David Barnum

Originally from Greene County, he moved with his mother and brother to St. Paul, MN at his father's death in 1853. He was appointed midshipman at the US Naval Academy at age 14 in 1858. He was not successful there - having resigned near expulsion after his second year, and been reinstated - and left at the start of the War in 1861.

He enlisted in Company I (later reorganized to Company D), 5th Alabama Infantry at Union Mills, Virginia on 23 August 1861. He was wounded by a gunshot to his back at Seven Pines, VA on 31 May 1862.

He was captured in action near Turner's Gap on South Mountain on 14 September 1862.

He was imprisoned at Ft. McHenry and exchanged through Fortress Monroe, VA on 18 October 1862. He was briefly hospitalized in Richmond, VA, then on furlough in November and December 1862. On 5 September 1863 he transferred to the Confederate States Navy as Acting Master, and was stationed at the Charleston Naval Station. He was re-assigned to the 5th Alabama in June 1864 and was with them to near the end of the War. He took an oath of allegiance and was paroled at Chattanooga, TN on 5 June 1865.

His service from his Compiled Service Records,1 online from fold3. Personal details from family genealogists. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

See a lovely treatment of Barnum's story, along with a photo of him from the USAMHI in Ron Coddington's post in the Opiniator series from the New York Times.

1843; Greene County, AL

05/16/1873; St. Louis, MO; burial in Oakland Cemetery, Saint Paul, MN