CORNELIUS and GEORGE PECK -- 77th and 91st INFANTRYTWO PECKS FROM JAY - On October 1, 1861, two young men from the Town ofJay enlisted in Keeseville -- Cornelius and George Gibbs Peck. Theyenlisted with 29 other men in the 77th Infantry and were mustered intoCompany I in Saratoga to serve for 3 years. The regiment became known asthe Bemis Height Regiment because they encamped there overlooking theHudson River about 15 miles southeast of Saratoga Springs.The 77th joined the Army of the Potomac in December and served in theDefenses of Washington during the winter. In the spring of 1862, thewent to the Virginia Peninsula and were active at the Siege of Yorktownfor the month of April. They moved up the Peninsula and fought atWilliamsburg and Mechanicsville and, at the end of June and beginning ofJuly, were in the Seven Days' Battles.They had a small hiatus at Harrison's Landing before beginning theMaryland Campaign. On the way to Antietam, they were not heavilyengaged, but by the time they crossed the mountain and were engaged atAntietam they sustained their first heavy losses -- 6 killed in action,including George Huntingdon who had enlisted with them on October 1st, 5mortally wounded, and 19 injured.By October 1862, Cornelius was ill and was in hospital in Philadelphia.He died there on October 6th. The 77th left Antietam and proceededtoward Fredericksburg where they fought in mid-December. However, Gibbs,as he was known, wasn't with them. Maybe he became disheartened when heheard of Cornelius' death, so he deserted on November 2nd.He came home, and on September 3, 1864, enlisted as George G. Peck inthe 91st Infantry in Malone for bounty money. Two months later, hedeserted at Fort McHenry, MD.When he came home, he married Clarinda Hall and moved to Vermont tofarm, leaving his parents Alva Peck and Dorothea Hathaway on their farmin Jay. The couple had several children, and he supported them bypainting and in the printing trade. He died of cancer in 1907 inClaremont, NH, after living there for less than a year. Although heapplied for a pension, none was granted. His wife survived him and didnot apply for a pension. Cornelius' father, Adoniram, applied for apension in 1878 and it was granted.New York\'s battle flags can be found at:https://dmna.ny.gov/historic/btlflags/
