USA > New York > Rensselaer County > Troy > A history of the Troy citizens corps, Troy, N. Y > Part 16
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LEVIN CRANDELL, in the summer of 1862, was colonel of the Twenty-fourth regiment N. Y. S. M. On the 5th of August of that year, at the request of the war committee, he assumed command of camp Halleck at Troy. There were then in camp at that place about 100 enlisted men, the nucleus of a regiment. It was understood at the time that Major George L. Willard, of the regular army, was to have command of this regiment (the 125th) when organized. On the 28th of the same month the ranks were filled up to the maximum number, and about 180 men were left toward the formation of another regiment (the 169th). Col. Crandell was mustered in as lieutenant colonel on the 28th of August, 1862. When the regi- ment was placed on the cars, Col. Willard assumed com- mand. They proceeded to Washington, D. C., and thence directly to Martinsburgh, Va., arriving there on the 2d of September. Their introduction to a soldier's life was inauspicious enough. Joining the Union force at Harper's Ferry, they took part in the severe two days' conflict at that place, which was closed by the disgraceful surrender of the post and 10,000 men under his command by Col. Miles. Thus ended abruptly the regiment's three weeks' experience of war. Col. Crandell's next battle was · at Gettysburg. In a charge on the 2d of July, he com- manded the regiment and Col. Willard the brigade. The One Hundred and Twenty-fifth lost 84 officers and men killed and wounded. Col. Willard was killed. On the
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3d of July Col. Crandell again commanded the regiment, which lost heavily in aiding to repulse Longstreet's charge. On the 4th he had command of the division skirmish line, receiving a slight wound. After the battle of Gettysburg, Lieut. Col. Crandell was promoted to the rank of colonel, and succeeded to the command of the regiment. This position he held at the battle of Auburn, on the morning of the 14th of October, 1863; on the afternoon of the same day at Bristow Station, and in a skirmish the next morning at Bull Run. In these actions the One Hundred Twenty-fifth lost quite heavily. In the latter part of November the regi- ment was engaged in a lively infantry fight at Locust Grove, near Mine Run. Here Col. Crandell received a slight flesh wound above the left knee. He remained in command, however, and participated in some severe skir- mishing the next day. The colonel was engaged in the action at Morton's Ford, in February, 1864; at Tolapo- tamoy Creek, two days before Cold Harbor; in a lively skirmish the day before Cold Harbor, at the same place; and in the battle of Cold Harbor. On the 16th of June, 1864, at Petersburgh, Col. Crandell commanded four regiments-the Thirty-ninth, One Hundred Eleventh, One Hundred Twenty-fifth and One Hundred Twenty- sixth N. Y. In this battle he was wounded in the the face by a piece of shell. He was knocked senseless, the missile cutting his nose open and bruising his face so that the eye was swollen shut. However, on the 22d of the same month he commanded his regiment in another engagement. In this they lost heavily, owing mainly to the stupidity of the officers in command of the force. Col. Crandell was afterward in two engage- ments near Deep Bottom, on the north side of James River. In both of these battles he commanded what was known as the Consolidated Brigade of the Third Division of the Second Corps, consisting of ten veteran regiments, numbering in all about 4,500 officers and men. His last battle was at Ream's Station. This was fought by his division, and to those engaged was
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quite as lively as Gettysburg. He was in command of the Consolidated Brigade, and was field officer of the day. Here he received a slight wound in the left foot. The numerous hardships of camp and battle had so un- dermined Col. Crandell's health that he was at last in- capacitated for service, and was obliged to tender his resignation, which was accepted December 14, 1864. He was mustered out of the service on the 30th of the same month. Col. Crandell commanded his regiment in the capacity either of brigade or regimental commander in all but two general engagements in which it took part during the war. These two were the battles of the Wil- derness in 1864, when he was on recruiting service, and the last battle of the war, in 1865. He was offered the promotion of brevet brigadier general by President Lin- coln, but declined.
