William H. Osborn was born in 1834, probably in Bennington, Vermont or Ohio.
William was possibly married to 19-year-old New York native Celestia Ayres sometime in late 1859 or early 1860. If so, by 1860 he was working as a farm laborer and he and his new wife were living with Celestia’s father Isaac Ayres (or Airs) and his family in Keene, Ionia County.
William stood 5’10” with blue eyes, brown hair and a light complexion and was a 28-year-old farmer probably living in Keene, Ionia County when he enlisted in Company C on February 27, 1862, at Saranac, Ionia County for 3 years. He was struck by a piece of cannon shell in the right hand on December 13, 1862, at the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and subsequently sent to the Regimental hospital. He was transferred to a general hospital in February of 1863, probably to Portsmouth Grove, Rhode Island (date unknown), where he was discharged on March 13, 1863, for “loss of middle finger of right hand from shell wound.” He also suffered from “general nervous derangement with feeble action of heart.”
It is not known if William returned to Michigan.
In June of 1863 he applied for and received a pension (no. 17310), based on his service in both Company H and Company C, 3rd Michigan Infantry.
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