USA > New York > Steuben County > A history of Steuben County, New York, and its people, Vol. I > Part 61
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
Captain Bennitt was eight months in various southern prisons. including four escapes. He sought opportunities to escape, first as a duty, to return to his command, if possible; second, to get away from the monotony and severities of prison life. During a long period his relatives at home did not know whether. he was alive. That he was a prisoner was established by an item copied in the New York Tribune from a Richmond paper to the effect that an important capture had been made, giving a list of names of the prisoners, in which the names of Benjamin Bennitt and his com- rades appeared. His first introduction to a Confederate prison was at Petersburg, where the prisoners were taken to a tobacco warehouse and put under guard. On July 1st they were trans- ferred to Libby Prison at Richmond. With other prisoners he was transferred southward and his first escape was by jumping from a prison train in South Carolina. He and his companion, Capt. Albert Grant, were compelled by thirst to go to a well, and although they had delayed this till dusk they were seen and captured later in the night. The second escape was from Columbia, South Caro- lina, prison, by walking past the guards under the pretense of getting wood. He was out twelve days, his companion being Major McClennan, of his own regiment. Their practice was to lie under cover during the day and travel by night, keeping their direction by the stars and striving to work north by a safe route. Hunger at last compelled them to apply to a negro for food and he betrayed them.
The third escape was made from a train while being returned to Columbia, South Carolina, after his recapture. The two refu- gees had made eighty miles in their endeavor to get back to the. northern lines. They were placed in a car with other prisoners on the way to Columbia from other battlefields. Someone had made a saw out of a case knife, and with this rude implement a hole was sawed in the bottom of the car. The noise of the opera- tion was drowned by the singing and dancing of the prisoners. Captain Bennitt was the fourth man out of the car and Lieutenant King, of the Third Ohio, went with him. They endeavored to reach Sherman's army and were so near to it that they could hear the music as the great army moved along. An open country lay between them and Sherman's forces and this was patrolled by Con- federate cavalry. They watched for an opportunity to leave their hiding place to join Sherman and finally put the question to each other as to what each would do if alone. Both answered that they would take the risk of running across the open fields, so they started. They had not gone far before a detail of Wheeler's cav- alry intercepted them and they were captured, two days after their escape.
Captain Bennitt was placed in the custody of a Georgia regi- ment, but succeeded in eluding them. This was on the night of February 23, 1865, but it was too dark for him to get far away and he was retaken during a heavy rain the following day. This was in the northern part of South Carolina. He was taken to Yorkville, Chesterville, Charlotte, Saulsbury prison, Goldsboro and Greens- boro. March 3rd he was fortunate enough to be offered in ex- change for other prisoners and allowed to return home. During those unhappy eight months he saw the interiors of many Con-
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federate prisons, including those at Macon and Augusta, Georgia, and was a witness of many of those distressing and dreadful scenes that were common during the long war period. His return home was hailed with much rejoicing and the citizens of Hammonds- port, to express their appreciation of his patriotic services, pub- licly presented him with a handsome sword on the day of Lee's sur- render.
