DeWitt Clinton Baxter artist

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

 and engraver, Colonel

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 and Brigadier General

Brigadier General

Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...

 in the Union Army

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

.

Early Life

DeWitt Clinton Baxter was born March 9, 1829. In early city directories identified Baxter as an "engraver" (1850-60), "designer" (1861), and "artist" (1862). From 1857 on he lived at 454 North Eighth Street, a substantial townhouse (3 stories, 24-feet wide) near Buttonwood Street, and from 1855 until the Civil War he had an office in Hart's Building at the northeast corner of Sixth and Chestnut. Publisher of "The Baxter Panoramic Business Directory" (Philadelphia) both before and after the war, he was listed variously as an engraver, designer, and artist.

Civil War

In April 1861 Baxter was Lieutenant Colonel of the 19th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, but when that three-month enlistment expired, he organized and led the 72nd Pennsylvania Volunteers

72nd Pennsylvania Infantry

The 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry was a volunteer infantry regiment which served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was part of the famous Philadelphia Brigade. They wore a very americanized zouave uniform...

, "Baxter's Fire Zouaves." They were drawn from the various fire companies of Philadelphia, and were known for their peculiar Zouave

Zouave

Zouave was the title given to certain light infantry regiments in the French Army, normally serving in French North Africa between 1831 and 1962. The name was also adopted during the 19th century by units in other armies, especially volunteer regiments raised for service in the American Civil War...

 uniforms and precise bayonet drills. They "enjoyed a brief period of considerable popularity, so much so, that the citizens of Philadelphia crowded the Academy of Music to witness" their maneuvers on stage."

Baxter recorded his expertise in such exercises in an illustrated 1861 book, The Volunteer's Manual; containing full instructions for the recruit. . . , which was published by King & Baird, the same firm that published his early panaoramas.

FIELD COMMANDS

• 19th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel April 1861 - July 1861
• 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment
  72nd Pennsylvania Infantry
  The 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry was a volunteer infantry regiment which served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was part of the famous Philadelphia Brigade. They wore a very americanized zouave uniform...
  
  , Colonel July 1861 - July 1863. He led the regiment in the Peninsula Campaign
  Peninsula Campaign
  The Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War was a major Union operation launched in southeastern Virginia from March through July 1862, the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater. The operation, commanded by Maj. Gen. George B...
  
  , Antietam Campaign at the Battle of Fredericksburg
  Battle of Fredericksburg
  The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, between General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside...
  
  , the Battle of Gettysburg
  Battle of Gettysburg
  The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...
  
   and the Battle of Wilderness. He was wounded July 2, 1863 at the Battle of Gettysburg
  Battle of Gettysburg
  The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...
  
  .
• Philadelphia Brigade
  Philadelphia Brigade
  The Philadelphia Brigade was a Union Army brigade that served in the American Civil War. It was raised primarily in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with the exception of the 106th regiment which contained men from Lycoming and Bradford counties.The brigade fought with the Army of the...
  
  , Colonel July 1863 - December 10, 1863
• 2nd Division, II Corps, Colonel December 10, 1863 - December 21, 1863
• 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, Colonel December 21, 1863 - May 1864. He was "severely wounded at the Wilderness" in May 1864, "shot through the lungs."
• Promoted to Brevet
  Brevet (military)
  In many of the world's military establishments, brevet referred to a warrant authorizing a commissioned officer to hold a higher rank temporarily, but usually without receiving the pay of that higher rank except when actually serving in that role. An officer so promoted may be referred to as being...
  
  Brigadier General in March 1865.

Later life

After the war, Baxter was a naval officer at the Custom House from 1867-1871.

In the mid-1870s he was involved in the Keystone Portable Forge Company. He also may have revived his Panoramic Directory business in the late 1870s. Upon his death in May 1881, his obituary reported, Baxter was holding "a position at the Custom house." He died on May 9, 1881, and his obituary appeared on the front-page the following day in the Philadelphia Public Ledger.

Originally buried in Monument Cemetery in Philadelphia, he was reinterred in Lawnview in 1956.

External Links

• Colonel DeWitt Clinton Baxter photo