ATWOOD JASON BASCOM – 96th INFANTRYCAPTURED AT 2nd FAIR OAKS - A young farmer who was born in Crown Point, to Jason Bascom and Elizabeth Downs, enlisted in the 96th Infantry and was mustered in as a private in Plattsburgh on April 9, 1864. He was Atwood Jason Bascom, who went by the name Jason.Jason and 41 other men enlisted in March 1864, because the regiment needed reinforcements to go to the Petersburg/Richmond theatre with the Army of the James. For the previous year and a half, the 96th had been serving in North Carolina. These new men were thrown into a summer of fighting and from May to October Jason was in some of the most famous battles of the war – Swift Creek, Proctor’s Creek, Drewry’s Bluff and Bermuda Hundred in May, followed by Cold Harbor and Chaffin’s Farm where they had 103 casualties. At the end of October the 96th was at the Battle of 2nd Fair Oaks.During the battle, there were 52 casualties including 6 who were killed, 11 wounded and 35 capture in action or who went missing. Jason was one of the men captured on October 27th. He was taken to Salisbury Prison and died there two months later – December 26, 1864. In all, he had been in the military for 8 months and 26 days. He was probably buried in one of the 18 mass graves at the Salisbury National Cemetery.Jason’s father was granted a pension based on his son’s service in 1877, two years after his mother, Elizabeth died. Jason, Sr. died in 1880 and was buried beside his wife in the Severance Cemetery in Essex County.
