USA > New York > Dutchess County > Address delivered Wednesday, 28th November, 1866 : in Feller's Hall, Madalin, township of Red Hook, Duchess Co., N.Y. > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19
Nor was the brilliancy of that same . Old Glory confined to this Continent or the firm Jand. In the hands of peaceful, but fearless explorers, its constella- tion had reflected the midnight sun of the Arctic and Antarctic zones-farther North, in the grasp of KANE and Monrox, than any human hand had ever carried any flag-farther South than any vessel, before WED- DELL and WILKES, had penetrated the fearful fissures of the everlasting Antarctic ice-fields.
Nay more, amid the sulphureous steam of battle that same " Old Glory " has sailed triumphant, or with honor. on every sea.
... Streaming from the masthead of Paul Jones, it had ravaged the coasts of Great Britain, and in the most . desperate naval battle of all times (231 September .. 1779.) had seen the haughty, meteor flag of England hauled down in humiliating defeat. Twice with TrexTox, in the Constellation (9th February. 1799 ; 2d February. 1800), "Old Glory " saw the French tri- color, which, on land, had beheld every other stan- dard fall before it, yield to the skill and courage of America's infant navy.
, And, even as in 1799 and 1800. the Stars and Stripes dared to brave the power of the omnipotent first NA- POLEON, even so, in 1865-'6. again it bearded his no less astute and ambitious successor. third of the name. To the Latin cagle of France our American bird screamed its defiance and warning, and the talons of the former relaxed at once their throttling hold on the prostrate Aztec eagle. So grand and so imposing was the attitude of our Republic that it called forth the unfeigned applanse of England herself, and the
9
honest acknowledginent that no other power upon earth would have dared thus, and thus successfully, to brave and compel the despot of the Tuileries.
But simply to refer to all the triumphs which our flag has achieved, would require not hours, but days, where I have only minutes, to do them adequate jus- rice.
Flapping at the peak of STERRETT (1st August, 1801) : of PREBLE (3, 7th, 24th and 29th August, and 5th September, 1804) ; of DECATUR (17th and 19th June, 1815) : of CHAUNCY (August, 1816), "Old Glory " looked on, approving, while our tars chastised the barbarian pirates of Northern Africa in their * rongholds-pirates the terror of the oldest and most powerful neighboring Nationalities.
Upon those waves which had borne, for three thousand years, the contending navies of the Ancient and Old World, freemen from the New World, under the Stars and Stripes, were the first to teach to those who exacted tribute from every other flag, that the seamen who sailed with the Stars and Stripes as their emblem, would pay millions for defence, but not a cent for tribute.
When the Christian-despising Dey of Tunis saw DECATUR sail (26th July, 1815,) into his harbor, and heard him dictate terms from the deck of a captured English frigate, the Guerriere, while a second frigate, taken from the same Nation, with the conquering " Old Glory " at the peak, lay by, he was lost in amaze- ment.
. " You told me," said the Dey to the British Consul, "that you English would sweep the Americans from the seas. And, now, behold, they come to make war apon me with the very ships they have taken from. yon !"
Dear old flag, how often against odds upon the farthest oceans, in single encounters, and twice in a combat of fleets. on our own inland seas, partially embraced by the territory of the State of New York, have the Stars and Stripes, triumphing, supplanted the Union Jack of England.
" Whose smoking decks are these ?
I know Saint George's blood red ( ross, Thon Mistress of the Seas,- But what is she, whose streaming STRIPES Koll out before the breeze !"
" The mist was clear'd-a Wreath of STARS Rose o'er the crimson swell, And wavering from its haughty peak, The Cross of England fell."
One exploit of more recent date had added such lustre to our flag that, until the Rebels hauled it down south of the Potomac and the Ohio, the world looked up to it with awe and admiration. When the fugitive
---
1
. 10
and the exile appealed to it for protection, despotism saw itself compelled to respect the rights of those ` whose trembling limbs had borne them to this sanctuary of freedom to clasp as would-be-citizens the horns of that altar upon which the American people had kindled, in 1776, the perpetual fires of liberty.
.
