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This biography is from HEROES OF ALBANY, by Rufus W. Clark, D. D.

Corporal Erastus Hamilton Holmes
of Westerlo

Mr. Holmes was a native of the town of Westerlo, and was the son of John and Sarah Holmes, who were connected with the Methodist Church.

Influenced by a sincere and earnest desire to serve his country, he enlisted on the 5th of August, 1862, in Company K, Seventh Regiment, under the gallant Col. Lewis O. Morris. He was stationed with this noble officer at Fort Reno, and was afterwards engaged in the assault on Petersburg. His bravery carried him in the thickest of the fight, and on the I6th of June, 1864, he was wounded in the hand, and was taken prisoner with many others. He was conveyed to Andersonville prison, where he, in common with multitudes of others, suffered everything, which the fiendish passions of their persecutors could heap upon them.

When Gen. Sherman marched through Georgia, Mr. Holmes, with about fifteen hundred others, was removed to the Savannah prison. Here he encountered new forms of wretchedness and horror, and lingered until the 9th day of October, 1864, when he expired. He leaves, in entire destitution, an interesting family, consisting of his widow, Mrs. Sarah Abigail Holmes, and five little children. The children are all under twelve years of age. Though left with no other inheritance but poverty, yet as they advance in years they will learn to appreciate the private viitues and pulblic services of their noble father, who suffered and died a martyr for his country, and for the cause of human liberty.



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