USA > New York > Onondaga County > History of Onondaga County, New York > Part 28
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" My lines are broken in three places. Richmond 'must be evacuated this evening."
The message reached Davis at 11 A. M. in church, when he quietly read it and retired. It produced a profound dread and apprehension of the impending fate of the city. "Men, women and children rushed from the churches, passing from lip to lip the news of the impending fall of Richmond ; or, whispering with white lips, the foe, they come, they come."
This was a terrible revelation to burst in upon the calm of that beautiful spring Sunday morning. Says Pollard : " It was difficult to believe it. To look up to the calm, beautiful sky of that spring day, unassailed by one single noise of battle, to
watch the streets, unvexed by artillery or troops, stretching away into the quiet, hazy atmosphere, and believe that the capital of the Confederacy, so peaceful, so apparently secure, was in a few hours to be the prey of the enemy, and to be wrapped in the infernal horrors of a conflagration !"
Richmond was evacuated that night. The rebels set fire to the city with their own hands. The flames were quenched before producing utter de- struction by Union soldiers who first entered the city under Gen. Weitzel, Monday morning, April 3, 1865. Before noon of that day the news of Rich- mond's fall had been flashed across the loyal States, and was soon confirmed by telegrams from President Lincoln, then at City Point, and from the Secretary of War at Washington. Petersburg was evacuated simultaneously with Richmond, and so noiselessly that our pickets, scarcely a stone's throw from the abandoned lines, knew not that the enemy were mov- ing till morning showed that they were gone. The rebel government, with its belongings, had passed down the railroad several miles north of Petersburg to Danville, where it halted, and whither Lee hoped to follow with the rest of his army, and thence form a junction with Johnston in North Carolina. Here the last important battle before the surrender, oc- curred, in which our army took 1,400 prisoners. On the 6th of April, Gen. Davies struck Lee's train, moving in advance of his infantry, at Paine's Cross Roads, and destroyed iSo wagons, capturing four guns and a large number of prisoners. Ord, on the same day, reaching out from Jetersville, struck the head of Lee's advancing columns at Farmville, as it was preparing to cross the Appo- mattox. Here a sharp engagement took place. Brig. Gen. Theodore Read was killed. The attack, however, arrested the march of the enemy. Lee crossed the Appomattox on the night of the 6th, and his rear guard had just crossed and set fire to the bridges at dawn on the morning of the 7th, when the second corps (Ilumphreys') which had now taken the lead, rushed up in time to save the bridge on the wagon road. Over this Barlow's division crossed, capturing 18 guns which had been aban- doned by the rear guard of the rebels in their hasty retreat. The rebels halted and intrenched them- selves four or five miles north of Farmville, where they were attacked by a portion of our forces, and again retreated on the night of the 7th to Appo- mattox Station. Here they were overtaken on Sunday the 9th by our main force. Griffin and Ord, with the 5th, 24th, and one division of the 25th corps, by a forced march, reached Appomattox Sta- tion about daylight in the morning. Greeley gives
I33
HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
the following account of the situation, when the two armies confronted each other for the last time as belligerents :
" Sheridan was with his cavalry near the Court House, when the Army of Virginia made its last charge. By his order, his troopers, who were in line of battle, dismounted, giving ground gradually while showing a steady front, so as to allow our weary infantry time to form and take position. This effected, the horsemen moved swiftly to the right and mounted, revealing lines of solid infantry in battle array, before whose wall of gleaming bayonets the astonished enemy recoiled in blank despair, as Sheridan and his troopers, passing briskly round the rebel left, prepared to charge the confused, reeling mass. A white flag was now waved by the enemy before Gen. Custer, who held our cavalry advance, with the information that they had concluded to surrender. Riding over to Appo- mattox Court House, Gen. Sheridan was met by Gen. Gordon, who requested a suspension of hostili- ties, with the assurance that negotiations were then pending between Gens. Grant and Lee for a capitulation.'
