 In the late 1850s, Prestele moved to New York, and in 1861 he joined the Union Army as a private in a regiment of New York volunteers.He was wounded at the battle of Antietam in 1862 and spent the remainder of his service period recovering in hospital.Sometime around 1863, he married an Irish woman named Anne, and with her he had three children—Margaret (1864), Frances (ca.