FRANKLIN JAMES WAIT -- 34th INFANTRY and 2nd CAVALRYIN VETERANS HOSPITAL IN TOGUS, ME - In 1860, Franklin James Wait enlisted in the 34th Infantry in Crown Point. The next year, on May 1st, he enlisted in the 34th Infantry to serve for two years. They mustered in Albany in June and by July, they were in Washington. While in the capital, they exchanged their U. S. Model 1842 muskets for Enfield rifles and went on to fight along the Potomac west of the city.When they came out of winter quarters they participated in the Siege of Yorktown and within a month, at Fair Oaks, Frank had three fingers shot off his right hand. He made it back to his regiment and mustered out with them in Albany on June 30, 1963. He was awarded an Invalids Pension that summer.In August 1864, Frank enlisted in the 2nd Cavalry, as a substitute for Edwin Boyer, and was sent to the Shenandoah Valley where he participated in a couple of dozen engagements before the end of the year. In March 1865, the regiment had four minor battles before joining the Appomattox Campaign. Before the surrender at Appomattox Court House, the 96th suffered their last 50 casualties and mustered out on May 8, 1865, at Hart Island in New York Harbor.Frank married Sarah Atkins from Stowe, VT, in 1865, and they raised a family in Essex County. Sarah died in 1905 and was buried inn the Riverbank Cemetery in Stowe. He became ill with heart and stomach ailments after her death and spent time in the Veterans Hospital in Togus, ME, from 1909 to 1917. He was released in October 1917 but quickly readmitted. He died in June 1918 and was buried beside his wife in Stowe.
