Clinton County, NY, Civil War Record - 1861 to 1865

Clinton County, NY, Civil War Record - 1861 to 1865 Exerpts from, "Clinton County Civil War Record - 1861 to 1865", published by the Clinton County Historical Association - and CCHA's collections

WAS NEVER IN BATTLE - When he was 23 years old, Peter King, who was born Pierre Couillard in Quebec, was living in Burke...
06/01/2026

WAS NEVER IN BATTLE - When he was 23 years old, Peter King, who was born Pierre Couillard in Quebec, was living in Burke in Franklin County, He enlisted in the 10th Infantry as a substitute in Plattsburgh on August 19, 1864. He, and the men with whom he enlisted, were sent straight to participate in the Siege of Petersburg.
Before he could fight in his first battle, Peter became ill and was sent to hospital on October 9th. He was mustered out on May 17, 1865, at McClellan General Hospital in Philadelphia.
Peter returned to Sun, a small community just south of Burke, NY, married, and raised his family while alternately using the names Queor and King.
He died in 1909 and was buried in the St. Francis of Assisi Cemetery in Constable, NY, as Peter King. His wife, Sophie Premo, applied for a Widows Pension but it doesn’t seem to have been granted.

MOVED TO MICHIGAN - William Welch, the son of Thomas Welch and Phiney Cooley, enlisted in the 118th Infantry in Mooers F...
05/31/2026

MOVED TO MICHIGAN - William Welch, the son of Thomas Welch and Phiney Cooley, enlisted in the 118th Infantry in Mooers Forks. He was musted into Company I in August 1862 to serve under Captain Henry Ransom.
All went well with William until March 1863, when he was sent to the Central Guard House in Washington, DC, and Colonel Oliver Keese ordered that his pay was to be stopped. He was let out of the Guard House in time to go to southern Virginia to participate in the Siege of Suffolk, and on June 29, 1863, he was sent to hospital at nearby Fortress Monroe.
William spent the first few months of 1864 with the regiment near Petersburg and then was sent to hospital again. He got a furlough to go home, and deserted while he was there. The Mooers Town Clerks records of 1865, say that his address in 1865 was Hemmingford, Quebec, just a few miles north of the border.
The family moved to Nelson, MI, where he farmed. The 1890 Military Schedules say he was suffering from rheumatism, sunstroke and asthma. When he retired from the farm, he moved about 100 miles west to Muskegon on the shores of Lake Michigan.
The Muskegon Chronicle of July 11, 1906, carried his obituary – “The funeral of William Welch, who died yesterday morning, was held at the residence, 4 Jay Street, at 2 o’clock this afternoon. Rev. E. A. Shewell conducted the service.
Mr. Welch’s death resulted from complication of diseases after a year’s illness. The deceased was 77 years old and was born in Plattsburgh, NY. He came to Muskegon in 1897. Besides his wife, he leaves two daughters, Mrs. C. D. McCoy and Miss Emmertte Welch, both of this city.”
William was buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Muskegon.

IN INFANTRY AND ARTILLERY - George Ambrose Pierce was born in 1829 in Worcester, MA, to War of 1812 veteran Hollis Pierc...
05/30/2026

IN INFANTRY AND ARTILLERY - George Ambrose Pierce was born in 1829 in Worcester, MA, to War of 1812 veteran Hollis Pierce and his wife, Mercy Merrifield. By 1861, he was farming in Lewis, NY, and in May of that year, he enlisted in the 38th Infantry in Elizabethtown to serve for two years.
He fought at Bull Run in June 1861, and Williamsburg in May 1862, and was taken prisoner at Ball’s Crossroads in June 8th. He was later paroled and from Camp Parole, MD, he was sent to East New York where he was mustered out in June 1863.
For an $800 town bounty, George enlisted in the 4th Heavy Artillery in September 1864, in Plattsburgh to replace one the 375 casualties the regiment had suffered at Ream’s Station on August 25th – 318 of whom had been captured by the enemy. He soon was promoted to corporal.
The 4th Heavy Artillery remained on the Petersburg battlefield through the winter of 1864/65, and when the city fell, they went on the Appomattox Campaign. During the campaign, they had another 102 casualties, none of whom were captured by the enemy. He marched back to Alexandria, VA, where he was mustered out on June 3, 1865.
George returned to Essex County and married Lucy Jenner in 1868. He died in Lewis in 1878 and was buried in the Roscoe Cemetery. Lucy lived until 1931 and was buried near him. One of their daughters lived until 1958.

BORN IN LACOLLE, QUEBEC - Sawyer Francois Dauphinais didn’t enlist in the 118th Infantry until he was 35 years old. He w...
05/29/2026

BORN IN LACOLLE, QUEBEC - Sawyer Francois Dauphinais didn’t enlist in the 118th Infantry until he was 35 years old. He was born in Lacolle, Quebec, to Charles Dauphinais and Julie Gauthier. He and his wife, Delia LaPorte had three children by the time he enlisted.
He was mustered into Captain Henry Ransom’s Company I as a private on August 29, 1862, in Plattsburgh under the name Francis Daphina. By October, the regiment was in Washington, DC. They stayed in the capital area until the next spring when they were ordered to the Siege of Suffolk.
Just before the regiment was about to leave, Francis became ill and was sent to the Eckington Hospital in Washington. He recovered and was with the 118th through the next two years when he was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps on January 1, 1865, after a year in the battlefield near Petersburg by order of the Secretary of War.
Francis returned home and the couple had two more children. He continued to farm and work in the woods near Mooers. He died in 1882 and was buried in St. Anne’s Cemetery in Mooers Forks. His military headstone was laid a few months later.

