Brimfield, Ohio
b. 1844 d. 1932
Twitchell was an 18-year-old farmer when he joined Co. F of the 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry in the summer of 1861.
The 7th Ohio saw heavy duty in both the western and eastern theaters of the war. Its losses in killed and wounded were staggering. In August 1862, Twitchell was wounded in the left hand at the battle at Cedar Mountain, Virginia. After the battle at Gettysburg in 1863, Twitchell was promoted to corporal.
When the 7th Ohio was mustered out in the summer of 1864, Twitchell and some of the other men from the 7th reenlisted in the 5th Ohio Infantry.
Assigned to Pioneer Corps
Twitchell was assigned to the Pioneer Corps, an early version of the construction battalion. It was dangerous work, men often being the targets of Confederate sharpshooters, and often working in advance or well behind the main army.
Twitchell was with Sherman’s army when it made its March to the Sea and when it then moved up the east coast to Virginia in the waning months of the war. Twitchell’s diary entries give brief, but detailed word pictures of foraging, tearing up railroad tracks, and marching into Washington D.C. to a grand review of the troops after the war ended.
Remembers Meeting Lincoln
Twitchell returned to Brimfield in July 1865. He married Louise Zellers in 1867 and spent the rest of his life working the family farm.
In later years in a newspaper article, Twitchell would recall his war experiences, as well as meeting President Lincoln and shaking his hand. He died in 1932, and he and Louise are buried in Rest Land Cemetery in Brimfield. His descendants still live in the old family farmhouse.