WILLIAM TILDEN BIDWELL -- 118th INFANTRYFARMED IN THE SAN BERNARDINO VALLEY - William Tilden Bidwell was the sonof Loyal F. Bidwell, a doctor in Plattsburgh, and his wife, Mary. Thefirst Bidwell ancestors to come to New England arrived from Devonshire,in the early 1600s and were some of the original settlers of Hartford,CT. When he was twenty-two years old, and still a student, Williamenlisted in the 118th Infantry in Plattsburgh. He was mustered in as aprivate on August 26, 1862, and, before the regiment left Plattsburgh,he was appointed to be the hospital steward.He left for Washington in Captain William Bailey's Company H at thebeginning of September and arrived there after short sojourns in NewYork City and Baltimore. The winter was hard on the regiment and whenthe 118th sailed for Virginia, William was left behind to look after themen who had become ill.He met up with the 118th again in October 1863 while they wereperforming garrison and guard duty for several months at Yorktown,Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Newport News, VA. After two minor engagementsnear the mouth of the James River in March and April of 1864, theregiment was sent upriver to fight in the Petersburg/Richmond area. Bythe end of October, they had suffered 484 casualties.They stayed in the Petersburg area through the winter, and, in February1865, William was promoted from hospital steward to 2nd lieutenant. Hewas mustered out in June 1865 in Richmond.After returning to Plattsburgh, William married Sybil Read in 1869 andthey had a son who died at four years old and was buried in the UnionCemetery in West Plattsburgh. The couple stayed in Clinton County untilthe 1880s when they moved to southern California to farm in the SanBernardino Valley near Redlands. William died there in 1933.
