Joseph Browne

He enrolled in Pittsburgh and mustered in Harrisburg on 25 April 1861 as Captain of Company C, 13th Pennsylvania Infantry for 3 months service. He mustered out with them on 6 August and re-enrolled and mustered 3 days later as First Lieutenant of Company E of the 102nd Pennsylvania Infantry. He was appointed Adjutant on 13 October. He was wounded at Fair Oaks, VA on 31 May 1862.

He was with his regiment in Maryland and arrived on the Antietam battlefield with them about noon on 18 September 1862. While on the field, he and three other officers of the regiment found and buried the body of Private Louis Merz of the 4th Georgia Infantry. Browne was given a letter and a broken ring they found on Merz's person, for safekeeping.

He was promoted to Major on 15 January 1863 and resigned his commission and was discharged on 18 May 1863. He enrolled again, as Lieutenant Colonel of the newly organized 5th Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery on 10 September 1864 and mustered out with them in Pittsburgh on 30 June 1865.

He was later Brigadier General and commanded the 18th Division, Pennsylvania National Guard, being involved in railroad strikes in 1877. In 1875 he rediscovered Private Merz' letter and ring among his papers, contacted Governor Brown of Georgia for help locating Merz's family, and through him, returned them to Louis's brother Daniel.

His service basics from Bates1 and the Card File.2 The story of his part in the burial of Private Merz at Antietam thanks to John Haltigan; details in a piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of 31 March 1875 [transcript]. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

Mr Haltigan, along with Arthur B. Fox and Jeane H. Stetson, is co-author of The Old 13th is at the Front: A History of the 102nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment 1861-1865 (2026) [via Amazon].

1839

07/25/1886; burial in Beaver Cemetery and Mausoleum, Beaver, PA