Born in New York City, William E. Blewett came to Belleville at an early age. In the
spring of 1861, just after the Civil War broke out, he organized a company of volunteer
troops for service in the Union Army. The 101-man company, comprised mostly of
Belleville men, arrived in Washington, D.C., in May. Blewett's company, part of the First
New Jersey Brigade, helped to cover the retreat of the Union Army after the first battle
of Bull Run in Virginia two months later.

A second lieutenant in 1861, Blewett was made a first lieutenant by order of General
Philip Kearny (for whom the town across the Passaic River is named) in 1862. At the
Battle of Gaines' Mill in June 1862, the Union troops sustained losses of nearly 6,000
killed and wounded at the hands of the Confederate Army; one of the dead was Color
Sergeant Thomas Stevens of Belleville.

Blewett was shot in the chest but the bullet traveled down and lodged in his side. While
returning to the rear for medical treatment, an exploding shell blew off his belt. Blewett
came home to Belleville on the Fourth of July; the fact that the bullet could not be
located and removed prevented him from returning to active service.

Blewett did serve in the New Jersey National Guard and rose through the ranks to
become a captain, major, and lieutenant colonel before resigning in 1874. A jeweler by
trade, William E. Blewett died in Newark in 1913.

Return to the Belleville Home Page

Return to the Belleville History Home Page