USA > New York > Genesee County > History of the Genesee country (western New York) comprising the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates, Volume II > Part 28
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Beginning with its baptism of fire at Chancellorsville, the One Hundred Thirty-sixth made a notable record throughout its period of service, and participated in some of the most important engage- ments of the rebellion, including Gettysburg, Missionary Ridge,
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Resaca, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, and was with Sherman on his march to the sea.
The Fourteenth New York Heavy Artillery was raised in the summer of 1863 at Rochester, principally from the counties of Yates, St. Lawrence, Jefferson and Monroe, although a number of Livingston County men enlisted in its ranks. Job C. Hedges was major.
The Thirteenth New York Volunteer Infantry was organized at Rochester in 1861. A reference to this regiment is made else- where. Company B was recruited at Dansville, and was officered by Carl Stephan, captain; George Hyland, Jr., first lieutenant; Ralph T. Wood, second lieutenant. The company left Dansville for Elmira May 3, 1861. Several more companies were later raised in Dansville for the Thirteenth.
The Thirty-third New York Volunteer Infantry included Company E, from Geneseo, and Company F, from Nunda. The regiment was organized at Elmira in 1861.
The Twenty-seventh New York Volunteer Infantry had Com- pany G, from Lima, captained by James Perkins, and Company H, of Mount Morris, under Captain C. E. Martin. The former numbered eighty-one men, and the latter eighty-three. The regi- ment was organized at Elmira May 21, 1861.
Livingston County supplied recruits for many other military organizations during the war, among which were the Twenty- fourth Artillery, the Seventy-fifth, Eighty-ninth and Eighteenth regiments, Eighth Heavy Artillery, Harris' Cavalry and regi- ments from other states.
In a Memorial day address delivered at Geneseo in 1915, the Hon. John B. Abbott portrayed in vivid words something of the spirit and the history of Civil war days in Livingston County. The following paragraphs are taken from this interesting account :
"It is not so long ago that among the first of our country's dead heroes, were the young farmers of Concord and Lexington, awakened from their sleep by the midnight shout of Paul Revere. They sprang from their beds to seize their rifles and gathered for the fray, where next day in the warm April sunshine they fought the British oppressors from behind hedge and stone wall; ‘the embattled farmers fired the shots heard round the world.'
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"It is still fewer years since the farmers of our valley, among them Major-General William Wadsworth, rallied to the defense of our country when England denied our rights upon the seas and sought to impress our seamen in violation of international law, giving us just cause for war.
"It seems but yesterday, when the news came again on an April morning that Fort Sumter had been attacked; that Amer- icans had turned traitors and fired upon their country's flag. War was here. Everywhere there was intense excitement. Then came President Lincoln's call for men to put down the rebellion. There was a quick and eager response. One by one they signed the. muster rolls; they were assembled by companies and regiments; here in our own village they went into camp on the old fair grounds and in barracks in a field at the top of North Street; here they were drilled and taught the manual of arms and a soldier's duties.
"The sun was shining brightly on that morning when the soldiers came out of their barracks at the head of North Street; they formed in line with band playing and banners flying; they marched through the streets of the village where many of them had been born and had always lived; through the scenes of their boyish sports and pleasures, down Court Street to the railroad station. Here a long train of yellow wooden cars, with a big smoke-stacked, wood-burning engine at the front, stood ready to. take them away ; the bugle sounds and the boys in blue file aboard the train; the whistle blows and with the band playing amid the waving of handkerchiefs and last good-byes they are off, and some of them have gone forever.
"Among the first of Geneseo's soldiers at the front was Gen- eral James S. Wadsworth. Early in 1861 he enlisted as a volun- teer. Governor Morgan of New York desired to appoint him major-general of volunteers, but through some controversy as to whether the commissions for these positions should come from the governor of the state or from the President, and also by reason of his extreme modesty as to his ability to fill the position, he declined the appointment. General McDowell was then in com- mand of the Union army at Washington, and was a comparatively young man. To him General Wadsworth applied for a position upon his staff ; and under this young general, General Wadsworth,
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then being fifty-three years of age, became a bearer of messages. He was anxious to serve his country in any position where he could, however lowly. At the first battle of Bull Run, he first displayed his ability as a leader of men and performed brilliant service on that unlucky field of battle. Soon after this, in August, 1861, he was commissioned a brigadier-general of volunteers.
