Private Edward Eugene Garrett was born a farm boy in the tiny village of South Trenton, N.Y. on November 9, 1841. Like many people in this area in the foothills of the Adirondacks he was good with a gun. When the war began he went off to fight as a member of Company D, 1st U.S.S.S..
After the war her returned home and settled in the same house where his father was born and was active in the G.A.R. He lived to be 87, which wasn't bad for those days. One has to wonder what he thought of the horrors of WW1 as they appeared in the papers and the inability of the world to learn the lessons of the Civil War.
There is another Garrett, Frederick E. listed as a member of Co. D, 1st U.S.S.S. but in exploring the little community cemetery behind the Lutheran church up here I did not see any sign of his presence. There is a Frederick E. Garrett listed here as a cousin of Edward, but he was not in the cemetery that I could see. Perhaps he moved out west, or was a different Frederick E. Garrett altogether...
The family was at once religious and patriotic. Apparently his cousins and father spent time in Bombay, India as missionaries. Samuel Garrett, a cousin of Edward was born there, and joined the 146th N.Y.S.V.I. during the war. The unit was one of the bigger line infantry units from this part of New York. It fought in most major battles of the AotP, before getting absolutely mauled at The Wilderness. That is undoubtedly where Sam was captured and sent off to Andersonville...
...where he eventually died.
The slums of Bombay or Andersonville...which was less able to support life do you suppose?