USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the aboriginal period to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five. Volume III > Part 68
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Connecticut volunteers, called the Townsend rifles, after its chiet patron, Col. James M. Townsend. At the reduction of Fort Pulaski Capt Hitchcock had charge of a battery. From there the regiment was transferred to James Island, where Capt. Hitchcock fell, June 16, 1862, while leading his men up to the abatis in front of the enemy's entrenchments at the charge upon the fort at Secession- (! ville on James Island. His gallantry was highly commended in General Orders by Col. Alfred H. Terry (afterward Major-General U. S. A.), who was with him when he fell. He was an elder brother of Col. F. L. Hitchcock and half brother of Mrs. W. O. Guilford. and of George G. Hitchcock of Bridgeport.
JAMES SPRUCE, son of James and Hannah (Briggs) Spruce, was born in Armley near Leeds, Yorkshire, England, February 8, 1838. He came to Waterbury in 1853 and attended the public schools. He organized part of Company I, of the Twentieth Connecticut vol- unteer infantry, of which he was commissioned first lieutenant. and mustered in on September 30, 1862. He was subsequently cap- tain of Company B of the same regiment and served until the close of the war. After the battles about Nashville he was for a time acting assistant adjutant-general of a brigade organized from the officers and men on detached service from the Twentieth A. C. He participated in twenty-two battles, and was with Sherman in the march through Georgia to the sea. He was slightly wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville.
For nineteen years Capt Spruce was department superintendent of the Scovill Manufacturing company. He has taken out fifty patents. In June, 1889, he removed to Kenosha, Wis., to become superintendent of the Scotford Manufacturing company, and three years later to Chicago.
On November 26, 1868, in Waterbury, he married Adelaide E. Bailey. They have had three children, Charles Bailey, Clifford Judson and Mabelle Adelaide. The youngest died November 30, 1888.
JOHN CODDINGTON KINNEY, son of the Rev. Ezra D. Kinney, was born in Nassau, N. Y., February 21, 1839. The family removed in 1840 to Darien. He graduated from Yale college in 1861. He! entered the Union Theological seminary, New York, but left it in December, 1861, to enlist in Company A of the Thirteenth regi- ment of Connecticut volunteers. He was soon promoted to be first sergeant, became second lieutenant September 1, 1862, and first lieutenant January 1, 1864. He accompanied his regiment to thel Department of the Gulf under Gen. Butler, and was in New Orleans during the summer of 1862. In the autumn he took part in
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MILITARY LIFE SINCE THE REVOLUTION.
en. Weitzel's campaign down the La Fourche, was slightly ounded in the battle of Irish Bend, La., was at the siege of Port udson, and went with Banks's expedition up the Red river in the ring of 1864. At Port Hudson he volunteered in the storming lumn under Col. Birge. He was for a time acting adjutant of the hirteenth regiment, and from May 1, 1864, to February, 1865, was gnal officer with Admiral Farragut's fleet. During the entrance that fleet into Mobile bay, August 5, 1864, and through the whole ht which ensued, he was, signal officer on the flagship "Hart- rd," and sat on the cross-trees of the fore-topmast above Admiral rragut, who is related to have stationed himself aloft, the better direct the movements of his vessels. On leaving the fleet he s assigned to the staff of Gen. Steele, and engaged in the cam- 1 ign against Mobile. He joined his regiment (the Thirteenth) at Augusta, Ga., in July, 1865, and there resigned from the service, gust 12. 1
Until April, 1866, he was in the service of the treasury depart- nt in Georgia and South Carolina, and then for two years took urge of a plantation at St. John's river, Fla. He married, March 867, Sara E. Thompson, daughter of Dr. Charles S. Thompson of w Haven, who survives him without children. He returned to north in the spring of 1868. In July of that year he became istant editor of the Waterbury American (page 976). He became naging editor in January, 1870, and continued in that position il November, 1871, when he resigned and connected himself for months with the New York Tribune. In 1872 he became asso- e editor of the Hartford Courant, and remained with that paper il his appointment as postmaster of Hartford in January, 1890. H was also United States marshal for the district of Connecticut fc four years, from August, 1882. From January, 1882, he was or of the First company of the Governor's Foot guard, of Hart- . He was commissioner from Connecticut, April 30, 1889, to th New York centennial celebration of the inauguration of Wash- on as president. He was secretary of the Army and Navy of Connecticut from its founding and a member of the Society of ne Cincinnati, the Sons of the American Revolution, the Loyal on, and the Grand Army of the Republic. He died April 891.
