USA > New York > Oswego County > History of Oswego County, New York, with illustrations and Biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 28
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In the various battles in which this battery was engaged -and many of the number were the greatest struggles of the war-it acquitted itself with distinguished credit and received many compliments for its gallantry. It was mus- tered out of the United States service June 16, 1865.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
OSWEGO IN THE REBELLION.
The Twenty-fourth Cavalry.
THIS regiment was organized at Auburn, New York, to serve three years. It was composed of companies from the counties of Oswego, Erie, Monroe, Chemung, Oneida, Ot- sego, Ontario, Onondaga, Livingston, and Albany. It was
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
mustered into the United States service in January, 1864. Three companies were raised in this county. The colonel of the Twenty fourth was William C. Raulston.
The regiment left Auburn in February, 1864, and went to Washington, where they remained until March, and were then sent to the front as dismounted cavalry. They crossed the Potomac, and went out to the Wilderness and participated in that battle. The regiment was detailed for picket duty, and the loss was light. A few days after they marched to Spottsylvania Court-House, where they had an engagement with the enemy. Several were wounded, Ma- jor Taylor among the number. There scemed to be no rest for the regiment, as they soon after marehed to North Anna river, where a battle was fought and a few men wounded.
On the day preceding the battle of Cold Harbor the Fourteenth Heavy Artillery was attacked by the enemy. It soon became evident that they would be repulsed, and the Twenty-fourth was ordered to advanee as reinforcements. The order came to hold the line at all hazards, and, while fighting manfully to retain the line, the enemy, towards night, charged these gallant regiments with an overwhelm- ing force, defeating them and capturing many prisoners. Thirty men belonging to Company E were taken prisoners, and sent to Andersonville, where they nearly all perished in that inhuman stockade. After the engagement at Cold Harbor the regiment crossed the James river and marched to Petersburg, and was actively engaged in the operations in front of that city.
On the 17th day of June, 1864, the grand charge was made on the enemy's works, and this gallant cavalry regi- ment led the assault. It was one of the most brilliant charges of the war, and the entire command lost heavily.
" When can their glory fade ? Oh, the wild charge they made!"
Captain Burch, of Company I, was killed, and Captains Taylor and Martin wounded. On the following day the same command made another charge, and again lost heavily. The Twenty-fourth was then sent to the rear to recuperate, where they remained a few days, and were ordered into the breastworks to relieve the colored troops. They were in line of battle when the explosion of the mine occurred, and soon after Captain George Simons, of Company I, was mor- tally wounded by a shell, which carried away one eye, his nose, and a portion of his forehead. He survived several weeks, and died in Washington. In the engagement at Peeble's farm, in September, 1864, Colonel Raulston, Cap- tain Thomas, and Lieutenant MeGraw were captured and taken to Danville, Virginia. Soon after, Colonel Ranlston was killed in attempting to escape. He was a brave and faithful officer, and his loss was keenly felt. The regiment participated in the battle of Weldon Railroad, and soon after received their horses, at Camp Yellow House, and joined the mounted force. The division was commanded by Gen- eral Gregg, and the brigade by General Henry E. Davies, of New York city.
During the winter the regiment did general picket duty on the left and in rear of the army operating before Peters- burg. One night Company E, which had been stationed as
a reserve near what was known as the Calhoun House, was attacked by guerrillas, and Orderly Sergeant Benj. La Rook, then in command of the company, was killed in his tent, several were wounded, many taken prisoners, and every horse save two captured.
In the spring of 1865 the regiment moved to Dinwiddie Court-House and joined the general advance of the Army of the Potomac. On the day of the advance the Twenty- fourth was deployed as skirmishers, and in an engagement with the enemy they lost several men, Colonel Newbury among the number. They were in the vicinity of Fair Oaks during the battle, and at this time the brigade was composed of the Twenty-fourth, Tenth IIcavy Artillery, and a New Jersey and also a Massachusetts regiment. Soon after the battle of Fair Oaks the Twenty-fourth and Tenth were sent out on a reconnoissance, and surprised a long bag- gage train of the enemy, which they destroyed, and cap- tured a battery of new Wierd steel guns. They kept up a running fire with the enemy, which finally made a stand, and were immediately attacked by the Twenty-fourth and Tenth, and, after a sharp conflict, were repulsed. In this engagement Lieutenant-Colonel Melzar Richards was mor- tally wounded. They followed hard upon the retreating enemy, which, being pressed close, a second time fell in line of battle, and, after firing one volley, waved the white flag in token of surrender.
