ALVAH SMITH -- 22nd INFANTRY and 5th U. S. ARTILLERYMOVED TO THE MIDWEST - Alvah Smith was the fifth child of David Smithand Sarah Andrews who came from Alburgh, VT, to farm in Chateaugay, NY.He was 19 years old when he enlisted in the 22nd Infantry inKeeseville on May 7, 1861, to serve for two years.The regiment organized in Troy and on June 6th, Alvah was musteredinto Captain Oliver Peabody's Company C with 64 other privates from theKeeseville area. The regiment left for Washington on June 28th and hadone man killed in Baltimore during the anti-war riots. They performedcamp and guard duty at Upton's Hill in Arlington for the rest of theyear.In March 1862, the regiment advanced on Manassas, VA, with the Army ofthe Potomac, before boarding transports for Fortress Monroe on theVirginia coast. They stayed near the moth of the James until Augustbefore returning to northern Virginia and suffered 182 casualties whilefighting in such battles as Groveton and Bull Run.In September they went on the Maryland Campaign and crossed SouthMountain with 30 casualties before going on to Antietam to get 30 more.In December, while the 22nd was near Fredericksburg, General JohnReynold's I Corps of the Union Army, he transferred to the 5th U. S.Artillery who was fighting alongside them.Alvah was with the 5th Artilley through 1863. He returned North and by1870, he had married Mary Colinan and had started a family in Ohio. Theylived in Terre Haute, IN, where he worked as a nail feeder in a factory.before settling in Casnovia, in western Michigan, where he died in 1912.Mary moved to Grand Rapids, MI, and died in 1918.
