ORVIS WASHBURN -- 16th INFANTRY WOUNDED IN THE THIGH AT GAINES' MILL - Orvis Washburn, the son of Simeon Washburn and Emma Wright, was born in Luzerne, NY, and was living in Saranac, when he enlisted in the 16th Infantry. He mustered in as a private in Plattsburgh in September 1861 to serve for two years. The regiment had left for Washington the previous May. On Sept. 15 they were ordered to Fort Lyon near the capital where Orvis joined them. The winter of 1861-62 was passed at Camp Franklin near Fairfax Seminary, VA, where the regiment remained until April 6, 1862, when it was ordered to Catlett's station, but returned to camp immediately and was then ordered to Yorktown, where it arrived on May 3. After almost three months on the Virginia Peninsula, they began a series of seven battles near Richmond. These battles were the culmination of the Peninsula Campaign and became known as the Seven Days' Battles fought under Generals McClellan and Lee. During the first of these battles at Gaines' Mill, Orvis was severely wounded in the left thigh and taken prisoner on June 27, 1862. He was returned to Union Lines on July 27th, still suffering from the wound, and taken to hospital. On December 27th, he was discharged for disability on and returned home to Saranac. In March 1864, he was awarded an Invalids Pension under the name Orville Washburn. Orville married and supported his family as a carpenter. In later life, he and his wife moved to Plattsburgh. When his wife, Keziah, died, he went to live with his son Stephen. When he died in 1913, he was buried in the Independence Cemetery in Saranac near his wife, his parents and many of his brothers and sisters. The Plattsburgh Daily Press of January 31, 1913, carried these few words on his death -- "WASHBURN -- In Rouses Point at the home of his son Stephen C. Washburn, aged 78 years."