"By the spring of 1862, most of Geneseo's soldier boys were at the front. They were in camp along the Potomac and where the Rappahannock and Rapidan peacefully glide through the wooded mountains and green fields of Virginia. We see them at the morning roll call; the daily drill; the dim camp fire; on picket duty in the forest, with only the stars for company; we hear the bugle call to duty and see the long line advancing to meet the enemy. There was sickness, too. Long weary days and nights in the hospital, the body racked with fever, far from home and loved ones.
"I have been diligent to ascertain the names of the Geneseo boys who were killed in battle, but with only very meager results. There is not today a single member of the One Hundred Fourth Regiment residing in our town. The One Hundred Fourth Regi- ment participated in the battles of the second Bull Run, where it lost ninety-four officers and men; Antietam, where the loss was seventy-six; Fredericksburg, where it lost 219. It also partici- pated in the battles of Cedar Mountain, Rappahannock Station, Thoroughfare Gap, South Mountain, Chancellorsville, Mine Run, the Wilderness, Chantilly, Spottsylvania, Petersburg and others. A most glorious record. Samuel Lewis was killed at Fredericks- burg. While standing on a large stone, waving his hat as the enemy retreated, he was shot through the forehead by a sharp- shooter. He was from the town of York and a brother of our townsman, Joseph D. Lewis. Colonel John R. Strang was wounded and captured at the battle of Petersburg, near the close of the war, was confined in the hospital of Libby Prison at Richmond, Vir- ginia, and subsequently exchanged. He was then a lieutenant- colonel.
"The Geneseo boys belonging to the One Hundred Thirty- sixth Regiment of New York Volunteers received their first bap- tism of fire at Chancellorsville. Here they lost no men. Their first loss was at the battle of Gettysburg, where there were five
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casualties. Shortly after this battle the regiment was sent to the west under Grant and Sherman and became a part of the Army of the Cumberland. When it joined this western army, General Grant had recently won the battles of Fort Henry, Fort Donelson and Shiloh. The regiment's first fight in the west was at Rac- coon Ridge. It wintered at Chattanooga. In the next spring it. climbed the rocks of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, fought the savage fight of Kenesaw Mountain, where your com- rade, Newton W. Neff, was wounded; was engaged at Resaca, where your late comrade, James S. Jones, was wounded; and marched with Sherman from Atlanta to the sea, and north through the Carolinas to Washington.
"On August 20, 1864, about five miles north of Atlanta, Georgia, was fought the historic battle of Peachtree Creek. Here on a sultry summer day, Captain Augustus A. Curtiss, whose name has been honored in its selection as that of Geneseo's Grand Army post, received the wound that resulted in the amputation of his leg upon the field of battle, and a few years later the loss of his life. I remember him well in his stalwart manhood as he went away; I remember him a few years later, after years of suffering, as he lay in his coffin.
"In another incident, a member of the One Hundred Thirty- sixth New York won immortal fame at this same battle of Peach- tree Creek. In the course of the terrific struggle, the Thirty-first Mississippi had dropped its regimental flag as it retreated from before the boys of the One Hundred Thirty-sixth. Dennis Buck- ley, of Avon, crawled on his hands and knees to where the banner lay on the ground between the contending armies and had secured its possession when he became so excited that he sprang to his feet and proudly waved it, to fall immediately, pierced by a rebel bullet. For this heroic act his mother later received a medal from Congress.
"After the march through Georgia to the sea, Colonel Henry L. Arnold was wounded at Bentonville, N. C., in March, 1865.
"With these few incidents of the individual valor of the Geneseo boys in the War of the Rebellion, I will now return to their record at the battle of Gettysburg. In the early summer of 1863 the hosts of the Confederacy under General Robert E. Lee, at the height of their veteran efficiency, were divided by him into
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three divisions under the leadership of Generals Longstreet, Ewell and A. P. Hill, with 12,000 rebel cavalry under General Stuart 'in addition. This army started for the invasion of the North. The Army of the Potomac was at that time under the command of General Hooker, 'Fighting Joe.' Under him was the Federal general, Reynolds, under whom was General Wadsworth, with the One Hundred Fourth and One Hundred Thirty-sixth New York among the regiments constituting the First Corps. The leaders of other corps were Hancock, Sickles, Sedgwick, Meade, Howard and Slocum; and Pleasanton, commander of about 12,000 Federal cavalry. On the 28th of June, 1863, General Meade was appointed to succeed Hooker, who resigned, and General Sykes became leader of the Fifth Corps.
