The Last Man Killed

   

Frank Leslie's Illustrated

       In last week's post, I  wrote about James C. Davis, who was the last member of the regiment to be wounded in battle. Davis was hurt on April 2, 1865 at Fort Gregg near Petersburg, VA.
       Davis survived his wound and went on to a prominent career in education. He died in 1914 at the age of 63 and is buried in Kansas.
      The next question to answer is: Who was the last member of the 85th Pennsylvania to die in battle? The answer is not as cut-and-dried as one would imagine. My interpretation of the question is: Who was the last to die AS A RESULT of being wounded in battle. Based on this view, several men who were wounded at Second Deep Bottom could be that last victim. And what about those who WERE members of the 85th Pennsylvania but had transferred to another regiment to meet their permanent fate?
  Following the  2nd Battle of Deep Bottom in August of 1864. the 85th Pennsylvania was involved in the fighting at Darbytown Road, VA (October 13, 1864), Fort Gregg (April 2, 1865) and Appomattox Court House (April 9, 1865) before the war finally ended.

New York Daily Herald
August 17, 1864

    In these final three engagements, the regiment suffered several men from the 85th Pennsylvania were wounded but there were no fatalities.
     That means that the last engagement in which men from the regiment were killed was at 2nd Deep

2DP Reenactment  2014

Bottom. In that engagement 21 men were killed and another 73 were wounded.
      In this one-week operation near Richmond, most men died on the day of the most substantial part of the fight on August 18,1864.             The 85th Pennsylvania, as a member of Francis Pond's Brigade, stormed and captured a Confederate earthwork.
       Captain Lewis Watkins of Company E was severely wounded in the arm and  leg while helping to lead the charge at 2nd Deep Bottom. Watkins died six weeks later at Chesapeake Hospital at Fort Monroe (VA).
        Of the men who suffered fatal wounds, Sergeant Myers P. Titus of Company G lingered until November 2, 1864 before dying in a Hampton (VA) hospital. Corporal James Sturgis, also of Company G, hung on from his wound until he expired on November 6, 1864 in a hospital in Beverly, NJ.
        Next is Corporal James C. Bailey of Company C. Bailey was captured on Whitemarsh Island near Savannah, Georgia on February 22, 1864. The exact cause of his demise is unclear. Bailey was eventually released during a large-scale prisoner exchange but died on the voyage home on December 12, 1864. He may have been wounded on Whitemarsh Island. How much this contributed to his death is unknown. On the other hand, his death may have been due to harsh treatment at Andersonville and other Confederate prison camps. If he were wounded on Whitemarsh Island, was this a a contributory factor to his death?
        Next is Private David Baldwin of Company D. Baldwin  who died in Salisbury (NC) POW camp in North Carolina on December 19, 1864. Baldwin was listed as missing-in-action at 2nd Deep Bottom. Like Bailey, it is unknown if Baldwin were wounded causing him to be captured. If he were wounded, it is also not known if this contributed to his death. He may have died of starvation or caught a disease in camp and expired.

Captain Richard Dawson
James Hadden, History of the Old Flag

 


      Captain Richard Dawson of Company I was wounded at the second (and successful) Union assault on Fort Fisher near Wilmington, North Carolina in January of 1865. Dawson was wounded in the arm, which was amputated, but he passed away a few weeks later from the wound on February 1, 1865.
    But Dawson was not a member of the 85th Pennsylvania at the time. Two months earlier, he had been promoted and was an aide to General Adelbert Ames when he was wounded during the storming of Fort Fisher.





 

Corporal Joseph W. Burson
Courtesy of Sharon Zbinovec

      Finally there is my choice for the last fatality in the regiment, Corporal Joseph W. Burson of Company D. Burson was wounded and captured at Second Deep Bottom in August. He was released from prison camp near the end of the war, but died on March 17, 1865, three weeks before the war ended. He died at home in Fredericktown, Washington County, just after being accompanied home by his father, Edward, from a hospital in Annapolis, Maryland.
    Therefore, although it is possible Burson's death was caused by his stay in prison camp, his wound does appear to be a contributing factor in his demise.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/46342950/joseph-w_-burson

Walton Cemetery
Clarksville, GreeneCounty, PA