WILLIAM WOOD WRIGHT -- 124th INFANTRY ONE OF 719 WILLIAM WRIGHTS IN THE UNION ARMY - William Wood Wright was born in Mooers to Lyman Wright and Sally Smith. In 1860, at 18 years of age, he married Adeline Elizabeth Dominy, who was known as Addie. Four years later for a town bounty of $600 and a county bounty of $300, he enlisted in the 124th Infantry in Plattsburgh. He and 17 other men joined the regiment in early September and were all mustered into Company E to serve for 1 year. Seventeen of the 18 came home. William was one of 719 William Wrights who enlisted in the Union Army, and one of 85 from New York State.The 124th had been in existence since September 1862. Up until the time William enlisted, they had sustained 518 battlefield casualties in such battles as Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, The Wilderness and Spotsylvania. They also had over 200 who had died of disability or been discharged for disability or who had deserted. Plattsburgh was the only Town in Clinton County who enlisted men to serve in the 124th. The small group of men arrived to join the regiment when they were with the Army of the Potomac in Virginia. They had 3 battles left in 1864. In one battle, one of the men who enlisted with William was captured and taken to Libby Prison. He saw his first blood at the Battle of Boydton Plank Road, where 4 men died, and 11 men were wounded. Starting on February 5, 1865, they started fighting again and had 6 more battles to go. They joined the Appomattox Campaign with General Grant on March 28th and fought right up until April 9th and were there when General Lee surrendered. William was mustered out on June 3, 1865 and returned home to Mooers Forks and resumed farming. He and Addie had 3 children after the war. Their daughters lived until the 1930s, but their son, Lyman, died at 5 years old in 1875. The Plattsburgh Sentinel of December 16, 1898, carried a 3-line death notice -- "WRIGHT -- At Cadyville, December 8, 1898, William W. Wright, in the 77th year of his age. Interment at West Chazy." He was buried int he West Chazy Rural Cemetery where at least 42 other Civil War soldiers lie. Addie started receiving her Widow's Pension starting at the end ofDecember 1898 and was buried with her husband in 1908.
