Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Massachusetts Minuteman Medal awarded to Private D. M. Sidlinger, 6th Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, later Private, Company D, 17th United States Infantry

Massachusetts Minuteman Medal, bronze (Daniel M. Sidlinger, Prvt. B. 6th. Regt.) extremely fine £240-£280

Daniel M. Sidlinger was born in Maine in 1839 and enlisted in Company B, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia at Townsend, Massachusetts, on 20 May 1861. He was mustered out at Boston on 2 August 1861. Two months later he enlisted on 29 October 1861 for three years in Company D, 1st Battalion, of the newly formed 17th United States Infantry which saw heavy duty with the Army of the Potomac in all of its major engagements before being removed from the line in October 1864.

In 1862 he served in the Seven Days Battle, at Second Bull Rim, Antietam and Fredericksburg, where he was wounded. In 1863 the regiment was engaged at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and in the Bristoe and Mine Run Campaigns. The following year it was engaged in the battles of the Overland (Rapidan) Campaign and in the battles of the Siege of Petersburg. It was ordered to duty at Fort Lafayette in New York Harbour in October 1864 and Sidlinger was mustered out on 29 October of that year.

After the war Siflinger returned to Maine for a while but for over 20 years down to his death he lived in the small community of Sabula, Jackson County, Iowa. In 1894 he joined the Chauncey Lawrence Post No. 163 of the Grand Army of the Republic (Department of Iowa). He was awarded an invalids pension in 1895 and he died on 6 April 1919, being buried in Oak Shade Cemetery, Marion, Linn County, Iowa.

The Massachusetts Minuteman Medal
In 1902 the State of Massachusetts authorised the production of the Minuteman medal to be awarded to all ‘3 month’ Militiamen who answered Lincoln’s ‘first call’ for troops in April of 1861. The medals themselves were issued with officially impressed naming, giving the name, rank and unit of the soldier, in a similar style to British Campaign medals. Approximately 3,800 veterans were eligible to claim this medal; however, as they were only awarded on application, many remained unissued. Overall, approximately 159,000 men from this State fought for the Union, thus only a fraction actually received a medal. Of the men that were in these original Militia units, the majority went on to serve in other units during the War.

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