USA > New York > Wyoming County > History of Wyoming County, N.Y., with Illustrations, Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Some Pioneers and Prominent Residents > Part 22
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N the autumn of 1861 a regiment was recruited, with its rendezvous at Geneseo, Livingston county, N. Y., under Colonel John Rorbach. In this regiment Wyoming county was repre- sented by the following named men:
Bara Billings, Bari L. Gitobell, Charles Hall, James L. Quacken- bush, Hiram L. Wing, Charles Wing, Castile ; James William Dow, Alvin Jeffers, Wilson Wolcott, Covington : William Aiken, Andrew Andrus, Daniel Catten, Gilbert Grey, George W. Heimer, Ira Parker,
Joseph L. Phillips, Seymour Phillipe, Gilbert G. Prey, Austin N. Richardson. James Richardson, Sydney Richardson, Eugene Sparks, Jobn W. Tabor. Levi Van Acker, Nelson J. Wing, Stephen L. Wing, Eagle ; L. Brainard, George Flint, Nelson Hicks, John McGure, Gainesville; Charles Barber, William Thomas, George Thomas, Java ; John Westbrook. George Westbrook, Orson Wolcott, Perry : George S. Adams, Ortillus Beardesley, Edwin E. Barnes. Lyman Bunnell, Henry O. Besancon, Derrick J. Bush, Frank S. Bates, Ceylon Clarke, Yobst Cain, Rensselaer Dunning, Emery N. Emery, James Farrell. Jesher X. Griggs, Orange C. Gardner, Norval Halstead, Newton Rent, Daniel Russel, Judson A. Rose, Wiley Streeter, Beriah Sparks, Cyrenus Streeter. Henry Spencer, Oliver G. Smith, Sherman Streeter, Cooley H. Thomas. Horace Thomas. David Uter, William Willis, Isaac Whiting, Abram Whiting, Hall Whiting, Pike; and Algeroy Aiken and Sullivan Gibson, Warsaw.
It was first called the Wadsworth Guards, in honor of General James Wadsworth, of Geneseo. On the 26th of February, 1862, it was ordered to Albany, N. Y., to prepare for the field. On its arrival at Albany the ten companies of which it was composed-some of which were mere skeletons -were consolidated into seven; and a skeleton regiment then recruiting at Troy was consolidated into three com- panies and added to it, making a full regiment, which was numbered the 104th. The lieutenant-colonelcy of the reg- iment was accorded to the last three companies.
The regimental officers and captains originally were: colonel, John Rorbach; lieutenant-colonel, R. Wells Ken- yon; major, L. C. Skinner; adjutant, F. T. Vance; quarter- master, Henry V. Colt; Company A, Captain Tuthill; Com- pany B, Captain Day; Company C, Captain Wing; Com- pany D, Captain Simpson; Company E, Captain Latimer; Company F, Captain Prey; Company G, Captain Gault; Company H, Captain Sellick; Company I, Captain McCaf- fry.
About the middle of March the regiment was ordered to Washington, D. C., and encamped on Kalorama Hill, just without the city, where it was attached to General Duryea's brigade, General Pickett's division, and soon after ordered to Cloud's Mills, Va., about six miles from Alexandria; thence to Catlett's Station, farther up the valley. From there it was ordered to Thoroughfare Gap, in the Bull Run Mountains, to support General Geary. After doing picket duty and scouting a day or two, General Geary's forces were ordered to Manassas, thence to Waterloo and thence to Slaughter Mountain, to support General Banks. There the regiment was first brought under fire. With the rest of the troops it fell back on Bull Run at the time of the second battle there. On the retreat to Centreville it was engaged in the fight at Chantilly, where General Kearney was killed.
With the rest of the Army of the Potomac it took up its march, after guarding the capital a few days, to inter- cept the confederate forces on their march toward Penn sylvania. They were engaged in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, which were fought in September, 1862. After these they remained in camp till the latter part of October, when they resumed march, crossed the river at Berlin, passed through Virginia to Fredericksburg, and took part in the battle at that place on the 12th and 13th of December. They remained and held the ground a few days after the battle, then recrossed the river and went into winter quarters at Belle Plain. During the month of January, 1863, they took a part in General Burnside's cel- ebrated mud campaign, from which they returned and re- mained in their quarters till the spring campaign opened with a simultaneous attack on Fredericksburg and Chan- cellorsville.
