Edward Waldo Stacy

L-R: Miss Pike, Mr. Newel, Mrs. Newel, Mr. Stacy, Miss Goodenough

Edward Waldo was born in Harvard, MA on April 9, 1842 as the oldest child of Nathaniel and Lucy W. (Adams) Stacy. He had a younger sister named Mary who was born on January 16, 1844. Nathaniel was a paper manufacturer, and was almost 16 years older than his wife.

As a young man Edward Waldo attended the local public school. His sister did as well. Alice Adams, their maternal grandmother, lived with the family and helped raise the children when they were young. When Edward Waldo finished school he worked with his father in the paper business and as a general laborer.

At the age of 20 he enlisted on August 13, 1862 and mustered at Camp Wool in Worcester, MA as a Private into Company G in the 36th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. As a member of the 26th Mass he would have participated in the Battle of Fredericksburg and the "Mud March" the following January. They were also engaged in the Siege of Vicksburg, the Siege of Jackson, and the Siege of Knoxville, and many smaller skirmishes along the way. Private Stacy's last engagement with his regiment was in the Battle of the Wilderness in early May of 1864.

Edward Waldo Stacy was killed in action during the Battle of the Wilderness on May 6, 1864 and initially buried on the battlefield near where he fell. His mother applied for and was granted a pension for her son's service after her husband's death from consumption in 1868.

After the establishment of the Fredericksburg National Cemetery in 1865 the remains of many soldiers who had lost their lives during battles in the area were located and moved. Private Stacy was one of those, and he rests in grave #3733. The gravemarker in Harvard Center Cemetery is a cenotaph placed by his family in the Stacy family plot. Edward Waldo is also listed on the Civil War Monument in the Harvard town square.