USA > New York > History of the Twenty-second regiment of the National guard of the state of New York; from its organization to 1895, pt 1 > Part 24
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In February, 1867, the Twenty-second was able to procure the issue of muzzle-loading Springfield rifles, .58 calibre with triangular bayonets, in place of the Enfields, with sword bayonets, which it had carried so long, and the want of uniformity in which had been a source of constant annoyance. These Springfields would now be regarded as an antiquated weapon, but the change was then considered a great improvement. The use of the new rifle necessarily required the adoption of a new manual of arms .*
The muzzle-loading Springfield was carried by the regiment until I871, when the .50 calibre breech-loading
* See Chap. XXXV., page 374 post.
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Remington was substituted by the State. This rifle was selected by a board consisting of Adjt .- Gen. Franklin Townsend and Maj .- Gen. John B. Woodward, after a series of elaborate tests, as the simplest and best fitted for the uses of the National Guard of any that were pre- sented to it. The board reported that its members pre- ferred the.45 calibre to the . 50, but as they were informed by the authorities of the Regular Army that there was no intention upon their part to change the calibre of the Springfield (then .50), they considered the im- portance of arming the National Guard of New York with a rifle of the same calibre as that used by the Regular Army to be so great that they surrendered their own preferences and recommended that the new rifle should be of the army calibre.
It is a striking commentary upon Regular Army management that within a brief period after the State of New York, in reliance upon this official assertion, had purchased and armed its National Guard with rifles of this calibre, the War Department adopted a new rifle having the very .45 calibre which the State Board reluctantly abandoned because the United States Ord- nance Department had informed it that it intended to retain the .50. In fact, in the publication known as "Ordnance Memoranda No. 15-Small Arms" (1873) there appears at page 402 an official report from the officers at Frankfort, that after a thorough test of dif- ferent calibres it had been ascertained that " no super- iority over the present service calibre (.50) has been obtained." The effect of this official statement, that whatever is "official" cannot be improved upon, is somewhat marred by the insertion in the same volume
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of the report of the Hancock Board that their experi- mentsshowed that the . 45 was far superior to the . 56, and recommending its substitution as the regulation calibre, a conclusion which any National Guardsman familiar with small arms would have recognized as too plain for discussion.
The adoption of the Remington created a great discussion throughout a portion of the National Guard. Much opposition was displayed against it in many quar- ters. Col. Austen of the Brooklyn Thirteenth was prominent in this and publicly and repeatedly de- nounced the new breech-loader as unsafe and not fit to place in the hands of his men. The Twenty second, however, as has been its custom, took the rifles issued to it without comment or criticism, and thereby avoided making itself ridiculous.
On August 12, 1868, the Twenty-second went into camp at Long Branch for a week. This was more like a picnic than a camp. The attendance was sparse and there was but little drilling. Most of the available time not devoted to having "a good time" was oc- cupied in rifle practice, all, of course, at 200 yards, off hand. Companies A and II here showed the benefit of the instruction they had previously received from their captains* by winning most of the prizes, a feat which did much to induce the other companies to adopt the system under which they had been instructed. The ladies staying at Long Branch showed their apprecia- tion of the social qualities of the regiment by procuring a handsome testimonial, which was presented to the Twenty-second on their behalf by Atty .- Gen. Brewster
. See Chap. XXXVII. Inauguration of rifle practice, page 356 post.
-
STATE IIIC- -TICE,
ALBANY, N. Y.
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of Pennsylvania, at a concert given by the regiment on December 10, 1868.
Col. Post resigned Sept 12, 1868, and was succeeded by Lieut .. Col. William W. Remmey, Maj. Josiah Por- ter being elected lieutenant-colonel and Capt. John T. Camp (Company E) major.
COLONEL WM. W. REMMEY.
Col. Remmey was a very small man, with a com- plexion like that of a girl, but he was "a soldier all through." He had been a private in the Federal Chas- seurs, and had joined Company B with them. He had served in this company through all the grades, and finally became its captain. As such, he had built up Company B until it had become the strongest and one
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of the best companies in the regiment, and had estab- lished himself as the idol of his men. He was elected lieu- tenant-colonel in 1867. He was full of tact and a man of sound judgment, and managed the business matters of the regiment admirably and without controversy or fric- tion. Col. Remmey was an expert drill-master and had a powerful and sonorous voice, which could be heard without difficulty above the noise of a battalion drill. He took great pride in the regiment, and greatly ad- vanced its drill and general condition during the period that he held the office of colonel, spending almost every evening at the armory. There he contracted a cold which settled upon his lungs, and, being neglected, passed into consumption, which compelled him to re- sign, greatly to the regret of the regiment. He died in 1875 from this disease, greatly mourned by all who had served with or under him, and his funeral was largely attended by the officers and ex-officers and men of the Twenty-second.
