SAMUEL O'GRADY -- 3rd INFANTRYO'GRADY -- BRISETTE - Samuel J. Brissette, who was born in Champlain in1848, enlisted in the 3rd Infantry as a substitute for Timothy S.Banker. On his Muster Roll Abstract he is listed as an 18-year-oldmachinist who had blue eyes, light colored hair, a fair complexion andwas 5' 6" tall.He enlisted on March 10, 1865, as Samuel O'Grady and went to join hisregiment while they were near Wilmington, NC, with the Department ofNorth Carolina. The regiment traveled up the Cape Fear and joinedSherman's Campaign of the Carolinas which ended with the surrender ofGeneral Johnston on April 26th. They continued to perform their picketand guard duties until the end of August and Samuel was mustered out onAugust 26th near Raleigh, NC.He returned to Champlain and told the Champlain Town Clerk that he wasMustered out on September 17, 1865. He also gave his parents' names asWilliam O'Grady and Barbara Brown. He later moved to Massachusetts forwork and he married Mary Burke. The couple lived in various places andhe worked as a machinist in the local mills under the name Brissette. Afew years before he died, the couple moved to Fitchburg to be nearMary's family.Samuel applied for an Invalid's Pension in 1911 and four years later, hedied. He was buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery in Fitchburg, MA. Maryreceived her Widow's Pension for four years and died in 1915. She isburied in her family's plot in St. Bernard's Cemetery a couple of milesto the east, but still in Fitchburg. They had no surviving children.Timothy S. Banker died in 1871 when he was 45 years old. He was theDistrict Attorney for Rensselaer County.
