USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 1 > Part 46
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MONMOUTH COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR OF 1861-65.
under command of Brigadier-General Theodore now the capital was safe. These three thousand Runyon. On the 1st of May, Governor Olden Jerseymen, thoroughly armed and equipped,-as no regiment previously arrived had been,-could never stood higher in the estimation of the loyal people of the country than at that junc- ture, when she sent to the nation's defense the first full brigade of troops that reached the field." sent a special messenger to General B. F. Butler, then in command at Annapolis, Md., requesting ; be relied on to repel all assaults. New Jersey him to prepare to receive the New Jersey brig- ade. At the same time he sent another mes- senger to Washington to notify the Secretary of War that the State authorities of New Jersey would furnish their volunteers with the neces- sary arms and accoutrements, which the United States government was at that time unable to do. The Governor also telegraphed the War Department, saying that the troops from this State would move forward on the 1st, 2d and 3d of May, and asking that all possible measures be taken to insure their efficiency and promote their comfort.
As railroad communication with Baltimore had been severed by the destruction of the bridges over Gunpowder Creek and other streams, it was decided to send the New Jersey troops forward by water, by way of Annapolis, Md. They were accordingly embarked on fourteen Delaware and Raritan Canal propellers, on the 3d of May, and proceeded down the Delaware River and through the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal and Chesapeake Bay to their destination, which was reached on the night of the 4th. "The arrival of the brigade, " says Foster, "was at once reported to General Butler, who, after some ceremony, ordered its advance to Washington, and on the 5th the First Regi- ment, with six companies of the Second and nine companies of the Third, started forward in two trains of cars. The first of these trains reached Washington about midnight, and the second at eight o'clock on the following morning. The same evening the Fourth Regi- ment and the remaining company of the Third reached the capital. The four companies of the Second left at Annapolis were detailed, by order of General Scott, to the service of guarding the telegraph and railroad track between Washing- ton and Annapolis Junction. On the 6th of May the arrival of the brigade was reported to General Scott, and no camp being provided, the troops went into such quarters as were available in Washington. On all sides the arrival of the . troops was hailed with pleasure. Men felt that
The passage of the troops from Trenton to Annapolis, and their arrival at the latter place, were thus noticed by the National Intelligencer : " The whole brigade, with its four pieces of artil- lery, arrived at Annapolis on Sunday, May 5th, in twenty-eight hours from Trenton, and pro- ceeded direct for Washington. It is stated that the fourteen transports, with a strong convoy, Captain F. R. Loper, made a splendid appear- ance, steaming in two lines down the Chesa- peake. They had been greeted by a great Union demonstration as they passed along the Chesa- peake and Delaware Canal. They are armed with the Minie musket, but are to have the Minie rifle and sword bayonet. . . . This corps is composed of some of the best men in the State, and in athletic appearance, as well as general soldierly deportment, is a credit to the country.''
On the 9th and 10th of May the regiments of the brigade moved out from Washington to Meridian Hill, near the city, where they formed a camp, which was christened "Camp Mon- mouth." There they remained, engaged in drill and the perfecting of their discipline, until the 23d of the same month, when, in obedience to orders received from General Mansfield (com- mander of the forces around Washington), the Second, Third and Fourth Regiments1 moved from their camp at about midnight, and . took the route, by way of the Long Bridge, across the Potomac, to Virginia.2 They reached the" sacred
1 The First did not move until the following day.
2 " At twelve and a quarter o'clock," said Major Yard, in a letter written soon after, describing the movement across the Potomac, "the regiment was formed on the parade- ground in silence. The moon was shining brightly and there was not a cloud in the sky. At twelve and three- quarters the order to march was given. The long lines filed slowly out of camp and down the road, their bayonets gleaming in the moonlight, and no sound save the measured tramp of nearly a [two] thousand feet. . . . Through the
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
soil" at about three o'clock in the morning of the 24th ; then, proceeding more than a mile farther on the Alexandria road, halted, and after a brief rest and the making of the usual military dispositions, commenced the construction of a strong defensive work, which, after about three weeks of severe and unintermitted labor,-per- formed exclusively by the men of New Jersey, -was completed, mounted with heavy guns, and appropriately named, in honor of their brigade commander, "Fort Runyon,"-a name which continued to be applied to it until after the close of the war.
