History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 104

Author: Durant, Samuel W; Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 862

USA > New York > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 104

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The 8th Infantry was soon after this last date ordered to Florida, and Lieut. Smith was relieved by Major M. M. Payne, of the 2d Artillery, with two companies of his regiment. He remained in command at the barracks from Sept. 22 to Oet. 4, 1840, and was succeeded by

Lieut .- Colonel J. B. Crane, 2d Artillery, Oct. 4 to Nov. 12, 1840. Major M. M. Payne, 2d Artillery, Nov. 12, 1840, to Aug. 13, 1841. Major F. S. Belton, 4th Artillery, Aug. 13, 1841, to June 24, 1842.

The Artillery was relieved by Major J. Plymton, 2d In- fantry, with three companies of his regiment. Major Plym- ton assumed command June 24, 1842, and was relieved Dee. 4, 1844, by Captain J. J. B. Kingsbury, of the same regiment. Major Plympton again took command Jan. 30, 1845, and stayed till Aug. 13, 1846, when the troops were sent to the Mexican border, and the barracks left in charge of Ordnance-Sergeant Gaines from that time until Nov. 13, 1848.

In the fall of 1844 a theatre was established in the lower end of the eastern row of men's quarters, by Lieut. Alfred

# November 17, 1838.

+ From Medical Ilistory of the Post.

415

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Sully, of the 2d Infantry, and several young men of the village, and the drama was patronized to a considerable cx- tent. The scenery and decorations were the work of Lieut. Sully, who possessed considerable genius in that line.

November 13, 1848, the barracks were occupied by Ma- jor T. Lee, of the 4th Infantry, with two companies of his regiment. He was followed Sept. 7, 1849, by Lieut .- Col. B. L. E. Bonneville, of the same regiment. After him the post-commander was the eolonel of this regiment, Colonel William Whistler, in charge from June 27, 1851, to June 18, 1852, at which latter date the post was left in charge of Ordnance-Sergeant Gaines, and was unoccupied for nearly nine years, or until the breaking out of the Rebellion in 1861. The buildings and fences became badly dilapidated, and certain parties living in the neighborhood plundered more or less of value from the premises. While the 94th Regiment was quartered here, with Colonel W. B. Camp in command of the barracks by virtue of his rank on the Governor's staff, First-Lieut. George Ryan, 7th U. S. In- fantry, with Company B of his regiment, paroled prisoners from the Indian country, joined the barracks Dec. 22, 1861.

" Lieut. Ryan, on his arrival with his small company of paroled, dispirited men, found themselves quite swallowed up by the new regiment of young, eager, undisciplined, raw recruits under Colonel Camp, whose position as a nominal officer on the Governor's staff invited controversy and trouble, and it was not long before it came, in the shape of a dispute for the command of the post. Lieut. Ryan put the question to the test by arresting Colonel Camp's guard, and by substituting his own instead. The difficulty was settled by the War Department confining Lieut. Ryan's author- ity to the limits of the quartermaster's and commissary's store-house till the 94th left."*

The 94th and Lt. Ryan's Co. (B) of the 7th were crowded into the men's quarters, and as there were nearly a thousand of them, and the ventilation was either bad or totally wanting, these causes, combined with a wrong mode of living, produced many cases of fever among the men, at- tended with considerable mortality. Lt. Ryan was relieved April 29, 1862, by Capt. M. R. Stevenson, of the 7th In- fantry, also a paroled prisoner from the Indian country. Stevenson died while in command, Oet. 8, 1862. In 1864, after the 186th N. Y. Vols. had left, the barracks had be- coule sadly out of repair by general misuse, and Capt. Elisha Camp, A. Q. M., U.S.A., was ordered ou from Washington, with a force of skilled earpenters, to put it in a good state of repair. Ile expended some $13,000, and placed everything once more in good shape.

From November 8, 1864, to February, 1865, 1st Lt. Walter Clifford oceupied the barracks with a detachment' of the 16th U. S. Infantry. " From March 5, 1865, to May 10, 1865, Capt. Pliny Moore, with one company of frontier cavalry, occupied the place with the above detach- ment of the 16th Infantry, and Capt. H. F. Turner, with the same command, held the place from May 10 to June 25, 1865. This frontier cavalry was employed in protecting the northern frontier from such raiding-parties as that which plundered St. Alban's, Vt., in 1864, and for watching

the suspicious sympathizers of the rebels going to and from Canada. The company of this organization stationed at this place guarded the line from Cape Vincent to Henderson Bay."+

