Edward DeWelden Brenneman, 1st Reg’t., P.R.V.C.

[Born in Pennsylvania – Appointed from Pennsylvania]
Military History. – Assistant Surgeon [1st Pennsylvania Reserves], June, 1861. Acting Assistant Surgeon of a Hospital at Alexandria, Va. Assistant Surgeon U.S. Army, April, 1862. With the 2nd and 3rd U.S. Infantry, 5th Corps, Army of the Potomac, July to August 1862. Hospital duty, Philadelphia, Penn, September, 1862, to March 1863. With the 12th U.S. Infantry, Army of the Potomac, April to December, 1863. With the 2nd Division, 5th Corps Field Hospital, and with the 3rd U.S. Infantry, 5th Corps, to February, 1864. Charge of Field Hospital, to April 1864. Special duty with division ambulance-train to May, 1864. Special duty, to July 1864. With General Grant”s escort and staff, to April, 1867. Brevet Major U.S. Army, for faithful and meritorious services during the war. Resigned, April, 1867.1


Edward DeWelden Brenneman

EDWARD DE WELDEN BRENNEMAN was born at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, August 14, 1839; his parents were Abraham N. and Mary De Welden Brenneman. He graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, on March 14, 1861, selecting osteosis as the subject of his thesis. On September 27, 1866, he married Marian D., daughter of William and Huldah Wilson, of Washington, D. C., and had by her a son and daughter. Upon the breaking out of the rebellion, he was appointed an Assistant Surgeon of the First Pennsylvania Reserves. After the expiration of the three months’ term of service, he became an Assistant Surgeon of the United States Army, and a member of General Grant’s Staff. Soon after the close of the war, he retired from the army and practised his profession in Washington City, D. C., where he died on October 10, 1870, of consumption, and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown, D. C. The doctor was an accomplished linguist, as he understood seven languages, and spoke five with fluency.  At the time of his death he was a member of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia.2

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Currently a resident of Burke, Virginia - I'm originally from the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I have been a student of the Pennsylvania Reserves since 1997 and thoroughly enjoy telling their story. By trade I'm a former IT Professional but presently working as a Letter Carrier for the United States Postal Service.

  1. Military Records of Civilian Appointments in the United States Army. By Guy V. Henry, Volume I. New York: D. Van Nostrand, Publisher, 1873.
  2. The Transactions of the American Medical Association. Instituted 1847. Vol. XXIII. Philadelphia: Printed for the Association. Collins, Printer, 765 Jayne Street, 1872. Pg. 581.