USA > New York > History of the One hundredth regiment of New York state volunteers > Part 20
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The One Hundredth Regiment, commanded by Capt. Nichols, with Lieut. Conry acting as adjutant, was relieved of guarding the wagon train ; had joined the brigade, and accompanied us on our return march to Richmond. Our camps encircled the city. The One Hundredth lay in a fine wood about two miles out, near the Brook River turnpike, or between it and Meadow Bridge road. The mental strain of alternate fears and hopes had gone, and a reaction was apparent in all the army. The soldier was thinking of the civilian, and getting ready, in thought. to assume his duties as such as soon as the grasp of the nation was surrendered. The war was ended, and gradually the national army passed to their homes. The various
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corps were received with honors as they passed through Richmond on their way to Washington. The arrival of Sherman's army was an event, and well had they earned all the favors which as a stationed corps we could give them.
Col. Dandy was still in command of the brigade. May 10th he left for the North on a leave of absence for thirty days to look after the interests of his brother, Maj. James H. Dandy, who was killed at Fort Grigg.
At this time, and subsequently, several promotions had been made. Capt. Warren Granger to be lieu- tenant colonel from May 11th, 1865; Capt. George HI. Stowits to be major, from May 31st; and Lieut. Henry W. Conry, to be captain, May 31st; Lieut. Samuel Ely to be captain, May 31st; Henry J. Jones to be first lieutenant, May 31st; Joseph Pratt to be first lientenant ; and Frank Casey and Peter Kelly to be second lieutenants, May 31st, 1865.
Col. Greely, of the Tenth Connecticut, the next senior officer in the brigade, succeeded Col. Dandy in command. Maj. Baldwin, of the Eleventh Maine, now lieutenant colonel, who had been wounded in the as- mult of the rebels on the morning of April 1st, re- turned, and was heartily welcomed by both officers and men. The Two Hundred and Sixth Pennsylvania, that had been left before Richmond, March 27th, now joined the brigade, and a camping ground was assigned them. Picketing, provost duty in the city, inspections Nul reviews were the several duties of regiments, bri- gades and divisions. The city of Richmond, and its
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surroundings, at this season was beautiful to behold. It is situated on the James river, at the head of naviga- tion, with all the exhibitions of modern taste in the de- signs of its public and private buildings. There was no mistaking the manifested pride of " blood " and " first families." The best had suffered much for the cause. Col. Dandy ordered that the headquarters of the bri- gade be located in the front yard of a rebel officer, and the following dialogue ensued between Capt. Stowits and the wife of the rebel captain. "Can you mess. or cook for the officers, the Colonel and staff?" "No! I have no servants, no food, save corn meal, and no milk, as your troops killed my cows ; and my husband has not yet arrived as a paroled prisoner." "Well." responded the Captain, " I will furnish you with food. servants, and whatever you may need in the way of means and material." "No! I can't consent." The tents of the various staff officers were pitched in front of the house, much to the annoyance of this loval lady to the " lost cause." She had three little children. aged respectively. six. eight and eleven years. Said one, " Ma would not play on the piano for Union officers when pa was away in the army, for he might have been dead, sick, wounded or a prisoner : but now he is home, ma will play if they desire ; but I am a little rebel any how."
When our army entered Richmond many remarked that the statue. in Capitol Square, of Washington. pointed in the direction Lee had tled with his army : a significant index of the great desire of the Father of his
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country that it should ever remain one country and one people, and that treason and traitors should be secured and punished. The people seemed friendly and thought the " Yanks" a fine looking people, and did not ex- pect to see such " heaps " of them, and a " right smart lot, too."
The receptions given the various corps of the Army of the Potomac, and also Sherman's army, were what was due " the boys in blue." foot sore, weary, bronzed and soil stained with marches up from the southern shore, the gates of Atlanta, Savannah, Charleston, Columbia, through North Carolina to the rear entrance of the boasted capital of a would-be Confederate gov- ernment. With firm step, as on a holiday review, they marched through the principal streets with guns at a " right shoulder shift." making the Richmondites feel that they were a power, and that they had earned the cheers and salutes extended them by their com- rades along the line.
To the negroes the sight was a feast of joy and glad- ness. In short all classes seemed to gaze upon the scene as one long to be remembered. The weather was delightful, and all nature. about the fire-scarred city, seemed to welcome the Union hosts with open- ing buds and expanded leaves. Said a rebel officer, as he looked upon the well clothed and well appointed and thoroughly equipped thousands of the National army, " We were fools to continue resistance to such a power as seen in this representative army."
