USA > New York > History and personal sketches of Company I, 103 N.Y.S.V., 1862-1864 > Part 10
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On the 18th of December he was promoted to corporal, which threw him into a fever and ague, so he was not. able to do duty for three days.
The next day he managed to be in company drill twice. besides inspection of arms at sundown, the next day on guard, and so it went from day to day till Christmas, when the quartermaster dealt out whisky twice. The year 1863 went out with a thunder storm and the next night ice froze nearly an inch thick.
On May 21st, 1861, ( while the re-enlisted men were at home on veteran furlough), Corporal Flower, with the duty men of company and regiment, crossed from Long
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Island to Tiger Island and the next morning to James Island, and had a scrap with the Confederates. He thought he had a close call to go to happy hunting grounds at that time as he became detached from his com- rades and wasthe center of attraction for a lot of rebel guns for some little time. He was too busy to be very much frightened, but why he left his watch with Sergeant Johns to be sent home if he should happen to make a protracted stay who can tell? They fell back to Cole's Island, from there to Folley Island, and from there to their old camp on Long Island.
On June 18th the 103d Regiment, with others, was paraded to witness a military execution, the shooting of a colored soldier of the 55th Mass. Volunteers for strikine his Lieutenant. This scene is vividly remembered; the victim sitting on his rough box of a coffin, his eyes ban-
daged and his hands bound behind him, the open grave, the firing squad drawn up in line, the signal of the officer in charge, the simultaneous volley, and all was over. Four bullets passed through his head and one through his body. Then came the quiet command "right face." "forward march," given to the different commands, and we returned to our camp, there to speculate on the difference between justice and mercy and the penalty inflicted for the disre- gard for military authority.
On June 30 a reconnoisance was ordered and the 103d regiment left Pawnee landing in small boats and crossed to Long Island. Corporal Flower was relieved from picket and went with his company, Halting at the south end fill dark they crossed to Tiger Island and from thence during the night ploughed through the mud to James Island. At daybreak they "double quicked" across the sparsh vend drove in the rebel pickers. He rather enjoyed The zip and splash of the ballets us they struck in the mud He was in the skirmish line and of course in advance of the regiment, which kept altogether too close for its own
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safety, as if its commanding officer was ignorant or in some way incapacitated to command. However they kept up the advance, passing through patches of bushes, over old breastworks, and across bare fields of sand, one of which was bordered on the farther side by a narrow body of water which was impassable for the skirmishers, the regiment still in close proximity and it yet being too dark to see objects very plain they received the discharge of a masked battery of two 24-pounder howitzers, double- shotted with canister, and the air seemed filled with the little iron missiles. A few more rounds and the regiment fell back to an old breastwork. The colored troops that were in reserve passed around to the left and charged the battery followed by the 103d.
One prisoner, the howitzers and a lot of killed and wounded were the fruits of this encounter.
The regiment advanced up the island and lay behind some old breastworks under a heavy fire from rel el bat- teries, solid shot plowing through with apparent ease. The monitors came up Stono river and threw some of their big shells, which bounded along the ground; throw- ing up great clouds of dust. That same evening the troops were withdrawn to the south end of the island and on the 10th and 11th went to Folley Island via Bat- tery Island, Cole's Island and Stono Inlet.
On July 26, same year, Corporal Flower was detailed as Orderly at Headquarters to carry dispatches, &c , among the islands, where he remained till August 16th, the regiment received marching orders and he was ordered to report to his company commander.
A run to Hilton Head and a trip on the steamer "Ara- go" to Fortress Monroe, then to Washington city, were pleasant as a change.
The stay at Forts Richardson and Reynolds, opposite the Capital city, was short, and on the 23d the regi- ment took two box cars for Harpers Ferry, Va., and a
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short service with Gen. Sheridan in the Shenandoah Val- ley will never be forgotten. While passing through Wood- stock a rebel of the "Home Guard" was caught trying to shoot a cavalryman from ambush. It was said when the cavalry encamped that night this prisoner was ordered to dig his own grave or rot on top of the ground, and that when he had dug the grave deep enough he was shot and covered up.
After reaching Harrisburg the army moved back down the Valley towards Winchester. Corporal Flower was with the detail to guard the cattle and notes that they had plenty ofmilk, after using much "persuasiveness" by way of tents, ropes, elubs, &c., to induce these rebel cows to "give down" for the Yankees.
