CHARLES WESLEY ORMSBEE -- 118thINFANTRY and 26th CAVALRYNEVER SAW A BATTLEFIELD - On August 7, 1862, Joseph Tenney, the 2ndlieutenant of Captain Levi Dominy's Company B of the 118th Infantryrecruited a teamster, Charles Wesley Ormsbee, in Saranac to serve as aprivate for three years. The day before the regiment left for Washingtonon September 1st, he was mustered into Company B.The 118th arrived in Washington after a detour in Maryland to guardthe railroads. In March 1863, after encampment at Camp Adirondack inWashington, Charles was discharged for disability. The regiment went onto their first engagement at the Siege of Suffolk on April 20th.For a town bounty of \$263.50, Charles, who was by then working as abloomer, enlisted again on January 13, 1865, in Company G of the 26thCavalry. The regiment was also known as the 1st Frontier Cavalry.It was the last cavalry regiment formed in New York and was shared byMassachusetts and Vermont by order of General Dix of the Department ofthe East and was meant to guard the northern border. The officers of theregiment were appointed by the governors of each state.Company G's captain was Pliny Moore who had seen previous service in the16th Infantry. The company was based in Plattsburgh. Charles, who hadbeen appointed as a corporal, was only with the 26th Cavalry untilJuly 6, 1865, when it was disbanded. During the life of the regiment inNew York, Massachusetts, and Vermont, three men died of disease.For the rest of his life, Charles lived in the Saranac area. He marriedMary Ermery and had one son, Samuel, who died 1n 1870 when he was oneyear old. When Mary died, he married Hanettie Sherman in 1911. Charlesdied at 82 years of age and was buried with his son in the IndependenceCemetery in Saranac. The Plattsburgh Sentinel of January 10, 1923,carried his death notice -- "Charles Ormsbee at Saranac, NY, at 8o'clock on Wednesday morning, January 10. Funeral will be held from thehome at 1:30 o'clock on Friday from Saranac Church at 2 o'clock. Thedeceased was born in 1844."
