Thursday, January 15, 2015

William McGinness.

William McGinness, First Lieutenant; Indiana 75th., Infantry, Co. H., Residence Roanoke; Commissioned August 6, 1862; Mustered in August 19, 1862; Promoted Captain.  Captain Commissioned December 31, 1862; Mustered in January 15, 1863.  Died a prisoner of war at Savannah, Georgia, August 31, 1864.

In this charge, about 6 p.m., that Captain William McGinness of H Company was wounded in the right leg by the fragment of a shell, and taken prisoner, and Corporal Peter Mulrine of the same Company was killed.  The piece of shell which wounded Captain McGinness, tore an ugly hole in his knee and injured the ligaments of his leg behind the knee. He was left on the field and captured, taken to Libby prison at Richmond, Va., from thence to Andersonville, and finally to Savannah, Ga., where, under the effects of his wound, and the treatment he received as a prisoner, he died August 31st, 1864.

The brave and good Captain McGinness now peacefully sleeps in the beautiful cemetery at Savannah, Ga., near the broad Atlantic, whose wild majestic waves sing his requiem, as they beat up against
the sandy shore. He was cheerful and gallant, and his death was sincerely and deeply deplored by all the members of the A braver soldier never buckled on a sword nor handled a musket. Three of his sons were in the war for the Union—two of them belonging to the Forty-fourth and the other to the One hundred and thirty-seventh Indiana Regiments.

To perpetuate the memory of Captain McGinness, the G. A.R. Post of Roanoke, Huntington county, Indiana, has assumed his name.

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