"Under-aged and under-sized when he enlisted with the 16th Michigan Infantry, George Dallas Sidman soon proved himself an able and eager soldier. Born in or near Rochester, New York, on November 25, 1844, Sidman had moved with his family to Owosso, Michigan, prior to the war. Four months shy of his 17th birthday, Sidman claimed to be 18 years of age when he walked into the enlistment office in Flint, Michigan on August 1, 1861. In time, Sidman proved to be a garrulous man, who seems to have enjoyed the spotlight and sought the attention of anyone, especially newspaper correspondents, who would listen to him. In his youth he may have been brash and cocky, as a means of overcoming his lack of size and his boyish features. Still, he failed to completely fool the recruiting officers, who signed him up as a drummer in Company C, the color-company of the regiment. Later, when officers determined the company had too many musicians, Sidman was given the choice of being mustered out or entering the ranks as a private. Without hesitating, the eager youth exchanged his drum for a musket, and, as the shortest member of the company, standing just 5 feet 4 inches tall, took his place immediately to the left of the color-guard.
The Michiganders first came under fire during the siege of Yorktown in May 1862. Later in the month, the regiment missed most of the fighting at Hanover Court House when Col. Thomas Stockton, acting on his own account, marched the regiment away from the brigade in a vain attempt to flank the enemy position. The Wolverines endured their first true crucible of combat in the slug-fest at Gaines's Mill in late-June. After a Confederate charge forced their brigade to retire, the Michiganders rallied around a ditch as night descended over the field. Holding their ground and with men falling in ever-increasing numbers, the 16th Michigan became part of a rear-guard covering the retreat of the main Union force. Before surrendering the field and crossing the Chickahominy to safety, the regiment lost at least 230 men, killed, wounded and captured…"
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completes his initial Union force in 1:72nd scale.
