Notes:
Major Fairfield was born in Pittsford, Vermont, but was a resident of Ottawa, IL where he worked in the lumber industry.
He was married and had three children.
The 15th Illinois Cavalry was based in TN until March 1863 when they were transferred to Corinth, MS where General Dodge detailed Fairfield to help recruit a regiment of patriotic white Southerners who would fight for restoration of the Union. He took command of the 1st Alabama Cavaly in April 1863.
It was during this duty that he contracted typhoid fever. In September of 1863, the regimental surgeon warned him that the two day scouting missions were doing hime physical injustices and that he should no longer expose himself to the heat of the day or night air.
He finally resigned and returned to Ottawa, but after his physician recommended a change of climate, he moved to Minnesota in 1866 and started a business.
He died there in 1872 of tuberculosis. His wife died in 1899 of the same disease.
Buried:
Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis, MN
Service records compiled by Glenda Todd and used with her permission. This and other information about the history of the First and the men who fought with the unit
can be found in her book, First Alabama Cavalry, USA: Homage to Patriotism.