ALEXANDER COLUMB -- 64th INFANTRYIN HOSPITAL TWICE - On Alexander Columb's Muster Roll Abstract, it saysthat he was a substitute for Keeseville businessman, Luther Whitney. TheNY Adjutant General's Report of 1865 shows that he substituted for JohnW. Signor who farmed on the "Big Hill" back of Saranac Hollow. Whicheverman he substituted for, Alexander made \$300 for his enlistment andanother \$300 bounty from the Town of Saranac.In August 1864, eight men enlisted in Plattsburgh for the 64th, all ofwhom were substitutes for other men. The regiment had suffered over 150casualties in 1864 and needed new recruits. Alexander became ill as soonas he got to Virginia, but he recovered in time for their first battleat Hatcher's Run in December. They stayed in the Petersburg area overthe winter, an after an assault on the city on March 25th, the regimentwent on the Appomattox Campaign. On the campaign, Alexander became illagain and ended up in the Campbell Hospital in Washington. He wasmustered out in Washington on June 29, 1865.He returned to Saranac where his parents, Joseph Colombe and CeceliaGoddeau, had settled about 1850 after coming down from Cap St. Ignace,about 90 miles east of Quebec City on the south shore of the St.Lawrence River. Alexander married Catherine Mitchell in St. Peter'sChurch in Plattsburgh and supported his family by using hisblacksmithing skills. They stayed in Saranac through the 1880s and by1890, had set up house near Nashua, NH. By 1920, Alexander and Catherinewere living with one of their sons who was a machinist in the mills inNashua. He died in 1925 and was buried in the Old St. Louis de GonzagueCemetery in Nashua under his birth name of Achille Eleazar Columb. WhenCatherine died three years later, she was buried beside him.Luther Whitney died in Keeseville in 1911 and was buried in theEvergreen Cemetery there after a lifetime of working on civilengineering projects. John Signor retired from farming and moved toPlattsburgh where he died in 1904 and was buried in the RiversideCemetery.
