A close call, my boy

[Steve6thNYCav]

Answering the call to defend the Union was Alonzo Foster from Good Ground (now Hampton Bays). On October 15, 1861, Alonzo's 20th birthday, he volunteered to join what was to become the 6th New York Cavalry Regiment. The 5' 7" tall Alonzo had blue eyes, dark hair and a fair complexion. He trained on Staten Island, saw his first combat ("Seeing the Elephant") during the Seven Days Battles and lost his best friend at Trevilian Station. After the War, Alonzo described the fighting at Trevillian Station: "While kneeling beside a low stump, and firing my carbine so rapidly that the barrel was dangerously hot, a bullet passed through the top of my cap cutting the hair from my head close to my scalp. Captain Wales quietly remarked, 'A close call, my boy.' The cap I still retain as a memento of that day." This forage cap in the Southampton (New York) History Museum's collection is probably Alonzo's cap from that day. Alonzo was badly wounded, nearly losing his left hand, at a small battle near Deep Bottom, Virginia on July 26, 1864. After the war, Alonzo became the Keeper of the Pon Quogue (Shinnecock) lighthouse from 1866 to 1869. Alonzo then moved to Brooklyn, where he worked in the customs office and was active in New York veterans' activities. He died on September 11, 1913 and is buried in Good Ground Cemetery in Hampton Bays, New York.

 

[bayouace]

Well, not a good way to part one's hair. Amazing.

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

Could an expert weigh in on whether the bullet entered from the top and exited the front? That is the way it looks to me. In that case it could be "friendly fire" and not rebels that parted his hair.

 

[Steve6thNYCav]

Hard to see in this angle, but there is a nice exit hole at the back...

 

[Lampasas Bill]

Looks like he might have been leaning forward with his tilted head down, possible putting a round in his carbine. I guess we'll never know...

 

[JOHN42768]

Either way, I hope he had extra underwear with him.