From June 20, 1865, to March 29, 1866, Col. C. C. Sibley, of the 16th Infantry, commanded the barracks, then occupied by portions of the 1st and 2d battalions of his regiment and one company of the 4th Infantry. Lt .- Col. A. J. Slemmer, of the latter regiment, and during the war in command of Fort Pickens, on Santa Rosa island, near Pensacola, Florida, had charge of the post from March 29 to Sept. 29, 1866, being relicved at the latter date by Capt. William H. Powell, also of the 4th Infantry, who remained in command till March 25, 1867. From June 20, 1865, to April 30, 1867, the headquarters of the 16th Infantry was established here. March 25, 1867, the de- tachments of the 4th and 16th Infantry were relieved by 2d Lt. A. C. Bayne, 42d U. S. Infantry (Veteran Reserve Corps). Brevet Major Tully McCrea, captain of Co. C of this regiment, commanded the post from April 15 to April 29, 1867, and was succeeded by Bvt. Maj .- Gen. J. B. MeIntosh, who transferred the headquarters of the regiment from Plattsburg Barracks to this place, where it remained till April 13, 1869, when the regiment took its departure for Fort Gibson, C. T., to be consolidated with the 6th U. S. Infantry. While Gen. McIntosh was in command, about $25,000 worth of repairs and painting was put upon the barracks.

The following officers of the 42d Regiment, V. R. C., had command of the barracks succeeding Gen. MeIntosh :

Maj. T. F. Roderbaugh, from Dec. 12, 1867, to May 26, 1868. Bvt. Major C. T. Greene, from May 26 to June 3, 1868. Maj. T. F. Roderbaugh, from June 7 to August 20, 1868. Bvt. Major C. T. Greene, from Aug. 20 to Oct. 5, 1868. Maj. T. F. Roderbaugh, from Oct. 5, 1868, to Feb. 16, 1869. Bvt. Maj. C. T. Greene, from Feb. 16 to March 5, 1869.

Bvt. Brig .- Gen. T. F. Roderbaugh, from March 5 to April 13, 1869.

On the latter date, 1st Lt. A. Miltemore, 1st U. S. Ar- tillery, with a small detachment of Battery F, arrived at the post, and on the 14th Bvt. Lt .- Col. R. C. Duryea arrived with the remainder of the battery, and assumed command, which he held until May 26, 1870, when the troops were removed to Ogdensburgh. The next person we find in command is Major C. L. Best, of the 1st Artillery. The troops in garrison during October, 1870, were those of Battery F, Ist Artillery, and Company B, Ist U. S. In- fantry.

October 31, 1870, Mrs. Eliza C. Ilarrington, wife of William M. Harrington, present hospital steward, was ap- pointed hospital matron, which position she has since filled. Mr. Harrington has been on duty at this post sinee the month of August, 1870.

November 1, 1872, Major Best left with Battery F, and turned over the command to 1st Lt. John L. Worden, Jr., of Co. B, 1st Infantry. December 7, Battery D, 3d Artil- lery, arrived, and its captain, John G. Trumbull, assumed command of the post by virtue of his rank. Lt. Worden was a son of Commodore Worden, U.S.N., commander of

# Medical History of Post.

+ Ibid.

416

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

the Monitor at the time of her engagement with the Mer- rimac in Hampton Roads, in March, 1862. He was much estcemed by all who knew him, but was most unfortunately much given to drinking. The habit became so strong, and preyed on his mind to such an extent, that he finally eom- mitted suicide, to the universal regret of his friends and acquaintances.

Lt .- Col. R. B. Ayres, of the 3d U. S. Artillery, assumed command of the post Dec. 10, 1872. After his departure Lt. Abbott commanded for a short time, but the next regular commander after Col. Ayres was Major and Bvt. Brig .- Gen. James M. Robertson, also of the 3d U. S. Artil- lery, who is now in charge. The garrison at present (Sep- tember, 1877) is small, consisting of only five or six men. . Two companies were stationed here until the spring of 1877, when one of them was sent to Fort Schuyler, in New York Harbor, and the other to the eastern coal-mining region of Pennsylvania, to suppress strikers. General Rob- crtson is a fine gardener, and having little else to do since his arrival at the barracks, has spent much time in perfect- ing the garden. He is a native of New Hampshire, and entered the United States service in 1838. In 1848, after serving in the Mexican war as private, he was commissioned 2d Licut. in the 2d U. S. Artillery.

DUELS.

