Captain Daniel Eldredge, U.S.V.

Captain Daniel Eldredge was born in Chatham, Massachusetts, July 7, 1841. His widowed mother (his father having been lost at sea a few months prior to Daniel's birth) removed to Dedham, Massachusetts, during Daniel's infancy, and his boyhood days were passed in that historic town. He attended the grammar school there, his teacher being for a part of the time the late Charles A. Richardson of The Congregationalist, Boston.

The Civil War found him, almost by accident, in the State of New Hampshire, and he enlisted there, at Lebanon, under N. H. Randlett, August 2, 1861, and became attached to the Third Regiment. He was assigned to Company K, almost wholly from the city of Dover, and officered throughout by men of that city. He followed the fortunes of his regiment from Concord to Long Island, New York; to Washington, D. C.; to Annapolis, Maryland, where his regiment embarked for the great naval expedition to Port Royal, South Carolina; thence to Port Royal, where the regiment did duty on the various islands till April, 1864; thence to Jacksonville and Palatka, Florida. He was in action at the taking of the lower end of Morris Island, July 10, 1863, and in the memorable charge on Fort (Battery) Wagner, July 18, 1863. In the latter action he was hit in the foot by a grape-shot, though not seriously wounded. Soon after the charge he was sent North for conscripts, and remained detached at Concord; New Hampshire, till January, 1864, when he rejoined his regiment on Morris Island. During his stay at Concord he was taken sick with malarial fever, and was quartered at a friend's house near the camp. On arriving in Virginia from the Department of the South, he participated in all the actions of his regiment up to the date of his wound. These included Drewry's Bluff, May 13-16, 1864; May 18, June 2, 9, 25, and on the 16th of August, 1864, in action, was severely wounded in the left forearm, fracturing both bones. He was sent to the Chesapeake (Officers') Hospital, near Fortress Monroe. After a few weeks he was, at his own request, ordered to Annapolis, Maryland, for light duty; but on arrival there was deemed a fit subject for hospital treatment, and was ordered at once to the Officers' Hospital, Academy Buildings. After a short stay he obtained a sick leave. In December, 1864, he was assigned to duty at the Draft Rendezvous, Concord, N. H., although his arm was still in a sling and the wound suppurating. There he served in several important positions, chief of which was commissary of recruits. He took charge of the rolls of recruits as they arrived, and had charge of their shipment to the front. His office had the appearance of a " rogues' gallery," the walls being covered with ambro-types of the recruits, numbered, registered, etc. At Concord he served successively under Majors Whittlesey and Caldwell, both of the regular army. In May, 1865, he was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps, and ordered to his company (Company A, Third Regiment V. R. C.), then located at New Haven, Conn. He served there, the chief duties being the reception and care of returning regiments. Later he served at Hartford, Connecticut, principally upon a general court-martial. From there he was sent home to await orders. He was discharged June 30, 1866, because his services were no longer required, having served continuously from August 2, 1861,-nearly five years. He rose successively from private to captain, being commissioned as second lieutenant in January, 1864, as first lieutenant in July, 1864, and as captain in January, 1865. The latter commission he declined, however, as the rules of the War Department forbade his muster. When wounded July 18, 1863, he was a sergeant; when wounded August 16, 1864, he was a first lieutenant.

Captain Eldredge is a member of the Masonic fraternity, of the Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Massachusetts Commandery of the Loyal Legion of the United States.

Source: Officers of the Volunteer Army and Navy who served in the Civil War, published by L.R. Hamersly & Co., 1893, 419 pgs.

Related Links:

• Civil War Records
• Civil War Microfilm at the National Archives
• Eldredge Surname