USA > New York > Monroe County > Landmarks of Monroe County, New York : containing followed by brief historical sketches of the towns of the county with biography and family history > Part 10
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106
In 1826 the first alms-house in the county was erected, a brick build- ing, with accommodations for nearly one hundred inmates, though it had only thirty-five occupants in its first year. Miss Benedict taught school to the unfortunate inmates in 1855, and four years later a separate building was put up as a school-house, where other charitable . women gave instruction. The original structure stood until 1872, when a new house was erected, nearly fireproof, with brick partition walls and iron cornice, one hundred and eighty eight feet front on South avenue, with wings at the ends running back one hundred feet. The number of inmates admitted during the past year was 1,237, the average present at any one time being about five hundred during the winter, half that number in the summer. For the support of the alms- house during the past year $25,703.25 was expended ; $3.522 was paid for outside relief of the county poor in Rochester, $3,209.29 for the
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same purpose in the towns, which, with other expenses, brought the total up to $35,598.16. George E. McGonegal was the county super- intendent of the poor for twenty-four years up to the Ist of last Janu- ary ; the place is now filled by Clarence V. Lodge.
Up to 1857 the insane poor of this county and surrounding counties were confined in a portion of the alms-house, but in that year a separate building was completed, Col. J. P. Wiggins and wife were put in charge and forty-eight patients were moved into it. Dr. M. L. Lord was ap- pointed the warden and physician and held the office for about twenty years. Additions were made to the asylum from time to time, and in 1872 a new main building was erected. In 1890 the legislature passed a law establishing the policy of state care of the dependent insane ; under this law the state purchased the asylum and all the land con- nected with it for $50,000 and changed the name to the Rochester State hospital, the transfer from one board of trustees to the other going into effect July 1, 1891. There are now eleven of these state hospitals, and the system is generally recognised as beneficial to the insane. Dr. Eugene H. Howard is the superintendent of this hospital, and under his management the institution is conducted with ability and humanity. Patients are sent hither from other counties in the state, and the average population of the asylum is about four hundred. The buildings have been almost entirely reconstructed, with a view to meliorating the condition of the inmates, and the value of the property is now considered about $250,000. Of the board of managers the president is Frederick Cook ; vice-president, Jane E. Rochester ; secre- tary, E. H, Howard ; treasurer, Frederic P. Allen.
On the 30th of May, 1821, the Monroe County Bible society was organised as auxiliary to the American Bible society, its sole object being " the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, without note or comment." Its first officers were: Vincent Mathews, president ; William Atkinson and F. F. Backus, vice presidents ; Enos Pomeroy, corresponding secretary ; William Pitkin, recording secretary ; Levi Ward, treasurer. The present officers are : Rev. Dr. J. P. Sankey, president ; A. H. Mixer, corresponding secretary ; Edward Webster, recording secretary ; O. D. Grosvenor, librarian and treasurer.
Next to Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, which is the first, Monroe
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stands second among all the counties in the Union, according to the United States census of 1890, in the value of its agricultural produc- tions. As far as can be learned, the first county fair was held October 30, 1823, and there was a county society at that time, with James Sperry as president, but it must have lapsed, for the first Monroe County Agri- cultural society was organised May 28, 1840, Lyman B. Langworthy being the first president, Henry M. Ward secretary and Henry E. Rochester treasurer. In 1874 its scope was enlarged, and its name was changed, by act of the legislature, to the Western New York Agricul- tural society. The annual fairs that are held under its auspices, upon its grounds in Brighton, just south of Elmwood avenue, are creditable to the exhibitors and indicative of the fertility and prosperity of the county. The present officers are: J. H Sherman, president ; T. F. Crittenden, treasurer ; H. A. Kingsley, secretary.
Akin to this is the Western New York Horticultural society, organised in 1855, of which the present officers are : William C. Barry, presi- denf; John Hall, secretary and treasurer It is the successor of the Genesee Valley Horticultural society, which held its first exhibition at the Blossom House, on June 12, 1846.
Of the 430,000 acres in Monroe county, 349,000 are subject to taxation. The total assessed valuation of the real estate is $134,203,- 700, of which $98,759,400 is in the city, $35,444,300 in the towns. The tax levy for this year includes $334,356.04 for the county tax proper, $291,982 81 for the state tax, $114,353.94 for local taxes, and enough special taxes to make the total county tax $749,175.41. The state apportionment allotted to Monroe county for the support of com- mon schools for the year ending July 31, 1895, was $117,774 04, of which $80,599.73 goes to the city, $37, 174.31 to the towns.
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THE COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR.
CHAPTER XII.
THE COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR.