The Twenty-fourth was at the front, skirmishing with the rebel cavalry, when the order came to cease firing, as the grand army of the Confederacy had surrendered. The regiment moved back from Appomattox to Petersburg, where they remained until Sherman's army came through from North Carolina, when the entire force moved to Rich- mond, and from thence to Washington. The Twenty- fourth participated in the grand review at Washington, and afterwards crossed the Potomac to Cloud's Mills, Virginia, where they were consolidated with the Tenth New York Cavalry, aod the new organization became known as the First Provisional New York Cavalry. Many officers were mustered ont as supernumeraries, and among the number were Charles A. Taylor, captain of Company E, Major Taylor, Harry A. Genet, E. A. Talman, George F. Raul- ston, Albert Thomas, John Hutchinson, Francis L. Brown, A. Tucker, A. J. Heffron, M. McGraw, C. L. Pratt, Geo. Curtis, Van R. Kelley, Eugene Smith, and William W. Cook. The latter soon after entered the regular army, as General Custer's adjutant, and was killed with him in the fatal contest with the Sioux. The regiment was mustered out July 19, 1865, at Syracuse. The Twenty-fourth saw severe service, as evidenced by the following roll of honor : Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Guineas' Station, North Anna, Tolopotomy, Bethesda Church, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Cemetery Hill, Weldon Railroad, Reams' Station, Peeble's Farm, Vaughan Road, Bellefield.
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
CHAPTER XXIX. OSWEGO IN THE REBELLION.
The Twenty-first New York Independent Battery-The One Hun- dred and Ninety-third Regiment-The Fiftieth Engineer Regi- ment, ete.
THE Twenty-first New York Independent Battery, Vol- unteer State Artillery, was raised in Oswego County in August, 1862, and was mustered into the service of the United States September 2, 1862, with full ranks.
Being attached to the expedition under General Banks, who succeeded General Butler in the command of the De- partment of the Gulf, the battery left New York about the middle of December, on two sailing-ships, took in cargoes of horses at Fortress Monroe, and arrived in New Orleans early in January, 1863.
The commissioned officers who went out with the battery were James Barnes, captain ; Henry H. Cozzens, first lieu- tenant ; and George Potts, second lieutenant. At New Orleans the battery was armed with four three-inch steel rifled guns, and was stationed until the beginning of May at New Orleans and Bonnet Carré.
During the siege of Port Hudson it was attached to the division of the gallant Major-General Thomas W. Sherman, of Mexican-war fame, and was actively engaged during the siege, which continued until July 8.
When the first attack was made, on May 21, the bat- tery was sent during the previous night to the extreme left of our line, to open fire on the rebel works at daylight. It was placed in an open plain, just at the edge of the timber, in full view of and about eight hundred yards from the rebel earthworks. Its opening fire was instantly answered from ten guns, scattered along behind the works, and al- though their fire was continued until nine A.M., and they had the range perfectly, not a man in the battery was hurt. Many shells exploded with wonderful accuracy, one burst- ing under one of the guns, cutting the gun-carriage in five places and severing the lock-chain. The gunners had just stepped aside after loading the piece, and not a man was wounded. The same good fortune continued during the entire siege. No member was hurt, except Corporal James Norman, who got a bullet in the hip.
During the attack on the 14th of June the battery was sheltered by a breastwork.
After the surrender of Port Hudson, the battery was stationed at that post for nearly a year, during which time but little active service was seen, except in an occasional expedition to Baton Rouge or other points in company with a cavalry force. On April 7, 1864, one gun, under Lien- tenant Potts, was sent to Baton Rouge with two or three cavalry companies, where the force was attacked by a large body of rebels. The cavalry escaped, but the gun was cap- tured, with seven men of the battery, viz., Corporals James Campbell and Charles Barnard, and Privates Alonzo Dun- ham, Charles Dexter, Daniel Roberts, Jr., John Walker, and Moses Potter. These men had a taste of the horrors of Andersonville. On February 28, Privates Daniel McSweeney and John S. Cozzens were captured by guerril- las, while outside the fortifications, and were taken to An- dersonville, where young Cozzens died. Moses Potter, one
of the prisoners captured with the gun, died at his home, in Hastings, Oswego County, soon after his release from the prison, " of scorbutus and starvation, contracted while a prisoner of war in the Confederate prisons of Georgia," as stated in the surgeon's certificate.
