Most Union veterans buried at St. Paul’s enlisted in New York regiments and fought in the major Eastern theatre of the war. Charles Lee Wilson (1837-1866) fought in the West--Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia. He enlisted in the 35th Ohio Regiment Volunteer Infantry in September 1861. Wilson would have fought at the September 1863 Battle of Chickamauga, a Confederate victory, in which the 35th Ohio tried to contain the Southern breakthrough under General James Longstreet. In addition, he fought at the Battle of Chattanooga in late November, and participated in a famous frontal assault which drove the Southerners from Missionary Ridge and helped the Union army force the Confederates to retreat from Tennessee. Beginning in early May 1864, the 35th Ohio was part of General William T. Sherman’s army that invaded Georgia. Wilson fought at the major battles of the campaign--Dalton, Keenesaw Mountain, Peachtree Creek -- and his regiment was among the first to enter Atlanta with the Union Army on September 2-3, a development that helped to re-elect Abraham Lincoln as President. Wilson was mustered out on Sept. 23, 1864, and moved to Mt. Vernon after the war. He died March 11, 1866, from disease contracted during the war.
|
 |
