In memory of Francis D. SanfordAuthor of the memorial page is Cemetery Manager

First Sergeant Francis D. Sanford was born on February 18, 1841. He enlisted in Company H of the Second Maryland Infantry regiment and was mustered in at Baltimore on September 1, 1861 as a Second Corporal. Listed as a deserter on December 18, 1862, he returned to the army in January or February 1862 and was given a thirty-nine day pay deduction for his absence. Sanford was mustered out on December 31, 1863 at Blain's Crossroads, Tennessee as a Private. He re-enlisted January 1, 1864 as a veteran private and by doing so earned a $112.00 bounty. Promoted to a full Corporal at that time, Sanford was later promoted to First Sergeant on August 23, 1864. The inscription on his headstone indicates that he was in fourteen battles and eight skirmishes from Second Bull Run, on August 29, 1862, to the storming of Petersburg on April 2, 1865, including South Mountain, Antietam, Cold Harbor, Weldon Railroad, and Cold Harbor. Sanford was mustered out of the army near Alexandria, Virginia on July 17, 1865 due to the end of the war. Following his wartime service, Sanford settled in Westminster and worked as a painter until his death on May 27, 1902.