Ben Losee, My Beloved Union Soldier

My first research trip ever was back when I was 16. Knowing my grandpa's family had long standing roots in Freeport, NY, I started my research by going to the Freeport Memorial Library.

Libraries are instrumental to genealogy research, however, it is not really the place to start. You really need to start at home. I'll write more about that another time.

While at the library though, my grandmother noticed a memorial plaque. The Freeport Memorial Library is just that a memorial. In fact it is the first memorial library in New York State dedicated to the memories of the men of Freeport who died in the Civil War.

Among the names listed on the plaque was Benjamin F. Losee. At the time I did not know how I was related to Ben but I knew by the unusual last name that I just had to be related. After many years of digging I discovered that he was my great-great grandfather's brother.

Ben enlisted in the Union Army when he was just 19, according to his records. However, I suspect that he was actually younger. He was a member of the 139th NY Infantry, Co. A. He died from typhus at Point of Rocks, VA and is interned in City Point National Cemetery in Hopewell, VA.

It took me a while to track down where he was interned; in part because his last name was misspelled on his headstone. It appeared as Losa, although the letters in his military pension file clearly showed that he wrote his name as Losee.

After jumping through some legal hoops and contacting my congresswoman, I was able to get them to change his headstone.