David Handy

He was on his own in the big city. David was born in Delaware but, according to the 1860 census, he was living in a boarding house on Ogden Avenue, working as a plasterer. The job was steady because there was an influx of immigrants looking for housing.

His story is short, however, serving his country for a year and three months. He became Private Handy in Company C of the 71st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry on June 8, 1861. It joined with the 69th, 72nd, and 106th regiments to become known as the Philadelphia Brigade because that’s where most of the recruits were from. 

Assigned to the Army of the Potomac in the spring of 1862, the brigade participated in the Peninsula Campaign in southeastern Virginia. The last week of that effort in late June ended in defeat, failing to take the Confederate capital of Richmond in the Seven Days Battles against rebel forces led by General Robert E. Lee.

The action moved to Manassas, Virginia in late August, where the Second Battle of Bull Run was another Confederate victory. Lee then moved into Maryland, shifting the war onto Union soil. It was there along Antietam Creek that the bloodiest single-day battle took place. 

It was September 17, 1862 when David was killed along with 544 others from his brigade in as little as ten minutes. The total number of casualties (dead and wounded) on both sides was close to 23,000. (The Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 would see casualties of about 55,000 over a three-day period.) 

The Battle of Antietam was a victory for the Union. But the number of fatalities were evenly split in one regard: six generals were killed, three from each side, while 12 generals were wounded, six from each side.

The practice of shipping bodies home was not common during the Civil War, and most soldiers were buried where they fell. Someone from David’s family must have made arrangements to have his remains transported here. Burial took place on October 16, 1862. His grave is in the currently uncleared Section 58 behind the Circle of St. John.