MELVIN WELCH -- 16th INFANTRYPLINNEY WELCH -- 98th INFANTRYHENRY WELCH -- 83rd and 97thINFANTRYTHREE BROTHERS LEFT MOOERS FORKS -- The widow, Betsey Howard Welch, wasfarming in Mooers Forks when the Civil War broke out. Their father,Jonas Welch had died in 1860 and so Betsy had three sons in themilitary, although they were never in the Army at the same time.The first to enlist was 20-year-old Melvin, who enlisted in Mooers onApril 27, 1861. He joined the 16th Infantry as it was forming and waswith them fighting along the Potomac west of Washington until October7th of the same year when he was discharged for disability atAlexandria, VA. After the war, Melvin went to Massachusetts and died in1922 in Lynn, MA, where he is buried with his wife, Ruth.About three weeks after Melvin left the 16th, his brother Plinneyjoined the 96th Infantry at 24 years old in Mooers on October 30,1861. Like Melvin, he was discharged for disability. The regiment hadfought up the Virginia Peninsula starting in April 1862, and just afterthey went to North Carolina, he was discharged for disability atFortress Monroe. After Plinney returned to Mooers Forks, he went toWisconsin where he died in 1926 and was buried in the Waubeek Cemeteryin Durand, WI.In July of 1863, Henry Welch enlisted in the 83rd Infantry at 18 yearsold in Plattsburgh. Although he signed up for three years, he waswounded in action at The Wilderness on May 6, 1864, nine months afterjoining the regiment. He recovered and managed to muster out with the97th Infantry after a transfer while he was in hospital. Like hisolder brother, Henry, he went to Wisconsin, and he died at Rice Lake in1933 at 86 years of age. He is buried in the Wayside Cemetery in Barron,about 60 miles to the south of Rice Lake. Both Durand and Barron areabout a hundred miles east of Minneapolis, MN, across the St. CroixRiver.
