Philip Kershner was born around 1832 in Ohio. By 1850, he was working as a carpenter in Springfield, Ohio. A decade later, he was a “master carpenter,” and he owned $7,200 of real estate and $2,500 of personal property.

 

On April 23, 1861, he received a commission as a captain in Company E of the 16^th Ohio Infantry. The regiment spent the next several months in present-day West Virginia, and the regiment mustered out on August 18, 1861. He immediately reenlisted, mustering in as a major in the 16^th Ohio. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on August 27, 1862. He was wounded in the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou on December 29, 1862, but he eventually recovered and rejoined the regiment. He mustered out on October 31, 1864.

 

Kershner returned to Ohio after the war and resumed his work as a carpenter. He applied for a federal pension in December 1864 and eventually secured one. He married Anna R. Ramsay on February 22, 1865, and they had at least two children: Charles, born around 1866; and Annie, born around 1874. They moved to Detroit, Michigan, in the 1860s. He died in Detroit on February 3, 1897.

 

Image: Philip Kershner (courtesy Library of Congress)

SOURCES