Miles Dexter (abt. 1848 - 1896)

Born about 1848 in Warren County, New York, United States

Ancestors

Died 30 Jun 1896 at about age 48 in Orting, Pierce, Washington, United States

Biography

Pvt Miles Dexter served in the United States Civil War.
Enlisted: September 12, 1864
Mustered out: June 3, 1865
Side: USA
Regiment(s): Company G, 46th New YorkInfantry

Miles was born about 1848. He was the son of Dana Dexter and Lydia Hall. He passed away in 1896.

The following story comes from the Clinton County, NY, Civil War Record 1861-1865 Facebook Page:

NEW YORK – VIRGINIA – WASHINGTON - Seventeen-year-old Miles Dexter was a descendant of two John Halls on his mother, Lydia Hall’s, side. One was a Revolutionary War soldier and one fought in the War of 1812. Miles’ family was living on bounty land in Warren County when he enlisted in the 46th Infantry in Plattsburgh. The family had already lost one son. Miles’ older brother, Levi, had gone to war in December 1861 with the 96th Infantry, died of illness in July 1862 and was buried in Cypress Hills National Cemetery in Brooklyn.

Dexter enlisted as a substitute for William Wallace Rockwell from Warren County and went straight to the battlefield near Petersburg with several other men who had also enlisted as replacement troops. Their first battle was on the Boydton Plank Road at the end of October, and they went on to Hatcher’s Run just south of the city.

The regiment stayed in the area over the winter and on March 25. 1865, were at Fort Stedman east of Petersburg where they had two men killed and three injured. On April 2nd the men participated in the Fall of Petersburg and soon after were ordered back to Washington where they were mustered out on June 3rd at Delancy House.

After returning to New York, Miles married Frances Fuller in 1879 in Steuben County and lived there until the late 1880s. He applied for an Invalid’s Pension in 1891, while he was living and working in Lewis County, WA, about sixty miles south of Tacoma. He moved to the Washington Soldiers home in Orting on the outskirts of Tacoma and died there when he was forty-seven years old on June 30, 1896. Miles was buried under a military headstone in the Washington Soldiers Home Cemetery next to the home. Frances died in 1903 in Steuben County.

The Elizabethtown Post of January 11, 1894, carried the death notice of the man for whom Miles substituted – “William Wallace Rockwell died at Glens Falls Tuesday morning, aged 69 years. He had been a Member of Assembly, a State Senator and recently was Postmaster of Glens Falls during President Harrison’s administration.”

Sources

• Find A Grave: Memorial #5550830

• Rosters Of The New York Infantry Regiments During The Civil War—46th New York Infantry