History of Seneca Co., New York, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public building and important manufactories, Part 27

Author:
Publication date: 1876
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Ensign & Everts
Number of Pages: 294


USA > New York > Seneca County > History of Seneca Co., New York, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public building and important manufactories > Part 27


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CHAPTER XXXIV.


THE FIRST NEW YORK CAVALRY:


THE First New York Cavalry, also called Lincoln Cavalry, and later, as indi- cative of their character, Veteran Cavalry, was organized from July 16, 1861, to August 31, to serve for three years. In 1864 it reorganized as a veteran regi- ment, and was mustered ont on June 27, 1865. On November, 1861, during a reconnaissance in Virginia, a party of little more than a dozen men left in the rear on the return of the expedition was ambuscaded, and a Seneca soldier, a member of the hand, wrote afterwards, " My horse was shot in the nose, and a ball striking the clasp of my sword-belt, flattened there and stunned me. My horse went against a fence and threw me over it. I fired twice and bronght down one rebel, then took to the woods and came into camp next day." Self- reliance and genuine bravery are shown in the individual instances of personal adventure. On December 15, 1861, the name First New York Cavalry was taken. Passing over the interval of arduous and honorable service to the period of re-enlistment, we find the organization, known as the Veteran Cavalry, raiding up the Shenandoah, and with them, as Company K, a fair representation of Seneca County soldiers, On March 10, 1864, a band of Moseby's guerillas, one hundred and fifty strong, dashed in upon a post held by forty men'of Companies L and M. Help soon came, and the desperadoes were driven off. Up to this time K had suffered no loss. On the 8th of April the First Veterans were transferred to General Averill's command, and set out in a pitiless storm for Martinsburg. Ten days later, three hundred picked men, among whom were thirty from K, joined Averill's command for a raid through Western Virginia. On the 29th, the Army of the Shenandoah advanced up the valley. On May 9, the Veterans reached Cedar Creek, the scene of Banks's discomfiture before Jackson. The Veterans advanced upon Woodstock, then in possession of the enemy, and drove them from the town. Pursuing them on the 13th, they also became possessed of Mount Jackson. A force under John C.Breckenridge hegan to move down the valley, and General Sigel, who desired to prevent their junction with the troops of Imbo- den and Gilmore, hastened to attack and rout the latter ere Breckenridge could come up. This he failed to do; and at New Market, when, on the morning of May 15, Sigel deployed his columns and posted his artillery, the combined forces of the enemy, embracing over eleven thousand veteran infantry, promptly took up the gage of battle, and the inevitable engagement opened with skirmishing and artillery practice. The Union troops battled bravely but fruitlessly. All the in- fantry were placed in line, and the batteries were supported by cavalry. Company K was divided. Half, under Captain Brett, were placed on the extreme left in advance, and the rest on the extreme right of the line of battle. These posi- tions were held during the day without loss. The rebel batteries, with accurate aim, made many a gap in the ranks of the infantry, and finally ceased their fire. The finale was reached when the rebel infantry advanced in three magnificent lines of battle upon our position. Our infantry broke and fled disorderly, while the cavalry brought off the artillery and covered the retreat.


On the 29th of May, while Captain Brett with a party of eighty-five men was escorting a train of sixteen wagons laden with medical stores for General Hunter's headquarters, he was assailed at Newtown by a body of one hundred and fifty of Gilmore's cavalry, who were carrying the. day, when a force of infantry came up and turned the scale in our favor. In this action Captain Brett was killed while leading his men, and his body was sent home to Waterloo for interment. Retreat- ing down the valley, Sigel was relieved by Hunter, who faced the men about and began a march up the Shenandoah. By June 3 the cavalry had advanced to Harrisonburg, where, after a two-hours' skirmish, the command of Imboden was driven through town to a fortified position. Next morning Colonel Platner moved the regiment seven miles to the right and attacked the enemy on his left flank, and drew his attention while our trains and troops, moving past his right, gained the road to Port Hudson and caused the evacuation of the position. Advancing on the morrow, the ground was disputed by Imboden, who gradnally fell back to Mount Hope, where he was joined by General Jones, with infantry and artillery from the army at Richmond. The Umion line moved forward, and our artillery opened the battle of Mount Hope. Preluded hy a vicious artillery fire of a couple of hours, our infantry were advanced in three splendid lines upon the enemy, posted in a long strip of woods upon a gentle rise. The contest was severe and a varying fortune hung in the scale, when, with a cheer, heard loud above the roar of cannon, our lines swept forward, and gained the position. A lull prevailing, the enemy were seen massing for a grand charge upon our right, to recover their lost ground. The cavalry were dismounted and thrown into the woods to strengthen the line of infantry; and soon, with that shrill, yelping cry,-once heard never for- gotten,-the gray rank moved to the attack, but were turned back in confusion; a Union charge followed, the infantry moving down the centre while the cavalry,