The correspondence had begun between the two generals on the 7th of April, and the capit- ulation was completed on the 9th. Lieutenant Hiram Clark of Company G, in the 185th regiment, was the last man killed in the war. He had com- mand of the skirmish line at Appomattox before the surrender, and while the flag of truce was be- ing borne in, was struck and completely disem- boweled by a rebel shell. He was buried under a chestnut tree near Appomattox Court House. He was a noble officer and much beloved by his regiment.
After the surrender, the 185th, with some other regiments, were detailed to take charge of the rebel prisons and to collect the rebel arms and munitions of war ; and were thus occupied for four or five days. The arms and ammunition were sent to Burksville. Among them were 52 brass cannon, very fine pieces, which had been dismantled and buried by the Confederates on the field at Appo- mattox.
The Union forces, except the 2d corps, were ordered towards Danville to assist Gen. Sherman, and were sent forward to Burksville. The 185th, after three days in camp, were ordered to Wilson's Station on the South-side Railroad, where they re- mained in camp till the first of May, and were thence ordered to move to Manchester, across the James from Richmond. On the 5th of May they received marching orders for Alexandria, started on Satur- day morning, the 6th, and that day crossed the Pa- munkey River on pontoons ; passing through Bow- ling Green, they crossed the Rappahannock at Fred-
ericksburg, and arrived at Arlington Heights on the 13th, at 8 o'clock A. M., after a tedious all-night march. They remained in camp at Arlington Heights till the grand review in the City of Wash- ington, on the 23d of May, 1865, when the Presi- dent reviewed the entire army. Returning to camp after the review, they remained till they were mus- tered out of the service on the 30th day of May, A. D., 1865. Leaving Arlington at 3 P. M., on the 31st, they met with a grand reception of citizens on their way home, at Geneva, N. Y., and arrived in Syracuse on the 3d day of June, where a committee of their fellow-citizens were in readiness to give them a welcome home. On the 10th of June, at Camp White, they were paid off and discharged by Major Littlefield, Paymaster.
OFFICIAL RECORD AND LIST OF PROMOTIONS OF THE 185TH REGIMENT.
Edwin S. Jenney, Col., rank from Sept. 19, '64, discharged Feb. 3, '65 ; Gustavus Sniper, Lieut .- Col., rank from Sept. 17, '64, promoted to Col. Feb. 14, '65, (Brevet Brig .- Gen., U. S V.) mustered out with the regiment May 30, '65 ; Theodore M. Barber, Ist Lieut., rank from Sept. 19,'64, promoted to Capt., Jan. 3, '65, to Lieut .- Col. Mar. 30, '65, mustered out May 30, '65 ; John Leo, Major, rank from Sept. 19, '64, died of disease Dec. 3, '64 ; Robert P. Bush, Capt., rank from Sept. 24, '64, promoted to Major Dec. 3, '64, mustered out May 30, '65 ; Byron Mudge, Adj't, rank from Sept. 7, '64, mustered out May 30, '65 ; William Gilbert, Q. M., rank from Sept. 2, '64, mustered out May 30, '65 ; Charles W. Crary, Surgeon, rank from Sept. 17, '64, mustered out May 30, '65, (Brevet Lieut .- Col., N. Y. V.); Gilbert I. Newcomb, Assistant- Surgeon, rank from Sept. 26, '64, mustered out May 30, '65 ; William M. Bradford, Asst .- Surgeon, rank from Sept. 26, '64, mustered out May 30, '65 ;