m fo
1 his relations as citizen, soldier and journalist Maj. Kinney an upright and downright lover of good men and good things, a Iter of evil and despiser of meanness. He was frank, sincere truthful in social and business life; as a writer he was bright witty, earnest in his convictions and loyal to them. Senator
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Hawley paid this tribute to one form of helpfulness which Maj. Kinney's generosity took:
Our friend was ready for all good enterprises. He lived very largely outside of himself. He was ready for dedications and celebrations and processions and patri- otic and benevolent organizations and all friendly and helpful gatherings. He found much work to be done, with no "pay," as some men would appraise values, but with great value, as the major thought-things that were contributions to the general good-things that were the creation and distribution of happiness to multi- tudes-things that were duties to be discharged by towns, cities and states, in jus- tice to their traditions and their honor, and he took his share of the labor.
Maj. Kinney's published writings, in addition to his daily contributions to newspaper literature for many years, were the following :
"An August Morning with Farragut"; a narrative of the Mobile Bay fight, August 5, 1864 .- Scribner's Monthly, June, 1881.
Several Papers in Osgood's "History of Hartford County."
Historical Sketch of Connecticut, in Hubbard's "Newspaper and Bank Direc- tory of the World."
Several Papers in the United Service Magazine for 1882, in controversy with Capt. Johnson of the Confederate ram " Tennessee."
Commemoration address at North Haven, on the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the return of the Union soldiers.
HENRY BRANDAGEE PECK, the only son of Henry P. and Harriet M. (Cook) Peck, was born in Waterbury, February 14, 1841. He may have inherited his love for military life from his maternal an- cestors, for his great-great-grandfather, Lieut .- Col. Jonathan Bald- win, and his great-grandfather, Col. Phineas Porter, were as high in rank as any who went from Waterbury into the Revolutionary war. In 1846 he removed with his parents to Milwaukee, Wis., and remained there until 1856, two years after his father's death, when the family returned to the east and settled in New Haven. He there entered Gen. Russell's Commercial and Collegiate institute, where his love for military life was encouraged, and he rose to the highest military position in the school, that of adjutant.
At the breaking out of the civil war he was desirous to enlist, but was prevented by family reasons. From the commencement of the war he was constantly engaged in drilling companies of volun- teers, a work for which he showed special talent. He gave his whole time to this service until his enlistment in July, 1862. He was chosen captain of Company H of the Fifteenth regiment, and went out from New Haven in August. His army life lasted but six months. The only engagement in which he took part was the bat- tle of Fredericksburg, the exposures of which resulted in a fatal
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Ilness. He died of typhoid pneumonia, January 30, 1863, at the Seminary hospital, Georgetown, D. C. His remains are buried in Riverside cemetery.
JAMES FERDINAND SIMPSON, son of Ferdinand Gorges and Susan Hall) Simpson, and brother of George B. Simpson (page 1028), as born in Hingham, Mass., October 25, 1841. He was edu- ated in private schools in Newark, N. J., and at the Waterbury igh school, of which he is a graduate. His record in the vol- nteer service during the war is as follows: Second lieutenant in le Fourteenth regiment of Connecticut volunteers, August 20, 362; first lieutenant, February 4, 1863; captain, October 20, 1863. He as engaged in the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, as taken prisoner, confined in Libby prison, paroled and ex- hanged. He was subsequently engaged in the battles of the Wil- erness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, North Anna river, Bristow ation, Gettysburg, and in the actions in front of Petersburg in 64; was severely wounded at the battle of Reams station, on the eldon railroad, August 25, 1864, and was honorably mustered out service November 14, 1864. He was appointed captain of the cond United States Veteran volunteers (Hancock's corps) on bruary 16, 1865, and was honorably mustered out, March 26, 1866. 1 August 17, 1867, he was brevetted first lieutenant in the United Jates army, for gallantry and meritorious service in the battle of 1 e Wilderness, and on the same date was brevetted captain in the Thited States army for like conduct at Reams station. On the S i ne date also he was appointed second lieutenant of the Fortieth antry, United States army, and was transferred to the Twenty- fh infantry, April 20, 1869. After the war he served at many S tions in the south until 1871, when on March 15 he joined the Tfird cavalry in Arizona as second lieutenant, but was soon ordered wh his regiment to the Department of the Platte, in which he Soved at Fort McPherson, Camp Sheridan, and Forts Robinson, L'amie and D. A. Russell. He took part in the Big Horn and Yel- lostone expedition under Gen. Crook from May to October, 1876, after Brevet Col. Guy V. Henry, captain of the Third cavalry, severely wounded in an engagement with hostile Indians, on e 25, 1876, he was assigned to the command of his troop (D, rd cavalry), which he retained until the close of the expedition. was also engaged with hostile Indians at Slim Buttes, Dak., in :ember, 1876, and in the Cheyenne Indian outbreak at Fort Rob- n, Neb. He was promoted first lieutenant, December 14, 1877, captain, November 26, 1884. He was regimental quartermaster 1 July 29, 1879, to September 1, 1883. In 1882 the Third cavalry
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
was transferred to the Department of Arizona. Capt. Simpson was retired from active service, November 25, 1887, for disability in the line of duty.