74


HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.


with cheers and drawn sabres, galloped upon the flanks. The enemy gave way, and began a retreat ; the cavalry followed hard upon their rear-guard, who threw a rain of leaden sleet in the faces of our men, and then giving way, blended their numbers with those of the main body, and hastened the retreat. The loss to the Veterans was twenty-three killed, forty-four wounded, and twenty-seven missing. Total loss, ninety-four. Staunton was occupied, then the railroad was destroyed, and Crooks's and Averill's commands joined Hunter. The First Veterans and the Twenty-eighth Ohio Infantry were sent, on June I, across the mountains, in charge of twelve hundred " gray-backs," and a motley crowd of our men accom- panied the force. The distance, one hundred and ten miles to Beverly, was made in four days, thence the journey lay some forty or fifty miles along the railroad. The prisoners were left in charge of the infantry at Webster station, and the cavalry were taken by rail to Martinsburg ..


On the 25th of June, an immense wagon-train, loaded with supplies, set out for Hunter's army under strong guard. In the advance of this train was the First Cavalry, under Platner. Tidings came of trouble in front. Hunter was reported to have been unable to hold his position. The train halted; soon the report was confirmed that the army was retreating, and the train returned. The Veterans were ordered to Smithfield, while Moseby raided upon the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and escaped pursuit. The whole Union line had fallen back by June 29 to within seven miles of Martinsburg, while the cavalry lay some distance in their front. On the 2d of July, the rebel advance opened suddenly on the pickets of the First Brigade. The men were soon in the saddle, and within two hours had driven the enemy three miles. Abont ten A.M., a force of two thousand men advanced upon the Veterans, numhering about seven hundred. The latter fell baek sturdily, showing front when pressed, to Martinsburg, where they found that our forces had retreated. The cavalry then retired to a position on the east side of Maryland Heights. The enemy came on, and, capturing Bolivar Heights, occu- pied Harper's Ferry. Skirmishing with the rebels, the cavalry were kept active till July 9, when all became quiet in Pleasant Valley. In October the regiment are found in quarters at Camp Piatt, West Virginia, guarding the salt-works of Kanawha, and the remainder of their term is connected with the monotonous and more peaceful dnties of the eamp. Several hundred recruits here joined the regi- ment, and saw little of service. On the Sth of January, the regiment is found in camp at Ganley Bridge, at the headwaters of Kanawha River. K had lost in 1864, by death, four; missing, one; discharged, two; and deserted. four; total, eleven; and had received eighteen recruits. Again, on April 8, 1865, we find the First Veteran Cavalry at Loup Creek, West Virginia ; at Kanawha, June 8; and abont the last of July they returned to the State, and were mustered ont.


CHAPTER XXXV.


THE EIGHTH NEW YORK CAVALRY-THE FIRST BATTERY, NEW YORK LIGHT ARTILLERY.


THE Eighth New York Cavalry, called the Rochester Regiment, was organized at Rochester, New York, from November 28, 1861, to October 4, 1862, to serve three years. The original members were mustered out as their term of service expired. The veterans and recruits were retained in service till June 27, 1865, and then discharged. In the first months of the term, the regiment was spoken of by the name of its colonel, Crooks. A company from Seneca County, mostly raised from the village of Seneca Falls and vicinity, was known as G company, and officered by B. F. Sisson, Captain, Frank O. Chamberlain, First Lieutenant, and S. E. Sturdevant, Second Lientenant. Organized October 3, 1861, it was the fifth company starting from Sencca Falls, was mainly composed of hardy young farmers accustomed to horses, and of men who made the best of soldiers. In February, 1862, the company was stationed at Camp Seldon, near Washing- ton, District of Columbia. In September, when the imbecile commander of Harper's Ferry, ordering the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth New York from their vantage ground on Maryland Heights, held a large body of our troops in readiness to surrender whenever Jackson should send his summons, the Rochester regiment, asking permission to eut their way ont and being refused, took the matter into their own hands, and not only made their way through the rebel lines to Pennsylvania, but took with them a rebel train and a large number of prisoners. Captain Sisson, a brave and meritorious officer, died February, 1863, in hospital at Fredericksburg, and was a loss to the service of which he was proud to have been a member. On the night of May 3, 1863, the Grand Army of the Potomac was under way for the Rapidan. The Eighth New