Chester W. Hawley, Chaplain, rank from Oct. 10, '64, resigned April 29, '65 ; Stephen O. Howard, Capt., rank from Sept. 2, '64, mustered out May 30, '65 (Brevet Major, U. S. V.); John W. Strow- bridge, Capt., rank from Sept. 7, '64, mustered out May 30, '65 ; Albert H. Barber, Capt., rank from Sept. 13, '64, mustered out May 30,'65 ; John List- man, Capt., rank from Sept. 17, '64, mustered out May 30, '65 ; E. M. Bander, Ist Lieut, rank from Sept. 2, '64, promoted to Capt. Feb. 3, '65, not mus- tered, died April 15,'65; W. A. Rapp, ist Lieut., rank from Sept. 17, '64, promoted to Capt. May 11, '65, mustered out May 30, '65 ; Henry D. Carhart, Capt., rank from Sept. 19, '64, died before muster ; John T. Hostler, Ist Lieut., rank from Sept. 19, '64' promoted to Capt. Dec. 24, '64, (Brevet Capt. U. S. V.,) discharged June 2, '65, (Brevet Major U. S. V.); Daniel L. Lathrop, Capt., rank from Sept. 19, '64, mustered out May 30,'65; David Chrysler, Capt., rank from Sept. 19, '64, mustered out May 30, '65 ; Jared T. Abbott, Capt., rank from Sept. 19, '64, mustered out May 30, '65 ; Abram Spore, Capt.,
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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
rank from Sept. 19, '644, mustered out May 30, '65 ; Daniel Minier, 2d Lieut., rank from Sept. 13, '64, promoted to ist Lieut. Feb. 3, '65, killed in action March 29, '65 ; Andrew J. Lyman, Ist Lieut., rank from Sept. 7, 64, mustered out May 30, '65 : Iliram Clark, Ist Licut , rank from Sept. 13, '64, kille 1 in action April 9, '65 ; Henry H. Kelsey, Ist Lieut., rank from April 27. '65, mustered out May 30, '65 ; Pembroke Pierce, 2d Lieut., rank from Sept. 17, '64, promoted to ist Lieut. May 11, '65, mustered out May 30, '65 ; Herbert C. Rorepaugh, Ist Lieut., rank from Sept. 17, '64, mustered out May 10, '65; F. Augustus Schemerhorn, 2d Licut., rank from Dec. 23, 64, promoted to ist Lieut. Jan. 23, '65, mustered out May 30, '65 ; Lewis Edgar, 2d Lieut., rank from Sept. 19, '64, promoted to ist Lieut., Dec. 24, '64, mustered out May 30. '65 ; Stephen S. Jordan, ist Lieut., rank from Sept. 19, '64, discharged Feb. 27, '65 ; Jerome C. Gates, 2d Lieut., rank from Dec. 4, '64, promoted to Ist Lieut. Mar. 30, '65, mustered out May 30, '65 ; H1. Wadsworth Clarke, Ist Lieut., rank from Sept. 19,'64, (Brevet Capt. N. Y. V.), mustered out May 30, '65 ; Cyrus A. Phillips, Ist Licut., rank from Sept. 19, '64, not mustered, commission revoked ; Thomas S. Wallace, ist Lieut., rank from Dec. 23, '64, not mustered, failed to report to regi- ment : William A. Brooks, 2d Lieut., rank from Sept. 2, '64, discharged Mar. 20, '65 : William H.
Hamilton, 2d Lieut., rank from April 27, '65. mustered out May 30, '65 ; Harrison Givins, 2d Lieut., rank from Sept. 7, '64, discharged Dec. 28, '64; A. A. Abbott, 2d Lieut., rank from April 27, '65, resigned May 22, '65 : John I. Isaacs, 2d Lieut., rank from Feb. 3,'65, mustered out May 30, '65 ; John Herron, 2d Lieut., rank from Sept. 17. '64, mustered out May 30, '65 : J. W. Mercer, 2d Lieut., rank from April 27, '65, mustered out May 30, '65 ; Warren L. Winslow, ad Lieut., rank from May 19, '65, not mustered ; Charles G. Rector, 2d Licut., rank from Sept. 19, '64, (Brevet Capt. U. S. V', mustered out May 30, '65 : Henry Q. Kings- ley, 2d Lieut., rank from Sept. 19, '64, died of disease Mar. 31, '65 ; Norman W. Smith, 2d Lieut .. rank from April 27, '65, mustered out May 30, '65 ; Stephen Hitchcock, ed Lieut .. rank from Sept. 19, '64, not mustered, commission revoked ; Daniel L. Baker, 2d Lieut .. rank from Mar. 21, '65, mustercd out May 30, '65 ; Jacob M. Doran, 2d Licut., rank from Sept. 19, '64, discharged Mar. 20, '65 ; Hiram Wiard, 2d Lieut., rank from Mar. 20, '65, mustered out May 30. '65 ; B. H. Smith, 2d Lieut., rank from Mar. 20, '65, not mustered ; Frederick H. Bremen, 2d Lieut., rank from April 27, '65, not mustered.
