Captain Augustus McGill

Augustus McGill: A Keeper of Names, Though His Own Was Slighted, by Christine Applegate
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Augustus McGill was born September 1, 1828, in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, to John McGill and Isabella Ryan—faithful Methodists and determined settlers. The middle child of seven, Augustus seemed built for work. By 1840, while his older siblings were still at home, he had already taken up employment—teaching in winter months, working in the oil production industry, auditing county records, handling mail as postmaster, and still returning home to work the family farm. His hands were always busy, but his mind even more so. Raised in a family steeped in public service and Democratic politics, Augustus chose his own course—aligning instead with the Republican party. He didn’t follow blindly. He believed in liberty, and he acted on conviction, not convention.

In the summer of 1861, when the Union called, he was among the first to answer, enlisting in Company F of the 83rd Pennsylvania Volunteers. He fought bravely in the thick of battle—Yorktown, Gaines’ Mill, Malvern Hill, Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg—rising through the ranks from sergeant to first sergeant, then lieutenant. In Fredericksburg, he was wounded. In White Plains, Virginia, exposure and camp sickness struck hard—rheumatism in the joints, trouble in the chest. He was honorably discharged in early 1863, unfit for the field but still full of duty.

When Lee’s men crossed into Pennsylvania later that year, Augustus raised Company D of the 56th Pennsylvania Militia and was chosen captain by his men. They guarded the vital railways and marched where they were needed. And when that service ended, he enlisted once more—December 1863—this time in the Adjutant General’s Office, Third Brigade, First Division, Fifth Army Corps. Through the brutal Wilderness Campaign and on to Appomattox, Augustus served where the papers were written, the orders given, and the records kept. The bitter irony is not lost on us now—that a man who chronicled so much was, himself, misremembered.

He mustered out in June of 1865, his health permanently broken. The war had left him crippled—walking with a brace, battling unrelenting muscle pain, suffering cardiac issues that would follow him for life. Still, he tried to farm. Still, he served—postmaster, auditor, justice of the peace, notary, newspaper editor. He helped where he could, even as his body faltered.

He married Sarah Peiffer in 1855, and together they raised three children. In time, he said goodbye to each—his daughter Lillie died in 1896, then his wife in 1906, and daughter Isabella in 1909. These weren’t losses he could shoulder or bury himself; he could barely stand. They were blows he endured, in sorrow and in silence. After that, life grew quieter. He spent time in the National Home for Disabled Soldiers in Ohio, then returned to Pennsylvania, where he would live out his last years.

Yet Augustus gave us more than battle records and public service. In 1910, he published the book that preserved us--The McGills, Celts, Scots, Ulstermen and American Pioneers—a careful, loving history of his kin from ancient Ireland through Ulster and over to America. He wrote it not for profit, but for us—to hold fast to who we are. It is a work of devotion, one he undertook while bent with pain, but steady in spirit. Through this book, he gave voice to those long gone, names to the forgotten, and honor to the quiet lives that built our family’s path.

And yet, when he died in Erie on January 8, 1918, aged 89, his death certificate read: Father unknown. Mother unknown.
His headstone, after all his service, says: Lieutenant Augustus McGill.
Not Captain. It wasn’t inaccurate—but it wasn’t just.
Captain Augustus McGill is buried in Brookhouser Cemetery, Hayfield Township, Pennsylvania, beneath that quiet stone. But let this stand as part of his true memorial: that he served faithfully, suffered nobly, loved deeply, and recorded a history no stone could contain.

Buried at Brookhouser Cemetery
Hayfield Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania
PlotbSection B Lot 1
with his beloved wife Sarah Peiffer McGill.
​findAgrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42387237/augustus-mcgill

Biography of Capt. Augustus McGill

​From: Counties of Howard and Tipton, Indiana Historical and Biographical
Charles Blanchard, Editor, Published by F. A. Bettey & Co., Chicago 1883.

Capt. Augustus McGill - Tipton Co., Indiana
CAPT. AUGUSTUS McGILL came to Tipton County in July, 1882, and purchased a place adjoining the corporate limits of Windfall. He is of Celtic descent, his ancestors having come to the colony of Pennsylvania anteriorto the Revolution, in which both his grandfathers were continental soldiers and comrades; together they wintered at Valley Forge, crossed the Delaware on the ice under the eye of Washington, and together took part in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. They subsequently settled in Crawford County, Penn., where the subject of this sketch was born in 1828. Augustus became a surveyor and school teacher, and taught at various points until 1855, when he married. In 1856, he was appointed Postmaster of his native town, and subsequently served one term as County Auditor.
In. August, 1861, he enlisted in the Eighty third Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and served, with the exception of one short interval, through the war. He took part in the siege of Yorktown and the battles of Hanover Court House, Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mills, Malvern Hill, second Bull Run, Antietam and Fredericksburg, at the last place receiving injuries which necessitated his retiring for a short time from active service. In June, 1863, Lee invaded Pennsylvania while Capt. McGill was at home an invalid. Gov. Curtin issued a call for three months' men, and in less than twenty four hours the Captain was on his way to Pittsburgh with a full company. After the repulsion of the enemy, the Captain returned to the Army of the Potomac, went through Grant's campaign in the Wilderness, was in the assault on Cold Harbor, the advance on Petersburg, the capture of the Norfolk and Weldon Railroad, etc. In the spring of 1865, he was in the last campaign against Lee, and was at Lewis' Farm, Boydton Road and Five Forks and many other fights, and was present at Lee's surrender. Since the war, the Captain has served ten years as magistrate in his native town, and successfully pursued other vocations suited to his crippled condition. His son, William R. McGill, is a young man of estimable qualities, is also a resident of this township, and is engaged in farming.

From: Counties of Howard and Tipton, Indiana Historical and Biographical
Charles Blanchard, Editor, Published by F. A. Bettey & Co., Chicago 1883.