IRA MILLER HENRY -- 118th INFANTRYA LONG TIME ON THE INVALID ROLLS - When IraMiller Henry, the son of James Henry and Ann Eliza Miller, went to war,he left his wife, Abigail Allen and two children at home in SchuylerFalls. He enlisted in Plattsburgh on August 11, 1862, to serve for 3years in the 118th Infantry. On August 26th, he was mustered intoCompany H, and within a week, was promoted sergeant. The day after hispromotion, he left for Washington with the regiment.By October 24th, the 118th was encamped near Fort Ethan Allen across thePotomac River from the capital and later moved to Camp Adirondack justnorth of the capitol building. They served from there until April 1863when they went to the Virginia Peninsula and Fort Suffolk. Their firstblood was shed at South Anna Bridge on July 4th.In 1864, the 118th spent May and June around Petersburg and Richmond andsustained over 300 casualties. After an almost 4-month hiatus, fightingagain resumed at Chaffin's Farm at the end of September where they got67 more casualties. A month after that their worst single battleoccurred at Fair Oaks about 20 miles away. Eighty-nine of the 111casualties were men who were captured, just before they went into winterquarters.The regiment remained in the Richmond area for the winter and enteredthe city on February 3, 1865, the day after the city fell. Ira missedall the excitement of the victory celebrations with his company. He hadbeen in the Balfour General Hospital in Norfolk, VA, from February 1865,from where he was discharged on June 13, 1865. The Schuyler Falls TownClerk's Record of 1865 says he came home to Saranac and was on theinvalid rolls for a long time.In all, Ira was in the military for 2 years, 10 months and 2 days. InMay 1872, Ira started receiving his Invalids Pension and the year after,his third child was born. In 1883, he joined the Walter H. Benedict G.A. R. Post in Plattsburgh and in 1898 transferred his membership to theCharles H. Bentley Post in Morrisonville where he gave his occupation asmechanic. Ira died 5 years later when he was 74 years of age, on June 5,1903, and was buried in the New Schuyler Falls Cemetery. His pension hadjust been increased to \$50 a month. Abigail received her Widow'sPension for the next 12 years and joined him there in 1915.This, and other Civil War Soldiers' photos can be seenat: https://www.civilwarphotosleuth.com/search - thanks to KarenHarrison for the tip about the website.