Major Bennitt was ever reluctant to narrate the hardships and misfortunes of war and never discussed the privations of his eight months within the enemy's lines except in an impersonal way. The experiences of the first escape, however, have been told inter- estingly by Capt. Albert Grant, late of Washington, D. C., where he followed the profession of an architect, who was Captain Bennitt's companion during that experience. The story forms a chapter in J. Madison Drake's book, "Fast and Loose in Dixie," and is as follows :
"In the morning, July Ist, we were put in a tobacco house under the fire of our own batteries, and during that day a shell struck and tore out one end of the building in which we were. The next day we were removed to Richmond and put in Libby Prison. Up to the next morning after our arrival at Libby our captors did not furnish us a mouthful of food of any kind. It is hardly necessary to state how we were fed and treated at Libby- it is a part of the national history. It is only necessary to say that because their railroad communication was greatly interfered with at that time, that the feeding of prisoners was then worse than usual. I found only twenty officers at Libby when I got there, most of them having been sent to Macon a few days before, but negroes said that there were about eight hundred non-commissioned officers and privates then prisoners there, and we learned that the officers were to be sent to Macon and the men to Andersonville. Soon after we learned this we laid a plan to overpower the guard on the train between Danville and Salisbury and make our way down the river to our force at Newbern. Through the negroes we communicated with the ser- geants who were with our private soldiers and arranged for them to attack the guards on their cars, on our firing a musket. Colonel Straight was to command the operation. On July 14th we were notified that we were to leave the next day for Macon, whereupon the officers had a conference con- cerning our escape. Colonel Straight now declined to take the command, and it was offered to me. I consented to take it on condition that a sufficient number of officers would agree to stand by me to make the operation probably successful. Nine of the officers agreed to do so, and we decided to undertake the capture of the train. Captain Bennitt of the Twenty-second New York was to be second in command and a Massachusetts captain third. We cal- culated that we should reach the place fixed about midnight. We had our arrangements all made and Bennitt, the Massachusetts captain and myself, by tearing up old blankets, had prepared cords to hind the guards on the train. Judge of our surprise when on distributing the cords we found that all except us three had backed out and preferred to go to prisons further south, rather than make an attempt for liberty. Three of us were too few for the operation and we were compelled to abandon it, but we were determined to escape from the train at the first opportunity and take our chances of reaching the union lines somewhere. When we reached Danville the Massa- chusetts captain was taken sick and I have never seen or heard of him since. Perhaps he died for his country in a rebel prison. He certainly was a brave officer and worthy of the commission he bore. Bennitt and myself adhered to our determination to take French leave at the first opportunity, but we found none until we had been some time imprisoned at Salisbury. When we were removed from Salisbury we were taken in closed cattle cars to Greens- boro, where there is a junction of several railroads, and where we lay about eight, hours. We were there put on open platform cars. On the first car were our officers, on the second car a rebel guard, and behind that eight cars loaded with non-commissioned officers and privates. We were about seven hundred prisoners, and the guard numbered seventy-five. While waiting there, in conversation with the locomotive engineer, he informed me that he
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was a Union man, and proved it to my satisfaction. There were stored there immense quantilies of provisions, ammunition, arms, clothing and medicine for Lee's army, that had accumulated there for twenty days previous, during which time Lee's railroad communication had been cut off by Sheridan's operations. Lee's army was in a , desperate state for want of these stores, and if they could have been destroyed the end of the war might have been hastened. The engineer suggested that there were prisoners enough on the train to overpower the guard, both on the train and at the stores, arm them- selves from the stores, burn all the supplies and make their way to the Union army. He offered to assist in the operations. I fully agreed with him, and together we devised a plan for it. The plan was that we were to capture the guard, clothe ourselves in Confederate uniforms, supply ourselves from the storehouses with arms and ammunition, and set fire to the supplies, buildings, cars, and everything else that could be of use to the enemy. While we were doing this he was to cut the telegraph lines westward and telegraph east to all stations to clear the track for a train carrying a thousand Con- federate soldiers to Charlotte, North Carolina. This being done he would run the train down nearly to Charlotte, burning as many bridges as we could on the way, and from that point we were to make our way (not a very great distance) to the Union lines. The engineer was familiar with the country and assured me that we could reach the Union lines by daylight the next morning. This plan seemed so easy and simple of accomplishment that I was greatly elated. It even seemed to me that if we did not succeed in effecting our escape, the destruction of the enemy's stores and the damage to his com- munications that we might accomplish would more than compensate for all the peril of the attempt. I laid the matter before Captain Bennitt and he agreed with me that the attempt ought to be made, and that we would be negligent of our duty if we did not attempt it, but on laying the inatter before the other officers not one could be found to join us. We communicated with some sergeants on the cars with the privates and were soon informed that every non-commissioned officer and private among the prisoners on the train was eager for the enterprise. We begged the officers to join us. I told them that I would make my way under the guard car to the private soldiers and give the necessary orders there. I represented to them the immense advantage that would accrue to the country from the destruction of the stores there, but they would not be persuaded and some of them threatened to inform the guard of our designs. Shortly after, a guard of two rebel soldiers was set over Captain Bennitt and the same over me, who threatened to bayonet us if we moved, and thus we passed the night. We had been betrayed by our comrades.
