Christy, Jacob

Jacob Christy served as a private in Company I of the 54th Massachusetts. Born in approximately 1844 in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, Christy worked as a laborer until enlisting in the army on April 22, 1863 in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Company Descriptive Book listed Christy as a 5 foot 8 inches tall nineteen year old with a brown complexion, brown eyes, and black hair. Christy was wounded on July 18, 1863 during the assault on Fort Wagner in South Carolina. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw had volunteered the 54th to help lead the Union charge on the fort, a costly decision resulting in Shaw’s own death. The 54th Massachusetts mustered out August 20, 1865 in South Carolina. Christy was buried in Zion Union Cemetery in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. (By Rebecca Solnit)