Clinton County, NY, Civil War Record

TWO BROTHERS BURIED FAR FROM CLINTON COUNTY - In October 1862, two brothers enlisted in the 34th Infantry in Champlain. The elder of the two, Moses Monette, was twenty-eight years old and married with several children. The other brother, Pliny, ten years younger, was living at home with his parents, Paul Monette and Rose Trahan, in Perry’s Mills after they emigrated with their family from Quebec. Both were assigned to Captain Davis Rich’s Company D when they arrived in Pooles...ville, MD, on the Potomac west of Washington to serve their country for two years. The original 79 men in the company were recruited in Champlain and the two brothers enlisted in October to take the place of men who had been discharged for disability or disease. The 34th had only 3 casualties in the field by the time they went into winter quarters three men killed in action while they were travelling west along the Potomac. Before the fighting began in April 1862, Pliny, had died of disease in camp and was buried in Washington, DC. Between April and December, the regiment had about 350 more casualties. In the spring of 1863, their only battles were at Marye’s Heights and Salem Church near Fredericksburg and then the regiment was disbanded at the end of June 1863. Moses enlisted in the 16th Cavalry on September 15, 1864 and went to northern Virginia which was known as the Mosby Confederacy. The 16th spent their time chasing Colonel John Singleton Mosby and his partisan rangers until the end of the war, and he was mustered out on May 29, 1865, in Washington, DC. Moses returned to Clinton County, picked up his family and started West again. Before the war he had tried farming in Iowa, and now took the northern route through South Dakota, where his wife died, and finally to Montana where he died in 1917 in Kalispel, a town almost on the Canadian border. He was buried in the Conrad Memorial Cemetery there. A couple of his ten children kept moving westward and ended up in the state of Washington, the last one dying in 1952. #ClintonCountyNY #CivilWarSoldiers #ILoveNY See more

A YEAR AND A HALF IN THE ARMY - By the time Horace Davenport joined the 14th Artillery in January 1864, he had a wife and two children living at home in Coopersville. He was born in Alburg, VT, in 1830, the son of Robinson Davenport and Amy Sweet who had moved to this side of the lake to farm in the early 1830s. The 14th Artillery had just been formed to reinforce operations in the Richmond/Petersburg area and Horace was mustered into Company K as a private for which he recei...ved a town bounty of $300 and a county bounty of $200. Soon he was promoted to sergeant and was absent on detached service until April 1865. When he came home to his farm south of the Great Chazy River on the banks of Lake Champlain, just south of Coopersville, he continued to farm, and the couple had two more children. The Plattsburgh Sentinel of November 22, 1901, carried this death notice in the Cooperville section of the newspaper November 11, Mr. Horace Davenport died. Funeral services were held at the house. He was an old soldier of the Civil War. He was buried in the Wiley’s Point South Cemetery in the southeast corner of the Town of Champlain and about a mile north of his farm. The cemetery is home to his wife, Martha Valentine, and several of his children who had died before them. There are many Davenports, Valentines and Wileys buried there. #ClintonCountyNY #CivilWarSoldiers #ILoveNY See more

A FAMILY AFFAIR In July 1860, the patriarch of the McKinney family died. He and his wife Amarilla Roberts had two sons and a grandson who were soldiers in the Civil War. Daniel, who was 32 years old, and his 19-year-old brother Harvey both enlisted as privates in August 1862, in the 118th Infantry. They were assigned to different companies, but both made through two years and ten months with the regiment and were mustered out unscathed on June 13, 1865, at Richmond, VA, alt...hough Daniel did spend a couple of periods in hospital. James and Amarilla had a grandson who joined the 96th Infantry in March 1865. Their son, Nathan, brother to Daniel and Harvey, was drafted. He paid his son, Wallace, to be his substitute. Fortunately, the 19-year-old enlisted on March 29, 1865, in Plattsburgh, and never saw action, but the real danger of disease was present. He survived his 10 months of service and was discharged on February 6, 1866, at City Point, VA. All three men returned to Ellenburg Center and in the 1890 Veterans Schedules, it shows that they are all suffering from some kind of urinary tract problems and rheumatism. Daniel and Wallace farmed in Ellenburg Center and Harvey had a farm in the Town of Plattsburgh. Daniel’s wife, Annetta Hodges, died in 1908 and he died in 1909, both are buried in the West Hill Cemetery in Ellenburg Center. Wallace Warren McKinney died in Ellenburg Center in 1919. His wife, Henrietta Goodspeed, died three years later and was buried with him in the Riverside Cemetery in Ellenburg Center. Harvey was also buried in the Riverside Cemetery after dying in 1918. He was married to Adelaide Manning and Eliza Taylor. Eliza died in 1908 and Adelaide received her Widow’s Pension until 1925. #CivilWarSoldiers #CivilWarSoldiers #ILoveNY See more

