George W. Gentle

Age 21, he mustered for 3 months' service in Company E, 5th Ohio Infantry on 20 April 1861 and mustered out on 19 June. He re-enlisted the same day for 3 years as Corporal in the same Company.

He was mortally wounded by gunshot through his the right thigh in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

He was treated at a field hospital, then admitted to US Army General Hospital #3 in Frederick, MD on 1 October for an apparently simple gunshot wound - "no injury of a grave character was suspected." By October 25, however, his hip was swollen with an abscess and he began to bleed from both entry and exit wounds. He initially refused surgery to stop the bleeding, but on 27 October, by then "nearly moribund", he agreed. The surgeon tied off an artery, but due to the "shock" of the surgery George only lived for another 24 hours. An autopsy could not find the cause of the bleeding, but did find the head of his thigh bone was damaged by the gunshot.

He was reinterred from his original burial in Frederick to the new National Cemetery in about 1867.

Burial information from the Antietam Cemetery History1. His service from the Roster,2 which has him as killed outright on 17 September. Medical details from the MSHWR.3 Personal details from family genealogists; it is likely he was George Washington Gentle: his next two brothers were John Quincy Adams Gentle and Benjamin Franklin Gentle. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

11/13/1839; Hancock County, IL

10/28/1862; Frederick, MD; burial in Antietam National Cemetery, Sharpsburg, MD