David D. Mahaffey
From Dorseyville, Pa., near Pittsburgh, Mahaffey was mustered into Co. E of the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry on Sept. 9, 1861, about five months after the opening shots of the war were fired at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
Mahaffey began the war as a private, but he was promoted to corporal on Oct. 4, 1862, while the 63rd Pennsylvania was serving in the defenses of Washington and guarding fords in Maryland.
Standing 5 feet 10 with blue eyes, brown hair and a light complexion.
By May 1864, Mahaffey had been wounded at least twice, the first time at the Battle of Fair Oaks near Richmond on May 31, 1862. He returned to Co. E after recuperating.
The 63rd Pennsylvania suffered one dead and 29 wounded fighting near Emmitsburg Road on July 2, 1863, during the second day at Gettysburg, but Mahaffey survived that battle unscathed.
At the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia on May 7, 1864, Mahaffey again was wounded, albeit slightly. On June 16, 1864, Corporal David Mahaffey's luck ran out.
As the Army of the Potomac began the siege of Petersburg, Va., Mahaffey suffered a severe leg wound. He was taken to the division hospital at Meade Station, where the leg was amputated.
Three days later, the young Pennsylvania farmer, probably so full of hope when he enlisted nearly three years earlier, was dead. One can only imagine the reaction of David's family 375 miles away near Pittsburgh upon hearing the awful news.
On Mahaffey's fill-in-the-blanks casualty form completed by 1st Lt. Issac Mills at a camp near Petersburg on July 4, 1864, the language is cold and bureaucratic:
"Having served honestly and faithfully in the A of P to the present date, (David Mahaffey) is now entitled to a discharge by reason of death."
Mahaffey had received from the United States clothing worth $39.18 since Sept. 1, 1863. That account apparently was settled. He was last paid by the army on Feb. 29, 1864.
Many Union soldiers killed at Petersburg were hastily buried, often in shallow or mass graves. From 1866-69, the U.S. Burial Corps recovered remains of 6,718 Federal soldiers from the Petersburg Campaign and reburied them in Poplar Grove Cemetery. Only 2,139 bodies were positively identified, with most of the rest buried under headstones marked "Unknown."
Unfortunately, David D. Mahaffey is probably among them.
This bio Was written by: John Banks, http://john-banks.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html
From Dorseyville, Pa., near Pittsburgh, Mahaffey was mustered into Co. E of the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry on Sept. 9, 1861, about five months after the opening shots of the war were fired at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
Mahaffey began the war as a private, but he was promoted to corporal on Oct. 4, 1862, while the 63rd Pennsylvania was serving in the defenses of Washington and guarding fords in Maryland.
Standing 5 feet 10 with blue eyes, brown hair and a light complexion.
By May 1864, Mahaffey had been wounded at least twice, the first time at the Battle of Fair Oaks near Richmond on May 31, 1862. He returned to Co. E after recuperating.
The 63rd Pennsylvania suffered one dead and 29 wounded fighting near Emmitsburg Road on July 2, 1863, during the second day at Gettysburg, but Mahaffey survived that battle unscathed.
At the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia on May 7, 1864, Mahaffey again was wounded, albeit slightly. On June 16, 1864, Corporal David Mahaffey's luck ran out.
As the Army of the Potomac began the siege of Petersburg, Va., Mahaffey suffered a severe leg wound. He was taken to the division hospital at Meade Station, where the leg was amputated.
Three days later, the young Pennsylvania farmer, probably so full of hope when he enlisted nearly three years earlier, was dead. One can only imagine the reaction of David's family 375 miles away near Pittsburgh upon hearing the awful news.
On Mahaffey's fill-in-the-blanks casualty form completed by 1st Lt. Issac Mills at a camp near Petersburg on July 4, 1864, the language is cold and bureaucratic:
"Having served honestly and faithfully in the A of P to the present date, (David Mahaffey) is now entitled to a discharge by reason of death."
Mahaffey had received from the United States clothing worth $39.18 since Sept. 1, 1863. That account apparently was settled. He was last paid by the army on Feb. 29, 1864.
Many Union soldiers killed at Petersburg were hastily buried, often in shallow or mass graves. From 1866-69, the U.S. Burial Corps recovered remains of 6,718 Federal soldiers from the Petersburg Campaign and reburied them in Poplar Grove Cemetery. Only 2,139 bodies were positively identified, with most of the rest buried under headstones marked "Unknown."
Unfortunately, David D. Mahaffey is probably among them.
