ROLLIN W. CARTER -- 5th CAVALRYENLISTED TWO YEARS AFTER HIS BROTHER'S DEATH - Rollin W. Carter was a30-year-old wheelwright living in Crown Point when he enlisted in the5th Cavalry for a bounty of \$200. His enlistment was credited toAltona. During the life of the regiment starting in November 1861, theyhad 2,880 men cycle through their ranks while they were patrolling andfighting in northern Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and WestVirginia. By the time of their last engagement on April 7, 1865, theyhad suffered 951 casualties in the field -- 593 of them captured by theenemy.Rollin joined his regiment on January 13, 1864, while they were inwinter quarters near Culpeper, VA. The chaplain of the regiment wrote inhis diary of the heavy rain, sleet and snow and the spreading of hay onthe floors of their tents to make themselves comfortable. Rollin's firsttwo engagements were at Ellis Ford, VA, on the Rappahannock River, onJanuary 17th and 22nd where they had 18 casualties -- 8 captured bythe enemy.The 5th spent the first three months northern Virginia. Between Mayand August, they were in some of the major battles of the war includingThe Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor and Malvern Hill.It is not clear how many of the battles Rollin participated in because,sometime during the summer, he became ill and was sent to the MacDougalHospital at Fort Schuyler, in the Bronx where he died of disease onAugust 6th. He was buried in the Cypress Hills National Cemetery inBrooklyn. His wife, Hannah started receiving her pension a month later.In the Fairview Cemetery in Crown Point, there is a monument containingRollin's name showing when and where he died. It also contains the nameof his younger brother, Sidney, who died at the Kalorama Hospital inAlexandria on March 15, 1862, after spending 10 months with the 62ndZouaves.The parents, Jeremiah Carter and Rachel Briggs, lost two of their foursons in the war.Rollin is one of six soldiers we have featured so far that are buried inCypress Hills. The others are: Richard H. Angell -- January 8, 1924;Richard Danforth -- November 1, 1864; James Gough -- June 25, 1864;Nicholas Lapiere -- January 6, 1863; Charles L. Palmer -- March 20,1914; and Richard Scarlott -- July 18, 1864.
