroftherebellion.com
Birth
02/14/1827; Northcastle, NY
Death
06/01/1871; New York City, NY; burial in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, NY
1 Fiske, John, and James Grant Wilson, editors, Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, 6 vols., New York City: D. Appleton and Company, 1887-1889 [AotW citation 974]
1 Phisterer, Frederick, New York in the War of the Rebellion, 6 volumes, Albany: J. B. Lyon Company, 1909-12, Vol. 2, pg. 1665; Vol. 5, pg. 4377 [AotW citation 975]