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 2 > Part 7
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sent out anew to submit designs under the limitations imposed. This caused a further delay, for it was diffi- cult to get responsible contractors to undertake the work for the price named, and yet at the same time to guarantee a building that should be satisfactory. It was not until the spring of 1888 that the matter was finally settled.
In March of that year, Capt. John P. Leo, command- ing Company I, who was an architect by profession. offered to submit a plan for a handsome and substantial armory, with all the necessary fittings, that should come within the amount of the appropriation, the companies being called upon only to decorate and fit up their rooms.
The officers of the Twenty-second, tired of the long delay, which was having a demoralizing effect upon the regiment, at once closed with Capt. Leo's offer and urged its acceptance upon the Armory Board, of which Gen. Fitzgerald had become president. Capt. Leo lost no time in preparing his designs and working drawings. He also procured satisfactory estimates from reputable and responsible builders, and submitted the whole plan to the Armory Board on March 13, 1888, who accepted it and authorized the making of the contracts for a new armory for the Twenty-second Regiment and appointed Capt. Leo its architect.
The work was pressed with vigor, so that the corner- stone was laid on May 30, 1889. The occasion being Decoration Day, the regiment had paraded in the morn- ing, having as its guests the officers and men of the First Pennsylvania Regiment, which paraded under its escort. After the parade the Twenty-second entertained
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SINTE NIS . UNIAN'S OFFICE,
ALBANY, N. Y.
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NEW ARMORY OF TWENTY-SECOND REGIMENT, N. G. N. Y., BOULEVARD, BET. 67TH AND 63TH STREETS.
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its Pennsylvania friends in its Fourteenth Street armory, and in the afternoon both regiments formed and marched to the site of the new armory, where the corner-stone was laid with imposing ceremonies by Gen. Louis Fitzgerald, commanding the First Brigade N. G. S. N. Y., who pronounced it "square, level and plumb, sound and trusty." Gen. James O'Bierne delivered an eloquent address in honor of the occasion. The day was bright and beautiful of itself, but inexpressibly bright to those faithful officers who then saw the result of their six years of arduous and unselfish labors taking a practical form. The occasion was still further cele- brated by a dinner at the Casino in Central Park, at which the officers entertained the officers of the First Pennsylvania and the distinguished civil and military authorities who had participated in the ceremonies of the day. The building was rapidly constructed and was completed within a year thereafter.
On Friday evening, April 11, . 1890, the regimental Board of Officers held its last meeting in the old armory in Fourteenth Street, Col. John T. Camp presiding, and the next day the regiment left its old quarters forever and marched to the new armory, there to take up its permanent abode for many years to come, and to continue and extend its career of prosperity and usefulness.
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Of course the change was in every way desirable ; yet the members of the regiment could not leave the old building without affectionate recollections of the twenty-eight eventful years of regimental life passed within its walls. Three men there were, still doing duty in the reginient, who had marched with it into the old
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armory at the conclusion of its Pennsylvania campaign in 1863. They were Col. John T. Camp, Lieut .- Col. William V. King and Capt. Joseph P. Jardine. To them the old building was a faithful witness of nearly the whole course of their long military career. In it they had served under every commander, and one of them had risen to be himself the commander .: From it they had participated in every parade or public function in which the regiment bore a part, and which were destined to become a portion of the history of the city, the State and the nation. . They are still, at this writing (1895), following the flag of " Defendam " in its new armory, but they could not depart forever from the old home without feelings of affectionate regret.
The new armory was turned over to the regiment entirely bare of all furniture or decoration; the State giving only the bare walls and necessary military fix- tures. But it is gradually assuming a comfortable and handsome interior appearance. From their own means the members are furnishing their company rooms and executive offices; and the decorations, while beautiful and even luxurious, are nevertheless in strict military taste and design.
The building is of brick, with granite trimmings, and measures 200 feet front by 270 feet deep. It is sixty feet high, having a tower eighty feet in height, in which is located the hospital and medical department. The drill-room is in the first story, and has an unobstructed floor space of 175 feet wide by 235 feet long, with galleries on three sides for the accommodation of spectators.
