James D. Duncan

Son of a wagon maker, in 1860 he was a 25 year old boatman and river pilot living with his father and 6 siblings in Buchanan, Allegheny County, PA. He enrolled in Pittsburgh and mustered in Harrisburg on 25 April 1861 as a Private in Company A, 13th Pennsylvania Infantry for 3 months service. He mustered out with them on 6 August and re-enrolled 3 days later, mustering as First Lieutenant of Company F of the 102nd Pennsylvania Infantry on 15 September.

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.

He was wounded at Salem Heights, VA on 3 May 1863 and was probably promoted to Captain on 2 September 1863. He was promoted to Major on 15 May 1865, to Lieutenant Colonel (but not mustered) on 23 June, and discharged on 28 June 1865. He was was honored by brevets to Major (September 1864) and Lieutenant Colonel (April 1865) for gallantry.

He was Allegheny Chief of Police, but resigned due to illness, and died young of tuberculosis in 1870, about 35 years old.

His service basics from Bates1 and the Card File.2 His part in the burial of Private Merz at Antietam thanks to John Haltigan. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860. 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].

c. 1835 in VA

09/01/1870; Pittsburgh, PA; burial in Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh, PA