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The position of the brigade remained sub- tantially unchanged until the 16th of July, when a part of it was moved forward a few miles, this being a part of the grand advance on Manassas, from which the most brilliant results were expected, but which ended in the defeat and rout of the Union forces at Bull Ruu on the 21st of July. The Jersey brigade, however, was not actively engaged in the battle of that disastrous day, being posted at several points in the rear,1 as part of a large reserve
city, past Willard's Hotel, tramp, tramp, we went, and scarcely a soul was to be seen outside of our dark column. As we left the encampment the Second and Fourth Regiments fell in behind us. After passing Willard's, we found the Seventh New York Regiment standing in line in the street ; we passed them and presently passed a battery of flying artillery, and then a troop of cavalry, and then we came to the bridge over the Potomac. On we went, tramp, tramp, over the bridge. At ten minutes before three o'clock our feet struck the soil of old Virginia. The whole length of the bridge was guarded by armed men, and . troops lined both sides of the road for some distance after we crossed. After proceeding along the line of a railroad about two miles, we took possession of a hill, and came to & halt."
I " Meanwhile, General Runyon had, on the 16th, sent the First Regiment of his brigade to a point occupied by our pickets, on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, three miles beyond Springfield, where they acted as a guard to a party engaged in repairing the railway. On the same day four hundred and twenty-five men of the Third Regiment were detailed as an escort to a provision train en route for the main body of the body. At the same time a guard was detailed from the Fourth Regiment for another section of the railroad, which it was important to hold. Another de- tail of one company from this regiment was then guarding the Long Bridge, and still another on duty at Arlington Mills. The remainder of the regiment was ordered to pro- ceed to Alexandria, together with the Second (three months') Regiment. Colonel Taylor, commanding the Third
force commanded by General Runyon. But in the position assigned to them the several com- mands did their whole duty, and when the day was hopelessly lost, and the Union army came flying from the field in disorganization and panic, these New Jersey regiments, stand- ing firm, aided materially in rallying the terri- fied fugitives, and so staying the tide of over- whelming disaster.
On the 24th of July, three days after the Bull Run battle, the Third and Fourth Regi- ments (their term of service having expired) were ordered to report to General Mansfield for muster out. The First and Second received the same orders on the following day, and the four regiments of three months' men were, ac- cordingly, mustered out of the United States service and returned to New Jersey, where they were most enthusiastically received by their fel- low-citizens. A majority of the men afterward enlisted in three years regiments, and did good service, while many of them gave their lives for their country on the battle-fields of Vir- ginia and the Southwest.
JOSEPH ASHTON YARD was born in the city of Trenton, N. J., on the 23d of March, 1802, in a frame house that lately stood on the west side of Greene Street, nearly opposite Academy Street. He descended, in the fourth generation, from William Yard, of the county of Devon, in England, who came to' America previous to 1700, and was among the first settlers on the tract occupied by the original city of Trenton. His father, Captain Benjamin Yard, was a car- penter, not yet "out of his time," in 1789, when he built the triumphal arch under which Washington passed at his reception in Trenton, when on his way to his inauguration as first President of the United States. His mother was Priscilla Keen, daughter of John Keen, of Holmesburg, Pa., whose ancestors and the an- cestors of their connections, the Holmeses and Ashtons of that section, were descendants of the early Baptist emigrants from New England
(three years) Regiment, was at the same time ordered to march to a point on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad; and during the night following, the First and Second (three years) Regiments were moved forward to Vienna." -Foster's " New Jersey and the Rebellion."
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MONMOUTH COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR OF 1861-65.
during the persecution of that sect by the New England Puritans.
At sixteen years of age he was about to learn his father's trade when he was thrown from a horse and sustained injuries which, for a time, incapacitated him for that business, when he commenced the study of medicine under Dr. James T. Clark, and attended the lectures of Dr. McClellan, of Philadelphia. About this
forty hands in his employ, and finding a mar- ket for his goods throughout New Jersey, and in Pennsylvania along the valley of the Dela- ware from Easton to Philadelphia.