JOHN SCHUYLER CROSBY was born in Albany county, N. Y., September 19, 1839. He was a great grandson of William Floyd, one of the signers of the declaration of independence, and was a lineal descendant of Gen. Philip Schuyler. In 1861, he was appointed second lieu- tenant in the First Artillery, regular army. With his battery, G, he served in Keyes's brigade, McDowell's di- vision, Army of the Potomac, and shared in their various movements and engagements until promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, and assigned to battery A of the same regiment. Joining his battery, then stationed at Fort Pickens, Florida, he was present during the siege of that post by Gen. Bragg. In April, 1862, he was promoted to the staff of Brig. Gen. Lewis G. Arnold, and was en- gaged with him at the capture of Pensacola, and in vari- ous subsequent expeditions in that vicinity. In the autumn of 1862 he was ordered to report for duty to Gen. Banks, commanding the department of the Gulf, and by him was appointed on the staff of Gen. T. W. Sherman. Under the orders of that general he rendered important services in organizing and drilling the volun- teer batteries then arriving in the department. In the spring campaign of 1863, against Gen. Dick Taylor's
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army in western Louisiana, he acted as assistant chief of artillery and chief of ordnance. For gallant conduct at the battles of Irish Bend and Fort Bisland, April 12-14, 1863, he was brevetted captain and major in the regular army. He was then assigned to the personal staff of Maj. Gen. Banks, with the rank of captain and aid-de-camp. He was the first officer who opened com- munications with Admiral Farragut, who, at that time, had run by the batteries at Port Hudson. In the execu- tion of this duty Major Crosby passed from Alexandria down the Red River in a small boat, carrying dispatches also to Gen. Grant, then operating in the rear of Vicks- burg. He served through the Texas, Red River, and Port Hudson campaigns as assistant adjutant general to Gen. Banks, and was brevetted major and lieutenant colonel of volunteers for gallantry at the battles of Sa- bine Cross Roads and Pleasant Hill. In 1864 he was promoted to the staff of Gen. Canby, serving with him as assistant adjutant general through the Mobile cam- paign. In August, 1864, he was commissioned colonel of the Seventh N. Y. Heavy Artillery by Gov. Seymour, but declined the appointment, preferring to remain on the staff. After the capture of Mobile he was transferred, at the request of Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, to act upon his staff as assistant inspector general. When Gen. Sheridan was appointed lieutenant general, Col. Crosby was appointed his personal aide, with the rank of lieu- tenant colonel. In this capacity he acted until his resig- nation, January 1, 1872. He served through all the cam- paigns against the hostile Indians under both Sheridan and Custer.
C. SUMNER DICKERMAN, on the very day of the issuing of President Lincoln's proclamation calling for volun- teers, met with a distressing accident which disabled him for military duty. This he never ceased to mourn, his ardent patriotism prompting him to give to his coun- try all that he had. And all that he could do for the good cause, he did. He acted as assistant quartermaster in preparing the One Hundred and Twenty-Fifth regi-
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ment for the field, working night and day that no time might be lost. Then for two years he gave his time daily at the rooms of the sanitary commission in Troy, without compensation, and freely giving of his own money as well. In March, 1865, he was commissioned paymaster in the United States navy, and served in that capacity on the gunboats Silver Lake and Essex, in the Mississippi squadron. He was actively em- ployed for some time leading searching parties in pursuit of Jefferson Davis. Constant toil and exposure to the miasma of the flooded Mississippi swamps brought on a fever, which left him with shattered health. He was discharged from the service in October, 1865.
MORTON FAIRCHILD entered the service of the United States at the beginning of the Mexican war, being mus- tered into service as captain of Co. I, First N. Y. Vols. He served honorably throughout Scott's campaign, lead- ing his company under fire in all of the battles in the valley of Mexico. He was mustered out with his com- pany, July 31, 1848.
