I can’t speak for the 35th NJ, but I’ve done quite a bit of research on the 13th, so there might be a few parallels to answer your last questions. MY GGG-Grandfather was 38 with a wife and five children at home (including an infant son) when he enlisted in August ‘62. I thought that was uncommon until I dug a little deeper and found out that a large proportion of the 13th’s men were married, many of them with children (even a few fathers/sons joined the 13th together). I also found a number of the men were over age 45 (verified through Census or other sources), though they put down 45 on their enlistment form (it would be interesting to know what your ancestor put his age at). Along with the private’s pay of $13 a month, families were also entitled to $6 a month from the State, so that helped some. There were certainly bounties for enlisting (both public and private), but it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact amount a specific soldier received since they varied by amount and region. The bounties were probably even higher when the 35th was organized. Each man had his own reasons for enlisting, but I know from primary sources most in the 13th expected the war to last perhaps just a few more months and the ‘picnic’ they were on would be over and they would soon be back home.

• RE: David V. France - Joe Bilby 11/21/2007 12:11:27 EDT (0)