The First Call-Monroe's Response-Our Regiments, Battalions and Companies of Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, Sharpshooters and Engineers -- Ten Thousand Men En- listed -- Their Service in the Field -- General Officers-Grand Army of the Republic - The Veteran Brigade.
President Lincoln's proclamation calling for 75.000 volunteers to put down the southern rebellion was issued on the 15th of April, 1861. Few sections of the country responded more promptly than did Monroe county, and few sent more troops into the field in proportion to the population. The census of 1860 gave us 100,648, that of 1865 showed an increase of less than four thousand. Between those two years about ten thousand persons had enlisted, nearly, if not quite, one for every ten inhabitants, or about one-half of the entire voting population. There are several reasons why the number cannot be given exactly. One is that some companies or battalions raised here were credited to regiments raised elsewhere, while, to offset that, whole companies en- listed in other places were transferred to Monroe county regiments. But the principal cause of the want of accuracy lies in the fact that, toward the close of the war, when a certain quota was apportioned to each county, a deficiency in one county would be made up by the actual purchase of surplus enlistments in another, and sometimes the very county thus paying for outside recruits would find that it had an un- necessary number and would dispose of them in the best market. Be- sides all that, many actual residents of Monroe county joined the army in other places, where they happened to be at the time, while many en- listed here whose homes were elsewhere.
Especially was the latter true in 1863, just before the conscription took place, and far more so in 1864, when another draft was ordered to fill out the last levy of half a million men. To avoid that, the county
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offered a bounty of $300 to each recruit, the city gave something more, and every town and ward an additional sum to fill up the quota, besides which large prices were paid by individuals for their substitutes, thus making an aggregate amount that was an irresistible inducement to many beyond the Canadian frontier. Thus our contingent was com- pleted at last, with foreigners and with those whose impelling motive was avarice rather than patriotism, so that desertion was far more com- mon than at the beginning of the conflict. Little more can be done in this connection than giving a list of the various regiments properly be- longing to Monroe, and of those in which our county had a company or a contingent that can be distinctly traced, together with a statement of the principal actions in which each was engaged.
Thirteenth Infantry .- This was our first regiment, which has always been spoken of, with fond remembrance, as the " Old Thirteenth." Its nucleus was the old Rochester Light Guard, from among which Captain Robert F. Taylor raised a large part of company A on the very day after the proclamation reached the city. Other companies were soon enlisted in the county, under Captains Lebbeus Brown, Adolph Nolte (a company wholly German), Francis A. Schoffel and Henry B. Will- iams. These five companies were mustered into the state service on the 25th of April, and a few days later five more were raised, under Captains Hiram Smith, George W. Lewis, William F. Tulley, Horace J. Thomas (a company raised wholly in Brockport) and Carl Stephan (re- cruited in Livingston county, mainly in Dansville). These ten com - panies were transported to Elmira on the 4th of May and there organ- ised as a regiment, which on the 14th of May was mustered into the United States service for three months-though it actually served two years-with 780 officers and men, the regimental officers being Prof. Isaac F. Quinby, of the University of Rochester and a graduate of West Point, colonel; Carl Stephan, lieutenant-colonel; Oliver L. Terry, major ; Charles J. Powers, adjutant ; Montgomery Rochester, quarter- master ; David Little, surgeon; George W. Avery, assistant surgeon ; J. D. Barnes, of Binghamton, chaplain. On the 29th of May the regi- ment went through Baltimore, the company in the advance marching in full company front, the width of the roadway, to guard against attack by the mob. The Thirteenth's first battle was that of Bull Run, where
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it lost sixty-five men in all. In August Col. Quinby resigned and was succeeded by John Pickell, an old regular army officer, who left the ser- vice in the following spring, when Col. Elisha G. Marshall, also of the regulars, took the command. It participated in all the "seven days' battles " near Richmond, in one of which, that of Gaines Mills, where its strength was only 400, it lost 101 in killed, wounded and missing. Having been engaged in the second battle of Bull Run, at Antietam and at Fredericksburg, it came home in May, 1863, with a loss in all its fights of 465 men. Its officers on the return were: E. G. Marshall, colonel; F. A. Schoffel, lieutenant-colonel; George Hyland, junior, major; Job C. Hedges, adjutant ; Samuel S. Partridge, quartermaster ; David Little, surgeon; Charles E. Hill and Isaac V. Mullen, assistant surgeons : E. M. Cooley, Mark J. Bunnell, Jerry A. Sullivan, John Weed, Charles C. Brown, A. Galley Cooper, Henry Lomb, captains ; James Hutchison, E. P. Becker, Homer Foote, J. Elliott Williams, J. M. Richardson, J. H. Wilson, John Marks, Edward Martin, W. R. Mc- Kinnon, first lieutenants; James Stevenson, James D. Bailey, Thomas Jordan, John Cawthra, Gustav Spoor, W. J. Hines, E. F. Hamilton, D. S. Barber, E. C. Austin, second lieutenants.