On August 9, 1883, he married Alice Isabella Von Allmann, daughter of John Casper Von Allmann. He has resided, except as above, at Woburn and Boston, Mass., Brooklyn and Haverstraw, N. Y., Newark, N. J., and Waterbury, this city having always been his legal residence.
EDWIN MICHAEL NEVILLE, second son of Michael and Ann (Delaney) Neville, was born in Waterbury, January 27, 1843. After a course at the High school he entered St. John's college, Fordham, N. Y., in September, 1859, and continued his studies there until 1862. At the age of eighteen he went to visit his brother, Timo- thy F. Neville, at Providence, and while there enlisted in the Third regiment of Rhode Island infantry, under Col. Welcome B. Sayles. After a few months' service he was discharged for disability, as it was thought he could not live. On his recovery he joined the First Connecticut cavalry as second lieutenant, and was soon after promoted to the captaincy. To have been a soldier in this regiment was in itself equivalent to a brilliant record, as it was engaged with the enemy, in some way, over ninety times, and suffered loss at the enemy's hands, in killed, EDWIN M. NEVILLE. wounded or missing, on over eighty different occasions. The place of the regiment was with Sheridan, in the division commanded by Wilson and afterward by Custer. It fought cavalry, infantry and artillery, in the field and behind breastworks, and its capture of prisoners, guns and flags was very considerable. It was detailed to escort Gen. Grant when he went to receive Lee's surrender. When mustered out it was allowed to return to its state mounted, a privilege granted to no other regiment in the service.
Capt. Neville was on Custer's staff, and fought under Sheridan, who said that he was one of the bravest soldiers under him. The
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MILITARY LIFE SINCE THE REVOLUTION.
spirit of the man is revealed in uch testimonials as the following, enderly cherished by his kindred:
HEADQUARTERS FIRST CONNECTICUT CAVALRY. ASHLAND, VA., March 15, 1865.
APT. E. M. NEVILLE, Commanding Squadron.
CAPTAIN: The gallant manner and noble earing of yourself and men on to-day's connoisance, under the trying circum- ances and position in which you were aced, call from your commanding officer s thanks and hearty approbation.
Please obtain for us a nominal list of the en who were actually under the infantry e.
I am, Captain, very respectfully, etc., E. W. WHITAKER,
ieut .- Col. commanding First Connecticut Cavalry.
nother occasion on which he ex- bited marked bravery was at the ittle of Sailor's Creek, April 6, 65, in which he captured one of e enemy's flags. The recogni- on his services at that time ceived is recorded in the follow- g communication:
AR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE.
WASHINGTON, May 3, 1865.
SIR: Herewith I enclose the Medal of nor which has been awarded you by the cretary of War, under the Resolution of ingress, approved July 12, 1862, "to jovide for the presentation of Medals of nor to the enlisted men of the army and - unteer forces who have distinguished or P y distinguish themselves in battle dur- 1
1
the present rebellion." Please ac- wledge its receipt.
1 ery respectfully, your obedient servant, U. A. NICHOLS, Assistant Adjutant-General.
'T. EDWIN M. NEVILLE, (
Co. H, First Connecticut Cavalry.
CAPTAIN NEVILLE'S MEDAL OF HONOR.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Capt. Neville's name is frequently mentioned in the history of the regiment to which he belonged. After the war he was adjutant- general on Gen. Kellogg's staff in 1867 and '68, and adjutant of the Sixty-ninth New York regiment, National Guard, under Col. Kavanagh, in 1871 and '72. He also received a testimonial as "Companion of the first class," from the military order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, for having been especially distin- guished "for faithful service in maintaining the honor, integrity and supremacy of the government of the United States," dated November 7, 1870, signed by Gen. Cadwalader, commander-in-chief.
In 1869 he went to Paris as agent for the Remington Fire-arms company, to sell arms to the French government. He negotiated a large contract and was ready to leave the city when he found it in a state of siege, and was one of a few who escaped in a balloon. On returning home he studied law in the office of his brother, T. F. Neville, and was admitted to the New York bar in June, 1872. He was successful in his practice, and continued it until his last illness. He died in Waterbury, October 4, 1886, and was buried here with military honors.
