ALDEN WOODWARD -- 96th INFANTRYDIED OF HEART DISEASE IN CAMP - Company F of the 96th Infantry was made up of men from the Chazy and Mooers area. More than half of the ten companies were recruited in Clinton County, with one each from Chateaugay, Fort Edward, Ticonderoga and Warrensburg.Alden Woodward, of Captain James Sweeney's Company F, enlisted in Mooers with nineteen other men from the Mooers area.The 96th, also known as the Plattsburgh Regiment, was mustered into service in Plattsburgh in February 1862 and left for Washington on March 11th to serve for three years. By mid-April, the regiment was at the Siege of Yorktown on the Virginia coast with the Army of the Potomac. After the siege ended on May 4th, they started up the Peninsula -- Williamsburg, Bottom's Bridge, Savage Station and Seven Pines. It wasn't until May 29th at Seven Pines that they lost their first blood -- 1 killed in action, 1 mortally wounded and 3 wounded by gunfire.The 3-day Battle of Fair Oaks began two days later. They had 7 killed in action, 4 mortally wounded, 27 wounded and 20 who went missing or were captured. They skirmished again at Fair Oaks on June 25th before starting the Seven Days' Battles at the end of June and beginning of July where they had 81 casualties -- 1 killed in action and 80 captured by the enemy.In September they were transferred to the Department of Virginia, and they were stationed at the newly-built Camp Hamilton in Hampton, VA, near Fortress Monroe until November. The regiment was ordered to cross the James River to Suffolk where they remained for a month. While they were there, Alden succumbed to his heart condition at 28 years old. He died in the regimental hospital and was pronounced dead by the 96th's Surgeon, Francois D'Avignon who lived in Au Sable Forks. He was buried in the hospital grounds.
