William Harrison CHAPIN was born Nov. 6, 1831 on a farm about 8 miles from Springfield, MA. Spent his boyhood days in the Bay State and as a young man was employed as a farmer, housemover and factory hand in his native state. Orphaned by the death of his father [his father was murdered/stabbed to death] and his mother marrying again, Mr. Chapin was bound out to a farmer, but disliking the work, was able to have a guardian appointed for him. This guardian was a housemover and he worked for him for several years before reaching legal age.

Enlisting at Springfield, Sept. 6, 1861, in Company I, 27th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Mr. Chapin served with this company for the balance of the war, re-enlisting Dec. 23, 1863 as a veteran volunteer, this enlistment giving him an honorable discharge from his first enlistment.

The regiment was attached to Foster's brigade of Burnside's Expeditionary corps in 1862 and took part in may battles and skirmishes. Mr. Chapin was on active service with his company except for about six months when he was on detached duty at Norfolk, VA, detailed as a guard at the "Hard Labor Prison".

At Ford's Mills, NC, in March, 1865, the regiment was surrounded by greatly superior numbers of Confederate troops and most of those on duty at the time were killed or taken prisoner. Mr. Chapin was one of the prisoners, and was marched to Kingston, from where he was taken to Goldsboro, also in North Carolina, on a flat car; he was confined in a stockade at Goldsboro for one day, but at this time Gen. Sherman's army was approaching, and the prisoners were hastily transported to Richmond.

Here Mr. Chapin spent three days in Libby Prison, but was paroled and sent to a parole camp, from where he was given a 30-day prisoner's furlough. He used the furlough to come to Fond du Lac, where his mother was residing at the time, and at the expiration of the leave, applied for transportation back to the front. Hostilities having ceased in the meantime, his furlough was extended to May 15, 1865, when he was mustered out and given an honorable discharge at Madison.

William H. Chapin became a member of the Grand Army of the Republic at the E.A. Brown post in Fond du Lac, WI. He served as Chaplin and Custodian of the Post Headquarters for over 20 years. He attended several reunions for the veterans of the Civil War that were held throughout the Midwest; the first such reunion for Fond du Lac County was held in in Fond du Lac by the Fourteenth regiment in 1887. Mr. Chapin was the the oldest veteran of the Civil War residing in Fond du Lac County at the time of his death and reputed to the oldest in the state.

View his family web card.

Service Record of William H. Chapin

History of the 27th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infanty

Battles Time-Line

Battle in Detail: Cold Harbor, 31 May- 12 June 1864