16th cavalryCANNING, WILLIAM HENRY --- Age, 22 yrs. Enlisted, Sept. 1, 1864, atPlattsburgh; mustered in as private, Co. A, Sept. 1, 1864, to serve 1yr; mustered out, May 31, 1865, place not stated; also borne asChanning. *TC SA \~* *res. Saranac; b. Jan. 23, 1842, Saugerties,NY; W; S; cb \$800; p. John Canning and Ann Pendergrash; occ. farmer;credited elsewhere; still living; PO Saranac.*PATROLLED MOSBY'S CONFEDERACY - For eight months and thirty days, theson of two Irish immigrants was in the 16th Cavalry. William HenryCanning was the son of John Canning from County Cork and Anne Pendergastfrom Ardfinnan in County Tipperary.He enlisted when he was twenty-two years old in the 16th Cavalry onSeptember 1, 1864, and for this enlistment, he was awarded \$800. He wasone of several dozen men who enlisted in Clinton County in the summer of1864. They went straight to northern Virginia to supplement the men whohad been fighting the Grey Ghost, John Singleton Mosby, in what wasknown as, "Mosby's Confederacy."They patrolled while the roads were still good and went into winterquarters on December 3rd. The regiment were in the field again inearly March 1865 and their last engagement was at Vienna, VA, which isnow halfway between Dulles International Airport and Washington, DC.William mustered out on May 31, 1865, and returned to his parents' farm.For the rest of his life, he stayed in the Saranac are mostly doingagricultural work. He married Mary Judge. The 1890 Veterans Schedulesshow he was living in Moffittsville and suffering from rheumatism of theheart. In 1900, he was living with his daughter and her husband inPlattsburgh before returning to Saranac where he died at his sister,Margaret's house in 1913.William is buried in the Assumption of Mary Cemetery in Redford with hismother and father and other Canning family members.
