MELVIN B. COLLINS16th and 121st INFANTRY and 18th REGIMENT VETERAN RESERVECORPSIN THREE REGIMENTS - When the 16th Infantry organized in Albany in Mayof 1861, men were asked to serve for two years. After the firstrecruitment, the men like Melvin B. Collins were required to sign up forthree years when they enlisted in Plattsburgh in August of 1862. The menwere needed after the regiment's worst battle to date -- the Battle ofGaines' Mill where they suffered 231 casualties. He and many other menenlisted in Plattsburgh and were sent to Virginia at the beginning ofthe Maryland Campaign under General George McClellan.In going over South Mountain at Crampton's Gap, Melvin's firstengagement, the 16th received another 63 casualties. At Antietam andFredericksburg, they were not in the held in reserve or served aspickets, but when the fighting began again in May 1863, the regimentsustained another 154 casualties at Marye's Heights and Salem Heights afew miles west of Fredericksburg.The 3-year men of the 16th were transferred to the 121st infantry inthe field where it had been fighting beside them. The 121st stayed inMaryland and Pennsylvania for the rest of the year, and in 1864, theywere engaged in the heavy fighting before Petersburg.By October of 1864, Melvin became ill and was sent to hospital inPhiladelphia. When he recovered, he was transferred to the 18thRegiment of the Veteran Reserve Corps on May 15, 1865, which wasorganized in Washington in May 1864. He was mustered out at the end ofJune and returned home to his wife and family.Melvin supported his family as a teamster and then turned to farming inSaranac, He died in 1889 and was buried in the Independence Cemeterythere.