" 'When we reached the junction with the main road from Charleston to Augusta we were again changed to cattle cars, but for some reason we re- mained there nearly all day, and we were permitted to rest under the shade of some trees, watched by the guard. I succeeded in getting in conversation with the orderly sergeant of the company on guard over us. He had been stationed at Norfolk, Virginia. I had also been on duty there, and knew many of the rebels of that place, and succeeded in convincing him that I was in sympathy with them. Their captain coming along, the orderly introduced me to him and I soon made him believe that there had been some mistake, and that I really had no intention of capturing his train or leaving him. Before the train started I persuaded him to leave the car doors open and place the guards there. I told Captain Bennitt that I should leave the train that night, and he agreed to go with me. He laid himself across the car from door to door, and I sat on a block near his head. When we came to what I thought a suitable place, I tapped him on the head with my foot (a signal we had agreed upon) and in an instant he was up and sprang out of the car, I following him. Away we went down an embankment and before we reached the bottom the bullets from the guard were flying about us, but neither was hit. The train was stopped and part of the guard followed us, but we took to the swamps and they gave up the pursuit. We traveled at night for fifteen nights a distance of over 250 miles through the heart of South Carolina and were recaptured near Graniteville. We were taken before the commander of the Home Guards, who on learning who we were dismissed the guard. He made us very comfortable at his home and gave us $500 each in Confederate money. The next day he took us in his carriage, without guards, into Graniteville, and left us with an under officer, with orders to protect us if he could, warning us that the older citizens were very bitter against us; that he would have to let some of them into the factory yard,
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where we were, to see us, as they had not seen a Yankee officer during the war, and that they might offer some violence. About twenty of the older citizens were admitted to see us, and never before or since have I heard such language or threats as they used. They tried to induce the officer with whom the major had left us to turn us over to them, but he refused. When we went to dinner this officer discovered that I belonged to a secret order of which he was also a member, and afterwards when the gates were opened to take us to the cars, the men of this order surrounded us as guard and escort. As we passed out of the gate we saw two rough-looking scaffolds, and almost the entire population of the village, men, women and children (about 2,000 people) had assembled in the street to see the Yankees hanged. We were, however, put safely on board the cars, and with kind treatment and without a guard, taken to Augusta, Georgia, and turned over to Provost Marshal Bradford, a son of Ex-Governor Bradford of Maryland, and he put us in close confinement for seven or eight days. We were then taken to Macon, where Captain Bennitt and myself were separated, and I have never seen him since. He was one of the bravest, coolest, truest officers that ever served his country.' "The reader may be interested to know that in 1885 Captain Grant acci- dently came upon Captain Bennitt's address and a correspondence was estab- lisbed. Captain Grant was an architect in Washington and died about a year ago."
Benjamin Bennitt was married in 1854 to Melinda Wheeler, daughter of Obadiah and Olive Woodward Wheeler of North Ur- bana, who in 1911 is still living at the age of eighty years, making her home in summer in Hammondsport and in winter with her two sons, Col. Fred Bennitt and Mark Bennitt, at Joliet, Illinois. He resumed the practice of law at Hammondsport after the close of the war and continued in this up to the time of his death in 1889. For a number of terms he served as a justice of sessions and was a justice of the peace for more than thirty years. He took up the just cause of a poor litigant and prosecuted it with the same zeal that he gave to the business of those who could pay well for an attorney's services. His death occurred on August 24, 1889, and he was laid to rest in the village cemetery not far from the grave of Daniel Layton, the associate of his young manhood and his com- rade-at-arms who was among those early to lay down their lives for their country. He had been for many years a member of Monroe Brundage Post, of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was one of its past commanders. This organization attended the funeral, which was conducted by the Rev. J. V. Stryker, of St. James Episcopal Church, in Hammondsport.
COLONEL WILLIAM RUMSEY.
Colonel William Rumsey was born in Bath, in 1841, the son of Hon. David Rumsey. In April, 1861, while an undergraduate student in Williams College, he was appointed first lieutenant and adjutant of the First New York Light Artillery. In November he went with the command to Washington. He afterward was in the siege of Yorktown and in the battles of Williamsburg and Fair Oaks, Virginia, in the latter engagement being wounded in the shoulder. He was promoted to captain, and on May 25, 1865, was commissioned a major for gallantry at Fair Oaks. He served under General Averill in West Virginia as assistant adjutant general and was commissioned colonel at the close of the war. Afterward he was seceretary of legation in Japan, returned home, and died Jan- uary 16, 1903.
