Charles Lyon & the 9th New York Zouaves
Featured Characters – 1861-1862
"Gallant Charge of Hawkins' Zouaves upon the Rebel Batteries on Roanoke Island "
Source: Harper's Weekly,
March 11, 1862: 137
Charles W. Lyon was born in Portchester, New York on April 15, 1840. In 1861 Charles mustered into Company A, 9th New York Volunteers (Hawkins’ Zouaves) as a private. Commanded by Colonel Rush Hawkins, the regiment was engaged at the Battle of Forts Clark and Hatteras in 1861, the battles of Roanoke Island and South Mills, North Carolina and the Battle of Antietam, Virginia in 1862. Lyon received a wound in the arm during the Battle of Antietam. The regiment was attached to General Ambrose Burnside’s North Carolina Expeditionary Corps and the Army of the Potomac. Along with his regiment, Lyon mustered out of service on May 20, 1863. After the war he became a steamboat captain and later a salesman. Charles died in 1916 at age 76 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.