Isaac N Dryden

Isaac Newton Dryden

Captain Isaac Newton Dryden was born March 25, 1842 in Spring, Adams County, Ohio, and was named after his uncle. Captain Dryden was the son of Thomas Groten Dryden (1813 Snow Hill, Maryland - 1904 Prairie, Jackson, Missouri) and Elizabeth Ellis Dryden (1827 Ohio - aft 1860).

Isaac Newton Dryden enlisted as a Corporal in Company D, 24th Regiment Ohio Volunteer on June 13, 1861 in Ohio. He was promoted to Sergeant (no date given; but one record notes he enlisted as Sergeant with Company G, 24th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry). On October 15, 1861, he was promoted 2nd Lieutenant with Company G and transferred to Company B (Another record gives the date of November 15, 1861; it appears from records that he was in Companies D., G., and B, all with the 24th Ohio).

On June 3 1862, at the age of 20, he was promoted to First Lieutenant in Company B, 24th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. On December 31, 1862, at the age of 20, he was promoted to Captain. In a record of July 1, 1863 in a Civil War draft, his name is listed under his brother, Samuel Dryden.

 

• Lieutenant Samuel Dryden (1840 Ohio - 1918 Missouri) enlisted September 8, 1862 in Company F, 7th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Regiment as Quartermaster Sergeant. He was promoted to 1st Sergeant May 9, 1863, 2nd Lieutenant June 3, 1863, and 1st Lieutenant April 2, 1864. He was mustered out of service in Nashville, Tennessee.

Captain Isaac Newton Dryden became B Company Commander and saw action in numerous battles, including Stones River, where his valorous conduct resulted in a promotion to Captain and transfer to Company D, which he also commanded. During early 1863, he was one of two 24th Ohio officers who requested command assignments with the United States Colored Troops. In the summer of 1863, Capt. Dryden was again commended for valor for his part in the battle of Lookout Mountain, where he led an attack that drove off Confederate pickets.

In September 1863, while his application to lead black soldiers was still pending, he was wounded in the left shoulder and lung at the Battle of Chickamauga and carried from the field. His condition did not improve and he died from gunshot wounds on October 1, 1863 at the regimental field hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee. At that time, he was with Company D, 24th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He is buried in the Dryden Family Cemetery in Bradysville, Adams County, Ohio.

Photograph and information submitted by Isaac Newton Dryden's Great grandniece Ann Swayze.

Captain Isaac Newton Dryden