Augustus Wade Dwight
| Augustus Wade Dwight | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
February 27, 1827 Halifax, Vermont |
| Died | March 26, 1865 (aged 38) Petersburg, Virginia |
| Buried | Oakwood Cemetery |
| Allegiance |
United States of America Union |
| Service/branch | Infantry |
| Years of service | 1862–1865 |
| Rank | Colonel (acting) |
| Commands held | 122nd New York |
| Battles/wars | |
Augustus Wade Dwight (February 22, 1827 – March 26, 1865) was a lawyer who became an officer in the American Civil War. He served in 21 battles and was wounded three times, the last wound being fatal.
Augustus Wade Dwight was born February 22, 1827 in Halifax, Vermont, the oldest of nine children. His father was physician Morris Dwight of the New England Dwight family, born October 1, 1796, and mother was Minerva Bryant, born February 18, 1800. In 1829 the family moved to Cummington, Massachusetts as the father practiced medicine, and in 1839 to Poughkeepsie, New York where his father tried to raise mulberry trees. In 1840 they moved to LaFayette, New York.
Dwight enrolled in Yale College in September 1851; his distant cousin Theodore Dwight Woolsey was president of Yale at the time. However, he dropped out in February 1852 when he could not afford it. Instead he went to California to join the California Gold Rush. He studied law for a while in California. Somehow he ended up on a ship to the Hawaiian Islands, and from there to China. Returning to the US, he had circumnavigated the earth. He studied for the bar and was admitted to practice in Onondaga County, New York in 1859.
A year into the American Civil War, additional troops were being raised in Onondaga County. Dwight volunteered for the Union Army for what he thought would be a three-year enlistment. He was commissioned as Captain of Company E of the 122nd New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment on July 8, 1862. By August 28, 1862 was promoted to lieutenant colonel under Colonel Silas Titus, and was sent immediately into combat action as part of the Army of the Potomac.
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