DIED IN MOOERS AT 21 YEARS OLD - Squire Helmes’ father, Noel Helmes, died in 1848, when he was just eight years old. His...
05/28/2026

DIED IN MOOERS AT 21 YEARS OLD - Squire Helmes’ father, Noel Helmes, died in 1848, when he was just eight years old. His mother, Mary Caulfield, married a few years later. She married widower Ebenezer Wells who was at least 30 years older and was living in Mooers. Squire was left in Saranac, where they were living, to work on Edwin Canfield’s farm.
On October 12, 1861, reunited with his mother, he enlisted in the 96th Infantry in Mooers to serve for three years. He was recruited by the 2nd lieutenant of Captain James Sweeney’s Company F, John Ransom. The men went to Plattsburgh to be mustered in at the Plattsburgh Barracks and were mustered in on Novembre 25, 1861.
The 96th trained over the winter and went to Washington in early March 1862. The regiment was put on ships to go to Virginia for the Peninsula Campaign. After the campaign was over, they retreated to Harrison’s Landing and then various cities at the mouth of the James River.
While Squire was there, he became ill and was sent to hospital. He was discharged for disability on October 14, 1862, in Albany, and came back to his mother’s home in Mooers.
Squire died later in the year and was buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Mooers.

IMPRISONED IN NORFOLK - When he enlisted in the 98th Infantry in Malone, NY, in December 1861, George Ames, a Burke nati...
05/25/2026

IMPRISONED IN NORFOLK - When he enlisted in the 98th Infantry in Malone, NY, in December 1861, George Ames, a Burke native, was a 5’ 3” tall farmer living in Ellenburg.
He went south with the newly formed regiment and arrived in Washington in early March 1862 and fought in the Peninsula Campaign with General McClellan. At the end of the fighting, they withdrew to the moth of the James River and were sent to North and South Carolina to defend the Union from Confederate blockade runners.
They were recalled to Virginia at the end of 1863 and, while in winter quarter, George re-enlisted as a veteran soldier on January 7, 1864. Sometime after this date, he was court martialed at the XVIII Corps Headquarters, dishonorably discharged and sentenced to three years hard labor. at Fort Norfolk on the banks of the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, VA. The Fort was used as a prison for Confederate soldiers.
George’s court martial records can be found at the National Archives with the NAID: 1867941 and Local ID: NN-3002. In the file would be found the description of his offense.
Common reasons for courts martial for regular soldiers were
Desertion and AWOL: The most common charges. Because military life was harsh and many soldiers felt their primary obligation was to their struggling families, leaving camp without permission was rampant.
Insubordination and Disobedience: Refusing to obey orders, disrespecting commanding officers, or sitting down while on guard duty were direct violations of military law.
Crimes Against Persons and Property: Soldiers were regularly tried for theft (stealing from fellow troops or local civilians), assault, murder, and r**e.
Drunkenness and Disorder: Being drunk and disorderly in camp was a very common offense that disrupted military routines.
Cowardice: Fleeing in the face of the enemy or showing extreme cowardice during battle.

BORN IN VERMONT - DIED IN FLORIDA - The 2nd New York Veteran Cavalry was formed primarily to retain and reorganize exper...
05/24/2026

BORN IN VERMONT - DIED IN FLORIDA - The 2nd New York Veteran Cavalry was formed primarily to retain and reorganize experienced Union combat veterans whose original infantry enlistment terms had expired. The regiment preferred veterans, however, toward the end of the war, they recruited men who had never been in the military.
One such man was Horace Winship who was born in Highgate, VT. By the time he enlisted, he had moved to Lewis, NY, with his parents, Josiah Winship and Rebecca Laws and was married. In May 1863, he was placed on the Draft Registration List for the town and, just over a year later, he enlisted and was mustered in as a private for the 2nd Veteran Cavalry in Plattsburgh. He received a $700 town bounty for enlisting.
The 2nd Veteran Cavalry was serving in Louisiana in the fall of 1864, and Horace scouted and participated in rapid-strike raids with the regiment on both sides of the Mississippi River until the end of December. During their last engagement of the year at McLeod’s Mills, they suffered 17 casualties.
In January and early February of 1865, they were still in Louisiana, but by mid-February, had moved to Barrancas, FL, and were assigned to the Separate Cavalry Brigade, District of West Florida. While there, Horace became ill and died in hospital of chronic diarrhea on May 6, 1865. He was buried in the local Naval Cemetery which was designated Barrancas National Cemetery in 1868.
Horace’s wife, moved back to Vermont and applied for a Widows Pension on July 3, 1865.

