James C. Austin

A tanner's son, he was in the tanning and mercantile business himself from 1842 to 1859, in the forwarding (express/warehousing) business in 1859, and then operated a planing mill in McConnellsburg, Fulton County, PA. He was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1859 and 1860 and moved to Chambersburg in 1860.

At age 37, he mustered into the 126th Pennsylvania Infantry on 12 August 1862 as Captain of Company B, and was appointed Major of the Regiment on the 1 September. He was absent in Washington, DC, sick from 28 August to 3 September, when he rejoined his regiment. In the meantime he had been dismissed from the service for visiting Washington without leave.

He remained with his regiment and marched with them into Maryland. He was with them when they arrived at Sharpsburg, MD on the morning of 18 September 1862.

He went home, ill again, on 26 September, and his dismissal was revoked and he was reinstated as Major on 13 October. However, he resigned his commission due to his health on 22 November and it was accepted on 21 December 1862.

He again operated his planing mill and was President of Austin, Elder & Fletcher, a bank in Chambersburg, to 1868. He went to Philadelphia in 1872 and started a wholesale shoe business, then returned to Chambersburg about 1881 and was in shoe and hat sales there to 1887.

His service from Bates 1 and D.W. Rowe's Sketch of the 126th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers (1869). Details of his dismissal and reinstatement from his 22 November 1862 letter of resignation, transcribed by the Valley of the Shadow Project. Personal details from family genealogists, the US Census of 1860-1880, his bio sketch from the Pennsylvania House, and his obituary in the Franklin Repository of 7 November 1889. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Sarah Elizabeth Fletcher (1824-1885) in January 1845 and they had a daughter Rebecca Ann.

10/01/1823; Harrisonville, PA

11/07/1889; Chambersburg, PA; burial in Cedar Grove Cemetery, Chambersburg, PA