M.D. Corse

Confederate (CSV)

Colonel

Montgomery Dent Corse

(1816 - 1895)

Home State: Virginia

Command Billet: Commanding Regiment

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 17th Virginia Infantry

see his Battle Report

Before Sharpsburg

In 1846, he mustered a company of volunteers for service in Mexico, serving as their captain. He sailed for California in 1849 and participated in the Gold Rush and returned permanently to Alexandria in 1856. He served as First Lieutenant of the Alexandria Home Guard in 1859 and was elected Captain of the Old Dominion Rifles on 7 January 1861

At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was commissioned Colonel of the 17th Virginia Infantry, and took part in the major battles of the Army of Northern Virginia. He was wounded at Second Manassas.

On the Campaign

He commanded the regiment in Maryland until he as wounded in action at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862 and succeeded in command by Major Herbert.

The rest of the War

He was promoted to Brigadier General after Sharpsburg, and he and his brigade were on detached service in the Blackwater River area southeast of Petersburg. After attempting to retake New Bern, NC, the brigade returned to Howlett's Line, between Petersburg and Richmond, where he was wounded for the third time. At the battle of Saylor's Creek, Corse was captured and held prisoner-of-war at Fort Warren, Boston, Massachusetts until 24 July 1865.

After the War

After returning to Alexandria, he went into a trading business with his brother and was a charter member of the R.E. Lee Camp, United Confederate Veterans. He donated his $8.00 monthly pension from the Mexican War to the cost of the Confederate Monument and thereby claimed that the Yankee government had a hand in paying for the memorial to Alexandria's fallen Confederates. Corse was honored at the dedication of the Monument at South Washington and Prince Streets in 1889.

References & notes

Details here from The Prisoner-of-war Letters of Brigadier General Montgomery Dent Corse, CSA, a project of the Alexandria (VA) Library (via flickr). His gravesite is on Findagrave. His picture here from a photograph in the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond.