JOHN A. BILLINGS -- 193rd INFANTRYSHORT ADVENTURE - Like many young men in 1865, they hoped to go on theadventure in Virginia. John A. Billings, who was living in Black Brookwith his parents, Benjamin Billings and Marguerite Amell, was one suchman. He was mustered into the 193rd Infantry in Albany in early Aprilafter enlisting in Plattsburgh with 9 other men. The 193rd was thesecond to last infantry regiment formed in New York. The 194thorganized in Elmira, NY, and was only in existence for about a month anda half. Despite their short term, 7 men died of disease while in theirservice.John was known on the 193rd's Roster as John A. Biddings and istherefore hard to find when searching for him. He added two years to hisage when he enlisted. He was only 16 years old at the time of hisenlistment. The small group of men were separated and put into severaldifferent companies. After they arrived in the Shenandoah Valley, theyserved in the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division of the Army of theShenandoah. Most of the work they did was to help with the closing downof operations in the field. John was only in the military for 2 monthsand 16 days and was discharged with is detachment at Elmira on June26th. Several men who enlisted with him were retained with the regimentand didn't get discharged until January 1866 at Harper's Ferry. In totalthe regiment lost by disease and other causes, 25 men although they sawany action.After his discharge John returned to Clinton County and the whole familymoved to Massachusetts where he married Delia Welch. By the mid-1880s,he was settled on a farm on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan where hehad taken his family including his mother. John's mother died in 1899and his wife died in 1919. He spent the last few years of his lifeliving with his son and daughter-in-law on their farm. When John died,he was buried in the Hart Cemetery in Oceana County, MI, with otherfamily members. One of his daughters lived until 1968 and buried in thesame cemetery.
