Frank Wilkeson

Frank Wilkeson (March 8, 1848 – April 22, 1913) was an American journalist, soldier, farmer and explorer. He wrote several books, including an autobiography of his service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was among the first white men to explore and map the Cascade Pass in the state of Washington.

Wilkeson was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1848 to a prominent and wealthy family. He was the youngest son of famed journalist Samuel Wilkeson (1817–1889) and Catherine Cady, a sister of social activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Their next-door neighbor was U.S. President Millard Fillmore. One of his older brothers, Bayard Wilkeson, would be killed during the Civil War at the Battle of Gettysburg while commanding an artillery battery on what became known as Barlow's Knoll. Frank was educated at New London, Connecticut and at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.

Their father, Samuel Wilkeson, was a newspaper correspondent who covered the Civil War for The New York Times and was present at Gettysburg during the battle in which 19-year-old Bayard was killed. A year later, 14-year-old Frank ran away from home and on March 26, 1864, joined the Union Army. Claiming he was an 18-year-old farmer, young Wilkeson enlisted in the 11th Battery of the New York Light Artillery.

Wilkeson was sent to serve in the Army of the Potomac in Virginia, where he took part in the Overland Campaign of General Ulysses S. Grant. Wilkeson's unit was not actively engaged in the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5–6, 1864, so Wilkeson, overcome by youthful curiosity, took an unauthorized leave of absence from his battery and fought as an infantryman alongside elements of General Winfield Scott Hancock's Second Corps using a discarded musket he picked up on the battlefield. The following day he returned to his battery where he was punished for his absenteeism, then diligently remained with them during the subsequent Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, Battle of Cold Harbor, and opening stages of the Siege of Petersburg.

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