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John Peter Phillips, was First Lieutenant in company F, One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Regiment N. Y. S. V. He was born in the village of Fishkill, Dutchess county N. Y., on the 25th of July, 1829. His parents gave him a good education and trained him in the principles of honesty and virtue. At the early age of sixteen he left home for New York. Here he showed great energy in the prosecution of his business, and in resisting the temptations of the city. He removed from New York to Albany where his efforts in business were crowned with success. Here he married on the 18th of April, 1852. He was very fond of his home, and greatly enjoyed it till the tocsin [sic] of war sounded through the land. He was then a member of the Tenth Regiment, and had made himself master of the drill, and manual of arms. When the Twenty-fifth Regiment started for the seat of war, he very much wished to go with them, and nothing but the ties of family restrained him. At this time the people were not impressed with the magnitude of the struggle, and expected it would soon be over. At last his regiment was called into service, and he cheerfully obeyed the call. "I go," he said, "not with the expectation of any pecuniary reward, but because I believe that it is my duty to give up everthing for my country." The regiment were ordered to Louisiana, and when they arrived there, were marched up the country. At Bonnet Carre Lieutenant Phillips was seized with the typhoid fever, from which he never recovered. When they reached Baton Rouge he was very weak, and soon after, the regiment's time being out, they were ordered home. Lieutenant Phillips arrived in Albany in a state of great bodily prostration. He was unable to caress his children, whom he deeply loved, or to make himself understood by his fond wife. On the fourth day of his return, and the 4th day of September, 1863, he departed this life. His remains were interred in the Albany Rural Cemetery, there to rest till the bright morning of the resurrection day.
| So sinks the soldier to his rest With all his country's wishes blest |