"Steadily Lee's army advanced until it overran southern Pennsylvania and was levying heavy tribute on the farmers of that state. The affairs of the Confederacy were at this time at high water mark and a victory would have procured them recogni- tion by Europe and a possible successful solution of the great con- flict. The North was paralyzed with terror, and the government at Washington, with the Southern army far to its north, was on the verge of panic. At this critical moment was precipitated the battle of Gettysburg, one of the greatest in history. On the first day of July, 1863, the advancing columns of General Hill's divi- sion got in touch with Buford's Cavalry, the advance guard of the Union army, near the little village of Gettysburg, in southern Pennsylvania. This cavalry was drawn back until it met the advance of the First Corps under Reynolds and Wadsworth. The other corps of the Union army were miles away. It was of the utmost importance that the rebel advance should be checked and held back until the rest of the Union army could be brought up. Reynolds and Wadsworth at once set about this arduous task, when, almost at the beginning of the first day's fight, General Reynolds was killed and for a time the chief command devolved on General Wadsworth. He was everywhere, placing and leading his army. Men fell by hundreds around him, but he escaped un- scathed. Slowly the boys of the 104th and 136th were forced back until they occupied Cemetery Ridge and the Taneytown road. The 136th lay behind a stone wall which protected them from the front, but from an isolated brick building occupied by rebel
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sharpshooters, a range was had of the street behind them which made it a most dangerous place. Here on the first day of the battle, walking down this street as leisurely as he afterwards walked Main Street in Geneseo, came Gen. James Wood, calmly examining the situation for future action. Our Father in Heaven protected him from danger that day for many years of usefulness in Geneseo. Brave, faithful Gen. James Wood! After a life of usefulness as a distinguished lawyer and citizen in his home vil- lage, he now quietly sleeps the sleep of the soldier dead in yonder Temple Hill Cemetery, with many of his former comrades lying near his last resting place.
"On the second day of the battle, the Geneseo boys of the 136th, on the hot July morning, were advanced as a skirmish line. They had gone down the hill about sixty rods through a corn field and come to a rail fence, beyond which was a field of wheat, yellow and ready to cut, in which rebel sharpshooters were secreted. These came out and drove our boys back up the hill. Sergeant William Hoover was one of the boys driven back. He was large and fleshy and when he got to the top of the hill, he lay down, tired out, facing the enemy. Here he was shot through the heart and died instantly as he lay on the ground within six feet of his comrade, Newton W. Neff. In his second day's fight, from this regiment, Corp. George Blackall of Avon was shot while advanc- ing to the wheat field, but succeeded in crawling back to the Union lines and died next day from the bullet wound through his lungs. John Folmsbee of Geneseo was shot through the body and died the next day. Lucien Smith of Geneseo was shot through the lungs and in the heel and died two or three days after in the hospital of lockjaw. To the soldiers of the First Corps, including General Wadsworth and the Geneseo boys of the 104th and 136th Regi- ments, is due immortal honor for the valor they displayed in this battle in holding the enemy back until the rest of the army could get into the fight.
"It is now the spring of 1864. Grant, who was then the commander-in-chief of the Union armies, was to mee for the first time his great antagonist, Lee. The first clash between the two leaders was to occur at the battle of the Wilderness. The country in which this battle was fought was, as its name implies, of wild and wooded character, covered with dense thickets of low
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scrub oaks, interspersed with numerous swamps. It was a ter- rible place for a battle. With few exceptions the contending. forces could not see each other, except on the few roads that tra- versed the Wilderness, until they were in immediate contact. Just before the beginning of this great battle, General Wadsworth had been promoted to major-general, and was now serving under Gen- eral Warren.