The 104th, with its division, marched to the river just be- low Fredericksburg, with the intention of crossing, but they
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RECORD OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTH NEW YORK INFANTRY.
were ordered to Chancellorsville, where the main army had been two days engaged, crossed the river and pushed on to the front. There they advanced on the road leading to Ely's Ford, where the 104th, with a company of skirmishers in front, advanced by moonlight a mile in front of the Union line, threw out a picket and awaited orders. They were soon ordered back to the lines, where they threw up breastworks. The next day they were sent forward to nearly the same position they occupied in the night. Here they remained during the day, and at about sunset had a brisk skirmish with the enemy, whom they repulsed.
The next march of the regiment was to Thoroughfare Gap to prevent the enemy from coming through. He was found in possession of the Gap and an unsuccessful attempt was made to dislodge him. This was the northward movement of the confederate forces for the invasion of Pennsylvania, and soon afterward they were encountered at Gettysburg, where the 104th, with its corps, met and engaged the ad- vance at Sumner's Hill, half a mile west from the town, on the 1st day of July, 1863. In this day's action, which lasted till 5 P. M., the regiment lost in killed and wounded just one-half the number of men it contained in the morn- ing. Seven color bearers were killed. As often as one fell another grasped the flag and kept it floating. Colonel Prey commanded the brigade in this action, he being the senior officer present. During the fighting of the next two days the division to which the 104th belonged was kept marching from point to point to strengthen weak places in the Union lines. At the close of the second day they were marched at double quick to save the cannon of the second corps, all the artillery horses of which were lost. The enemy was driven back and the pieces brought off the field at about dark.
The next march of the 104th was in pursuit of General Lee and his forces to Williamsport, on the upper Potomac, where he was allowed to cross without giving him battle.
The 104th filled the remainder of the season with marches from point to point and an occasional skirmish. They had but one engagement-that at Mine Run. They went into winter quarters at Mitchell's Station, on the Rapidan river, and spent the winter doing picket duty along the river near that point.
On the 4th of May, 1864, they struck tents for the sum- mer campaign, crossed the river at Wilderness Run, and engaged on the 5th in the battle of the Wilderness. They fought all day near Wilderness Run while the rest of the army was crossing at the different fords below. It is un- necessary to detail the several days' fighting which followed, in which the 104th was more or less engaged. They soon afterward crossed the James below Petersburg and had brisk fighting for a few days at that city, with more or less fighting and skirmishing during the month of June. In July the brigade to which the 104th was attached was oc- cupied in building a fort and doing picket duty. This fort was known as Fort Warren, and was situated on the Jeru- salem plank road, a short distance from Petersburg. There they remained till the 18th of August, when the 5th corps, to which they belonged, made a detour of six or eight miles and struck the Weldon railroad about three miles from Petersburg, at what was called the Yellow Tavern. Brisk fights occurred on that afternoon and the afternoon of the 19th, and by some mismanagement on the part of the
division general, Crawford, nearly the whole division was captured. The 104th was ordered from the line in the midst of the engagement to fill a gap between the 5th and 11th corps, and while moving in a by road in the woods to the designated point, it was surrounded by a brigade of the enemy and captured. It was not liberated till the general exchange of prisoners, February 21st, 1865. After that it took part in the battles at and around Appomattox during the concluding campaign in the spring of 1865.
The regiment participated in the grand review at Wash- ington, and was mustered out at Elmira, July 17th, 1865. From the records in the office of the adjutant-general the following list of the field and staff officers of this regiment is taken :
Colonels .- John Rorbach, Lewis C. Skinner, Gilbert G. Prey, John R. Strang.
Lieutenant-Colonels .- R. Wells Kenyon, Lewis C. Skin- ner, Gilbert G. Prey, H. G. Tuttle, John R. Strang. H. A. Wiley.
Majors .- Lewis C. Skinner, Gilbert G. Prey, John R. Strang, Henry V. Colt, Henry A. Wiley, William C. Wilson.
Adjutants .- Frederick T. Vance, George L. Synder, John R. Jarvis.
Quartermasters .- Henry V. Colt, Seneca Warner, jr. Surgeons .- Enos G. Chace, Charles H. Richmond.
Assistant Surgeons .- George S. Rugg. Douglas S. Lang- don, Charles H. Richmond.
Chaplains .- Daniel Russel, Alford C. Roe, Ferdinand De W. Ward.
BATTLES.
Cedar Mountain, 2nd Bull Run, Chantilly, South Moun- tain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettys- burg, Mine Run, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Bethesda Church, Block House, Tolopotomy, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Hatcher's Run, Rappahannock Station, Thoroughfare Gap.
CHAPTER XX.
THE 24TH INDEPENDENT BATTERY-A GLIMPSE AT THE HORRORS OF ANDERSONVILLE.
