Civil War veteran. Sergt. William H. Burbank, 3rd New Hampshire Infantry, Co. G; b. Haverhill; age 19; res. Sandwich; enl. July 29, '61; must. in Aug. 23, '61, as Corp.; app. Sergt. Dec. 7, '61; 1 Sergt. July 3, '63; re-enl. and must. in Jan. 30, '64, from Tamworth; wd. May 16, '64, Drewry's Bluff, Va.; app. 2 Lt. May 21, '64; appointment revoked; disch. as 1 Sergt. to date July 20, '65. P. O. ad., Lyme, N.H. He married Lydia Ellen Quimby Dec. 12, 1864 at Sandwich, Carroll County, New Hampshire. He died May 9, 1903 at Bridgewater, Windsor, Vermont. Burial: South Barnard Cemetery, Barnard, Vt. CDV backmark: none.

He was the original 7th Corporal of Co. G, Capt. Wiggin. His warrant promotions were as follows: To Sergeant, 11 Dec. 1861; to 1st Sergeant, July, 1863. He re-enlisted in January, 1864. He was wounded at Drewry's Bluff, Va., in May, 1864, and was sent to hospital at Point Lookout. While there he was commissioned 2d Lieutenant, dating 24 May, and was mustered into that grade 4 Oct., at the hospital. His muster appears to have been wholly unauthorized: i.e., it was in violation of existing orders, which forbade the muster of any officer unfit at the time for field service; and Burbank appears to have clearly come under that order. The muster was promptly
revoked by the War Department. This proceeding and order may not have been poetic justice: but law and justice are not always synonymous terms. Meantime Burbank had been dropped from the company rolls (18 Nov.), as having been commissioned 2d Lieutenant in Co. I. Orders from the War Department compelled the commander of the company to take up Burbank on the rolls, and he became again the 1st Sergeant of Co. G, and held that rank at the final muster-out of the regiment. He did not rejoin the regiment until its final discharge at Concord.

14 May 1903 9 - Bellows Falls Times