Thomas Farrell

An 18 year old painter in Northampton, MA, he enlisted at Worcester on 19 August 1861 in Company C, 21st Massachusetts Infantry.

He was wounded by a gunshot to his thigh in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

He was treated at the Locust Spring hospital on the Geeting farm near Keedysville, then admitted on 2 October to a US Army General Hospital #6 in Frederick, MD. He was transferred to USA GH #1 in Frederick on 9 February 1863, and then on to Baltimore, MD on 15 June 1863.

He returned to his unit by July, reenlisted on 1 January 1864, and was captured at Spotsylvania Court House, VA on 12 May 1864. He was held at Andersonville, GA, and was in the hospital there with "scorbutus" (scurvy) from 30 September until he was released for exchange on 14 November. He was paroled at Savannah, GA on 20 November 1864.

He was sent to the parole camp at Annapolis, MD and was admitted to the Division #2 USA General Hospital there on 27 November. He was furloughed for 30 days and given transport to New York from Annapolis on 16 December 1864, and returned to the hospital by way of Philadelphia on 14 January 1865. He had been (administratively) transferred to Company I of the 36th Massachusetts Infantry on 21 October 1864 while still a prisoner, briefly to Company H of the 20th Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps in May 1865, and to Company A of the 56th Massachusetts Infantry on 8 June 1865 while a hospital patient. He mustered out of service on 27 July 1865 in Annapolis.

His widow was granted a pension for his service on 24 July 1890.

His service from Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines1 and his Compiled Service Records2 and pension records via fold3. Wound and hospital details from the Patient List3 and Nelson.4

See some of the documentation of his time as a prisoner of war over on the blog.

c. 1843; Raheny, County Dublin, IRELAND

c. 1890