HERE were few organizations in the service dur- ing the late civil war the record of which is sadder than that of this battery.
Those who go forth at the call of their coun- try to do battle in defense of that country's honor, or to offer their lives if necessary for the preservation of its free institutions, do so with the expectation of encountering all the hazards of ordinary civilized warfare; and if they fall in battle, or perish by any of the casualties or exposures incident to life in the field, the grief of their surviving friends is not intensified by the reflection that they lingered through slow tortures, such as untamed savages de- light to inflict on defenseless captives.
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HISTORY OF WYOMING COUNTY, NEW YORK.
While the war was in progress, and the feelings which it engendered were active, there was room to hope that the tales of cruelty toward Union captives in southern prisons might be exaggerated; that the common feelings of human- ity were not thus outraged, and the usages of civilized peo- ples thus violated. Fifteen years have passed since then, and time has only brought more damning proof that the hor- rors were not all told.
The 24th battery was raised principally in the counties of Wyoming, Monroe and Livingston. Wyoming was repre- sented in it by the men whose names follow:
Henry Chadbourne, William E. Chapin, Timothy E. Shockensy, Arcade ; W. E. Bulkley, Charles Bulkley, Castile; John Baker, Covington ; William B. Blake, A. L. Culver, Thomas McGuire, James McGuire, Michael McGutre, William Roach, J. E. Lee, George 8. Hastings, William Alburty, Francis M. Alburty, Lemuel Andrews, Mark Andrews, George L. Atwood, Boswell Barnes, Hartwell Bartlett, B. Frank Bachelder, Rufus Brayton, Robert Buck, Paul Calteaux, James Calkins, William S. Camp, John Chapman, A. W. Com- stock, William W. Crooker, Charles H. Dolbeer, George Duryea, Joseph Dur- yes, John Filbin, Charles W. Fitch, Thomas Fitzgerald, Jonas E. Galusha, Charles R. Griffith, Albert Griffith, Thomas Grisewood, Charles Hathaway, Charles H. Homan, George B. Johnson, George W. Keeney, Abram Lee, Abram Lent, John MoCrink, James McCrink, Patrick Marren, J. W. Merrit, J. Gile Miner, L. Newcomb, H. C. Page, George W. Piper, A. Piper, Philander Pratt. John Quinn, Sydney 8. Rathbone, Porter D. Rawson, Elias Richards, Albert Richards, Le Grande Rood, Pembroke J. Safford, Phares Shirley, Mason C. Smith, Samuel Stoddard, Edward Welch, Oliver Williams, Perry ; Marion K. Mosier, Wethersfield; Dennis Finnegan, Hector C. Martin, Warsaw.
The town of Perry was more largely represented in it than any other in the county. The first enlistments were in the latter part of September and in October of 1861. Its place of rendezvous was Fort Porter, Buffalo, where the company remained till the middle of November, when it went forward to Albany. There the men were formed into the rocket battalion, under Major Thomas W. Lion, formerly an Eng- lish officer, who claimed to be the inventor of a wonderful fire rocket, and who told so plausible a story to the Secretary of War and the chief of artillery that they were induced to incur the expense of a practical test. The battalion when organized consisted of two companies, A and B, each num- bering eighty men. They were mustered into the service December 6th, 1861, and the next day left Albany for Wash- ington, where they remained six months experimenting with the new projectile.
The advantages claimed for Lion's rocket were the great distance to which it could be thrown, its capability of setting on fire everything of a combustible nature, and of frighten- ing horses. The results of experiments with this rocket were not satisfactory. It was found that it could not always be relied on to go where it was sent, but like an unskillfully thrown boomerang it would return to hurt the one who threw it. One of the men in a letter giving an account of their experiments with it, stated that their target, which was an army blanket, was stolen by some graceless scamp while they were firing at it.
During the six months in which these experiments were being made there was little to vary the easy daily routine of camp life. As usual in such cases jealousies and animosities arose among the officers and men, for light camp duty is not the most favorable for developing soldierly qualities.
After the rocket project was abandoned the battalion was changed to batteries A and B, light artillery. The men from Wyoming were put in battery B; but were soon made an independent four-gun battery, and ordered to Newport barracks. At this time the battery consisted of but eighty men. The chief officers were Captain Jay E. Lee, First Lieutenant
Lester A. Cady, and Second Lieutenant George W. Graham.
In August, 1862, G. S. Hastings was authorized to raise recruits for this battery, and in less than a month about 60 young men from Perry and its vicinity left to join the bat- tery at Newport barracks.