SPENT LITTLE TIME WITH THE 175th INFANTRY - Louis Guyette was 31 years old and had a wife and several children in Queensbury, NY, when he enlisted in the 175th Infantry in Plattsburgh. He had brought his family from Quebec and was supporting them by working as a sawyer. His Muster Roll Abstract says he grey eyes, dark hair, a dark complexion and was 5’5 tall. He enlisted as a private, under the name Lewis Guiett, to serve for one year on September 3, 1864. The regiment had j...ust returned to the East after more than a year and a half with the XIX Corps while it was with the Army of the Gulf in Louisiana. The regiment was with the XIX Corps of the Army of the Shenandoah when Louis joined them in Virginia. Almost as soon as he got to the Shenandoah Valley, he was sent on detached service with the 1st Rhode Island Artillery in accordance with Special Order No. 261. Lewis found himself in the operations around Petersburg and Richmond for the rest of the war. In April the 1st RI went on the Appomattox Campaign, and after that was over, he met up with the 175th Infantry again while they were performing guard and provost duties at Savannah, GA. He was mustered out there on June 30, 1865. Lewis returned home to Queensbury and worked at may jobs to support his family, including being a boatman on the Hudson River. Lewis died before 1880. The census shows Pauline, or Polly, as she was known, living as a widow in Cohoes and the three eldest children were working in mills the two boys in a lumber mill and the girl at a cotton mill. By 1889, these children had married and moved on so, in 1889, Polly applied for a Widows Pension and a pension for her minor children. Both were granted. After 1905, she moved in with her daughter Emma’s family and died a short while thereafter. See more

IN THE ARMY FOR 1 YEAR AND 14 DAYS - In August of 1862, Captain Levi Dominy of the 118th Infantry sent his 2nd Lieutenant Joseph Tenney to recruit men in the Saranac area. Elmore Minnie, a young farmer, the son of Francois-Xavier Minnie and Julia Caille, enlisted on August 9, 1862, and by September 1st was on his way to Washington for his 3-year adventure. The 118th saw duty in Baltimore and Washington before they were sent to the field in April of 1863 and the Siege of Suff...olk near the mouth of the James River in Virginia. Elmore was present for the muster on April 10th, but by June was in the Finley Hospital in Washington. He rejoined his regiment and died of typhoid fever and chronic diarrhea at Gloucester Point, VA, on the banks of the York River opposite Yorktown, VA. After he died on August 23, 1863, he was buried at Gloucester Point under the name Elmore Miner. In the history of the 118th, Three Years With the Adirondack Regiment, by John Cunningham, he wrote: Serious sickness continued, many deaths occurred and we felt that our stay at Gloucester Point was a needless waste of lives. Our post hospital was full and many sick "in quarters. General Wistar was, we thought, hard on us in being loath to send even our sick to healthfully located hospitals; yet 76 of the sick were sent to Hampton Hospital, Fortress Monroe, at one time and 75 at another. Five men of the 99th New York died during one twenty-four hours, and other deaths occurred almost daily. We regarded it as a crime to be kept in this malarious location which was not threatened by or much in danger from the enemy. In 1885, his mother, Julia, applied for and started receiving a pension based on Elmore’s service. She died in March 1889, and his father, Francois-Xavier, started the pension application process, but died in November, before it was completed. Both are buried in the Assumption Cemetery in Saranac. #ClintonCountyNY #CivilWarSoldiers #ILoveNY See more

FATHER AND SON CAPTURED 25 MILES APART - In 1864, two men named David Dumas enlisted in Ellenburg Center father and son. The first to enlist was David, the father, who was born in 1820. H enlisted in the 14th Artillery for a town bounty of $200. He was a widower and left and six children at home to join the regiment as it was forming in Rochester in response to the Union’s need for artillery near Petersburg and Richmond. The regiment’s recruitment officer rejected 32 candid...ates for such things as being too slight or feeble, being to old or too young or consumption among other things. Twenty other candidates made their own choice and deserted before the regiment went to the field. Finally, with about 140 men Company G of the 14th Heavy Artillery were sent south. David, Sr. fought from early May to the end of October. His first engagements were at The Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House and the last at Hatcher’s Run. Along the way, the regiment had over 750 casualties. Their first battle in March of 1865 at Fort Stedman on the eastern outskirts of Petersburg resulted in 274 casualties 210 of which were captured by the enemy. It was the last serious attempt by the Confederates to break the siege at Petersburg. David was one of those captured at the earthen fort but was later paroled and joined his regiment to muster out on July 15, 1865, in Albany. David Jr.’s time in the field was a lot shorter than his father’s. He enlisted on August 27, 1864, in Plattsburgh as a substitute for Eli Carpenter and two months to the day later, he was captured at 2nd Fair Oaks, VA, also known as the Battle of Fair Oaks and Darbytown Road, on October 27th. He was later paroled, but was so weakened, he died on April 30, 1865. He has a monument in the Star Road Cemetery in Ellenburg Center. Shortly after arriving in Fowler, IN, about 100 miles south of Chicago, to live with his daughter, Rosalie, the surviving David died on June 1, 1880 and was buried a few miles away in the Debner Cemetery in Earl Park. Eli Carpenter, for whom David substituted in 1864, died in Ellenburg Center in 1887 when he was 58 years old and was buried in the Riverside Cemetery there. #ClintonCountyNY #CivilWarSoldiers #ILoveNY See more

