Milton Cogswell – Colonel, United States Army

Milton Cogswell of Indiana
Appointed from Indiana, Cadet, United States Military Academy, 1 July 1845 (11)
Brevet Second Lieutenant, , 4th U. S. Infantry, 1 July 1849
Second Lieutenant, 8th U. S. Infantry, 4 August 1849
First Lieutenant, 15 August 1855
Captain, 13 May 1861
Colonel, 42nd New York Volunteer Infantry, 21 July 1861
Transferred to the 2nd New York Volunteer Infantry, 1 October 1862
Honorably mustered out of the volunteer service, 7 April 1863
Major, 8th U. S. Infantry, 8 October 1864
Unassigned 15 March 1869
Assigned to the 21st U. S. Infantry, 26 March 1869
Retired 5 September 1871
Breveted Major, 21 October 1861 for gallant and meritorious service in the battle of Balls Bluff, Virginia
Breveted Lieutenant Colonel, 30 July 1864 for gallant and meritorious service in front of Petersburg, Virginia
Breveted Colonel, 13 March 1865 for gallant and meritorious services dring the war.
Died 20 November 1882

At around 2:30 PM, Colonel Baker spotted Colonel Milton Cogswell of the Tammany Regiment (42nd NY) coming along the cow path. Being ever the romantic, he gaily sang out a verse from Sir Walter Scott’s poem “The Lady of the Lake”: “One blast upon your bugle horn is worth a thousand men,” Cogswell was not impressed. He, being a West Pointer and the only professional soldier on the Federal side, ignored Baker’s poetry and quickly surveyed the line and spotted the defects in Baker’s troop deployment. He immediately suggested that they advance the units to the high ground to the left.
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Once Cogswell established his right to command, he any attempt to retreat across the river. He knew the Confederates would reach the bluff before the Federals could cross the river with the limited transportation available.
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Although its a shame to ruin an extraordinary story, the charge was ordered by neither a Confederate officer or a pied-piper style phantom, but the luckless Milton Cogswell.

Susan Maria Lane, daughter of William J. Lane, married Colonel Milton Cogswell of the U. S. Army.

He graduated at West Point Academy; served there as professor; served in the late war and was taken prisoner at Ball’s Bluffs and remained in Richmond some time.

He was for a brief period, between superior officers, Commandant at Governor’s Island, New York, in 1865, and in 1869 he commanded at Charlestown, South Carolina, as military governor. He held office under President Hayes at the Soldiers’ Home in Washington, D. C., from 1877 to 1881.

NOTE: His son-in-law, Amos Blanchard Shattuck, Major, United States Army, is also buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

COGSWELL, MILTON
MAJOR PVT COL COLONEL 21ST US INF USA AND 42D NY INF

• DATE OF DEATH: 11/20/1882
• BURIED AT: SECTION SFOU.  SITE LOT 1997
  ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

COGSWELL, SUSAN M W/O COGSWELL, MILTON

• DATE OF DEATH: 07/28/1892
• BURIED AT: SECTION SOU D  SITE LOT 1997
  ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
• WIFE OF MILTON COGSWELL, COL MAJ USA AND COL 42 D NY INF 2D NY HA 21ST US INF

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard