Prior to his military service in the Civil War, Sylvanus Wright Curtis (1831-1895) was a butcher in Monroe, Michigan. He received a commission to serve initially at the rank of Lieutenant, second in command of the 7th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment's Company D.

After Lt. Col. Amos Steele was killed in action on July 3, 1863 at the Battle of Gettysburg, Maj. Sylvanus W. Curtis (1831-1895) took command of the 7th Michigan Infantry and assisted in repulsing Pickett's Charge.

Maj. Curtis was wounded at Antietam and in the Overland Campaign.

At Gettysburg, the 7th Michigan Infantry was a component of Hall’s Brigade in Gibbon’s Division of the Second Corps, Army of the Potomac.

A link to Major Curtis' Gettysburg "after action report":

http://7thmichigan.us/Reports_Maj._Sylvanus.htm