York Cavalry was honored with the advance. Marching rapidly, they reached Germania Ford at midnight, and, resting till daylight, charged across the stream and set out for Chancellorsville, followed by regiments of infantry. Eight miles from the river the regiment went into eamp, and early on May 5 were on the march towards Orange Court-House, where a division of Stuart's Cavalry was met and a sharp engagement ensued. Captain H. B. Compson charged the division with a squadron of the Eighth, drove back the enemy, and reseued some two hundred of our infantry which had been surrounded. As the army moved into line the cavalry kept up skirmishing with the enemy until the 9th of May, when orders came to move at one o'clock towards Fredericksburg. Thenee they formed part of a force detailed to make a raid' upon Richmond in the rear of Lee. Camping at night on the banks of the North Anna, they crossed on the morning of the 10th, proceeded to Beaver Dam Station on the Orange and Richmond Railroad, where they captured two trains of cars loaded with rations for the rebel. army, destroyed three millions' worth of property, tore up railroad, and eut the wires; then, striking across to the South Anna, went into camp for the night. On the 11th they burned the bridge, and, advancing within twelve miles of the rebel capital, destroyed the railroad and cut the wires. Here an attack was made by the cavalry of Stuart, and a sharp fight resulted in a retreat of the enemy with a loss of three field-pieces and one hundred and fifty prisoners. . The advance was resumed, and bivouac was made for the night within six miles of Richmond. Moving forward at daylight, the command was surprised to find itself within the Richmond fortifications. Striking the rehel pieket line a mile and a half from the city, a part of them was captured, and until eleven o'clock A.M. it drove every- thing before it till the arrival of two infantry brigades, when, at twelve M., the force began to retire over the Chickahominy, thence through Mechanicsville to Gaines's Mills, where camp for the night was made. The march was then resumed to Malvern Hill, and the expedition set out on its return, having marched in six days one hundred and fifty miles, much of the distanec within the lines of the enemy, destroyed fonr million dollars' worth of property, captured four hundred and fifty prisoners, and recaptured, while on their way to Sonthern prisons, three hundred of our men.


On June 22 the command took up a line of march down to Ream's Station, and, exchanging shots with a small force which fled at their advanee, burned the . station, cut the telegraph, and tore up the railway track for miles. Moving to Ford's Station, two trains were taken and destroyed, and the track torn up a distance of twenty miles to Black and White Station. A division of the enemy's cavalry coming up, a battle ensued, and our forces were victorious, with a loss of eight killed, twenty-four wounded, and seven missing. Proceeding thenee to Manassas Station, on the Richmond and Danville Railroad, the road was followed and destroyed to Staunton River, where the enemy once more attempted to hold them in check, and the command set out on its return. Expedition was now necessary, as the enemy had gathered and taken position to intercept their return. Reaching Stony Creek Station at night, June 28, the enemy were found in force, outnumbering the raiders fully five to one, and strongly posted. Fighting began, and continued during the night, and with morning, the brigade containing the Eighth was ordered to hold the enemy and permit the division to cross the stream in their rear. The enemy, perceiving the movement, immediately threw forward their whole force and completely environed the whole brigade, which, facing about, charged to the rear to gain their horses. Some succeeded, others were killed or wounded, and those straggling were captured. A party of one hundred men, with Major Moore and Captain H. B. Compsen, failing to reach their horses and ent off from their command, betook themselves to the woods, closely followed and repeatedly attacked by the enemy, whom they were able to repulse. Left alone, the situation was reviewed. They were fifty miles from the Union lines, and for two days had known no refreshment but that derived from enps of coffee. Freedom was worth an effort, and the little band starting in a northwest direction atumbled upon a rebel camp, whose occupants, like angry hornets, swarming ont, charged upon and captured thirty-five men and five officers of their number. The rest, hiding till dark, then set out, under guidance of a negro, to the Nottawa River, which was forded, and once more our lines gladdened their aight. They were taken in wagons to where their regiment had encamped, at Light-House Point, Virginia. During this raid the Eighth lost one hundred and twenty-nine men in killed, wounded, and missing. To follow the various movements and detail the engagements of the regiment would require more space than is ours to give, and we must be content to give an instance, as one of many, where brave men, ably led, woo reputation, and contributed to our ultimate success ..


