Who is this person?

[Steve]

(10-04-2018 05:50 AM)AussieMick Wrote:  Wow! Well done, Roger.

For the benefit of others that dont know of Alonzo (although I suspect some of you knew of him before I did, even if you didnt guess him from my weird 'hints' ... I only came across him last week) :-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonzo_G._...f-Reid_1-1

and

http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.c...-activist/
(hence why I thought David might have a better chance of arriving at the answer)

Apparently he was a 'disciplinarian' towards his troops. He died when training troops in Texas. Now I have no evidence for this and I am open to being accused of being disrespectful ... but its well known that on manoeuvres or during target practice unpopular officers tend to get themselves accidentally shot.

Bvt. Brig. Gen. Alonzo G. Draper was shot a few days after he received word that he was being relieved of command of the 36th USCT and reassigned as commander of the military post at Indianola.

On August 30, 1865 Draper was riding outside of camp with his orderly and fell off of his horse. His orderly dismounted and after turning Draper over realized that he had been shot in the back, rushing him to the post surgeon. No firearms discharge was heard before Draper fell, indicating the shot had been fired at some distance away. No one else was seen in the area. An investigation was conducted to try and determine if the shooting had been intentional but it was inconclusive. But it was assumed that the shot had been fired accidentally.

Here's a couple of links:

https://books.google.com/books?id=Dyljlm...ot&f=false

and

https://books.google.com/books?id=JtiKkX...go&f=false

Here's a copy of Draper's obituary from the 26 Sept. 1865 Boston Evening Traveller:

   

**** ALONZO G. DRAPER LINCOLN-RELATED BONUS FACT! ****

Before he was the commander of the 36th USCT, Draper had been the captain of Company C, 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. In 1862 that company had been assigned to Fort Richardson, one of the protective forts encircling Washington, DC. On May 28, 1862 one of the soldiers of Draper's company deserted after being granted a day pass. That soldier was Pvt. Arthur Edward Bixby and two years later President Lincoln would send Bixby's mother a famous letter of condolence, erroneously counting Edward as one of hers sons who had been killed during the war.