While in command, Col. Remmey encouraged the instruction of the companies in rifle-practice, and in May, 1869, took the regiment to Sing Sing, where the men were given a day's practice in firing at 200 yards .* The skill there displayed would not now be considered great, but it was a vast improvement over anything that had ever before been shown. He also caused an exhi- bition drill of the regiment to be given on January 19, 1869, before the State Military Association, at which it earned a great deal of reputation.
In December, 1868, orders were issued that twelve taps upon the fire bell were to be a signal at which all
* See Chap. XXXVII., page 390 post.
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the officers and men were to at once report to the armory for riot duty.
Col. Remmey resigned in July, 1869, and in October Lieut .- Col. Josiah Porter was elected colonel, Maj. John T. Camp lieutenant-colonel, and Capt. David S. Brown major. Wm. J. Harding, afterwards lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-second, later of the Thirteenth, and sub- sequently colonel and assistant inspector-general of the State, was appointed adjutant. Col. Porter retained the position until 1885, when he was appointed adjutant- general of the State, a position which he held until his death, December 14, 1894.
During his firm and efficient rule, the Twenty-second gradually abandoned whatever of "ante-bellum militia" ideas that it possessed and substituted army habits.
General Porter was of medium size. rather thick set, with dark complexion and a square jaw, which showed the determination and force of character which were his especial characteristics.
He entered military life as a private in the Boston Cadets, then became first-lieutenant in the Boston City Guard and afterwards adjutant of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery of Boston. He was commissioned April, 1861, as first-lieutenant in Battery A (First Massa- chusetts Battery), of which he became captain July, IS61, and saw hard service in the Army of the Potomac. He became captain of Company G in the Twenty-second Jan- uary 13, 1865, major May 10, 1867, lieutenant-colonel Jan- uary 30, 1869. As a company officer he was quiet and made no particular reputation beyond that of a good, reli- able captain and a thorough gentleman, but he was a most efficient colonel.
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During the sixteen years that he commanded the Twenty-second, he quietly effected an entire change in its methods and ideas. Up to that period, great atten- tion had been paid by it to the social part of National Guard life. The regiment was continually giving recep- tions, balls and concerts, and going upon excursions. These were very pleasant, but involved large expendi- tures and great labor to little purpose from both officers and men. They also tended to distract their attention from military matters. But under Col. Porter's admin- istration these customs were almost entirely dropped. The motto adopted was, " When we are soldiers, let us be soldiers and nothing else." The standing of the army in drill and discipline was set up as the goal to be reached, and every effort was made to attain it.
Col. Porter was peculiarly fortunate in the selection of his adjutant. William J. Harding was then a private in Company B. He had served throughout the entire War in the Armies of the Potomac and the James and in South Carolina, Florida, and Texas, rising from the ranks to the position of adjutant, and captain, finally becoming assistant adjutant-general and assistant inspec- tor-general of the First Division Twenty-fifth Corps. He enlisted in Company B of the Twenty-second July 14, 1867. He served as adjutant until January 7, 1873, when he was elected captain of Company B. He re- signed January 20, 1876, was reappointed adjutant August 1, 1877, and held the position until February 8, 1886, when he was elected lieutenant-colonel, which position he held until July, ISS8.
In addition to the extended practical military ex- perience Adjt. Harding had acquired in the field, he was
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a hard worker, a good organizer, and an admirable in- structor.
