FOSTER IRWIN -- 142nd INFANTRYIRISH IMMIGRANT DIED - About 85 men were recruited for the 142ndInfantry in Plattsburgh in the late summer of 1864. Foster Irwin, ateamster, and recent immigrant from Ireland, was one of them. Heenlisted to serve one year on September 7th, and the four other menwho enlisted with him on that date were all mustered into Company G --only two of them returned home.Foster and his companions joined the regiment from the recruiting depotafter the battle of Chaffin's Farm where the regiment had 67 morecasualties. Later in October, the Battle of Darbytown Road added 103more casualties to the tally. Nine of the men who came with him fromPlattsburgh were either injured or killed in their first battle.Sometime before the regiment moved to Fort Fisher on the North Carolinacoast in December, Foster became ill and was sent to hospital at Pointof Rocks, VA. He died there on December 23, 1864. Two other men whoenlisted in Plattsburgh also died of typhoid fever at Point of Rocks,one on the same day as Foster. Two of his Company G comrades went on todied in the assault on Fort Fisher in January 1865.In the same month, his widow, Sarah Armstrong, started receiving herWidows Pension.
