Ward Brooks Frothingham was born on August 29, 1828, in Taunton, Massachusetts, to Nathaniel and Ann Frothingham. His father was a Unitarian minister who owned $23,000 of real estate by 1850. He grew up and attended school in Boston, and by 1850, he was working as a farmer. He married Isannah Josephine Brown on July 31, 1853, but she died in 1859. By 1860, he was working as a farmer in Burlington, Massachusetts, and he owned $7,000 of real estate and $2,000 of personal property.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on August 28, 1861, and he mustered in as a corporal in Company D of the 22^nd Massachusetts Infantry. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 3 ½ inches tall, with brown hair and blue eyes. The regiment took part in the Peninsula campaign. He was wounded in the Battle of Gaines’ Mill on June 27, 1862, and Confederates captured him after the battle. He was exchanged and released two days later, and he mustered out on October 2, 1862. He applied for a federal pension later that month and eventually received one.

 

He rejoined the Union army in April 1864, receiving a commission as a 2^nd lieutenant in Company G of the 59^th Massachusetts Infantry. He was promoted to 1^st lieutenant in August 1864. He voted for Abraham Lincoln in the election of 1864. Confederates captured him again in the Battle of Fort Stedman on March 25, 1865, and he was released on April 4. He mustered out on May 15, 1865.

 

He settled in Boston after the war, and he earned a living as a clerk. He married Mary Ann Burney on June 16, 1874, and their daughter Marian was born around 1876. He died in Boston on November 29, 1893.

 

Image: Ward B. Frothingham (First Lieutenant Ward Brooks Frothingham of Co. D, 22^nd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and Co. G, 59^th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in uniform with sword / A. Sonrel, 46 School Street, Boston, Photograph, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/2021636739)

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