James Neilson

He came to America in April 1849 at age 13 with his mother and 6 siblings. In 1860 he was a 25 year old carpet weaver in Philadelphia and he enlisted and mustered there on 7 August 1862 as a Private in Company H, 118th Pennsylvania Infantry.

He was wounded in action at Boteler's Ford near Shepherdstown, VA on 20 September 1862, shot through the right temple and left eye, his eyelid nearly torn off.

He was treated at the Fifth Corps field hospital and sent to the Broad & Cherry Streets Hospital in Philadelphia on 27 September. He was transferred to the Cuyler Hosital in Germantown, PA on 3 October, and Surgeon J.M. Leedom stitched back his eyelid together. He recovered well and transferred to 162nd Company, 2nd Battalion, Veteran Reserve Corps on 19 March 1864.

By November 1867 he was home and back at his trade, though there was still some discharge from his eye and he had occasional fainting spells, especially under stress or in extreme heat. In 1870 he was weaving carpets in Bridgeport, CT, but by 1880 was back in Philadelphia. He lived at 1986 Summerset Street in Philadelphia at the 1890 Veterans' Census and had retired by 1900. In 1910 he was living with his daughter Matilda (McNeill) and her family in Philadelphia.

Basic information from Smith,1 as James Nelson. Wound and hospital details from the MSHWR.2 Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860-1910, also as James Nelson. His gravesite is on Findagrave. His picture from a photograph in the National Museum of Health and Medicine’s Otis Historical Archives (posted to their Flickr account).

He married Jane Craig Waters (1836-1913) in 1858 and they had 3 children.

06/20/1834; Glasgow, SCOTLAND

04/01/1913; Philadelphia, PA; burial in North Cedar Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA