Francis Beach

A banker's son from Hartford, he graduated from West Point in 1857 and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, 4th US Artillery. He was at Fortress Monroe, VA, taught at the Academy, then was at Camp Floyd (later Fort Crittenden), Utah Territory. He returned east and was promoted to First Lieutenant and Adjutant of the 4th Artillery in April 1861, and was detailed as aide-de-camp to Brigadier General Philip St.G. Cooke, stationed in the defences of Washington, DC.

He was commissioned Colonel (Volunteers) of the 16th Connecticut Infantry on 7 August 1862 and was also promoted to Captain in the Regular Army on 14 August.

He commanded the regiment in its first combat action at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

He was captured, along with most of his regiment, at Plymouth, NC, on 20 April 1864 and was a prisoner at Libby Prison in Richmond, VA, but was exchanged and released on 10 May 1864. He mustered out of the Volunteer service on 24 June 1865. He was honored by brevets in the US Army to Major in September 1862 (for Antietam) and Lieutenant Colonel in April 1864 (for Plymouth).

He continued in the Regular Army as Captain, 4th Artillery, and was on garrison duty at Ft. Whipple, VA, Washington, DC, and Fort McHenry in Baltimore. He was often absent, ill, from 1867 into 1871, and retired for disability on 22 August 1871.

His service from Heitman1 and Cullum.2 His Cullum number is 1775. His gravesite is on Findagrave; he also ha a cenotaph in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Hartford. His picture from a photo in the Connecticut State Archives as published in Gary W. Gallagher's The Antietam Campaign (1999).

He married Levenia M. Harding (1837-1903) in January 1862 and they had a daughter Katherine (1864-1949).

05/02/1835; Hartford, CT

0205/1873; New York City, NY; burial in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA