Alexander B. Shumway was born on October 5, 1835 in North Adams, Massachusetts. He was the son of Elijah Bardwell Shumway and his wife, Adaline G. (Brown) Shumway.

Alexander married Fanny M. Bonney on May 12, 1857. They had four children.

Alexander was the foreman in the office of the “Litchfield Enquirer.”

On August 1, 1864 he was commissioned Captain of a company in the 2nd Regiment, Connecticut Heavy Artillery. He was wounded in the Battle of Opequan on September 19, 1864 when Major General Philip Sheridan won his first victory for the Union in the Shenandoah Valley.

Sources:

Shumway, Asahel Adams “Genealogy of the Shumway Family in the United States of America” (New York: Tobias A. Wright, 1909) pp. 250 & 251

“Official Army Register of the Volunteer Force of the United States Army for The Years 1861, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65” (Washington, D.C.: Adjutant General’s Office, August 31, 1865) p. 262