Background
Sergeant Horace Failes, First Pennsylvania Reserve Cavalry, Company G was born around 1836 in either Pennsylvania or New York.
According to the letter from Harold Fales, the grandson of Sgt. Failes, and Ancestry.com, Horace was mostly from Pennsylvania
and married Margaret Emaline Moore in 1870. Sgt. Failes enlisted in the three eleventh service and served his time, then
enlisting on August 28, 1861 in the First Pennsylvania Cavalry according to the First Pennsylvania regimental history. He
mentions in his letters that he fought in the Battle of Fredericksburg, and approached Richmond. However, he was also involved
in many if not all of the action that included the First Penn Cavalry including the Second Battle of Bull Run, Gettysburg,
and the Appomattox surrender of General Robert E. Lee and his Army. According to the unit history, as found cited on Ancestry.com,
Sgt. Failes was promoted to Sergeant during that time and mustered out of service June20, 1865. He passed away in 1880 in
Montgomery, PA.