LOUIS H. ROCK -- 16th and 121st INFANTRYLAKE CHAMPLAIN SAILOR - Louis H. Rock was the first child born toLeonard and Elenor Rock when they came to Plattsburgh. Leonard set up asa grocer and Louis was a clerk in his store. Louis was working therewhen he enlisted in the 16th Infantry on August 18, 1862, more than ayear after the regiment organized in Albany.Louis and fifty-one men from the Plattsburgh area enlisted that Augustand joined the regiment while they were on their way to Antietam.Several of the new recruits were injured on the way over South Mountainat Crampton's Gap three days before the battle. In December the 16thwas at Fredericksburg after marching a hundred miles to the south. Theystood picket duty at the battle then encamped in the local area for thewinter.When the regiment in the field again in May 1863, they had over onehundred and fifty casualties at Marye's Heights and Salem Church. The16th mustered out at the end of the month but the men who hadn'tfulfilled their 3-year terms were transferred to the 121st Infantry.Sometime during the summer, he became disabled and was transferred tothe 18th Regiment of the Veteran Reserve Corps. At the end of June1865, he was mustered out and returned to Plattsburgh.Louis married a widow with several children and supported his family byworking as a sailor on Lake Champlain. In later life he was widowed andbecame ill. He spent about two years in the Johnson City Tennessee Homefor Disabled Soldiers being treated for heart disease and gunshot woundsto both hands. He gave his next of kin as Leonard Rock, the only childborn to the couple, who died in West Virginia in 1955.