Let no American ever forget how. in the harbor .of Smyrna, our sailing sloop-of-war, St. Louis, dared to confront a squadron of Austrian steamers and coin- pel the Satrap of the despot to deliver up Kozra, who claimned the protection of the Stars and Stripes. simply because, while in this country. he had registered his intention of becoming a citizen. The Austrian Commodore had ordered the poor Hungarian to be bound to the mainmast of his flagship, in hopes that if the St. Louis tired, its broadside would destroy KOZTA, and thus preclude his surrender. The Austrian Vulture, however, which had preyed on older emblem- atic birds and beasts of imperial and royal dignity, did not dare to encounter the beak and talons of the young Republican eagle. So KozTA was saved, uu- bound, and delivered safe upon the deck of the St. . Louis, under the shadow of that flag to which he o red his life and his freedom.
And. then, again, when British naval architects and mechanics had constructed and launched the Ala- bama, and had sent her forth, manned with British sailors and gunners, trained in British schools of naval gunnery, all English but her Rebel pirate commander, so English it needed but the English flag to constitute her the National sea-champion of England-how short a space did it require for the Kearsarge, with Old Glory at her peak, to send the perfidious corsair down into the depths of that ocean whose surface she had polluted by her cowardly. career of theft and of injury to the peaceful and defenceless.
Yea, verily, friends and neighbors, by land and by Bea, on the lakes and on the oceans, wherever Old Glory waved aud waves, and wherever it floated and now again floats, it proclaimed a stupendous stride of `haman progress; it demonstrated the result of dignity- ing labor, and it promised liberty to the oppressed . and declared the freedom of the seas.
Such is a brief allusion to the history of that flag which Rebels were sufficiently insane to insult. and which Rebels saw floating victoriously over their captured strongholds and their discomfited armies.
Fing of the Free, humiliated By Tresson's crime and Rebel guile, By Freemen's efforts reinstated,: Now fluits victorious o'er the pilo Of Stare+ redeemed and recre sted- Vast Freedomn's tempie in whose aislo Our Flags in fight,
.
11
Witness of efforts never mated Shall ware forever permeated With Glory's light ! * * * * Two or three years since one of the citizens of this town (DR. THOMAS BARTON) visited England. On his return he was asked what had impressed him most during his tour, or in what particular our people dif- fered most from those abroad ? Hlis reply-the reply of an observing and thinking man-was, " I was struck with the contrast between the brutality of the English and the PATIENCE of the American people." A truc remark -a sagacious observation. This it was, this PATIENCE. this moral discipline, the self-restraint, which made the Northerners such good soldiers in the battlefield : such good citizens on the field of indus- try. - ince their mustering ont and their return to their former avocations. Yes, perhaps patience or moral discipline is the distinctive characteristic of the Northern masses. Nothing like it ever belonged to the Southern character.
The incomprehension of this magnanimous phase of mind led the Southerners, rebels in heart, but not yet rebels in act, into a fatal error, and doubtless was the real occasion of the "Slaveholders' Rebellion :" " the Rebellion of a few arrogant land and slaveholders against a popular government ;" " the Rebellion of an Oligarchy against the People."
The Slavocrats and Secessionists presumed upon the merciful forbearance of a patient people, forgetting that there is a period when forbearance ceases to be a virtue. They deluded themselves into the ridiculous idea that Northern patience and long suffering were the result of want of manliness-yes. of courage-not the consequence of the most dignified composure and the noblest self-reliance. No section ever made a greater mistake. Carried away by this self-deception, they crowned twenty-eight (1832-'3,-'60) years of folly by an act of madness.
Led off by the aristocratic slaveholders of South Carolina of the Rrrritaly type, the Rebels fired upon " Old Glory " -- they dared to fire against the Stars and Stripes, the sacred emblem of a free people.
As Major-General BARNARD wrote. " In the little and contemptible oligarchy of South Carolina (con- temptible as all little oligarchies are), was found a large enough proportion of demented men . to set this ball in motion. '".
