Portrait and biographical album of Ingham and Livingston counties, Michigan, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the counties ... the governors of the state and of all the presidents of the United States.

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM. _. 411 all been accumulated during the last nineteen years. Last year he built the Mediums' Home at Haslett's Park at Pine Lake. He is a friend to all mediums, and often advances money for their necessities. 17 LEXAND)ER CAMERON. The brave spirit of the Scottish Highlanders has descended lfl l through the North of Ireland to America QIA/ and has in innumerable cases displayed its gallant colors upon the battlefield. We are proud to give a resume of the life of one of our BritishAmerican citizens who has done valiant service for the cause of his adopted country and has also the additional distinction of being one of the oldest settlers of Lansing, having come here in 1858. Mr. Cameron was born in the North of Ireland, of Scotch parentage, August 26, 1830, and there he received his education and was engaged as agent for a manufacturing establishment until after his marriage. His bride was Miss Sophia Wheeler who was born in Cornwall, England. Thence she came to Ireland with her parents and there met and married our subject. In the fall of 1856 the young couple came to Philadelphia and two years later emigrated to Lansing, Ingham County, when the population was only three thousand. Mr. Cameron devoted his time partly to teaching and partly to business until the breaking out of the Civil War when he left home and took up arms to maintain the honor of the old flag. Our young hero enlisted in Company G, Sixteenth Michigan Infantry, which body was made a part of the Army of the Potomac and passed through all the regular engagements of that division until the battle of Gaines' Mills. In that engagement Mr. Cameron was wounded in the leg and sent to the hospital at Annapolis, June 27, 1862. I-e received treatment there until the latter part of August when he returned to his regiment and was with his command up to the time of the battle of Gettysburg, with the exception of a short period of time when he was detailed on special service. At Gettysburg our subject, who had been promoted to the rank of a Lieutenant, was in command of his company and received first a wound in his arm and afterward a bullet through the lower lobe of his right lung. His arm was amputated on the field and he was then removed to the West Building Hospital in Baltimore and from there was sent Ihome, reaching Lansing the 14th of July, 1863. At the time of the battle he was reported dead and as it was impossible in the midst of that confusion and disaster to get letters written home, Mr. Cameron prevailed upon his companions to bolster him iup in bed the third day after his arm was amputated and to furnish him with a shingle, a bit of paper and a pencil. With his left hand he then wrote by slow degrees a letter to his wife, telling her that he was alive and that he had lost his arm. Iis gallant conduct in the battle of Gettysburg earned for him a recommendation for promotion by the unanimous voice of all the officers of the regiment. i In the latter part of August Lieut. Cameron returned to his regiment and took part in the battle of Blandy Station, after which he was with the army on its retreat to Culpeper. I-e was was then transferred to the veteran Reserve Corps, and in September, 1863, was sent down to South Carolina and there was in command with his company, of St. Helena and Lady's Island during part of 1864. He now received the promotion from Second to First Lieutenant according to the recommendation of his commanding officer, and was placed in charge of the Ambulance Corps of the Department of the South as acting Captain, drawing pay as captain although lie failed to muster in as such. While in South Carolina he participated in the following battles in 1864: John and James Islands, Honey HIill and Deveaus' Neck. He was transferred to the North at the close of the war and for some months was stationed in Detroit and was finally mustered out June 30, 1866, having served five years. Upon returning home Mr. Cameron devoted himself again to business and teaching, and managed a grocery store. In 1869 lie was appointed to a position in the Auditor General's office under

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Title
Portrait and biographical album of Ingham and Livingston counties, Michigan, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the counties ... the governors of the state and of all the presidents of the United States.
Canvas
Page 411
Publication
Chicago :: Chapman brothers
1891.
Subject terms
Ingham County (Mich.) -- History.
Livingston County (Mich.) -- History.
Ingham County (Mich.)
Livingston County (Mich.)

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"Portrait and biographical album of Ingham and Livingston counties, Michigan, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the counties ... the governors of the state and of all the presidents of the United States." In the digital collection Michigan County Histories and Atlases. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/bad0936.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed March 20, 2025.
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