Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1907-09-13
SHERIDAN AIDED HIM.
General Helped Young Commissioned
Officer Select His Sword.

George Dunham of Boston believes
himself to be the youngest commits
stoned officer who fought in a Massa-
chusetts regiment in the civil war.
He was second lieutenant at II and
a first lieutenant at Is.
Mr. Dunham was born in Fairhaven
in 1S46, and at the outbreak of the
war was attending high school. In
August, 1862, the federal mastering
officer, in looking over the Third Mas
sachusetts regiment, saw a mild-man-
nered, rosy-cheeked boy, whom he
greeted abruptly with, How old are
you, kid?"
Eighteen" was the reply.
you're -" we'll, it amounted to
deliberate falsifier. But he enrolled
15-year-old George Dunham as a drum
mer.
The young drummer's impetuous
nature did not agree with the mac
tive life of a musician. He was al.
ways playing, instead of tvo-four, two.
forty time. He became a private in
the ranks, seeing active service under
Burnside in North Carolina, and par
ticipating in three engagements be-
fore the expiration of his nine months
enlistment period. One of these, at
Plymouth, n. c., was particularly Sc
we're, II of Dunham's company be-
ing killed in as many minutes.
The 15-year-old soldier had been
back in school at Fairhaven but a
month when he reenlisted as sergeant
in the Fifty-eighth Massachusetts, reg.
iment, made up entirely of veterans
who had seen service in the previous
nine months call. Seven days from
the time the Fifty-eighth's quota was
complete in September, 1868, it was on
the firing line in the Wilderness under
Gen. Grant. From this time until the
end of the war, young Dunham was
not out of hearing of whistling bullets
In November, 1864, at the age of IT,
he was commissioned second lieuten.
ant, and soon overcame the resent
ment of men under him who were old
enough to be his father, by his skill
in handling them and his courage In
eighth-which is given high rating
in. Cox's 1900 fighting regiments
Lieut.. Dunham was in the thick of the
war from the Wilderness to the TAX
ing of Petersburg. At Spotsylvania
he had his only severe wound, a shat.
tered hand which confined him for a
short while in the West Philadelphia
hospital, where he had distinction
probably never before or since en-
joyed by a boy of II. He voted for
President Lincoln.
Lieut.. Dunham Jared much better
than his comrades in battle. He was
one OF the Fifty-eighth's two commits.
stoned officers to escape death when
Cemetery Hill, at Petersburg was
blown up. The union troops had un.
dermined the confederate lines, but a
premature blast left alive only go men
in the regiment. He had another mar
row escape when his company was
raiding the plantation of the confeder-
ate leader, McGuider On one occa.
sion when he went into the commits
sary at Alexandria to procure a new
sword, ian uncouth individual who
aided him in selecting 1t turned out
to be Gen. Phil Sheridan.
In June, 1865, he was breveted first
lieutenant, then only Is years old.
After the mastering out of the troops
in 1865, he lived in Cincinnati and
Byffalo for several years. In Buffalo
he was commander of G. A. K. post
20S. On returning to Massachusetts
he was appointed state police Off
Ger, a position he held for 20 years.
Though now go, he is younger than
most of his comrades of the war, and
expects to live many years yet.
New York's Water Reserve.