The main exit and entrance for the regiment into
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the drill-room from the street is through two large doors, which open upon an incline that will also admit of the passage of guns or cavalry. On the northerly side of the drill-room are ten company locker rooms, and above these are ten company parlors, each twenty-five by thirty feet, and all opening into projecting company galleries, each capable of seating fifty people. In the main build- ing, on the left of the entrance, are the armorer's and quartermaster's department, and on the second story the rooms of James Monroe Post of the Grand Army. of the Republic. On the right of the entrance is a library and the suite of rooms for the officers and head- quarters, opening upon a corridor fifteen feet in width.
On the second story is a large room for the Board of Officers, and a Non-commissioned Officers' Associ- ation room and squad drill-rooms. In the third story is the kitchen, a large gymnasium, a mess hall and the janitor's apartments. In the basement is a rifle range twenty-five feet wide and 100 yards long, the largest ir the city. The armory is also provided with waiting- rooms, toilet-rooms, shower baths and magazines. It also has a fire service, the only one which is contained in any city armory. The armory is trimmed throughout with chestnut.
CHAPTER XLIII.
BANDS.
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the Twenty-second, it employed Helmsmuller as a band leader, and equipped a band of forty-four pieces, partly from the proceeds of various concerts, and the rest by subscription by the officers and companies. This band was mustered into the State service with the regiment.
In addition, there were in each company two drum- mers carried as enlisted men, but as they were paid by it whenever they paraded, they were, as a matter of fact, rarely regarded by the companies to which they were attached as being actual members.
Helmsmuller was a first-class musician, and " Helmsmuller's Twenty-second Regiment Band" soon became celebrated. He composed a march which he dedicated to the Twenty-second, which was based, some critics said, upon a celebrated Austrian march. But, however this may be, it was for many years the regi- mental march, and its swinging rhythm will never be forgotten by the officers and men who so often marched to its strains.
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The Twenty-second took their band with them to the front in 1862. In Baltimore it attracted a great deal of attention. At Harper's Ferry it was a great luxury to both officers and men, but an expensive one. The pay allowed by the Government to the members of a regimental band was much less than was necessary to compensate the artists who com- posed that of the Twenty-second, and the difference had to be made up by the officers of the regiment, upon whom it was a heavy drain .*
During their service not a few breaches of disci- pline of a minor character were committed by the musicians, whose knowledge of mili- tary usages at the DRUM-MAJOR GEORGE BROWN. front was generally in the inverse proportion of their skill in music. They apparently never could understand why they should not be out of camp after tattoo, nor why, if they were, they should not return by the short- est line, instead of going round by the guard tent. Neither could they be made to understand the object of the countersign, or its use.
* See page 81, ante.
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Night after night the sentries would be heard call- ing "Halt! who goes there?" and the reply, " I ish de band."
Finally, in July, 1862, the band was sent home, and the Twenty-second thereafter depended upon its drum corps for its military music during this campaign.
When the regiment formed in Philadelphia to pro- ceed to the cars on its way home, and the command "March " was given, instead of the usual roll of the drums, the strains of the familiar "Twenty-second Regiment March," played as only Helmsmuller could play it, were heard, and the regiment broke into an uproarious cheer. The band had come from New York to escort the regiment, and had thus announced its presence.
The band was also taken on the Pennsylvania campaign, and its music was a feature of the few dress parades which were had at Camp Cox. When the regiment started upon the "short march" from Bridgeport * the band was left behind. It never rejoined the regiment, but remained at Harrisburgh. where its music was undoubtedly appreciated. What- ever music the regiment had afterwards was furnished by the drum corps. This beat the reveille and tattoo and during some of the long marches, upon the unfrequent occasions when it did not rain, and par- ticularly on the march to Frederic City, its music helped to shorten the route.
Helmsmuller died in 1865, greatly regretted by the regiment. Dodworth, then a well-known leader, took the place of band leader, July 11, 1866, and organized
* Chapter XVIII., page 192 ante. .
