HARVEY J. WILSON -- 34th INFANTRYBURIED IN WINCHESTER, VA - The 34th Infantry organized in Albany. On May 22, 1861, Harvey J. Wilson enlisted in Champlain in Captain Davis Rich's Company D with about eighty men from the local area and traveled to the capital to be mustered in on June 15th. The regiment left for Washington on July 3rd to start their 2-year term.They fought along the Potomac west of Washington until the end of 1861.They stayed in the Poolesville, MD, area for the winter and then went to Yorktown, VA, by boat to begin fighting up the Virginia Peninsula. After the last of the Seven Days' Battles at Malvern Hill, the regiment rested and regrouped from losing more than 150 men to casualty that summer.Their next battle was at Antietam on September 17, 1862, and they suffered another 154 casualties. Thirteen percent of their total force was killed in action -- 41 men. While they were recovering from the battle, Harvey became ill and was sent to hospital at Harper's Ferry about 15 miles south of the battlefield. He died of disease on October 26, 1862. He was buried in Section 30 in the 5-acre Winchester National Cemetery in Winchester, VA, in grave number 1242.
