JACOB HENRY WISHER - 60th INFANTRY and 6th U. S. CAVALRY60th INFANTRY AND 6th U. S. CAVALRY - Jacob Henry Wisher was already married and had several children before he enlisted in the 60th Infantry in Champlain on September 21, 1861. Jacob was born in Vermont and his wife, Eliza Ann Elvidge who was born in Odelltown, Quebec, were farming in Champlain when the call to war came.Twenty-three men from the Champlain area got on the train to go to Ogdensburg that fall. They were mustered into Company H under Captain James Ransom. Jacob was mustered in as a corporal. On November 4th, they left for Washington to serve for 3 years.At first, they were with the Army of the Potomac serving in the capital, and by May 1862 they were in Harper's Ferry with the Department of the Shenandoah. In August, the 60th ventured 15 miles north to take part in the Battle of Antietam with Major General Joseph Mansfield's XII Corps in the Army of the Potomac under Major General George McClellan. They had 4 killed in action, 4 mortally wounded and 14 wounded who recovered.They remained at Harper's Ferry until December then went into winter quarters at Stafford Courthouse in Virginia almost 100 miles to the north. In the spring came Chancellorsville in May with 66 casualties including 10 killed in action followed by Gettysburg in June with 52 more casualties including 11 killed in action while defending Culp's Hill. By October, the regiment had moved to Tennessee and became part of the Department and Army of the Ohio and Cumberland. It was at Loudon, TN, that Jacob was transferred to the 6th U. S. Cavalry.When he returned to Champlain, he almost immediately applied for an Invalid's Pension, and it was approved in September 1866.In 1915, Jacob and Eliza moved into town from the farm. The 1930 Census tells us that they were living on Willow Street in Champlain. He died in 1931 and was buried in the Jackson Cemetery in Hemmingford, Quebec, where they still had family.The Plattsburgh Daily Republican of October 10, 1932, reported that Eliza Ann would receive a Widow's Pension of \$20 a month. She died in 1934 and was buried with her husband.
