Lipman George Balle

He immigrated to New York City in 1857 and learned the trade of tailor. He moved to the Laurens District, SC in 1860. An unmarried 22 year old tailor in Laurens, he enlisted in Company D, 3rd South Carolina Infantry Battalion on 1 December 1861 in Columbia, SC. In March 1862 he was on detached duty making uniforms. He was wounded in action at Second Manassas, VA on 20 August 1862.

One of 13 soldiers in the Battalion present at Sharpsburg.

Wounded again, slightly, in action at Chickamauga, GA on 20 September 1863. He was assigned to the Quartermaster Department 30 April 1864. Paroled at Greensboro, SC on 2 May 1865 as Private, Company E, 3rd South Carolina Infantry.

He was a tailor, farmer and in mercantile business in Laurens, and Treasurer of the County 1889-1906.

Basic information from Davis1. His gravesite is on Findagrave, also source of a good post-War photo of him. A post-Gettysburg diary of his is at the University of South Carolina, Columbia [via worldcat]. Family lore says that diary saved him by absorbing most of the energy of a bullet, probably at Chickamauga, where the diary entries stop.

07/29/1839; Ryezywell, PRUSSIA

02/06/1912; burial in City Cemetery, Laurens, SC