b. 19/03/1838 Lewiston, Maine. d. 21/01/1900 Rhode Island.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 29/03 – 09/04/1865 Appomattox Campaign, Virginia.
Edward P Tobie MOH
Born on March 19, 1838, in Lewiston, Maine, Edward Parsons Tobie Jr. was a son of abolitionist Edward Parsons Tobie, Sr. (1800–1875) and his first wife, Caroline (Frye) Tobie (1804–1838).
Following his enrollment in Maine for Civil War military service, Edward P. Tobie Jr. officially mustered in for duty as a sergeant with Company G of the 1st Maine Volunteer Cavalry. He then participated with his regiment in a number of the Union Army’s most important engagements of the war, including 1862’s First Battle of Winchester (May 25) and battles of Cedar Mountain (August 9), Second Bull Run (August 28–30), South Mountain (September 14), Antietam (September 17), and Fredericksburg (December 11–15); 1863’s Stoneman’s Raid, Battle of Brandy Station (June 9), during which he was taken prisoner after being wounded, and the battles of Gettysburg (July 1–3), and Mine Run (November 7 to December 2); and 1864’s battles of Todd’s Tavern (May 7), Haw’s Shop (May 28), Old Church (May 30), Cold Harbor (May 31 to June 12), Trevilian Station (June 11–12), St. Mary’s Church (June 24), Deep Bottom I/Gravel Hill (July 27–29), Ream’s Station II (August 25), and Boydton Plank Road (October 27–28).
During the spring of 1865, Tobie then performed the act of valor for which he would ultimately be awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor. Despite having been severely wounded in action during the Battle of Sailor’s Creek, Virginia on April 6, 1865, and again at Farmville on April 7, he refused hospitalization, choosing instead to remain with his regiment in order to perform the duties of the 1st Maine’s regimental adjutant who had recently fallen in combat. Those duties included services rendered by Tobie at Appomattox.
Following his honorable discharge from the military, Tobie returned home to New England. On September 14, 1870, he and his wife, Adeline (Phipps) Tobie, welcomed the birth of son, Edward (1870–1952). They made their home initially in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was employed as the assistant to the editor of the Providence Journal.
Sometime during the 1870s, Tobie was appointed as the historian of his former Civil War regiment, which had been reconstituted as the First Maine Cavalry Association, and charged with researching and writing that regiment’s history. The result was the 1887 publication of History of the First Maine Cavalry 1861-1865.
Preceded in death by his wife, Addie, in Rhode Island on April 25, 1891, and ailing with Bright’s Disease, Edward P. Tobie Jr. died shortly after the turn of the century, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on January 21, 1900.
MOH CITATION:
Though severely wounded at Sailors Creek, 6 April, and at Farmville, 7 April, refused to go to the hospital, but remained with his regiment, performed the full duties of adjutant upon the wounding of that officer, and was present for duty at Appomattox.
BURIAL LOCATION: SWAN POINT CEMETERY, PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.
LOT 8, GROUP 178.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: BELIEVED TO BE FAMILY.
