ALANSON RUSHFORD -- 142nd INFANTRYBURKE FARMER - Lanson (Alanson) Rushford, son of farmer Simeon Rushford,was recruited by Captain William Jones when the 142nd Infantry formed in1862. He enlisted on September 1, 1862 and was mustered into thecaptain's Company D on September 29th. Company D contained men fromMacomb, Bangor, Franklin, Westville, Constable, Burke and Bellmont. The regiment mustered in Ogdensburg and started off for Washington onOctober 6th where it stayed through the winter before it was ordered tothe Siege of Suffolk in Virginia. It was then sent to South Carolina forthe rest of the year losing no men.In 1864, they lost their first blood in South Carolina before returningto Virginia for the Operations against Petersburg in May. During May andJune, the regiment lost almost 200 men to death, injury or capture. Atthe end of July, they were at the Mine Explosion and had 14 morecasualties. The 3-day Battle of Chaffin's Farm came at the end of September and 1stof October. It was here that Lanson was severely injured in the kneeand, according to his Muster Roll Abstract, he was sent to hospital. Hereturned to the regiment by the end of October for the muster. You can see a list of injuries of the 142nd in the second column of theOgdensburg Daily Journal of October 13, 1864, at:http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn85054112/1864-10-13/ed-1/seq-2/After two more battles in 1864, Darbytown Road, VA, where they had 109more casualties, and Fort Fisher in North Carolina, with 20 morecasualties, they went into winter quarters.They stayed in North Carolina for the rest of the war, joined withSherman's troops for the Campaign of the Carolinas and ended theirfighting at Bennett House, NC, for the Second Surrender on April 26,1865.
