From the Sept. 19, 2012, Berlin (Ct) My Town "Berlin Historical Society Members Write Book Based On Letters From Local Civil War Veteran" by Bill Leakhardt.
Lyman Wilcox enlisted as a drummer boy at the age of 17, survived eight months at the Confederate prison Andersonville and died at age 30 in 1870.
The book is titled "Field Music: From Antietam to Andersonville-- The Letters of Lyman B. Wilcox."
The letters were donated to the society decades ago.
Wilcox was orphaned at age 13 and raised by his granmother. He enlisted in 1862 in the 16th Connecticut and had been in uniform just three weeks when he fought at Antietam September 17, 1862 where 23,000 Americans were killed, wounded and missing after just 13 hours at Sharpsburg, Maryland, near Antietam Creek. He was one of 209 who served from Berlin and of that number, 70 died.
Wilcox survived that battle, but was captured in 1864 at Plymouth, North Carolina and sent to Andersonville.
He survived that ordeal, but died soon after the war at age 30, reason unknown.
Just One of Millions of Stories from the War. --Old Secesh
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