The South fired upon our flag and the North awoke. Such an awakening the world had never yet seen ; it is very likely the world will never again see. It was the uprising of the People. the great free Northern people, roused from patient repose into indignant activity. It proved that within this, the real area of Freedom,
1
12
-" Man is one : And he hath one Freat heart. It is thus we feel, With a gigantic throb athwart the sea ; Each other's rights and wrongs ; thus are we MEN."
The Free North arose like a giant refreshed by sleep ; awoke from the torpor of dreams to a full conception of the magnitude and magnificence of the occasion. Freedom and Slavery at length looked each other in the. face ; Oligarchy and true Republican-Democracy. Every thinking, patriotic man at the North knew well that the balls fired at SUMTER. the insult to the Flag. was a shot fired at the heart of Progress-a death-blow aimed at the life of the Nation. No more folding of the hands to sleep. It was sleep on and perish, wake and live!
Pine-clad Katahdin's summon 's blending With call from Santa Rosa's bight- Pacifis cheering answer sending To lone Mount Desert's sea-g rt light- From East to We-t, one voice ascending, From ev'ry State the arch subtending- To army and fight : The Rocky Mountains echo lending. . Along the Lakes that ccho 's wending. God save the right.
The people became at once transinnted into an army, permeated with an IDEA. Ecery Army which has ever been inspired with an IDEA has proved itself invincible. .The French Army of 1789-1812, which conquered in suc- cession every European Continental Nation, had caught a sort of delirium, together with Ideas of True Liberty, from fighting in America. If auxiliaries nurtured, trained, and directed by Despotism, merely by tight- ing at the side of onr Revolutionary sires had, by their example, been rendered unconquerable, was it not in- consistent or unwise to believe that the sons of those sires had degenerated or had forgotten the lessons and traditions which their fathers had learned at the knees of the Patriots of 76. It could not be so. BUNKER HILL. and BENNINGTON, ORISKANY and STONE POINT. STILLWATER and SARATOGA (the last five fon.ht on New York soil. could not have been forgotten while those, who participated in their glories, still survived, to teach the generation, still living, how the Sons of Liberty battled for Freedom and for Independence.
On the 13th April. 1861. apparent peace still reigned in the land. Since the 19th October. 1781, when the British capitulated at Yorktown, no hostile force had traversed our country. Eighty years of internal tran- quillity had made us the most prosperous and happy people in the world. The accursed slaveholders, to maintain their property in man, fired upon our Flag, and within the ensuing four years 2,688.523 men had been arrayed to avenge the insult, to defend and re- store that Flag, and almost as many madmu had
i
. - 13
armed to steep it in blood and trample it in the dust of defeat and humiliation. On the 13th of April, 1861, this country was at rest and rejoicing. By the 2d of June, 1865. a little over the space of one Presidential lerin, 690,000 men on both sides had lost their lives "apporting or suppressing the Slaveholders' Rebellion. This too.0.00 does not include the living-sick, maimed and crippled.
When the news of the " firing on Sumter " reached New York, the city was a sight to see. Its buildings seemed to be clothed with the national banner. A bracing wind made " Old Glory " stream ont in all its beauty and sngzestive grandeur. From window. spire, and staff, thousands apon thousands of Flags filled the air with their crimson, white, and azure tissues. The Red, White, and Blue showed on every patriotic man's breast and phone on every true woman's bosom, in materials more or less precious, but equally precious in the sentiment which placed or pinned it there. And . it was from day to day until, when ANDERSON, from his defence of Suinter, passed up Broadway. he appeared to advance under one continual canopy of Stars and Stripes, whose flapping folds seemed to utter in chorus-" Well done, brave soldier! Woe to those who fired upon the Flag we honor and you defended ! ""
The South fired upon our Flag, and the North awoke 'and arose, and among the first to awake to the magi- tnde of the occasion were the people of "this im- mediate neighborhood." Mountains are the fountains of sublimity and patriotism. Our people breathed the air of the Kaatskills. Their souls had expanded in their contemplation.
From this time forward the history of Red Hook's participation in the " Great American Conflict" in- volves the history of the whole struggle. Red IIcok's quota, through its individuals, representing links, runs like a chain thronghout the war, and connects together almost every portion of the conflict, and of the theatre of hostilities, by her sons or their affiliations. To endeavor to give anything like a detailed account of all the actions in which our fellow townsmen were engaged, would be no less than attempting · to compress the history of the four years of the great- est war on record into the compass of an Address which should ocenpy an hour in its delivery.