On the 8th of March, 1865, Major H. B. Compsen, then in command of the Eighth Cavalry, was assigned the duty of charging upon a battery belonging to General Early's foree, three pieces of which battery commanded the road and obstructed our advance. " Major Comtpsen was given his own regiment, and the Twenty-second New York Cavalry, the latter of which he placed npon the right


PLATE XXVII


CHARLES BONNEL.


son of Henry Bonnel, was born in Randolph County, New Jersey, on the 26th day of November, 1801. In the fall of 1804 he came with his father to the old town of Junius, where he remained until the year 1815, when they removed to Wayne County, New York. At the age of twenty years Charles left the parental roof, and stepped ont into the broad arena of active life. He engaged to lebor at agricultural pursuits, for a period of eight months, at nine dollars per month. He continued as a farm lahorer about four years, when he went to the State of Michigan, and pur- chased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. He returned to Seneca County, and, on the 27th day of September, 1826, he married Diana, the daughter of Richard Dell. Soon after marriage he purchased seventy-five acres of land in Wayne County, two miles south of Clyde, and two years thereafter located upon his par-


DEANNA BONNEL.


chase, where he remained until the spring of 1831, when he disposed of his Wayne County property, and bought one hundred and seventy-five acres in the town of Waterloo, on Lots 66 and 79, where he since icsided, embracing a period of forty- five years. By a strict attention to business, coupled with untiring industry and perseverance, Mr. Bonnel hes succeeded in accumulating more then seven hundred acres of valuable land, which he shares with his children and grandchildren. He had five children, viz., Rachel D., born July 30, 1827, and married Edmund W. Mitchell November 8, 1848 ; Elizabeth S., horn July 23, 1829, and married William C. Dutton August 9, 1849; Henry S. Bonnel, born October 14, 1831, end married E. W. Thorn March 26, 1861 ; Phebe W., born March 11, 1834, and married Joseph A. Lynch April 8, 1852; and Mary T., born August 23, 1838, and died January 25, 1842. Mr. Bonnel suffered much from fines and imprisonment, and distraint of his goods for his non-compliance with military requisitions.


RES. OF CHARLES BONNEL, WATERLOO TP., SENECA CO., N. Y.


LIST OF SUPERVISORS TOWN OF WATERLOO, SENECA CO., N. Y.


Richard P. Hunt


1829-1830


Dr. Gardner Welles


1831-1832


George Burnett


1833


Dr. Jesse Fifield


1834-1835


Aaron R. Wheeler


1836


James Stevenson


1837


Dr. Gardner Welles


1838


Isaac Mosher


1839-1840


Col. Horace F. Gustin


1841


Dr. James A. Hahn


1842


Henry Warner


1867-1868


Gen. Caleb Fairchild


1844


Reuben D. Hurlbut


1869-1870


Josiah Burnett


1871


Aaron R. Wheeler


1845-1847


Richard Hunt


1872


Charles A. Watkins


1848


Rev. Aaron D. Lane


1849


Henry Parks


1850-1852


Bartholomew Skaats


1853


Abram L. Sweet


1854


Platt Crosby


1855


Abram S. Slawson


1856-1858


Samuel R. Welles


1859-1860


Richard P. Kendig


1861-1862


Samuel R. Welles


1863-1866


Pardon T. Mumford


1843


R. D. Hurlbut


1873-1874


Samuel R. Welles


1875-1876


PLATE XXL


RES. OF J. H . PEIRSON, WATERLOO TP. SENECA CO., N. Y.


PECK SLIP." PROPERTY OF A. S. ROLLINS, FORMERLY OWNED BY JOSEPH WRIGHT, LOCATED JUST WEST OF WATERLOO, N. Y., CONTAINS 25 ACRES. ยท THIS PROPERTY PUR SALE. I


PLATE XXIV


HON. SAMUEL BIRDSALL.


IION. SAMUEL BIRDSALL was born on the 14th of May, 1791, at Hillsdale, ! of Congress, 1837-39 ; Counsellor in the United States Supreme Court, 1838; Columbia County, N. Y. Having acquired a thorough classical and English education, District Attorney of Seneca County, 1846; Postmaster for ten years. he commenced at an early age the reading of law in the office and under the auspices of Martin Van Buren, where he became acquainted and asso- ciated with Van Ness, the Spencers, De Witt Clinton, and Elisha Williams, then the lights of the profession, and among the ruling men of that day.