Among the duels which have taken place here the most noted was one which occurred on the 13th of June, 1818. The following account of it was published in the Sacket's Harbor Gazette and Advertiser of Tuesday, June 16, 1818:

" Melancholy Occurrence .- On Saturday last two promising young men, by the names of James Hany and Malachi P. Varian, both cor- porals in the 2d Regiment, U. S. Infantry, at Madison Barracks, mutually agreed to fight each other with muskets. Their muskets were loaded, and between 5 and 6 o'clock p.M. they walked side by side, apparently in good humor, to the bank of the lake, adjoining the barraeks, then turned back to back, marehed 5 or 6 paces each, and, at the word ' ready,' wheeled, and Hany discharged his piece, loaded with powder and ball, the contents of which passed through the heart of Varian, wbo fell and instantly expired. A coroner's inquest was ealled, and, after investigating the subject, returned a verdict that the said Variau came to his death by the unlawful discharge of a musket loaded as aforesaid by Sergeant John Loper, and discharged at the word ' fire,' given by Sergeant Fraueis Powley. The three persons implicated were immediately arrested, and committed to Watertown jail to await their trial at the Court of Oyer and Terminer, to be holden on the 29th inst."

At the trial of these men, held July 2, 1818, at Water- town, Hany was found guilty of manslaughter, and sen- tenenced to ten years in the State prison. The others were discharged. The facts afterward came out that this duel was caused through the jealousy of Sergeant Loper, who made himself conspicuous as a talc-bearer. Varian, the man killed, was said to have been a man of culture and talent, and a cousin of Governor Daniel D. Tompkins. His gun was afterward found not to have been loaded with ball. The same year (1818) a duel was fought between Major Smith and Lieut. Palmer of the 2d Infantry,-weapons, pistols. Smith was wounded in the right arm.

PROMINENT MILITARY MEN.

Among the members of the army who were at one time stationed here, and have since distinguished themselves in

military or civil life, the first name to be mentioned is that of General U. S. Grant, later the oceupant of the highest position in the land. He was stationed with his regiment, the 4th U. S. Infantry, of which lic was then Lieutenant and Quartermaster, from some time in 1849 until 1852. The commander of the post, Col. William Whistler, was the father of a gay daughter, who every night had the band out playing for her especial benefit. With this custom Grant lost patience, and would nearly every evening go down to the village for some pleasure more to his liking. He was an intimate acquaintance and friend of Daniel McCulloch, then collector of customs, and these two made a portion of a party at whist, which was a favorite game of Lieut. Grant's and one in which he was a proficient. He was always quict and gentlemanly, and left pleasant recol- lections behind him when he departed for other scenes. Mr. McCulloch speaks of meeting him afterwards at St. Louis, during his residence there, and renewing the old acquaintance, since which time he has seen him but once, and that on the occasion of a presidential trip through this part of the country. When the 4th Regiment left the barracks Mr. McCulloch furnished them money from funds in his possession.

General Nathaniel Lyon, who was killed at Wilson's Creek, near Springfield, Missouri, during the Rebellion, was stationed here before the war, then with the rank of lieutenant.

The rebel General S. B. Buckner, of Fort Donelson fame, was also stationed here previous to the war, then a lieutenant.

Licut. Alfred Sully, who was here at the same time with Lieut. (afterward General) Lyon, in 1844, and rendered himself famous in a theatrical line, is now General Sully, of Indian fighting notoriety, at present on the western border.

The associations, both pleasant and otherwisc, eonnected with Madison Barracks through so long a term of years, will cling tenaciously to the vicinity for many years to come, and though they who have thus far been familiar with them personally shall pass away, cach succeeding genera- tion will have a pride in the locality and its history, ren- dered important by the part their ancestors played in its infancy. Though the barracks at last shall crumble away, the old stockade rot to pieces, and the old earthwork be leveled, yet will a certain military feeling spring up at thought of the scenes enacted here, and an air of military aristocracy, the prestige of the old régime, be connected with the place and its inhabitants for "lo! these many years."

Acknowledgments are due to the following persons for favors received in the way of information : For the town, Rev. Lebbeus Field and son, Mrs. Lucy Blin (of Sacket's Harbor), Leonard Allen and son, Wm. Warren, and others; for Sacket's Harbor and vicinity, Captain Daniel Read, Walter B. Camp, Leonard Denison, Henry Metcalf and son, Hon. T. Canfield, the officers of Madison Barracks, I. W. Inglehart, D. O. De Wolf, B. Eveleigh, Noah E. Bacon, the pastors of the churches, David Millington, John Wall- ing, G. E. Butterfield, Daniel McCulloch, and many others.

RESIDENCE OF SYLVESTER BENJAMIN, HOUNSFIELD,, JEFFERSON CO.N.Y.

RESIDENCE OF F. R.SMITH, HOUNSFIELD, JEFFERSON CO., N. Y.

