HERBERT WITHERILL -- 96th INFANTRYDETAILED TO THE PIONEERS IN 1864 AND 1865 - Levi Smith, the 1st Lieutenant of Captain Addis E. Woodhall's Company D of the 96th Infantry, enlisted Herbert Witherill on February 5, 1862, in Altona. At the end of the month, Herbert travelled the 27 miles to Plattsburgh to be mustered into Company D in Plattsburgh when he was 18 years old.The regiment drilled for a couple of weeks and then left for Washington on March 11th, by April 17th were at the Siege of Yorktown. They were at Fair Oaks for 2 days on May 31st and June 1st and had 58 casualties. At the end of June, they had 79 men captured during the Seven Days' Battles, in Virginia, then ended the year in the New Berne Expedition in North Carolina. In 1863, the regiment stayed in North Carolina with no further casualties.While they were in winter quarters, Herbert was transferred to Company B on January 10, 1864, and he re-enlisted on February 29th. For the rest of 1864 and 1865, the 96th was in Virginia near Fredericksburg and Petersburg, and had almost 300 casualties in the last year of the war. From time to time, Herbert was detached from the regiment to be a pioneer. Pioneers were excused from all guard and picket duty and ordinary fatigue details.On the march pioneers were to move at the head of the infantry columns and make the routes passable for the marching men, It was important that pioneers accompany the advanced guard, to do such things as clear roads and cut trails, remove obstructions, throw small bridges across creeks if necessary, and secure the means of easy communication between the different corps of the army. They were issued felling axes and their badge consisted of crossed axes which they sewed on their sleeves.\Read the pioneers' manual at: http://www.topogs.org/sid/PIONEERMANUAL5.pdfOn June 13, 1865, still with the Army of the James, what was left of the 118th and 184th Infantries were consolidated into the 96th. They remained in the Petersburg/Fredericksburg area to perform police and garrison duties and were finally mustered out on February 6, 1866, at City Point, VA.
