USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Cornwall > Historical records of the town of Cornwall, Litchfield County, Connecticut; > Part 22
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These prisoners were nine days in the church with small allow- ance of food. Some soup was furnished them by a few good peo- ple in the city.
From the Old Dutch Church they were removed to a prison- ship where were confined eight hundred prisoners, making with the guard, 1,000 men. The name of this ship was the Dalton. Although she was a large-sized East Indiaman, the crowd in the hold was so great that there was not room to sleep below without lying partly one upon another. In the pestiferous air of this crowded ship, with scanty allowance of food, and but little water, it seems extraordinary that any should have survived.
The prisoners died in vast numbers. Every morning boat-loads
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HISTORY OF CORNWALL.
were conveyed away to a sand-beach, ostensibly for interment, but the whitened bones which afterwards appeared were a sufficient proof of the barbarity of the enemy.
Such was the situation of young Burnham among the sick, dying, and dead for many days (how long he did not know), until he also became sick. Being the youngest of the prisoners, his sufferings excited the compassion of the commander, and he and a few others were sent to the city. They were put into the Meth- odist church in John street. Burnham remained there for many days without any proper care, and was furnished with nothing but powders and water-gruel.
Soon after this a quarrel originated between the doctor who had the care of him, and a prisoner by the name of Samuel Lyman, who brought some soup for the sick. Lyman applied to the British commodore, and obtained orders that he and his associates that were sick and were New Englanders might board in the city. The town of Farmington sent money, so that they were comfortably provided for in provisions. At this time the small-pox was pre- vailing in New York. Burnham caught the disease, from which he recovered. After a time he was about to obtain leave to go home on parol, but just before the arrangement was completed, and while at the office upon this business, the news of Washington's successful battle at Princeton arrived and crushed all hopes of a parol. He remained a prisoner in New York until the 16th of February, 1777, when, by the aid of some friends, he took leave of his captors without asking their liberty, and returned home. He was afterwards in two campaigns until he became lame, and in consequence compelled to retire from the army-at which time he was but eighteen years of age.
He married the daughter of Mr. Noah Rogers, a lady of piety, and the mother of a numerous and interesting family of children, all of whom but two have passed away.
As a politician, Judge Burnham possessed much shrewdness and tact. For many years he probably held a greater influence in the affairs of the town than any other individual. His vigorous intel- lect remained unimpaired until he attained about fourscore years. Although partial to the Episcopal church, he was a regular supporter of the Congregational society. He died in the eightieth year of his age.
219
SOLDIERS OF THE REVOLUTION.
JACOB SCOVILLE.
Among the residents of Cornwall who took an active part in the struggle of the Revolution, and one intimately known to the writer, was Jacob Scoville. Often did he afford amusement in my boy- hood by relating incidents of the war in which he had for so many years been an actor. He was distinguished by a genial and con- vivial nature, frank and amiable manners, and generous hospitality.
He served as a private soldier through most of the war, and in his old age received the benefit of a pension. He was a single man through his military service, at the close of which he married a widow Emmons, whose first husband died in a prison ship in New York.
The farm she occupied was situated on the southern border of Cream Hill. The house was remote from the traveled road, in a sequestered vale, and beside a little brook whose bright and spark- ling waters murmured their sweet though monotonous music, as they hurried onward in their ceaseless course. It was a small brown cottage. Its original dimensions were very limited, consist- ing of but one room, to which several small additions had been made from time to time, to suit the convenience of the occupants. Here were a few feet appended for a pantry, there an addition for a small bedroom, and on another side still, a portion sheltering the only entrance. Its secluded and sheltered position precluded extensive prospect, and no other house was in view.
Fruit trees of various kinds, such as the cherry, peach, plum, quince, pear, and apple, exhaled the fragrance of their blossoms upon the balmy air of spring, and sheltered, beneath their cool, embowering shade, this quiet spot from the scorching rays of the summer sun, or protected it from the rough blasts of winter.
