JOSEPH PERO -- 22nd INFANTRYNO KNOWN GRAVE - The 22nd, known as the 2nd Northern New York regiment,was composed of four companies from Washington county, three from Essex,two from Warren and one from Saratoga County and was mustered into theU. S. service at Camp Rathbone in Troy, on June 6, 1861, to serve fortwo years. Joseph Pero's Company C was recruited in Keeseville where heenlisted less than a month after Lincoln's first call for men.The History of Warren County details some of Joseph's adventures -- "OnJune 27th, the regiment received marching orders, and on the followingday, under escort of Captain Ainsworth\'s Albany Zouaves, marchedthrough the streets to the steamer. The band played national airs andthe troops were cheered and greeted by waving banners and handkerchiefsfrom many windows.Embarking in two barges and a steamer, the trip down the Hudson was madeand the next day the Dey Street Dock was reached in New York City.That same evening the regiment was transferred to a steamer and taken toElizabethport, NJ, where for the first time, hard tack and raw meat wereissued to the men. It was an unwelcome and radical change from thesumptuous Albany rations and gave a foretaste of what was to come.About midnight the regiment embarked on freight cars and the journey toBaltimore was safely made, with only on major incident -- PrivatesJoseph Pero and Frederick Minne, of Company C, were knocked from the carby coming in contact with a footbridge. They were severely injured, butfinally recovered."The regiment performed duty in the Defenses of Washington, and from July1862, did camp and guard duty at Arlington and Upton's Hill where theyspent the winter.General John Pope went on a campaign in August. As Lee advanced on Popewith the remainder of his army, Stonewall Jackson swung around to thenorth and captured Pope\'s main supply base at Manassas Station.Confused and unable to locate the main Confederate force, Pope walkedinto a trap in the Second Battle of Bull Run. His men withstood acombined attack by Jackson and Lee on August 29, 1862, but the next dayhe was defeated and the 22nd had forty-five men killed and many moreinjured. Joseph was killed in this second battle at Bull Run and wasburied in an unmarked grave.
