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Confederate (CSV)

Private

James L. Davis

(c. 1842 - 1862)

Home State: South Carolina

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 2nd South Carolina Infantry

Before Sharpsburg

Age 19, he enlisted in Columbia, SC as a Private in Company C, 2nd South Carolina Infantry on 8 April 1861 and mustered on 23 May. He transferred to Company D before 30 June 1861.

On the Campaign

He was mortally wounded by gunshot to the left arm and was captured in action at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862. His humerus (upper arm bone) was shattered.

The rest of the War

His arm was amputated at the shoulder joint by a Federal surgeon at a US Army field hospital near Sharpsburg on 18 September, but he died of pyemia (infection) on 25 September 1862. The surgeon also noted that his health had been poor before he was wounded, which probably hurt his chances of survival.

His father John filed for his final pay in December 1863.

References & notes

His service from Salley1 and his Compiled Service Records,2 online from fold3. Wound and medical details from Fisher.3

Birth

c. 1842

Death

09/25/1862; Sharpsburg, MD

Notes

1   Salley, Alexander S., Jr., compiler, South Carolina Troops in Confederate Service, 3 vols., Columbia: Historical Commission of South Carolina, 1913-1930, Vol. 2, pg. 77  [AotW citation 21405]

2   US War Department, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, Record Group No. 109 (War Department Collection of Confederate Records), Washington DC: US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), 1903-1927  [AotW citation 30276]

3   Fisher, Geoge Jackson, MD, Report of Fifty-seven Cases of Amputations ... after the Battle of Antietam, The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 1863-01-01, Table III  [AotW citation 21404]