Twenty-fifth Infantry .- This regiment, though it had no enlisted men from Monroe county, was largely officered from the Thirteenth, after the former had become demoralised and its colonel, James E. Ker- rigan, dismissed from the service. The officers thus 'transferred were Lieut .- Col. E. S. Gilbert, Major Sheppard Gleason, Captains Benj. F. Harris, Thomas E. Bishop, James S. Graham, W. W. Connor and Albert W. Preston, First Lieutenants Thomas Coglan and W. W. Bates. It was brigaded with the Thirteenth and passed through the same battles.
Twenty-sixth Infantry .- This was raised mostly in Utica, but two of its companies, under Captains Gilbert S. Jennings and Thomas Davis, were recruited in Monroe county. Its battles were those of Bull Run, Centerville, Antietam and Fredericksburg.
Twenty-seventh Infantry .- This was mainly a Syracuse regiment, with Henry W. Slocum as colonel, but one company was raised in Rochester, that of Capt. George G. Wanzer, with Charles S. Baker and E. P. Gould as lieutenants. It suffered severely at Bull Run and was in the seven days' battles, at Antietam and at Fredericksburg.
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Twenty-eighth Infantry .- In this there was no complete company from Monroe, but many men were enlisted here, and Charles H. Fenn, of Rochester, was one of the captains. Its hardest fight was at Cedar Mountain, where it headed a brigade that charged three times against the enemy's lines, and after the battle only 150 men of the regiment could be mustered.
Thirty-third Infantry .- Here, also, there was no complete organisa- tion from this county, although 240 recruits were sent to it from Roch- ester and its colonel was R. F. Taylor, transferred from a captaincy in the Thirteenth. It lost heavily at Antietam and at Fredericksburg, where it stormed the heights.
Eighty-ninth Infantry .- One company from Monroe was in this regiment, which was raised principally in the southern tier and was called the " Dickinson Guards." Its first colonel was Harrison S. Fair- child, of Rochester.
One Hundred and Fifth Infantry .- In this regiment, recruited in several of the western counties, there were three Monroe companies, those of Captains McMahon (who became colonel of the One Hundred and Eighty eighth), Bradley and Purcell. Its first lieutenant-colonel was Henry L. Achilles, senior, who was succeeded by Howard Carroll, when it was consolidated with the Ninety-fourth ; its adjutant was Daniel A. Sharpe-all three of Rochester. From the second battle of Bull Run Capt. Purcell's company issued with only thirteen men out of thirty- three ; at Antietam Col. Carroll, then in command, was mortally wounded.
One Hundred and Eighth Infantry .- This was the second regiment in the state organised under the call for 300,000 troops in 1862. Having been recruited in less than a month, it left Rochester on August 19, under the following officers: Colonel, O. H. Palmer ; lieutenant- colonel, C. J. Powers ; major, George B. Force; adjutant, John T. Chumasero; quartermaster, Joseph S. Harris; surgeon, John F. Whit- beck ; assistant surgeon, William S. Ely; chaplain, James Nichols ; captains, H. B. Williams, H. S. Hogoboom, William H. Andrews, J. G. Cramer, A. K. Cutler, F. E. Pierce, T. B. Yale, E. P. Fuller, William Graebe, Joseph Deverell. Receiving an ovation in New York city, it passed on to Washington and a month later was in its first fight, at
Louis Ernst
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THE COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Antietam, where it lost nearly 200 men, among the killed being Major Force and Lieutenants Tarbox and Holmes. It distinguished itself by a furious charge at Fredericksburg, by its firm stand at Chancellorsville and by serving the guns of a battery at Gettysburg after the artillery men were swept away. At Morton's Ford Lieut. - Col. Pierce (who went out as a captain) lost an eye, at the first day's battle in the Wilderness Col. Powers (who had succeeded Col. Palmer, resigned) was shot through the lungs but recovered, at Spottsylvania and again at Cold Harbor the regiment was badly cut up and when it was serving in the front line at Petersburg it shrank to less than a hundred men fit for duty. On June 1, 1865, it reached home with 169, the following officers being mustered out with the regiment : C. J. Powers, colonel ; F. E. Pierce, lieutenant-colonel ; F. B. Hutchinson, quartermaster ; Reuben H. Halstead, adjutant; F. M. Wafer, surgeon; Robert Stevenson, assistant-surgeon ; John B. Kennedy, W. H. Andrews, Samuel Porter, J. G. Cramer, S. P. Howard, A. J. Locke, A. J. Boyd, captains ; W. H. Raymond, J. W. Smith, John O. Jewell, Chris. Traugott, James West- cott, Alfred Elwood, H. F. Richardson, Solomon Fatzer, first lieu- tenants; Alfred B. Hadley, John Galvin, second lieutenants.