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" Dodworth's Band," which led the regiment for sev- eral years. On January 12, 1867, fifers were dispensed with and additional drummers substituted.
Dodworth ceased to be band leader in November, 1871, and C. Rehm, an old army band leader, took his place. Rehm resigned and took charge of the Gov- ernor's Island Band in 1873.
In July, 1872, the idea was suggested of inducing Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, who had then made a national reputation by his management of the " Boston Jubilee," to come from Boston to New York and organize a regimental band for the Twenty-second. After considerable negotiation a contract was made with him in 1873, by a committee consisting of Maj. McGrath and Capts. Styles, Congden, Harding and Ritchie, to organize "Gilmore's Twenty-second Regiment Band," the Board of Officers guaranteeing him $7,500 a year, any sum received in excess of this to be divided between Gilmore and the regiment. This was a great responsibility, and was undertaken by the regiment with many misgivings. At first there was a loss, from which Gilmore, with characteristic generosity, released the regiment. Ultimately, however, Gilmore's Band became a magnificent success. Gilmore was a wonder- ful leader, and under his management "Gilmore's Band " attained a national reputation, in recognition of which he was, in 1876, presented by the officers of the regiment with a testimonial in the shape of a beautiful regimental pin. In 1878 he took the band to Europe and performed in all the principal cities, in competition with their finest bands, and was considered to have more than held his own. On their return the
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Twenty-second, on October 12, 1878, gave a "Welcome Home" to them at the armory. "Pat" Gilmore, as he was affectionately called, was one of the most genial of men, and was always warmly interested in the welfare of the Twenty-second, of which, with justice, he
PATRICK SARSFIELD GILMORE.
considered himself a most important part. He was extremely popular among both officers and men during the twenty years that he remained with them, and his death, in 1892, was deeply deplored. The regiment attended his funeral in a body.
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After the death of Gilmore a band was organized by David W. Reeves, for a long time the leader of the American Band of Providence, and who had estab- lished the reputation of being the best band leader in the Eastern States. His task was a difficult one. As the successor to Gilmore his work was always com- pared with that of his predecessor. He held the position until 1893, when he resigned and returned to Providence.
Victor Herbert was then appointed as band leader, and holds that position at the time of this writing (1895).
CHAPTER XLIV.
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ORDERED TO BUFFALO.
TN August, 1892, the dullness inci- dent to the dogdays pervaded mil- itary circles around New York. A disagreement in Buffalo between the railroad companies and their switch- men had occurred. But no particular attention had been paid to it, even when it culminated in the. "Switch- men's Union" ordering a strike of the switchmen employed by the Philadel- phia and Reading Railroad Company, the New York, Lake Erie and West- ern Railroad Company, the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company and the Buffalo Creek Railroad Company. Men ADJT. STEPHEN J. HART. willing to take the places of the strikers were employed and put to work by the railroad companies. This, as usual in such cases, had caused much bad feeling among those whose places had been thus filled. Some violence ensued, which the police, at first, were able to subdue. But on the night of August 13, a number of incendiary fires were
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started in the railroad yards, and a considerable amount of railroad property, including a large number of cars filled with valuable freight, was destroyed. These acts of violence were repeated on the night of Sunday, August 14, and were upon too extended a scale for the police to cope with. The railroad officers de- manded protection from the Sheriff, who in turn made the following requisition upon Gen. Doyle, the commander of the National Guard of that district :
BUFFALO, N. Y., August 15, 1892.
Gen. PETER C. DOYLE.
Having been notified by the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad Company, the Buffalo and Southwestern Rail- road Company and the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Com- pany that certain lawless persons have combined and threat- ened to destroy their property, I do, in pursuance of the statute in such case made and provided, require you to furnish two regiments of the military under your command, armed and equipped, as the law directs, to aid me in preventing the de- struction of said property, and that you report yourself forth- with to me, with your command ready for service.
Yours truly, AUGUST BECK, Sheriff.
