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Federal (USV)

Sergeant

Henry B. Harshaw

(1842 - 1900)

Home State: Wisconsin

Education: Wayland University

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 2nd Wisconsin Infantry

Before Antietam

He moved with his father to Oconomowoc, Wisconsin in 1849 and to Oshkosh in 1854. He had a year of college education 1859-60, and was a teacher at a country school near Ripon when the War began. He enlisted in Company E, 2nd Wisconsin Infantry on 21 April 1861 as a Private, and was appointed Sergeant Major of the Regiment on 8 September 1862.

The rest of the War

He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, Company E on 3 March 1863. He was wounded in action on 8 May 1864 at Laurel Hill, VA and his left arm was amputated below the shoulder at Seminary Hospital, Washington, DC. He rejoined his Company on 19 June 1864, and mustered out with them on the 28th at the expiration of their term of service.

After the War

A resident of Oshkosh for most of the rest of his life, he was clerk of the circuit court from 1866 - 78. He was then appointed postmaster of Oshkosh and had a law practice there (1879-). In 1886 he was appointed Colonel on Governor Lucius Fairchild's staff. In November 1886 he was elected State Treasurer. He died at his daughter's home, probably from throat cancer, on Christmas Day 1900.

References & notes

Basic information from State of Wisconsin1. Further detail from an exhibit of his sword at the Oshkosh Museum.

Birth

06/30/1842; Washington County, NY

Death

12/25/1900; Milwaukee, WI

Notes

1   State of Wisconsin, Adjutant General's Office, and Chandler P. Chapman, Adj. Gen., Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, 2 volumes, Madison: Democrat Printing Co., State Printers, 1886, Vol. 1, pp. 346 - 347  [AotW citation 10110]