R.I. Patterson
(1842 - 1916)
Home State: Indiana
Branch of Service: Infantry
Unit: 19th Indiana Infantry
Before Antietam
A 19 year old laborer from West River Township, Randolph (now Union) County, he enlisted and mustered as Private, Company E, 19th Indiana Infantry on 29 July 1861.
On the Campaign
He was knocked unconscious and partially paralyzed by the concussion of an exploding artillery round at Antietam on 17 September 1862.
The rest of the War
He was treated at a field hospital on the Miller Farm near Sharpsburg and he rejoined his Company the next day. He was promoted to Corporal and reenlisted, dates not given, and was transferred to the 20th Indiana Infantry on 18 October 1864.
After the War
He was a clerk in the state legislature, a postal clerk and postmaster, and a pension attorney in Muncie.
References & notes
More on the Web
See much more about Patterson: his experience at Antietam and his life after the war, in a post by John Banks on his Civil War Blog. He's also the source for Patterson's picture, from a late-war photograph courtesy of Shirley Pearson.
Birth
03/28/1842; Muncie, IN
Death
09/29/1916; Muncie, IN; burial in Beech Grove Cemetery, Muncie, 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. 398 [AotW citation 25964]