About November 14th one of the safeguards, having been killed by therebel "Home Guard," all the safeguards were withdrawn from the planters' residences, consequently the boys' used potatoes, mutton, etc., also fence rails to build fires as the weather grew colder. Mosby's guerrillas seemed bent on tearing up the railroad up the valley, and it required a constant guard its entire length. In this work the 103d Regiment was engaged, and Corporal Flower had charge of one post with four men till the reg- iment was ordered away a month later. Here he made things comfortable for his squad by building a fireplace in the tent out of sods, and as the cars ran slow they were enabled to "draw" several bales of hay for a nest, with plenty of coffee, "hard tack," pork, beans, etc., and very little guard duty to do, they made themselves quite com- fortable, considering their surroundings. But good times could not always last. A soldier must earn his depre- ciated currency, so when they left that place they turned over to two cavalrymen a stove they had hired of a Con- federate widow for fifty cents a month, on the promise that they should return it to its owner, thus fulfilling their contract with the widow. It is supposed they re-
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deemed their promise as he has heard no complaint since.
The trip to Washington was without particular incident . but delayed there for three days on account of ice being frozen in the river, preventing navigation. At Alexandria another day's delay, after which they steamed to For- tress Monroe to City Point and Bermuda Hundred Land- . ing, where they arrived at 10 o'clock, p. m., of December 31st in a blinding snowstorm. It turned freezing cold, and as there was not a bit of wood to make a fire he lay down on his rubber blanket, with his woolen one wrapped around him. It was too cold to sleep, and the blanket froze fast in the mud. He then made a break for the boat, which still lay at the dock, and stayed there until morn- ing. On January 1st they marched to the front .. He was detailed for picket duty, where they lay till S o'clock, p. m , of the 2d. It had been twelve days that he had not removed his shoes or his clothes, a not unusual oc- currence for a soldier in those times, but in this case it had been alternately wet and cold to an uncommon de- gree, and on taking off what shoes and stockings he had left he found that he had shed both great-toe-nails.
The camp they occupied was built by the 10th Virginia. United States Volunteers, and was a veritable little city of miniature log houses. Each one had a little fireplace in one end, and all the boys had to do was to spread their shelter tents over the ridge poles and go to housekeeping. It was nice for them, but how about the 10th? Here he was on picket duty about every other night ( and day.) There was the usual routine of wading around in the ud (sometimes snow ), turning out in the night to ward off an expected attack, etc. Deserters came into the Union lines almost every night, sometimes as many as "feen or twenty at a time. The picket lines were very Sure to each other along that front, sometimes but a few vices, and most of the way within speaking distance. Sometimes a joke would follow a bullet, and sometimes a
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bullet followed a joke, but not always, as in a case he has in mind.
Every twenty-five or thirty yards along the line a cor- poral and three men were stationed in a kind of stall built at right angles to the main line of breastworks, and one morning all hands in one of these pics lay down for a nap. Some Johnnies opposite called out to them, but getting no reply asked of the adjoining pickets to be al- lowed to cross over and return. This being granted two "rebs" walked over, looked at the sleeping "Yanks," climbed over and took possession of all four haversacks and returned to their own line. When the "Yanks" awoke, being hungry, they looked for but couldn't find their "grub." Upon inquiry they were told that none but "rebs" would steal. And sure enough they beheld their four haversacks held to view, and were invited to come and get them. They did not remain long in sight, how- ever, as there was no law against a fight with guns. It · is supposed they enjoyed the "Yankee coffce," and were ready for war at the word of command.
