Biography and Civil War Pension File Download– Captain Augustus McGill, Company F of the 83rd Pennsylvania Volunteers

Augustus McGill: A Keeper of Names, Though His Own Was Slighted

by Christine Applegate

Early Life and Family Background

Augustus McGill was born September 1, 1828, in Crawford County 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 did not follow blindly. He believed in liberty and acted on conviction rather than convention.

Civil War Service

In the summer of 1861, when the Union called, Augustus was among the first to answer, enlisting in Company F of the 83rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He fought in some of the war’s fiercest campaigns, including the Battle of Yorktown, Battle of Gaines' Mill, Battle of Malvern Hill, Second Battle of Bull Run, and Battle of Fredericksburg.

During his service, Augustus rose through the ranks from sergeant to first sergeant and eventually lieutenant. At Fredericksburg he was wounded, and while stationed near White Plains, Virginia, exposure and camp illness severely damaged his health. Rheumatism settled into his joints, and lingering chest problems followed him for the remainder of his life. He received an honorable discharge in early 1863, physically unfit for continued field service but still devoted to duty.

Returning to Service

When Confederate forces crossed into Pennsylvania later in 1863, Augustus organized Company D of the 56th Pennsylvania Militia and was elected captain by his men. The company guarded rail lines and served wherever needed during the emergency campaign.

After that enlistment ended, Augustus entered service once more in December 1863, joining the Adjutant General’s Office attached to the Third Brigade, First Division, Fifth Army Corps. Through the brutal Overland Campaign and onward to Appomattox Campaign, he worked where orders were written, records preserved, and history documented.

The irony remains difficult to ignore—that a man who spent so much of his life preserving the names and stories of others would later see parts of his own story diminished or forgotten.

Public Service and Personal Loss

Augustus mustered out in June 1865 with his health permanently damaged by war. He walked with a brace, suffered chronic muscular pain, and endured ongoing cardiac troubles for the rest of his life. Even so, he continued trying to build a life of usefulness and service.

Over the years he worked as a farmer, postmaster, auditor, justice of the peace, notary public, and newspaper editor. Though physically weakened, he remained committed to helping his community whenever he could.

He married Sarah Peiffer in 1855, and together they raised three children. In time, Augustus endured profound personal losses. His daughter Lillie died in 1896, his wife Sarah in 1906, and daughter Isabella in 1909. These were not losses he could physically carry with strength anymore, but sorrows he endured quietly as age and illness overtook him.

Later in life, Augustus spent time at the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Ohio before eventually returning to Pennsylvania.

Author of The McGills

In 1910, Augustus published what would become one of his greatest legacies: The McGills, Celts, Scots, Ulstermen and American Pioneers. The book carefully traced the McGill family from ancient Ireland through Ulster and eventually into America.

It was not written for profit or prestige. Augustus created it as an act of preservation—a gift for future generations. Bent by pain but steady in spirit, he gathered stories, records, and family memory into a lasting work of devotion.

Through its pages, he preserved voices that otherwise may have disappeared into silence. He gave names back to the forgotten and honored the quiet generations whose lives shaped the family’s path.

Death and Legacy

Augustus McGill died in Erie on January 8, 1918, at the age of 89. Yet even in death, history treated him imperfectly. His death certificate listed both parents simply as “unknown.”

His military headstone reads: “Lieutenant Augustus McGill.”

It was not inaccurate—but it was incomplete.

Captain Augustus McGill rests in Brookhouser Cemetery beneath a quiet stone. But his true memorial lives beyond any marker. He served faithfully, suffered deeply, loved his family fiercely, and preserved a history no monument could ever fully contain.

Biography of Capt. Augustus McGill

​From: Counties of Howard and Tipton, Indiana Historical and Biographical
by 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.

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

This American Civil War Veteran Pension File is available here thanks to Kerri Fawcett.

These Civil War pension records were obtained from the U.S. National Archives and are public domain government documents. They are shared here freely for historical and genealogical research.

A Note on Historical Events:
The stories and events shared here are part of our family’s history and the wider world’s past. They are told to remember and understand—not to celebrate or encourage conflict in today’s world.