William D. Peterson

Peterson was born in 1835. When he enlisted in July or August of 1861, he was about 26 years old. He proved to be one of the most able members of Company C. He was wounded, losing the first finger of his left hand, in the Battle of Williamsburg on May 5, 1862. Peterson was promoted repeatedly—from Private to Corporal to Sergeant to First Sergeant to Second Lieutenant. Holding that final rank, he was in command of company C at the end of the war.

According to letters from Pvt. William S. Ferree to his father, in 1862 William Peterson carried letters  from his company to relatives back home in Coal Bluff and Limetown, PA, south of Pittsburgh, and brought back clothing from families to their soldiers.

After the war, Peterson was married on August 22, 1867, in New Orleans, LA. Back in Pennsylvania, he applied for a pension at age 55 in June 1890. He died in McKeesport, PA, on February 6, 1892.

William J. Kier

Kier enlisted in Company C on August 27, 1861. He was about 24 years old and lived in Pittsburgh with his wife. He had married Martha A. Burkhart in 1858 in Pittsburgh. The couple later had two daughters, born in August 1865 and in 1868. Both daughters married and moved first to Elizabeth and then to Sutersville, PA.

In January 1893, Kier applied for a pension, claiming that he had sustained a shell wound in his right side and right foot. Thirty-one men of Sutersville signed an affidavit that he was “unable to work and in needy circumstances.” However, his claim was rejected.

Kier applied again in 1907 and was granted a pension of $15 per month, because he was more than 70 years old and had rheumatism, heart disease, lumbago, and kidney disease. In this second application, Kier said that he had been sick on the day of the Battle of Malvern Hill but had taken part in it and had continued to be ill during the regiment’s time at Harrison’s Landing. The regimental doctor diagnosed his problem as a “disordered liver.” Kier claimed he had contracted rheumatism after Gettysburg and suffered from it the rest of his life.

(additional note/ John H. Niebaum, History of the Pgh Washington Infantry, roster pg. 134): Private Wm. J. Kier; mustered in August 27, 1861, Wounded at Spottsylvania C. H., Va., May 18, 1864; discharged Sept. 3, 1864, expiration of term.