Private A. Everson, of this regiment, was awarded a medal of honor by the Secretary of War.
WEITING
BLOCK
CLINTON SQUARE, SYRACUSE.N.Y
HISTORY
OF THE
CITY OF SYRACUSE.
INTRODUCTION.
T HE CITY OF SYRACUSE is situated on the line of the New York Central Railroad, a very little over three hundred miles from the city of New York, and is the county seat of Onondaga county. From its central location both in the county and the State, it has also received the appropriate name of the CENTRAL CITY. Besides the Central Railroad, which cuts through its center, there are the Oswego and Syracuse division of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western, the Syracuse, Binghamton and New York, the Syracuse Northern and the Syracuse and Chenango Valley railroads, lending their trade and commerce, together with the Erie and Oswego canals. The growth of the city has been remarka- ble, considering the condition of things in this locality sixty years ago, when the site was a dismal and unhealthy swamp, and there were no roads nor other means of communication with the outside world. The few huts then planted in the wilder- ness have given place to palatial residences, grand and imposing business structures, elegant churches and broad and spacious streets and avenues. On every hand may be seen a wealth of architectural beauty and a profusion and elegance of public and private grounds, parks, lawns, cultivated trees, shrubbery and flower gardens, which contrast strik- ingly with the rude and straggling hamlet of even fifty years past. From a small village of about three hundred inhabitants, Syracuse has emerged into a city of nearly sixty thousand people. It is interesting to trace the history of such a city from its beginning, and to note its different steps of pro- gress, till it has attained the eminent position it holds to-day among the centers of commercial
wealth, civilization and social refinement, of our country.
ORIGINAL SITE OF THE CITY.
The original site of Syracuse was known as the " Walton Tract." It consisted of two hundred and fifty acres of the Salt Springs Reservation, sold by act of the Legislature in 1804, and purchased by Abraham Walton in June of that year, for the sum of six thousand five hundred and fifty dollars, or about twenty-six dollars and twenty cents an acre. The land was located and surveyed by James Ged- des, under the direction of the Surveyor-General, Simeon DeWitt, and the proceeds applied to the improvement of a portion of the old Seneca Turn- pike, running from lot No. 49 in Manlius to lot No. 38 in Onondaga. The boundaries of this tract ap- pear from the old maps of Syracuse to have been laid out by Mr. Geddes in a very irregular form, owing to his attempt to avoid the swamp, which, however, he was unable to do. A considerable portion of the land lay under water most of the year. In the advertisement for the sale of the land it was announced that the tract contained a good mill site. But it was so low and swampy that certain parties at Salina and Onondaga Hollow ridiculed the idea. This aroused the Surveyor-General, and putting a spirit-level in his gig he drove all the way from Albany to Syracuse to personally inspect the premises and put the question of the water power at rest. Judge Geddes was employed to make the survey of the mill site, and it is a curious illustra- tion of how small a circumstance will often change the whole current of a man's life, when it is re- membered that this single use of the Surveyor-
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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
General's spirit-level by Mr. Geddes was the incit- ing cause which led him to become the surveyor and engincer of the Erie Canal.
FIRST ACTING TREASURER OF SYRACUSE.
The Commissioners to receive and disburse the money arising from the sale of the Walton Tract were James Geddes, Moses Carpenter and John Young. Mr. Geddes was appointed Treasurer, but on account of his absence from home during the construction of the road, Mrs. Geddes acted in his place, paying out the money upon the orders of the contractors. Thus a woman. Mrs. James Geddes, mother of Hon. George Geddes of Fairmount, be- came the acting treasurer in the first financial trans- actions relating to Syracuse.
FIRST TAVERN IN SYRACUSE.
