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J.L. Files
(1833 - 1912)
Home State: Indiana
Branch of Service: Infantry
Unit: 27th Indiana Infantry
Before Antietam
A 28 year old wagon maker in Jennings County, he mustered as Private, Company H, 27th Indiana Infantry on 12 September 1861. He was promoted to Corporal, date not given.
On the Campaign
He picked up and carried the colors in action at Antietam n 17 September 1862 after the color guard and bearers were all down, killed or wounded. He may have also been wounded there. His hearing was damaged for some time afterwards, when he and the rest of his unit were assigned as close support to an artillery battery.
The rest of the War
He was wounded in action while Color Sergeant at Gettysburg, PA on 3 July 1863. He was detached as a teamster at the Brigade Headquarters in May 1864 and returned to his Company in August. He mustered out as Sergeant at Indianapolis on 1 September 1864. He may have had later service in the 22nd Indiana Infantry.
References & notes
Service information from the Adjutant General1 and the Historical Data Systems database. His actions at Antietam from Jones,2 who quotes Files from the Fairbanks manuscript in the Lilly Library, University of Indiana (?). Sgt. Files is not found in the AG's rosters for the 22nd Infantry. His picture from Brown.3 His gravesite is on Findagrave.
Birth
10/15/1833; Pittsburgh, PA
Death
12/22/1912; Hanover, IN; burial in Hanover Cemetery, Hanover, IN
1 State of Indiana, Adjutant General's Office, and William H.H. Terrell, Adjutant General, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Indiana, 8 volumes, Indianapolis: (various) State Printers, 1865-1869, Vol. 4, pg. 625 [AotW citation 18706]
2 Jones, Wilbur D., Jr., Giants in the Cornfield: the 27th Indiana Infantry, Shippenburg (Pa.): White Mane Publishers, 1997, pp. 13, 15, 177 [AotW citation 18707]
3 Brown, Edmund Randolph, The Twenty-Seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry in the War of the Rebellion, Monticello, IN: E.R. Brown, 1899, pg. 141 [AotW citation 18708]