The Drake brothers, 21-year-old George and 30-year-old Milon, fought with Company B of the 22 Michigan Infantry. The soldiers in Company B came primarily from Macomb County. George held the rank of private, while Milon was a corporal.
Company B engaged in numerous fierce battles, including the infamous siege of Atlanta lead by General William T. Sherman. The 22nd also fought several violent skirmishes against roving guerrilla Confederate forces. Unfortunately for these Michigan soldiers, they were all too often on the losing side of the battlefield.
Private George B. Drake met his fate at Chattanooga in August of 1864. Corporal Milon Drake died at the end of the Civil War, in April of 1865. The Drakes were part of the 3 officers and 86 enlisted men killed in action. Initially buried in the National Cemetery in Chattanooga, TN (where they still have memorial markers for both brothers), the Drake family had the bodies sent to Edgerton where they lay in their final resting place.
In total, the 22 Michigan Infantry lost 399 men to disease and battle deaths.