In the course of those four years, between the par- ticipation of this immediate neighborhood in the initiative effort, the reopening of the route to Washing- ton, and in the final grand triumph, both of ideal and real importance, the occupation of Richmond, Red Ilook sent forth as Volunteers, by Re-enlistment, or by Substitutes, as stated hereinbefore, over 500 men.
4
.14
The exact count, as made up from the most accurate accessible authorities, is 503 : Volunteers prior to the draft of September. 1863, 175 to 178; re-enlist- ments noted. 19: enlistments at Albany in 1865, 27 ; result of four draft- imposed on the town. 279 == 500 or 503. These were distributed into over 47 regiments, as so far discovered, besides four or more. Vessels of War: 14th U. S. infantry *: 1st. 7th. and
..
14th New Jersey Volunteers : Ist (SERRELL's) 15th New York Engineers: 1st+ and 2d New York Light Artil- lery, and 34th Independent Battery, New York Vol- unteer Artillery : 6th, 13th* and 14th N. Y. Heavy Artillery : 2d, 30, 4th, 5tht and 6th N. Y. Cav- alry ; SCOTT's 900; ; and 1st N. Y. Mounted Rifles ;
* Lieutenant WARREN W. CHAMBERLAIN, from Lower Red Hook, belonged to this regunent. lle had previously held a commission as Lieutenant in the 12th N. Y. Militia, which left New York City 21st . April, 1861. He was killed near Groveton, Va., while acting as aide- de-camp to General SykEs, under very peculiar and distressing cir- cumst inces, at the second battle of Manassas or Ball Run, 30th Au- gust, 1862.
t Of this Ist regiment, MORGAY Light Artillery, CHARLES S. WAIN- WRIGHT (of Rhynbeck), Brevet Brigadier-General U. S. Volunteers, was olonel, 1851-'5; J. WATTS DE PEYSTER Junior, Brevet Lieuen- ant-Colonel New York Volunteers ( Volunteer Aide-de-Camp to Gen- eral PHILIP KEARNY at Williamsburg and Seven Pines or Fair Oaks). was Junior Major in 1561-'2.
"There were only some thirty of the men enlisted for the 1st New York ( MORGAN) light artillery in Duchess county, whoever joined it. These belonged to " E" . ompany, and some of them were engaged in the following butles : Spottsyl: an.a, North Anna, Bethesda Church, siege of Peter-burg.
The regimental flag of the Ist New York artillery bears the Lames of forty-five bittles and sieges in which one or more companies of the regiment took part as follows, riz :
Cross Keys,
Spottsylvania,
Winchester (first),
North Anna,
Lee's Mills,
Tolopatamor,
Siege of York'own,
Beth, sda Church,
Williamsburg.
Cold Harbor,
Fair Oaks,
Petersburg,
Mechanies ille,
Weldon Railroad,
Jun . 25, 1802,
Peebles Farm,
Savage Station,
Chapel House,
White Oik Swamp,
flatcher's Run,
Glendale,
Gravelly Run,
Malvern Hill.
Five Forks,
Bull Run second,
Storming of Petersburg,
South Mountain,
Appoinattox Court House,
Antietam,
Lookout Mountain,
Fredericksburg,
Resac3,
Chancellorsville, Gettysburg,
Kenesaw, New Rope Church,
Rappahannock Station,
Peach Tree Creek,
Bristoe Station,
Atlanta,
Mine Ruu,
Savannah,
Wilderness,
Averysboro',
Bentonville
*.* JOHNSTON L. DE PEYSTER, Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel U. S. Vol- unteers, Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel New York Volunteers, Recipient of Vote of Thanks from the Corporation of the City of New York, 1836, was Second Lieutenant and Post Adjutant, Fort O'Rorke, 1864.
AUGUSTUS BARKEY, Second and First Lieutenant and Captain (killed), in this regiment (1861-'3).
: J. WATTS DE PLUSTER, Junior, First Lieutenant commanding company, in this regiment in July, 1862.