Lieut. Col. Granger arrived and took command of
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the One Hundredth, relieving Capt. Edwin Nichols. Visited Fair Oaks battle field with a party from Buf- falo, Messrs. S. N. Welch and J. D. Shepard. Details were burying the dead slain in the charge and repulse of October 27th, 1864, of the Eighteenth Corps, in front of the defences of Richmond.
On Monday, May 22d, visited the suburbs of the city with George Barnum and Brown of Buffalo. Many visitors from the North were in Richmond at this time, and their appearance awakened the liveliest hopes in the minds of the soldiery to return to the scenes of civil life.
The Two Hundred and Sixth Pennsylvania was or- dered to Lyneliburg. Wednesday, May 24th, the Sixth Corps was received as other corps had been by the Twenty-fourth Corps, as at review. At this date many of the wives of the officers of New England reg- iments joined their husbands, and cheerily enjoyed the rustic life and living of their patriotic husbands. This peaceful military life was not without its de- lights ; regular duties imperative, the music of bands, parades and reviews, all gave stimulus and excitement, differing from the fears of expectant danger and bat- tle. The little girls mentioned became quite familiar, and presented Capt. Stowits daily with bouquets of choice flowers, and insisting their disbelief that he was a Yankee, since how could he be and treat them so kindly, for had they not been taught that the Yankee was a savage, a creature of untold monster character- istics ? Yes, thus even had childhood been perverted
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in its notions of that large number of enterprising, in- dustrious and loval men that had rescued a nation and saved an element of it from self-destruction and the destruction of a government that had given them ex- istence and untold blessings. Said the mother to Capt. Stowits : " You have won my children and their favor, such are the impressible natures of the young." The Captain responded and said : "It is not strange. My life has been spent among children, and I have learned the way through the doorways of their frank and usu- ally unsuspicious natures."
During a parade in front of headquarters, while the national flags were unfurled and the bands were dis- coursing their sweetest music, the same lady remarked, " that she had thought she could never again look upon that ' old flag' with the least degree of complacency ;" so deeply had they trodden out of sight, apparently, the symbols of a great and prosperous people.
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CHAPTER XLIX.
GEN. FOSTER, IN COMMAND OF DIVISION, ON LEAVE. - GEN. OSBORNE IN COMMAND. - RETURN SOLDIERS FROM AN- DERSONVILLE. - LEAVES OF ABSENCE AND PASSES TO THE CITY. - RESIGNATION OF CAPT. STOWITS. - LET- TER OF GEN. DANDY. - APPOINTMENT OF CAPT. COOK AS ACTING ASSISTANT ADJUTANT GENERAL. - A CORPS REVIEW AND GEN. GIBBON'S FAREWELL ORDER. - AR- RIVAL OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH AT ALBANY, AND MUS- TER OUT. - PRESENTATION OF BATTLE FLAGS OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH REGIMENT TO THE BUFFALO HISTORI- CAL SOCIETY, BY LIEUT. COL. WARREN GRANGER, JE ..
Gen. R. S. Foster, now of Indianapolis, Indiana, was still in command of the First Division. He was our pride as an officer, both on account of his soldierly bearing and qualities, as well as his social and courte- ous manners, so much more acceptable to the volun- teer, than the rigid, formal and martinet formalities of the United States army officer. The General left us on leave, and Gen. Osborne sneceeded him, another one of those desirable volunteer generals, who was universally liked. Inspections and rumors of " mus-
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ter out " still continued almost daily. The " Board of Trade men," of 1862, began to feel that their hour of departure was drawing near. The prisoners of Andersonville were coming in from their long and ter- rible struggle with death in that southern charnel house, some little account of which is given in the sketch of Alfred Lyth, one of the committee in the publication of this work, and who suffered all but death, as did the one hundred and forty men of the One Hundredth Regiment, confined in that death-pen, a blackened stigma upon southern chivalry, and with- out a precedent in the annals of civilized warfare.
