Charles Coster

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Charles R. Coster (died 1888) was an American soldier and public official, who is best known for commanding a brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Early in the war he was a First Lieutenant in 12th Regiment U. S. Infantry. He served in George Sykes’s division of V Corps (ACW) in the Seven Days Battles, being commended by his superiors for his conduct at the Battle of Gaines’ Mill on June 27, 1862.

On October 8, 1862 Coster was named colonel of the recently organized 134th New York Infantry Regiment.[1] By December 31, 1862, the regiment belonged to Orland Smith’s second brigade of Adolph von Steinwehr’s second division, XI Corps, Army of the Potomac. Coster's regiment participated in the Battle of Chancellorsville under the Francis Barlow, who had been made brigade commander in place of Smith. During May of 1863, Coster’s regiment joined the first brigade second division under Adolphus Buschbeck. When Buschbeck went on leave on June 10, Coster became brigade commander. In that role he patrolled near Boonsboro, Maryland before marching to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Oliver Otis Howard kept von Steinwehr’s division in reserve on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 1863. When the Union right began to collapse, Howard permitted von Steinwehr to send Coster’s brigade to cover its retreat. These Union troops took a position just north of the town, where they were attacked by superior forces from the Confederate division of Jubal Early. Coster’s brigade lost most of its 597 casualties in that action. The remainder of the brigade spent the next two days supporting batteries on Cemetery Hill. Howard’s commended Coster and other senior commanders by name for their courage and devotion to duty in his report on Gettysburg.[2]

Later in 1863, Coster resigned his regimental command. On May 18, 1864, he was appointed a provost marshal for the State of New York to serve the Board of Enrollment. Coster resigned that position on April 30, 1865. Thereafter he lived in New York City. On February 28, 1882, he became a federal Pension Agent for the city, resigning effective December 1, 1885. He also was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.

Coster died in New York City in December 1888 and was buried on December 27 of that year. He left a widow and children.

[edit] References

  1. ^ www.dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/134thInf/134thInfMain.htm.
  2. ^ War of the Rebellion, series I, vol. 27, pt. 1, p. 706.

[edit] Sources

  • “Funeral of Col. Charles R. Coster,” The New York Times December 27, 1888.
  • Pfranz, Harry W., Gettysburg -- the First Day, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001. ISBN: 0-8078-2624-3
  • War of the Rebellion, series I, vols. 11, 21, 25, 27
  • Dyer, Frederick H., Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Des Moines, Ia. Dyer Pub. Co., 1908.