674 



OBITUARIES. 



he surrendered the post with but slight 

 resistance, and with it nearly 14,000 men as 

 prisoners, and an immense amount of arms, 

 ammunition and stores. (See ARMY OPERATIONS.) 



Sept. 17. BRANCH, Gen. LAWRENCE O'BRIEN, 

 an officer in the Confederate service, killed at 

 the battle of Antietam. He was a son of Hon. 

 John Branch, formerly governor of North Caro- 

 lina, and was born in Halifax co. in that State 

 in 1820. He graduated at Nassau Hall College, 

 Princeton, in 1838, studied law with his father, 

 and practised his profession in Raleigh. In 

 1855 he was elected to Congress from the Ra- 

 leigh district, and reelected till 1861. After 

 North Carolina passed the ordinance of seces- 

 sion, he entered the Confederate army first as 

 colonel, but was soon promoted to a brigadier- 

 generalship. At the battle of Newbern he had 

 command of that important position, and sub- 

 sequently took part in several of the battles in 

 that State and on the peninsula. 



Sept. 17. MATIIESON, Col. RODERICK, an offi- 

 cer of the Union army, and commander of the 

 32d regiment N. Y. State volunteers (1st Cali- 

 fornia regiment), killed at the battle of An- 

 tietam. He was a native of New York, but had 

 resided for several years in California, and in 

 May, 1861, left his home in that State and raised 

 in New York city a regiment of Californians 

 and those who had formerly resided on the Pa- 

 cific coast. The regiment was completed about 

 the 20th of June, 1861, and under Col. Matheson 

 took part in the battle of Bull Run and in most 

 of the subsequent battles in Virginia, His re- 

 mains were sent to California, and buried with 

 the honors of war at his former residence in 

 that State. 



Sept. 17. MANSFIELD, Maj.-Gen. J. K. F. 

 (See MANSFIELD.) 



Sept. 17. MoNsiL, Col. HUGH WATSON, an 

 officer in the Union service, and commander of 

 the Pennsylvania " Bucktail " regiment, killed 

 at the battle of Antietam, while leading his re- 

 giment in a charge. He was a native of Sene- 

 ca county, N. Y., and was of Scotch family, 

 his father being a Cameronian clergyman ; was 

 born in 1830 ; was educated at Yale College, 

 studied law at Auburn, and commenced prac- 

 tice in New York in 1857, but left his profes- 

 sion on account of ill health, removed to Penn- 

 sylvania, and engaged in banking. At the com- 

 mencement of the war he joined the Bucktail 

 regiment as a private, but was soon chosen first 

 lieutenant, and rose by successive promotions 

 to the command. 



Sept. 17. HINKS, Col. EDWARD W., an officer 

 in the Union service, commanding the 19th re- 

 giment Massachusetts volunteers, killed at the 

 battle of Antietam. He was born in Lynn, 

 Mass., and had been prominent as a militia 

 officer before the war, and in the spring and 

 summer of 1861 commanded the 8th regiment 

 of Massachusetts infantry, the regiment which so 

 distinguished itself on the rout<J from Annapo- 

 lis to Washington by repairing the locomotives 

 and rebuilding the railroad damaged by the se- 



cessionists. After the expiration of their term 

 of service he returned to Massachusetts, raised 

 the 19th regiment, and returned with it to the 

 field. At the battle of Ball's Bluff he protected 

 the retreat of the Federal troops, and in the 

 battles on the peninsula and this side of the 

 Rapidan his regiment was known as one of the 

 "Massachusetts fighting regiments." At Anti- 

 etam he was leading his troops in one of those 

 desperate charges which won the day, when 

 he received his death wound. 



Sept. 17. PARISEN, Lieut.-Col. PHILIP J., an 

 officer in the Union service, at the time of his 

 death in command of the 57th regiment New 

 York State volunteers, killed at the battle of 

 Antietam. He was a native of New York city 

 and entered the service Dec. 21, 1861, as major 

 of the 57th, and early in 1862 was promoted to 

 a lieutenant-colonelcy. He took part in most 

 of the battles on the peninsula and in those of 

 August in the vicinity of Washington. He 

 was shot through the body and instantly killed 

 while leading his regiment at Antietam. 



Sept. 17. PERCIVAL, JOHN, a captain in the 

 U. S. navy, died at Roxbury, Mass. He was a 

 native of Massachusetts, and had been nearly 

 50 years in the navy. Under the act of Febru- 

 ary 28, 1855, he had been placed on the reserve 

 list, and wivs absent from duty on leave at the 

 time of his death. 



Sept. 17. CIIILDS, Col. J. H., an officer in the 

 Union service, colonel of the 4th Pennsylvania 

 cavalry, and at the time of his death acting 

 brigadier-general, killed at the battle of Antie- 

 tam. He was a citizen of Pittsburg, Pa., and 

 entered the service in July, 1861. He had dis- 

 tinguished himself in several battles for cour- 

 age, coolness, and skill, and at Antietam was 

 in command of a brigade of cavalry. 



Sept. 17. COLEMAN, Col. AUGUSTUS H., an 

 officer of the Union service, commanding the 

 llth Ohio regiment, killed at the battle of An- 

 tietam. He entered the service as major of the 

 llth regiment, at the beginning of the war, 

 and after its reorganization, on the resignation 

 of Lieut.-Col. Frizell, in Jan. 1862, was pro- 

 moted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and 

 soon afterward of colonel. His regiment had 

 done service in western Virginia as a part of 

 Cox's brigade, and Col. Coleman had a high 

 reputation for bravery and daring. 



Sept. 17. CROASDALE, Col. SAMUEL, an officer 

 of the Union service, commanding the 128th 

 Pennsylvania regiment, killed at the battle of 

 Antietam. He was a citizen of Doylestown, 

 Pa., and had a large practice in that town as a 

 lawyer. Immediately after the President's 

 proclamation of April 15, 1861, he volunteered 

 as a private in Capt. Davis's company of three 

 months' men. On their discharge he resumed 

 the practice of his profession, but on the gov- 

 ernor's call for nine months' men, in the summer 

 of 1862, he opened a recruiting office and raised 

 a full company of the citizens of Doylestown 

 and vicinity in a few days. The 128th regi- 

 ment, composed almost entirely of citizens of 



