By Thomas Sulier
My Great, Great, Grandfather Isadore Belair was born on December 4th 1826 at Erie, Monroe County Michigan. He enlisted in the Union Army on January the 18th, 1864. He hailed from Monroe County Michigan and was mustered into service on February 2, 1864, for what would have been a three-year stint during the pendency of the Civil War. He began as a Private in Captain Con Luce’s Company H, of the 17th Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, whose commanding Colonel was a W.G. Faton. The regiment which was known as the Stonewall Regiment left the state on August 27th, 1864 and marched on to Washington DC. Upon arrival, the Regiment was assigned to the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, GT Corps of the Army of the Potomac. Isadore was wounded and taken prisoner on the 12th of May, 1864 at the Battle of Spotsylvania. He was subsequently imprisoned at Andersonville until August of the same year, after that he was then sent to Libby, where he remained three months and then sent home on a 30 day furlough, after which he rejoined his regiment. After that he was with his command. Rendering gallant and meritorious service on all occasions and achieved an enviable record for bravery in action and at all times bore a soldiery bearing whether in camp, on the march, or in the field of battle. He received an Honorable Discharge on the 27th day of June 1865 at Camp Chase, Ohio as the war had concluded. The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, as it was then known lasted from May 8th through the 12th, 1864 and casualties amounted to 10,000 Union and 9,000 Confederate souls. He was then called back to his Maker on January 23, 1913.
Of the 272 words of Lincoln’s Gettysburg address the most profound are:
“The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it. For above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here. But it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.”