St. Agnes Cemetery has received the only known image of Private Bernard (Barney) Ross, an Albany resident who was just 12 when he enlisted in the Union Army in 1861, after it was discovered by a Connecticut woman last week going through some Civil War memorabilia collected by her late father.
The boy and his father, Simon, enlisted together in 1861. They were assigned to different regiments, Grimaldi said. Barney, all four-feet-10-inches of him, was too young for combat, but kept the beat of his drum for the marching troops, becoming "Albany's Little Drummer Boy."
Simon, in his late 40s, served just three months. Barney re-enlisted after three years, but took ill soon afterward and served a total of 39 months.
Grimaldi assumes the family, poor Irish immigrants who lived on Albany's Lafayette Street, needed the $8-per-month stipend they received for Barney's war service. There were six younger children at home.
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