"On the morning of the 4th of May, the army pushed across the Rapidan and was moving south through this wilderness to a central spot that was known as the Wilderness Tavern. Here General Wadsworth's division was encamped on the evening of the first day. On the morning of May 5th, the army was ordered to move westward in readiness for an attack at any moment from the enemy. Here early in the day the battle began in the heart of this forest. Wadsworth's corps was in the fight from the start and he displayed the greatest courage and skill in the handling of his forces on this day. No decisive result occurred, as a large portion of the Union army had not yet arrived on the battle ground and General Lee was holding back his forces, awaiting reinforcements from General Longstreet, who was thirty-odd miles away. Here around the camp fires of Wilderness Tavern that night, Wadsworth was in consultation with Grant and Meade and the other leaders of the Union army. It was inevitable that a terrible battle was about to be fought on the ensuing day. On the morning of May 6th the warm spring sunshine was bathing the forest of this southern woods; the flowers were in blossom along the roadsides, and it was one of those rare days that inspire men to deeds of valor. Wadsworth doubtless thought of his far northern home on the slopes of the Genesee, where the apple and peach trees were in blossom, the green fields of his heritage stretching out between the hills covered with his countless herds; and he an old man of fifty-six years of age, wealthy, far beyond the age when men are required to fight in battle, was here in this southern forest, in his zeal for his country, exposing himself to constant danger and death.
"Soon the battle broke and was intense in its activity. Wads- worth rapidly led his men to the. charge; three times his division advanced and was driven back over the same ground. Two horses were shot under him. At last, on his horse, leading a regiment of
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'bucktails' of Pennsylvania, he was advancing, when suddenly a regiment from Alabama arose from the ground where they had lain and pourned in a murderous volley. His boys halted and retreated again; they advanced once more and were met by a ter- rific fire and then broke and ran. General Wadsworth was press- ing on with his horse and was unable to turn him, so was left alone, surrounded by the enemy. As he finally wheeled his horse to retreat, he was struck by a ball in the back of the head and fell upon the field, the lines of the enemy passing over him. The nature of his wound was such as to make him immediately un- conscious and after two days in the enemy's hands, where he received every care and attention, he passed away. General Wads- worth sleeps his last sleep in yonder Temple Hill Cemetery, 'in the tongueless silence of the dreamless dust, in his windowless palace of rest,' but his fame 'belongs to the ages.' There is no individual instance in the records of the War of the Rebellion of greater zeal, devotion and sacrifice of every personal interest for the glory of his country than that of General Wadsworth. His life and death is a magnificent heritage not only to his country, but especially to the citizens of his native town. They may not inherit his lands, but his deeds of honor are a heritage for them and their children for all posterity. [Extensive reference is made to Gen. James S. Wadsworth elsewhere.]
"From Maj .- Gen. William Wadsworth at the battle of Queens- town in the War of 1812, down through the careers of Gen. James S. Wadsworth at First Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellors- ville, Gettysburg and the Wilderness; of his fighting sons, Maj. Charles F. Wadsworth in the swamps of Louisiana and before Port Hudson, Col. Craig W. Wadsworth in the battle of the Wilderness, and Maj. James W. Wadsworth as aide on General Warren's staff throughout the war; of Maj. William A. Wads- worth in the cane brakes of the Philippines; of Corp. Craig W. Wadsworth, Jr., at the battle of Santiago, where his shirt was pierced by four bullets, four men killed by his side and three severely wounded; to Senator James W. Wadsworth, Jr., on the firing line in the far Philippines, Geneseo has inherited and re- ceived a record of sterling devotion to duty and bravery in the face of danger that cannot be surpassed."
At home, those who were left labored unceasingly in every way
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to help the soldier at the front, to provide for his comfort and care. Money was raised from time to time in every town of the county with which to buy articles needed by the troops, and to provide relief for the families of soldiers. In the later years of the war, immense sums were raised in the county to pay bounties for enlistments, when men were sorely needed.
