| Ferdinand J.F. Crossman, son of Martin L. and Experience, was brought up by his grandmother Crossman, on this place. He entered at Cambridge, August 19, 1862, in Andrew's first company of sharp-shooters, and went into camp at Cambridge. He left camp for Washington December 1st, where he remained but a short time. He was in the first battle of Fredericksburg, December 11, 1862. He was stationed at Falmouth during the winter, and was again in the battle of Fredericksburg June 11, 1863. During this battle a ball passed through his hat, and one of his fingers was shattered by a bullet. Lysander Martin, a young man of great promise, enlisted with him, and was at this time by his side. They occupied an advanced position behind some fallen trees, or stumps, and were firing through small apertures, and took turns in watching the firing of the enemy. Ferdinand retreated just over a knoll to have his finger attended to, but soon returned to find his companion protrated on the ground, having been wounded by a ball which entered his cheek, knocking out several teeth, and came out at the back of the neck. A general retreat was now ordered, and the wounded who were able marched off the field, and others were huddled into wagons and carried off. Martin amoung these, who died of his wound the nineteenth. At Gettysburg, Crossman was in the battle from July 1st to the 4th, and from this field was sent to Harper's Ferry. He spent the winter in the hospital at Washington, DC taking care of the sick and wounded. In the spring, May 3, 1864, he rejoined the army, and was in the battle of the Wilderness from the 5th to the 7th. At the battle of Spotsylvania Court house he was taken prisoner, carried to Columbia, from thence to Andersonville, where he died August 8, 1864. Mrs. F.J.F. Crossman married Frederick P. Burr, January 12, 1866. He was a soldier in the Union army. They have one daughter, Ira R., born November 17, 1870. |