William Henry Egle

Orphaned in 1841, he was a printer in Harrisburg, then a school teacher and postal clerk there while he studied medicine (1854-57) with a local doctor. He was a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania from 1857-59. In 1860 he was a physician living with his grandmother Egle and uncle Valentine, a grocer, in Harrisburg. In August 1862 the Pennsylvania Adjutant General sent him to Washington, DC to assist with wounded troops there.

He was commissioned Assistant Surgeon of the 96th Pennsylvania Infantry on (or to date from) 12 September 1862 and joined his regiment on the Maryland Campaign, probably at Antietam on or after 17 September. Although perhaps not directed specifically at Egle, Colonel Cake wrote after the battle of Antietam:

I regret being compelled to report that our surgeons invariably leave upon the bursting of the first shell near the regiment. This has always heretofore deprived us of their services on the field, though I believe it is custom to report for duty at the hospitals after engagements. This regiment would be quite as well off if its surgeons were left at hospitals ...

He resigned his commission and was discharged on 9 March 1863. He enrolled for service again, as Surgeon of the 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Emergency Militia of 1863 in Harrisburg on 11 July 1863, and mustered out with them on 14 August. He was commissioned again, on 12 July 1864, as Surgeon of the 116th Regiment, United States Colored Troops. He resigned that commission on 9 November 1865, then in Texas.

In 1870 he was again a practicing physician in Harrisburg and by 1880 he was a druggist there. He was also a pension examiner, doctor at the Dauphin County prison by 1883, a Surgeon in the National Guard from 1870, and published prolifically on Pennsylvania state and local history and genealogy. He was Pennsylvania State Librarian from 1887 to 1899 and in 1900 he was again a physician in Harrisburg.

His service basics from Bates,1 the Card File,2 and the Official Register.3 The Card File says he enrolled and mustered in the 96th at Bakersville, MD on 12 September 1862: this seems unlikely, as Bakersville, immediately north of Sharpsburg, was within Confederate lines by the 12th and to at least 16 September. Personal details from family genealogists, his bio sketch in L.R. Kelker's History of Dauphin County: Genealogical Memoirs (Vol. III, 1907), the US Census of 1860-1900, and his obituaries in the Harrisburg Patriot and New York Times of 20 February 1901. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Eliza White Beatty (1833-1923) in July 1860 and they had 3 children.

There is a fine post-war portrait [pdf] of him in the collection of the US Army Heritage & Education Center; thanks to David A Ward for the pointer to that.

09/17/1830; Harrisburg, PA

02/19/1901; Harrisburg, PA; burial in Harrisburg Cemetery, Harrisburg, PA