In this humble though picturesque spot lived a widow, with her three orphan children. Her name was Hamer [Ruhamath] Em- mons. She was the daughter of Mr. Jennings. Her eldest children were daughters of some six and eight years; the youngest, a son of about four. One of the daughters married a Mr. Cole of Sharon, father of Benjamin Cole. The other a Mr. Hudson; from this last marriage a grandson, who became high sheriff of Columbia County, N. Y. Two long years had this widowed mother tended her little flock since the companion of her happier days-he who shared with her the toils and joys of life- had passed away.
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HISTORY OF CORNWALL.
Melancholy were the circumstances of his death to her, for he expired amid the pestilential air of a British prison-ship. He was a brave soldier and a kind husband, but his country had called him to break away from all the endearments of his happy home, and meet his fate where she could not smooth his lonely pillow, or administer any relief to his sufferings.
But Time, the great restorer of human comfort under bereave- ment, had done something to tranquilize her perturbed spirit, and heal the wounds of her lacerated heart.
A placid melancholy had taken the place of deep sorrow, and she became pleased when some neighbors dropped in to pay her a visit, and particularly when a soldier, returned from the war, would spend a leisure hour in relating something which he chanced to know of . her dear lost husband.
Among the number of her visitors, none seemed to afford her more pleasure than Jacob Scoville. She had known him from childhood. He had suffered with her late husband in the toils and privations of the army and noisome prison-ship, and had watched over him when the deadly sickness was upon him, and assisted to close his eyes in death.
Jacob Scoville was young, several years younger than widow Emmons; but she was still a young widow, and it was not strange that the susceptible heart of Jacob, at length, should have become affectionately inclined towards Hamer Emmons. Every time he could honorably obtain leave of absence from the army, he would hasten home, and as often as he came he visited his gentle friend, who greeted him with kindness at each successive visit, and as he rarely failed to bring some little present for the children, he soon became quite a favorite with them. Mrs. Emmons scarcely knew why she had become so much interested in these things, or why her heart would suddenly leap with a joyous emotion as she con- templated his speedy return.
Now "the wars were over," the " intention of marriage," as the law of the time required, was duly proclaimed by the minister on the following Sabbath, and the indissoluble bands were shortly after imposed. Jacob Scoville was too partial to the little cottage by the brook to forego the pleasure of occupying the same, and chose it as his residence. Here Jacob and Hamer lived many years, until they purchased and occupied the small brown one-story house situated on the traveled road, a little west of the present house of Jacob and Ralph I. Scoville, where now is the residence
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SOLDIERS OF THE REBELLION.
of Mrs. Wm. Rogers. Here they lived together until the death of Hamer [Ruhamath], which occurred in the year 1830.
The writer, during a professional visit in the neighborhood on the day of her decease, in passing the house, was accosted by Jacob Scoville with a request to call, saying, with deep emotion, and tears falling from his cheeks, "Hamer is a-dying." She was insensible, and in a dying state, and shortly breathed her last.
On the death of his wife, Jacob went to live with his nephew, Jacob Scoville, to whom he gave his property. Here, at the advanced age of ninety-two years, he died, and was buried by the side of Hamer.
Their resting place may be seen in the old South cemetery in Cornwall. And whoever shall read their brief epitaphs, may drop a tear over a soldier's grave, and remember the virtues which were many, and forget the vices which were comparatively few, over two generous hearts now tranquilly at rest.
Samuel Scoville, brother of Jacob, was very partial to Gen. Swift. Once, when on sentinel duty, it was very wet and muddy, an officer came riding along, whom he ordered to dismount. The officer replied, "You know me well, and you wouldn't make me get off in this mud ?" "I know no man when on duty, and you must dis- mount." Soon after Gen. Swift rode up, to whom he said, "I know you very well, you can pass."
The following names are from an old record :
Samuel Emmons died in a prison-ship at New York.
Heth, or Hesse (colored,) belonged to Capt. Samuel Wadsworth : died in Goshen, aged about 90.
