THE ASHTON BROTHERSJOHN -- 22nd INFANTRY and 7th and 12th U. S. INFANTRYJOSEPH -- 96th INFANTRY and 16th CAVALRY and 3rd PROVISIONALCAVALRYTHOMAS -- 17th U. S. INFANTRYWILLIAM -- 153rd INFANTRYFOUR ASHTON SONS GO TO WAR - Four Ashton brothers, sons of blacksmithWilliam C. Ashton, born in England about 1810, and his wife, Irish-bornBridget O'Reiley, fought in the Civil War. The family was enumerated inthe Towns of Schuyler Falls and Ausable. By 1860 William C. had died andthe family needed money to survive.John enlisted in the 22nd Infantry in Keeseville on May 7, 1861; waspromoted to 1st sergeant; discharged to join the 7th US Infantry onNovember 3, 1862; transferred to the 12th US Infantry and died atGettysburg on July 8, 1863.John's brother, Joseph, enlisted in the 96th Infantry on October 15,1861; was discharged by disability on February 14, 1863, nearAlexandria, VA; on July 16, 1863, enlisted again in the 16th Cavalry,Sprague's Light Cavalry, in Plattsburgh on July 16, 1863; on August 17,1865, transferred to the 3rd Provisional Cavalry for consolidation;mustered out at Camp Barry near Washington on September 21, 1865.A third brother, Thomas Ashton, enlisted in the 17th US Infantry and,according to the Ausable Town Clerk's Record of 1865, page 8, he wasstill in the service as of that date.The last brother was William Ashton who enlisted in Ausable on August23, 1862, in the 153rd Infantry at 18 years of age; was promoted tocorporal May 12, 1865; returned to ranks July 5, 1865; mustered out onOctober 2, 1865.On the same page in the Ausable Town Clerk's Records of 1865, there areidentical notations for Joseph and William Ashton, "Died October 17,1865, of disease contracted in service. Buried at Keeseville, NY." Is itpossible both died on the same day, or could it be a clerical error? Asearch of local cemetery records reveals several Ashtons but no Josephor William.
