Due to the nature of this research, few submissions are made for Union soldiers. However, this section needs some growth. Please use the Submission page to send in information on your Union ancestor who served their duty at Elmira.

Bailey, William H
19th Mass. Vol. Inf. Regt.
Enlisted December 9th, 1861. Wounded the 3rd of July 1863 at Gettysburg. He went to Hospital in Newark, NJ. Then to the Veterans reserve corp 6th Co. 2nd Batt. He was discharged July 9th at Elmira, NY. Reason of Discharge.--Expiration of term of service.
Information provided by Doug Bailey.

Harney, Thomas
Co. F, 2nd U.S. Vet Vol
Thomas Harney is not a direct ancestor so I haven''t fully researched him. He served !861-1864 in the 47th Illinois Infantry and was wounded twice in a battle at Corinth, Mississippi. He mustered out in 1864. Apent some time at home (I guess) in Lacon, Illinois. He then enlisted in Co F 2nd U.S. Veteran Volunteers. These units were authoriezed in Nov 1864 of men with an honorable discharge after two year''s service. He mustered in feb 23rd 1865 and mustered out on Feb 26, 1866 at Elmira, N.Y.

I looked for information and found an information sheet of a diary in a university library for John Holland. He also enlisted in Co F in Feb 1865. He had been on the U.S. Ram Monarch. His diary says They were around Washington DC and assigned to Elmira prison in July 1865. He served there until Feb 16th 1866. He describes the town, drinking lager, attending Bailey''s Circus and "Old Ann''s" bawdy House where he probably got the sylphis which bothered him in October.

He says the food was wretched, paymaster was tardy, discipline declined badly with drunken brawls sometimes with the townspeople. The soldiers got to where they didn't salute and trued to wear civilian clothes in camp. There weren't many prisoners left. Some entered picket lines in July 1865 at the surrender of the Confederacy.
Information provided by James Cummings.

Lawhead, Milton S.
149th PA Bucktails
Transferred to Elmira from Petersburg in February of 1865.
Information provided by Ernest.

Maloney, Captain Francis Gallery
Born 19 May 1841 in Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland, joined the 54th Regiment, New York Volunteers in October 1863 in Rochester, NY and where he commanded Company "I". The 54th Regiment was mustered into the United States service on 26 July 1864 and was sent south to the Elmira Prisoner of War Camp, arriving there on the 27th of that month. In Elmira the 54th comprised part of the guard contingent there and they served for 100 days and were mustered out of the federal service on 10 November 1864 in Rochester. Following the Civil War Capt. Maloney remained with the 54th and was subsequently promoted to Major and served on the Regimental staff. He and his family left Rochester in 1871 for Jackson Co., MI where he died the following year.

Potter, Stephen Devela
Pvt. Bat. L, 2nd Art NY
b. 1816 in Herkimer Co., NY and d. February 13, 1864 in Elmira, NY. He was married to Diadama Dunham in March 1855. In Beer's History of Herkimer County he is listed as having died at Elmira of congestion of the lungs. He was a private in Battery L, 2nd Artillery, although he may have been transferred to Invalid Corps.
Information provided by Jane S.Flannery

Scott, Walter S.
Dec. 29th 1863 Volunteered in Argyle, NY at 20 years of age. Feb. 10th 1864 arrived at Elmira, NY for duty in a Color Guard. According to the Muster Roll he also did "Duty on Fortification." September 1864 promoted to a Corporal. Mustered out August 21, 1865. His gravestone in Union Cemetery Ft. Edward, NY says he served as a Trumpeter. The assumption is in a Color Guard. Although his service record does not confirm this.
Information provided by Robert W. Haas.

Wilson, Cyrus
Co. H, 145th Pa Inf
Cyrus Wilson was born 29 September 1829 in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, and died 29 January 1902 in Clifton, Kansas. On 5 August 1862 he enlisted along with 100 others from his county in Company H of the 145th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment. His regiment, which served under General Winfield Scott Hancock for the entire war, buried the dead at Antietam, led the charge against Mary's Heights at Fredericksburg, and was captured during the Stonewall Jackson's flanking maneuver at Chancellorsville. Only fourteen of the 101 who enlisted in Company H answered roll call at Gettysburg.

Sergeant Wilson was left wounded on the battlefield at Fredericksburg along with more than three-quarters of his company after the charge on Mary’s Heights. Unable to carry a rifle, he was assigned administrative tasks at Chancellorsville, and was made a ward master at the 2nd Corps hospital at Gettysburg. On 11 February 1864 he was transferred to Company G of the 1st Regiment of the Veteran Reserve Corps. His unit was assigned to duty at the prison in Elmira, New York. He re-enlisted on 2 September 1864 and was discharge 6 September 1865.

In his biography of Cyrus, his son writes. "In less than a month after returning to duty [after recovering from wounds received at Fredericksburg], he passed through the Chancellorsville campaign, and, after two or three weeks in camp, he marched over 100 miles in the heat of a Virginia summer to Gettysburg, where he had his part in as desperate a piece of fighting as the history of the war records, only to be left behind amidst the filth and human wreckage of battle. The wonder is, not that he was physically and mentally depressed, but that he survived through it all."

The biography of Sergeant Cyrus Wilson, entitled "The Civil War: One Man, His Unit, His Family, and His Community" can be read here.
Submitted by Pete Wilson.