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N.B. Sweitzer
(1828 - 1898)
Home State: Pennsylvania
Education: US Military Academy, West Point, NY, Class of 1853;Class Rank: 24th
Branch of Service: Staff
Unit: Army of the Potomac
Before Antietam
After graduating from West Point on 1 July 1853 he was brevetted 2nd Lieutenant of Dragoons and sent to the Cavalry school at Carlisle, PA. He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, First United States Dragoons on 25 July 1854 and was on frontier duty in New Mexico and Oregon Territories. He declined a commission in the 2nd US Cavalry in March 1855 and was promoted to First Lieutenant in the 1st Dragoons on 4 September 1855, continuing in service, largely in Washington and Oregon.
He was promoted to Captain on 7 May 1861 and transferred to the First US Cavalry on 3 August. He was assigned as ADC to General McClellan in July 1861 and appointed Lieutenant Colonel, Staff, and Additional Aide-de-Camp on 28 September 1861. He was honored by brevet to Major, USA on 4 July 1862 for "gallant and meritorious services" on the Peninsula Campaign.
On the Campaign
He was aide-de-camp on General McClellan's staff on the Maryland Campaign.
The rest of the War
His Staff commission expired on 31 March 1863 and he returned to the First US Cavalry, commanding them in operations in central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley into September 1864. He was brevetted Lieutenant Colonel, USA for his action at Wincherster, VA on 19 September. He was appointed Colonel of the 16th New York Cavalry on 12 November 1864 and led them to the end of the war.
He was awarded additional brevets in March 1865, to Brigadier General of Volunteers and to Colonel, USA for his war service.
After the War
He mustered out of the Volunteer service on 3 October 1865 and was promoted to Major, 2nd US Cavalry on 28 July 1866, afterward again serving mostly on the frontier, at posts in Nebraska, Montana, and Texas. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the 8th US Cavalry on 25 June 1877 and to Colonel of the 2nd US Cavalry on 9 January 1886. His last assignment was as commander at Walla Walla, WA from May 1886 to his retirement in October 1888.
References & notes
His service history from Cullum;1. his Cullum number is 1602. His gravesite is on Findagrave. His picture from a photograph [PDF] in the collection of the US Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle, PA.
His brother Jacob was Colonel of the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry.
Birth
12/12/1828; Brownsville, PA
Death
03/07/1898; Washington, DC; burial in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA
1 Cullum, George Washington, Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the US Military Academy, 2nd Edition, 3 vols., New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1868-79, Vol. II, pp. 543-544 [AotW citation 33078]