Born in Northumberland Co., PA, circa 1844 and orphaned by 1852, Melanchton Brosious was living with his brother Jared in Sunbury in 1860. By July, 1862, he was an apprentice at Gower's Store in Muncy, PA. He enlisted there in Company “F,” Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteers on 28 Jul 1862. Brosious was described as an 18-year-old shoemaker from Muncy and he had little to lose by enlisting in the Union army. Within days of joining his regiment on 15 August, young “Lanc” participated in and was taken prisoner at the Second Battle of Bull Run on August 30, 1862. Soon exchanged, he returned to his company in time to pass through the battle at Fredericksburg, 13 Dec 1862. At Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863, Private Brosious with most of Company “F” were captured, but in the confusion he escaped, was re-taken; and somehow managed to escape a second time. Private Brosious then participated in the Pennsylvania Campaign and the autumn campaigns of Bristoe and Mine Run without incident. He was present for duty when the epic “Overland Campaign” began in early May 1864. Brosious was involved in the Battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania. On May 25, 1864 along the North Anna River, while engaging on the skirmish line, Private Brosious was badly wounded in the side. As comrades assisted him to the rear, “Lanc” was hit by a minié ball that struck him in the head. Death was “instant.” Pvt. Brosious was buried on the field near where he fell and soon forgotten. Some years later, most Federal dead from the North Anna River battlefield were reburied in Fredericksburg National Cemetery. Presumably there under a stone marked “unknown" Private Melanchton Brosious found his peace.