Nothing unusual occurred to relieve the monotony until the 23d of January, when three Confederate gunboats and some steamers as tenders came down the James River and shelled some of the camps and batteries, with the evident intention of making a raid on somebody or something. One of them got fast in the mud, and as the river bank was too high for the gunboats to fire over. for the same reason our batteries could not depress their guns enough to hit them. Then began a series of Yarkee experiments with a heavy mortar battery on the point above the head in the river. In the meantime the 1034 had stood under arms since 8 o'clock, p. m., and at + o clock in the morning were marched along the line to the river bank, along the edge of which was a breastwork nearly full of water, along which the regiment was lined up The mortar battery succeeded in piercing the deck ( s
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the gunboat, when could be seen a rush of flame from the deck near the smokestack and of a white heat at the point of exit, gradually spreading and blenching into red and white smoke at'a height of perhaps one hundred feet. At the same instant the interior could be seen through the port-holes of the same white heat. Then great rents showed along the sides, and it was done. The air was full of bursting shells and falling debris. Nearly all the boys suddenly became amphibious, diving into the water in the ditch like frogs. By this time it was getting quite light, and the rest of the boats had moved up the river. out of sight around the bend. The regiment returned to camp about 8 o'clock.
Corporal Flower had now given three years of good, honest service, and he asked for his discharge, which was refused, and he was ordered to serve until the 20th of March. This he refused to do and was forthwith placed under arrest. There were others of Company "I" in the same condition, who honestly believed they were in the right. However, he did duty some of the time: at others he refused and would be put under arrest for a day or two, then relieved. So the time passed until the fourth day of March, when they were ordered to Jamestown Island to do duty until the regiment's time was up. They landed on the island without tents, expecting to find some there, but the camp had been burned, and they were obliged to procure some old ones of a company do- ing duty there. They put in their time here until the 13th, when the three years' men of the regiment came along on a steamer and they started for New York. On arriving they were met by a delegation of the 9th New York Vols., Hawkins Zouaves, one of the regiments of their old brigade, and were escorted to No. 27 Bowery, where they had a fine time. He received his pay, and the first thing he did was to get a good square meal, price $2 30, without any fancy dishes, either
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He was mustered out the 18th day of March, 1865, and arrived home on the 22nd, walked in at the back door, saying: "Hello, mother!" who stood at the table with her back to him. She turned and met him with a glad cry, and actually kissed her great big boy, while tears of joy ran down her cheeks. He noticed she had grown old faster than she should. Was it on account of the absence of her boy, who had never before been absent from her home a week at a time during his whole life? She did not seem to weep when he went away three years before, neither did she give him a parting kiss. Why? Yet with a side glance as he drove away he saw her apron rise to her face as she disappeared from the window. Did she fear she had looked on her boy for the last time in life? Did she suffer or make any sacrifice? She never said it, only showed it by her looks. His father, too, was glad to see him safe at home, as fathers always are, but he was a man, and men are not like mothers. After he had been home a day or two he grew wonderfully lonesome and uneasy. War seemed the only remedy, and that un- grateful "kid" began to look about for a cavalry regi- ment he could join and again take the field. After a few days one was found in Albany, N. Y., and he quietly made preparations to leave, and so informed his parents, but the very next day came the news of the "round up" at Appomattox, and he remained at home. In the spring of 1866 he went to Lambs Creek, Tioga county, Pa., and with Stephen Warters erected a small steam saw-mill. During the succeeding year his parents moved to that place, and were also, joined by his uncle, Francis Flower. The next year they purchased the interest of Mr. Warters. and thereafter carried on a mercantile business in con- neetion with their lumbering interest.
In 1869 his father died, after which he and his uncle carried on the business until 1871, when they were joined
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EMANUEL HARPENDING.
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by D. P. Shaw, and moved the mill farther up the creek, building larger.
In 1875 Comrade Flower purchased his uncle's inter- est, and after the death of Mr. Shaw, which occurred in 1SS3, he also obtained the Shaw interest and continued the manufacture of lumber until 1885. He then formed a partnership with Fralic Bros. and purchased a tract of land on Mann's Creek, near Mansfield, Pa., moving the mill to that place. Here they continued the manufacture of lumber under the firm name of Flower & Co. until 1894, when, having purchased considerable timber in Potter county, Pa., on the line of the Fall Brook Rail- way; also at Blossburg, in Tioga county, Pa. They erected a large saw-mill at Corning, N. Y., doing business under the firm name of Fralic & Flower, where they are still operating. Comrade Flower resides at Corning, and is one of the Board of Alderman of that city.
He was married in May, 1869, to Stella S. Coles, of Elmira, N. Y., who died in 1876, leaving one child, Edith, six years of age. Miss Edith, after graduating at the State Normal School at Mansfield, Pa., took a complete course of medicine at Philadelphia, Pa., graduating with honors. She is resident physician at Markleton Sanita- rium, Markleton, Somerset county, Pa.