One Hundred and Fortieth Infantry .- Recruiting began for this even before its predecessor had left, and it followed that regiment in just a month, with these officers : Lieutenant-colonel, Louis Ernst; major, Isaiah F. Force ; adjutant, Ira C. Clark; quartermaster, William H. Crennell ; surgeon, Theodore F. Hall; assistant-surgeons, Wm. C. Slayton and O. Sprague Paine; chaplain, Charles Machin ; captains, Milo L. Starks, Christian Spies, W. J. Clark, Elwell S. Otis, Monroe M. Hollister, Benjamin F. Harmon, Perry B. Sibley, W. S. Grantsynn, Wm. F. Campbell, Patrick J. Dowling; first lieutenants, Joseph M. Leeper, August Meyer, Bartholomew Crowley, Henry B. Hoyt, Patrick A. McMullen, James H. Knox, Henry E. Richmond, Joseph H. Suggett, Addison N. Whiting, Patrick H. Sullivan; second lieutenants, J. D. Decker, Charles P. Klein, John Buckley, Alex. H. McLeod, Benjamin Ridley, Isaac Simmons, Porter Farley, Charles H. Burtis, Lewis Ham- ilton, Hugh McGraw. On the 8th of October it received its first colonel, Patrick H. O'Rorke, formerly a Rochester boy, a West Point graduate and an officer of brilliant promise. Though present at Fred- J3
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ericksburg and Chancellorsville, the first battle in which it sustained serious loss was that of Gettysburg, where it participated in the reten- tion of Little Round Top against all the assaults of the enemy and where Col. O'Rorke was killed and Captains Starks, Spies and Sibley were severely wounded, Lieutenants Klein and McGraw fatally. Lieut .- Col. Ernst and Major Force were successively in command till George Ryan, a captain in the Seventh regular infantry, was appointed colonel in August, 1863, and he brought the regiment to the highest degree of efficiency by his discipline and his care for the men. In a single charge
in the first day of the Wilderness it lost nearly half its force ; at Spottsyl- vania, three days later, it suffered severely, Col. Ryan and Major Starks being among the killed, and at Bethesda Church it underwent further depletion, so that in less than a month it was reduced by 41I out of a little less than 600. It was at Mine Run, Petersburg and Appomattox and came home with 290 men. The following were mus- tered out with the regiment : William S. Grantsynn, lieutenant-colonel ; William J. Clark, major; Robert J. Lester, adjutant; Eugene H. Shedd, quartermaster ; Henry C. Dean, surgeon ; Matthias L. Lord and George L. Menzie, assistant-surgeons. The muster-out roll of the line officers cannot be obtained.
One Hundred and Fifty-first Infantry .- Although Col. William Emerson, of Rochester, commanded this regiment, it had only one Monroe company, under Capt. Peter Imo, First Lieut. John C. Schoen (who took the place of Imo, resigned, and who was killed while lead- ing his men in a charge at Cold Harbor), and Second Lieut. George Oaks, who was brevetted major and came home in command of the company. In this company was Julius Armbruster, who, at the battle of Winchester, was shot directly between the eyes, the ball coming out at the back of his neck, yet he returned to the ranks a few weeks later- one of the most remarkable medical cases of the war.
Monroe County Sharpshooters .- This company was formed in the early part of 1863, under Abijah C. Gray ; it was known as the Sixth company of Sharpshooters and was not attached to any regiment.
Third Cavalry .- During the summer of 1861 this regiment was re- cruited. One company was from Rochester, that of Capt. Charles FitzSimmons, which, with another company, raised in Syracuse, was the
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THE COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR.
first volunteer cavalry mustered into the United States service. Four other companies, under Captains Alonzo Stearns, Judson Downs, John M. Wilson and Nathan P. Pond, were raised in the county, mainly outside of the city, and another company, added just before the regi- ment started, was that of George W Lewis, who had been transferred from the " Old Thirteenth." The officers were: Colonel, James H. Van Allen ; lieutenant-colonel, Simon H. Mix (appointed colonel on the resignation of Van Allen in 1863) ; major, John Mix (appointed lieutenant colonel) ; adjutant, Samuel C. Pierce (subsequently lieu- tenant-colonel) ; surgeon, Wm. H. Palmer; assistant-surgeon, Fred- erick Douglas. Capt. Lewis became ranking major; the junior majors were Charles FitzSimmons, Jephthah Garrard and George W. Cole,; Alonzo Stearns and Israel Henry Putnam became majors ; Capt. Pond be- came lieutenant-colonel of the First United States colored cavalry, and among others who gained promotion were Major Maurice Leyden, Adjutants George D. Williams and Wm. L Ogden, Captains Walter S. Joy and James R. Chamberlin, Lieutenants Milton H. Smith, Sherman Greig and John Gregory. The regiment was with Burnside in North Carolina and after that it performed gallant service with the army of the James.