SERVED AT THE TAIL END OF THE WAR - Edmund Denicore, the second son of Narcisse Denicore and Celeste Taupier. He was the last of their children to be born in Iberville, Quebec. Edmund’s elder brother, Marcel had been in the 153rd Infantry since August 1862 and Edmund was drafted a couple of years later to be in the 81st Infantry as a substitute in March 1865. The name on his Muster Roll abstract was Edward Denacore. He left his wife, Derinda Hough, at home in Altona where he ...was working on the railroad and, with a few other men from the Plattsburgh area, joined his regiment while they were in the field near Petersburg and Richmond. In 1864, the 81st had received over 300 casualties and in January 1865, many men had come to the end of their 3-year terms of enlistment leaving the regiment with only 250 men. Edward may have become part of the regiment while they were still performing picket duty at Fort Harrison just outside Petersburg. He may have been with them when they formed the skirmish line outside Richmond on April 3rd, but he was certainly with them while they entered the city, released the Union prisoners at Thunder Castle and Libby Prison, replaced them with Rebel troops and raised their starry flag above the buildings. The men helped put out the fires that were still raging in the city and then helped themselves to what booty they could find. After duties around the Confederate capital for a few weeks, the 81st marched to Williamsburg, a distance of about 50 miles and from there to Hampton, VA, another 30 miles where they mustered out with their companies on August 31st. They took a steam transport from Fortress Monroe to New York and then went by boat to Albany where they were individually mustered out with pay. Edmund returned to Altona and took up his railroad job. He died while working at Junction Kilns, a small stop on the Chateaugay Railroad between Chazy Lake and Lyon Mountain, on October 14, 1887. Derinda went to live with her son, Charles, in Plattsburgh who was a conductor on the Plattsburg to Lake Placid route. She was buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Plattsburgh in 1918. #ClintonCountyNY #CivilWarSoldiers #ILoveNY See more

DROVE A COVERED WAGON TO THEIR LAND GRANT - Thomas Welch, an Irish Immigrant came to the United States in the 1820s. He married Philena Crowley whose first immigrant ancestor came from England in the early 1700s and whose grandfather was in the American Revolution. Their son, Martin Van Buren Welch, a butcher, enlisted in the 118th Infantry on August 8, 1862 in Mooers. He was mustered into Company I in at Plattsburgh and left for Washington two days later, on September 1st. M...artin survived the 118th’s stay in the capital, and the battles in Virginia in 1863 between May and July. He became ill and spent from October to December 1863 in Eckington Hospital in Washington. His regiment was in winter quarters at Newport News, VA, when he rejoined them. The regiment’s heavy fighting around Petersburg in began in May 1864 and continued until the end of October. The Battles of Drewry’s Bluff in May followed by Cold Harbor in June accounted for the 59 men killed in action. Over two hundred casualties followed while they were in the vicinity of Petersburg that year. Their last major battle was at the end of October with 111 casualties. In 1865, the 118th participated in the fall of Petersburg and then travelled to Richmond where Martin mustered out with his company on June 13th. He returned home to his wife Catherine McMulligan, born in Donegal, Ireland, who he had married in 1851, and they decided to move West with their children. They took the train to Shabbona, IL, about 70 miles west of Chicago, where they lived until they received their land grant in Iowa. In the fall of 1871, in a covered wagon, they started the 350-mile trip to claim their land in Fonda, IA. The family stayed on the land until 1890 when Martin died. He was buried in the Cedar Township Cemetery in Fonda under two stones, a large cenotaph and a military stone. Catherine immediately applied for a Widow’s Pension and received it until she died in 1928 at age 97 and was buried with Martin. She outlived all of her eight children except two daughters. #ClintonCountyNY #CivilWarSoldiers #ILoveNY See more