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COLONEL WILLIAM W. HAYT.
Colonel Hayt, of Corning, enlisted at the outbreak of the Civil war in the Twenty-third Regiment of New York Volunteer In- fantry, of which he became adjutant. He served two years, being mustered out with the regiment May 23, 1863. Afterwards he was appointed deputy provost marshal of this congressional district and then provost marshal, with headquarters at Elmira, discharging his duties with signal energy and efficiency. He reentered military service in the summer of 1864, as colonel of the One Hundred and Eighty-ninth Regiment of New York Volunteers. While about to move with his regiment from City Point, Virginia, he was stricken with congestion of the brain and died there November 8, 1864. He was nearly forty years old. He was an intelligent and enterprising citizen and a brave and zealously patriotic officer. He was a brother of Hon. Stephen T. Hayt, deceased, of Corning. In honor of the subject of this sketch is named Wm. W. Hayt Post, No. 276, Grand Army of the Republie, of Corning.
COLONEL WILLIAM K. LOGIE.
Colonel William K. Logie was a lawyer by profession and came from Geneva, New York, to Corning to reside in the latter part of 1860. He was active in the organization of the One Hun- dred and Forty-first New York Regiment of Volunteer Infantry, and was chosen captain of Company E, November 3, 1862; pro- moted to lieutenant colonel March 24, 1863, and to colonel, June 19, 1863. He was killed in action at Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, near Atlanta, July 20, 1864. He was a good tactician and acquitted himself bravely in the various battles or engagements in which his regiment took part. One of his comrades, in a tribute to him pub- lished in the Corning Journal in August, 1864, said: "He was beloved by all. Though young in years, he was old in experience. On the field of battle he was cool and had an eye to all that was going on. Where the engagement was hottest there was he found, cheering the boys and even loading and firing a musket as rapidly as any."
COLONEL GABRIEL T. HARROWER.
Colonel Gabriel T. Harrower lived for most of his life at Lind- ley, Steuben county, and belonged to a prominent family. For many years he was one of the leading lumbermen of the Tioga val- ley, and was very successful. In 1852 he was elected sheriff of Steuben county. He served several ternis as supervisor of Lindley. In 1871 he was elected on the Republican ticket as state senator, serving one term. He took an active part in raising the One Hun- dred and Sixty-first Regiment of New York Volunteer Infantry for the Civil war, and, enlisting September 6, 1862, became colonel of the regiment. He resigned November 25, 1863, on account of busi- ness interests at home. During the later years of his life he lived at Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, where he died some years ago. Colonel Harrower was a noted public man in hi's day and his ability and usefulness were widely recognized.
COLONEL ALLEN N. SILL.
Colonel Allen N. Sill, of Corning, enlisted April 23, 1862, in Company K, One Hundred and Seventh Regiment, New York Vol- unteers; became captain, August 9, 1862; was wounded at Chan-
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cellorsville ; promoted to major, July 20, 1864, and to lieutenant colonel, October 17, 1864; and mustcred out with his regiment at Elmira, June 19, 1865. After the war he was engaged for a num- ber of years in business at Corning and then removed to Hot Springs, Arkansas.
MAJOR EDWARD P. GRAVES.
Major Edward P. Graves, of Corning, enlisted July 18, 1862. in the One Hundred and Seventh Regiment, New York Volunteers, of which he became first lieutenant and assistant quartermaster; promoted April 7, 1864, to captain and assistant quartermaster of First Division, Twentieth Army Corps; brevetted major after the close of the war; subsequently chief quartermaster of the dis- trict of Montgomery, Alabama. For many years after the war Major Graves assisted his uncle, Hon. Stephen T. Hayt, in the lat- ter's flour mill in Corning, and subsequently engaged in business for himself, becoming president of the Corning Manufacturing Company. He died a number of years ago. He served a term as county clerk of Steuben county.
COLONELS WILLIAM F. AND CHARLES J. Fox.
