Theodore Alonzo Irvine was born in New York. He was 18 when he was mustered into military service on December 23, 1861. He was assigned to serve in Company C on Feb 10, 1862. Irvine had a light complexion, blue eyes and sandy colored hair. He was the 5' 8" younger brother of William Newell Irvine of Company D. Both brothers were better known by their middle names. William was known as Newell and Theodore went by Alonzo. They left at home a brother by the name of Algernon. Newell and Alonzo wrote letters home to both their father and their brother. Alonzo was one who was used to replaced the ranks of the First Minnesota after it had been thinned by losses due to disease and battle injuries. He and 20 other men of the First were taken prisoner at the battle at Antietam in September of 1862. He was mentioned a letter, probably written by his brother, William, on Sept 21, 1862 from Antietam, Md. While correcting for spelling and grammatical errors it reads in part, "Alonzo was taken prisoner. One of our corporals was wounded and lay on the field and seen Alonzo taken. Alonzo gave him his canteen. The corporal said if it had not been for Alonzo he would have died. He lay on the battlefield 2 days before he was got off. He was shot through the breast. Lon was not hurt. We stood our ground too long. They came very near taking all of us. They got around our left before we got back at all and then we had to go by the right flank. We could not go back the way we went for the rebels were there. This drove our line on our left and our regt held the ground till the enemy got clear in the rear of us and a great many of them could not get out and did not keep up with the regt. There was 20 taken with Alonzo." In November 1862, Alonzo was able to write a letter to his brother, William. In it he said that he thought he might be sent to Benton Barracks, Missouri to involved in a prisoner exchange. This was a point where both sides were returning soldiers to the other side. In December 1862, a prisoner exchange took place. Alonzo and the other captured veterans form the First were returned to the regiment, arriving at their camp at Falmouth, VA, on Dec 19th. When the unit was mustered out, on May 5, 1864, Alonzo was transferred to the First Battalion of Minnesota Infantry to finish out his term of service. He was again wounded, this time at Petersburg on June 22, 1864. He and many other men of the First were captured and sent to Andersonville Prison. When Sherman's troops threatened to capture Andersonville he and six other men from the Battalion were shipped up to a prison in Florence SC. Suffering from his wound and in very poor health, he was paroled by the Rebels in December. He was sent to his old home in New York, but died a few weeks later on January 8, 1865. Sources: Descriptive List of Company C, Minnesota Historical Society. Company C Report, December, 1862. St Paul Daily Union, St Paul, MN, Jan 7, 1863, p 1. Letter from William N Irvine, 9-21-62, Private collection. Letter from William N Irvine, 11-12-62, Private collection. Roster of the First Minnesota Infantry, 1910. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
