JAMES REAY -- 118th INFANTRYFOLLOWED HIS FATHER INTO THE MILITARY - James Reay from Beekmantown wascaptured in action at Drewry's Bluff on May 16, 1864, and was taken toLibby Prison in Richmond where he died on May 29th. He was buried inwhat would become Richmond National Cemetery. He is also mentioned on agravestone in the Ingraham Cemetery in Ingraham in the Town of Chazy.Less than a year after his father's death, his eldest son, John, who wasborn in 1844, enlisted in the 5th Veteran Infantry on March 15, 1865under the name Ray. He was a substitute for Andrew J. Taylor.John and about a dozen men who also enlisted in Plattsburgh were sent tojoin the regiment. He joined his them on April 22nd, after they hadmarched back to Washington subsequent to Lee's defeat at AppomattoxCourt House. John was a participant in the Grand Review of the Armies onMay 23rd in the capital. Later that week they went to Hart Island offthe coast of the Bronx and were mustered out in August 21st.John returned home to help his widowed mother, the former Jane Beggs, ontheir farm. He died in 1907, at the home of his sister, Mrs. WebsterBarber of Mooers, and was buried in the Ingraham Cemetery under thestone that also commemorates his mother, father and several othermembers of his family.
