James Edward Carpenter James Edward Carpenter ( March 6 , 1841 – August 16 , 1901 ) served in the Union Army in 1861 as a private in the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry . In 1862 he became a second lieutenant and progressed in rank to first lieutenant , captain , then a brevet major of volunteers due to gallantry . He later served his community and Philadelphia with honor as a business lawyer of high respect . Early life and ancestry . James E . Carpenter was a direct descendant ( great - great - great - grandson ) of the notable immigrant Samuel Carpenter ( November 4 , 1649 Horsham , Sussex , England - April 10 , 1714 Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ) who came to America in early 1683 by way of Barbados . James was the second eldest son of eight children born to Edward Carpenter 2nd and Anna Maria ( Mary ) Howey . He was born in Chesterfield , Kent County , Maryland and in 1843 his family moved to Philadelphia where they attended Trinity Episcopal Church in West Philadelphia . Civil War . In 1861 he joined as a private the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry and in 1862 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant . During the night of September 17 / 18 , 1862 , he was wounded seriously inside the elbow in the engagement at Philomont , Virginia on the advance at the end of the fighting at the Battle of Antietam . In the early evening of May 2 , 1863 , he was part of the heroic , but ultimately futile , charge of the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry against Confederate General Jackson ' s Corp flanking attack during the Battle of Chancellorsville . His horse was shot from under him and of the five officers who rode at the head of the attacking column , he was one of only two who survived . This charge of Union Cavalry was not strong enough and only marginally slowed down the collapse of the right flank of the Union Army Major General Joseph Hooker ' s Army of the Potomac . Hooker had only left a token force of Cavalry with his main attack thinking they would not be needed in the woods . Hooker had sent 7 , 500 Cavalry troopers with Major General George Stoneman to raid behind the Confederate line into their supply and communications . Stoneman ' s Raid , as it became known , ultimately failed in its main quest , but was a confidence builder for the Union Cavalry . On June 29 , 1863 , he was selected and served on the staff of Brigadier General D . McMurtrie Gregg , who was just given the command of the Second Cavalry Division , Cavalry Corps , under the reorganization by Major General George G . Meade . Brevet Major Carpenter for the next eighteen months excelled in this position providing good documentation and order . Post Civil War . In early 1865 , he was honorably discharged at the expiration of his term of service and returned to Philadelphia . He resumed the study of law in the office of Theodore Cuyler , Esq . ( 1819 – 1876 ) . In October 1865 he was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia . He assisted in helping to establish the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States in Philadelphia during May 1865 . Later he became a companion of that order when the concern of conflict of interest was lifted . Family . On October 17 , 1867 , in Philadelphia , he wed Harriet Odin Dorr ( 22 Jul 1842 - 24 Jan 1896 ) . She was the daughter of Reverend Benjamin Dorr and Esther K . Odin , both of Massachusetts . James & Harriet were wed by the Rector of Christ ' s Church , her father . She was a descendant of Edward Dorr , who was the first of that name in America . He immigrated to New England about 1670 , from the west of England , where families of the surname Dorr have long been settled in Dorsetshire . They had the following children born in Philadelphia : Later life . He served as a second lieutenant of the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry . He was elected Treasurer of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and afterwards its vice president . In 1877 he became a vestryman of Christ Church , a manager of Christ Church Hospital and of Christ Church Chapel . Later he was rector ' s warden of the Church of Ascension in Pittsburgh . He was delegate to the Diocesan Convention of the Episcopal Church . He was the governor in the Rittenhouse Club which was known before 1873 as the Social Arts Club of Philadelphia . James was instrumental at securing the former home of James Harper in Rittenhouse Square which led to the renaming of the exclusive men ' s club . He was chairman of the Board of Managers and one of the founders ( in 1888 ) of the Pennsylvania Society Sons of the Revolution . He encouraged and financially assisted his brother , Brigadier General Louis H . Carpenter in the updating of their father ' s genealogical family history . This valuable work was published after his death in 1912 as " Samuel Carpenter and his Descendants . " James Edward Carpenter died suddenly while visiting his daughter Mrs . Helen Mosley on August 16 , 1901 in Newburyport , Massachusetts .