On September 14, 1862, General Jesse Lee Reno was killed during the Battle of South Mountain in Maryland. The Wheeling native was the highest-ranking Union general from present-day West Virginia to be killed during the Civil War.                       Reno graduated in the same West Point class that included George McClellan and another cadet from Western Virginia: Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. During the Mexican War, Reno served in a howitzer battery and was wounded at the Battle of Chapultepec.                                                                          Three months before the start of the Civil War, he was commanding a federal arsenal in Alabama, when it was seized by pro-Confederate state forces. In late 1861, he was called east to command a brigade, which he led during Ambrose Burnside’s expedition through coastal North Carolina. Promoted to brevet major general, Reno’s division took part in the Union debacle at Second Manassas and temporarily commanded Burnside’s 9th Corps.                                                                                 Jesse Lee Reno was mortally wounded during the struggle for South Mountain—trying to repel Robert E. Lee’s invasion of Maryland. Three days later, members of the 9th Corps charged into battle at Antietam with the cry of “Remember Reno.”

On April 24, 1861, shortly after the outbreak of the American Civil War, James Allen enlisted in Company F of the 16th New York Infantry.

He earned the Medal of Honor for gallantry in action at the Battle of South Mountain on September 14, 1862. During the battle, Allen singlehandedly captured 14 Confederate soldiers of the 16th Georgia Infantry, who had mistakenly believed they were opposed by a superior force. Allen also captured a Confederate flag in this action.

Allen was discharged along with the rest of the 16th New York in May 1863, but continued to serve the Union cause as a member of the railroad service.

Allen was awarded the Medal of Honor on September 11, 1890.                                                                                                         After the war, Allen lived in St. Paul, Minnesota and was a member of the Garfield Post of the Grand Army of the Republic.             Allen died on August 31, 1913, and was laid to rest in the Oakland Cemetery in St. Paul.

At 27 years old Samuel enlisted in the 2nd Mississippi Co. B in 1861. He was captured at South Mountain and held at Fort Delaware. He lived until 1895.