ANDREW and AMZI BRICE – 16th INFANTRYGEORGE and ISAAC BRICE – 96th INFANTRY4 MEN FROM ONE FAMILY IN SARANAC ENLISTED - In the 1860 Census for Saranac, enumerated on September 10th, we find the family of Isaac Brice and Mercy (Martha) Evans living on a farm. It says that Isaac was 50 years old and born in England and the couple had 8 children. During the next four years, Isaac enlisted in the 96th Infantry claiming he was 43 years old. Their eldest son, Andrew, enlisted giving his true age. Amzi, or Amassa, gave his age as 21, even though he was just 19. The third son, George, who was 15 years old gave his age as 18 when he enlisted in 1861.Fate was not kind to the family – 3 of the 4 never returned to their Saranac home.Andrew, a teamster, was the first to enlist on May 2, 1861, in Saranac. He was mustered into Company E of the 16th Infantry and, 2 years and a day later was killed in action with 23 others on the first day of the 2-day Battle of Salem Church in Virginia – May 3, 1863. There is no record of his grave in the National Cemeteries in Virginia.Amzi, who was also a teamster, was the next to enlist. He was in the same regiment and company as his brother, Andrew, and served the full two years of his promised time. For half the time, he was in hospital in Hampton, VA, and Albany, NY. Grieving, he mustered out on May 30, 1863.The third brother, George, a farm laborer, enlisted in the 96th Infantry in October 1861, to serve for 3 years. He re-enlisted as a corporal on January 15, 1864, was captured in action in October, 10 months later, at Fair Oaks, VA. He died in Salisbury Prison on January 2, 1865 and is buried in the Salisbury National Cemetery.Their father, Isaac, gave his age as 43 when he enlisted in the 96th Infantry in April 1864. They put his name down as Brace. Although he promised to serve for 3 years, he didn’t make it through the first, and died of disease in hospital in November on Hart’s Island on the easternmost tip of the Bronx in Long Island Sound. He is buried in the Independence Cemetery in Saranac. Mercy started receiving her pension on February 6, 1865. She died in 1888.Amzi, who had suffered the loss of one brother, and was soon to suffer the loss of his father and another brother, enlisted again on August 18, 1864. He joined the 91st Infantry and served the full 1-year term before he was mustered out on June 10, 1865, after 3 in his family had died.Although his name is on the Civil War monument in Saranac as one of those who died in prison, he lived until 1912, and is buried in the Colorado State Veterans Center at Homelake Cemetery in Monte Vista, CO.All four men’s’ names are on monument in the Independence Cemetery in Saranac where Isaac and Mercy are buried.