No time was lost by Col. Porter in effecting the im- provements in the regiment that he considered neces- sary. In the order (General Order 15, November 11, 1869) issued by him assuming the command and an- nouncing his staff, he required that the fatigue uniform should be at the armory whenever a parade was ordered to be made in full dress, prescribed that all official communications should be addressed to the adjutant, and re-established the board for the examination of non- commissioned officers, which was to consist of Lieut .- Col. Camp, Maj. Brown and Adjt. Harding, and was to sit monthly. He also ordered special drills of the non-commissioned officers, and directed that all com- pany drills should be supervised by a field officer, who was to give special attention to securing uniformity of drill throughout the regiment. He also urged that "aiming drill " should be practiced in all the companies. Prior to the inspection of 1869 an order was also issued prescribing every detail of the ceremony, the effect of which was to make it pass off with unusual smoothness. This was repeated at each subsequent inspection for a number of years. In April, IS71, a regimental " recruit class," under charge of Adjt. Harding, was established. and the company " awkward squads" were abolished. This continued throughout Col. Porter's administration and proved a great success. The company squads were usually too small to secure the best instruction, and the inevitable tendency was to push the recruits into the ranks of the company as soon after their enlistment as possible. Each company squad, under the old sistem,
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also acquired a somewhat different standard of drill and military efficiency. With a regimental class of instruc- tion, this was all done way with. No recruit was permitted to drill or parade with his company for any purpose until he had graduated from the regimental class and had received a certificate of proficiency, and had, in fact, become a good soldier. The drill was thorough, progressive, systematic, and uniform, great stress being laid upon discipline and military courtesies, both of which can be better impressed upon the mind of a soldier during his first period of service than at any other time.
The effect was soon perceptible upon the regiment, the graduates from the class proving to be better sol- diers than the old members of their companies, who had been taught under the former system. Among those who thus received from Adjt. Harding the founda- tions of their military education was Gen. Fred. S. McLewee, now Inspector-General of the State, then a private in Company F in the Twenty-second; and not many years since a majority of the officers and non- commissioned officers of the Twenty-second were grad- uates of these regimental squads or of Adjt. Harding's schools of theoretical instruction. So thoroughly was this supervision of the recruits carried out, that regular quarterly reports were made by Adjt. Harding to the Board of Officers of the regiment, showing the gain and loss in each company and the character of the recruits which were being obtained. A school for officers was also established.
An entirely new system of regimental and company books, records and files was also prepared under Adjt. Harding's personal directions, old orders hunted up and
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copied, and every endeavor made to put the records and archives of the regiment in the very best condition, and to replace what had been destroyed by the fire at head- quarters, or what had not been preserved. These efforts were steadily carried out, according to a well-defined plan, for a number of years, the officers' school being conducted by Col. Porter in person, and that for the non-commissioned officers by Adjt. Harding. The
giving and returning of salutes was especially enforced.
In 1877 Col. Porter had devised a system of street- riot drill. This was put into tactical form by Adjt. Harding, and was prescribed for the regiment in Gen- eral Order 14, June 10, 1878. The Twenty-second were frequently drilled in this system, especially during the period in 1878 when there was an apprehension of a riot. This system was afterwards adopted by Cali- fornia, and was much like that afterwards officially adopted in New York and other States. In it the com- mand was formed in double column, the front and rear companies protected the flanks by forming front into line, the interior companies obliquing outward, follow- ing and covering the outer flanks of the leading com- panies. In forming square, the front company halted. the flank companies formed outward by fours, and the rear company wheeled " fours about." Col. Porter insti- tuted the system of having blank printed orders always kept on hand in the armory, directing the immediate assembling of the regiment in case of necessity. All drills were required to be conducted according to a pre- scribed and progressive method, and were carefully in- spected. So quietly and firmly were these innovations made, that, although there was at times some discontent,
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it proved to be but a trifle and soon disappeared. Their effect was to add largely to the efficiency and reputation . of the Twenty-second, and to give it esprit du corps which it had not had for many years. It is upon the traditions and system established by Gen. Porter that the Twenty-second is now being managed. When, upon his promotion to the Adjutant-Generalcy of the State, the Twenty second was deprived of his guiding hand, the regiment felt like a child that has lost its father.
The following tribute to the memory of Gen. Porter by Col. Church, who, as the editor of the Army and Navy Journal, had been for years familiar with his work, shows the great estimation in which he was held by military men :
ADJUTANT-GENERAL PORTER.
