EDWIN and STEPHEN PARKS -- 96th INFANTRYBROTHERS DIVIDED BY WAR - On October 26, 1861, two of John Parks' andBetsey Straight's sons enlisted in the 96th Infantry while they wereliving on a farm in Mooers. Edwin, who was 18 years old was musteredinto Captain Joseph Nichol's Company C as a corporal on November 17thand Stephen, who was four years older, was mustered in as a private onthe same day.The regiment organized in Plattsburgh and left for Washington in March1862. Within a month of joining the Army of the Potomac in Virginia,they were at the Siege of Yorktown ready to fight their way up thePeninsula to the Petersburg/Richmond area. By October, began their 15months in North Carolina which ended in May 1864 when they were recalledto Virginia and the Operations Before Petersburg and Richmond.Edwin didn't go to North Carolina. He was discharged in April 1863 froma hospital in Baltimore and immediately started receiving an Invalid'sPension. He spent the rest of his life in Baltimore, marrying GeorgiannaDent, a Baltimore native, in the same year. He supported his family byworking as a carpenter and, in the last few years of his life, was inand out of Veterans Hospitals. When Edwin died of tuberculosis onJanuary 12, 1901, he was buried in the Hampton National Cemetery about50 miles to the south.Stephen re-enlisted as a veteran on January 21, 1864 surviving theterrible battles of that year -- Drewry's Bluff, Cold Harbor Chaffin'sFarm and Fair Oaks. He remained with the regiment until he was musteredout on February 6, 1866.By 1870, he and his wife, Sarah Abairt, andson, Henry, had moved to Michigan where they farmed for the rest oftheir lives. He died on January 28, 1908, in St. Louis, MI, and wasburied in the local cemetery. Sarah started receiving her Widow'sPension in February of that year, but only got it for five years. Shedied from complications of a broken leg after being under a doctor'scare for about a week. Her death certificate of February 15, 1913 said-- "The Cause of Death was as follows -- Fracture of Femur caused byfall upon the floor of her house."
