EDWARD HENRY ARMSTRONG -- 118thINFANTRYANOTHER SOLDIER WITH AN IRISH ACCENT -- On May 23, 1834, Edward HenryArmstrong was born in Enniskillen, Ireland, to Joseph Armstrong and MaryJane Beacon. By August 11, 1862, this 28-year-old teamster had enlistedin the 118th Infantry and by August 20th, he was mustered intoCaptain Henry Ransom's Company I to serve for 3 years. On August 29th,he was appointed sergeant, probably because of his age. Within a week,the 118th left from Plattsburgh for Washington and arrived there bytravelling by steamer and train. Some men got "lost" in New York,however after the police department was notified. They rounded them allup and escorted them to Philadelphia to join the regiment.For the rest of 1862 the regiment remained around the city taking partin its defenses. At one point, they guarded the Thomas Viaduct of theBaltimore and Ohio Railroad tracks near Relay House, MD. That point wasthat was the junction of the lines of the Washington and Harper's Ferrytrains. While there, they were under the command of General John E.Wool, a veteran of the War of 1812, who was almost 80 years old.At the April muster in 1862, Edward was sick and at the EckingtonGeneral Hospital in Washington. He soon was out and found he wasreturned to ranks.He spent the rest of his military career in Virginia. In 1863. They hadvery few casualties in the field, but their losses by illness weregreat, mostly due to the lack of good sanitation in their camps. In1864, the 118th sustained 473 casualties -- 58 killed in action, 43mortally wounded, 132 wounded and 131 who were captured or went missing.At Drewry's Bluff, Captain Ransom lost an arm and received a lunginjury, and was discharged. Three of Company I's men were killed in thesame battle, 5 were injured and two went missing.It looks like Edward escaped the injuries on the battlefield, but endedhis career sick at Finley Hospital in Washington and was discharged fromthere on July 7, 1865. By 1880 he was married, to Elizabeth, and livingin a boarding house in Fisher, MI, with their 3-year-old son. The movedto North Dakota, where he applied for an Invalid's Pension in 1894, andfinally ended their journey in Los Angeles. Edward died in 1915, and wasburied in Inglewood Park Cemetery, in Los Angeles County, at 75 years ofage.
