WALTER JOHN DILLENBACK -- 118th INFANTRYWalter John Dillenback, who was born in Alburg, VT, was recruited inEllenburg by Lieutenant John Carter on August 9, 1862, for Captain LeviDominy's Company B. Eighty-five privates promised to serve for threeyears. Eighteen were recruited in Ellenburg by Lieutenant Carter,thirty-seven were recruited in Chazy by Captain Dominy and the rest wererecruited in Saranac by 2nd Lieutenant Joseph Tenny.They left from Plattsburgh by steamer on September 1st and finallyarrived in Washington after guarding the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad inMaryland for a couple of months. Starting in March 1863, they were atthe Siege of Suffolk and had three more engagements that year beforethey were ordered to the Norfolk and Portsmouth, VA, area to spend thewinter, skirmishing along the way. Their total casualties up until thattime was 11 -- 2 killed in action, 1 mortally wounded, 6 wounded and twomissing or captured -- all at South Anna Bridge.Walter survived the carnage of the 1864 fighting season which began inMarch at Ballyhack, VA, and continued through eleven more battles untilthe end of October. During the summer he saw such battles as Drewry'sBluff, Cold Harbor, Chaffin's Farm and Fair Oaks, and saw the 118threceive almost 500 battlefield casualties. Walter became a casualty onOctober 27th. On the first day of the battle of Fair Oaks, he wastaken prisoner and eventually ended up in Salisbury Prison in NorthCarolina.On March 8, 1865, he was taken to the Parole Camp in Annapolis, MD, andimmediately hospitalized because of a disease caught in a Rebel prison.His individual record papers states, "Health severely impaired by beingconfined in Salisbury, NC, in the prison yard." Walter partiallyrecovered and was discharged from hospital in Albany on August 11th.Leaving his parents and brother Winslow behind, Walter went West afterthe war. He married a widow, Fanny Carlisle, who was born in Michigan,in Ledbette, KS, when he was 38. When he registered with the he statedthat he was "suffering from chronic diarrhea which was troublesome inhot weather." Walter died on February 15, 1894 and was buried under amilitary stone in the Riverside Cemetery in Denver, CO. Fanny appliedfor a Widows Pension in March from Kansas.
