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Since Edward R. Dorsey has
no biography in the National Archives, below is my biography of the
man.
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Edward Rutland Dorsey was born in
Baltimore, Maryland in 1833. Prior to the War he had extensive
experience on the Baltimore & Ohio RR. He enlisted May 17, 1861 in
Richmond and served as Captain, Major and Lieutenant Colonel in the
1st Maryland Regiment until that unit was disbanded in August, 1862.
He was unable to get another appointment in the army at that time,
but received an appointment from Captain Morfit (a fellow
Marylander) as Transportation Agent in West Point, Ga. Documents
show him there through December 1, 1862. There is then a gap in the
record until he asked again for an appointment in the army on
September 9, 1864. If he was employed as Transportation Agent at
West Point until that date, it would be reasonable to look for
another job at that time, since Atlanta had fallen on September 1st
and there was no longer a demand for his services there. He did not
receive the desired appointment and he is not found in the records
again until after the war. |
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Dorsey was the General
Freight and Ticket Agent of the Charlotte, Columbia & Augusta RR
living in Columbia S. C. with wife Edna Denson, whom he
married in North Carolina in June, 1862, and several children in 1870.
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An 1892 edition of Railway Age
reports that Edward R. Dorsey, who had been the General Freight and
Passenger Agent of the Georgia RR for 11 years had resigned. My
guess is that the "Colonel" on the tombstone was an honorary title
(Georgia RR General Freight & Passenger Agent was a very high
position) and the man in the article and buried in Augusta is the
man below.
He died in 1893. |
| May 17, 1861 |
Mustered a company of Marylanders into the
Virginia Army
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| September 9, 1862 |
Requested Regular Army appointment
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| September 23, 1862 |
Received letter of recommendation and requested
another appointment
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| October 17, 1862 |
Appointed Transportation Agent for Quartermaster
Department at West Point, Ga.
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| December
1, 1862 |
Paid for travel from Richmond to West Point, Ga.
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Paid for 47 days service at West Point
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| August 9, 1864 |
Requested reinstatement as Lieutenant Colonel of
Infantry
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