This bio Was written by: John Banks, http://john-banks.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html
David D. Mahaffey
From Dorseyville, Pa., near Pittsburgh, Mahaffey was mustered into Co. E of the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry on Sept. 9, 1861, about five months after the opening shots of the war were fired at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
Mahaffey began the war as a private, but he was promoted to corporal on Oct. 4, 1862, while the 63rd Pennsylvania was serving in the defenses of Washington and guarding fords in Maryland.
Standing 5 feet 10 with blue eyes, brown hair and a light complexion.
By May 1864, Mahaffey had been wounded at least twice, the first time at the Battle of Fair Oaks near Richmond on May 31, 1862. He returned to Co. E after recuperating.
The 63rd Pennsylvania suffered one dead and 29 wounded fighting near Emmitsburg Road on July 2, 1863, during the second day at Gettysburg, but Mahaffey survived that battle unscathed.
At the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia on May 7, 1864, Mahaffey again was wounded, albeit slightly. On June 16, 1864, Corporal David Mahaffey's luck ran out.
As the Army of the Potomac began the siege of Petersburg, Va., Mahaffey suffered a severe leg wound. He was taken to the division hospital at Meade Station, where the leg was amputated.
Three days later, the young Pennsylvania farmer, probably so full of hope when he enlisted nearly three years earlier, was dead. One can only imagine the reaction of David's family 375 miles away near Pittsburgh upon hearing the awful news.
On Mahaffey's fill-in-the-blanks casualty form completed by 1st Lt. Issac Mills at a camp near Petersburg on July 4, 1864, the language is cold and bureaucratic:
"Having served honestly and faithfully in the A of P to the present date, (David Mahaffey) is now entitled to a discharge by reason of death."
Mahaffey had received from the United States clothing worth $39.18 since Sept. 1, 1863. That account apparently was settled. He was last paid by the army on Feb. 29, 1864.
Many Union soldiers killed at Petersburg were hastily buried, often in shallow or mass graves. From 1866-69, the U.S. Burial Corps recovered remains of 6,718 Federal soldiers from the Petersburg Campaign and reburied them in Poplar Grove Cemetery. Only 2,139 bodies were positively identified, with most of the rest buried under headstones marked "Unknown."
Unfortunately, David D. Mahaffey is probably among them.
This bio Was written by: John Banks, http://john-banks.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html
From Dorseyville, Pa., near Pittsburgh, Mahaffey was mustered into Co. E of the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry on Sept. 9, 1861, about five months after the opening shots of the war were fired at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
Mahaffey began the war as a private, but he was promoted to corporal on Oct. 4, 1862, while the 63rd Pennsylvania was serving in the defenses of Washington and guarding fords in Maryland.
Standing 5 feet 10 with blue eyes, brown hair and a light complexion.
By May 1864, Mahaffey had been wounded at least twice, the first time at the Battle of Fair Oaks near Richmond on May 31, 1862. He returned to Co. E after recuperating.
The 63rd Pennsylvania suffered one dead and 29 wounded fighting near Emmitsburg Road on July 2, 1863, during the second day at Gettysburg, but Mahaffey survived that battle unscathed.
At the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia on May 7, 1864, Mahaffey again was wounded, albeit slightly. On June 16, 1864, Corporal David Mahaffey's luck ran out.
As the Army of the Potomac began the siege of Petersburg, Va., Mahaffey suffered a severe leg wound. He was taken to the division hospital at Meade Station, where the leg was amputated.
Three days later, the young Pennsylvania farmer, probably so full of hope when he enlisted nearly three years earlier, was dead. One can only imagine the reaction of David's family 375 miles away near Pittsburgh upon hearing the awful news.
On Mahaffey's fill-in-the-blanks casualty form completed by 1st Lt. Issac Mills at a camp near Petersburg on July 4, 1864, the language is cold and bureaucratic:
"Having served honestly and faithfully in the A of P to the present date, (David Mahaffey) is now entitled to a discharge by reason of death."
Mahaffey had received from the United States clothing worth $39.18 since Sept. 1, 1863. That account apparently was settled. He was last paid by the army on Feb. 29, 1864.
Many Union soldiers killed at Petersburg were hastily buried, often in shallow or mass graves. From 1866-69, the U.S. Burial Corps recovered remains of 6,718 Federal soldiers from the Petersburg Campaign and reburied them in Poplar Grove Cemetery. Only 2,139 bodies were positively identified, with most of the rest buried under headstones marked "Unknown."
Unfortunately, David D. Mahaffey is probably among them.
This bio Was written by: John Banks, http://john-banks.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html
Family Members
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
