John Lyman Chatfield

John Lyman Chatfield
Born	September 13, 1826 Oxford, Connecticut
Died	August 9, 1863 (aged 36) Waterbury, Connecticut
Allegiance	United States Union
Service/branch	United States Army Union Army
Rank	Colonel
Commands held	6th Connecticut Regiment
Battles/wars	American Civil War Second Battle of Fort Wagner †

John Lyman Chatfield was a Union Army colonel in the American Civil War. He was mortally wounded while assaulting Fort Wagner, South Carolina on July 18, 1863 and died on August 9, 1863.

Early life

John Lyman Chatfield was born September 13, 1826 at Oxford, Connecticut in western New Haven County, Connecticut.^[1]

American Civil War

John Lyman Chatfield monument (sculpted by George Edwin Bissell, unveiled 1887), Riverside Cemetery, Waterbury, CT

Chatfield was appointed major of the 1st Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry (3 months) on April 23, 1861 and lieutenant colonel of that regiment on May 10, 1861.^[1] Chatfield was promoted to colonel of the 3rd Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry (3 months) on May 31, 1861.^[1] He was mustered out of the volunteers on August 12, 1861.^[1]

On September 13, 1861, Chatfield was appointed colonel of the 6th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry.^[1] Chatfield commanded the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Union Department of the South between April 1862 and July 1862.^[1] He commanded the District of Beaufort, South Carolina under the X Corps commander, Major General Ormsby M. Mitchel, in October 1862.^[1][2]

On October 21, 1862, Major General Mitchel gave command of an expedition for the purpose of destroying track and bridges of the Charleston and Savannah Railroad in Jasper County, South Carolina to Brigadier General John M. Brannan, commander of the First Brigade of the Union force.^[3][4] Mitchel already had contracted yellow fever, from which he was to die on October 30, 1862.^[5] Brannan gave command of the First Brigade, which was heavily engaged in the Battle of Pocotaligo on October 22, 1862, to Colonel Chatfield.^[5] Chatfield suffered a wound in his right thigh from an artillery shell at Pocotaligo.^[1][6]

On July 18, 1863, Brigadier General George Crockett Strong ordered an attack by Chatfield in cooperation with Haldimand S. Putnam, Quincy Adams Gillmore, Robert Gould Shaw, and Truman Seymour on Confederate Fort Wagner on Morris Island, South Carolina south of the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina. While leading his men in an attack on the Fort's front, Chatfield was mortally wounded.^[1] He was pulled out of action and returned to Connecticut.

Aftermath

John Lyman Chatfield died from gangrene developing in his wounds on August 9, 1863 at Waterbury, Connecticut.^[1]

Notes

1. Hunt, Roger D. Colonels in Blue: Union Army Colonels of the Civil War: New England. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2011. ISBN 978-0-7643-1290-8. p. 20.
2. Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. ISBN 0-8160-1055-2. p. 452.
3. Moore, ed., Frank. The Rebellion Record: A Diary of American Events. Volume 6. New York : G.P. Putnam, D. Van Nostrand, 1863. OCLC 791786680. Retrieved November 8, 2012. pp. 36, 38.
4. Paris (comte de), Louis-Philippe-Albert d'Orléans; translated by Louis F Tasistro; edited by Henry Coppée. History of the Civil War in America: The Naval War. Volume II. Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1875. OCLC 3163681. Retrieved November 8, 2012. p. 623.
5. Moore, ed., 1862, p. 34.
6. General Brannan mistakenly gave Chatfield's middle initial as "S" in his after action report. Moore, ed. 1862, p. 34.

References

• Hunt, Roger D. Colonels in Blue: Union Army Colonels of the Civil War: New England. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2011. ISBN 978-0-7643-1290-8.
• Moore, ed., Frank. The Rebellion Record: A Diary of American Events. Volume 6. New York : G.P. Putnam, D. Van Nostrand, 1863. OCLC 791786680. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
• Paris (comte de), Louis-Philippe-Albert d'Orléans; translated by Louis F Tasistro; edited by Henry Coppée. History of the Civil War in America: The Naval War. Volume II. Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1875. OCLC 3163681. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
• Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. ISBN 0-8160-1055-2. p. 452.