Eighth Cavalry .- This was recruited in the autumn of 1861-very largely from the towns of Monroe, though enlistments were made in other counties-and marched away on Thanksgiving day. Its original enlistment was for one year, but the whole regiment was then mustered in again and served during the war. Its first officers were Samuel J. Crooks, colonel (who resigned the next February) ; Charles R. Babbitt, lieutenant-colonel ; William L. Markell and W. H. Benjamin, majors ; James Chapman, surgeon ; Rev. Dr. John A. Van Ingen, chaplain. In 1862 Capt. Benjamin F. Davis, of the regular army, became its colonel, but he was shot dead at Beverly Ford by an ambushed Confederate, who, in turn, was instantly killed by Adjutant E. Bloss Parsons. Col. Davis was succeeded in command by Lieut .- Col. Markell, he by Lieut .- Col. Benjamin, and he by Edmund M. Pope as full colonel. The Eighth was in nearly forty battles and won its greatest distinction in charging Gen. Early's entrenchments at Waynesboro, where, under command of Major Hartwell B. Compson, it captured ten battle-flags,
.
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six guns and 1,300 prisoners. It returned home under command of Col. Pope and Lieut .- Col. James Bliss.
Twenty- first Cavalry .- Four companies from Monroe, under Cap- tains John S. Jennings, William Godley, David A. Signor and James S. Graham, were in this regiment, which was raised in the fall of 1863. Its first lieutenant-colonel was Chas. FitzSimmons, previously of the Third cavalry. Its hardest fighting was in the Shenandoah valley, where it was left as a guard after Sheridan moved on to Richmond for the last struggle. After Lee's surrender it was sent to Colorado and mustered out in detachments
Twenty second Cavalry .- Seven companies recruited partially in Monroe were in this regiment, which left the state in March, 1864. Samuel J. Crooks, previously of the Eighth cavalry, was the first colonel, but during most of its service it was commanded by Major Caleb Moore, who had been detailed from the Eighth, the two regi- ments being brigaded together, in Custer's division, and fighting in the same battles during the last year of the war. Among the officers were Jacob Fisher, A. K. Tower, James H. Nellis, Frank A. Callister, Henry P. Starr and others from this county.
First Veteran Cavalry .- Of the twelve companies of this regiment, eight were raised partially in this county. It was recruited by Robert F. Taylor, its first colonel, in 1863, leaving the state in detachments, as the companies were mustered in.
The Reynolds Battery .- By this name the company of artillerymen raised in September, 1861, was always known, though its real name was Battery L, First New York artillery, as it was incorporated with that regiment after leaving Rochester. It served with distinction during the whole war after its enlistment, its principal engagements being at Front Royal, South Mountain, Antietam, Gettysburg (where it lost one gun, which, at a later period of the war, was recaptured and restored to the battery), Spottsylvania the North Anna and Petersburg. Its first officers were Capt. John A. Reynolds (who left the battery in May, 1863, having been promoted major and rising afterward to be chief of artillery, first of the twelfth corps, then of Hooker's command at Look- out Mountain, then of the army of Georgia during Sherman's march to the sea) and Lieutenants Edwin A. Loder and Gilbert H. Reynolds,
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the last-named becoming the captain after the promotion of his brother, Loder having been wounded. The battery came home with the fol- lowing officers: George Breck, captain (brevet major) ; William H. Sheldon, D. M. Perrine and E. O. Kinne, lieutenants.
Mack's Battery .- This was always the home name of an organisation recruited in the summer of 1862 and mustered in September 13. It was not attached to any regiment and its official title was the Eighteenth Independent Battery New York light artillery. Its first officers were : Albert G. Mack, captain; George H. Mumford and George S. Curtis, first lieutenants ; George P. Davis, second lieutenant. Franklin Van Dake subsequently became first lieutenant; Stalham L. Williams, A. B. McConnell and D. W. McConnell, second lieutenants. Its principal ser- vice was in the department of the Gulf, where it won the highest official praise.
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