Immediately upon receipt of this Gen. Doyle ordered the Sixty-fifth and Seventy-fourth regiments of Buffalo under arms, and proceeded with them to the scene of disturbance. This force only numbered 600 men, and
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was found wholly inadequate to protect even a portion of one of the threatened roads. Therefore, on the night of the sixteenth, by direction of Hon. Manly C. Green (a Justice of the Supreme Court), Gen. Doyle ordered out the whole Fourth Brigade, with the excep- tion of the Forty-seventh Separate Company and a bat- tery. This increased the strength of the military force guarding the threatened points to 1,700 men. But even this was found unequal to the emergency. An appeal was thereupon made to Gov. Roswell P. Flower, who at once issued orders to the Ninth, Twelfth, Thirteenth, Twenty-second, Twenty-third and Seventy-first regi- ments, Tenth Battalion, Troop A and First Brigade Signal Corps, and the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Tenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-first, Twenty-third, Twenty-eighth, Thirty-second, Thirty-sixth, Thirty-seventh, Thirty-ninth, Forty-fourth and Forty- sixth separate companies, to concentrate immediately at Buffalo.
While the newspapers had published reports of the disturbance, its extent had not been generally under- stood in the eastern part of the State. It was supposed that Gen. Doyle's brigade was sufficiently strong to handle it, and no expectation was felt in National Guard circles that troops from the First or Second brigades would be needed. On Wednesday, August 17, the officers and members of the Twenty-second were widely scattered. Col. Camp and many others were in the country on their vacations. Some were at Coney Island and similar resorts. Few were at their resi- dences. At 5 P. M. on August 17 Lieut .- Col. King, having accidentally dropped in at the regimental ar-
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mory, found there the following telegram addressed to Col. Camp:
ALBANY, August 17, 1892.
THE COMMANDING OFFICER TWENTY-SECOND REGIMENT.
Assemble the Twenty-second Regiment to-night, prepared to move before morning. Provide at least sixty rounds of ball cartridge per man. Draw on chief of ordnance for ammunition and blankets. Further instructions later. Report by nine o'clock number of men assembled. (Signed)
J. PORTER, Adjutant- General.
At once every pos- sible method was set at work by Lieut .- Col. King to summon the members of the regi- ment together. Tele- grams were sent to Col. Camp and the follow- ing order to each com- pany commander :
LIEUT .- COL. W. V. KING.
Assemble your company at once, prepared for immediate service; act promptly.
A few men who happened to be in the armory were sent out to summon those residing near it. The tele- phone and telegraph were set at work, and messenger boys were dispatched in all directions. In an incredibly short time officers, non-commissioned officers and men
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began to pour into the armory to report for duty, and as fast as they did so a specified number from each company was sent out to notify the others. So vigor- ously was the matter pressed and so prompt the re- sponse that by 9.o'clock 400 men were in the armory ready for duty. Private Charles P. Shinn, Company A, was the first member of the regiment to arrive at the armory in response to the call.
The following telegram was then sent to the adju- tant-general :
Time, 9 o'clock P. M. Four hundred men assembled; this number will be increased; men constantly coming in; await your further orders.
About II P. M. the following telegram was received :
ALBANY, August 17, 1892.
COMMANDING OFFICER TWENTY-SECOND REGIMENT.
Order to assemble your command is countermanded, but hold yourself in readiness to move promptly in case you receive further orders to-morrow morning.
(Signed)
J. PORTER, Adjutant- General.
At 4 A. M. the following telegram was received from Albany :
ALBANY, August 18, 1892.
COMMANDING OFFICER TWENTY-SECOND REGIMENT.
Assemble your regiment at once, prepared as directed last evening. Take train at Grand Central Station at 12 o'clock noon for Buffalo.
(Signed)
J. PORTER, Adjutant- General.
The call to assemble was so sudden and so wholly unexpected that all the officers and men of the regi- ment had left their business the evening before with
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the expectation of returning in the morning. A brief opportunity was therefore given them to leave the armory to arrange their business affairs, the orders be- ing to report back at I I o'clock A. M. In the meantime arrangements were made with Marcsi, the caterer, to furnish the necessary commissary supplies, which were placed on board the train at Grand Central Depot as soon as delivered ; Col. Camp received the orders sent him in time to join the regiment at 8 A. M., when he · assumed command.