LIKED THE ARMY LIFE - In the year before George Crandall joined the 54th Infantry, the regiment suffered over three hundred casualties, mostly on General Pope’s Campaign in August 1862 and at Gettysburg at the beginning of July in 1863. He was drafted and sent to the draft rendezvous at Folly Island, a barrier island on the coast of South Carolina, where he stayed until March 27, 1864. The 54th was in the 10th Corps of the Department of the South and, almost immediately, George was sent to the Departments’ Headquarters at Hilton Head about 100 miles south on the coast, where he stayed until December 1865. He was mustered out in April 1866, at Charleston, about fifteen miles northwest from his original rendezvous site. He later joined the regular army and was mustered out in 1875. #ClintonCountyNY #CivilWarSoldiers #ILoveNY

FOUGHT WITH CUSTER - Hiram Henry Ketchum, born in Ontario on February 14, 1844, was a son of Henry and Mary A. Ketchum. The family was living in Schuyler Falls when he enlisted in the 16th NY Infantry in Plattsburgh at seventeen years old. With seventy-five other men from the local area, he participated in the Peninsula Campaign of the Army of the Potomac in Captain William Wallace Wood’s Company K. Even though he was slightly wounded at Gaines' Mill, where they had over 240 ...Continue reading

BORN IN BIRMINGHAM - BURIED IN LEAVENWORTH - Robert Wilson Turner enlisted as a private in the 118th Infantry on July 18, 1832 when he was 30 years old - within a week he was promoted to be the Sergeant-Major of the regiment, probably because of his prior military experience. He had been in the 39th Regiment of Foot in England for 7 years. While in the British Army, he had been in the Crimean War in 1854 and had fought in the Battle of Alma, Sevastopol, Balaclava, and Inkerma...n, among others. By September 1855, he was in Montreal with his regiment where he resigned, and married Martha Gilbrath. They came to the Clinton County in 1857. Robert was from a fighting family. His father had been in the British Army and had died in 1836, when Robert was four years old. He had two uncles who had fought all over Europe before fighting with Wellington against Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. Both uncles died in the battle. Robert’s grandfather had been in the British Army at the time of the Irish Rebellion in 1798 and wounded at the Battle of Vinegar Hill which was the last attempt of United Irishmen to hold and defend ground against the British. All went well with Robert in the 118th until the Battle of Drewry’s Bluff. He was shot in the instep of his right foot and was sent to hospital, at Suffolk, VA. In March 1865, by Special Order of the Provost Marshal General, he was transferred to the 4th Regiment of the Veteran Reserve Corps. On June 17, 1865, he was mustered out at Rock Island, IL. His family including wife, Martha Gilbrath, and four children ended up farming in Downs, KS, about 250 miles due west of Kansas City. In 1880 he started receiving his Invalids Pension of $12 a month. After becoming widowed, his health declined and he was admitted to the Disabled Veterans Home in Leavenworth, KS, just outside Kansas City, in February 1899. Almost three years later, he died there on December 28, 1901, at 6:06 pm. At 8 am, two days later, he was buried in the Leavenworth National Cemetery adjacent to the hospital with the usual military ceremonies. So far, we have found five soldiers, who enlisted in Clinton County, buried in Leavenworth National Cemetery. #ClintonCountyNY #CivilWarSoldiers #ILoveNY See more

ONE OUT OF THREE BROTHERS CAME HOME - Before he was finally buried in 1910 under the name Vanaraman, Hiram, who was born in 1838, was mentioned in records under many variations of his name. His parents were Henry VanArman and Marcia Sherburne, who were living on a farm in Ellenburg when their son enlisted. Hiram’s first enlistment was in the 16th Infantry on August 15, 1862. They mustered him in under the name Van Aranam. He enlisted with his older brother, James, who was rec...orded under another variation of their name. James was to die of diarrhea at Culpeper, VA, in 1864. A third brother, Horace, was already in the 96th Infantry when the brothers enlisted. He died of heart disease in Savannah, GA, in 1865. Hiram and James met up with the 16th after the Seven Days’ Battles in June and July of 1862. At Gaines’ Mill, the regiment had lost 231 men to casualty, including 41 men killed on the battlefield. Fighting to get over Crampton’s Pass on September 14th, the brother’s first battle, the regiment sustained another 63 casualties 18 killed on the east side of the hill. At Antietam three days later, the regiment was held in reserve and, during the horrendous Battle of Fredericksburg in December they were posted on picket duty. Thus only 3 injuries were received by the men. The brothers survived Marye’s Heights and Salem Church in May of 1863 and were transferred in the field to the 121st Infantry. Hiram was recorded as Van Aunen. The brothers were separated when Hiram was transferred to the Signal Corps in August, where he remained until he was mustered out. By 1880, Hiram and his wife, Sarah Adgate, were keeping a hotel in Chesterfield in Essex County. Although the couple never had children, part of their household was Sarah’s sister, Hannah Adgate, who lived with them until Hiram died in 1910. He was buried at the Adgate Cemetery at Au Sable Chasm. The sisters continued to live together after Hiram’s death. See some Civil War signals at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEpaogIzFOA #ClintonCountyNY #CivilWarSoldiers #ILoveNY See more