In 1832 the cholera first appeared in Trenton. Of this period Hon. Franklin S. Mills writes, in a recent letter to the Trenton True American : " Captain Yard was a genuine humanitarian, and never passed a sufferer without affording
time his brother Jacob, who was engaged in the | manufacture of brushes in Trenton, while on a visit to New Orleans died suddenly of yellow fever. He was then obliged, reluctantly, to give up the idea of being a physician, and, with his brother Charles, assumed the management of Jacob's business for his father, and subse- " Dr. Joseph C. Welling and Captain Yard spent most of their time at the hospital and panion, Dr. Welling, was administering medi- quently, after his marriage, purchased it. He soon built up a large and lucrative trade for | among the sick and dying, and while his com- ยท that period, at one time having as many as
relief. . The fearful agonies of the victims of cholera awakened the sympathies of his large heart. Without any appointment, and without compensation, himself, his workmen, his horses and wagons were all given to the work of alle- viating the suffering and burying the dead.
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
cines, Captain Yard and his men were employed in bringing into the hospital those who were suddenly seized with the disease and removing those who had already died. Kindness and sympathy for the suffering were shining quali- ties in the character of Captain Yard, and in self-sacrificing devotion to the objects of charity, and especially to the sick and those who had been stricken down by sudden misfortune, he had few equals."
He continued to prosper in business, and maintained himself and his family with credit until about the year 1835, when a money crisis caused the failure of his consignee in New York, where he had built up a large trade. This and the war between France and Russia, which interfered with the export of bristles, then principally brought from Russia, obliged him to wind up his business. He sold his tools and machinery, his dwelling and other property, and paid his creditors, and, as he ex- pressed it, he "hadn't a dollar left." At this time he had a large family to support.
In the winter of 1835-36 he was appointed keeper of the New Jersey State Prison, then in the old building now known as the State Arse- nal. The new prison was in course of con- struction. He was also appointed to superin- tend the completion of the new prison, and for the first time employed the convicts upon that work, making a great saving to the cost of con- struction. In 1839 he removed the prisoners to the new building, and carried on the work until it was completely finished according to the . original plans. In the management of the prison he was entirely successful, returning a surplus of from six thousand to ten thousand dollars annually over the running expenses. In the winter of 1839-40, the Whig party having a majority in the Legislature, he was removed, but the Democrats having a majority in the election in the fall of 1843, he was reappointed in 1844, and held the office one year, when, the Whigs again succeeding, he was again removed. joined General Taylor on the Rio Grande in the
every family in the county, with the exception of the city of Burlington.
This same year he established the auction and commission business in Trenton, in which he was successful, and was enabled to maintain his family respectably and to give his chil- dren such educational facilities as the city then afforded.
In politics he was always a Democrat, casting his first vote for President for Andrew Jackson at the election of 1824. He took an active part in what is known as "The Tyler Campaign." The Whig party, under the leadership of Henry Clay, quarreled with Tyler for his veto of the bill to recharter the United States Bank. The Democrats sustained Tyler's policy, and to lend aid to this movement Mr. Yard purchased the Emporium and True American, and conducted it from 1843 to 1846, but, having no practical knowledge of the business, it did not prove remunerative. The object for which he pur- chased it having been accomplished, however, he retired from its management and it passed into other hands. He was an earnest and pop- ular speaker, and on several occasions "stumped" the entire State in the interest of the Democratic party.
Upon the accession of Mr. Polk to the Presi- dency, Mr. Yard was appointed an inspector in the New York custom-house, which position he filled until the breaking out of the war with Mexico, when he sought and obtained a com- mission as captain in the Tenth United States Infantry. He raised the first company for that regiment, and marched from the city of Trenton within thirty days after receiving his commis- sion with the full complement of one hundred men. In those days this was considered a re- markable success, volunteers not being found as readily as they were in subsequent years. On the way to New York public receptions were tendered to his company at the principal towns in New Jersey through which they passed. He spring of 1847, where he. remained until the
Upon his first removal, in 1840, he was ap- pointed to take the census of Burlington County, , spring of 1848, when, after suffering for several which he successfully accomplished in three months from the disease incident to that climate, he returned home as the only hope of surviving. After months of illness he recovered. His regi- months, the time allotted, traveling the whole .county on horseback, and visiting in person
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MONMOUTH COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR OF 1861-65.
ment followed in the fall, when, after their dis- charge from the service, the non-commissioned officers and privates of the regiment came to Trenton and presented Captain Yard with a gold-mounted sword, bearing an appropriate in- scription. The presentation took place at the Mercer County court-house, on the evening of August 31, 1848, and was accompanied by a letter bearing the signatures of over three hun- dred soldiers.