When the unfortunate Red River expedition of General Baoks was organized, the captain of the battery made re- peated applications to have it ordered to accompany the army, but without success. After the signal failure of that disastrous enterprise, a large force was organized at Mor- ganza Bend, below the mouth of Red river, and the battery was ordered there, where it remained until the end of the year.
Here it exchanged two of its steel guns for four twelve- pound Napoleon guns, and the entire outfit of Battery G, Fifth United States Artillery. During this time it was sent several times, with other troops, into the rebel terri- tory near the Atchafalaya river, where several smart skir- mishes were had with General Dick Taylor's troops.
Lieutenant Cozzens having died in New York, February 18, 1864, Lieutenant Potts was made senior first lieuten- ant. Lieutenant Francis G. Barnes was transferred from the Eightieth United States Colored Infantry and made junior first lieutenant, and Orderly Sergeant Barber Ken- yon and Sergeant Aaron F. Colnon were promoted to senior and junior second lieutenants.
Near the close of 1864 the battery was ordered to New Orleans, to refit for active field service. The Thirteenth and Sixteenth army corps, under Generals Gordon Granger and Baldy Smith, were about to undertake the reduction of the city of Mobile. During the investment of the forts defending that city, which commenced March 27 and lasted nine days, the battery was in a very exposed position in front of the "Spanish Fort," and lost two men, viz., John Wilson, a driver, killed March 27 by a solid shot, and John Daly, a cannonier, March 29, by a rifle bullet. These were the only men killed in action belonging to the battery in its three-years' service.
After the surrender of Mobile, the battery was stationed in that city, and had the honor to be selected to fire a national salute in its public square, at noon of July 4, 1865. Soon afterwards it was ordered to Galveston, Texas; thence, after a few weeks, to New Orleans, and thence by sea to New York.
It was mustered out of service at Syracuse, New York, September 8, 1865, three years and six days after its muster-in.
Of the two hundred and twelve men who went out with it, or who joined it from home while in Louisiana, one hundred and forty-nine officers and privates were mustered out at the close of its term, four deserted, two were trans- ferred to the Invalid corps, nine were transferred to the Twenty-sixth New York Battery ; Lieutenant Cozzens died in New York, Private John S. Cozzens in Andersonville ; Moses Potter at home, in consequence of the hardships he suffered in the same place; and twenty-three died of disease in camp or in the hospitals, viz. :
Quartermaster-Sergeant James Munger, Artificer Jay Jewitt, Bugler Aaron Van Antwerp, and Privates Orvin Bundy, Luther O. Dodge, John Dwyer, Wallace Holden,
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Henry Shrader, Timothy Becbe, Horace Benedict, William H. Huested, Adam Sixberry, Jacob Smith, Eher P. Burt, William H. Mitchell, Alvin S. Miller, Matthew Thompson, George H. Millard, Daniel Mayne, George W. Betsinger, Peter Dunham, Michael Daidy, and Henry Hopkins. John Wilson and John Daily were killed in action ; and twenty-two were discharged for disability on surgeon's certificate.
That the battery was not engaged in more active service was not its fault, as both officers and men were ready and anxious always to be actively employed, and never failed to apply for a chance if any movement was contemplated. Few organizations, of equal numbers and length of service, suffered so little from disease and death, which speaks well for the thoroughness of its sanitary discipline. It always had the reputation of being one of the best-disciplined bodies in the Department of the Gulf, while it is believed that none could show a smaller proportional record of pun- ishments inflicted.
Its commanding officer always felt a just pride in the faithful, orderly, manly, and soldierly qualities of the men whom he had the honor to command. .
THE ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY-THIRD REGIMENT
was organized at Auburn, New York, to serve one, two, and three years. The companies of which it was composed were raised in the counties of Cayuga, Oswego, Onondaga, Oneida, Jefferson, St. Lawrence, and Franklin. It was mustered into the United States service from April 6 to July 6, 1865, and mustered out of service January 18, 1866, in accordance with orders from the War Department. Two companies were enlisted from this county, under Cap- tains A. H. Preston and William L. Yeckley. The regi- mental officers were as follows : Colonel, John B. Van Pet- ten ; Lieutenant-Colonel, John C. Gilmore ; Major, Alfred Morton ; Adjutant, T. B. Wasson ; Quartermaster, Charles B. Bailey ; Surgeon, D. H. Armstrong; Assistant Sur- geons, A. H. Tankis, Lorenzo Phinney ; Chaplain, W. Dempster Chase.
