WILLIAM A. MARVIN -- 22nd INFANTRYTWO YEARS WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC - William A. Marvin's Puritanancestors arrived in Connecticut from England in the 1630s. It wasn'tuntil after the American Revolution that his great grandfather moved toPeru as a veteran of the war. William's grandfather participated in thewar of 1812, and skipping a generation, William enlisted in the 22ndInfantry in Keeseville to serve for two years.William and 50 other men enlisted in May 1861, less than a month afterLincoln's call for 75,000 men, and joined the regiment that became knownas the 2nd Northern New York Regiment. William was mustered into the U.S. Service at Camp Rathbone, Troy, on June 6, 1861. Two weeks later,they moved to Albany Washington on June 28th with William as a corporal.At first, they set up camp on Meridian Hill in the capital, then movedsouth of the Potomac to Arlington Heights and Upton's Hill where theyspent the winter of 1861-62.By April 1862, the 22nd arrived in Falmouth, VA, on the Rappahannock,with William as a sergeant, and immediately had ten men captured by theenemy. In August, they went on General Pope's Campaign and, as part ofthe Army of the Potomac, had a loss at Manassas of 180 killed, woundedor missing, out of, 379 engaged, of whom 46 were killed or mortallywounded, or over 12 per WTcent. Of 24 officers present, 19 were killedor wounded, 9 mortally.The first week of September was spent in camp at Upton\'s Hill and theythen were ordered to South Mountain, MD, where they were closelyengaged, then to Antietam, where again the loss was heavy -- 60causalities between the two battles. About the middle of November, thecommand arrived at Falmouth and participated in the battle ofFredericksburg, being stationed on the extreme left of the army. It thenreturned to camp at Falmouth and joined in the ill-fated \"Mud March,\"in January 1863, after which they went into winter quarters at BellePlain, VA.On April 28, 1863, camp was broken for the Chancellorsville movement,during which the regiment was held in reserve and met its only loss atPollock\'s Mill Creek, where 10 men were wounded while acting asrear-guard. The regiment was mustered out on June 19, 1863, afterWilliam had spent a couple of months in hospital in Pennsylvania thatspring.By 1870, William and his wife, Margaret Watson, and their seven childrenhad moved to Chicago. He died in Illinois in 1898.
