WALLACE WILCOX -- 77th INFANTRYTHREE YEARS OF CONSTANT BATTLES - Wallace Wilcox' parents, Calvin Wilcox and Eliza Haskins, were born in Quebec. Wallace's Wilcox ancestors came from England in the early 1600s. His great grandfather, Abel, fought in the Revolution. Wallace was born in Clayburg before the family including his parents and several siblings moved to Wilmington. Wallace enlisted in the newly formed 77th Infantry in Keeseville on October 1, 1861, when he was 21 years old. The original Muster Roll shows he was living 18 miles from his enlistment place showing he wasn't living with his parents that October. He was one of 65 privates who enlisted in Keeseville, Saratoga and Black Brook and who were mustered into Company I. Their captain was Franklin Norton. The regiment organized in Saratoga and left for Washington at the end of November. During their three years in the field, the 77th was in all the major battles of the Eastern Theatre starting with the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles of 1862. Their most costly battle was at Antietam on September 17th where they had 32 casualties.They started fighting in May 1863 at Marye's Heights right out of winter quarters and had 85 casualties. They moved on to Gettysburg in July where they weren't closely engaged. In May of 1864, their first battles were at The Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House and they received almost 200 casualties, including Wallace who was sent to hospital for a while. Later that year, he was promoted corporal and reenlisted as a veteran with a large bonus. He spent the rest of the war near Petersburg and in the Shenandoah Valley and the regiment lost another 100+ men to casualty. Finally, they were at Appomattox Court House and the surrender of Lee and were mustered out at the end of June 1865. Wallace returned home and spent most of his remaining years in Clayburg with is wife, Laura Kenneston, and his growing family, however he worked in other places such as Saranac Lake. He died in 1890 and was buried in the Pine Ridge Cemetery there. Laura immediately began receiving her pension and, when she died in 1920, she was buried beside him.
