ALBERT SIDNEY PERRIGO -- 96thINFANTRYDIED AT 44 YEARS OLD IN ILLINOIS - William Alexander Perrigo and hiswife, Mary Ann Shepherd had 14 children, all of whom were born inClinton County. Half of the 8 boys went to war and three came home.Albert Sidney Perrigo, their youngest, was one of the boys who survived.He enlisted in the 96th Infantry in Beekmantown where they were living,as a private 1862, a year and a day after Lincoln's first call for75,000 men and the day before the Siege of Yorktown began.In the first few months of the war 19 men from the Beekmantown areajoined the regiment. Many of them were at the Siege that started inmid-April 1862. Albert's first major battle was at Fair Oaks at the endof May where they sustained 58 casualties -- 7 killed in action, 4mortally wounded, 27 injured and 20 who went missing or who werecaptured by the enemy. The Seven Days' Battles started at the end ofJune and, in 2 weeks, had 79 men captured. Starting in December, theregiment went to North Carolina and returned to the battlefield nearRichmond and Petersburg in May 1864.Twelve of the largest battles of the war occurred in 1864, includingSwift Creek, Proctor's Creek, Drewry's Bluff, Bermuda Hundred, ColdHarbor, Petersburg and Chaffin's Farm on October 1st. On that day,Albert found himself in hospital for the duration of the war.Albert's Muster Roll Abstract says he was absent and sick in hospitalstarting on October 1, 1864, near Richmond, and so he missed the lastfew months in the field. He was mustered out by Special Order of the WarDepartment on June 14, 1865, at Manchester, VA, just across the riverfrom Richmond.He returned to East Beekmantown, but moved to Cook County, IL, andsupported his family by working as a machinist.On August 25, 1890, Albert's wife, Katherine applied for a Widow'sPension, two years after his death. He died on August 24, 1888, inSandwich, IL, at 44 years old, and was buried in the Oak Ridge Cemeterythere with a son, Oscar, who died in 1875. Kate joined him in 1914, andshe's buried under the same stone. Albert's inscription reflects hisservice in the 96th.