Upon leaving Reynosa, of which Captain Yard was the military governor for several months, the Mexican officials and leading citi- zens of the town presented him a letter, of which the following is an extract: "He has taken care of the tranquillity and security of our families and of the interest of the town; he has given succor to the poor and attended them in their sickness, and without any other recompense than that which those wish who believe that there is another life."
After the recovery of his health he was re- instated in the position in the custom-house, which he relinquished upon entering the army; but shortly after the accession of General Taylor to the Presidency, in 1849, he was removed to give place to a member of the Whig party, not- withstanding the pledges of that party during the canvas that none of the soldiers in the war against Mexico should be removed on partisan grounds. This removal was the occasion of much discussion in Williamsburg, N. Y., where Captain Yard then resided, and especially among the merchants and business men of New York City who had their homes in Williamsburg, many of them being influential members of the Whig party. To show their disapprobation of the removal, they suggested the nomination of Captain Yard for the New York Assembly by the Democrats, promising their support. The suggestion was adopted, and, although the dis- trict usually had a reliable Whig majority, Cap- tain Yard was elected. He took a prominent part in the Legislature. He was chairman of the Committee on State Prisons, and also of the special committee "to inquire into the condition of the New York volunteers in the Mexican war, with a view to their relief," many of them being destitute and suffering great privations.
During the session of 1850 a bill was passed providing for the erection of a penitentiary at Syracuse, designed to be an intermediate prison between the county jail and the State prison. Upon the recommendation of Captain Pillsbury, of the Albany Penitentiary, Captain Yard was appointed to superintend its erection, and was afterwards appointed its warden. He completed the buildings and carried on the operations of the prison successfully for two years, when he was removed to give place to a political favorite of the Board of Supervisors of Onondaga County, in whom the power of appointment was vested.
In 1855, under the administration of Presi- dent Pierce, he was again appointed to a posi- tion in the New York custom house, which he held until the outbreak of the Rebellion, in the spring of 1861. He resided at Trenton at this time, and anticipating the call for troops he, in the morning newspapers of April 15th, issued a call for volunteers. The ranks of his company were filled in a few days and it was the first company raised in the State, and the first in the State to be mustered into the service of the United States. It was named the Olden Guards, in compliment to the then Governor of the State, and was attached to the Third Regiment New Jersey Militia, in General Runyon's brigade, and designated as Company A of that reg- iment. He led the company to the field, and it was the first company from the North to occupy the soil of Virginia, being on the right of the Third Regiment, com- manded by the senior colonel of the brigade, which led the advance. He served with his regiment to the close of its term of enlistment and received an honorable discharge. Subse- quently he raised and conducted a company to the field to repel Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania.
The hardships which he had endured in his military campaigns, and the struggles which he had made to maintain his family, now began to tell upon his constitution, and obliged him, much against his inclination, to retire from the active life which he had hitherto led. At the close of the war, his wife having recently died and his children mostly grown up, he removed from Trenton and took up his residence at Farming- dale, with a son and daughter unmarried. Here
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
he engaged in the cultivation of a few acres of land and in works of charity and religion. He became a member of the Methodist Episco- pal Church in Trenton at the age of sixteen years and always remained in the communion of that church. In his early manhood he was ac- tive in the service of the church, but in later years the cares of his family and his multifari- ous business engagements drew him away from its active labors. In his declining years he re- sumed them and became an active and zealous worker. He was also zealous in the cause of temperance and became prominent throughout Monmouth County in this field of labor.
In 1824 he married Mary Woodward Ster- ling, daughter of John Wesley Sterling, a far- mer then residing near Mount Holly, by whom he had eight sons and three daughters, all of whom grew up to maturity except one son, who died at eight years of age.
Captain Yard died at his residence at Farm- ingdale on the 17th of October, 1878, where, on the occasion of his funeral, public honors were accorded to his memory. His remains were conveyed to Trenton, where also public exercises were held. The interment was in Mercer Cem- etery. The portrait of Captain Yard which accompanies this sketch, is engraved from a daguerreotype, taken when he was about fifty years of age.
