Robert Milby enlisted on July 4, 1861, as a private in Company K, 62nd Pennsylvania Infantry; following service in the Peninsula and Seven Days campaigns, he was discharged on July 27, 1862, for varicose veins caused by long marches. On August 8, 1864, he enlisted in the U. S. Navy, serving as second engineer on the U.S.S. Siren, a “tinclad” assigned to the Mississippi Squadron. Siren protected Union shipping on the river, prevented Confederate traffic from crossing the Mississippi, and, at war’s end, accepted the surrender of Confederate troops and helped disarm them. Milby was discharged from the Navy on June 6, 1865; he died on October 14, 1879.

Carte-de-Visite by Unknown Photographer

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 32071-F