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H.N. Minnigh

H.N. Minnigh

Federal (USV)

Lieutenant

Henry Naleigh Minnigh

(1838 - 1915)

Home State: Pennsylvania

Education: Gettysburg College

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 1st Pennsylvania Reserves

Before Antietam

A teacher in Gettysburg, he mustered into service as 4th Sergeant, Company K, 1st Pennsylvania Reserves on 8 June 1861 and was appointed First Sergeant on 3 September. He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant on 30 June 1862.

On the Campaign

He was wounded in the upper arm in action at Turner's Gap on South Mountain, MD on 14 September 1862.

The rest of the War

He was treated at a field hospital in Middletown, MD where a piece of his arm bone was removed. He returned to duty and was promoted to First Lieutenant on 7 March 1863. He was in action with his Company on Little Round Top at his home town of Gettysburg on 2 July 1863 and visited briefly with his family there after the battle. He was promoted to Captain on 2 October 1863 and mustered out with his Company on 13 June 1864. He was honored by brevet to Major of Volunteers on 13 March 1865.

After the War

He was a clerk in the War Department in Washington, DC 1864-66, then returned to teach in Gettysburg. In 1871 he was ordained a pastor in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and retired in 1906 having served 15 Pennsylvania congregations.

He published his History of Company K. 1st (Inft) Penn'a Reserves: the Boys who Fought at Home in 1891 [online from the Hathi Trust].

References & notes

His service from Bates1 and Sypher.2 Details from his own History and his obituary in the Adams County News of 27 November 1915. His gravesite is on Findagrave, source also of his picture, from a fuzzy copy of a photograph of unknown provenance posted by Pat Callahan.

He married Elizabeth "Lisle" Jane Eppleman (1839-1918) in 1858 and they had 3 children.

More on the Web

See Lt. Minnigh's story of his medical treatment and of getting Lt. Sadler's body home after the battle, from a feature by H. William Sacks in the Gettysburg Times of 12 December 1990 based on Minnigh's own History.

Birth

04/07/1838; Gettysburg, PA

Death

11/26/1915; Gettysburg, PA; burial in Gettysburg National Cemetery, Gettysburg, PA

Notes

1   Bates, Samuel Penniman, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-65, Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1868-1871  [AotW citation 22698]

2   Sypher, Josiah Rhinehart, History of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, Lancaster, PA: Elias Barr and Company, 1865, pp. 374, 510, 573  [AotW citation 22699]