Oliver Bosbyshell

Oliver Christian Bosbyshell was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on January 3, 1839. He was raised in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. After briefly working on the railroad and then studying law, he enlisted in the Union cause on the outbreak of war. He rose to the rank of major and led his regiment, but was mustered out upon the expiration of his term of service in October 1864.

About Oliver Bosbyshell in brief

Oliver Christian Bosbyshell was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on January 3, 1839. He was raised in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. After briefly working on the railroad and then studying law, he enlisted in the Union cause on the outbreak of war. He rose to the rank of major and led his regiment, but was mustered out upon the expiration of his term of service in October 1864. After leaving the army, he worked in two unsuccessful businesses; he also involved himself in Republican politics and in the activities of the Grand Army of the Republic, a veterans’ group. In his later years, he was an officer of an insurance company; he died in 1921. He also claimed to have been the first Union soldier wounded by enemy action in the Civil War, stating that he received a bruise on the forehead from an object thrown by a Confederate sympathizer while his unit was marching through Baltimore in April 1861. However, official records do not list Bosbyshel among the casualties of the Baltimore riots. He left school to become a telegraph messenger and for the next three years took various jobs in that field before deciding to pursue a career in the law. He first studied with attorney Francis W. Hugbee, then with his uncle, William Whitney; both were in Pottsville. In 1869 he was appointed to a post at the Philadelphia Mint in 1869, and became chief coiner in 1876 and superintendent in 1889, serving for four years.

In 1899 he was absolved of this liability by act of Congress in 1899. His son, Oliver Christian, died in Philadelphia in 1921, and he was buried in the Philadelphia National Cemetery. He is survived by his wife, Mary Ann, and his daughter, Mary Christian, who was born on November 14, 1838. The couple had taken up temporary residence in Mississippi, and later moved to Philadelphia, where they lived with their son and his wife’s family. In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln called for 50,000 volunteers to fight to preserve the Union. On April 15, 1861, he joined the Washington Artillerists, a local militia company, which quickly set out for Washington. After the war, the survivors became known as the First Defenders and formed an association with that name. While they were lodged at the Capitol, President Lincoln, Secretary of War Simon H. Seward, and Secretary of State H. Cameron visited them. The company spent three months strengthening the Potomac River fortifications and were redesignated as the Hiller Company of the 25th Pennsylvania Volunteers. The Washington Artillery Company were sent down to Washington to redesignate Fort Hidalgo, where Bosby’s company was sent down as the first Hidalga Artillerist Company. Bosby was the first lieutenant to lie down and lie down on his back. He died on November 26, 1894. He had a son, who died in 1894, and a daughter, who also died in 1896.

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