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A SOLDIER MUSTERED OUTWHO DID THE EARLY WORK OF DEVELOPING THE BATTLEFIELDDiehl and n -Mr. Cries!. a friend oIdot-eased, making;;iiatkl re.TheSons of Vote runs of this place conducted the burial services at the giave.Mrs. Wilson desires lo thank her many friends for the many kind ness , _' shown her and her husband during;One to Whom Town, County and l,is I'W'W***1 »»■* •»«*•««•;Veterans Owe a Debt of Gratitude for His Work.ShiwUAM’ Nkuoi.as* G. Wii.JsON died at ins home on corner of Diamond on last Thursday morning aged 75 years, 1 month and 20 days. Mr. Wilson had been in failing lieaith for about tour months. Oa the night of the fire at Spaldings stable and warehouse, July 22, he fell over a line of hose sustaining ail injury and from that time had been losing ground.Sergeant Wilson was born in Me-iiaHen township Oct. 6, 1832, a son of Beniamin and Susan Wiennan Wilson. His ancestors were among the first set tiers of that part o£ the county. His early days were spent on his grandfathers farm and at the age of sixteen he took up the trade of black-smithing. working at it several years, and afterwards operated a stationary engine in Bendersville and subsequently becoming a teamster.The breaking out of the Civil War soon found him in preparation to take a part in the conflict.From July 1861 to July 1S62 he served as First Sergeant in a company of State Militia organized forborder defense.July 9, 1862, he enlisted in the service for three years or during the war, entering as a private in Co. G, 138th Regt., Pa. Vol. InL, and in less than a month his experience of the previous year won for him the appointment of First Sergeant of his company and he served in that capacity until the end of the war, refusing a commission that was offered him, preferring to serve as First Sergeant.The first battle he was engaged in was Brandy Station, then Locust Grove, The Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Monocacy and skirmishes at Wapping Heights, Kelly’s Ford, Totopotomy and Bermuda Hundred. He was wounded at the battle of Monocacy in the right hand, causing the loss of second and third fingers and disabling index and little fingers. He was confined in the hospital at Patterson Park, Baltimore College Hospital at Annapolis and York Hospital.He said the most important eventIn his life ill the service was at Lo-tust Grove, when he had his knapsack blown entirely off his back by the explosion of 40 rounds of cartridges, which were in the knapsack, being ignited by a rebel bullet going through it. In the battle of the Wilderness he was in the thick of the fight where Co. G lost five men and 31 wounded in a few minutes time.At the close of the war lie returned to the county and followed his business as teamster until 1873. By this time the National cemetery had been completed and Sergeant Wilson was selected as the first superintendent for the cemetery and continued in thisnosition for about 15 years. He was specially adapted to this work and it was under bis superin tendency the cemetery became the beautiful spot that has made it famous all over the world.In I860 he was elected a director of the Battlefield Memorial Association and he was led to give up his position at the cemetery to become superintendent of the extensive improvements the association contemplated. For years the real work of the association on the field was the work of Sergeant Wilson, and he did much to bring the field to the development reached when turned over to the Government, having built a number of the avenues which have since been converted into Telford roads.Sergeant Wilson was secretary of Corporal Skelly Post No. 9, G. A. R.. for many years and he possessed a special fitness for the position. Notwithstanding his crippled right hand re was a fine peusiuan. his writing icing plain and neat. He was deeply interested in every Adams county soldier and carefully preserved all information that came to him. The war record of the members of the Post, a work that will become invaluable to he Post as the years roll by, was his .York, and special honor is due Sergeant Wilson from the Post a ad all Adams county soldiers for this well-kefft record of their services.in I92 Sergeant Wilson was elect'd la the Legislature front this county on the Republican ticket. He was a *.i:oUv-ouiclt;I fallow and popular with«-v?j yens who knew him and in his the people of Adams county were the «*’lt; of the earth and it is told of him tha? he never ran across an Adams /minty man at Harrisburg that he did not insist upon him being his je-.h-nI and that often guests from the •-minty found their hotel bills paid and '•yeui Fie era* ions alt;t to Mr. Wil-iMr. Y, iison was a man of mwh na-j; hi lity. thoroughly doing all■i immstcd to him anti the dkvel-s.nrt of tfiw town and battlefield o r.tuh 1o him. Personally he was .-t comjiapi-* in bio. plt;-,«sos.-ing thosenUtji-s of h'x-rt and mind that made we who knew him br«t admir* and ’Mi him.r- •• -• ;i - Y.'ibv n ’.vn 51.’twb e j vsr-!o \» j.liraitia LY- died i-i b-aviay lt;ue *..r ’ Mrs. Sarah O’Hara In7 \ ::.ard»d Mi-s Ktrncjs Walter, sin • wPh oie daughter. Mis. ?. . Gr.'-h ■ rhilni.iOie. Thei'*-lt; - ri 'he house on Satnr-• .ri; T?t-v. Anstad*. On* Y ■ e* ' taken to Ihn-] •’-, «cr*' nej.1 inS. A.I j t i • -..IW'UllfL_____ir.d o
Newspaper Details
Gettysburg Compiler
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, US
Wed, Dec 11, 1907
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Gettysburg C.
PA, USA 30 Jul 2021
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