Reuben Dean, Jos. A. Tanner, Elisha Bradford, Wm. Chittester.
Wm. Bierce, afterwards went to New Connecticut, where his sons, Columbus and Lucius, became prominent men.
Ebenezer Bierce, Edward Allen.
CORNWALL SOLDIERS IN THE WAR OF THE REBEL- LION.
Of the sons of Cornwall who gave their lives for their country three lie buried in the Hollow cemetery; one alone has a monu- ment with this short epitaph:
MAJ .- GEN. JOHN SEDGWICK, Born in Cornwall Hollow, Sept. 13, 1813. Killed near Spottsylvania C. H., Va., May 9, 1864.
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HISTORY OF CORNWALL.
Any attempt to do justice to the eminent services of Gen. Sedgwick must of course be a failure. My father attempted to prepare a sketch of his life, but it remained unfinished among his papers. He says: "Among the distinguished heroes for the maintenance of the Union, none held a more exalted position, or, dying, left a purer record on the page of our country's history, than Maj .- Gen. John Sedgwick."
In 1832, in a letter to Gen. Cass, recommending young Sedgwick for an appointment at West Point, my father wrote: "I believe, if permitted to enjoy that privilege, he would do honor to the institution and become of some service to his country." Would that all our recommendations to public places could be as well honored. Graduating with honor in 1837, he was first engaged in the Seminole war in Florida; the next year, under Gen. Scott, employed in the removal of the Cherokees to their Western reser- vation; next we find him fighting in Mexico, under Taylor, Worth, and Scott. Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Puebla, Cherubusco, El Molino del Rey, and Mexico herself, witnessed his valor.
The war of the rebellion opened while he was on the frontiers beyond Pike's Peak. Called to the Army of the Potomac, the command of which was twice offered to him and twice declined, he fought at Fair Oaks, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and the battles of the Wilderness, till he met a soldier's death at Spottsylvania.
Notwithstanding his familiarity with scenes of blood and car- nage, he was as tender as a father of his men; and though so long in public life, and removed from the scenes of his boyhood, his love for them, for his ancestral acres,-for they had memories of which a soldier and a patriot might well be proud,-his love for the simple pursuits of husbandry was as strong as if he had never wandered from his native vale.
The strength of a country consists not in bulwarks and ramparts of stone, nor yet in an array of well-disciplined troops. bristling with bayonets and thundering with artillery; not in commerce, with her sails whitening every sea, and bringing tribute from every clime; not in manufactures, leading captive the powers of water and of steam; nor even in agriculture, the parent of all arts, with her waving fields of grain, and her flocks and herds upon a thousand hills; but in the hearts of her citizens. If they are vir- tuous, if they are true, if they are noble, if they are brave, they form true ramparts stronger than ribs of oak or mountains of rock, alike defenders against external assaults and internal dissen- sions.
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SOLDIERS OF THE REBELLION.
What nation has a richer record than our own of true, noble, and brave men, who in times of danger have rushed to her rescue- have bared their breasts to her enemies-and who have, alas ! sealed their sacrifice with their blood.
But Gen. Sedgwick was known to us as one who never forgot his ancestral home. The adornment of his paternal acres was his pride, and it was his hope and ambition to retire from public life, here to enjoy that quiet which his duties as a soldier prohibited. The same qualities which made him a good officer made him a good farmer, and his example and influence as a cultivator of the soil will be no less enduring than as a patriot soldier.
In 1858 the old Sedgwick residence, which had been so speedily rebuilt for his grandfather when it was burned by the Tories in Revolutionary times, was consumed by fire. Here Gen. Sedgwick built a noble mansion for his own occupancy, but it was a sad day to his friends and neighbors gathered there, May 15, 1864, to per- form the last offices to the patriot dead.
In the same cemetery, with unmarked graves, rest Harvey Ford and Mr. Read, colored.