CHARLES OSBORN GRAY, son of Gen. Thos. S. Gray and Ann Eliza Osborn, was born at Warrensburgh, N. Y., March 24, 1839. Just before the outbreak of the civil war, he was a student in the Rensselaer Polytechnic In- stitute, and at that time joined the Citizens Corps. After hostilities began, he threw himself earnestly into the cause of the union. By his own personal exertions, and mainly at his own expense, he raised two companies for the regiment which was afterwards mustered in as the Ninety- Sixth N.Y.V. He was commissioned major at the initial organization, and remained with his command for some time at Plattsburgh barracks, drilling and recruiting; ever ready to aid, with labor or money, the cause to which he had devoted himself. In recognition of his ser- vices in getting the Ninety-Sixth ready for the field, he was commissioned lieutenant colonel just before the regi- ment was mustered in, March 5, 1862. At once thereafter joining McClellan on the peninsula, he was present at the
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siege of Yorktown, battle of Williamsburgh and battles of Fair Oaks. He commanded the regiment at the battles of Chickahominy Swamp, Railroad Bridge, Harrison's Point, and Charles City Cross Roads. September 25, 1862, he was promoted to the rank of colonel and to command the Ninty-Sixth. Being ordered with his regiment to North Carolina, he was engaged in Gen. Foster's opera- tions on the coast of that state. The Neuse river at Kinston was crossed by a wooden bridge, covered by a tête-du-pont. This bridge the confederates had saturated with oil, and it was set on fire at the approach of our army. Gen. Foster ordered the Ninety-Sixth to charge across the bridge at a double quick, and carry the earth- work at the other end, which a battery of the Third Artil- lery was pounding at close quarters. Twenty feet on the blazing bridge the men recoiled from the smoke and flame, through which poured an iron hail from the rebel works. As the column wavered, Col. Gray seized the regimental colors and sprang to the front. He fell al- most immediately, shot through the body with a minie ball. He lived an hour after the fatal wound was re- ceived. His body was conveyed to Newberne, and thence to his home at Warrensburgh. A handsome monument has since been raised to his memory. Lieut. Col. G. L. Mckenzie, who succeeded to the com- mand of the regiment, writes: "I can truly say that I never knew, or heard of, any man in the regiment, offi- cer or private, who ever had any other feeling than love, respect and esteem for the memory of Col. Gray." To the Troy Citizens Corps that memory is precious.
JAMES M. GREEN enlisted among the first troops that went to the war from New York, as a private in the Seventy- First regiment N. Y. S. M. In this position he passed through the battle of Bull Run, serving with distinguished gallantry in a gallant regiment. A week after, he re- turned home and was commissioned captain in the Forty- Eighth N. Y. S. V., being appointed to the command of Co. F. He was mustered in August 31, 1861. Promo- tion soon followed. His commission as major bore date
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July 18, 1862; that of lieutenant colonel, January 7, 1863. With his regiment he was engaged in the siege of Fort Pulaski. The first battery planted on the Savannah river was put in place, amid the mud of the swamps, by Cap- tain Green and a hundred men from the Forty-Eighth. The siege of Charleston by Gen. Gillmore followed. Col. Green took active part in this, and, finally, on the 18th of July, 1863, he was ordered with his regiment to the famous and fatal assault on Fort Wagner. The Forty-Eighth swept up to the breach first. They went farther in than any other regiment; and they suffered almost total destruction. Col. Barton, early in the fight, was seriously wounded and borne from the field. Lieut. Col. Green succeeded to the command. Although soon wounded himself, he declined to give way, and led his gallant band straight on to the very centre of the fort. There, with his foot on the magazine, he fell, shot through the head. To one of the officers, who tried to give him help, he said, "It is all right; I shall live only a few minutes; go back and do your duty." With the other heroes who perished in that desperate charge, he was buried by the rebels on the field of his glory. A devout Christian amid all the temptations of camp life, an earnest patriot, a faithful and gallant soldier, James M. Green was honorable in his life. In his death he was a true hero.