The town of Caledonia supplied 207 soldiers during the war. The records of Avon do not state the exact number that went from there, but it was equal in proportion to the other towns of the county. Conesus gave seventy-eight men to the cause, most of them in Company I of the 136th Regiment. Henry L. Arnold was captain of this company, was later made colonel, and was wounded at Bentonville. Most of the recruits from Lima joined the 27th New York Volunteer Infantry. Livonia sent a large number of men to the front: Edward S. Gilbert, Edward E. Sill, Henry F. Sill, Justus F. McCoy, Charles H. Richmond, Adams Dixon, Willard S. Chapin and Charles L. Peck were officers in various regiments. Ossian recruits numbered about 100. The town of Mount Morris supplied 285 men. The first war meeting was held there April 22, 1861, when C. E. Martin was authorized to raise a company. Half of the required number of enlistments were secured at the meeting. Three weeks later Captain Martin left for Elmira with a company of seventy-seven privates and eleven officers. A second company was raised by Capt. C. W. Burt, which left in September, 1861. Dansville held its first great war meeting on April 20, 1861, when almost two thousand dollars was subscribed for the families of the volunteers; Carl Stephan called for volunteers and within three days had sixty- three men on the rolls. His company became Company B of the 13th New York Infantry. In the fall of 1861, Ralph T. Wood recruited a second company which became Company G of the 13th. In November, 1861, Job C. Hedges and Albert S. Lema, both of Dansville, recruited a third company. Then there was the Dansville band which joined the regiment at Elmira. In Au- gust, 1861, Company B of the 136th was raised in Dansville. Capt. Andrew J. Leach raised a company which became K of the 130th. Bounties were paid in common with the other towns of the county. Portage men to the number of 152 volunteered during the war, and almost $50,000 was paid in this town as bounties.
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West Sparta contributed almost a hundred men, and Springwater responded in kind. Nunda had its first war meeting April 19, 1861, when twenty-one men volunteered. In less than three weeks a company was mustered in with James McNair as captain. It became part of the 33d. In September, 1861, the town supplied thirty-six more men, who joined Tuthill's Company A of the 104th, the Wadsworth Guards. In 1862, Nunda sent forty-three men under Capt. James Lemen, to join the First New York Dragoons.
CHAPTER XLII.
THE COUNTY OF ALLEGANY.
Until the year 1802 the present territory of Allegany County was within the county of Ontario, the county seat of which was Canandaigua. In the year mentioned, Genesee County was erected from Ontario, the shire town having been Batavia. The increase in settlements, however, warranted still further sub-division of this extensive area and gradually new county allotments were made from both Ontario and Genesee. By the legislative enact- ment of April 7, 1806, Allegany County was formed, the move- ment looking to this end having been inaugurated the previous year. Courts were not held in the new county until the autumn of 1807. Minard's history of Allegany County says: "The loca- tion of the county seat at Angelica was one of the pet projects of Judge Church. It being, however, so far to one side of the geo- graphical center of the county, it began quite early to excite in his mind, and in the minds of others interested, serious appre- hensions of an attempt to remove it to some point farther west, so as to better accommodate the people. Accordingly the aid of the legislature was again invoked, and, on the 11th of March, 1808, an act was passed restoring the three western ranges of towns from Steuben County, which made the county seat substan- tially in the center east and west as well as north and south. By other provisions of the act the county was divided into five towns -Angelica, Alfred, Caneadea, Nunda and Ossian." The act of March 11, 1808, authorized the raising of $1,500 to build a court house and jail. Moses Van Campen, John Gibson and William Higgins were appointed commissioners to manage the con- struction.
In later years, movements were started in the county favoring the removal of the county seat to Belmont. It is unnecessary to recount the political history of the time or describe the turmoil
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resulting from this agitation. In 1858, suffice to say, the friends of the removal project succeeded in having an act passed author- izing three commissioners to select some place on the Erie Rail- road which should be a new county seat. In May of that year the commissioners located the county seat at Belmont, and imme- diately preparations were made to erect county buildings, which was accomplished in 1859. Angelica did not give up the fight, how- ever, and created several situations unique in the history of counties of the Genesee Country. In 1860 William M. Smith in- troduced a bill in the legislature entitled "An act to divide the county of Allegany into two jury districts, and provide for holding court in and for said county alternately in each of said districts." It became a law. The old court house and jail at Angelica were repaired, and courts were held at both Belmont and Angelica until 1892. The jail at Angelica was also used until the building of a new jail at Belmont in 1895; in this same year the old county buildings at Angelica were sold.
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