In the North Cornwall cemetery we find the names of
Lieut. WILLIAM H. COGGSWELL, died Sept. 22, 1864, aged 25 years, 2 months, and 23 days. He enlisted as private in the Fifth Regiment, C. V., June 22, 1861, and was promoted in the Second Connecticut Artillery for gallant services, Sept. 11, 1862. He was in the battles of Peaked Mountain, Winchester, Cedar Mountain, Cold Harbor, and Opequan, and died from wounds received in last battle.
A handsome freestone monument, with the above inscription, erected by his fellow-townsmen, stands as a tribute to his memory. As a valiant, faithful soldier he had no superiors, while in his power to endure fatigue, agility, strength, and never-failing spirits, he had few equals. The writer remarked to his colonel (Wessells) that " William was one of a thousand as a soldier." He replied, " You might well say one of ten thousand."
It is related of him that when on the march many were falling out of the ranks from fatigue, he grasped the muskets of three or four, carrying them for miles, showing his men what strong and willing arms could do.
Before he went into the army he was a noted runner at all our local fairs, surpassing all competitors, so that when it became known that he was to run, there would be no race. No gymnasium
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HISTORY OF CORNWALL.
could surpass these Cornwall hills, as a field to acquire good lungs and limbs. He was the oldest son of Nathan Coggswell, to whose skilled hands Cornwall farmers are indebted for many of their fine stone walls, and grandson of Jeremiah Coggswell, a member of the Scatikoke tribe.
CRAWFORD H. NODINE, son of Robert G. and Clara Hart Nodine, died of wounds received at the battle of Cedar Mountain, Sept. 3, 1862, aged 21.
He was a grandson of Deacon Nathan Hart, and a young man of much promise. He was residing at Charleston, West Virginia. A rebel bullet struck a building near him. This settled his deter- mination to enter the army. He said he would "send it back to its owners."
Capt. AMOS T. ALLEN, Co. C, Eleventh Regiment, C. V., only brother of Susan Brewster, died of wounds received at the battle of Cold Harbor, July 6, 1864, aged 25 years. He was engaged in the following battles: Winchester, May 25, 1862; Cedar Moun- tain, Aug. 9, 1862; Fredericksburg, Dec. 12 to 15, 1862; Suffolk, April 24, 1863; near Suffolk, May 3, 1863; Swift's Creek, May 9, 1864; Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864.
Capt. Allen enlisted as a private, and was promoted for his gal- lant conduct. Political economists. in attempting to account for the present hard times, for the stagnation in business, fail to take account of one important element, -the immense loss the country sustained in so many of her most enterprising, active young men, who now, in the prime of life, would have been foremost in every enterprise.
CHARLES MCCORMICK, born Sept. 15, 1836; died Sept. 17, 1865, from disease contracted in the service. He was a member of Co. 1, Fifth Regiment, C. V., and in the battles of Winchester, Cedar Moun. tain, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, and orderly-sergeant of his company under General Sherman, in all battles from Chattanooga to the surrender of the rebels under Johnson.
WILLIAM GREEN, died March 29, 1874, aged 46; born in Shef- field, England.
MYRON HUBBELL, died at Alexandria, Va., Nov. 24, 1862, aged 38.
Mr. Hubbell was a miller by trade; tended the mill at West Cornwall, and when he enlisted was at Gold's mill. A few years before he married Laura, daughter of Birdseye Baldwin, who still survives.
Two as yet have no monuments.
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SOLDIERS OF THE REBELLION.
EDWARD BARNUM .- He was the son of Micajah Barnum, and was a native of Cornwall, though he enlisted elsewhere; died in 1875.
EDGAR ELIAS, eldest son of John Hart, born in Cornwall, 1842; enlisted in the Eighth N. Y. Regiment, and served through the war. He died in Cornwall in 1875.
Soldiers Buried in the Cemetery at Cornwall.
Rev. JACOB EATON, Chaplain of Seventh Regiment, C. V. I., died at Wilmington, N. C., March 20, 1865, aged 32 years; a volunteer in the war of 1861. A noble Christian patriot.
