Richard N Batchelder

Richard was born on the 27th of July 1832, in Lakeport, New Hampshire, where he grew up with his father being a state representative. After grade school, he became a businessman and then joined the Union Army in May of 1861, at the age of 29. Richard was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the 1st New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry and by March of 1862 was the division quartermaster as a Captain. It was his actions as a Lieutenant Colonel and chief quartermaster of the Army’s Second Corps on the 13th of October 1863, that would later earn him the Medal of Honor. The citation reads:

Being ordered to move his trains by a continuous day-and-night march, and without the usual military escort, armed his teamsters and personally commanded them, successfully fighting against heavy odds and bringing his trains through without the loss of a wagon.

Richard would go on to become the chief quartermaster for the Army of the Potomac and in June of 1865, transferred from the volunteer service to the Regular Army as a Captain. In 1866, President Johnson nominated Richard for the appointment to the rank of Brigadier General of volunteers, which was approved by the US Senate, and Richard was then nominated and approved for the appointment to the rank of Brigadier General in the Regular Army in 1869.

On the 26th of 1890, he became the 18th Quartermaster General of the US Army and he retired from the Army on the 27th of July 1896, after 35 years of service. I did not find any record of marriage and on the 4th of January 1901, Richard Napoleon Batchelder died at the age of 68. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery: Section 2, Grave 998.