#492 ID Tag 1st Regiment NY Light Artillery & 1st Independent Battery NY Light Artillery Benjamin Franklin Smead – non-dug. Copies of records included.
Brass 28mm disc in nice non-dug condition.
Served 3 years 9 months, 1 year of this in hospital
Born Bath NY, printer by occupation, stood 5’ 7
½”, light complexion, brown hair, grey eyes
Mustered in September 1861 Battery E 1st
REG New York Light Artillery
Early 1862 while on march to Williamsburg
injured both ankles on Corduroy Rd. moving cannon
Transferred August 5, 1862 to Cowan’s 1st
Independent Battery NYLA
Re-enlisted February 11, 1864
Mustered out June 23 1865
Died November 12, 1917
Private Smead present as member of Battery E 1st
REG NY Light Artillery at battles of:
·
Williamsburg
·
Seven Days Before
Richmond
Also present as member of 1st Independent Battery NY Light Artillery at the battles of:
·
Bristoe
·
Rappahannock Station
·
Wilderness
·
Spotsylvania
·
Cold Harbor
·
Winchester
·
Fisher’s Hill
·
Cedar Creek
·
Petersburg
·
Sailor’s Creek
· Lee’s surrender at Appomattox
Private Benjamin Franklin Smead was
certainly there ……
$1375 shipped
Seven Days Before
Richmond began on Wednesday, June 25, 1862, with a Union attack in the
minor Battle of Oak Grove, but McClellan quickly
lost the initiative as Lee began a series of attacks at Beaver Dam Creek (Mechanicsville) on June 26, Gaines's Mill on June 27, the
minor actions at Garnett's and Golding's Farm on June 27 and 28, and the attack on the Union rear
guard at Savage's Station on June 29.
McClellan's Army of the Potomac continued its
retreat toward the safety of Harrison's Landing on the James River. Lee's final
opportunity to intercept the Union Army was at the Battle of Glendale on June 30, but
poorly executed orders and the delay of Stonewall Jackson's troops allowed his enemy to escape to a strong defensive
position on Malvern Hill. At the Battle of Malvern Hill on
July 1, Lee launched futile frontal assaults and suffered heavy casualties in
the face of strong infantry and artillery defenses.