BOTH PARENTS APPLIED FOR PENSIONS - Eighteen-year-old Thomas Corbitt came to New York from Ireland with his parents, Tho...
05/23/2026

BOTH PARENTS APPLIED FOR PENSIONS - Eighteen-year-old Thomas Corbitt came to New York from Ireland with his parents, Thomas and Margaret Corbitt, before he was five years old. His father found a job in the Town of Chesterfield right away and, by 1864, he was a miner in the Town of Black Brook. Thomas enlisted in the 96th Infantry in March of the same year with almost fifty other men in one of the regiment’s many recruitments.
The 96th had been in North Carolina for over a year and, in March 1864, was stationed in the District of the Currituck conducting scout and outpost duties. Shortly after this, in late April, the regiment was transferred to Yorktown, VA, to prepare for the upcoming spring campaigns near Petersburg.
During the spring and summer, the regiment had over a hundred casualties, and their worst battle was at Cold Harbor at the beginning of June. In mid-June they were part of an assault on Petersburg and, for the next three months, stayed along the James River between Petersburg and Richmond. On September 29, Union forces launched a surprise attack against the heavily fortified Confederate lines about 15 miles below Richmond.
As part of the Battle of Chaffin's Farm, Major General Benjamin Butler's Army of the James targeted Fort Harrison, the largest Confederate fortification south of the capital. Thomas and another man from Company C, William Hill, who had also enlisted in March, were both killed in action. In all, 13 men were killed, 6 were mortally wounded, 60 were wounded and 24 went missing. Thomas and William have no known graves.
Thomas was in the military for exactly six months. His mother applied for a pension based on Thomas’ service in 1877 and received it until she died in 1887 and was buried in Holy Name Cemetery in Au Sable Forks. His father then applied for the pension and received it for four years until he died in 1891 in Black Brook.

SAW NO ACTION - On April 3, 1865, the day after the Fall of Richmond, nineteen-year-old Louis Clookey enlisted in the 96...
05/22/2026

SAW NO ACTION - On April 3, 1865, the day after the Fall of Richmond, nineteen-year-old Louis Clookey enlisted in the 96th Infantry in Plattsburgh. He was a substitute for J. H. Stone. The regiment were encamped near Appomattox Court House when he joined them with a contingent other men from the Plattsburgh area.
Because he had promised to serve for one year, he remained with the regiment through February 6, 1866, when they were mustered out at City Point, VA. While he was with the 96th, the men who had not fulfilled their service obligation from the 118th and 184th Infantries were consolidated into the regiment. They were retained in service in the vicinity of Richmond to maintain civil order and prevent lawlessness in the heavily damaged city and to perform provost duties of guarding public property and managing local security. They oversaw early Reconstruction efforts, which required a continued Federal military presence before local civilian governments could be re-established.
He was discharged from the 96th on February 6, 1866, at City Point, VA.

CROWN POINT LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER’S SON - Henry Raine was the middle child of eleven siblings born to James Raine, a British...
05/21/2026

CROWN POINT LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER’S SON - Henry Raine was the middle child of eleven siblings born to James Raine, a British soldier, and Anna Hewson who were born in Yorkshire, England. His father served in the 5th NY Cavalry in 1862. Henry enlisted in the 65th Infantry in March 1865, as a substitute for Galen E. Locke, a surveyor from Crown Point, for which he received $300. On June 26, 1865, he was mustered out at Harewood Hospital in Washington, DC.
On August 23, 1928, the Ticonderoga Sentinel carried Henry’s obituary – “Henry Isaac Raine was born near St. John, Quebec, on July 14, 1847. Soon after his birth, his parents moved to Crown Point, NY.
His early years were spent at the Crown Point Lighthouse, where his father was keeper for twenty-five years.
He enlisted Marh 17, 1865, in Company F, 65th Regiment, N. Y. Volunteers, and served until the close of the war.
After returning home, he went to Titusville, PA, at the time oil was discovered there, amassing a small fortune which was swept away in the panic of ’73,
September 28, 1876, he was married to Julia E. Fullmer of St. Petersburg, PA. Together they came to Crown Point, where he purchased a tract of one hundred acres of uncultivated land, built a house and barns and developed it into one of the most productive farms.
In 1920, he sold his farm and moved to the village.
September 18, 1924, he suffered a severe paralytic stroke, completely losing the use of his left side, after which he was confined to the house.
He was of a cheerful disposition, never complaining. He passed away on July 14th, his eighty-first birthday. He was conscious to the last, conversing with those at his bedside but a moment before the end.
He was Commander of Post 533, G. A. R., for many years, which he still held at the time of his death.
Funeral services were held at his home, July 17th, Rev. H. C. Laskey officiating. A choir from the church sang, “Home of the Soul,” his favorite hymn. He leaves to mourn his loss four sons, LeRoy T. of Scotia, NY, Richard H. of Albany, NY, Earl N. and Victor A. of Crown Point. Interment in Forestdale Cemetery.”
Galen Locke, the man for whom Henry substituted, died in 1888 and was buried in the Moriah Union Cemetery.

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