William A. Murphy

William A. Murphy was born in 1841.

William was 20 years old and possibly living in Lansing or Grand Rapids, Michigan, when he enlisted with his parents’ consent in Company G on May 10, 1861.(Company G, formerly the “Williams’ Rifles,” was made up predominantly of men from the Lansing area.) According to Frank Siverd of Company G, in early June William was sick with the measles. He was, Siverd was quick to add, “well cared for. [Regimental Surgeon D. W.] Bliss leaves nothing undone that will contribute to the comfort of the sick. To prevent the disease spreading, as soon as the first symptoms appear,” Bliss had Murphy, along with several others “removed to the house of a physician, some three miles from camp.”

William recovered sufficiently enough to leave Michigan with the regiment on June 13, 1861, but by late September of 1861 was sick with typhoid fever in the Regimental hospital. He again recovered, and was present for duty from January of 1862 through June of that year. He allegedly deserted at Alexandria, Virginia on August 23, 1862.

There is no further record, and no pension seems to be available.