Although the avails of the sale of the Walton Purchase were required by the act of 1804 to be appropriated to the improvement of a road, as above mentioned, there was a stipulation in the terms of sale making it obligatory upon the purchaser to cause to be erected within a certain specified time a suitable building for a tavern or house of enter- tainment for the accommodation of travelers. Mr. Walton, accordingly, in 1804, upon laying out lots for a village, sold to Henry Bogardus for the con- sideration of $300, half an acre of ground, binding him to erect within a reasonable time a suitable house for a tavern and to keep or cause one to be kept. The half acre included the site of the pres- ent Empire Block, on which Mr. Bogardus erected his tavern in 1806. It was a wooden building, thirty-five by forty-five feet on the ground, and two stories high. Mr. Bogardus was succeeded by Mr. Burlingham in 1808, by Joseph Langdon in ISIO. by James Ingalls in 1812, and by Sterling Cossit in 1815.
FIRST CABINS ON THE SITE OF SYRACUSE.
Besides the trading house of Ephraim Webster, which had been established on the west bank of Onondaga Creek, a short distance south of its con- fluence with the lake, at a place subsequently known as "Webster's Landing," in 1786, several persons had erected log cabins in the vicinity of where Mr. Bogardus built his hotel, before the origi- nal tract had been purchased by Mr. Walton. The full names of these parties have been unfortunately lost, but some of them given by Mr. Clark are as follows : Mr. Hopkins in 1797, and Mr. Butler in 1799. The cabins of these. pioneers were located a little west of the Oswego Canal bridge, near a spring north of the late General Granger's residence.
In the Spring of 1800, Calvin Jackson became a |
resident, building a small log house a little south of where the Central Railroad crosses Genesee street. Here, on the 28th of December, 1800, was born Albion Jackson, supposed to have been the first white child born in Syracuse, outside of that part of it formerly known as Salina. Mr. Jackson was the father of John J. Jackson, late a resident of the town of Onondaga, and formerly Indian Agent at the Reservation.
William Lec and Aaron Cole, the first blacksmiths, opened a shop in 1805. In the same year Amos Stanton, father of Rufus Stanton, located near the Salina Street bridge. Dr. Swan erected a small frame house in 1807. Jonathan Fay settled near the site of the Old Court House in ISOS. Rufus Stanton kept a tavern near the Salina Street bridge in ISII. The building is still standing on the east side of the street just south of the bridge, and is occupied by Mr. David Quinlan as a private residence. This, or a house built by Mr. Walton in 1805 or in 1806, for some of his mill hands, a portion of which may still be seen near the railroad crossing south of West Genesee street, is probably the oldest building now remaining in Syracuse.
SALE OF THE WALTON TRACT.
A portion of the Walton Tract was sold to Michael Hogan and Charles Walton, who held it in common with the original proprietors for some time, and finally, after some unimportant changes, it was transferred to Forman, Wilson & Co., in 1814, for about $9,000. From these proprietors it passed into the hands of David Kellogg and William Sabin, in ISIS, who sold it, in 1823, to Henry Eckford, the celebrated ship-builder of New York. In May, 1824, the tract was transferred to the Syracuse Company for the consideration of $30,000. The company consisted of Messrs. Wil- liam James, Isaiah and John Townsend, and James McBride. The tract was deeded in trust to Messrs. Moses Burnet and Gideon Hawley, and from that time village lots were extensively sold.
FIRST PORK PACKING ESTABLISHMENT.
At the time Forman, Wilson & Co., purchased the Walton Tract, they erected a large slaughter house in a fine grove in the rear of what was after- wards General Granger's lot, north of Church street. Here they packed beef and pork on a large scale, continuing the business till 1817. During the war of 1812-14, they had a heavy contract for supplying the army with these articles.
SECOND SURVEY OF SYRACUSE.
