Otto L. Torslow

He had previous military service in Sweden. He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, Battery G, First Rhode Island Light Artillery on 8 August 1861.

He was with the Battery in Maryland and was credited with helping to rally men of Sedgwick's Division in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862

The men of the Second Division continued to run for their lives all around Battery G. Lieutenant Otto Torslow saw the retreating troops. He summoned Bugler Thomas Mars to his side as the two galloped into the confused mass, trying to form the shattered force. Riding up and down the lines, Mars gave rallying calls on his bugle but to little avail; Sedgwick's men continued to retreat. For their actions, Lieutenant Torslow was mentioned in dispatches, while Mars was promoted to sergeant on October 5.

He was slightly wounded and his horse killed in action near Fredericksburg on 3 May 1863, and he was court-martialed later in 1863 (not guilty). He resigned because of an injury - caused by a fall from a horse while drunk - on 27 June 1864 and was honorably discharged.

His service dates from the Adjutant General's Annual Report.1 Some details and the quote above from Robert Grandchamp's The Boys of Adams' Battery G (2009). The photograph of Torslow kindly provided by Mr. Grandchamp, from his collection. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

Date not known in SWEDEN

09/25/1889; burial in Hampton National Cemetery, Hampton, VA