Mansfield is another town where my family roots are deep. My father always refers to Mansfield and Otto as though they are the same entity. I believe that most of the Mansfield men in the 64th Regiment were in Co. "C", the Otto Co.

The First Sergeant of Co. "C" was Isaac Harvey from Mansfield. Isaac's mother was Delilah Woliver, my great, great, grandmother. Her grandfather Peter Woliver and three of his brothers fought with the Revolutionary Army at the Battle of Oriskany.

On the other side of my pedigree my great, great, great, great grandfather Nicholas Bigler also fought with General Herkimer at Oriskany which has been described as the most severe, and for the numbers involved, one of the bloodiest battles of the American Revolution.

Mansfield contributed a four brother combination to the Union Armies. Two of the Lattin brothers rode with the 9th Cavalry, one fought with the 37th Infantry and one fought and marched with the 154th. Charles Lattin, a Sergeant in the 37th re-enlisted with his horse soldier brothers in the 9th Cavalry in February 1864. The Lattin brothers further demonstrate the military unreliability of these records. Edgar Lattin is said to have lost his right arm at Fredericksburg as a member of the 154th Regiment. Since the 154th did not join the Army of the Potomac until just after the battle of Fredericksburg it seems unlikely he lost the limb there. The Historical Gazetteer records that he re-enlisted in the 179th and lost the arm in the mine explosion at Petersburg. Wherever I encounter these inaccuracies I point them out with my editor's notes, but I am sure I miss many as I missed this one until I started focusing on the Lattin brothers.

One other observation regarding the misinformation about Edgar Lattin is in order. It seems almost certain that the person compiling this record did not speak with Edgar, demonstrating the wisdom of the hearsay rule. Anyone speaking with Edgar about the loss of his arm would have heard about one of the most spectacular events of the war. A regiment of miners from Pennsylvania commanded by a railroad engineer with civilian experience building train tunnels, dug under the Confederate lines, packed the cavity with explosives and the resulting big bang caused a huge crater in the Rebel lines. Unfortunately for the Union soldiers the usual mismanagement by their generals resulted in about 4,000 blue casualties, one of which was Edgar Lattin, rather than the Yankee breakthrough it was designed to produce.