Colonel Arthur T. Wilcox

Arthur Tappan Wilcox was born in Lorain County, Ohio on December 28, 1834. By 1860, he had moved to Sandusky, Ohio, where he was listed as a law student in the 1860 Sandusky City Directory. In 1861, Arthur T. Wilcox graduated from law school at the University of Michigan. He married Julia Morehouse in June of 1861, in Huron County, Ohio. That same year, he enlisted into military service. Arthur T. Wilcox was elected Second Lieutenant of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company E. He was promoted to Captain for brave and meritorious service. Captain Wilcox participated in these battles: Cross Lanes, Virginia, where he was captured by the enemy and confined to various prisons; Dumfries, Virginia; Chancellorsville, Virginia; Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, Tennessee; and several battles in the state of Georgia. Wilcox mustered out of the 7th Infantry on July 6, 1864. Soon, he reenlisted and became Colonel of the 177th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. On June 24, 1865, Colonel Wilcox was mustered out with regiment at Greensboro, North Carolina.

After the war was over, Wilcox resumed his work as a civil engineer. He worked on the construction of railroads, including the Union Pacific and the Canada Southern. A publication of the University of Michigan Alumni Association reports that Arthur Tappan Wilcox contracted yellow fever while working on bridges in Central America. He died of the disease at Port Limon, Costa Rica, on October 24, 1902. A biographical sketch of Arthur T. Wilcox which appeared in the book Itinerary of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 1861-1864 closed with this statement about Colonel Wilcox: “He was a zealous officer and a brave man.”

In the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library are glass plate negatives which bear the image of Arthur T. Wilcox. These negatives were originally owned by a dentist, Dr. D. D. Smith. When Dr. Richard Widdoes bought out Dr. Smith’s practice, he gave the negatives to the historical collections of the Sandusky Library.