Francis A. Wilson

“Frank,” as he was known, was born in 1837, the youngest of three sons of George and Mary Anas Wilson of Philadelphia. He married Irish-born Elizabeth Jane Dunbar in 1859 and was a stonecutter when a call for volunteer soldiers was made two years later. 

He enlisted with Company B of the 95th Pennsylvania Infantry for two years, and then for another three, accompanied by a promotion to Corporal. His regiment participated in the major campaigns at Antietam in1862 and Gettysburg in 1863. The Pennsylvania Memorial at Gettysburg National Military Park pays tribute to the 95th with this plaque, where Frank is one of six corporals listed in Company B. He also took part in several battles in Virginia in 1864. Nine months after a furlough, his wife gave birth to their only child, Mary. 

The months-long siege of Petersburg culminated on April 2, 1865, and it was that very day that Frank’s company captured two Confederate “batteries,” each battery being a cluster of four “guns” or cannons and the men operating them. The Medal of Honor was awarded to Frank on June 25, 1880 for his bravery during the fall of Petersburg, leading to the South’s surrender a week later. His citation says he “was among the first to penetrate the enemy’s lines and himself captured a gun of the two batteries captured.”

The 95th then pursued Lee to Appomattox where Frank no doubt witnessed the laying down of arms. He was mustered out July 17, 1865 and returned to his work as a stonecutter until the last three years of his life. He succumbed to tuberculosis on July 11, 1888. 

His wife died in 1903 and was buried with Frank. Their daughter was married in 1891, and both she and her husband joined her parents here as well.