John Lyman Chatfield

John Lyman Chatfield (1826–1863) was a Union Army colonel in the American Civil War. He was mortally wounded while assaulting Fort Wagner, South Carolina on July 18, 1863, and died on August 9, 1863.

Early life Chatfield was born September 13, 1826, at Oxford, Connecticut. He moved to Waterbury, Connecticut with his brothers in 1851. He joined the City Guard in 1854 and was made first lieutenant.

American Civil War

When President Lincoln issued his call for 75,000 men, Chatfield and his company signed up and left for New Haven on April 20, 1861. His company was the first accepted by the Governor.

Chatfield was appointed major of the 1st Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry (3 months) on April 23, 1861, and lieutenant colonel of that regiment on May 10, 1861.

On October 21, 1862, Major General Mitchel gave command of an expedition for the purpose of destroying track and bridges of the Charleston and Savannah Railroad in Jasper County, South Carolina to Brigadier General John M. Brannan, commander of the First Brigade of the Union force. Mitchel already had contracted yellow fever, from which he was to die on October 30, 1862. Brannan gave command of the First Brigade, which was heavily engaged in the Battle of Pocotaligo on October 22, 1862, to Colonel Chatfield.

On July 18, 1863, Brigadier General George Crockett Strong ordered an attack by Chatfield in cooperation with Haldimand S. Putnam, Quincy Adams Gillmore, Robert Gould Shaw, and Truman Seymour on Confederate Fort Wagner on Morris Island, South Carolina south of the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina. While leading his men in an attack on the Fort's front, Chatfield was mortally wounded. The funeral was attended by General Robert Anderson, the defender of Fort Sumter and William Alfred Buckingham, Governor of Connecticut.

On September 13, 1887, a bronze statue was unveiled at Riverside Cemetery in his memory. The life-size statue of Chatfield was designed by George Edwin Bissell and was placed atop a seven-foot granite pedestal. The unveiling ceremony included members of the Sixth regiment and the First Light battery. A speech from General Stephen Wright Kellogg during the ceremony referenced Chatfield's courage and patriotism.