MOSES C. GREEN raised a company for the Fifteenth N.Y. Engineers, and joined the regiment at Washington, De- cember 29, 1861. His commission as captain was dated January 15, 1862. Captain Green took part with his regiment in the expedition with. McDowell to Warren- ton in April, 1862, and in the battle at that place. After- wards the regiment returned to Alexandria, Va., and from there was sent to join McClellan before Yorktown. It was engaged in all the battles and hardships of the campaign on the peninsula, arriving at Harrison's Landing about the 1st of July. On the 13th of July Capt. Green was commissioned first lieutenant in the regular army, and was detailed for recruiting service, in
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which duty he was engaged for about a year. In July, 1863, he joined his regiment at Vicksburg, Miss., arriving there the day after the surrender to Gen. Grant. The regiment went from Vicksburg to Jackson, Miss., and from there to the Big Black River, where they went into camp. On the 29th of August, Lieut. Green was se- verely injured by the fall of a horse. These injuries proving so serious as finally to render him unfit for active duty, he was compelled to tender his resignation, which was accepted February 20, 1864.
T. CLEMENT HADDOCK was actively engaged in raising the Second N. Y.V., and was commissioned first lieutenant in that regiment as soon as the organization was com- pleted. He served at Fortress Monroe and on the lower peninsula during the spring and summer of 1861, being engaged with the gallant Second at Big Bethel. In July he was promoted to the rank of captain. The hardships of camp life soon told severely on his health, and in No- vember he was compelled to resign. A visit to Nassau was made, in the vain hope of restoration; but he did not recover, and died on the 9th of Febrary, 1862. A brave soldier, a good officer, a true patriot, he gave his life for his country. Than this no man could do more.
ARTHUR H. HOWE began raising a company immedi- ately after the attack on Fort Sumter. With sixty men he left Troy on the 8th of May, 1861. There was con- siderable delay about the organization of the regiment; but at last, mainly through the exertions of Henry Ward Beecher and Plymouth church, a Brooklyn regiment, the Sixty-Seventh N. Y. V., to which Captain Howe's com- pany was attached, was accepted by the government and placed in the field. The date of muster was June 24, 1861. Their first service was patrol and guard duty in Maryland. They were with McClellan in the advance to Centreville, and afterwards on the peninsula. There the regiment was engaged at Yorktown, Williamsburgh and Fair Oaks. At the last named battle, Capt. Howe left the hospital to take command of his company, and led them to the end of that day. He lost both his lieutenants and
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nineteen men. During the seven days' battles, Capt. Howe was under fire every day, being on the picket and skirmish lines, and in the battles of Mechanicville, White Oak Swamp and Malvern Hill. At Harrison's Landing he did duty as field officer, being part of the time in command of the regiment. The malaria of the swamps, followed by the great fatigue and almost utter loss of sleep during the retreat to the James, produced fever, from which the captain suffered for some time. Being at last able to return to duty, he was appointed brigade inspec- tor on the staff of Gen. John Cochrane. In this position he served at the battle of Fredericksburg, and in Burn- side's attempt to flank the enemy on the right bank of the Rappahannock. The fatigue of this campaign re- sulted in such loss of health as to compel him to resign his commission, which was accordingly done January 24, 1863. He was afterwards brevetted major N. Y. V.
