Charles Baskerville Reighley, Jr.

He had service as Private, Company D, First New York Cavalry from March to July 1862, when he was dropped from the rolls and sent to the General Hospital, Portsmouth Grove, RI. His father was Chaplain of that Regiment. He then enlisted, at age 22, in Company D, 13th New Jersey Infantry on 13 August 1862 and mustered as Private.

He was in action with his Company at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

He was discharged on 4 December to accept a commission in another regiment. He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, Company E, 36th New York Infantry on 16 December 1862, transferred to Company K on 8 January 1863, and mustered out with the Company that same day. He then enrolled, 30 July 1863, at New York City in Company A, 5th New York Veteran Infantry, and mustered as First Lieutenant on 28 August. He was dismissed on 9 November 1863, cause not given. He again enlisted, and mustered as Sergeant, Company A on 5 January 1864. He was mortally wounded in the left shoulder in action on 2 June 1864, at Bethesda Church, VA, and died of wounds in the Armory Square Hospital, Washington, DC on 8 June 1864.

He was commissioned (but not mustered) as 2nd Lieutenant after his death, on 9 July 1864.

Basic information from the D Society1. Further service information from The New York Adjutant General.2 He had apparently enlisted as Sergeant, Company I in the 36th New York in October 1862. The NY Cavalry reference is also from the NY AG,3 who has him as Charles Rilling, and his father as Charles Righly. His gravesite is on Findagrave. Further details from family genealogists.

His brother James was also in Company D, serving with them through the War.

His father the Rev. Charles Baskerville Reighley, DD (1807-62), probably from Ireland, married Caroline Cronise (1815-55) on 6 January 1835 in Frederick, MD, her hometown. He was pastor of the German Reformed Church there from 1833-35. He was Rector of St. Luke's, Ypsilanti, MI 1837-38, and was appointed Chaplain at Fort Gratiot, MI in December 1838. That's where Charles, Jr. was probably born. He was one of 10 children. He was at Ft. Gratiot to at least 1846, had a church in Adams County, MS (1847), one in Chicago by 1850, and a school in Detroit, MI. By 1853 the family was in Mississippi again, where Charles, Sr. was President of Jefferson College, Washington, MS, where Caroline died at age 40, and where he re-married on 6 January 1858, to Heloise DeMailly. They were probably in New York at the start of War in 1861. He enrolled in June 1861, then age 53, as Chaplain of the First NY Cavalry, mustering in September. He was discharged 1 March 1862. He died later that year. Heloise, who was probably French, went to Ireland after her husband died and founded The French School in Bray, County Wicklow in 1864.

c. 1840; St. Clair County, MI

06/08/1864; Washington, DC; burial in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA