Luman Wadhams first enlisted in the 1st Connecticut Volunteer Infantry in 1861. He participated in the Bull Run campaign and later re- enlisted in the 8th Connecticut for three years, serving as a lieutenant in Company E. The 8th Connecticut saw action in North Carolina during Gen. Burnside's expedition at Roanoke Island and Newbern, after which Wadhams resigned because of poor health. Wadhams later re-enlisted in the 19th Connecticut Volunteers, the "County Regiment" that trained at Camp Dutton, about two miles outside of Litchfield. The 19th consisted of farmers, machinists and laborers from towns surrounding Litchfield -- places such as Goshen, New Canaan, Barkhamsted, Winsted, and Torrington. Wadhams, commissioned a 1st lieutenant, was highly regarded by his men throughout his service, seldom punishing them. The 19th served mainly in the defenses of Washington, near Alexandria, Va., before being transferred to the artillery and becoming the 2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery. General Grant pulled the Connecticut troops out of the Washington defenses in May 1864, and they saw some action at North Anna River. But their first battle came June 1 at Cold Harbor. Wadhams, by now a captain in command of Company A, and 333 other soldiers from the 2nd Connecticut were killed at Cold Harbor. According to The Connecticut War Record: "In the moment of success [Wadhams] fell pierced through the body. His devoted men sprang to his assistance. In the absence of a stretcher they made a stretcher of their muskets, and carried him on their shoulders a mile and a half to the hospital." Wadhams lingered for two days and died in an ambulance on the way to White House, Va., on 3 June 1864. He was twenty-nine years old. Wadhams's funeral service, held at the Congregational Church opposite the Litchfield village green, was "crowded to its utmost capacity by sympathizing friends, and large numbers of strangers from out of town came to pay their respects to the lamented deceased."
http://john-banks.blogspot.com/2011/04/wadham-brothers-of-litchfield.html
From the description of Luman Wadhams Civil War appointments and discharge, 1861-1863. (Litchfield Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 780060602
