EZRA (SIMONS) MINER -- 77th INFANTRYand 2nd VETERAN CAVALRYSIMONS aka MINER -- Ezra Miner enlisted in the 77th Infantry atWestport, NY, when he was nineteen years old. He was assigned to CompanyA as a private on October 22, 1861, which contained men from Clinton andEssex Counties. The regiment spent the winter in Washingtonparticipating in its defenses and in April 1862, they were at the Siegeof Yorktown which lasted for a month. While marching up the VirginiaPeninsula, Ezra became disabled and was sent to Camp Lincoln, VA, nearRichmond. He was discharged from there on June 23, 1862.Thirteen months later, he enlisted in the 2nd Veteran Cavalry inPlattsburgh, on July 30, 1863, under his true name of Ezra Simons.Because of the use of his alias, his Muster Roll Abstract notes that hewas not found in the 77th Infantry. The regiment organized in SaratogaSprings and, the next spring, Empire Light Cavalry, as it was called,was sent to Louisiana to take part in the Red River Campaign. For thenext two years, fought on both sides of the Mississippi River and inFlorida and Alabama. Ezra was mustered out in November 1865, inTalladega, AL, and took the train home.Ezra returned to the local area, and in later life married a woman,Minerva, who was born in 1862. He maintained close ties with the 77thInfantry and attended several reunions under his alias. In 1874, he wasgranted an Invalids Pension. Ezra died in 1923 and was buried in theEvergreen Cemetery in Keeseville under his true name. Minnie wasreceiving a Widows Pension of \$72 a month when she died in the 1930sand was buried beside him under a matching stone.