THE FIFTIETH ENGINEER REGIMENT
contained a number of men from this county. This regi- ment rendered the government valuable service in laying pontoons and building bridges. The regiment was com- manded by Colonel Charles B. Stewart, and was mustered into the service of the United States at Elmira, New York, September 18, 1861. On the expiration of its term of service, the original members, except veterans, were mus- tered out, and the regiment, composed of veterans and re- cruits, retained in service until June 13, 1865, when it was mustered out of the service.
The following regiments also had a few men from Oswego county in their ranks, viz .: Fifty-ninth, Ninety-third, Ninety-fourth, One Hundred and Forty-ninth, One Hun- dred and Eighty-sixth, One Hundred and Eighty-ninth, Second Artillery, Third Artillery, Fourth Artillery, Four- teenth Artillery, Sixteenth Artillery, Seventh Cavalry, Twentieth Cavalry, and ninety-eight enlisted in the regular army.
Before closing the history of the part taken by Oswego County in the war for the Union, it is proper to say a few words, regarding the county as a whole, in addition to our sketches of the separate regiments and batteries. Hardly another county in the State sent to the field as many men in proportion to its population as Oswego.
By a general order of July 7, 1862, a war-committee was appointed by the governor to take charge of the raising of troops in this senatorial district, and that committee continued in service throughout the contest. Hon. Elias Root was the president and Henry S. Davis, Esq., was seere- tary. As men entered the army from time to time, they were credited to the counties in which they enlisted,- Mr. Davis taking especial pains, and often following the detachments to other localities, to see that they were so credited.
When volunteering began to drag, extraordinary efforts were made to see that an ample number of men were en- listed. When the time came for a settlement between the State and Oswego County, under chapter 29 of the laws of 1815, it was found that the State was indebted to the county for soldiers furnished in excess of the quota of the latter to the enormous amount of five hundred and fifty- two thousand seven hundred dollars, and this sum was actually received from the State authorities by Mr. Conklin, the county treasurer, who went to Albany several times for the purpose, accompanied by Mr. Davis, as secretary of the war-committee.
At the rates established by law, this showed an excess furnished by Oswego County equivalent to eighteen hun- dred and forty-two men for one year each. But the law only applied to those who volunteered subsequent to the call made in July, 1864. Taking the whole war into con- sideration, Oswego County sent to the field an excess over her proportion, according to population, equivalent to about five thousand men, serving one year each.
This remarkable fact needs no comment from the his- torian.
Our military history is closed. We have faithfully traced the history of the various regiments, and it has been our honest endeavor to place before the people of Oswego County a truthful record of her gallant sons who risked their lives in the defense of their country. We have sought to deal justly with all, and give deserving credit to each and every regiment. While the history is a record of many of the severest battles of the war, it is not in any particular overdrawn ; it is a "plain, unvarnished tale." It has been impossible to sketch many individual acts of heroism, but these were not wanting. We might speak of the lamented John D. O'Brien, and the gallant Major Barney, and follow the list down through a long line of brave men, who distinguished themselves on many a hard- fought field, but it would be without the scope of this work.
Oswego County may justly point with pride to the record of her soldiery, as no section of our country acted a more prominent or honorable part in the great tragedy.
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
CHAPTER XXX. SINCE THE WAR.
The Volunteers at Work-Plenty of Business-New Railroads-The Oswego and Rome Road-The Midland Road-The Syracuse Northern-The Lake Ontario Shore-Transfer of the Syracuse and Oswego Road-The Panic of 1873-Hard Times-Bankruptcy and Foreclosure-Subterranean Matters-Lorraine Shales-Gray Sandstone-Medina Sandstone-The Clinton Group-A last Look at the whole County-The Great Transformation.
WHEN the great war had closed in the spring of 1865, the thousands of Oswego County volunteers were speedily absorbed into the community from which they had sprung to arms at the call of their country. Most of them went to work, and there was plenty of work for them to do. The immense amounts of depreciated money which the government had been obliged to put in circulation during the war had stimulated all kinds of business into an intense activity, which lasted for several years after the close of the conflict.
