Joseph Edgar Crowell

A printer at the Guardian in Paterson, NJ, he enlisted in Company K, 13th New Jersey Infantry on 18 August 1862 at about age 18.

He was with his Regiment in action in the early morning on 17 September at Antietam, but detailed later in the day to guard ammunition wagons as they resupplied Companies and Batteries on the field. He was detailed to guard cattle that evening.

He was wounded in the hip and foot and lost his little finger and part of his left hand in action at Chancellorsville, VA on 3 May 1863. He was in hospitals at Aquia Creek, VA, Washington, DC, and Philadelphia, PA. He transferred to Company D, 16th Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps 15 November 1863, stationed at Elmira, NY. He was examined for and commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant 29 January 1864 (discharged from the 13th New Jersey on that date), serving another two years, to 13 March 1866.

He returned to the newspaper business in Paterson, and had a life-long career, continuing at the Guardian and, for 30 years, was editor of his own Morning Call.

Service from the Record1. Details and his photograph from his own memoir The Young Volunteer: The Everyday Experiences of a Soldier Boy in the Civil War (1906). Additional bio information from Scannell's New Jersey First Citizens (1917-18, Vol. 1). His gravesite is on Findagrave.

05/01/1844; Newark, NJ

10/15/1919; Paterson, NJ; burial in Cedar Lawn Cemetery, Paterson, NJ