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

417

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

ALITTLE

Andrew Strutto

Andrew Smith was born Oet. 17, 1816, in " Field's Set- tlement," in the town of Hounsfield, Jefferson Co. He was the eldest in a family of six children. His father, Richard Smith, was a native of Woodstock, Conn., and came to Watertown about the year 1811, and shortly after- ward was enrolled as an " Artificer," and served during the war. After its elose he purchased 50 acres of land lying contiguous to the farm now owned by his grandson, F. R. Smith, and where he lived until his death, which occurred April 6, 1868. He was a man of sterling qualities, and largely identified with the early history of this section of the township. The only educational advantages afforded in those days were the country common schools ; these our subject attended in the winter, working upon his father's farm in the summer. He, however, acquired a good practi- cal education. Industry, economy, and integrity were the first and last lessons of his boyhood. They were the guide of his life, which is attested by the success he met with in business, and the high respect and love of his neighbors. Although Mr. Smith took a proper interest in political mat- ters, the whole ambition of his life and motive spring of every effort was to be a good farmer. When twenty-six years of age he married Miss Esther W. Collius, daughter of John and Catherine (Potter) Collins, who were among the early settlers of Watertown. They were natives of Rhode Island, and emigrated to Jefferson County in the year 1811. Mrs. Smith was born Oct. 18, 1819, and sur- 27

vives her husband, and her ruddy face and bright eye be- speak health and a long life, and is all that is expressed in the terms amiable and intelligent. After their marriage Mr. Smith rented his father's farm, which he carried on for several years. Being successful, he purchased land, and soon became the proprietor of one of the finest farms in the township, and one of the leading farmers, and a man of rare business ability. Thoroughly appreciated by his fellow- townsmen, he was elected to the office of supervisor, which position he filled with eredit to himself and his constituents, and as an acknowledgment of his ability, sterling worth, and high social qualities, he was nominated for two success- ive terms for the Assembly ; but his party being largely in the minority, he was defeated. Mr. Smith was pre-emi- nently a self-made man. Beginning life when the country was new, with only his natural resources for his capital, he worked himself up to a high position, socially and other- wise. With a grasp of perception and a masterly manage- ment of all, he conquered success in every movement of his life, which is an illustrious example to young quen of the capabilities of character and manhood. He died July S, 1876, leaving his widow and three children to mourn his loss.

His children were all born upon the old farm. Uretta E., wife of Henry O. Kenyon, Esq., of Adams; Frank R., born Oet. 25, 1849; Alice, born June 30, 1860. Two children, Viola and Irwin R., preceded their father.

418

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

ALITTLE

MERRICK M. BATES.

It is a great thing to live; it is a greater to live to a purpose. It has been the lot of the deserving, modest, and unassuming to be passed in silence. The benefit is enjoyed while its producer is disregarded. To preserve the memory of the worthy is to act justly. Merrick M. Bates was born in the town of Brimfield, Mass., July 10, 1801, and was the second in a family of two sons and two daugh- ters. In the spring of 1801 his father, Samuel Bates, in company with Aaron Blodgett, came from Massachusetts and purchased two hundred and eighty-five acres of land in the southeast corner of the town of Hounsfield. Erecting a log house and making some slight improvements, he re- turned to Massachusetts in the fall, and in December of 1802 returned with his family. Upon the breaking out of the War of 1812 he enlisted in Captain Camp's artillery company, and was one of the crew who worked the thirty- two-pound gun so effectively that the British fleet were unable to obtain an entrance to Sacket's Harbor. He assisted in the construction of the barracks, where he con- tracted a fit of sickness which terminated his life Feb. 13, 1813. The death of his father threw many responsibilities upon young Merrick, he being the eldest son and the main dependence of his widowed mother, and his early life was one of toil and privation, and owing to the limited means of the family but slight aid was received from the district school, but whatever of ability was possessed obtained strength by improved opportunity. In military matters Mr. Bates has been quite prominent. He was colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment of New York Light Artillery, and was regarded as a strict disciplinarian and an able officer.

In 1816 he married Miss Abigail Stowell, daughter of Osline Stowell, by whom he had ten children, eight of whom are now living. Mrs. Bates was all that is expressed in the terms amiable and intelligent. The attachment be- tween husband and wife but strengthened with time; they lived in harmony and labored in unison, and when she closed her eyes upon this world, in July, 1846, it was in a full faith in a higher existence.

