William Jay Roberts

A law student in the offices of Judge David C. Sanford in New Milford, he mustered as First Lieutenant, Company I, 8th Connecticut Infantry on 21 September 1861. He was promoted to Captain 5 May 1862 on the resignation of Frederick W. Jackson.

He commanded his Company in Maryland, and was in action with them at Antietam.

He was discharged on disability on 31 January 1865 - from wounds received at Fort Harrison/Chaffin's Farm, VA 29 September 1864.

He was admitted to the bar in Litchfield County in 1866, but did not practice due to "bronchial difficulty", and died at age 34 in 1870.

Basic information from Ingersoll1. His presence at Antietam from a letter he wrote the family of Corporal Robert Ferris after the battle, beautifully presented online by John Banks on his blog. Personal details from Kilbourn's The Bench and Bar of Litchfield County, Connecticut 1709 - 1909 (1909), the 1869-1870 Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University (1870) [pdf], and from family genealogists. His picture here from a photograph of unknown provenance posted to his gravesite on Findagrave by Dale Ryan.

He married Ann Eliza Horton (1839-1920) in Hartford in March 1865 and they had three children - only one child, daughter Caroline Eliza (b. 1869), survived him.

05/01/1836; New Milford, CT

06/30/1870; New Milford, CT; burial in Center Cemetery, New Milford, CT