Early life

Dunbar Ransom was born at Fayetteville, North Carolina

Fayetteville, North Carolina

Fayetteville is a city located in Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is the county seat of Cumberland County, and is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a U.S. Army post located northwest of the city....

 on January 10, 1831 but moved to Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

. He is listed as the eldest son of Col Truman B. Ransom and brother of Gen Thomas E. G. Ransom

Thomas E. G. Ransom

Thomas Edwin Greenfield Ransom was a surveyor, civil engineer, real estate speculator, and a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Biography:...

. On June 7, 1855 Ransom was appointed from civilian life as a 2nd lieutenant in the Third U. S. Artillery. On December 31, 1856 he was promoted to the rank of 1st lieutenant and served on the West Coast of the United States. At that rank he participated in the later stages of the Yakima War

Yakima War

The Yakima War was a conflict between the United States and the Yakama, a Sahaptian-speaking people on the Northwest Plateau, then Washington Territory and now the southern interior of Eastern Washington, from 1855 to 1858.- Naming :...

 in an expedition during 1858 that culminated in the Battle of Four Lakes

Battle of Four Lakes

The Battle of Four Lakes was a battle during a US Army expedition against a confederation of Indian tribes in Washington and Idaho. Indian resistance to U.S. troops in the area had continued as part of the Yakima War. Commander of the Department of the Pacific, General Newman S. Clarke sent a...

 near Spokane, Washington

Spokane, Washington

Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...

.

War Service

Following the outbreak of war, Lt Ransom was promoted to the rank of captain on November 1, 1861. He was assigned command of Battery L of the Third Artillery. However, Capt Ransom soon took command of Battery C, 5th U. S., accompanying the Pennsylvania Reserves

Pennsylvania Reserves

The Pennsylvania Reserves were an infantry division in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Noted for its famous commanders and high casualties, it served in the Eastern Theater, and fought in many important battles, including Antietam and Gettysburg....

 at the Second Battle of Bull Run

Second Battle of Bull Run

The Second Battle of Bull Run or Second Manassas was fought August 28–30, 1862, as part of the American Civil War. It was the culmination of an offensive campaign waged by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia against Union Maj. Gen...

. Ransom’s battery remained with the Reserves when they joined I Corps

I Corps (ACW)

I Corps was the designation of three different corps-sized units in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The units served in the following armies:...

 of the Army of the Potomac

Army of the Potomac

The Army of the Potomac was the major Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War.-History:The Army of the Potomac was created in 1861, but was then only the size of a corps . Its nucleus was called the Army of Northeastern Virginia, under Brig. Gen...

 in time for the Battle of Antietam

Battle of Antietam

The Battle of Antietam , fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek, as part of the Maryland Campaign, was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern soil. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with about 23,000...

. Gen George G. Meade, who led the division at Antietam, praised Ransom’s battery for its support of the Reserves as they advanced into and beyond the Cornfield.http://www.civilwarhome.com/meadeant.htm

Battery C supported the Reserves 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...

, where their attack penetrated the Confederate right flank for a time. During the following year, the battery served with the second division of I Corps at the Battle of Chancellorsville

Battle of Chancellorsville

The Battle of Chancellorsville was a major battle of the American Civil War, and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville Campaign. It was fought from April 30 to May 6, 1863, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near the village of Chancellorsville. Two related battles were fought nearby on...

.

After Chancellorsville, the Union artillery was reorganized. The Reserve Artillery was grouped into brigades. Ransom’s battery joined the First Regular Brigade, and Capt Ransom took command of the larger formation. Lt Gulian V. Weir took command of his battery. The other batteries were Battery H 1st U. S.
(Lt Chandler P. Eakin), Batteries F and K 3rd U. S. (Lt John G. Turnbull) and Battery C 4th U. S.
(Lt Evan Thomas).

At the Battle of Gettysburg, the brigade was not engaged until July 2, 1863. Eakin’s battery served on Cemetery Hill. The other batteries served on Cemetery Ridge or in advance of that ground. On July 2 the batteries of Turnbull and Thomas were advanced toward the Emmitsburg Road to support the advanced position of second division III Corps

III Corps (ACW)

There were four formations in the Union Army designated as III Corps during the American Civil War.Three were short-lived:*In the Army of Virginia:**Irvin McDowell ;**James B...