DID A HORSE KILL HIM? - Michael Dougherty, son of Irish immigrants, James and Rosanna Dougherty, was born in Fort Ann, NY, but was living in Glens Falls and working as a teamster when he enlisted in the 192nd Infantry in Plattsburgh on March 15, 1865. He was one of 133 men who enlisted in Plattsburgh that March, promising to serve for terms of 1 to 3 years. For his enlistment, he received a town bounty of $650. By the end of the month, Michael was promoted corporal and the re...giment patrolled the Shenandoah Valley maintaining law and order until August 28, 1865, when they were mustered out at Cumberland, MD. All but three of the men with whom he enlisted returned home the three died of disease. The new regiment was formed to patrol the Valley and look after New York’s interests because most of the other New York regiments were in the Petersburg/Richmond/Appomattox theatres. When he mustered out, Michael married Mary Danahy in 1866 and supported his family as a teamster. Glens Falls Post Star of February 1, 1899, carried the story of his death Michael Dougherty, a teamster in the employ of Finch, Pruyn & Co., was found in an unconscious condition shortly after one o’clock yesterday afternoon at the company’s barn. Mr. Dougherty, accompanied by his 9-year-old son, Edward, went to the barn after dinner to harness his team before starting work. He had harnessed one horse when the other turned around in his stall and ran to another. Mr. Dougherty cried, Eddie, I’m hurt, and fell down on his hands and knees vomiting profusely. The boy got the barn manager who sent for the doctor who arrived just as Dougherty died. The coroner arrived and the medical men decided an autopsy was necessary because they could see no external injuries. The deceased was an exemplary citizen and came to Glens Falls about 45 years ago from Fort Ann where he was born in 1847. He was the oldest employee of the company and had been with them since the organization of the company 30 years ago. Mr. Dougherty leaved a widow and 8 children, 4 boys and 4 girls. #ClintonCountyNY #CivilWarSoldiers #LoveNY See more

LIVED MOST OF HIS LIFE IN DENVER - At 12 years and 5 months of age, Henry Justin Miner enlisted in the 34th Infantry as one of two musicians. He gave his age as 18, even though he was born on December 22, 1848. He was enrolled by the captain of Company D, Davis Rich and joined almost 100 men from the Champlain area. The other musician was William Lajoe, who was discharged for disability in December of 1862. On July 3, 1861, the 34th left from Albany, where they mustered, to ...serve for their 2-year term. For the first few months of their service, they stayed near the Potomac River, and, in the spring of 1862, the started their journey toward Richmond on the Peninsula Campaign. Like many other New York regiments, they were sent to Antietam after the Seven Days’ Battles and ended their year at Fredericksburg. In 1862, the regiment sustained over 350 casualties on the battlefield. In the spring of 1863, they had only 3 casualties at the Battles of Marye’s Heights and Salem Church. The 3-year men were transferred to the 82nd Infantry, but Henry elected to return to Clinton County bearing the rank of corporal. In January 1865, he enlisted as a private in the 26th Cavalry, known as the 1st Frontier Cavalry, and organized to guard the northern border. He was mustered out as a private in July because the regiment was no longer needed. By 1870, Henry had married Millicent Chamberlain from West Chazy and the couple moved to Michigan. They stayed in Michigan until the mid-1880s and then moved to Denver, CO, where Henry supported his family as a salesman of industrial goods. Henry died in Denver in 1931 and was buried in the Wheat Ridge Cemetery about 10 miles from the center of the city. Two years later, Millicent was buried beside him. Their son, Ernest, died in the state of Washington in 1974. #ClintonCountyNY #CivilWarSoldiers #ILoveNY See more

SIX VETERANS IN ONE FAMILY - There is a gravestone in the Star Cemetery in Ellenburg Center that bears the name of four Civil War Soldiers, sons of Ira Fisk and Louisa Brunson. John, Martin, George, Samuel, and Julius. The family had moved from Isle La Motte in Vermont to farm in Ellenburg Center. On the west side of the sone are the names of Ira and Louisa. Samuel, on the south side of the stone, died of disease at Fairfax, VA, on December 4, 1861, at 21 years old. He was ...in the 5th Vermont Infantry. Julius, also on the south side, who enlisted with his brother on September 16, 1861, was killed in action at Savage Station on June 29, 1862. Moving to the north side of the stone we find the name Martin Fisk and the inscription, A Soldier in Late Rebellion. Next to his inscription, it says, John H., Fell at Winchester, VA, September 19, 1864, Age 30 years, Co. K, 11th VT Volunteers. John had enlisted with Samuel and Julius and was discharged for disability in March 1862, before enlisting in the 11th later in the year. Ira and Louisa’s grandson, Martin Ames, of the 6th NY Cavalry is also on the north side. He died of disease at Frederick, MD, on May 21, 1865, at 16 years old. On the east side of the stone is the name George Fisk and the inscription, Soldier in the Late Rebellion. Some of the men, like John and Martin Ames are buried in National Cemeteries and have second stones. Julius is buried in Wisconsin. George is also named on a separate stone in the Star Cemetery. The other two are buried elsewhere. When the soldiers are remembered on Memorial Day, six flags are placed over the stone. #ClintonCountyNY #CivilWarSoldiers #ILoveNY See more

