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H.S. Hitchcock
(1839 - 1897)
Home State: Massachusetts
Branch of Service: Infantry
Before Antietam
A 22 year old carpenter in Templeton, he enlisted at Worcester, MA as a Sergeant in Company A, 21st Massachusetts Infantry on 19 July 1861. He was appointed First Sergeant on 3 March 1862.
On the Campaign
He was with his Company on the Maryland Campaign of 1862.
The rest of the War
He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant of Company I on 25 September 1862 (rank to date from 2 September) and promoted to First Lieutenant in September 1863 and transferred to Company B in October (rank to date from 26 April). He was detailed to the Brigade staff in November and December and transferred again, to Company A, in February or March 1864 and sent to Boston on recruiting duty.
He was back with his Company in May and was wounded at Petersburg, VA on 30 July 1864 by a gunshot to his chest which penetrated the "lower lobe of his right lung." He was granted a leave of absence on about 6 August and was under treatment for his wound in Ashby, MA when he was mustered out of service on 31 August 1864.
After the War
In 1870 he was a carpenter in Fitchburg, MA, and, still practicing his trade, was living in Ashby by 1880.
References & notes
His service from Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines1 and his Compiled Service Records,2 via fold3. His presence at Antietam from his brother George's diary, published as Death does seem to have all he can attend to: The Civil War Diary of an Andersonville Survivor (2014). His picture here also from that book, from a photograph provided by his great-great-granddaughter Martha Hitchcock Price. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census for 1870 and 1880. His gravesite is on Findagrave.
He married Mary Miller Chamberlin (1840-1913) in August 1861 and they had 4 daughters between 1866 and 1885.
His mother was Eliza Sparhawk (1816-1891). He was one of 5 siblings, but only he and his brother George survived to adulthood.
More on the Web
A tremendous collection including his Civil War uniform, accouterments, and documents was sold at auction by J. Mountain Antiques.
Birth
10/17/1839; Ashby, MA
Death
12/07/1897; Fitchburg, MA; burial in Glenwood Cemetery, Ashby, MA
1 Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Adjutant General, Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the Civil War, 8 Vols, Norwood (MA): Norwood Press, 1931-35, Vol. 2, pg. 600 [AotW citation 26516]
2 US War Department, Compiled Service Records of Soldiers who served in US Volunteer organizations enlisted for service during the Civil War, Record Group No. 94 (Adjutant General's Office, 1780's-1917), Washington DC: US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), 1903-1927 [AotW citation 26517]