Allyne Cushing Litchfield was born on July 15, 1835, in Hingham, Massachusetts, to Nicholas Litchfield and Anna Cushing. His father was a ship carpenter. Litchfield grew up and attended school in Boston, and he married Susan Carver on August 4, 1858. They had at least three children: Lawrence, born around 1862; Lucius, born around 1866; and Myra, born around 1876. They moved to Georgetown, Michigan, in the late 1850s, and he worked as a lumberman. By 1860, he owned $3,000 of real estate and $35,000 of personal property.

 

In August 1862, he received a commission as captain of Company B of the 5^th Michigan Cavalry. In November 1862, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 7^th Michigan Cavalry. Confederate forces captured him near Atlee Station, Virginia, on March 1, 1864, and imprisoned him at Libby Prison. They eventually transferred him to Camp Sorghum in Columbia, South Carolina. He was exchanged in March 1865, and he mustered out on May 26, 1865.

 

He settled in Northport, Michigan, after the war, and he worked as a shipping clerk. By 1870, he owned $570 of personal property. He returned to Boston in the 1870s and moved to Petoskey, Michigan, in the 1880s. By 1910, he was living in his son Lawrence’s household in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He died of “acute broncho-pneumonia” in Erie County, Pennsylvania, on May 16, 1911.

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