OSCAR BULLIS -- 15th CAVALRYFARMER AND TIN PEDDLER - Although Oscar Bulis (Bullis) enlisted in theTown of Clinton, his service in the 15th Cavalry was credited to theTown of Ellenburg. He received a town bounty of \$200 to enlist intoCompany M of this regiment and to serve for 3 years. From January toDecember 1864, they were in 37 engagements. All of them in Virginia.After winter quarters, they were in 3 battles before they joined theAppomattox Campaign with General Grant on March 31, 1865. They were in abattle nearly every day until the surrender of General Grant on April9th. Like almost every other cavalry regiment, their main casualtieswere those captured by the Confederates -- more than 50% in the year anda half they were in the field.After the surrender, the 15th was consolidated into the 2nd ProvisionalCavalry and they mustered out on August 9, 1865, in Louisville, KY. Oscar returned to the farm on West Hill in Ellenburg Center with hiswidowed mother, Charlotte Pudvah. His father, Tobias, had died in 1838.To supplement his income, he was also a tin peddler. In total he was inthe military for 1 year 7 months and 27 days. Oscar married a womancalled Mary, and they had 4 children. He received an Invalid's Pensionin 1880 and, when he died, Mary received her Widow's Pension for 4 yearsuntil she too died.The obituary in the Plattsburgh Sentinel of March 28, 1902 gives ahistory of his life. "At West Manchester, NH, March 20, 1902, of chronicgastritis, Oscar Bullis, Sr., in the 72nd year of his age. The diseaseof which he did was of long-standing and contracted in the Army amongthe swamps of the South.He has been a terrible sufferer for many years and many times been nearDeath's door but would rally and seem quite smart again and then sufferthe same thing all over again. A few weeks ago, he and his faithful wifewent to Manchester to visit their only daughter when the final summonscame, and his vitality was not sufficient to stand the shock. Hisremains were brought home Friday and interred in Riverside CemeterySunday morning......Brother Bullis was a native of West Hill and began his school life inthe old log schoolhouse which stood just across the road from theNichols homestead and was burned in the winter of 1848. Having lived allhis life in Ellenburg save the few years he was in the Army, he wasintimately connected with the early history of our town. And, above all,Brother Bullis was an active Christian man and a faithful member of theM. E. Church here and of late our Sunday School bible class teacher.\He was a brother of our lamented Rev. Seth Bullis who was once connectedwith the Troy Conference. Of his own family, he leaves a wife and threechildren, also one sister, Mrs. Eli Webb, living in Bellmont and oneliving in Omaha, NE, Mrs. E. Wood.Four of his old soldier comrades bore him to his last resting place and,dust to dust, ashes to ashes. We can cherish the memory and imitate hisvirtues and also remember we too must soon follow."
