William Robinson Aldred (1828-1862)

Birth: April, 6 1828; New Castle County, Delaware

Death: August 8, 1862 (age 34); Front Royal, Virginia

Military service: USA, 1861-62

Unit: 3rd Delaware Infantry

Alma Mater: Dickinson College, B.A. (Class of 1856)

William R. Aldred was the oldest of 10 children. While attending Dickinson, Aldred joined the Union Philosophical Society in 1852.  After graduation Aldred returned to Delaware where he became a teacher and conducted his own school.  He married Eliza Hammersly, on March 22, 1862 and had a son named William Aldred.  At the outbreak of the war he became a 1st lieutenant in the 3rd Delaware Infantry where he later rose to the rank of adjutant.  He died at Front Royal, Virginia from exposure to heat.

College Relationship
Alumnus/Alumna Class Year

William Michael Harnsberger (1835-1862)

Birth: May 23, 1835; Port Republic, Rockingham County, Virginia

Death: September 19, 1862 (age 27); Loudoun County, Virginia

 Military Service: CSA, 1861-62

 Unit: Comapny I, Virginia 1st Calvary Regiment

Alma Mater: Dickinson College, B.A. (Class of 1856)

William Harnsberger was born on May 23, 1835 in Port Republic, Rockingham County, Virginia. As a member of the class of 1856, “Willie” was active in the Union Philosophical Society, Phi Kappa Sigma, and Zeta Psi. His brother, Henry, had been a member of the class of 1841. After receiving his bachelor of arts degree, William returned to Virginia, where he taught until the start of the Civil War.

Harnsberger enlisted in the Confederate States Army soon after the outbreak of the war, joining Co. I, Virginia 1st Calvary Regiment. He was killed on September 19, 1862 in Loudoun County, Virginia.

College Relationship
Alumnus/Alumna Class Year

William Henry Longsdorff (1834-1905)

William H. Longsdorff was born in Silver Spring Township, near Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania on March 24, 1834. He was the fourth of seven children born to Adam and Mary Senseman Longsdorff. His father was a farmer and later served as Cumberland County sheriff during which time the family lived at the county seat of Carlisle. The younger Longsdorff entered Dickinson College there with the class of 1856 after education at Dickinson's preparatory school. While there, he was elected to the Belles Lettres Society, but withdrew before he took his degree. Longsdorff instead studied medicine and then dentistry in Philadelphia, graduating from the Jefferson Medical College in 1856 and from the Philadelphia Dental School the following year.

College Relationship
Alumnus/Alumna Class Year