b. 19/01/1839 Batavia, New York. d. 13/10/1908 Washington DC.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 18/07/1861 Blackburn’s Ford, Virginia.
Charles F Rand MOH
Rand was born in Batavia, New York, on January 19, 1839, to James Rand and Angeline Smith Rand. He worked as a printer until the Civil War broke out when he was 22. Rand volunteered for military service when a telegram was read in Batavia announcing Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers.
He was the first to join the Union war efforts from Batavia, and was one of the first in the country to do so. His unit, Company K of the 12th New York Volunteers, traveled to Virginia and fought at Blackburn’s Ford during the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. When part of his regiment fled the battle, Rand remained, continued to fight using an old musket, and joined another unit. During the Battle of Gaine’s Mill in June 1862, Rand was shot in the shoulder, captured, and imprisoned at Savage’s Station, Virginia. He was exchanged soon thereafter, and mustered out to the Veteran Reserve Corps on August 30, 1862, as a 1st lieutenant. At the end of the war he assisted with Reconstruction in Texas as sub-assistant commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.
In 1873, Rand earned a medical degree from Georgetown University. He practiced medicine in Batavia from 1879 to 1889. He married Louise Catherine Wheeler in 1889 and moved to Washington, D.C.
MOH CITATION:
Remained in action when a part of his regiment broke in disorder, joined another company, and fought with it through the remainder of the engagement.
BURIAL LOCATION: ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA.
SECTION 1, GRAVE 125-B.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: HOLLAND LAND OFFICE MUSEUM, BATAVIA, NEW YORK.
