William Spellman

In 1860 he was a 16 year old laborer living with his parents and 5 younger Speelmans in Madisonville (later part of Cincinnati) in Hamilton County, OH. He enlisted on 20 April 1861 and mustered as a Private in Company E, 5th Ohio Infantry for 3 months' service. He mustered out with them on 19 June 1861 and re-enlisted on the same day, as a Private in the same company, same regiment, for a 3-year term.

He was killed in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

He was reinterred from his original burial on the Antietam battlefield to the National Cemetery in about 1867.

Burial information from the Antietam Cemetery History.1 His service from the Roster,2 as William Spellman. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860, as William Speelman. His gravesite is on Findagrave; that memorial probably has him associated with the wrong parents. His picture from a copy photograph kindly sent by descendant James Spellman, who also untangled William's family for us.

His younger brother Robert, also in Company E of the 5th Ohio, was killed at Port Republic, VA on 9 June 1862 at age 17. His older brother James A. (1839-1922) had war service in the defenses of Washington, DC.

07/12/1843 in OH

09/17/1862; Sharpsburg, MD; burial in Antietam National Cemetery, Sharpsburg, MD