The transportation business was perhaps the most active of all, and the great line of transportation which runs through Oswego County was crowded to its fullest capacity. Men tell of seeing in those halcyon days the harbor of Oswego city so crowded with vessels that a person could walk from one shore to the other on their decks. The Oswego canal and the Oswego and Syracuse railroad were equally thronged with business. Naturally, it seemed as if new railroads were sure to prove roads to wealth for their owners and for the community.
The articles of the Oswego and Rome railroad company had been filed in April, 1863. It was built from Richland station, in the town of Richland, through the village of Pulaski and the towns of Mexico, New Haven, and Scriba, to Oswego city, being completed to the latter place in the autumn of 1865. Immediately after the organization of the company, even before the building of the road, it was leased in perpetuity to the Rome, Watertown and Ogdens- burgh company. The latter company subsequently bought a majority of the shares, and by operation of law their directors are also the directors of the Oswego and Rome company.
A much more important scheme was that of building a railroad from Oswego to Jersey City, opposite New York, a distance of about two hundred and forty miles. The articles to organize the company were filed January 11, 1866. The road was intended to be a part of a great through route from the west to New York, and the people along the line were very enthusiastic regarding it. Five million two hundred and fifty-six thousand dollars in town- bonds were secured, and only seven hundred and seventy- three thousand from personal subscriptions.
In Oswego County the road was built through the towns of Constantia, West Monroe, Hastings, Schroeppel, Volney, and Scriba. It was opened to Central Square, in the town of Hastings, in October, 1869, and to Oswego the following month. It was completed to New York in 1872.
The Midland was followed by the Syracuse Northern rail- road, running from Syracuse northward, crossing the Oncida river into Oswego County, at Fort Brewerton, passing thence
through the towns of Hastings, Parish, Mexico, and Rich- land, and connecting with the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburgh road at Lacona, in the town of Sandy Creek. It was finished in the fall of 1871, by the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburgh company.
The Lake Ontario Shore railroad was the latest enter- prise of this kind in the county. The articles were filed in the office of the Secretary of State, March 17, 1868, thus completing the organization of the company. The road was from Oswego through the towns of Oswego and Hannibal in this county, and thence westward along the lake-shore to Lewiston on the Niagara. In the mean time the Syracuse and Oswego railroad had been leased to the Delaware and Lackawanna railroad company on the 1st of March, 1869, and was thenceforth extensively used by them in the transportation of coal, in addition to its ordinary business.
In the autumn of 1873 came the great financial crisis, which produced its natural depressing effect upon Oswego County as well as upon the rest of the country. Men no longer walked across Oswego harbor on the decks of vessels, and were no longer anxious to build railroads through every hamlet in the county. The Midland road went into bank- ruptcy, and is now in the hands of a receiver. The mort- gage-bonds of the Lake Ontario Shore company were fore- closed, and in the autumn of 1874 the road was sold. It was bid off hy parties who organized, according to law, a new company, called the " Lake Ontario railroad company." In February, 1875, this company was consolidated with the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburgh company, under the name of the latter. The Syracuse Northern was sold on foreclosure, reorganized in the same manner as the Lake Shore, and then consolidated with the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburgh company io 1875.
These new roads are now doing fairly well, but have as yet hardly realized the expectations of their projectors. But, as Oswego County felt the depressing influence of commercial disaster with the rest of the nation, so with the rest of the nation it is beginning to recover from the blow, and hopeful men look forward with reason to the time when all her great commercial avenues shall again be crowded with travel and freight, and her illimitable water-power be utilized hy uncounted mills and manufactures. Certainly much may fairly be hoped for in a county which has grown from a few score of struggling pioneers at the beginning of the century to the numbers shown in Oswego County in 1875,-seventy-eight thousand six hundred and fifteen.
Little more remains to be said regarding the general history of the county. Before closing it, however, we will take cognizance of the legal maxim that the jurisdiction of any district extends downward to the centre of the earth, and will give a little attention to the subterranean structure of the country under consideration.
It would, of course, be impracticable to furnish anything like a treatise on geology in a work of this description. Suffice it to say that beneath the surface soil the rocks of the earth are arranged in strata or layers, usually somewhat inclined upward, which come to the surface one above the other, or, in different language, each of which crops out from under the other. Throughout the State of New York
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