Francis Lowell Dutton Russell

Son of a wealthy Boston attorney, in 1860 he was a 15 year old living with his parents and siblings in Brighton, MA. On 9 May 1861, giving his age as 21 (he was 16), he enlisted in New York City under the name John Henry Conway as a Private in Company K, 5th New York Infantry - Duryee's Zouaves. He deserted his unit on 1 November in Baltimore. He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, 4th United States Artillery on 24 October 1861. He was promoted to First Lieutenant on 5 August 1862 and detailed to Battery G, 3rd US Artillery.

He commanded a section (2 guns) of the combined Batteries C and G, 3rd US Artillery on the Maryland Campaign of September 1862 and was afterward mentioned by Captain Gibson "as worthy of commendation and reward."

He was home in Boston, sick with chronic diarrhea shortly after Antietam, by 24 September, and rejoined and afterward commanded his Battery (M) of the 4th Artillery in December 1862. He was absent again, sick with the same illness in December 1863, and granted extensions of leave into April 1864. He died on 11 May 1864 not yet 20 years old.

His service from Heitman1 and the New York Adjutant General,2 with details from Letters Received by Commission Branch [Office of the Adjutant General, US Army], 1863-1870, online from fold3. His role at Antietam from Captain Gibson's after-action report. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

His brother Warren Dutton Russell (b. 1840) was a First Lieutenant in the 18th Massachusetts Infantry when he was killed at Second Bull Run on 30 August 1862.

10/02/1844; Boston, MA

05/13/1864; Springfield, MA; burial in Kings Chapel Burying Ground, Boston, MA