In the year 1812, being then twenty- one years of age, he completed his legal studies, was admitted an attorney in the Supreme Court of New York, formed a copartnership with Ambrose S. Jordan, an early companion and of about an equal age, and settled at Cooperstown. In the year 1817 he removed to Waterloo, just then emerg- ing into importance as a western town, where he remained to the close of his long, active, and honorable life, shaping and controlling in a great degree, by his ability and energy, the political condition of his district. and imparting to the town and County of his residence much of the character which marked its activity and growth and enhanced its reputation. For more than half a cen- tury, dating from the year of his settle- ment in Waterloo, the position of Mr. Birdsall was one of decided prominence . and influence. Often the recipient of office by appointment and election, hic always discharged their attendant duties with ability and integrity. Fearless, incorruptible, working earnestly for the best interest of the State and his con- stituency, untainted with the slightest suspicion of selfishness or desire for self-aggrandizement, and with a kaowl- edge of men and an insight into mo- tives which seemed intuition, he never during all that period lost or forfeited his character or reputation for distin- guished ability and honesty, and for pro- fessional and political fidelity, sagacity, and prudence His intercourse with his constituents and clients, as politi- cian or counsellor, was always marked by the utmost cordiality, frankness, and candor. In his private and social relations, like the leading men in the days of his carly manhood, he was a gentleman of the old school, hospi- table, dignified, and conrtly. With a powerful intellect, and an understand- ing quick and comprehensive, he grasped with a master's hand and ana- lyzed at will any question presented to his mind.


1


IN INGEN -SUYOUR


gammel Mmosal


Among the many honorable positions ereditably filled by Mr. Birdsall were the following: Master in Chancery, 1815; Division Judge-Advocate, with the rank of Colonel, 1819; Counsellor in the Supreme Court of N. Y., and Solicitor in Chaneery, 1823 ; Surrogate of Seneca County, 1827-37; Bank Commissioner, 1832; Member


He died February 8, 1872, leaving behind him few remaining momments of the law-pioneers of Western New York belonging to his generation. Ou the first day of the February term of the Seneca County Court following his death, a committee appointed for the purpose of drafting and reporting a suitable entry to be made upon the minutes of the Court in memory of the IIon. Samuel Birdsall, lately deceased, reported the following :


" The Hon. Samuel Birdsall de- parted this life, at Waterloo, on the 8th day of February, 1872. He was personally known and respected by nearly every citizen of the County. Born in 1791, locating in the village of Waterloo in 1817, always active at the bar and in public and political life, filling in succession the important offices of' Master in Chancery, Surro- gate, District Attorney, Postmaster, and member of Congress, contribut- ing frequently to the press of the the County and capital, representing his locality nearly every year in the conventions of the party to which he was attached, he came into immediate contact with almost every man of prom- inence in the State and County during the last half-century. He learned law of the fathers of our system of juris- prudence, outlived three State Con- stitutions, was associate, in the State, of Van Buren, Butler, Root, Jordan, Wil- liams, Marey, and Spencer, and in the County, of Knox, Maynard, Stevens, Thompson, the Clarks, and others, in the days when there were giants in our courts and at the bar, connecting in his experience the lawyers of the present day with more than two gen- erations that have passed away, always courteous to the young, and full of reminiscence and anecdotes of an early day. We shall miss him from our circle more and more as the chasm between the present and the past shall deepen and widen. Therefore,


" Resolved, That in the death of the Hou. Samuel Birdsall the members of the bar of this County and of the the State have sustained a loss which cannot be supplied. A lawyer of the old school, a statesman and a gentle- man, it can be truthfully said of him that he was eminent in learning, wise in counsel, able in argument and de- bate, courteous and kind in his intercourse with his associates, conscientious in the discharge of his public and professional duties, and the worthy peer and cotemporary of the good and great lawyers of the County and State, whose names and memories are linked with his, and which together we shall cherish and respect."


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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.


and left, and chose the post of honor, in the centre, for himself and the Eighth. Calling Sergeant. Kehoe, who carried the flag, to his side, he said, "Sergeant, we'll lose the flag this time, or bring more flags back along with us !" At the word the regiments charged furiously down the road, full in the face of the battery. Twice only did its deadly volleys discharge ere the cavalry was upon them; the guns were captured, five battle-flags taken, and the enemy routed, with the loss of Sergeant Carr killed, and five men wounded.


On June 27, 1865, the regiment had reached Rochester, direct from Washington, where it was received and welcomed by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen. Organized primarily in October, 1861, it was reorganized in October, 1864. The regiment served with great distinction, while its battle-flag is inscribed with the names of sixty-four battles. The only one of the commissioned officers who re- turned with it was- Colonel Pope, who went out as captain. The regiment left Rochester nine hundred and forty strong; received thirteen hundred to fourteen hundred recruits, and on its muster out had eight hundred and fifty enlisted men, of whom only one hundred and ninety were of those who went out with it.




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