Edwin L. Nickerson, circa 1862.
(Collection of Cornwall Historical Society)

Edwin Nickerson was one of four brothers who served during the war. Their father, Smith Nickerson, had died in 1853. The mother of the four Nickerson brothers had died during the 1840s; their stepmother chose to send the orphaned boys to be raised by various relatives.

Edwin’s brother Mark S. Nickerson enlisted with the Massachusetts 10th Infantry Regiment; Henry F. Nickerson enlisted with the 10th C.V.I. at Cornwall; and the third brother, Uriah Nickerson, enlisted with the 7th C.V.I. at Goshen.

Edwin Nickerson enlisted at Cornwall with Company C of the 13th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry on February 25, 1862. He was promoted to Corporal on November 1, 1862. Nickerson was killed on April 14, 1863 at the Battle of Irish Bend in Louisiana.