We give here an article prepared by the editor of the Army and Navy Journal, at the request of the editor of Harper's Weekly, and which appeared in the current number of the Weekly. We may say, in reference to what is quoted from Gen. Rodenbough and Capt. Field, that every officer of the Regular Army who has, during recent years, visited the New York State Camp, as a representative of the War Department, has borne like enthusiastic testimony to Gen. Porter's ability. These re- ports were recently sent to the Governor-elect of New York by Adjt .- Gen. Ruggles, U. S. A., with an indorsement of like tenor. Gen. Porter was deeply touched by these testimonials to his work, as he was by what was said of him by his succes- sor in office, on the occasion named. Almost his last words, before he relapsed into unconsciousness on that night, were in acknowledgment of Gen. McAlpin's courtesy.
At an entertainment given on Wednesday night, December 12, 1804, by Company G of the Seventh Regiment of New York National Guard, I sat at the table opposite to Maj .- Gen. Josiah Porter, whose ninth year of ser- vice as adjutant-general of the State of New York was then drawing to its
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close-a service extending over the terms of three Governors. Gen. Porter was a pleasant dinner companion, but he was unusually silent on this on 'casion, and when he spoke briefly, in response to a toast in his honor, hir mind did not appear to work with its usual freedom. The current of life which was so soon to cease its flow was even then moving sluggishly.
Within an hour from that time Gen. Porter lay prostrated by a stroke of apoplexy in the elevated railroad car carrying him to his home. His com- panion, Mr. Leach, could obtain no help from sympathetic fellow-travellers. or railroad employees, to enable him to properly care for the stricken sol- dier, and the only couch vouchsafed to the helpless man was the hard plat- form of the railroad station, where the brakeman had deposited him as the train hurried on into the darkness. Experience with midnight revellers had made them skeptical of the assurances that this was a case of severe ill- ness. Assistance was finally obtained, and the General was carried to his home near by, and there he died on the following Friday, two days after his attack.
By the side of Gen. Porter, at the entertainment referred to, sat the gentleman chosen by Gov. Morton to succeed him in office, Gen. MeAlpin, and almost the last recollections of Gen. Porter's life must have been the generous and hearty words of praise bestowed upon him by the man into whose hands he would on the first of the coming January have surrendered his office, had not death given him a still earlier discharge from the re- sponsibilities he had borne so well. No post-prandial words of praise were ever more truthfully or more opportunely spoken than those by Gen. McAlpin. Gen. Porter was, he declared, the best adjutant-general the State of New York had ever had. Certainly he was the best one I have known in an experience of thirty years. To his ideals of soldierly duty, to his instinctive hostility to martial humbug, and to his quiet but persistent effort to rid the Guard of those parasitic growths of civilian pretence which sap the life of militia organizations, is largely due the efficiency of the New York State troops. He realized the responsibilities that go with the solemn sanction to wield the sword of State, and sought in every way to fit the men under him for the possibilities of actual service. He had learned by large experience the character of the men and the organizations be controlled. and he led them as far as he could, and further than anyone else ever has in the right direction, choosing for his standards those of the Regular Army.
Gen. Porter's fidelity to duty was an ancestral inheritance, for he came of the sturdy New England colonial stock. He was born under the shadow of old Harvard, from which he was graduated, and his last resting-place will be near his early home in Cambridge, Mass. He was, in his youth. one of the few who devoted themselves to military studies at a time .when the unthinking were saying, as they are onee more saying, that there was no more prospect of war in this country " than there is of a man's going to heaven without dying." He served before our Civil War as a private of
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the Boston Cadets, as second lieutenant in the Boston City Guard, and as adjutant of the famous Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston.
When war came young Porter hastened to put his military training to account, and lie was, in April, 1861, mastered into the service of the United States as first lieutenant of the First Massachusetts Battery (Battery A. Massachusetts Volunteer Artillery), and was promoted to captain in July, 1861. Porter's battery was assigned to the Army of the Potomac under Gen Mcclellan, and it soon achieved reputation as one of the most efficient volunteer batteries in the service. Its record at Gaines's Mills, at Frazier's Farm, during the " seven days' battle" at Antietam, at the Second Buli Run, and elsewhere, is part of the history of that time, when true manhood was developed so rapidly in the fierce school of war.
