JOSEPH LEROY BAKER -- 91st INFANTRY9 MONTHS AND 4 DAYS IN THE MILITARY - In 1863, Joseph Leroy Baker foundhimself on the Draft Registration Records for Schuyler Falls. A yearlater, he left his parents, Gideon Baker and Sally Reynolds, at home ontheir farm and joined the 91st Infantry in Baltimore, MD, after theyreturned from Louisiana. For his enlistment, he received a town bountyof \$800.The 3-year term of the 91st came to its end in the fall of 1864,however, many of the men re-enlisted, and with an infusion of recruitslike Joseph, the regiment continued as a veteran regiment.In March 1865, the regiment, with the exception of one company whichremained at Baltimore, was ordered to Petersburg, where it participatedin the closing operations of the siege with the 1st Brigade, 3rdDivision, V Corps, and lost 230 in the Appomattox Campaign.Joseph was mustered out on June 10, 1865, near Washington and returnedto his parents' farm. He married Ellen Shutts in 1872 and by 1880, hadtaken over the farm. The census shows he was living with his wife, threechildren, his father, who had changed his occupation to tinker, hismother and his 26-year-old sister, Sarah.In later life, the extended family moved from Schuyler Falls toHarrietstown in Franklin County to farm. Joseph's mother died in 1883,and his father in 1898 at 95 years old.He died in 1921 and was buried in the Harrietstown Cemetery in LakeClear. His wife, Ellen, died in 1940. Most of their children lived longlives. The last to die was Carrie, who died in Windham, VT, in 1981.