Comrade Flower was married a second time, in 1877, to Miss Wilhelmina Vescelius, of Watkins, N. Y., by whom he has one son, Bert, born in 1SS2.
Mr. Flower's mother died in 1882.
EMANUEL HARPENDING.
Emanuel Harpending, son of Miner and Harriet (Ad- Bus) Harpending, of Altay, Schuyler county, N. Y., was orn at the above named place March 25, 1841. Hle re- . Fred his education in the common schools of his native :lice. His parents are both dead. He enlisted March
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4th, 1862, at Elmira, in Company I, 103rd Regiment N Y. Vols. He served with the same until in camp at Hat. teras Island, N. C., he was taken sick with malarial poi- soning and sent to the hospital in August, 1862. After a severe sickness he rejoined the company and regiment. participated in all marches and campaigns in which the company was engaged, but while on duty in the Shenay- doah Valley, in the fall of 1864, wasagain taken sick and sent to the hospital in Philadelphia, Pa., where he re- mained about two months and was removed to Chestnut Hill Hospital. When able to do duty he again joined the . regiment, taking up all the duties of camp and campaign. He was finally mustered out at New York city March 17th, 1865, with the three years men of his regiment (not re-enlisted) by reason of expiration of term of en- listment.
He returned to his home at Altay, and the next year removed to Waterloo, N. Y., where he has since resided. He was married Nov. 14, 1867, to Rosalia, daughter of Nathaniel and Laura (Spanks ) Seely, of Waterloo, N. Y.
Mr. and Mrs. Harpending have but one child, John, born March 11, 1879. In 1877, his disabilities, resulting from hisarmny service, had so far progessed that, suffering loss of memory and defective speech, requiring the con- stant care of another person. He is now a life-long crip- ple from his disabilities. His son lives at his father's home.
GARDINER HIBBARD.
Gardiner Hibbard was born August 28, 1848; the first born of George F. and Elizabeth Crum Hibbard, who were married in New York city.
My father was born in said city January 7. 1822, the oldest son of Oliver and Betsy Fowler Hibbard. The Hibbards are an old New York family, and many of the descendants still reside there. They formerly came from
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G C. HIBBARD
England in the 17th century and settled in Connecticut. Just previous to the Revolution they left Connecticut and came to New York city, and from there several enlisted in the line regiments and served through the war for In- dependence. The older stock spell the name Hebberd, but the younger ones write it as I do.
This family has always possessed strong patriotism, evincing it on all occasions when advocacy or defense of popular government became necessary. In politics Den- ocrats, and in religion Methodists.
My mother, Elizabeth Crum Hibbard, was born March 22, 1826, at Reynoldsville, Schuyler county, N. Y., and was the fourth child of Rev. Gardiner and Margaret White Crum.
The Crums came from Holland to New Jersey in the 17th century, and many of the family still reside there. They were farmers and settled in Monmouth county.
Rev. Gardiner Crum left New Jersey and came to Tomp- kins county, N. Y., and from there went to Schuyler coun- ty when his family grew to maturity, and remained until his death, in July, 1861.
Margaret White was a descendant of the Huguenots, her family settling in Philadelphia in an early day. She was a Quaker and remained such all her life.
The Gardiners came from Massachusetts to New Jer- sey, and one of them became the mother of my grand- father, Gardner Crum.
Ile, like myself, was the possessor of family names.
The Crums, like the Hibbards, were very patriotic and of strong convictions, politically and religiously. In politics Whig, Abolitionists and Republican.
In all the wars of the Republic they have borne their part with marked fidelity to the Government.
My parents died in Watkins, N. Y .- the mother in July, 1887, and the father in September, 1897. They were the
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parents of five children-three surviving. Like their an- cestors they were Methodists.
I was born in Beaver Dams, Schuyler county, N. Y., and when about one year old my parents returned to New York City, where they remained till November, 1861. when they moved to Watkins, N. Y., and there remained until their death.
My first enlistment was in the Fifth Cavalry, Ira Har- ris' Brigade of Cavalry, in Augast, 1861, stationed at Camp Scott, Staten Island.