. Turnbuil was posted near the Rogers House and Weir near the Codori Farm. The batteries were forced back by the attack of Richard H. Anderson

Richard H. Anderson

Richard Heron Anderson was a career U.S. Army officer, fighting with distinction in the Mexican-American War. He also served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War, fighting in the Eastern Theater of the conflict and most notably during the 1864 Battle of Spotsylvania Court House...

’s division. Ransom was wounded by a sharpshooter while leading Turbull’s battery into position. He slid from his horse as a result of this wound. Weir’s battery lost 3 guns in the same action. In later years, brooding over this loss, Weir was driven to take his own life in 1886. The batteries of Thomas, Weir and Trumbull all served on Cemetery Ridge during the Confederate bombardment and unsuccessful assault on July 3. The First Regular artillery brigade lost 68 casualties in two days of fighting.http://www.virtualgettysburg.com/exhibit/monuments/pages/um239.html

After Gettysburg, the battery was sent to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 following the New York Draft Riots

New York Draft Riots

The New York City draft riots were violent disturbances in New York City that were the culmination of discontent with new laws passed by Congress to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War. The riots were the largest civil insurrection in American history apart from the Civil War itself...

 of July 13–16. After returning to the Army of the Potomac with Battery C, Ransom was assigned to the 2nd brigade of Horse Artillery under Capt William M. Graham. The battery served in the Bristoe Campaign

Bristoe Campaign

The Bristoe Campaign was a series of minor battles fought in Virginia during October and November 1863, in the American Civil War. Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, commanding the Union Army of the Potomac, began to maneuver in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern...

 and the Mine Run Campaign during the fall of 1863.

When campaigning resumed in the spring of 1864, Ransom had succeeded Graham in command of the 2nd Horse Artillery Brigade. He led this formation in the Overland Campaign

Overland Campaign

The Overland Campaign, also known as Grant's Overland Campaign and the Wilderness Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864, in the American Civil War. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all Union armies, directed the actions of the Army of the...

, including the Battle of the Wilderness

Battle of the Wilderness

The Battle of the Wilderness, fought May 5–7, 1864, was the first battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, a harbinger of a bloody war of attrition by...

 and the Battle of Spotsylvania. Later in the campaign, all the Horse Artillery apparently was consolidated under the command of Capt James M. Robertson. This was the situation until just before the beginning of the Siege of Petersburg

Siege of Petersburg

The Richmond–Petersburg Campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War...

, when Ransom resumed command of his brigade.

In late 1864, Ransom was transferred to the Union Army of the Shenandoah, where he commanded the consolidated Batteries C, F and K of the 3rd U. S. Artillery. His battery was involved in the Battle of Berryville

Battle of Berryville

The Battle of Berryville was fought September 3 and September 4, 1864, in Clarke County, Virginia. It took place toward the end of the American Civil War....

, but it was on detached duty at the time of the Battle of Opequon

Battle of Opequon

The Battle of Opequon, more commonly known as the Third Battle of Winchester, was fought in Winchester, Virginia, on September 19, 1864, during the Valley Campaigns of 1864 in the American Civil War....

. Gen Sheridan, in his Memoirs, shows Ransom present at the Battle of Cedar Creek

Battle of Cedar Creek

The Battle of Cedar Creek, or Battle of Belle Grove, October 19, 1864, was one of the final, and most decisive, battles in the Valley Campaigns of 1864 during the American Civil War. The final Confederate invasion of the North, led by Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early, was effectively ended...

. Capt Ransom remained in the Middle Military Division to the end of the war.

Post war

In 1872 Capt Ransom was dismissed from the service. One obituary said he had not complained to others of his misfortunes. He undertook railroad work with the Fort Worth and Denver Railway

Fort Worth and Denver Railway

The Fort Worth and Denver Railway , nicknamed "the Denver Road," was a class I American railroad company that operated in the northern part of Texas from 1881 to 1982, and had a profound influence on the early settlement and economic development of the region....

. Later in life he was aided by Gen Grenville M. Dodge

Grenville M. Dodge

Grenville Mellen Dodge was a Union army officer on the frontier and during the Civil War, a U.S. Congressman, businessman, and railroad executive who helped construct the Transcontinental Railroad....

, the president of the railroad, who had Congress restored Ransom to the Army’s retired list by a special act in 1894. Dunbar Ransom died at St. Joseph’s Infirmary in Fort Worth, Texas

Fort Worth, Texas

Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...

on July 11, 1897. His body was embalmed to await burial by his brother-in-law Capt James O’Hara of the Third U. S. Artillery.

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