DAVID DUMAS, Sr. -- 14th ARTILLERYDAVID DUMAS, Jr. -- 89th INFANTRYFATHER AND SON CAPTURED 25 MILES APART - In 1864, two men named DavidDumas enlisted in Ellenburg Center -- father and son. The first toenlist was David, the father, who was born in 1820. H enlisted in the14th Artillery for a town bounty of \$200. He was a widower and leftand six children at home to join the regiment as it was forming inRochester in response to the Union's need for artillery near Petersburgand Richmond. The regiment's recruitment officer rejected 32 candidatesfor such things as being too slight or feeble, being to old or too youngor consumption among other things. Twenty other candidates made theirown choice and deserted before the regiment went to the field. Finally,with about 140 men Company G of the 14th Heavy Artillery were sentsouth.David, Sr. fought from early May to the end of October. His firstengagements were at The Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House and thelast at Hatcher's Run. Along the way, the regiment had over 750casualties. Their first battle in March of 1865 at Fort Stedman on theeaster outskirts of Petersburg resulted in 274 casualties 210 of whichwere captured by the enemy. It was the last serious attempt by theConfederates to break the siege at Petersburg. David was one of thosecaptured at the earthen fort but was later paroled and joined hisregiment to muster out on July 15, 1865, in Albany.David Jr.'s time in the field was a lot shorter than his father's. Heenlisted on August 27, 1864, in Plattsburgh as a substitute for EliCarpenter and two months to the day later, he was captured at 2nd FairOaks, VA, also known as the Battle of Fair Oaks and Darbytown Road, onOctober 27th. He was later paroled, but was so weakened, he died onApril 30, 1865. He has a monument in the Star Road Cemetery in EllenburgCenter.Shortly after arriving in Fowler, IN, about 100 miles south of Chicago,to live with his daughter, Rosalie, the surviving David died on June 1,1880 and was buried a few miles away in the Debner Cemetery in EarlPark.Eli Carpenter, for whom David substituted in 1864, died in EllenburgCenter in 1887 when he was 58 years old and was buried in the RiversideCemetery there.
