View source for Blade, William M.

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==Birth==
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William Miner Blade was born January 31, 1841 in Berne<ref name="Carnival">Keating, Robert, [[Carnival of Blood|Carnival of Blood]]: The Civil War Ordeal of the Seventh New York Heavy Artillery, Published by Butternut and Blue, Baltimore, Md 1998</ref>   to [[Nicholas Blade]] (B. abt 1803, D. 1860-1865) and [[Hannah Yager]] (B. abt 1806, D. after 1880).<ref name="Bernehistory">Bernehistory.org</ref>  He was the middle child of eight.<ref name="Bernehistory"/>    

==Marriage & Children== <!--DELETE THIS LINE IF NOT NEEDED-->
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William married a woman named Elizabeth after June 1, 1865 but before 1870.<ref name="Bernehistory"/><ref name="1870Census">1870 US Census, Albany, Albany Co, NY</ref>   Unfortunately her parents are unknown.<ref name="Bernehistory"/>  
They had the following children; 
*Jacob Blade (B. 1867, D. probably bef 1880)<ref name="1870Census"/><ref name="1880Census">1880 US Census, Albany, Albany Co, NY</ref>  
*[[William Miner Blade Jr.]] (B. 1869, D. Oct 8, 1933)<ref name="Bernehistory"/><ref name="1870Census"/><ref name="1880Census"/><ref name="Jr.">  [[Altamont Enterprise|Altamont Enterprise]] Oct 13, 1933.</ref>   
*[[Lillian Blade]] Westfall (B. 1878, D. Jan 20, 1960)<ref name="Bernehistory"/><ref name="1880Census"/><ref name="Lillian">"Mrs Lillian Westfall", [[Altamont Enterprise|Altamont Enterprise]] Feb 5, 1960 section 2 page 6.</ref>  

On October 23, 1904, he married Catherine M. Truss of Ballston Spa.<ref name="Marriage">"Married" [[Altamont Enterprise|Altamont Enterprise]] October 28, 1904.</ref><ref name="Bernehistory"/>  They were married by Reverend H. N. Dunning of Albany.<ref name="Marriage"/>  Catherine was about 12 years younger than William.<ref name="USCensus">US Censuses</ref> 

==Occupation==
Early in his life, William worked as a farm laborer.<ref name="1860Census"/>  At the time of his enlistment in the Civil War, William was working as a merchant.<ref name="Carnival"/>  After he had recovered from the his health issues related to the war, William was a conductor for the Railroad.<ref name="1870Census"/> By 1880, he began to have health issues and was working as a peddler.<ref name="1880Census"/>     

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==Military Service==
{| style="color:black;background-color:#ccffff;" cellspacing="1" border="2"
|Name:
|William Blade
|-
|Residence:
|Berne, NY<ref name="Town and City Registers">Town and City Registers of Men Who Served in the Civil War</ref>
|-
|Place of Birth:
|Berne, NY<ref name="Town and City Registers"/>
|-
|Date of Birth:
|13 Jan 1841<ref name="Town and City Registers"/>
|-
|Names of Parents:
|Nicholas (Blade) and Hannah Yager<ref name="Town and City Registers"/>
|-
|Marital Status:
|Single<ref name="Town and City Registers"/>
|-
|Occupation:
|Hotel Keeper<ref name="Town and City Registers"/>
|-
|Term of Enlistment:
|3 years<ref name="Town and City Registers"/>
|-
|Bounty Received:
|$100.00<ref name="Town and City Registers"/>
|-
|Enlistment Date:
|6 Aug 1862<ref name="Carnival"/>
|-
|Enlistment Place:
|Berne, New York or Albany, NY
|-
|Enlistment Rank:
|Private<ref name="Carnival"/>
|-
|State Served:
|New York
|-
|Regiment:
|[[7th Regiment|7th Regiment]] NY Heavy Artillery
|-
|Company:
|Company D<ref name="Carnival"/>
|-
|Promotion Date:
|18 Aug 1862
|-
|Promotion Rank:
|Full Corporal 
|-
|Promotion Date:
|1 Mar 1863
|-
|Promotion Rank:
||Full Sergeant 
|-
|Promotion Date:
|6 Aug 1863
|-
|Promotion Rank:
|Full Private (Reduced to ranks) 
|-
|Captured at:
|[[Petersburg|Petersburg]], VA<ref name="Carnival"/><ref name="Town and City Registers"/>
|-
|Captured on:
|16 Jun 1864<ref name="Carnival"/><ref name="Town and City Registers"/>
|-
|Imprisoned at:
|[[Andersonville|Andersonville]], GA<ref name="Carnival"/><ref name="Town and City Registers"/>Charleston and Florence, N.C.<ref name="Town and City Registers"/>
|-
|Paroled at:
|North East Ferry, NC<ref name="Carnival"/>
|-
|Paroled on:
|26 Feb 1865<ref name="Carnival"/>
|-
|Muster Out Date:
|23 May 1865<ref name="Carnival"/> 
|-
|Muster Out Place:
|Baltimore, MD<ref name="Carnival"/>
|-
|}
{| style="color:black;background-color:#ccffff;" cellspacing="1" border="2"
|Additional Remarks:  Enlisted at the age of 21.  He mustered out from the hospital in Baltimore.<ref name="Carnival"/> "Taken prisoner at Battle of [[Petersburg|Petersburg]] on June 15th 1864  taken to [[Andersonville|Andersonville]] and kept there three months, Charleston N.C. for one months, Florence 4 months.  Still living, discharged May 26, 1864.  P.O. Address West Berne Albany Co N.Y."<ref name="Town and City Registers"/>  While at Andersonville prison he watched [[Nathaniel Wright]] of Berne slowly starve to death.  When William was released from prison he only weighed 75 pounds and it was a long time before he could walk again.<ref name=”OurHeritage”>Stapleton, Euretha Wolford, Town of Berne Historian, “Our Heritage”, Published by Town of Berne, 1977.</ref>