ALL HIS SERVICE WITH THE 118th - On January 13, 1843, Lucius Larrabee Taft, a sawyer, was born to David Taft and Charlotte Bailey, in Dresden, a tiny hamlet on the shore of Lake Champlain near Whitehall. He enlisted in the 118th Infantry on August 13, 1862, while the family was living in Schuyler Falls. Two days before the regiment left for their 3-years’ service, Lucius was mustered into Company H with just over a hundred men from the Plattsburgh area. The regiment left for ...Continue reading

DIED OF TYPHOID AND MALARIA - Gideon Rugar was a Revolutionary War soldier who settled in the Town of Plattsburgh about 1790. Rugar Street, which runs west from Plattsburgh State University, was named after him. He served many years as the pathmaster and cared for the road to West Plattsburgh for many years. In 1861, Gideon’s grandson, Jacob Rugar, enlisted in the first round of recruitment for the 16th Infantry in Plattsburgh. He enlisted and was mustered in on the same da...y, May 15, 1861, and was assigned to Captain Frank Palmer’s Company C. About six weeks later, they left for Washington after they were transported to Albany on a train paid for by the State of New York. Jacob spent his full two years with the 16th and was mustered out on May 22, 1863 in Albany. While he was with the regiment he fought in many major battles in Virginia and Maryland. He survived their worst battles Gaines’ Mill on June 27, 1862, where they had 231 casualties and in early May 1863, the two battles just south of Fredericksburg Marye’s Heights and Salem Church where they 154 more. After returning to Plattsburgh, 22-year-old Jacob enlisted again this time in the 2nd Veteran Cavalry on July 25, 1863. The regiment patrolled the Washington area for a few months and then was ordered to Louisiana for the Red River Campaign. After the campaign, the regiment stayed in Louisiana. While there, Jacob died of typhoid and malaria at the regimental hospital at Morganza on October 24, 1864. The death certificate was signed by L. Demanville, a Regimental Surgeon. He was probably buried on the banks of the Mississippi in the grounds of the regimental hospital which was no more than a collection of tents. The whereabouts of his grave is unknown. See more

ALMOST FOUR YEARS WITH THE 60th INFANTRY - In the early fall of 1861, James Ransom, Loring White, and Marcellus Fitch enlisted men in Champlain, Mooers, Ellenburg, Altona, Chazy and Saranac in Clinton County and went to Camp Wheeler in Ogdensburg with 45 men to be housed in buildings formerly used by the Northern Railroad as workshops. James was elected captain, Loring 1st lieutenant and Marcellus, 2nd lieutenant. According to, The History of the Sixtieth Regiment New York V...olunteers, they took the position as the left center company, or sixth in line, and were named Company H. James Nichols was one of the original recruits for Company H. He enlisted at twenty-seven years old on September 21st, and was mustered in as one of seventy-eight privates before the regiment left for Washington by train on November 4th. They stayed near the capital with the Army of the Potomac and guarded railroads along the Potomac all the way to Harper’s Ferry until the end of May 1862. In June 1862, they were ordered to the Department of the Shenandoah and joined Sigel’s Division. During the rest of 1862, they went on General Pope’s Campaign, and in September, they were at Antietam with the Army of Virginia where they had twenty-two casualties. Their first battle in 1863 was at Chancellorsville where they had 66 casualties and in July they were at Gettysburg where they defended Culp’s Hill and received 52 more casualties. The 60th spent the rest of the war on the Chattanooga and Roseville Campaign, the Atlanta Campaign, the March to the Sea and the Campaign of the Carolinas. Just before the regiment went on their last campaign, James re-enlisted as a veteran and received a town bounty of $300 and a county bounty of $200. At the beginning of the 1865, while they were marching north, James was detailed to a Pioneer unit. After watching General Johnston surrender to General Sherman near Raleigh, NC, on April 26th, the regiment was mustered out at Alexandria, VA. James died shortly after returning to Clinton County. #ClintonCountyNY #CivilWarSoldiers #ILoveNY See more

