Martin Walsh

A 26 year old laborer, he enlisted in Wheeling, VA as Private, Company A, 2nd United States Infantry on 2 September 1854 and was a Sergeant at Ft. Laramie, Nebraska Territory at the end of his term. He reenlisted on 1 October 1859 in New York City and was First Sergeant of his Company by 1862.

He was noted by Lieutenant Poland among "[t]hose who most distinguished themselves for excellent behavior" in action near the Middle Bridge at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

He was listed as a deserter on 20 April 1863 with no later military record.

He was a prison guard and in 1877 homesteaded a farm north of DeGraff, MN.

Service information from the Register.1 The Lieutenant Poland quote above is from his after-action Report. Personal details from family genealogists. His gravesite is on Findagrave, source also of a post-war photograph of him.

He married Ellen Cashen in June 1865 and they had 7 children.

12/26/1828; County Kilkenny, IRELAND

10/07/1888; DeGraff, MN; burial in Saint Bridgets Cemetery, De Graff, MN