ISAAC F. HANDY was born in Cohoes, Albany county, N. Y., Jan. 17, 1845. He enlisted as a private in Co. H, One Hundred Seventy-seventh N. Y. V., (10th regi- ment N. G. S. N. Y.), at Albany, Oct. 13, 1862. With his regiment he was on duty during its entire term of service, taking part in the engagements at Poncha- toula and Scivique's Ferry, La., and in the siege of of Port Hudson. This last occupied over two months, the Confederates surrendering the post July 9, 1863. During the siege, skirmishes were of almost daily occur- rence, and there assaults were made (May 27, June 11 and 14) in which the entire Union force were engaged, but which were not entirely successful. Mr. Handy was mustered out with his regiment, and on his return home was brevetted second lieutenant N. Y. V. by Gov. Fenton, for gallant and meritorious services. Oct. 4, 1865, Lieut. Handy enlisted as private in the Twenty- fourth regiment, N. G. S. N. Y. He was made second sergeant, Jan. 3, 1866, second lieutenant Jan. 2, 1867, and first lieutenant Jan. 13, 1869. May 3, 1870, he was pro- moted to aid-de-camp, with the rank of captain, on the staff of Maj. Gen. Joseph B. Carr, commanding Third
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Division, N. G. S. N. Y. June 13, 1871, he was pro- moted to the rank of major, and June 24, 1876, was bre- vetted lieutenant colonel. During the labor riots in July, 1877, he was detailed as A. A. A. G. to Col. James R. Hitchcock, 9th Regt. N. G. S. N. Y., who was in com- mand of the brigade of Troops at West Albany. Having served for a continuous period of fourteen years as a commissioned officer, he was retired from active service and placed on the supernumerary list, July 11, 1881.
WILLIAM E. KISSELBURGH was mustered in at Albany September 1, 1862, as adjutant of the One Hundred Sixty-ninth regiment N. Y. V., and was detailed to muster that regiment. He left for the front Septem- ber 25, 1862. At Chain Bridge, Va., he was acting assistant adjutant general of a provisional brigade. He took part with his regiment in the siege of Suffolk, Va., in April, 1863, and in the severe skir- mish on the Edenton road, in which Col. Clarence Buel, Maj. (now Gen.) Alden, and other officers and men were wounded. After the siege he was engaged in the raids to Blackwater river. He accompanied Gen Dix's celebrated " blackberry " raid to South Anna railroad bridge, fourteen miles from Richmond, in July, 1863, and was employed with troops in the effort to destroy that bridge and cut off communications from the rebel capital with Lee's army, then in Pennsylvania. In this affair the adjutant's horse was wounded. In August, 1868, the One Hundred Sixty-ninth was ordered to the siege of Charleston, S. C. With his regiment Capt. Kissel- burgh was present through the operations for the reduction of forts Wagner and Sumter, until April, 1864. He was one of the first of the federal forces to enter fort Wagner upon its fall. In September, 1863, he was detailed as A. D. C. on the staff of General Vodges, commanding the second division of Gen. Gill- more's army. In April, 1864, he proceeded north with the Tenth army corps to join the army of the James at Gloucester Point. Gen. Vodges being ordered to the command of Portsmouth, Va., and its defenses, the cap-
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tain went there with him, and served on his staff until April, 1865, when he was ordered to Florida. But Rich- mond having fallen, Lee's army surrendered, and the rebel- lion being practically at an end, Capt. Kisselburgh resign- ed his commission and returned home. He received from Gov. Fenton the brevet rank of major for faithful and meritorious services. After the war, upon the organiza- tion of the Ninth Brigade, Third Division, N. G. S. N.Y., Brig. Gen. Alden, Maj. Kisselburgh was. commissioned adjutant general, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, and served seven years in that capacity.
JOSEPH LAFIURA entered the service in April, 1861, as first lieutenant of Company I, Second New York volun- teers, and was afterwards made captain of Company H in the same regiment. With the gallant Second he served through all its battles, until the summer of 1862, when he resigned. In April, 1864, he was commissioned captain in the Tenth New York volunteers, and was engaged with this regiment in the battles of the Wilderness. He was mustered out in 1863, with the brevet rank of major, for meritorious service.