The temptation to visit the city of Richmond was to be expected, being so near, and the conscious know- ledge that war had ceased, and the old habits of civil life coming vividly to thought, there had to be some method in the way of enjoying that coveted boon. Furloughs were granted to officers whose companies on inspection presented an almost faultless appearance in cleanliness of person and equipments. A certain number of passes were given to enlisted men to go to the city, daily, after inspection of clothing, guns and accontrements, at brigade headquarters, by Act. Asst. Adjt. Gen., Capt. Stowits. Col. Dandy received hiscommission as brevet brigadier general of volunteers, for services rendered during the war. Capt. Stowits, feeling that his services as a soldier were no longer needed, sent in his resignation, May Both, and it was accepted, and the last entry made in his military diary was in the following words : " Here ends military rule
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and power over me." The Captain left before the ar- rival of Gen. Dandy, whom he had served as acting assistant adjutant general since his wounding and re- turn from hospital at Fortress Monroe, October 27th. 1864. After the arrival of the General at Richmond, and the resumption of his command, he addressed the following letter to Capt. Stowits.
RICHMOND, Va., June 12th, 1865.
MY DEAR CAPTAIN :-
On my return here I was extremely sorry to learn that you had left the service. Doubtless, however, your private interests required you to take such a step. I regret that you did not re- main until my return, or at least until your commission as major of the regiment had reached you. Be assured, Captain, that I shall miss the services of so efficient and gallant an officer as yourself on my staff, and shall find it difficult to replace you. With my best wishes for your future prosperity, permit me to subscribe my. self,
Your sincere friend, GEORGE B. DANDY, Brig. Gen Comd. Third Brigade.
To Capt. GEO. H. STOWITS,
late Act. Asst. Adjt. Gen.
Previous to the departure of Capt. Stowits, he de- tailed Capt. Edward L. Cook, of the One Hundredth Regiment, as acting assistant adjutant general, whose known 'efficiency as acting adjutant of the regiment was a guarantee that the business of the brigade would not be neglected.
A few days subsequent to these events a grand re- view of the Twenty-fourth Corps was had, which was an event. in the history of reviews, for the finest of soldierly displays. Such had been seen without the
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works of Richmond, as an investing army, and it was meet that similar ones should be enacted within the concentric circles of the city defences.
At the review, Maj. Gen. Gibbon issued his parting words to the heroes of the Twenty-fourth Corps.
HEADQUARTERS, TWENTY-FOURTH ARMY CORPS, 1 REVIEW GROUND, RICHMOND, Va., June 10th, 1865. 5 SOLDIERS OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH CORPS :-
This, probably, is the last occasion upon which you, as a corps, will be assembled.
Many of you are about to re-enter civil life, to resume those domestic duties which, by your service in the great cause of your country, have been so long neglected.
Before we separate, I desire to thank you, in the name of a grateful country, for the service you have rendered her.
By your discipline, long marches and hard fighting, you have established for yourself a name second to none in the army.
Your badge has become an emblem of energy, valor and patri- otism, and is a source of just pride to all who wear it.
Those of you who are entering civil life should still wear it, on all occasions, as an evidence to your brothers who remain in ser- vice of your pride in a badge made sacred by the blood of so many brave men, and your disposition, should your country ever again call you to arms, to again assemble under that proud emblem, and revive the glory of the Twenty-fourth Corps.
To our comrades who are leaving the service we pledge a kind farewell, and a wish that their career in civil life may be as suc- cessful and prosperous as their military life has been alike honor- able to themselves and beneficial to their country.
JOHN GIBBON,
Maj. Gen. Vols. Commanding Corps.
In July the One Hundred and Forty-eighth and One Hundred and Fifty-eighth New York regiments were consolidated with the One Hundredth Regiment, and. as Capt. Stowits did not muster as major, Frederick A.
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Sawyer was commissioned as major, mustered, and was mustered out with the regiment at Albany on its re- turn home.
After consolidation, and order for muster out, from some unexplained cause, the regiment was ordered to Albany for muster out, instead of Buffalo, where a majority of the regiment desired to be sent. As most of the officers were of the original regiment, and about two hundred of the men, composed of re-en- listed veterans and what were termed "Board of Trade men," it was hoped that they, at least, would come to Buffalo in a body, that the honor of a recep- tion might be given them, as their services merited. The Board of Trade was ready, waiting any action on the part of the members of the regiment, to fulfill their obligations, and pay their respects to the remnants of a body of men aggregated under their auspices, after having done such valiant service for country, a pride to Buffalo and an honor to the nation. But it was otherwise ordered, and on the 28th of August, 1865. at Richmond, the regiment was discharged, left for Albany by the way of Baltimore and New York city. and was noticed by the New York press in terms of the most flattering character.
