After repeated rejection by officers who knew his father and his age, he went to Fort Ann and secured acceptance.
While on duty in North Carolina, he was thrown from the top of a freight car and received an injury of the spine from which he never fully recovered.
[1] He returned from the war to his father's Queensbury farm on the Bay Road, which he managed until some three years after his marriage.
During that time, Seelye became deeply interested in the marking and preservation of the site of the Battle of Lake George.
The “Report of Secretary” in Volume I of the annuals of the New York State Historical Association opens with the following statement: “It may not be uninteresting to review in a few words the origin of this organization.
In the summer of 1898, Seelye called a few gentlemen together at the Fort William Henry Hotel to consider the formation of an historical society.
The project was well received, other meetings were held, the scope of the movement enlarged, and a State society determined upon.”[1] In the fall of 1898, Seelye began to reside in Ithaca during term time to secure the advantages of a university town for his children.