GEORGE KIMBALL WILKINS -- 91st and 118th INFANTRYTWO TERMS OF SERVICE - When he was 21 years old, George Kimball Wilkins enlisted in the 118th Infantry about three weeks before it left for Washington. George was the son of Sam Wilkins and Lucinda Annis and was born in Peru in 1842, and it was here that he enlisted.Company K into which he was mustered on August 19th, had eight corporals and he was selected to be the 4th corporal.The regiment guarded railroads around Baltimore on its way to the capital and after camping in a couple of places in and near Washington left for the Siege of Suffolk by ship. The siege which took place on the south side of the mouth of the James River, opposite Fortress Monroe, lasted for the month of May and at the end of the month, George was discharged for disability from the Finley Hospital in D. C.He came home and immediately started receiving an Invalid's Pension. In September 1864, George enlisted in the 91st Infantry in Plattsburgh promising to serve for one year. For this enlistment, he received a town bounty of \$500. When he joined the regiment, it was stationed in Baltimore after having served in Florida and Louisiana for a couple of years.The next March the 91st fought before Petersburg and then joined the Appomattox Campaign which ended with Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Two months later George was mustered out in Washington and returned to Peru.He married Lydia Patterson of Peru in 1866 and they had at least ten children. The family lived in the Willsboro area and George supported them all by picking up work wherever he couldThe Ticonderoga Sentinel of September 12, 1918, carried his death notice -- "George Wilkins passed away Wednesday after several years of poor health. Another Civil War Veteran mustered out. Mr. Wilkins is survived by three sons and four daughters. The funeral was held Friday afternoon." The couple are buried in the Gilliland Cemetery in Willsboro.
