ALEXANDER, MANSON, WILLIAM and WILFORD GILBERT9th CAVALRYCOMPANY M 9th NY CAVALRY - Eleven Gilbert men enlisted in Clinton County for the Civil War. Four of them were in Company M of the 9th Cavalry. They were Alexander, Manson, William, and Wolford, a collection of brothers and cousins. Three of the men enlisted on October 11, 1861, to serve for three years, and Manson enlisted in March 1862.The regiment patrolled northern Virginia and made forays into Maryland. On September 17, 1863, they had 11 casualties at Gettysburg before returning to Virginia. The four were all together until May 30, 1864, when Alexander was shot in the left hand at Old Church, VA. He was sent to hospital and was transferred to the 239th Company of the 1st Battalion of the Veteran Reserve Corps. On May 6, 1865, he was mustered out in Washington and applied for an Invalid’s Pension as soon as he got home.Manson was the next of the four to leave Company M. He was killed by a sharpshooter at Bunker Hill, VA, on September 13th, 1864 – the only casualty on that day. His father, Francis Gilbert, brought him home to be buried in the Riverview Cemetery in Chazy with his mother, Margaret, who died in 1859 and a sister, Melissa, who died in 1852.William Gilbert decided not to re-enlist and was mustered out after his three years of service on October 15, 1864.Wolfred (Wolford) re-enlisted on December 20, 1864, and was appointed corporal on May 1, 1865, after participating in the Appomattox Campaign. He later moved to Lowell, MA, and died there in 1903.
