Henry Alexander Frink was born on November 23, 1829, in Norwich, Connecticut, to Alexander and Mary Frink. He grew up and attended school in Norwich before enrolling at West Point in 1846. His teachers in Norwich testified that Frink’s “capabilities as a Scholar are unqualifiedly of the highest order,” and that he possessed “decided tact, resolution, and perseverance in acquiring knowledge.” He did not graduate, and he eventually began work as a civil engineer. He married Jane Lewis Hamersly sometime in the 1850s, and they had at least two children: Florence, born around 1858; and Ellis, born around 1862. By 1860, they were living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 

On November 27, 1861, Frink received a commission as a major in the 11^th Pennsylvania Infantry. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 10 inches tall, with light hair and blue eyes. He took part in the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the Overland Campaign.

 

He was injured in the Second Battle of Bull Run, and officials believed he had died. He eventually recovered and rejoined the regiment, and he earned a promotion to lieutenant colonel. He was promoted to colonel of the 186^th Pennsylvania Infantry on May 30, 1864, and he mustered out in Philadelphia on August 15, 1865. That October, he was brevetted brigadier general for “gallant and meritorious services during the war.”

 

Frink settled in Stonington, Connecticut, after the war and resumed his work as a civil engineer. He applied for a federal pension in September 1873 and eventually secured one. They moved to Westerly, Rhode Island, in the 1880s, and he died there on May 12, 1892.

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