MUSTERED OUT UNDER GENERAL ORDER No. 83 - For a county bounty of $600, Alfred Fisher, who was 38 years old, enlisted to serve for one year in the 3rd Cavalry on September 3, 1864. He was the oldest of the nine men who enlisted in Plattsburgh that September. They were divided between Companies H and K and all of them managed to muster out in 1865. Between May and September of 1864, the 3rd Cavalry had had more than 160 casualties over half the casualties were men who had bee...n captured while patrolling and skirmishing in the Petersburg/Richmond area. Alfred and his comrades were enlisted to help fill out the ranks and their first battle was at Darbytown Road on October 7th where they had 4 men killed in action, 15 men wounded, and 33 men captured by the enemy - none of them were the new recruits . The regiment stayed in the general area until mid-December fighting in five more battles and then went into winter quarters at Suffolk, VA. They had three more engagements in 1865, their last being on March 18th. Alfred and about half the regiment mustered out in June at Norfolk, VA, under General Order No. 83 from the War Department dated May 8, 1865, which said that all men whose terms of service would be over before October 1, 1865, would be mustered out the rest remained in Virginia until September. You can read the General Order at: https://www.nytimes.com//army-reduction-order-for-reducing He returned home after nine months and nine days in the military and took up farming again. By 1870, he and his wife, Rachel, were living in Altona with five of their children. In1887, Alfred was awarded his Invalid’s Pension. When he died in Plattsburgh in 1896, he was a member of the Walter H. Benedict G. A. R. Post. Alfred’s final resting place was the Old Roman Catholic Cemetery in Plattsburgh on U. S. Avenue by the Military Barracks. He died of April 24, 1896 and, next year, a military headstone from the Vermont Marble Company was placed on his grave. Two years later, Rachel, applied for and was granted a Widow’s Pension. Sadly, when the cemetery was bulldozed in 1983, under the direction of Monsignor Morris Dwyer, many of the tombstones, including Alfred’s were destroyed. Articles on the destruction can be found at: https://www.nnytombstoneproject.net//plat/old_catholic.htm #ClintonCountyNY #CivilWarSoldiers #ILoveNY

FOUGHT ON THE PENINSULA CAMPAIGN - In 1860, twenty-one-year-old Benjamin Franklin T. Woodward was living on his parents’ farm in Beekmantown. He was born to Vermonter, Theophilus Woodward, and his wife, Polly Hicks who was born in Massachusetts, two brothers and a hired girl, Delia Garrow. Captain Darius M. Parsons personally recruited Benjamin to be his 2nd sergeant in Company B of the 96th Infantry. About six weeks after his enlistment, he was mustered into the regiment on ...November 21, 1861 in Plattsburgh. They drilled at the Plattsburgh Barracks until March 1862, when they left about 800 strong for Washington by train to serve for three years. Benjamin’s whole military career was spent in Virginia. The 96th was part of General McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign which started when they left the capital by ship and sailed to Fortress Monroe at the mouth of the James River. The objective of the campaign was to capture Richmond by fighting their way northwest up to the capital of the Confederacy. McClellan ordered his 102,000+-man Army of the Potomac to prepare for the Siege of Yorktown and were there from April 17th to May 4th. Just before the siege preparations were completed, the Confederates, under the direct command of General Joseph Johnston, began a withdrawal toward Richmond. The 96th was engaged at the Battle of Williamsburg on May 5th, after which the Confederates continued their withdrawal. The regiment followed them and had their first major battle at Fair Oaks where they had 58 casualties in a surprise attack by Johnston and his troops. Johnston was wounded by a Union artillery shell fragment at Fair Oaks and Robert E. Lee was his replacement. Lee reorganized the Army of Northern Virginia and prepared for offensive action in the final battles of June 25 to July 1, which are known as the Seven Days Battles. The regiment had 81 casualties during the Seven Days’ Battles 80 of them captured by the enemy. Lee kept McClellan from reaching Richmond and the Army of the Potomac retreated to Harrison’s Landing on the James about 25 miles to the southeast. The 96th then withdrew to Camp Hamilton just outside Fortress Monroe. Benjamin was discharged for disability on November 10, 1862, at Suffolk, VA, just before the regiment was ordered to North Carolina. He returned to Clinton County and farmed for the rest of his life. When he died in 1912, his wife, Helen Bowron, laid him to rest in the Glenwood Cemetery in Champlain next to their daughter who died in 1885. Helen received her Widows Pension starting in 1916 and received it for ten years before she died in Rouses Point in 1926. #ClintonCountyNY #CivilWarSoldiers #ILoveNY See more

