William E. Vannevar

In 1860 he was a 40 year old carpenter in Brookfield, MA. Giving his age as 34, he enlisted on 24 February 1862 in Worcester County, MA and mustered as a Private in Company F, 15th Massachusetts Infantry.

He was mortally wounded in action on 17 September 1862, suffering

Wound[s] of the right shoulder and left hand; one wound, from a fragment of shell, is on the dorsal surface of the left hand, between the thumb and forefinger, tearing out the fleshy mass to the depth of a quarter inch, healing kindly under simple dressings. The other wound, from a conoidal ball perforating the right shoulder antereo-posteriorly, the bullet passing out behind the teres major and teres minor muscles, not striking the chest, but evidently wounding the great nerves of the arm, as the limb is partialy paralyzed ...

He was admitted to the Filbert Street Hospital in Philadelphia, PA on 26 September, and was doing well until 20 October, when he began to fail, with infection and fever. He died there of his wounds on 5 November 1862.

His service basics from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts1 and his Compiled Service Records,2 online from fold3, both as William E. Vannever. Wound and hospital details from the MSHWR,3 as W.E. Vanever, quoted above. Personal details from family genealogists, the US Census of 1860, and Susan Barnwell's excellent Roster. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Fanny Maria Thompson (1820-1860) in April 1847 and they had a son William Henry (1852-1921).

02/17/1819; Bernardston, MA

11/05/1862; Philadelphia, PA; burial in Brookfield Cemetery, Brookfield, MA