GEORGE W. PENDLETON, a member of Co. C, First Connecticut Artillery; died while in the service of his country at Washington, D. C., September 11, 1862, aged 22 years.
Corporal HENRY L. VAIL, died at Winchester, Va., November 3, 1864, by a rebel bullet through the neck and shoulder; aged 23.
JOHN HAWVER, died August 1, 1868, aged 30.
PHILO L. COLE, died January 4, 1863, aged 27.
WILLIAM R., son of Rufus and Mary S. Payne, died February 20, 1865, aged 33.
WILLIAM B. NORTH, born June 25, 1835, died March 18, 1866. Two other graves there have no monuments.
THOMAS SHERMAN returned at the close of the war with the Second Connecticut Artillery, and died in 1866.
ZINA D. HOTCHKISS, a member of Co. G, Second Connecticut Artillery, died in 1875.
The remains of five are buried in the cemetery in the southwest part of the town.
ALBERT ROBINSON, sergeant of Co. G, Second Connecticut H. A., died at Baltimore, Md., March 26, 1865, aged 33 years.
GEORGE PAGE, killed at the battle of Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864, aged 25. A member of Co. G, Second Conn. H. A.
LEWIS SAWYER, died at the City of Washington, August 24, 1864, aged 24 years. A member of Co. G, Second Conn. H. A.
HORACE SICKMAN, a member of Co. G, Second Conn. H. A., died in Washington, July 19, 1864, aged 29 years.
HERMON E. BONNEY, died at Philadelphia, June 28, 1864, aged 28 years. A member of Second Conn. H. A.
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226
HISTORY OF CORNWALL.
I am indebted to H. P. Milford of Cornwall Bridge for the names of Cornwall soldiers in Co. G, Nineteenth Conn. Vol., after- wards Second Conn. H. A., with some incidents of their history. Mr. Milford went as corporal, entering camp at Litchfield, August 21, 1862, and was quartermaster-sergeant at the time of his dis- charge, July 7, 1865.
The following-named men were residents of Cornwall at the time of their enlistment: Edward F. Gold, captain; John M. Gregory, lieutenant, lost an arm at the battle of Cedar Creek. Gad N. Smith became captain. Henry S. Dean, wounded at Cold Harbor; Henry P. Milford, Joseph Payne, killed at Cold Harbor; Myron Hubbell. died of sickness; Albert L. Benedict, Frederick Butler, Franklin B. Bierce, Jerome Chipman, Nelson Clark, Philo Cole, died; Josiah B. Corban, Patrick Delaney, Edward Hawver, wounded at Cedar Creek; Nelson T. Jennings, George L. Jones, David Kimball, Syd- ney Lapham, John Lapham, Elijah C. Mallory, Ralph J. Miner, Henry Peck, killed at Winchester; George W. Page, killed at Cedar Creek; Lucian G. Rouse, died; Charles R. Swift, Lewis Sawyer, died; Thomas Sherman, Charles H. Smith, Elisha Soule, killed at Cedar Creek; Patrick Troy, died from wounds received at Win - chester; Allen Williams, died; Horace Williams, brother to the above, Robert Bard.
The above went with the regiment from Litchfield Hill.
The following joined the company from Cornwall as recruits; Herman E. Bonney, died ; Albert H. Bailey, George W. Baldwin, John Hawver, wounded at Cold Harbor; John Christie, Hubert D. Huxley, Zina D. Hotchkiss, Dwight A. Hotchkiss, father and son, Timothy Leonard, Paschal P. North, died; Nathan Payne, Wm. S. Palmer, Frederick J. Pierce, Swift B. Smith, John Tul- ley, William White, died; James H. Van Buren-this was a boy in the drum corps; he was wounded in the leg at Winchester, had the limb amputated twice, and died of the wound.
The reader is referred to the history of the Nineteenth Conn. Vol., afterwards the Second Conn. Vol. H. A., by Lieut. T. F. Vaill, for a fuller record of these Cornwall soldiers, yet some personal inci- dents related by Mr. Milford will be interesting to those who shared the dangers with him.