GREW WHILE HE WAS IN THE SERVICE When Martin Dragoon first joined the 11th Cavalry, also known as Scott’s 900, in March 1862, they measured him and found he was 5’ 4 tall. When he mustered out, he was 5’ 7 tall. His growth should come as no surprise. He was barely 15 years old when he enlisted, even though he gave his age as 18, and he was in the Army for three and a half years. Martin was the son of Denis Dragon-Ethier and his second wife, Anastasia Jubenville dit St. ...Martin. He was the first of their children born in New York after they moved south from Boucherville, Quebec. The 11th Cavalry was newly-formed and organized on Staten Island. There were ten companies and Martin was assigned to Company G after he was recruited by William Gibson, the 2nd lieutenant of the company. Only forty-eight privates were with the company when they left for the Military District of Washington on May 5, 1862. Fifteen men deserted before they got to their first engagement in June eleven of them before they even left Staten Island. One man died of disease only a few days after arriving in the capital. For the next two years, the regiment patrolled in northern Virginia and southern Maryland within a few miles of the Potomac River. They had a hundred and eighteen men captured, twenty-six men injured and four killed in action and three who died later of their wounds. From March 1864 to February 1865, the 11th patrolled along the Mississippi, and, in August 1864, had ninety-two men and their horses captured at Doyal’s Plantation. In January 1865, they started from Bayou Masson, AR and on April 18th, had their last and bloodiest battle near Colliersville, TN. Martin was mustered out on September 30, 1865, at 5’ 7 tall, and, in 1866, joined the 15th U. S. Infantry who had been fighting in the same general area. He died in February 1867. The history of Scott’s 900, including scores of pictures and the story of Doyal’s Plantation where the owner challenged the commander of the regiment to a duel. can be read at: https://books.google.com/books #ClintonCountyNY #CivilWarSoldiers #ILoveNY See more

GOT OUT AS SOON AS HIS THREE YEARS WERE UP - Only five states recruited 96 infantries New York, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Ohio. By the end of the war and the formation of the 193rd infantries, only three states could field regiments, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and only New York enlisted men for three years. Ohio asked men to give only one year’s service and Pennsylvania only fielded a 100-day regiment. Albert Pitt Denio, who gave his occupation as butcher, e...nlisted in the 96th Infantry in Chazy on October 20, 1861, and was mustered into Captain Joseph Nichols’ Company F on February 21, 1862. He was immediately transferred to Captain David Lockerby’s Company A and was given the rank of 1st sergeant. The regiment left for Washington by train about three weeks later. A month after arriving in the capital, they boarded a flotilla of boats and sailed coastwise for Fortress Monroe at the mouth of the James River ready to begin their march up the Virginia Peninsula. After slogging up the Peninsula during the spring and summer and sustaining 58 casualties at Fair Oaks and 81 casualties during the Seven Days’ Battles, the regiment wasn’t engaged again in battle until October. By this time, Albert had been promoted to commissary sergeant still only 20-years-old. Starting in December, the 96th went to the North Carolina to guard railroad junctions and coastal cities and stayed there until they were needed before Petersburg. From May to October 1884, Albert was in many notable battles in the Petersburg area. His last battle was the 3-day battle at Chaffin’s Farm with the XVIII Corps of the Army of the James under General Benjamin Butler. When his three years’ service was up, just before the Second Battle of Fair Oaks, he decided not to re-enlist and was discharged on October 20, 1864. He came home to Chazy to farm for the rest of his life. He married Marietta Ladd in 1869 and they lived with his parents, Guy Denio and Ruby Barber, on the farm. Ruby died in 1867 and was buried in the Riverview Cemetery in Chazy. Guy joined her there in 1882. When Albert died in 1921, Marietta started receiving a Widows Pension of $30 a month, which she received until she died in 1930. The couple are also buried in Riverview Cemetery. #ClintonCountyNY #CivilWarSoldiers #ILoveNY See more

WENT INTO HOSPITAL AND DISAPPEARED - In October 1862, the 153rd Infantry organized in Fonda, NY. Colonel Duncan McMartin had 10 companies under his command. Company I was composed of 89 men including Captain Davis Rich, two lieutenants, five sergeants, eight corporals, two musicians and seventy-one privates. Two of the privates didn’t make the muster, but the others left for Washington on the 18th to serve for three years. In the company, was James Harper, accompanied by thi...rty-two other men who had enlisted with him in Champlain, and other men from Altona, Plattsburgh and Essex. The regiment remained in the capital as part of its defenses until February 1864 when they were ordered to Louisiana. They stayed only for three months in Louisiana participating in the unsuccessful Red River Campaign that was meant to take control of the cotton-growing states of Louisiana, Alabama and Texas. Before returning to the East. James was promoted to corporal. The 153rd stayed in Washington for a few weeks in the summer of 1864, before being sent to the Shenandoah Valley. Only four engagements remained in the regiment’s military career Opequan, Fisher’s Hill, a skirmish near Strasburg and Cedar Creek on October 19th. He was wounded in action and supposedly spent the rest of the war sick in hospital. He wasn’t at the muster-out of the regiment in Savannah, GA, and no discharge papers were furnished. #ClintonCountyNY #CivilWarSoldiers #ILoveNY See more