:
15
Ist (National Guard) ; 12th (Independence Guard) ; 17th[ ( Westchester Chasseurs) ; 22d (Southern Tier Regiment ) ; 25th ( Union Rangers) : 26th : 29th§ (As- To .::: 32d ( 1st California) ; 44th (People's ELLSWORTH
: Rows er L. LIVINGSTON, Volunteer aid to General BUTTERFIELD for sprints of a month, when he received a commission as Ensign in te With New York State Volunteers, Colonel II. S. LANSING, dated :04 October, Iso1 ; Fust Lieutenant June 20, 1862, to take rank In or May 27th, the day of the battle ot llano cr Court-house. This In motion was made by Governor MORGAN upon the following let- tet :
HEADQUA. TERS 3D BRIGADE, CAMP NFAR NEW BRIDGE, June 11, 1562. Cont H. S. Lanning, With New York State, Volunteers :
. musel: - On the day of our tight at Hanover Court-house, when all the cheers at the 17th behaved so well, the conduct of Lieutenants Stanton and Livi.G-rox came particularly under my personal ohwis.tun. Licutchant LAvisestos, on my personal staff, bebaved maus! mom tably , carryng my orders oftentimes under fire in the coolest manter. To him, not less than to the other members of my personal wed, navwell and the brigade are indebted. . a trust that when the op- portunity for promotion occurs these officers may be remembered. While I cannot, by implication or otherwise, do any injustice to others of your command who behaved so well, I feel it my duty to bring these officers to your notice.
I am, Co.onel, very respectfully yours .. DANIEL BUTTERFIELD, Brigadier-General. HEADQUARTERS 17TH REGIMENT N. Y. S. VOLUNTEERS, 3D BRIGADE, PORTER'S DIVISION, VALLEY OF THE CHICKAHOMINY, June 12, 1862. Adjutant-General Thomas Hillhouse :
GENERAL :- I inclose a copy of a letter received from General Bur- TAKFIELD, commending the conduct of Lieutenants BURLEIGH and LIVINGSTON upon the field of Hano er Court house. It affords me pleasure to add my own testimony to the coolness and gallantry of both these officers, and to recommend them for promotion. Lieuten - ant BURLEIGH to be . aptain, 10 date from 27th May ; Second Lieu- tenant ROBERT L LIVINGSTON to be First Lieutenant, vice BURLEIGH, promoted, to date from 27th May.
I am, sir, very respectfully, &c.,
H. S LANSING, Colonel 17th New York State Volunteers. He served during the entire campaign of the Army of the Potomac under General MCCLELLAN, attached to the 5th Army Corps ; was among the first to enter Yorktown ; was present at the numerous engagements on the l'eninsula, at the White House, Seven Pines, Gaines's Mills, Malvern Hill, returning to Tivoli on leave after the retirement ot the Army of the Potomac to Haniison's Bar, to recruit from the fatigue and exhaustion of what is styled the " Seven Days Battle." In September be returned to Harrison's Bar, and thenco joine : his General and the A my, about the time the con.mand was transferred to General l'orE. but was incapacitated, from the return of his Chickahou iny tever, to go in the heid, as was also his General, and made his way alone, with his servant, to Washington, where he remained on the sick list during those days of confusion and mortifi- cation which followed the defeat of General Pork.
He was still recruiting when the battle of Antietam was fought ; but his General returning to bis command, he once more went into the hela, but only to ri main a short time ; the Chickahominy fever was again upon him on his return. After being present in some sixteen engagements, and serving eighteen months, be tendered bis resigna- tion, which was accepted. J. L.
$. LOUIS LIVINGSTON, afterward Captain, U. S. A., and Additional Aide-de Campto Major-Gen. S. W. CRAWFORD, U. S. Volunteers, was elected the first Major of this regiment ; Lieutenant IL. LIVINGSTON ROGErs was Quartermaster. Miss ESTELLE E. DE PEYSTER presented . this regiment its State or Boltle flag. which, after two years service, and after being present in every combat, affair and battle in which the 29th participated, was returned, a mere wieck and relic, to the donor as u memento, and is now kept in the dwelling of the Speaker.