My sojourn with this regiment was brief, for after three weeks I was unceremoniously taken from guard duty by the strong hand of my unexpected mother and inarched to the Captain's tent, of whom she made the request that I be immediately released and permitted to return home with her.
When she stated my age-thirteen -- the Captain smil- ingly granted her request, and I was soon back again 'mid the scenes and charms of the old Ninth Ward of New York City.
On March 10, 1862, three months after our arrival in Watkins, and while attending the academy, I again en- listed, this time joining Company I, 103d New York. The headquarters of the company was at Elmira, N. Y., and I joined it there on the same day of my enlistment and went with it to the seat of war March 21, 1862, and shared in its experience until I was taken sick and sent to Fort Clark Hospital, at Hatteras Island, N. C. While the company was en route to join the army of the Poto- . mac I was taken with a relapse and sent to Armory Square Hospital, Washington, D. C., and from there dis- charged. After convalescence I took up my studies again in the academy, and when fully recovered from the fevers of Hatteras I again entered the service, this time joining a Western regiment, in which I had many friends, and
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served, sharing its many perils and hardships, until after the war, when I returned to Watkins.
After a couple of weeks at home I went to Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie and took a course in book-keeping, and in the winter returned to Watkins and went to the academy. For some years succeeding this I was again in the West, and with Yankee facility I was turning my hand to several kinds of occupation out of which I could gain a livlihood. At one time taught school in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri.
In the spring of 1872 I returned to Watkins, where I engaged in business with my father. November 7, 1874, I married Lydia J. Higley, the daughter of Elijah and Electra Baldwin Higley, of Penn Yan, N. Y. The result of this union is a daughter, Adua Lucile, born in Elmira. January 1, 1882, to which place I moved in March, 1879, and now reside.
I am at present a Special State Excise Agent, and have been for three years.
In politics a Republican and in sympathy with my party's interpretation of all the great questions of the hour. Have been a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Post 165, Department New York, and com- mander of same; also Junior Vice-Department Con- mander in the year 1890. My life has been characterized by no distinguishing feature. I have been one of the sim- ple atoms constituting this great land of ours.
Through my union with the Higleys my daughter be- came possessed of some very strong strains of genuine Yankee blood-a blood that has been freely offered and shed in defence of the American people from the earliest colonial days to the present, for even now one of her cousins, Guy Higley, is with the First Tennessee in the Philippines.
The Higleys were an old English family, coming from Frimley, Surrey, England, and by marriage connected
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with the Brewsters, an ancient family of England, and to which belonged "Elder" William Brewster of the May- flower fame.
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Capt. John Higley, founder of the American Higleys, came to America in 1666, settling at Windsor, Connecti- cut. In his second marriage he was united to Sarah Strong, who was a decendant on both sides from the most prominent and distinguished families of Massachu- setts colonial history. Out of Capt. Higley's family came Governors Joseph and Jonathan Trumball, of Connecti- cut. The latter was the friend of Washington, and the typical Brother Jonathan of American history; Dr. Sam- uel Higley, the maker of the first copper coin in America. and the ever-glorious and world-famous John Brown, of Harper's Ferry.
RICHARD HILL. ·
Richard Hill was born of poor but respectable parents in England, January 18, 1842. His mother died in 1850. The father remarried in 1851. There were six children in the family. In 1853 Richard, his oldest sister, with their step-mother, came to the United States, leaving the father with the remaining children to come later, but the father was taken sick and died in 1855.
The subject of this sketch and sister found situations with farmers in the town of Hector, Schuyler County. N. Y. Richard was working at North Hector, on Seneca Lake, when the war broke out, and became imbued with a desire to enlist, which desire was granted the next win- ter. He was enrolled February 11, 1862, in Captain William M. Crosby's Company I, 103d Regiment, New York Volunteers, at Elmira, N. Y. From this time Com- rade Hill's life was very much like that of the other mem- bers of the company -the drill, the organization, the "on to Washington" March 21, the embarkation at Aunapo- lis. Md., a few days later, and the landing at Newberne.
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RICHARD HILL
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N. C., April 1st, 1862. Comrade Hill was with the com- pany during the three years of his enlistment, ever ready for duty, except, perhaps, during temporary sickness in camp under care of regimental surgeon.
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