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Federal (USA)

Lieutenant

Stephen Van Rensselaer

(1838 - 1904)

Home State: New York

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 12th United States Infantry, First Battalion

Before Antietam

Son of Colonel and former US Congressman Henry Bell Van Rensselaer (USMA '31), he enlisted as a Sergeant in Company K of the 7th New York State Militia in April 1861. He was appointed First Lieutenant, 12th United States Infantry on 14 May 1861.

On the Campaign

He was with his Company at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

The rest of the War

He was promoted to Captain on 20 December 1862 and was acting Assistant Adjutant General of his Brigade when he was wounded at Gettysburg, PA on 2 July 1863. He resigned his commission on 9 September 1863.

After the War

By 1880 and to at least 1900 he was a wine merchant and liquor dealer with a shop at 21 William Street in New York City, and lived in West Orange, NJ.

References & notes

His service from Heitman1 and Henry.2 Personal details from family genealogists, the US Census of 1880 & 1900, and his bio sketch from the Green-Wood Cemetery. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Matilda Coster Heckscher (1835-1915) in December 1863 and they had 5 children.

Birth

10/29/1838; Ogdensburg, NY

Death

01/20/1904; New York City, NY; burial in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY

Notes

1 Heitman, Francis Bernard, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army 1789-1903, 2 volumes, Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1903, Vol. 1, pg. 984 [AotW citation 29186]

2 Henry, Guy Vernor, Military Record of Civilian Appointments in the United States Army, 2 Volumes, New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1873, Vol. 1, pg. 428 [AotW citation 29187]

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