PETER F. THEROUX -- 118th INFANTRYDIED IN 1863 - In 1860, Peter F. Theroux, a shoemaker born in Canada,was living in Saranac with his wife, Sophia, and 5 children. He was 39years old when enlisted in the 118th Infantry two years later inPlattsburgh on August 21, 1862. Nine days after enlistment he wasmustered into Company H, expecting to serve for 3 years as a private. Inall 109 men were to pass through Captain William Bailey's Company H.The regiment left Plattsburgh in early September and were stationed inWashington until March 1863, when they were needed at the Siege ofYorktown. Yorktown figured prominently in the war, serving as a majorport to supply both northern and southern towns, depending upon who heldYorktown at the time. It was important for the North to gain control ofthe city.The 118th stayed in the swampy Virginia Peninsula all that summer, andit was while there that Peter contracted typhoid fever and died atGloucester Point - one of 42 men of the regiment to do so during the3-year life of the regiment. His Muster Roll abstract says he died of arupture of a blood vessel in the lungs or typhoid fever.John Cunningham, in his history of the regiment, called it criminal thatthey were kept there in coastal Virginia. You can read about the typhoidoutbreak on page 81 of his book at: https://books.google.com/books?id=e19KAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=three+years+adirondack+regiment&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj1zLu2zoLRAhXD2yYKHTY2DJMQ6AEIHDAA#v=snippet&q=gloucester&f=falsePeter was buried in plot #288 in the Yorktown Battlefield Cemetery. Thecemetery later became Yorktown National Cemetery. His name is on thelist of burials there at:https://www.nps.gov/york/upload/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20BURIALS.pdfPeter also is on a marker placed in the Old Roman Catholic Cemetery onU. S. Avenue by the Old Base. It is doubtful whether it is stillstanding after the bulldozing that took place there in 1983. Severalmembers of his family, including Sophia, are also buried there.Three of Peter's letters home were donated to the New York StateMilitary Museum in Saratoga. We wish we had them in Clinton County. Theyare, as yet, untranscribed. If you'd like to transcribe them, contactthe museum. See them at:https://dmna.ny.gov/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/118thInf/118thInfLetters_Theroux.pdf
