James R. Woodworth (1838-1864) was born in Ovid, New York, to Nancy Dickerson and Alanson Woodworth. On July 25, 1860, he married Phebe Burroughs. By the outbreak of the Civil War he had established a farm in Seneca Falls, New York. He enlisted as a private in Company E of the 44th New York Infantry (the Ellsworth Avengers), and served in the Army of the Potomac from September 1862 until his death in May 1864. In that time, Woodworth and his regiment saw action at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. He contracted a fever in October 1863 and was hospitalized in Washington D.C. and New York City military hospitals until December of that year. He rejoined his regiment, and died at Laurel Hill on May 8, 1864, a casualty of the Battle of the Wilderness.
From the guide to the James R. Woodworth papers, Woodworth, James R. papers, 1862-1864, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
