ROBERT WATSON -- 16th INFANTRY WOUNDED IN THE LEG AT CRAMPTON'S PASS - The 16th infantry was mustered in Albany in May 1861 with companies from Clinton and St. Lawrence Counties and one company from Franklin County. Company K was recruited in West Chazy and Mooers and all the men were personally recruited by their captain, William Wallace Wood, who was from West Chazy. Robert Watson, who was born in Ireland in 1813, was one of the men who joined Company K. He gave up his job as a mason, left his wife, Almira Adams, and six children at home and traveled by train for Albany with Colonel Thomas A. Davies and 10 officers including a Drum Major and a Fife Major, and almost 1,000 men. At first, they trained near the capitol in Washington and then were sent across the Potomac to Alexandria. They were held in reserve at the first Battle of Bull Run, returned to Alexandria and stayed in the local area until the spring of 1862. The 16th was at the Siege of Yorktown in April 1862, then fought their way up the Virginia Peninsula Their bloodiest battle was at Gaines' Mill on June 27th where they had 231 casualties. After three more battles near Richmond, they were put on the steamboat "New Brunswick" and sailed back to Alexandria. In August, the regiment was sent on the Northern Virginia Campaign and returned to Alexandria to prepare for the Maryland Campaign. They joined other regiments on the east side of South Mountain and fought their way over the mountain at Crampton's Pass. Robert became one of the 16th's 65 casualties at the Pass. He was wounded in the right leg below the knee and sent to hospital on September 14th and discharged for disability on March 9, 1863, in Washington. Robert returned to Mooers and his work as a mason. In later life, he and his wife lived with a daughter in Swanton, VT, and another daughter in Moriah, NY. He died in Moriah in 1895 and his wife was buried with him in the Moriah Union Cemetery in 1901.
