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Federal (USA)

Lieutenant

Benjamin Richards Perkins

(1832 - 1871)

Home State: Connecticut

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 12th United States Infantry, Second Battalion

Before Antietam

Son of the "leading physician" in New London, CT, in 1860 he was a 27 year old [illegible occupation] living with his parents and siblings in New London. He enlisted as a Private in Rifle Company A, First Connecticut Infantry for 3 months' service on 22 April 1861 and was a Corporal when he was discharged to accept a Federal commission in June 1861. He was appointed First Lieutenant in the 12th United States Infantry to date from 14 May 1861.

On the Campaign

He was with the Battalion at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

The rest of the War

He was promoted to Captain on 17 July 1863. He was sick with fever in July and August 1863, wounded accidentally by a pistol shot to his right arm in September 1863, and sick with fever to about the end of the year, then returned to duty. He was honored during the war by brevets to Captain (Cedar Mountain) and Major (for Gettysburg).

After the War

He continued in Regular Army service until honorably discharged as a supernumerary on 1 January 1871. He died just over a month later, at Fort Whipple, Arizona Territory.

References & notes

His service from Heitman1 and Ingersoll.2 His presence at Antietam from Captain Anderson's after-action Report. Personal details from family genealogists, the US Census of 1860, Letters Received at the Office of the US Army Adjutant General, online from fold3. His gravesite is on Findagrave; he also has a marker in Cedar Grove, New London.

Birth

08/02/1832; New London, CT

Death

02/07/1871; Ft. Whipple, AZ; burial in Masonic Cemetery, Prescott, AZ

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. 783  [AotW citation 29093]

2   Ingersoll, Colin Macrae, Adjutant-General, Catalogue of Connecticut Volunteer Organizations in the Service of the United States, 1861-1865, Hartford: Brown & Gross, 1869, pg. 24  [AotW citation 29094]