ETHAN ALLEN ROBERTS and JAMES VICTOR ROBERTS -- 118th INFANTRYNEITHER STAYED THE FULL THREE YEARS - In the summer of 1862, two cousinswhose families had migrated from Vermont and settled in Plattsburgh,enlisted in the 118th Infantry. James Victor Roberts enlisted in the118th Infantry on July 21st at 18 years old and Ethan Allen Robertsenlisted on August 8th when he was 24. Both were mustered into CaptainWilliam Bailey's Company H -- Ethan as a private and James as a drummer.Although both men enlisted to serve for three years, their militarycareers were so much shorter. Ethan was discharged for a physicaldisability on a Surgeon's Certificate from the hospital at Relay House,MD, on February 28, 1863. The 118th had been guarding railroadfacilities there in the fall of 1862, but had moved on to theirencampment in Washington. He was with the regiment for a little over sixmonths.James continued with the regiment and traveled with them to the VirginiaPeninsula to participate in the Siege of Suffolk. He made all themusters through June of 1863, and sometime after this, he was taken illand sent to hospital at Fortress Monroe. He died of disease there onOctober 7th, about 15 months after enlisting in Plattsburgh and wasburied under the name J. C. Roberts. He is one of the 16 men we've foundso far who enlisted in Clinton County and was buried in Hampton NationalCemetery. His mother, Phebe Stackpole Roberts, started receiving apension based on his service in 1876.Ethan moved to Iowa after the war and, when his first wife died, hemoved to Wisconsin where he married Viella Larue and settled on a farm.He died in 1905 in Wilton, a railroad town in the western part of thestate, and was buried in the Hillside Cemetery there. Viella, who wastwenty years his junior died in 1936 and was buried beside him. His son,Chester, who was born in Iowa, died in 1955 and is in the same cemetery.