Mr. Bates is still living upon the old farm, and although in his seventy-sixth year still retains much of his former energy and vigor. He has always been a careful and success- ful farmer, and by a long and active life has shown himself a man of character and a useful member of society. Be- neath his observation, in a grand life-panorama, Jefferson County has been organized and developed into one of the fairest and foremost agricultural regions in northern New York. It is in keeping with the self-abnegation of such men that they have retired to the background and quietly look on as the great and varied interests of which they have laid the foundation are seen to rise and extend in promi- nence and utility. It is questioned what resource is left to the aged when no longer able to pursue an accustomed round of labor. Merrick M. Bates is qualified to reply. He has marked out and pursued a line of action whose good has proved a satisfaction. He has enjoyed the quiet of home, the retirement of the farm, and attention to matters of personal concern, and his long life affords a marked contrast to the brief existence of the votaries of pleasure and the prematurely exhausted members of the stock-cx- change.

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

419

LITTLE

IRA IIALL.

IRA HALL.

In the year 1798, Samuel Hall, father of the subject of this sketch, came from Connecticut, with his family, to Madison Co., N. Y., and purchased a small farm, being a man of very limited means. Upon this farm he resided until his death, which occurred in 1841. Ira lived with his father until he was twenty-seven years of age. Al- though his parents were poor, he received the advantages of an academical education, which he made practically use- ful to himself and others by teaching, which occupation he followed for ten years. He was married April 3, 1827, to Miss Sophia Fort, and thinking it advisable to secure a home, he loaded his goods upon wagons and started for Hounsfield, where he purchased 109 acres of new land, which is a part of his present farm, and which is at this date one of the best in the town. Mr. Hall has been a successful farmer, and to his first purchase has added ncarly 100 acres. By a long life of honesty, integrity, and well-doing, he has secured the love and esteem of his fellow-townsmen. In evidence, it is only necessary to say that he has filled the office of justice of the peace for twelve years ; that of postmaster for twenty-eight years, and that of assessor for three years.

In 1831 his wife died, and in the spring of 1832 he married Maudina Swift, of St. Lawrence county. By his first wife he had two children : one died in infancy, and a son, Joel, now living near Watertown. By his second wife he has had eight children, six of whom are living. Ira, an attorney, is a resident of M. O .; Edwin W., presi- dent of Chaddock College, at Quincy, Ill. ; Sophia A. re- sides with her father; Winfield Scott Hall is completing his course at Chaddock College.

CORNELIUS W. INGLEHART.

Cornelius W. Inglchart was born May 11, 1811, in the town of Oswegatchic, St. Lawrence Co. In the fall of 1812 his parents moved to the town of Philadelphia, then called Quaker Settlement. The town was at this time nearly a wilderness, and many incidents of pioneer life are still fresh in his memory, and our readers will be interested in reading in the history of the town of Philadelphia the details of an exciting race which his father had with a bear, and which, perhaps, was the most remarkable one ever witnessed in Jef- ferson County. In the winter or spring of 1814 his parents moved to Watertown, and were residing in the town when the battle of Sacket's Harbor was fought, on the 29th of May, 1814. The next fall or winter his parents moved to Hounsfield, and purchased a small farm of Elisha Camp, for which he paid five dollars per acre. . Since this time Mr. Inglehart has been a resident of Hounsfield, with the ex- ception, perhaps, of two or three years. His advantages for education were of course limited to the common schools of that day ; but there are probably but few men that are possessed of more general knowledge than he, as he has al- ways been an inveterate reader, his authors few and well chosen. In his library history, poetry, and science predom- inate, while fiction has no place. He has been prominently identified with the political history of his town and county ; was a Democrat until that party passed under the rule of the slave oligarchy of the South, when he joined the free- soil movement. In conjunction with O. W. Baker, he helped organize the Republican party in his town, and was delegate to the first Republican county convention, as dele- gate from Hounsfield, and was also delegate to the State convention in the fall of 1854, and took the stump as inde-

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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

pendent candidate for the Assembly. This divided the Democratic vote and eleeted the Whig candidate. Mr. Inglehart may be classed as a radical in temperance, reli- gion, and politics ; has never drank a drop of liquor or used tobacco in any form. He has held several national, town, and municipal offices, took an active part in procuring the construction of the railroad from Sacket's Harbor to Water- town, and was appointed one of the railroad commissioners. Was one of the original founders of the National Union

Bank of Watertown, and was for years a director in the Agricultural Insurance Co. He has been married four times, and has had eight children, five of whom are living. Mr. Inglehart has always been an industrious man, and by economy and good management has acquired a competency, which he is enjoying, with just sufficient labor to benefit both body and mind. Honesty. punctuality, and prompt- ness were the first and last lessons of his boyhood. All in all, he is an exemplar of a life well spent.

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History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 104

Author: Durant, Samuel W; Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 862

Author: Durant, Samuel W; Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 862