I almost missed George Dickinson.
Last year as I began my research, I assembled a list of
officers assigned to the U.S. Artillery regiments. With 441 officers discovered, I thought that I had all of
them until today. Going thru Volume 2 of Heitman’s
Register doing some crosschecking for something else, I discovered George
Dickenson.
Having found Lieutenant Dickenson, I ran a query in Fold 3.
One of the most common records contained there is a newly commissioned
officer’s letters of acceptance.
This letter, addressed to the Adjutant General is a very dry
affair. The officer acknowledges
the appointment, and indicates his age and home of record. That is usually it.
George’s letter contained this and a lot more. Dickinson was an enlisted man in
Company K, 1st Missouri
Light Artillery Regiment. He came
from perhaps the most bitterly divided of the border states. But Dickenson knew exactly where he stood
on the matter of the his country.
After he acknowledged his appointment, Dickenson had this to
say:
“I am fully sensible of the high
honor conferred upon me and shall endeavor by a zealous performance of my duty
and an unwavering fidelity to the cause of my country to merit the confidence
which in this hour of national calamity her rulers have reposed in me. I am twenty one years of age and a
native of Missouri.”[1]
Dickenson was first assigned to
Company A of the 4th U.S. Artillery. Within a month of his commissioning, he was promoted to
First Lieutenant on November 29, 1861 and assigned to Company G. Dickenson remained with Company A until
April 1862. There the young man
from Missouri served with Lieutenant Alonzo Cushing who would achieve
immortality at Gettysburg over a year later. when he reached his new command at
Fort Monroe. After the Peninsula
Campaign, Dickenson was attached Company E and the Ninth Corps. When Captain Clark commanding the
company was wounded at Antietam, Dickenson assumed command.
George Dickenson survived the
bloodiest day in American history.
He zealously performed his duty and merited the confidence reposed in
him. Three months later on December 13th 1862, far from his Missouri home, George
Dickenson was killed at Fredericksburg.
If I find out nothing else about him,
Dickenson’s acceptance letter put into words the sentiment of many young
Americans in the opening days of the war where patriotism still motivated men
to serve their country.
I am glad that I found George
Dickenson.
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