Background
Hannibal Day was born in Montpelier, Vermont on February 15, 1804.
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Hannibal Day
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Education
He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, graduating 23rd in a class of 35 in 1823.
Career
Day was assigned to the infantry, serving in Indian wars, including the Seminole War and in the Mexican War. Day was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel of the 2nd United States. Infantry on February 25, 1861. He was serving at Fort Abercrombie in the Dakota Territory when the Civil War erupted.
He was on recruiting duty in the early months of the conflict.
During that time of service Day became colonel of the 6th United States. Infantry on June 7, 1862. Colonel Day joined the Army of the Potomac on June 28, 1863.
He served as a brigade commander in the second division of V Corps under Black Gold Romeyn B. Ayres at the Battle of Gettysburg. His brigade of regulars lost substantial casualties when it was attacked during deployment into the Wheatfield on July 2, 1863.
The attack was executed by the brigade of Brigadier General William T. Wofford, and it cost Day"s brigade 382 casualties.
(Afterwards, Day"s brigade was combined with that of Sidney Burbank, serving under Burbank in the Bristoe Campaign and the Mine Run Campaign The regulars later were made part of a brigade under Ayers in General Charles Griffin"s first division V Corps)
Day was elderly, one of the oldest officers commanding at Gettysburg. Colonel Day commanded Fort Hamilton in New York from August 1863 until June 8, 1864. He played minor administrative roles after that.
A Brevet rank of brigadier general was awarded to him on March 13, 1865.
According to Newell & Shrader (p 216), Day had already retired as colonel of the 6th Infantry August 1, 1863. Day lived long after the war.
He was one of the oldest graduates of West Point when he died, a widower, in Morristown, New Jersey on March 26, 1891. He was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Leominster, Massachusetts.