JOHN JAMES McDONALD, son of Peter J. and Jane (Germain) McDonald, was born in New York, January 7, 1846, and was edu- cated in the public schools of that city. He enlisted, August, 1863, in company H of the Thirty-third New Jersey volunteers; was pro- moted in August, 1864, to be first lieutenant of Company G, and was mustered out, July, 1865. He participated in the Chattanooga and Knoxville campaigns under Grant, and the Atlanta campaign under Sherman, and was with the latter on his march to the sea and the subsequent campaign in the Carolinas. He was wounded with a bayonet in the battle of Resaca, Ga., May 15, 1864.
After the war he resided in Northampton, Mass., for twelve years, and came to Waterbury in 1877. He was foreman in the Carrington Manufacturing company until 1883, when he became foreman of the case department of the Waterbury watch company, where he is now. He was a member of the board of councilmen in 1877 and 1879, and served as clerk of the board the latter year. He was elected police commissioner for terms of two years in 1883, 18gc. 1892 and 1894. He served as water commissioner two years from 1889. He was school auditor in 1885 and 1886, and served five terms as a member of the finance committee of the Centre school district, and in 1895 was chosen a member of the board of educa- tion. He is or has been a member and an officer of the Ancient Order of Foresters of America, St. Aloysius Total Abstinence and Ben- evolent society, St. Joseph's Total Abstinence society, the Knights
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of Columbus, the Waterbury Benevolent association, the Waterbury Watch Company's Employees' Benevolent society and Wadhams post of the Grand Army of the Republic.
On August 1, 1871, Mr. McDonald married Nellie Agnes Mars- den. Their children are Rose T., Elizabeth I. and John James.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS AND PRIVATES.
CHARLES CHAUNCEY GREENLEAF, son of John and Fraisilette Cut- er (Lane) Greenleaf, was born June 6, 1826, at Newburyport, Mass. He spent his youth in Chester, N. H., and after his first marriage settled in Brunswick, Me. After the death of his wife he removed o Boston, Mass. In March, 1862, he enlisted in the First Massachu- etts Heavy artillery for the war for the Union, and served for three years. After the war he lived in Wareham and North Leominster, Mass., and came to Waterbury in September, 1876. Here he was connected at different times with several of the manufacturing con- erns of the city. In January, 1895, his health began to fail, and he ied on November 16 of that year.
On September 31, 1849, he married Clara Robie of Chester, N. H. She died, leaving no children, and on March 18, 1861, he married er sister, Jennie Robie, who died July 11, 1895. Their children re Frederick Charles, born January 9, 1862, and Sarah Cutler.
Mr. Greenleaf was for a number of years a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and at the time of his death was chaplain of Vadhams post.
GILBERT MILES STOCKING, son of Deacon John M. Stocking (page 26), was born in Waterbury, December 22, 1838. He fitted for col- ge in the Waterbury High school, with some private tuition from le. Rev. W. W. Woodworth and the Rev. George Bushnell. He raduated from Yale college in 1861, after which he taught for vo years in the Hopkins Grammar school in New Haven, and in ivate schools in Lyme and Greenwich, and in White Plains and iller's Place, N. Y.
He enlisted December 30, 1863, and after three weeks in camp at wir Haven, was sent to the front, and assigned to Company B, of e Twentieth Connecticut volunteers. His regiment for some eeks guarded the Louisville and Nashville railroad, with head- tarters successively at Cowan and Tracy City, Tenn. About May 1864, it was attached to Gen. Butterfield's division of the Army the Cumberland. It shared in the skirmishes, armed reconnois- ces and flanking movements of that division during the march to tlanta, and in the battles before that city. Although Private ocking was detailed as a clerk at Brigade headquarters, he claimed
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
no exemption from service in the field, but with a zeal better suited to his patriotism than to his strength took his turn in the trenches and at picket duty, as well as his place in line at the battles near Marietta, Ga., and before Atlanta.
When Gen. Sherman prepared for his march to the sea, Mr. Stocking was sent back to the hospital at Nashville, suffering severely from chronic diarrhea, to which exposure and the journey added a serious affection of the lungs. He was subsequently transferred to Jefferson Barracks hospital, near St. Louis, where, after a lingering illness, he died, January 24, 1865. His remains repose in Riverside cemetery.
