July 14th, 2011
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/14/2011
IRWIN, William Howard (1818-1886) On September 8, 1847, with the 11th serving in Pillow's Division at the Battle of El Molino del Rey, Irwin was seriously wounded at the head of his company. Following recuperation, now brevetted as a major for his bravery, he returned to Lewistown with his company in August, 1848. He enlisted as a private immediately after the firing on Fort Sumner, serving in the "Logan Guards" helping to secure the national capital from sudden attack. He was named soon after as the colonel of the 7th Pennsylvania Volunteers, a ninety days enlistment unit that participated in the early push down the Shenandoah Valley in June and July 1861. Following the mustering out of the 7th, he assisted in the raising and organizing of Pennsylvania units until he was appointed colonel of the 49th Pennsylvania Infantry in late 1861. During the training of that unit, he was involved in controversy when several officers under his command filed charges and he was tried under court martial early in 1862 for drunkenness and "conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline." He was acquitted on the first charge but convicted on the second, which drew him an inconsequential suspended punishment. He went on to lead the 49th with distinction in the Peninsula Campaign and was appointed as a brigade commander in the 2nd Division of the VI Corps for the advance into Maryland that culminated at Antietam in September 1862. His 3rd Brigade fought well during the battle and Irwin was commended. The next major engagement for the unit was at Fredericksburg when, on April 29, 1863, crossing the river in the pontoons under fire, Irwin was wounded in the foot. In October, 1863, increasing troubled by illness and wounds and suffering from mental exhaustion, he was declared unfit for field service and he resigned his commission. Following the war, he was named as a brevet brigadier general for his service and his conduct at Antietam. Book “By-Laws of Lewistown Lodge, No. 203, At Lewistown, Amended & Adopted, May 27, 1845.” Printed by James Cunningham, 1846, with nice red leather cover embossed in gold with the name “William H. Irwin” and evidently carried by William H. Irwin during his stint in the Mexican War, as it contains a 3pp. letter on the front fly leaf, and reads “Puebla, Mexico, July 20, 1847, Now that I am distant from my Brethren of Lewistown Lodge no. 203 how often do I think of them with fraternal kindness...The declining state of my health & the chance of a fierce battle impending render it doubtful whether I shall ever see home & friends again. But I desire to bear now my testimony in favor of Masonry. Since my entrance into the Army I have found many warm friends & many true Brothers - Masonic friendship has been most cordially extended to me & here the noble art shines with peculiar honor. It has united a band of officers like brothers & they are fully prepared to stand by each other to the Death. Should I never see ye again, my distant friends & Brothers, I leave you my heart’s best wishes & prayers. I have sustained my reputation as a soldier & a gentleman ye will not permit any foul tongue to defame & blacken it. I have done my duty even when my dibilitated system almost refused to sustain me. I trust my friends will do their duty to me & permit no blot upon my name...” Near fine condition.
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