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Winthrop Perkins Boynton.
Second Lieutenant 55th Mass. Vols. (Infantry), July 8, 1863; first Lieutenant, November 21, 1863; Captain, November 23, 1864; killed at Honey Hill, S. C., November 30, 1864.the subject of this sketch was born in Boston, August 29, 1841. His parents were Perkins and Mary Anne (Simonds) Boynton. After two years spent at the Endicott School in Boston, he was sent to the public Latin School, of which Francis Gardner, Esq. was principal. There he remained for six years, finishing his course in 1858, and having then no intention of going to college. In school he was not remarkable for any great brilliancy or especial endowments, but for steady fidelity to his duty. In the early part of the year 1859, having conceived the idea of entering college, he returned to his studies, under the instruction of Mr. Edwin H. Abbot, and in July, 1859, was admitted to the Freshman Class. In college he displayed the same characteristics as at school. While faithful to his work, he was not ambitious of distinguished honor, and contented himself with a respectable position in point of scholarship. His taste for natural history and the natural sciences was shown by his choice of studies, and was also frequently exhibited in his letters home from the army. He was distinguished for his strength and powers of endurance, was an active gymnast, and very fond of boating and other athletic sports. He was extremely reserved, contenting himself with a few intimate friends, and not seeking the acquaintance of a large number of his Class, so that to most of them he was comparatively unknown; but by those who knew him best he was loved and respected. In 1857, when he was in his seventeenth year, he united himself with the Bowdoin Square Baptist Church, and was ever faithful to the obligations under which this relation placed him. His pastor says of him:—
