Person:Stephen Wardwell (6)

"Stephen, the eldest of the 12 living children of Matilda Ann (Ackland) and Simon Willard Wardwell, was born on June 4, 1837, in Baltimore, Maryland. His father was a bootmaker at the time, and the family followed the building of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as it moved westward across Maryland. In the Spring of 1860, while living in Frankville, the mother died, age 42. The family again moved westward, but by now Stephen, 23, was on his own and did not settle with the family at Oakland, near the West Virginia border.

When the 6th Massachusetts Regiment marched through Baltimore on the 19th of April, 1861, Stephen's brother, Ernest, was attending the Adams School in Baltimore. Ernest became famous in Maryland history as "the boy in the crowd" for he helped these troops get through the city, and thereafter joined their forces.

Stephen, unlike his brother, joined the "Stars and Bars", enlisting in Company G, Louisiana 13th Infantry. The unit saw action throughout the war.

By Spring of 1863, Stephen had been wounded and captured by Union forces. He was taken to the Union hospital in Baltimore for recouperation, and here encountered his brother Ernest, also recouperating from wounds. Through Ernest good efforts, Stephen became a part of a prisoner exchange.

On April 17, 1864, General Grant halted the prisoner exchange program, feeling that the Confederacy was violating the agreement, and returning its soldiers to the fields of battle immediately.

In 1865, Stephen's father, Simon Willard Wardwell, was elected a Delegate from Allegany County to the Maryland House of Delegates, which sat at Annapolis. Of Stephen's life after the Civil War nothing is known." -Marjorie Wardwell Otten

1. ↑ Genealogy of the Wardwell Family of Andover, MA Enders Robinson.