Wilmot A. Mills was born around 1845 in New York to Jonathan and Abigail Mills. His father was a mason who owned $1,400 of real estate and $200 of personal property. The family eventually moved to Scipio, Ohio.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on August 11, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company G of the 55^th Ohio Infantry. The regiment took part in the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the Battle of Missionary Ridge. He remained devoted to the Union, writing in May 1863 that “we voluntarily offered our services, our lives if need be for the protection of our loved country, and left our comfortable homes and friends that are dear to us, to put down this accursed rebellion.” He denounced Peace Democrats, accusing them of “prolonging this unholy war by their sympathy with the rebels, and their eternal howl against the Administration.”  

 

He was wounded in the head at Missionary Ridge, and he mustered out on June 9, 1865.

 

He returned to Scipio after the war. He applied for a federal pension in September 1865 and eventually secured one. He married Emma Celina Stickney on November 1, 1865, and their son Burt was born around 1866. Mills worked as a farmer, and by 1870, he owned $3,000 of real estate and $800 of personal property. He died in the 1890s.

SOURCES