JOHN M. LANDON, immediately after the president's call for volunteers, in April, 1861, set about raising a com- pany of infantry. This he intended for the Second regi- ment, but as his turned out to be the eleventh company, of course it could not be received. Some of the men scattered, but a portion remained together. With this nucleus the company was afterwards completed on June 1, 1861, as Company I, Thirtieth regiment N.Y.V., to serve two years. Being ordered to Washington, they arrived in that city just after the battle of Bull Run, and were stationed among the Virginia defences. Here they re- mained during the fall and winter, engaged in picket duty and in completing the fortifications for the defence of the capital. In the spring of 1862, the Thirtieth formed part of McDowell's army, and participated in the arduous manœuvers of that campaign, in the attempt to support McClellan. When Gen. Pope was given the command in Virginia, the Thirtieth was with him, and took part in the
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battles of Groveton and the second Bull Run, and after- wards was at South Mountain in Maryland. At the sec- ond battle of Bull Run the regiment made a gallant, and, at the time, successful charge on a strong rebel position, but being unsupported was badly cut up and compelled to withdraw. At South Mountain Captain Landon and his men were again engaged. At the expiration of the term of service, he was mustered out with his comrades, June 18, 1863.
GEORGE F. LEMON at the beginning of the war was appointed major of the regiment which was organized as the First California, but which became the Thirty Second N. Y. V. With this regiment Major Lemon was present during the hard fighting of Mcclellan's campaign on the Peninsula, and in the battles immediately subse- quent in Northern Virginia and Maryland, to South Mountain. His battle roll bears the names of West Point, Gaines' Mill, White Oak Swamp, Malvern Hill, Crampton's Gap and South Mountain. In the last named battle he was shot through the right thigh, the ball com- pletely shattering the bone. Together with Colonel Matherson of the same regiment he was placed in the hospital at Pickettsville, Md. The colonel died from his wounds. Major Lemon was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel for his gallantry and devotion to duty. His death followed November 10, 1862, after long suffer- ing. His remains were carried to the home of his family in Lansingburgh, and interred in Oakwood Cemetery.
CHARLES L. MACARTHUR was mustered into service as first lieutenant and quartermaster of the Second N. Y. V., May 14, 1861. He served with his regiment in the department of Virginia until May, 1862, and in the army of the Potomac until July, 1862. October 23, 1862, he was appointed captain and assistant quartermaster of volunteers, and was assigned to duty as quartermaster of the first brigade, second division, third army corps. In this position he remained until the following spring. For a portion of the time during the winter he acted as quar-
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master of the division. His resignation was accepted May 26, 1863. At the close of the war he was brevetted major N. Y.V.
JOHN MCCONIHE in 1857 removed from his native city of Troy to Nebraska. In 1860 he was appointed adju- tant general of this territory, and led a very successful expedition against the Pawnee Indians. In the spring of 1861 he raised a company for the First Nebraska in- fantry, and was present in the varied events of the Mis- souri campaign of that year. In February, 1862, he was sent to Washington on official business connected with the department of Missouri. Although suffering from sickness, he joined his regiment in time to be in the thick of the fight at Shiloh. In that battle he was wounded in the left arm, the ball shattering the bone below the elbow. From the effects of this wound he suffered for fully a year. When the One Hundred Sixty-ninth N. Y. V. was formed, in the fall of 1862, Capt. McConihe was appointed its lieutenant colonel. The regiment was at first employed in provost duty in Washington. It served afterwards under Gillmore in South Carolina and Florida, under Butler at Fortress Monroe and under Grant in the overland campaign. Lieutenant Col- onel McConihe was present in all these operations, rendering gallant service at the battle of Edenton, N. C., and at the siege of Charleston. He was made colonel of the regiment March 2, 1864, with rank to date from the 13th of February preceding. His towns- men presented him with a gold mounted sword, studded with jewels, as a token of their admiration of his valor. The last record on the rolls of the war department against the name of Col. McConihe, reads, " Killed in action at Cold Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864." His last command, just before his death, was : "Cease firing ; fix bayonets and charge again. Dress up on the colors ; don't leave the colors." The order was given to meet a sudden em- ergency, and was wisely adapted to save the regiment from being cut to pieces. He fell immediately after and died almost instantly. His funeral services were held at
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