The fact has already been noticed that, in response to Governor Olden's proclamation of the 17th of April, 1861, calling for troops, .nearly ten thousand men offered their services, of which number only four regiments (three months' men) could be accepted. Of the large number who were excluded, many, being anxious to enter the service, proceeded to New York, Philadelphia and other points outside the limits of New Jersey, and enlisted in regi- ments of other States. Of the large number who enlisted in this manner,-estimated by the adjutant-general at more than five thousand men from the State,-Monmouth County con- tributed its full proportion, and its men were found in at least fifteen regiments of other States ; but of these it is impracticable to give any correct record.
After the acceptance of the three months' men, it very soon became apparent to the au- thorities at Washington that it would be neces- sary to call into the field a much larger number of regiments, to be made up of men enlisted for a longer term of service ; and thereupon the President issued a call for thirty-nine additional regiments of infantry and one of cavalry, to be enlisted for three years or the continuance of the war. Under this call, the quota of New Jersey was placed at three full regiments, and a requisition for these was received by Governor Olden on the 17th of May. No difficulty was found in furnishing them, for a sufficient num- ber of companies had already been raised, and were anxiously waiting to be mustered into the service, and the Governor, in notifying the Secretary of War of that fact, added that " If the occasion required their services, this State would willingly furnish twice as many regiments to serve during the war." From these com- panies there were organized, without delay, the First, Second and Third (three years') Regi- ments, which were mustered into the United States service for that term, being uniformed and furnished with camp and garrison equipage by the State of New Jersey, but armed by the general government. The three regiments left Trenton on the 28th of June, 1861, and were reported to General Scott, at Washington, on the following day. In each of these regiments there were enlisted a considerable number of Monmouth County men, though no one of their several companies was exclusively so made up.
On the 24th of July, three days after the great disaster of Bull Run, Governor Olden received from the President a requisition for five more regiments, to be enlisted for three years or the war, and " to be taken, as far as convenient, from the three months' men and officers just discharged, and to be organized, equipped and sent forward as fast as single regi- ments are ready, on the same terms as were those already in service" from the State of New Jersey. Under this requisition there were formed and organized the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Regiments of New Jersey Volunteer Infantry. The Fourth, with Hexamer's battery attached, was the first of these which moved to
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MONMOUTH COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR OF 1861-65.
the front, and it reached Washington on the 21st of August. The others followed very soon afterwards.
In the Fifth Regiment (three years') New Jersey Infantry Volunteers was one company (K) of men from Monmouth County. Its original captain was Vincent W. Mount. The regiment was organized at Camp Olden, Tren- ton, and left the State for the seat of war August 29, 1861. It went into camp at Meri- dian Hill, Washington, and in the following December was assigned to the Second New Jersey Brigade, under Colonel Samuel H. Starr, which became the Third Brigade of General Hooker's division on the Lower Potomac. The Fifth was differently brigaded several times afterwards. In April, 1862, it moved with Hooker's division to the Virginia Peninsula, where its battle record commenced. During its term of service it took part in the following-named engagements, viz. : Siege of Yorktown, ending May 4, 1862; Williamsburg, Va., May 5, 1862; Fair Oaks, May 31 and June 1, 1862 ; Seven Pines, June 25, 1862; Savage Station, June 29, 1862; Glendale, June 30, 1862 ; Mal- vern Hill, July 1, 1862; Second Malvern Hill, August 15, 1862; Bristow Station, August 27, 1862; Second Bull Run, August 29-30, 1862; Chantilly, August 31, 1862 ; Centreville, Sept. 2, 1862; Fredericksburg, December 13-14, 1862; Chancellorsville, May 3-4, 1863; Gettys- burg, Pa., July 2-3, 1863 ; Wapping Heights, July 24, 1863; McLean's Ford, October 13, 1863; Mine Run, November 29 to December 1, 1863 ; Wilderness, May 5-6, 1864 ; Spottsyl- vania, May 8 to 18, 1864; North Anna River, May 23-24, 1864; Tolopotomoy, May 30-31, 1864; Cold Harbor, June 1-5, 1864; Petersburg Defenses, June 16-23, 1864; Deep Bottom, July 26-27, 1864; Mine Explosion, July 30, 1864; North of James River, August 14-18, 1864; Fort Sedgwick, September 10, 1864; Poplar Spring Church, October 2, 1864; Boydton Plank-Road, October 27, 1864; Fort Morton, Va., November 5, 1864.
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