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This biography is from HEROES OF ALBANY, by Rufus W. Clark, D. D.

James Wilson
of Cohoes

James Wilson, the son of David Wilson and Isabella Mills, was born at Lansingburgh, New York, on May 11th, 1846. He enlisted from Cohoes as a private in Co. H, in the One Hundred and Fifteenth Regiment New York State Volunteers, and was killed in the battle of Olustee, Florida, on February 20th, 1864.

Lieut. Clark, in his work entitled "The Iron-Hearted Regiment," page 203, gives the following account of his death: "At the battle of Olustee, Florida, he behaved very gallantly, and fought with the coolness of a war-worn veteran, but sacrificed his life nearly at its close. The brave young soldier fired away his own sixty rounds of ammunition, and then sought a fresh supply from his dead companion's cartridge box. Having loaded his gun for the sixty-first time, he turned to Sergeant Gould, and in his usual pleasant way said "Alf, which way shall I aim this time?" The words had hardly escaped his lips when a cruel shell burst in the ranks, and a piece struck him in the left thigh, shattering it in the most frightful manner. A large stream of blood spouted from the wound, and he fell to rise no more.

The boys carried him a short distance from the field, but he was fast bleeding to death and must soon die, so they laid him gently down at the foot of a tree. They took his Bible and a few little keepsakes from his pocket, to send to his widowed mother: then kneeling down on the ground they grasped his cold hands affectionately, and with tears in their eyes said 'good bye.' He looked up and sweetly smiled; it froze on his lips, and he closed his eyes in death."



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