THE ONE HUNDREDTH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
The One Hundredth New York Volunteer Regiment, number- ing seven hundred and forty men, under command of Brevet Brig. Gen. George B. Dandy, arrived in this city yesterday afternoon from Richmond, en route for Alhany, for which place it left early in the evening. The regiment was raised in Erie County in Jan-
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nary, 1962, and served in the Peninsula campaign under Gen. McClellan. In March, 1863, the regiment was sent to take possession of Cole's island, at the mouth of the Stono river, S. C., preparatory to the siege of Charleston. The One Hundredth Regiment par- ticipated in the capture of Morris island, the assault of Fort Wag- ner, and in the regular approaches afterward made upon that work, resulting in its capture, and in which it lost nearly one-half its men. In the spring and summer of 1864 it served with Gen. Butler's command at Bermuda Hundred, Drury's Bluff and Deep Bottom, taking part in all the engagements of that campaign. In October, 1864, the regiment was recruited for the third time, and in March, 1865, and in the closing campaign, fought at Hatcher's Run for three days: participated in the assault of Fort Grigg, near Petersburg, and in the closing battle of the war, at Appomat- tox Court House. at the time of the surrender of Gen. Lee.
In July last, the remnants of the One Hundred and Forty-eighth and One Hundred and Fifty-eighth New York Volunteers were consolidated with this regiment.
For special gallantry in the assault on Fort Grigg, where the major commanding was killed on the parapet of the work, the colors of the regiment were presented with a splendid eagle in bronze, bearing the following inscription :
" Presented to the One Hundredth New York Volunteers by Maj. Gen. John Gibbon, commanding Twenty-fourth Corps, for gallant conduct in the assault on Fort Grigg, Petersburg, Va., April 2d, 1865."
The following are the names of the officers, and enumeration of the battles in which the regiment had taken part :
Col. and Brevet Brig. Gen. George B. Dandy ; Lieut. Col. War- ren Granger; Maj. Frederick Sawyer; Surg. Norris M. Carter ; Avst. Surg. Edwin Schofield ; First Lieut. and Regimental Quar- terinaster George G. Barnum. Co. " 1:" First Lieut. Henry Heintz: Second Lieut. Peter Kelly. Co. "B:" Capt. Jonathan E. Head; First Lieut. Joseph Pratt. Co. ' C:" Capt. Edwin Nichols; First Lieut. Wayne Vogdes. Co. "D:" Capt. Samuel Ely. Co. "E:" Capt. Edward Pratt. Co. "F:" Capt. Edward 1. Cook, acting adjutant ; First Lieut. Henry Jones. Co. "G:" Copt. Jacob S. Kittle: First Lient. John S. Manning. Co. " H :" ('ipt. Henry W. Conry; First Lieut. John Gordon. Co. "I:" Cupt Patrick Connolly. Co. " K :" First Lieut. Charles H. Waite.
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ENGAGEMENTS.
Siege of Yorktown, April, 1862 : battle of Williamsburg, Mar 5. 1862; reconnoissance to Seven Pines, May 23, 1862 ; battle of Fair Oaks, May 31, 1862; Bottom's Bridge, June 27, 1862; White Oak Swamp, June 30, 1862; Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862; Wood's Cross Roads, December 12, 1862 ; Cole's Island, March 31, 1863; Folly Island, June, 1863; Morris Island, July 10, 1863; assault on Fort Wagner, July 18, 1863; siege of Fort Wagner, July, Angust and September, 1863; Port Walthall Junction, May 7, 1564; Drury's Bluff, May 13, 14 and 16, 1864; Bermuda Hundred, June 20th, 1864; Grover House, June 21, 1864; Deep Bottom, July 27. 1864; Deep Run, August 14, 1864; Fussill's Mills, August 16, 1864 : siege of Petersburg, September 29, 1864; Newmarket Road, Octo- ber 7, 1864; Charles City Road, October 27, 1864; Hatcher's Run, March 30, 31 and April 1, 1865; Fort Grigg, April 2, 1865; Appo- mattox Court House, April 9, 1865.
The battle flags of the One Hundredth Regiment were handed over to the Buffalo Historical Society for safe keeping, as the annexed note will show :
BUFFALO, May 1st, 1867.
