JOSIAH TAFT -- 118th INFANTRYRESTING IN PEACE AT OLD POINT COMFORT - Forty-one men of the 118thInfantry died of typhoid fever between October 1862 and late 1864.Josiah Taft who enlisted in Ellenburg on August 5, 1862, was one ofthese men. He was the son of Gideon Taft and Elizabeth Allen who hadcome from Vermont to farm in Ellenburg Center. On September 13, 1863,the died at the Regimental Hospital near Gloucester Point, VA. DuringAugust and September nine men Clinton and Essex Counties died there.On his Muster Roll Abstract, Josiah is listed as Tafft. He was musteredinto Company B on August 29th and, within the week, the regiment leftfor Washington by boat -- 1,040 strong. They arrived in the capitalafter a stint of guarding the railroads south of Baltimore and encampedat Camp Adirondack about a mile north of the capitol building.In April they started off by boat for the Siege of Suffolk on theVirginia coast. The camped in several places and then, while they werein a camp near the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad, they participated inthe Blackwater Raid and the destruction of the railroad.For the rest of the spring and summer, the regiment continued north tothe Richmond area and then marched to Yorktown.Josiah made the muster in June, so, sometime during the summer he becameill and they sent him to hospital. He died at Old Point Comfort on thesouthernmost tip of land near Hampton, VA.He was buried at Old Point Comfort and later moved to the YorktownNational Cemetery where he is buried under a stone made of Georgiamarble. Josiah's family erected a memorial stone for the 30-year-oldsoldier in the cemetery at Ellenburg Corners.