After his discharge from the military service, Porter established himself in New York as a practicing attorney, and was appointed to the bench. But his interest in military matters continued, and he was, in 1565, com- missioned a captain in the Twenty-second New York Regiment, being suc- cessively promoted to major, lieutenant colonel, and, finally, to colonel, in 1869. He brought this command to such a high state of efficiency that in ISS2 it was placed by the assistant inspector-general, Gen. T. F. Roden- bough, of the Regular Army, at the head of all the regiments in the State in point of general excellence, the Seventh New York following next. "As a whole," said Gen. Rodenbough, of this command, "it approaches more nearly to the standard of the true soldier than any command in the State. Its colonel (Porter) is especially able and competent. The review and dress parade were, without exception, the finest I ever saw as to alig:1- ments, distances, manual and perfect steadiness." Similar high praise was given by another officer of the Regular Army who inspected the regi- ment, Capt. Field, Fourth Artillery. "Calm dignity," said this authority, "sound judgment, and quiet inflexibility were the characteristics of Col. Porter. I have seen nothing that approached his scientific methods."
The application of the characteristics here referred to, his higher duties as adjutant-general, is the secret of Gen. Porter's success in that office. The reforms he introduced into the administration of military affairs in the State of New York make his administration an era in the history of the National Guard. He had the soldier's directness and simplicity of chara .. ter, and his estimate of the relative importance of soldierly efficiency an ! mere military display was in accord with the best standards.
Without obtrusive good fellowship Gen. Porter was a genial gentleman among those with whom He was familiar, and his genuine ability made un. necessary a display of reserve toward those over whom he held authorit . . He was always approachable, and his ends were accomplished by quie: force of character rather than by a display of authority.
He was buried on Mon lay. December 17, with military honors, his bo ly being accompanied to the railroad station from St. Andrew's Episcopal
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Church by Troop A, the Twenty-second Regiment, his old command, and the First New York Battery.
W.M. CONANT CHURCH.
GEN. PORTER'S FUNERAL .*
The funeral of Adjt .- Gen. Josiah Porter, by request of his family, wa . conducted as simply as possible, and the military honors were confined merely to those prescribed in regulations. But for this request, Gen Louis Fitzgerald would, in pursuance of the authority invested in him by the Commander-in-Chief, have ordered out both the First and Second Brigades. The ceremonies were held on the afternoon of December 17. the services being held in St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 127th Street and Fifth Avenue. The Twenty-second Regiment, Col. Camp; the First Dut- tery, Capt. Wendel, and Troop A, Capt. Roe, were detailed at the funeral as escort. Full-dress uniform and overcoats were worn, and the com- manding officers of the escort reported to the brigade chief-of-staff, Col. Olin, at 2:20 P. M., on Fifth Avenue, at the corner of 127th Street. James Monroe Post, 607 G. A. R., of which the General was a member, were also present among the many assembled to pay their last respects. The cere- monies were simple but impressive, and it is doubtful if in the history of the National Guard of New York there has been so large and representa- tive a body of guardsmen at the funeral of a deceased member. The ar- rangements at the church were admirable. Gen. Fitzgerald, who had charge of the funeral, detailed Capt. N. B. Thurston, of the Twenty-second Regi- ment, to take charge of the seating, and 2, 700 people were seated as pre- arranged, without any confusion whatsoever. By request of the family there was no military escort with the body from Gen. Porter's residence to the church; and the remains on arriving at the church were received with hoor; but, by further request of Gen Porter's family, the coffin was con- veyed in and out of the church by the undertaker's assistants, and was taken to the train in a hearse instead of on a caisson. As the coffin was to be opened again at Cambridge it was thought this course was deemed al- visable, as least likely to disturb the remains. The pall-bearers were Gen. James MeLeer, of the Second Brigade; Gen. Robert Shaw Oliver, of the Third, and Gen. Peter C. Doyle of the Fourth; Brig .- Gen. Joseph D Bryant, Surgeon-General; Gen. J. M. Varian, Chief of Ordnance, and fien. Ferdinand P. Earl, Chief of Artillery. Among those in the church were the family of the deceased ; Major-Gen. N. A. Miles, U. S. A. ; Gov. Flower and staff, Gen. L. Fitzgerald and staff, Gen. James MeLeer and staff, Gen R. S. Oliver and staff, Gen. P. C. Doyle and staff, all of New York; Gen Stryker of New Jersey, and the staff of Gov. - elect Morton; Col. Appleton and all the officers of the Seventh Regiment: Col. Welch and statt of the Sixty-fifth Regiment; Col. Fitch and staff, Tenth Battalion ; Col. Butt and other officers of the Twelfth Regiment; all the other colonels and staff's in
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