CHARLES HENRY BAKER – 142nd INFANTRYDIED OF CHRONIC DIARRHEA – New York sent more men for the Union Cause than any other state. A short video on New York in the Civil War can be seen at: http://www.civilwar.org/video/new-york-in-the-civil-war.htmlOut of the 322 Charles Bakers who enlisted in the Union Army, 65 of them were from New York State. There were 10 Charles H. Bakers who enlisted in New York – 1 in Clinton County. Our Charles Henry Baker was a 25 year-old farmer when he enlisted in the 142nd Infantry in Plattsburgh on September 1, 1864. He was mustered into Company H on the same dayThe 1865 Town Clerk’s Register for Thurman, NY, says that he was living there, but he was credited elsewhere, probably Plattsburgh where the Adjutant General’s Record says he enlisted. For his enlistment, he received $800.The 142nd was formed in late 1862 and had received no casualties through 1863 at the Sieges of Suffolk, VA, and Battery Wagner, SC, or the Bombardment of Fort Sumter in November and December. 1864 was a horrendous year for the 142nd. By the time Charles joined them in September as one of the replacement troops, they had received more than 200 battle casualties and many of the 2-year men had decided not to re-enlist.Charles was in the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm at the end of September where they had 67 casualties. At the end of October, they received 103 more casualties at Darbytown Road. A battalion of the enemy were captured by the 117th NY, and the Confederates were so weak by the time they got to Fort Fisher, that Union commanders recommended to General Grant that a second assault should be made. On Christmas Day 1864, 3 men were killed and 17 of the 142nd’s men were wounded in a position near the rear of the fort. in January, 1865, they had 79 additional men killed and wounded. The regiment sustained no further losses in battle after Fort Fisher, but were present at the actions of Fort Anderson and Wilmington, NC, and took part in the Campaign of the Carolinas from March 1 to April 2.However, during the last campaign, Charles was not well and was sent by boat to Hampton Hospital at Fortress Monroe, VA about 300 miles north. He died in Ward 26 of chronic diarrhea contracted in the swamps around Fort Fisher and was buried near the hospital then reburied in what was to become Hampton National Cemetery. He is in Section D, plot 2388. The first burials took place in the cemetery in 1862, and were primarily Union soldiers who died in service or at the hospital at Fort Monroe. It became a National Cemetery in 1866. 272 Confederate soldiers are also buried there in their own section.About half the deaths from disease in the Civil war were caused by intestinal disorders – typhoid, dysentery and diarrhea. Almost all the other half were from pneumonia and tuberculosis.