It is worthy of remark that about $6,000 was raised by subscription to pay bounties to these men, for at that time the government had not offered the bounties which it afterwards paid recruits. In due time they arrived at their destination, and on the 19th of October orders were received designating the company the "24th Inde- pendent Battery of Light Artillery, New York State Volun- ·teers." George S. Hastings and Fred. Hastings were made respectively additional first and second lieutenants.
The battery remained at Newport barracks about five months, during which time the boys were called out on one scouting expedition, and one trip to Newbern. On the 11th of December two detachments of the battery went with General Foster, and participated in the battles of Kinston, Whitehall and Goldsboro. After their return they re- mained at Newbern till about the middle of the next March (1863). At that time a feint was made on that place by the rebels, and soon afterward they advanced on Plymouth and Washington, N. C. About the Ist of April the 24th was sent to Plymouth. There it remained almost a year. Stables were built, guns parked, and occasional scouts as cavalry were made.
In June Captain Lee was discharged on a surgeon's certificate, and Lieutenant Cady promoted to the captaincy, J. S. Hastings taking his place, and C. H. Holden receiving a second lieutenant's commission. During this time the older members of the battery whose terms expired re- enlisted ; but the numbers were so reduced that two lieu- tenants (Hastings and Dolbeer) left. The winter of that year passed very pleasantly with the men of the battery, but the spring brought a change.
On the 17th of April, 1864, the cavalry of the rebels at- tacked the pickets of the garrison, and it soon became evi- dent that something more than a feint or raid was intended. The garrison consisted of 1,900 effective men, under General Wessels. Non-combatants were removed during the follow- ing night, and preparations made to resist the attack. Des- ultory firing was kept up during the night, and the next day it was steadily maintained till about 5 P. M., when an ad- vance was made and earnest fighting commenced. The rebel artillery, consisting of about forty pieces, opened fire on the works, and the artillery of the defenders replied with such terrible precision that it was believed half the artillerymen of the enemy were put out of the fight. . Of course a detail- ed account of this battle cannot be given here. It may be briefly stated that during the night of the 18th the rebel ram " Albermarle " succeeded in driving away the naval supports of the garrison, and taking a position where her guns could be used with effect. During the day and night of the 19th the forces of the enemy assumed more advantageous posi- tions, and on the 20th made a simultaneous assault on the entire Union lines, and at the same time sent a column into the town. It is said that in endeavoring to repel this assault the 24th battery did effective work, "hurling disorder and death into the ranks of the enemy; and not until the rebels seized the muzzles of their guns did the cannoniers fail in their work." The garrison reluctantly surrendered, only
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SURRENDER AND SUFFERINGS OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH INDEPENDENT BATTERY.
when their works were so completely invested and fiercely assailed as to render destruction certain.
The Union loss, notwithstanding their strong breastworks, was about 180. That of the rebels was not positively known, but was stated in the Raleigh papers at 2,200. When it is remembered that the garrison of 1,900 defended the town against a force of 12,000 during four days, and only surren- dered when further resistance would have been certain de- struction, no suspicion of a want of bravery will be enter- tained.
Hitherto the 24th had known no hardships. Now, in their first battle, they had fought "vainly but well." Fortune had not favored them, and they were captives in the hands of unpitying foes. One of them,.in an account which he gave of the surrender, said:
"Stripped of arms, mortified, sick at heart, we were penned by rebel guards and allowed to take a night's rest on the greensward. As the sun lowered we took a view of our once pleasant and happy camp. How desolate and dreary was it now! Proud in our strength, we had been conquer- ed. How much of passion, hate and revenge rankled in the bosoms of even those who would be Christians. Our com- rades killed, the battle lost to us, our friends at home frightened, anxious, full of sorrow, our prospects for free- dom from this degrading imprisonment far in the dim, dim future."
A number of the men of the battery were made prisoners during the fight, and were taken to the prisons at Florence and Charleston, from which some never returned.
On the next day those who had surrendered took up their march under rebel guards, who were loaded with the plun- der they had taken from the town, much of which they were compelled to throw away. On the 25th of April they ar- rived at Tarboro, where the officers were separated from the men and taken to Richmond. The men were then taken on platform cars, by way of Wilmington, Charleston, Savan- nah and Macon, to Andersonville. On their arrival there they had their first sight of Captain Wirz. One of them de- scribed him thus: "Suddenly, as if it had been the devil himself, this fiend made his appearance through or near one of the fires. Short in stature, stooping figure, ill shaped head, awkward limbs and movement, a deep set ugly eye, and a tongue reeking with profanity-such was Captain Wirz."
