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Civil War Soldiers - Copeland
| Copeland, Joseph T.,
brigadier-general, U.S. Army, was born in Michigan about 1830.
Entering the 1st Mich. cavalry, which was organized in the summer of
1861, he was elected lieutenant-colonel on Aug. 22, fought through the
Manassas campaign and then returned to Detroit in July, 1862. There he
organized the 5th Mich. cavalry, of which he became colonel on Aug.
14, and on Nov. 29, 1862, he was appointed brigadier-general of
volunteers and assigned to command the Michigan cavalry brigade, then
forming in Washington. The brigade was a part of Hooker's cavalry, and
was in Maryland after Lee crossed the Potomac. They were the first
troops to enter Gettysburg, but, with other changes of commanders then
carried out, Gen. Copeland transferred his command to Gen. Custer just
before the battle, July 1, 1863. Subsequently he commanded a draft
rendezvous at Annapolis Junction, Md., and at Pittsburg, Pa., and was
then, until the close of the war, commander of the post and military
prison at Alton, Ill. He died May 6, 1893.
Source: The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal
States 1861-1865, Volume 8 Biographical, 1908
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