HENRY MOORE STOCKING, son of Deacon Anson G. Stocking (page 627), was born in Waterbury, August 19, 1840. He was educated in the public schools of the city and at Mr. French's school in New Haven. He followed the occupation of an accountant both in Waterbury and in other places. During the war he served as ser- geant in Company A of the Twenty-third regiment of Connecticut volunteers, and also as color sergeant in the same regiment. In the Connecticut National guard he was second lieutenant of Company A of the Second regiment. He married Ellen Mallory of Water- bury and they had one child, Louis Henry Stocking, who married Mary Reid. Mr. Stocking died March 20, 1892.
GEORGE ANSON STOCKING, son of Anson G. Stocking, was born in Waterbury, May 25, 1843. He was educated in the public schools of the city and at the school of Charles Fabrique in New Haven. Between 1862 and 1865 he was a soldier in the Fourteenth regiment of Connecticut volunteers, serving successively as first sergeant of Company C, second lieutenant of Company D, and first lieutenant of Company I. In the Connecticut National guard, he reached the rank of first lieutenant of Company A of the Second regiment. He married Annie H. Dearth of Bristol, R. I., and their children are Herbert Anson, William Raymond, and Ruth Marshall.
DANIEL KIEFER, son of Conrad and Catherine (Gockel) Kiefer. was born December 15, 1841, in Guldorf, in the kingdom of Wurtem- berg, Germany. In 1854 the family came to New York, and at the age of fifteen the son learned the trade of die-sinker and engraver. which trade he has always followed. He enlisted in 1861 to serve in the war for the Union in Company A of the Fifty-fifth New York volunteers, and was honorably discharged therefrom as a cor- poral in 1863. He served under Mcclellan in the Peninsula, and was in the Seven Days' battles. He came to Waterbury, October 18. 1863, and remained here until 1868, in the employ of Holmes, Booth & Haydens. He then removed to Milford, but returned in 1873.
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MILITARY LIFE SINCE THE REVOLUTION.
id has since resided here. He has been employed by the Smith Griggs Manufacturing company and the Lane Manufacturing mpany. He has been a member of the board of councilmen and resident of the same, a member of the board of aldermen, a police id road commissioner, and assessor. He has been also commander Wadhams post, No. 49, of the Grand Army of the Republic, and apartment inspector and aide-de-camp on the staff of Commander- -Chief Warner. He was one of the founders of the Concordia ciety and one of its presidents, a member of the old Mendelssohn ciety, of the Amphion club, of the Harmonic society, and of the oir of the First church. Mr. Kiefer married, September 22, 1866, izabeth Christina, daughter of John Moser. They have no ildren.
CHARLES EDWARD LAMB, son of George Lamb (page 418), was rn May 31, 1844, at Plymouth. He came to Waterbury to reside rmanently in 1860, and was a clerk for Conant & Hayden. In 62 he enlisted in Company A of the Twenty-third Connecticut lunteers, and served for something more than a year in Gen. nks's command in Louisiana. After his return home he was for ime with Benedict, Merriman & Co., and in 1865 became teller the Citizens' National bank, a position which he still holds. On igust 5, 1867, he married Carrie Pollard of Plainville, and has three children.
GEORGE ROBBINS, son of Jehiel and Dolly Edgecomb (Williams) I bbins, was born in Plainville, September 12, 1844. He learned t machinist's trade in Hartford, and enlisted at the age of eight- €1, on August 11, 1862, in Company K of the Sixteenth regi- r nt of Connecticut volunteers. The regiment was sent to the fint. without drill or preparation, only receiving their arms on t ir arrival in Virginia. In their inexperienced condition they fered terribly at the battle of Antietam, the next month, and t I a ough the following year saw hard service. At the battle of mouth, N. C., they were captured as a regiment, April 20, 1864, 1 were imprisoned in Andersonville, Florence and other places. Those who survived and were released arrived in Richmond, Feb- ry 22, 1865. The story of those awful months is nowhere told 1 W a b rd rd J B h more graphic horror than in the account read by Mr. Robbins he twenty-third annual reunion of the regiment at the Antietam tlefield, September 17, 1889. Mr. Robbins, broken in health, ched Plainville, March 15, 1865, on a thirty days' furlough, and irned to the front again after its expiration. He was discharged e 10, 1865. Then, at the age of twenty-one, he took a course in ant & Stratton's business college in Hartford. He was after-
i
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
ward clerk in a New York hotel and bookkeeper for the Plainville Manufacturing company. He came to Waterbury in 1879, was employed by the Waterbury Clock company, engaged for a time in the crockery business, and is now in the real estate and insurance business. He was elected commander of Wadhams post for the first full term after its organization. On November 10, 1868, he married Lucy Jane Botsford, and they have two children, Catharine Bots- ford and Arthur Williams.
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