Wy. C. BRYANT, Esq., Secretary of the Buffalo Historical Society : SIR :- Accompanying this note, I have the honor to transmit to the Buffalo Historical Society, for safe keeping, the colors borne by the One Hundredth Regiment New York Volunteers in the campaigns before Richmond, Va., under Butler in 1864, and Grant in 1865. They are two standards: The United States colors and those of the State of New York. In their torn and mutilated draperies, they bear memorials of many a hard and well contested field. In their defense many a soklier of the One Hundredth laid down his life. The eagle which surmounted the staff of the State colors, and which I send with the latter, was shot off by a minnie ball in the assault on Fort Grigg, Petersburg. Va., April 2, 1865. On that occasion these colors were foremost in the fight, and the first planted on the enemy's works. They were presented to the One Hundredth Regiment by the Buffalo Board of Trade in the spring of 1864.
Very respectfully your old dient servant, WARREN GRANGER. JR., Late Lieut. Col. One Hundredth New York, and Brevet Col. of Volunteers.
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CHAPTER L.
CLOSING WORDS. - REFLECTIONS UPON THE WAR SO SUC- CESSFULLY ENDED, AND THE BRILLIANT AND HOPEFUL FUTURE OF THIS YOUNG REPUBLIC.
The task is done. The marches, battles and sieges in which the One Hundredth took a prominent and honorable part are recorded in the preceding pages. The battles have been refought. During the past year by night and by day, have we stood by the side of dead and wounded comrades, and felt, oh ! how in- tensely, the great sacrifice of human life for the resto- ration of the Union
We have stood by the side of open graves on Morris Island, and before Richmond and Petersburg, with an acute angnish, as deeply felt in imagery, as when the gloom of the hour enthralled us. Now we hope to push the fact and thought far into the mists of memory, and come up as cheerfully as we may to the consideration of the fruits and blessings of that great, grand and glorious struggle for the life and existence of the nation.
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In the whirl of the age, this great civil war has passed into the shadow-land of history. So recent. that the grass has barely grown over the graves of thousands of the fallen. As a soldier, we were taught to love our country more. The sky, the green earth. the blue waters, all, are dearer to us now, than when we had not this bitter lesson of sanguinary war. We would be pleased to veil from memory most of the events that attend our thoughts; but they are ever present as the tuition for the practical lesson we have learned, to value country beyond compare. and daily teach the children under our care to love it beyond words to express.
The " unmarked graves" throughout all the South appeal to us ; at Gettysburg, Fortress Monroe, Ander- sonville, Morris Island and the Southwest, speaking in tones of thrilling import :- we died that you might live. Their bones are bleaching on the isles, and along the streams, to be remembered as the sacrificed for the existence of the best and freest government the world has ever seen. Their forms are ever present. and their deeds are held in grateful remembrance. Our fates might have been reversed. They might have stood where we stand, while we would have been known only as they are known, in praise. in story and in song. Let us not think lightly, nor undervale the martyred dead, who have been sacrificed in a war waged to save and perpetuate the Union and every star in the " Dear Old Flag." Thank God, they are all there; and those of us, who have survived the
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crimsoned ordeal, will ever cherish this symbol of our national unity; knowing, that when kissed by the breezes of all lands, the nations will feel and know, that that flag is the emblem of unity and freedom, baptized in the blood of heroes, for its protection and perpetuity, while government lasts and the living millions are shadowed with its folds of stripes and stars.
As a soldiery we are not forgotten. In the bustle and strife of material life, the soldier may often feel that he is neglected, but reflection will speak to him the truth ; that it cannot be, as long as memory lasts and government exists, and these waters of the lakes rest in their cradled basins, and Niagara's current moves swiftly along to the cataract's verge, where ris- ing in mists an incense is offered to the Giver of all blessings, of a nation's gratitude for the preservation of its unity, peace and power forever.
To live the life of a soldier does not occur to the citizen but rarely in the course of a century, or in the life of a nation. It has its charms, as well as its sor- rows. As soldiers we tried to do our duty ; as citizens, we rejoice. Should foreign foes, or factions ones at home, seek again the life of the nation in our day, then the military culture acquired will serve us, as in. the days of the rebellion.
As a people may we know war no more. May "either our children nor our children's children ever Act irs bloody drama; but in its growth, enterprise,
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power and vitality, may this youthful republic enjos peace and freedom evermore.
" Hosannas for a land redeemed,
The bayonet sheathed, the cannon dumb; Passed, as some horror, we have dreamed, The fiery meteors that here streamed, Threat'ning within our homes to come.
Again, our Banner floats abroad, Gone the one stain, that on it fell ;
And bettered by His chast'ning rod, With streaming eyes uplift to God,
We say : 'He doeth all things well.'"
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.
i
t
GEORGE H. STOWITS. Major 100 th N.Y. Vols.
APPENDIX.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
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