On the night before the battle of Cold Harbor, our company was on picket near the town of Hanover. We were in a very bad place, and very near the rebs; so much so, that we could hear dis- tinctly all that was going on in their camp, and we were, in conse-
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SOLDIERS OF THE REBELLION.
quence, very watchful, having strict orders so to be. Each man worked faithfully in digging himself a hole that would protect him from the enemy's bullets. While so engaged, we could just dis- tinguish a body of men marching on our left, and supposing them to be the rebs, our men at once opened fire upon them, receiving a shower of balls in return. But we soon learned they were friends instead of foes. We were lucky on our side in getting no one hurt, but the other party, which proved to be Company L of our regi- ment, had two wounded. We left this place about 2 A. M. on the morning of the 1st of June, the army being on the march some hours before us towards Cold Harbor, and I think all of our com- pany will always remember that march until we came up with the army, about 10 A. M.
Battle of Cedar Creek.
The morning of October 19, 1864, found our company suddenly formed in line of battle at Cedar Creek; and rebel balls made sad havoc in our ranks. The company numbered thirty-four in the morning; at night I called the roll and found seventeen. I was stationed on the left of the regiment. Sergeant F. Lucas, our sergeant-major, was wounded in the thigh, and I aided him off the field, and while doing so our army retreated past us, leaving us between the lines, and the balls flew about us thick and fast. We expected every moment to be either shot or captured. While in this place I had my knapsack strap cut, letting it fall, the ball passing under my arm, parting the strap as cut with a knife, with- out doing other injury. We succeeded in getting safely within our lines again.
Assistant Adjutant-General Simeon J. Fox has kindly furnished me the names of recruits from the Town of Cornwall from and after July 1, 1863. Those previously named have been stricken from this list.
John Swift,
First Artillery. Isaac Doughty.
Second Artillery.
Newton W. Coggswell,
Lockwood Waldron,
John R. Thompson,
John H. Taylor, Orville Slover, George Burton, Horace Sickmund, Henry M. Marshall,
William A. Slover, Sylvester Graves,
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HISTORY OF CORNWALL.
Norman Mansfield, Lorenzo Moseley, Frederick Saxe,
Charles C. Bosworth, Patrick Ryan, James Adams.
First Cavalry.
Michael R. Oates,
William H. Benton,
James McLane,
George B. Clark,
Edward Suter,
William Rogers,
James Carey,
Frederick Beam,
John Brady,
James Kelly,
John McCabe,
James Flood,
John Boyd, John Kelly.
Fifth Infantry.
Charles McCormick,
Tracy A. Bristol,
Wm. H. McMurtry, Adam Coons.
Seventh Infantry .- Hiram F. Hawver.
Eighth Infantry.
Charles Dixon,
William Petri,
John Williams,
Hiram Allen,
Peter Smith,
William Murphy,
Henry Root,
Nelson Hart,
Bennett Smith,
Charles E. Dibble.
Henry C. Smith,
Ninth Infantry .- William C. Wilson.
Tenth Infantry.
John Martin, Andrew Hall.
Eleventh Infantry.
Thomas Quinlan,
James Armit,
Frederick Krellmer,
Joseph Morean,
Francis Ginnetty, Charles Marien,
Gustave Krall,
Pierre A. Guy.
Thirteenth Infantry.
Eugene Davidson, John McGowan,
Ira A. Davidson,
Charles Richmond,
George Roraback,
Sylvester Titus,
Henry S. Wright,
James H. Roraback.
Fourteenth Infantry.
John Buckley,
John McCarrick.
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SOLDIERS OF THE REBELLION.
Seventeenth Infantry.
James Mills,
James McDermott.
Twentieth Infantry.
Lewis T. Drummond,
Charles J. Brent.
Twenty-ninth Infantry.
John Watson,
Peter Howard,
George H. Green, John Lepyon.
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