Robert S. Beckwith

Beckwith was a 21 year old iron moulder from South Reading when he enlisted on April 16, 1861 as a Private in Company B, 5th Massachusetts Infantry - the "Richardson Light Guards" - a three-month unit. He saw action at First Bull Run, and mustered out of the 5th on July 31, 1861. On August 24, 1861 he enlisted as 1st Sergeant of Company G, 20th Massachusetts Infantry. On July 7, 1862 Beckwith was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant of Company H. He saw service at Ball's Bluff and on the Peninsula Campaign before Antietam.

He was in action at Fredericksburg where on December 12, 1862 Lt. Beckwith was mortally wounded. He died in Washington, DC on December 31, 1862.

Basic information from Soldiers1, with detailed narrative above by Dave Hann, who also supplied the photograph from his collection - taken in the unifiorm of the Richardson Light Guards.

c. 1840

12/31/1862; Washington, DC