One of the most prominent families for many years in southern New York was the Fox family, living at Painted Post, in the town of Erwin. In 1846 Rev. Norman Fox removed there and became one of three proprietors of what was known as the "gang mills" at Gang Mills, in that town, being engaged in lumbering. This business grew to immense proportions. Rev. Norman Fox retiring, his sons, Alanson J. and Charles J. Fox, entered the firm, which, under the name of Fox, Weston & Company, became in time the most extensive lumber establishment and firm in the United States, with large western branches. Three sons of Rev. Norman Fox en- listed for service in the Civil war. They were William Freeman Fox, Charles James Fox and Norman Fox, Jr. Their military record was as follows:
Colonel William Freeman Fox enlisted July 29, 1862, in Com- pany C, One Hundred and Seventh New York Regiment of Volun- teer Infantry ; promoted to captain, July 29, 1862; to major, March 28, 1863; to lieutenant colonel, September 5, 1863; wounded at the battle of Antietam; in the left knce at Chancellorsville, and in the arm at Resaca, Georgia; honorably discharged, in consequence, July 8, 1864. During the last years of his life he was state superin- tendent of forests of New York state. He died at Albany a year or so ago.
Colonel Charles James Fox enlisted in Company C, One Hun- dred and Seventh Regiment, New York Volunteers, July 29, 1862; promoted to captain February 3, 1863, and to major, September 27, 1864; discharged June 5, 1865. He was the Democratic nominee for county clerk of Stenben county about twenty years ago. Sub- sequently he moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he died a few years ago.
LIEUTENANT COLONEL FRANKLIN BENJAMIN DOTY.
Franklin B. Doty, son of Christopher Doty and Lucinda Hyde, was born in Hornellsville, New York, April 15, 1830. He enlisted April 22, 1861, in the Twenty-third Regiment New York Volun-
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teers and was made captain of Company G. He served two years with this regiment, commanding his company at the battles of Rap- pahannock Station, Sulphur Springs, Groveton, Gainesville, the second battle of Bull Run, Chantilly, South Mountain, Antietam and Fredericksburg. When the regiment was mustered out in 1863, he returned home and helped to raise the One Hundred and Sev- enty-ninth Regiment, New York Volunteers, and was made lieuten- ant colonel of the new regiment. He was in command of the regi- ment at the battle of Cold Harbor and in the first assault on Peters- burg, where he was dangerously wounded. He was sent home to re- cover but rejoined his command in time to take part in the capture of the Weldon railroad August 17, 1864, and commanded at the bat- tles of Poplar Grove Church and Hatcher's Run. He was constantly on duty during the siege of Petersburg in the winter of 1864-5. He led the regiment In the final assault on Petersburg and received a wound from which he died three days later, April 5, 1865. He was never married. He is buried in Hornell, where a monument to his memory was erected "by his friends and comrades in arms."
MAJOR MARTIN VAN BUREN DOTY.
Martin V. Doty, son of Christopher Doty and Lucinda Hyde, pioneers of the Canisteo valley, was born in Hornellsville, New York, November 1, 1832. He was married March 27, 1857, to Elizabeth Lanphear, daughter of Cyrenus Lanphear and Elizabeth Graham of Dansville, New York. He enlisted April 22, 1861, in the Twenty-third Regiment, New York Volunteers, and was ap- pointed orderly sergeant in Company G, holding this office until the regiment was mustered out in 1863. He then re-enlisted in the One Hundred and Seventy-ninth Regiment, New York Volunteers, as hospital steward. He was later promoted to first lieutenant of Company C and afterwards to captain of Company B which he commanded until the close of the war when he received the ap- pointment of major-by-brevet. He served in the army for about four years and was in many important battles, including those at Rappahannock Station, Sulphur Springs, Groveton, Gainesville, the second battle of Manassas, Chantilly, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Weldon Railroad, Cold Harbor, Hatcher's Run and the siege and capture of Petersburg. He is buried in Hornell, where he died February, 1884.
MAJOR LUZERNE TODD.
Major Luzerne Todd raised the first company of volunteers that left Corning for the front at the outbreak of the Civil war, becoming captain of Company D, Twenty-third New York Infantry. He enlisted April 18, 1861, for two years, and at the expiration of his term of service re-enlisted in the Eighty-sixth New York Regi- ment : promoted to major, January 20, 1865; discharged at Elmira, New York, July 4, 1865. For many years Major Todd was a con- tracting painter in Corning. He died a few months ago.
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