By 10 o'clock a large proportion of the regiment was under arms, equipped in heavy marching order and ready for the field.
The rank and file were not aware when they re- sponded to the call to assemble that orders had been received to leave the city. On the contrary, they be- lieved that the regiment was only ordered under arms as a precautionary measure. Consequently, although all those who had been at the armory on the previous night had been afforded ample time to make all nec- essary preparations, a large majority failed to provide themselves with the clothing and other matters neces- sary for service in the field. These suffered keenly in the end, while those who had displayed the forethought to pack their knapsacks properly were more than repaid for their pains. Some of the men had not so much as an extra pocket-handkerchief. What was more serious was that nine out of ten of them wore light shoes- in some cases, of patent leather. In fact, one of the most important lessons taught by the experiences at Buffalo and confirmed by those in Brooklyn was the urgent necessity for a National Guardsman. to be pro-
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vided with some sort of a low-heeled, heavy-soled, broad-tread shoe for field service. The total amount of money possessed by the forty-odd men who com- posed Company A's representation at Buffalo was less than a hundred dollars in cash. This was the same in the other companies. Consequently, the men while in Buffalo were without funds to purchase more than the barest necessaries for camp service, while the uncer- tainty of the duration of the service deterred many from sending home for what they needed. Those who . were supplied with money or other comforts were, how- ever, always willing to share their prosperity with their less fortunate comrades. This experience was a whole- some one and caused the members of the regiment all to be fully equipped when they marched to Brooklyn in the " trolley campaign " of 1895.
The Twenty-second left its armory at 11. 15 A. M. On August 18, with overcoats, knapsacks, one day's rations and sixty rounds of ammunition. It took the elevated railroad at Sixty-fifth Street, detraining at Forty-second Street and marching thence to Grand Central Depot. A special train was already made up when the head of the Twenty-second reached the depot, and but little time was lost in getting the men on the cars. Some little ex- citement was caused by the unverified report "that some one had heard " a railroad employee assert that " a couple of dynamite cartridges would about do for them fellers." But this disappeared in the effort of trying to stow four men and their accoutrements into two car seats.
At Yonkers the train carrying the Twenty-second took on board the Fourth Separate Company (Capt. Pruyn), and at Hudson the Twenty-third Separate
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Company (Capt. Waterman), both of these having been placed under the command of the commanding officer of the Twenty-second. At Poughkeepsie the train made a stop of less than five minutes. This, in all probability, was the most active five minutes ever experienced by the proprietor of the lunch counter at that station. The men had scarcely begun to help them- selves when the engineer sounded the whistle and the conductor cried "All aboard." At this signal the regi- ment rushed in haste to the cars. But its members in doing so carried away with them everything eatable that was exposed on the lunch counter. The owner was assured, however, that for any forgetfulness on the part of the men to pay he would receive full compen- sation upon the return of the regiment to New York, which promise was faithfully carried out.
The train reached Albany shortly after 4 o'clock P. M. Just beyond Albany it passed the Twelfth Regiment, which had left the Grand Central Depot about an hour before the departure of the Twenty-second, and whose train had met with a slight mishap.
The grumbling at the commissary department began on the train. Although ample rations, in the shape of sandwiches, coffee, milk, etc., etc., had been provided for all, the method of distribution was so poor that while some companies got more than their share (which was consequently wasted ), others went hungry. Those who had been far-sighted enough to carry their own rations were independent of this. Along in the evening the thoughtful commissary department served a train-load of healthy and hungry citizen soldiers with a supper of lemonade, milk and cake !
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The number of men who slept on the way up to Buffalo may be represented by x. As usual on such occasions, those who appreciated the necessity for rest were kept awake by the others, who were too much ex- cited to sleep themselves, and were determined that no one else should do so. Then, again, it is a difficult matter for four stalwart men, with full equipments, to sleep in two narrow seats of a railroad car."
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