Son of William H Alexander
A Charlton NY farmer before the war.
Joel S Alexander, age 21 enlisted on August 8, 1862 in Charlton, NY to serve a three year tour. Mustered in as private to I Co, 115th INF REG (NY VOL) on August 15, 1862. The regiment rendezvoused in Fulton NY and on the August 29 the boarded trains for Sandy Hook MD to join the Army of the Potomac.
Two weeks later, on Sept 15, 1862 the Regiment faced the enemy in Harpers Ferry VA and while historians disagree as to the reason, General Miles surrendered all 11000 men to General Sherman. Due to the sheer numbers they were paroled the following day and allowed to leave in peace but without rations or supplies.
The 115th AG Report states that Joel died at Olustee Florida in one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Bodies were buried in a mass grave and now it is a historical site.
NOTE ABOUT CEMETERYIn 1866, a U.S. Army unit under Lieutenant Frederick E. Grossman was dispatched to Olustee to inspect the resting places of the over 200 Union men who had fallen there two years prior. Many of the remains, which had been buried hastily in shallow graves after the battle, had become exposed by animals and the elements. Grossman's men reburied the remains of 125 soldiers in a more permanent mass grave, which they marked with large wooden cross and fencing. By the 1870s this had deteriorated, and the grave site was lost by the time Confederate organizations started campaigning to preserve the battlefield. In 1991, the Sons of Union Veterans placed a granite cross where the Union mass grave is thought to lie. It bears the same inscriptions from the original wooden memorial, invoking "Unity and Peace" and "Our County." It is located in a poorly maintained cemetery outside Olustee Battlefield State Park property. It is the only memorial to Union soldiers in the area, though the Sons of Union Veterans and other groups have pushed for a fuller Union monument near the Confederate one. This proposal has met with resistance from pro-Confederate locals and state inaction.
A Charlton NY farmer before the war.
Joel S Alexander, age 21 enlisted on August 8, 1862 in Charlton, NY to serve a three year tour. Mustered in as private to I Co, 115th INF REG (NY VOL) on August 15, 1862. The regiment rendezvoused in Fulton NY and on the August 29 the boarded trains for Sandy Hook MD to join the Army of the Potomac.
Two weeks later, on Sept 15, 1862 the Regiment faced the enemy in Harpers Ferry VA and while historians disagree as to the reason, General Miles surrendered all 11000 men to General Sherman. Due to the sheer numbers they were paroled the following day and allowed to leave in peace but without rations or supplies.
The 115th AG Report states that Joel died at Olustee Florida in one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Bodies were buried in a mass grave and now it is a historical site.
NOTE ABOUT CEMETERYIn 1866, a U.S. Army unit under Lieutenant Frederick E. Grossman was dispatched to Olustee to inspect the resting places of the over 200 Union men who had fallen there two years prior. Many of the remains, which had been buried hastily in shallow graves after the battle, had become exposed by animals and the elements. Grossman's men reburied the remains of 125 soldiers in a more permanent mass grave, which they marked with large wooden cross and fencing. By the 1870s this had deteriorated, and the grave site was lost by the time Confederate organizations started campaigning to preserve the battlefield. In 1991, the Sons of Union Veterans placed a granite cross where the Union mass grave is thought to lie. It bears the same inscriptions from the original wooden memorial, invoking "Unity and Peace" and "Our County." It is located in a poorly maintained cemetery outside Olustee Battlefield State Park property. It is the only memorial to Union soldiers in the area, though the Sons of Union Veterans and other groups have pushed for a fuller Union monument near the Confederate one. This proposal has met with resistance from pro-Confederate locals and state inaction.
Son of William H Alexander
A Charlton NY farmer before the war.
Joel S Alexander, age 21 enlisted on August 8, 1862 in Charlton, NY to serve a three year tour. Mustered in as private to I Co, 115th INF REG (NY VOL) on August 15, 1862. The regiment rendezvoused in Fulton NY and on the August 29 the boarded trains for Sandy Hook MD to join the Army of the Potomac.
Two weeks later, on Sept 15, 1862 the Regiment faced the enemy in Harpers Ferry VA and while historians disagree as to the reason, General Miles surrendered all 11000 men to General Sherman. Due to the sheer numbers they were paroled the following day and allowed to leave in peace but without rations or supplies.
The 115th AG Report states that Joel died at Olustee Florida in one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Bodies were buried in a mass grave and now it is a historical site.
NOTE ABOUT CEMETERYIn 1866, a U.S. Army unit under Lieutenant Frederick E. Grossman was dispatched to Olustee to inspect the resting places of the over 200 Union men who had fallen there two years prior. Many of the remains, which had been buried hastily in shallow graves after the battle, had become exposed by animals and the elements. Grossman's men reburied the remains of 125 soldiers in a more permanent mass grave, which they marked with large wooden cross and fencing. By the 1870s this had deteriorated, and the grave site was lost by the time Confederate organizations started campaigning to preserve the battlefield. In 1991, the Sons of Union Veterans placed a granite cross where the Union mass grave is thought to lie. It bears the same inscriptions from the original wooden memorial, invoking "Unity and Peace" and "Our County." It is located in a poorly maintained cemetery outside Olustee Battlefield State Park property. It is the only memorial to Union soldiers in the area, though the Sons of Union Veterans and other groups have pushed for a fuller Union monument near the Confederate one. This proposal has met with resistance from pro-Confederate locals and state inaction.
A Charlton NY farmer before the war.
Joel S Alexander, age 21 enlisted on August 8, 1862 in Charlton, NY to serve a three year tour. Mustered in as private to I Co, 115th INF REG (NY VOL) on August 15, 1862. The regiment rendezvoused in Fulton NY and on the August 29 the boarded trains for Sandy Hook MD to join the Army of the Potomac.
Two weeks later, on Sept 15, 1862 the Regiment faced the enemy in Harpers Ferry VA and while historians disagree as to the reason, General Miles surrendered all 11000 men to General Sherman. Due to the sheer numbers they were paroled the following day and allowed to leave in peace but without rations or supplies.
The 115th AG Report states that Joel died at Olustee Florida in one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Bodies were buried in a mass grave and now it is a historical site.
NOTE ABOUT CEMETERYIn 1866, a U.S. Army unit under Lieutenant Frederick E. Grossman was dispatched to Olustee to inspect the resting places of the over 200 Union men who had fallen there two years prior. Many of the remains, which had been buried hastily in shallow graves after the battle, had become exposed by animals and the elements. Grossman's men reburied the remains of 125 soldiers in a more permanent mass grave, which they marked with large wooden cross and fencing. By the 1870s this had deteriorated, and the grave site was lost by the time Confederate organizations started campaigning to preserve the battlefield. In 1991, the Sons of Union Veterans placed a granite cross where the Union mass grave is thought to lie. It bears the same inscriptions from the original wooden memorial, invoking "Unity and Peace" and "Our County." It is located in a poorly maintained cemetery outside Olustee Battlefield State Park property. It is the only memorial to Union soldiers in the area, though the Sons of Union Veterans and other groups have pushed for a fuller Union monument near the Confederate one. This proposal has met with resistance from pro-Confederate locals and state inaction.
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