Squire Newton Bosworth was born on May 5, 1841, in Beverly, Virginia (present-day West Virginia), to Squire and Hannah Bosworth. His father was a physician who owned $4,400 of real estate and $2,029 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Beverly, and by 1850, he was working as a deputy clerk for the county court.

 

He enlisted in the Confederate army on March 10, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in the 31^st Virginia Infantry. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 5 inches tall, with brown hair and blue eyes. The regiment took part in the Seven Days’ Battles, the Second Battle of Manassas, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign, the Shenandoah Valley campaign, and the Appomattox campaign.

 

He served as a regimental fifer, and he was eventually promoted to sergeant. He was wounded in the face during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 10, 1864, and he was admitted to Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond, Virginia. Union forces captured him near Strasburg, Virginia, on October 19, 1864, and imprisoned him at Point Lookout, Maryland. He was eventually exchanged, and he rejoined his regiment. He received a parole in Winchester, Virginia, on April 22, 1865.

 

He returned to Beverly after the war, and he earned a living as a merchant. He married Florence Brown around 1867, and they had at least eight children: Lucy, born around 1868; Eva, born around 1870; Charles, born around 1872; Ada, born around 1875; Florence, born around 1879; Carroll, born around 1881; Helen, born around 1883; and Nina, born around 1887. By 1870, he owned $1,000 of personal property. In September 1885, he received an appointment as a local postmaster. He died of pneumonia in Beverly on February 10, 1922.

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