.
: Avengers) ; 48th (1st Continental Guard) ; 56th (Tenth Legion); 61st (Clinton Guard) *: 63d (3d Irish) : G5th (United States Chasseurs) ; 76th (Cortlandt)"; 80th (20th N. Y. S. M., Ulster Guard ) ; 84th (14th N. Y. S. M., Brooklyn) : 91st (ileavy Artillery ) : 95th ; 96til .. (MACOMBE) : 114th. 115th, 125th. 128tht. 150th] 156th, 169th, New York Volunteer Infantry : Sth N. Y.S. Militia. NAVY .- Steamers, Minnesota, Color- ado, Portsmouth.$ Bienville, etc.
Even with the very first sound of alarm, a num- ber of our youth lastened to enrol themselves, or hurried forward to the scene of conflict. On the 15th April, 1861, President Liscous called for his first. levy of 75.000 Volunteers. Had he invoked 2,000,000 they would have responded. On the 21st April, the 12th N. Y. S. M. lett New York City. On the 23d the 8th N. Y. S M. ( Washington Greys), was on its
* Dr. WILLIAM P. Bus i, of Madalin, died in service, Assistan, Surgeon.
T W'M. P. WAINWRIGHT, ' olonet 22d New York State Militia, which comprised this town, IS5ti, olonel, wounded in command of Doc Bi.k .- DAY's brigade at South Mountain, alter saving the day in that quarter ; present at But Run ; arst Cross-Keys ; under fire at Gaines- ville, Rappahannock Station, Bull Run second-two days, South Mountain-wounded, Fredericksburg first ; present at Chancellors- ville ; resigned, broken in health, from which he still suffers, ISCG. CHARLES E. LIVINGSION, Grandson o ROBERT S LIVINGSTON, ESQ , of Red Hook, , Lieutenant colonel, etc., in this 76th regiment.
t JOHN HI. HAGA, of Maddalin, rose from Private to First Lieuten- unt commanding Color Company C.
*. I Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel. JOHNSTON LIVINGSTON DE PEYSTEK ' held commision of Captain in this regiment in 1865, and at the time when it was mustered out.
. STEPHEN VAN RE . SSELAER CRUGER, supposed to have been mor- : tally wounded in two places, at Resaca, Adjutant and Captain Com- pany A, Brevet Major U. S. Volunteers, Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel New York Volunteers.
4 § CHANIE. HENRY TILLOTTSON, Aide, etc., to Captain SWARTHOUT, commanding the Port -mouth in the Mississippi River Fight under FARRAGUT 1961-3. November 11. 1861, received appointment as Clerk and Aide to Captain SWARTHorr, U. S. ship Portsmouth ; December 2. 1 61. sules from Port-mouth ; January 5, 1862, came to anchor at Ky West ; January 16, 1862, reported to commander MickFAN, at Slap Island-ordered to blockade . of Rio Grande : Feb- 'ruary 1, 1.62, came to anchor off Rio Grande-captured here English st. amer Libuas, lowded with Confederate cotton, schooner Wave, "loaded with sugar, sloop Pioneer, loaded with tobacco ; April 5, sailei for Mis-t- ipfi river ou short allowance of water ; April 9th 'came to anchor at S. W. Pas .; April 12th ordered by Commodore FARRAGUT to jom hh deet in the attack on Forts Jackson and Philips below New Orleans; April 16 h passed the bar and commenced put- "ting ship in fighting condi ion ; April 17 h joined fret below forts ; April Isth, attack communeed with mortar essels ; April 24, fleet moved to attack and pars forts .we were ordered to come to anchor and take p. sition clow. to Fort Jack-on, that we might draw upon us the fire of that lort unut water battery below it, so as to reheve the fleet, if possible, as they passed up ; remained in this position until the fleet had passed, and the fire of the three batteries-Forts Jackson und Phillip. aus w der battery -- was concentrated upon us, we then slipped our cib cand fosted out of range, the end being accomplished, .it would have been sut ital to remain longer; May luth, ordered to take position in front of Fort Parmpet, about twelve miles above New Orleans, to sustain it in case of an attack ; June 26, went with
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.