GEORGE HOLLY NICHOLS -- 118thINFANTRYSHOT IN MAY -- CAPTURED IN OCTOBER - The first of George Holly Nichols'family to come from Essex, England, were married in Massachusetts in1650. His branch of the family continued to move westward until hisparents, Eli Nichols and Lydia Norton settled in the Mooers area about1835. They only lived in the area for 30 years or so before moving evenfurther west, but while they were here, their son, George enlisted inthe 118th Infantry.He enlisted on August 8, 1862, after being recruited by 1st lieutenantLyman Holbrook in Captain Henry Ransom's Company I. They guardedrailroad facilities near Baltimore on the way to Washington and set upcamp there is the cold and snow before they were sent to the VirginiaPeninsula.They were at the Siege of Suffolk for about three weeks with 20,000+other Union men, where Union casualties were slight -- only 44. Theyfought their way 60 miles to the north and had their first 11 casualtiesat South Anna Bridge ten miles from Gloucester Court House where theturned around and returned to garrison duty at the mouth of the James atYorktown, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News.In the spring of 1864, they were ordered to the Petersburg/Richmondbattlefield where during the battle at Drewry's Bluff, Captain Ransomwas shot in the arm and lung while leading his men on the foggy morningof May 14th. He later had his arm amputated. George was shot in thehead during the same battle, but soon recovered. After several moremajor battles where the 118th had 200 more casualties they went intowinter quarters at the end of October. However, George didn't spend thewinter with them, he was captured during the last battle of the year at2nd Fair Oaks on October 27th and spent the next four months inSalisbury Prison in North Carolina. He rejoined his regiment andmustered out with them as a sergeant on June 1, 1865.When George returned to Clinton County, he and many members of hisextended family continued their westward journey and settled in the tinyrailroad village of Eyota in southern Minnesota. He died there in 1924and was buried there with his wife, Frances McCormick, in the Oak GroveCemetery. One of his children lived until 1963.