Andersonville has been so often described and its loath- some horrors so minutely depicted that no recapitulation is needed here. Clara Barton says of it:
"After this, whenever any man who has lain a prisoner within the stockade of Andersonville would tell you of his sufferings-how he fainted, scorched, drenched, hungered, sickened, was scoffed, scourged, hunted and persecuted- though the tale be long and twice told: as you would have your own wrongs appreciated and your own woes pitied, your own cries for mercy heard, I charge you listen and believe him. However definitely he may have spoken, know that he has not told you all. However strongly he may have outlined or deeply he may have colored his picture. know that the reality calls for a better light and a nearer view than your clouded distant gaze will ever get; and your sympathies need not be confined to Andersonville while sim- ilar horrors glared in the sunny light, and spotted the flower-girt garden fields of that whole desperate, misguided
and bewildered people. Wherever stretched the form of a Union prisoner there rose the signal for cruelty and the cry of agony, and there day by day grew the skeleton graves of the nameless dead."
Father Hamilton, who was there to administer the rites of the Catholic church to the sick and dying, said of what he found there:
" I saw a great many men perfectly naked, walking about through the stockade. They seemed to have lost all regard for delicacy, shame, morality, or anything else. I would frequently have to creep on my hands and knees into the holes the men had burrowed in the ground, and stretch my- self out alongside of them to hear their confessions. I found them almost living in vermin in these holes. They could not be in any other condition than a filthy one, because they got no soap and no change of clothing. and were there all huddled together."
Mr. Merril, in his " Record," says of the cruelties inflicted on prisoners there:
"Several times they ceased to issue rations for a day, and even two days; cause-some few of our number had dug a tunnel in order to escape, and to punish these, thousands of starving men were deprived of the morsel that would barely keep the breath of life in them from day to day. They shot men; cause-they had reached over the dead line for water or for a cracker that was a foot beyond it. They chased men with dogs, and these dogs did bite and mutilate them, from the effects of which they died; cause-they were attempting to escape. They put prisoners in chain gangs and in stocks; they whipped them at a whipping-post; they hung them up by the thumbs; cause-these prisoners at- tempted to escape. They did force prisoners to be vaccin- ated with poisonous virus, and but few that were vaccinated lived. They beat and kicked sick soldiers who were too ill to keep up in line of march, and last of all, when they had killed by inhuman treatment and cruelties, they buried our friends and comrades in an indecent manner that even bar- barians could not have excelled."
During seven months these men were kept in this prison, and in that time famine, pestilence and cruelty accomplished their work. About half their number died there, and of the remainder many returned with broken constitutions and permanently impaired health.
The following are lists of the members of this organization who died while in the service of the United States-taken from Mr. Merril's " Record."
Killed in battle .- Pierce Fitzpatrick, Wilbur M. Hoyt, George F H. Mesde, Robert Turner.
Died of disease while in the U. S. service .- Lemuel Andrews, L. M. Beors, Rufus Brayton, Murray Grant, G. H. Keith, William A. Mccrary, Michael MoGutre, Darius Munroe, F. D. Otis, O. M. Truair.
Died at their homes while in the service .- Ira Billingham, James Movey. Died after reaching the Federal lines .- J. E. Galusha, Samuel Nichols, Wil- Ham P. Niobols.
Died at Charleston prison .- William Ainsworth, Porter D. Rawson.
Died at Florence prison .- John Bartley, William Blood, John Brooks, Orren 8. MoCrary, James MoCrink, Henry MeNinch, George W. Piper. A. Piper, Stepben Boot, George W. Stevens, Samuel Tirrell, Chauncey Wet- more.
Died at Andersonville prison .- William Alburty, William Armstrong, George 8. Atwood, John Baker, Roswell Barnes, Hartwell Bartlett, B. F. Baobelder, W. D. Blake, James Button. Paul Caltesuz, James Calkins, Charles Carnahan, Henry Chadbourne, H. V. Clute, A. W. Comstook, B. F. Corbin, Morton Crosby, George Crounce. A. L. Culver, Edwin Eastwood, John FI- bin, Charles W. Fitch, Thomas Fitzgerald, James Flynn, Charles R. Grith, Albert Grimith, Charles Hathaway, W. F. Hosford, E. H. Hunter, George W. Keeney, Sylvanus King, L. H. Lapham, Abram Lee, Abram Lent, John Mo- Crink, Archibald MoDonald, Charles A. Marean, H. C. Martin, J. Gile Miner, Riley J. Newton. Philander Pratt, Thurmon Rich, Le Grand D. Bood, Pom-
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