Amos Ladd was born outside Plymouth, Michigan. He somehow made his way up to northern Michigan around Sault Ste. Marie, and enlisted there as a sergeant on September 3, 1861. He enlisted for three years. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant the day of the battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862. Luckily, the 1st Michigan was at Antietam, but in reserves and didn’t suffer any causalities.
In the early portions of 1863, he was commissioned again to become First Lieutenant. However, he was killed at Gettysburg on either July 2nd or 3rd.
On July 13th, a letter from Captain I.S. Hatch from the 1st Michigan states the following about 1st Lt. Amos Ladd. Captain Hatch was in the hospital as he wrote this diary as he too was wounded at Gettysburg. He is what he wrote:
“I saw 1st Lt. Amos Ladd when he fell on the field of battle, near the Wheatfield. He fell on his back and rolled onto his side. I ran over to him and turned him over, and found out that Ladd was still alive. I found through checking his wounds that he was shot in the butt. I motioned for soldiers to carry him to the rear, and I learned that he died three hours later in a civil war hospital. I saw that Ladd had no shriek of fear in his face, and he was the bravest of the brave.”
He has an “unknown” burial within the Gettysburg’s National Soldier’s Cemetery, even though his true burial is within Ann Arbor, Michigan. His mother, Parley A. Ladd applied for a pension from her son’s death on June 14, 1869. The application number was 176,328.