J.W. Hawley
(1836 - 1915)
Home State: Pennsylvania
Command Billet: Commanding Regiment
Branch of Service: Infantry
Before Antietam
He was an instructor at the West Chester Academy (1857-60), then teller at the National Bank of Chester County. From West Chester, he recruited a company of troops and entered service in the 124th Infantry as Captain, Company A on 12 August, and was appointed Colonel of the Regiment on the 16th.
On the Campaign
He was wounded in the neck in combat in the Miller Cornfield at Antietam early on the morning of 17 September 1862, and was succeeded by Major Haldeman in command.
The rest of the War
He returned to his Regiment on 3 December 1862 at Harpers Ferry. He mustered out of service on 17 May 1863, at the expiration of the Regiment's term of service. He raised and commanded the 29th Emergency Regiment in June 1863, largely from members of the 124th, to defend the State during the Gettysburg Campaign. He was again mustered out of service, on 1 August 1863.
After the War
He was first cashier in the bank of Isaac Haldeman (father of the 124th's Major) - the First National Bank of Media, organized 22 February, 1864. In 1894 he was elected President of the Bank, and served as such to December 1906. He was also President of the Springfield Water Company, supplying the suburb of Philadelphia. He was awarded a US government pension of $15 in March 1882, then living in Media, citing a gunshot wound to the left side of his neck. He was at "Pennsylvania Day" at Antietam on 17 September 1904, then President of the Battlefield Commission dedicating and transferring battlefield monuments to the US Government.
References & notes
Basic service data from Bates1. Details from a bio sketch and other notes in Robert M. Green's History of the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers (1907). The photo here from a CDV taken in June 1863 kindly provided by descendent and namesake Joseph Hawley, who also sent along an excellent full-length portrait of the Colonel, taken in August 1862. His gravesite is on Findagrave.
Birth
07/14/1836; Lionville, PA
Death
05/05/1915; Media, PA; burial in Media Cemetery, Media, PA
1 Bates, Samuel Penniman, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-65, Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1868-1871 [AotW citation 15277]