SAMUEL UNDERHILL -- 9th CAVALRY3 YEARS, 9 MONTHS, 19 DAYS IN THE 9th -- Samuel Underhill was 20 years old when he was mustered into the 9th Cavalry -- the youngest of six sergeants in Captain Joseph Kennedy's Company M. Samuel had enlisted in Rouses Point in the last week of September of 1861 with six other men from the local area. When the company formed, it was a mixture of men from New York City, Geneva, and Troy as well as Rouses Point.Samuel's father, William, had a store in Champlain, and he was living there with his mother, Lucretia Baker, William's third wife, and two half siblings.After organizing in Albany, the regiment left for Washington in late November and patrolled with the Military District of Washington for a few months. Company M, among others, was detached and served with Reserve Artillery batteries around the city.In April 1862, they started their travels north on the Virginia Peninsula from Yorktown and stayed with the Army of Virginia patrolling and reconnoitering until the end of December. For the next two years they were in the field from January to December in northern Virginia's Mosby's Confederacy losing more men by capture than by casualty. Their major operation during 1863-4 was in May 1864 at The Wilderness. During The Wilderness Campaign, Samuel was appointed commissary sergeant when another sergeant was promoted.In August 1864, the 9th Cavalry joined the Army of the Shenandoah and in April 1865, were part of the 2nd Brigade when Sherman chased Lee across Virginia to Appomattox Court House. They rode back to Washington and, at the end of May, participated in the Grand Review of the Armies, before mustering out at Cloud's Mills VA, in July.Samuel returned home and his family broke apart after his father died in December 1865. He moved to Vermont, married Alma Moody in 1876 and four years later, started receiving an Invalid's Pension. They lived on his mother-in-law's farm in Cornwall. In 1891, his wife and mother-in-law both died, and he remained on the farm. Samuel died at 56 years old in 1898 and was buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in West Cornwall beside his wife.