|-
|Sources Used: Ancestry.com, American Civil War Soldiers  & Andersonville Prisoners of War; 1865 census Berne, Albany Co., NY; [[Annual Report of the Adjutant-General|Annual Report of the Adjutant-General]] of the State of NY for the year 1898; Howell, George Rogers, [[History of the County of Albany]], NY from 1609-1886, W. W. Munsell & Co., 1886, page 817; Keating, Robert, [[Carnival of Blood|Carnival of Blood]]: The Civil War Ordeal of the Seventh New York Heavy Artillery, Published by Butternut and Blue, Baltimore, Md 1998; Town and City Registers of Men Who Served in the Civil War 
|}

==Military==

As Walt Whitman said upon seeing the Union soldiers as they were released from a Confederate prison, "Can those be men? Those little livid brown ash streaked monkey-looking dwarves-are they not really mummified dwindled corpses?"

==Life==
In 1850 William was living with his parents and siblings in Berne.<ref name="1850Census">1850 US Census, Berne, Albany Co, NY</ref>  His father [[Nicholas Blade]] was an innkeeper who was born in Germany.<ref name="1850Census"/>  Living with the family was [[Hannah Mayer]] (B.abt 1765).<ref name="1850Census"/>  Ten years later, William was now 19 years of age and working as a farm laborer for [[David Conklin]] in Preston Hollow in the town of Rensselaerville.  After serving in the Civil War, William married and began to start a family with Jacob born in 1868 and William in 1869.<ref name="1870Census"/>  In 1870, they lived in the city of Albany in a two family home and William worked as a conductor for the Railroad.<ref name="1870Census"/> In about 1878, William's daughter Lillian was born.  In 1880, still living in the city of Albany, William was working as a peddler.<ref name="1880Census"/> The 1880 US Census only documented William's children William and Lillie, so it appears that his son Jacob had died by then. On June 25, 1880, William filed for an invalid pension associated with his Civil War service.<ref name="Pension">Civil War Pension Index, www.ancestry.com</ref>  At some time between 1880 and 1900, William's wife Elizabeth died and he moved back to his hometown of Berne.  In 1900 William Sr. was living with his son William Jr. in a house in Berne that William Sr. owned.  They were supported by William Jr.'s job as a steward in a hotel.  On October 23rd 1904 William was married for a second time to Catherine M. Truss of Ballston Spa by the Reverend H. N. Dunning of Albany.<ref name="Marriage"/>  In 1905 or 1906 William attended the reunion of the 7th Heavy Artillery in Albany with a banquet at Keelers.<ref>The Slingerlands Bulletin</ref>  In 1910 William was still living in Berne with his wife Catherine and son William Jr.<ref name="1910Census">1910 US Census, Berne, Albany Co, NY</ref>  In late January 1916, William "took a hard fall."<ref name="fall">"Berne", [[Altamont Enterprise|Altamont Enterprise]] Jan 21, 1916.</ref> 

==Death==
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William Miner Blade died on August 5, 1916 and was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Berne.<ref name="Bernehistory"/>   His gravestone confirms that he was a survivor of Andersonville Prison.<ref name="Bernehistory"/>  William lived an incredibly long healthy life for a Confederate prisoner of war.  Many of the other survivors died with in a decade or two after their release due to the starvation and diseases they faced.

==Obituary== <!--DELETE THIS LINE IF NOT NEEDED-->
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==Additional Research Notes== <!--DELETE THIS LINE IF NOT NEEDED-->
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Lived in the [[The Christopher Engle House]] at his death and willed it to the Albany Assoc of the Blind.

==Additional Media==
===[[Town and City Registers of Men Who Served in the Civil War]]===
Taken prisoner at Battle of Petersburg on June 15th 1864 taken to Andersonville and kept there three months, Charleston N.C. for one months, Florence 4 months. Still living, discharged May 26, 1864. P.O. Address West Berne Albany Co N.Y
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'''Sources''' <!--DO NOT DELETE THIS LINE-->

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[[Category:Biography]][[Category:Military]][[Category:Civil War]] <!--DO NOT DELETE THIS LINE-->[[Category:Berne Biographies]]-->[[Category:Rensselaerville Biographies]]<!--DELETE THIS WHOLE LINE BETWEEN THE [[ ]] IF BERNE DOES NOT APPLY-->