Fisher A. Cleaveland was born around 1819 in Medfield, Massachusetts, to Bela Cleaveland and Hannah Adams. He married Jane H. Rounsevell on May 3, 1846, and they had at least three children: Hannah, born around 1847; Henry, born around 1849; and Harriet, born around 1851. They lived in Freetown, Massachusetts, and Cleaveland worked as a carpenter. By 1850, he owned $650 of real estate.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on August 7, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company I of the 35^th Massachusetts Infantry on August 16. He was wounded in the Battle of Antietam, probably losing his index finger. He remained in the army and eventually earned a promotion to corporal. The regiment took part in the Battle of Fredericksburg, the siege of Vicksburg, the Knoxville campaign, the Overland Campaign, the siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox campaign. He was wounded at Antietam, but he eventually recovered and rejoined the regiment. He eventually earned a promotion to corporal. He mustered out on June 9, 1865.

 

Cleaveland returned to Freetown after the war and resumed his work as a carpenter. He applied for a federal pension in December 1865 and eventually secured one. By 1870, he owned $500 of real estate and $500 of personal property. A decade later, he was working as a sash and blind maker. He died in Freetown on January 11, 1899.

 

Image: Fisher A. Cleaveland (courtesy David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University)

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