In the spring of 1819, Owen Forman, a younger brother of Judge Joshua Forman, and John Wilkin-
137
HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
son, Esq., father of J. Forman and Alfred Wilkin- son, bankers of this city, then a young lawyer, came down from Onondaga Hollow, under the direction of Judge Forman, to lay out the Walton Tract into village lots. The old survey of Mr. Walton was entirely disregarded, except so far as the original boundary lines of the tract were con- cerned. But so undefined were the ancient land- marks that it was with extreme difficulty that they ascertained with any degree of certainty the old starting point. Although they had an excellent description of the tract, made by Judge Geddes at the time of the original survey, yet it is thought that, but for a certain "plum-tree " therein men- tioned, the lines as originally run could not have been traced. They began their survey in the month of June, and after a fortnight of hard labor the village was again laid out, so far as related to the Walton Tract. That portion not included in the village was laid out into "farm lots " of from five to ten acres each.
EARLY NAMES OF THE VILLAGE.
In the infancy of the Salt City it seemed difficult to find a name for it that proved satisfactory. At the first laying out of the village it was called " South Salina." The tavern built by Mr. Bogar- dus was called the " South Salina Hotel." The name South Salina, however, not being received with general approval, was after a time changed to " Milan," which name it bore till an attempt to ob- tain a post-office revealed that there was one already of that name in the State, and the name was changed to " Corinth" by Judge Forman. Subse- quently for several years, the place went by the name of " Cossit's Corners," from Sterling Cossit, who succeeded Mr. Ingals in the hotel. In 1820, the village was named " SYRACUSE," by John Wil- kinson, Esq., the first Postmaster,
THE ORIGINAL CLEARING.
When the second survey was made by Forman and Wilkinson in 1819, there was but a small clear- ing in the village. It extended from the canal near Clinton street, south to Fayette street and east to Warren street. On the north side of the canal the clearing extended as far back as Church street and east to Warren street, the rest of the dry ground being a pine grove interspersed with oak bushes.
It may not be amiss to remark in this place, that the valley in which Syracuse is now situated was originally covered with heavy timber and thick un- derbrush, the prevailing kinds being hemlock, birch and soft maple in the western part, and in the east- ern portion, cedar and pine.
In 1808, Mr. Young and others cut down a large hemlock tree over four ft in diameter, for the purpose of hewing it into timber. After cutting into the tree a foot and a half, they found nearly one hundred bullets which had been deposited in a box cut in the tree, and covered with one hundred and fifty-two concentric circles, which had grown over them in as many years since the balls had been placed there by the hand of some one familiar with the use of fire-arms. Subtracting 152 from ISO8, leaves 1656, a date at which the French had established colonies and missions in this valley.
HANDSOME HARRY-REMINISCENCE OF AN INDIAN FEUD.
On the west bank of Onondaga Creek, in the vicinity of the old Webster trading house, was col- lected at an early time quite a large Indian village. Onondagas gathered here for convenience of trade, and were here met by the Cayugas. The bones which have been disinterred in this locality show that feuds broke out between portions of these tribes, and that in the conflicts which ensued many of the Indians were slain. An incident connected with one of these feuds has been preserved by tra- dition, and is worthy of record.
" In 1795, a feud broke out between a clan of the Onondagas and another of the Cayugas, which raged fiercely. At intervals several parties on both sides were killed. The last victim of this deadly strife was an Onondaga called Handsome Harry. He had been followed by a party of Cayugas from Tuscarora and back, and was overtaken at the sand bank, afterward the property of Mr. Henry Young, situated not far from the Syracuse Pump House. When he found his pursuers hard upon him, he made no effort to escape, but quietly kneeling down, bared his bosom and was instantly shot dead with an arrow. Handsome Harry was reputed the hand- somest man in his nation. He was buried on the spot where he fell, and two favorite sisters for a long time daily visited his grave and mourned his cleath with the deepest sorrow."-
SYRACUSE IN 1819.
When Judge Forman removed to Syracuse in 1819, he occupied a house a little west of the Town- send Block. At this time there were only two frame houses in the village, beside the hotel. Log houses and plank and slab cabins were scattered over the dry portion of the ground, most of the latter having been tenanted by laborers on the canal. The pasture of Judge Forman ran back some fifty rods and east to Salina street, most of it being a pine grove. Another lot of twenty acres commenced where the Syracuse House now stands, and was accessible by a set of bars opening into the
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