William Freeman Fox

Age 22 years, he enrolled at Elmira on 29 July 1862 to serve three years, and mustered in as Captain, Company C, 107th New York Infantry on 30 July.

He was injured by the explosion of an artillery shell in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

He was promoted to Major on 4 February 1863 and was wounded again, at Chancellorsville, VA on 3 May 1863. He was appointed Lieutenant Colonel on 15 October 1863 and wounded for the third time at Resaca, GA on 15 May 1864. He was discharged for disability on 8 July 1864.

He was in his family's lumber business and then a private forester for the Blossburg (PA) Coal, Mining and Railroad Company (1875-82). He was appointed assistant secretary to the New York Forest Commission in 1882, was an Assistant Forest Warden from 1888 to 1891, and then was the first State Superintendent of Forests. He was active in veteran's organizations and wrote extensively about his War experiences. He is perhaps best known today for his books Regimental Losses in the American Civil War (1888) and New York at Gettysburg (1900).

Service from the State Adjutant General.1 Personal details from a bio sketch in the Annual Report of the New York Forest, Fish and Game Commission (1909), which also has a post-war photograph of him. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

The NY State tree nursery in Saratoga Springs was named for him in 2019, citing his role as "forest fire protection pioneer" and "father of forest rangers" [via the Adirondack ALmanack].

01/11/1840; Ballston Spa, NY

06/16/1909; Ballston Spa, NY; burial in Ballston Spa Village Cemetery, Ballston Spa, NY