USA > New York > Wayne County > Landmarks of Wayne County, New York, Pt. 1 > Part 9
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"A most unpromising recipient of such a trust was this same Joseph Smith, jr., afterwards, 'Joe Smith.' He was lounging, idle (not to say vicious) ; and possessed of less than ordinary intellect. The author's own recollections of him are distinct ones. Ile used to come into the village of Palmyra with little jags of wood from his backwoods home; sometimes patronizing a village grocery too freely; sometimes find an odd job to do about the store of Seymour Scovell; and once a week he would stroll into the office of the old Palmyra Register for his father's paper. How impious, in us young 'dare-devils' to once and a while blacken the face of the then meddling, inquisitive lounger-but after- wards prophet, with the old-fashioned ink balls when he used to put himself in the way of the old-fashioned Ramage press! The editor of the Cultivator at Albany-esteemed as he may justly consider himself for his subsequent enterprise and usefulness, may think of it with con- trition and repentance, that he once helped to thus disfigure the face of a prophet, and remotely the founder of a state.
"But Joseph had a little ambition; and some very laudable aspira- tions; the mother's intellect occasionally shone out in him feebly, especially when he used to help us solve some portentous question of moral or political ethics in our juvenile debating club, which we moved down to the old red school-house on Durfee street, to get rid of the an- noyance of critics that used to drop in on us in the village; and subse- quently, after catching a spark of Methodism in the camp meeting, away down in the woods on the Vienna road, he was a very passable exhorter in evening meetings.
" Legends of hidden treasure had long designated Mormon Hill as the depository. Old Joseph had dug there, and young Joseph had not only heard his father and mother relate the marvellous `tales of buried wealth, but had accompanied his father in the midnight delvings and incantations of the spirits that guarded it.
"If a buried revelation was to be exhumed, how natural it was that the Smith family, with their credulity, and their assumed presentiment that a prophet was to come from their household, should be connected with it; and that Mormon Hill was the place where it would be found.
"It is believed by those who are best acquainted with the Smith family, and most conversant with the old Gold Bible movement, that there is no foundation for the statement that their original manuscript was written by a Mr. Spaulding, of Ohio. A supplement to the Gold Bible, 'The Book of Commandments,' in all probability was written by
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Rigdon, and he may have been aided by Spaulding's manuscripts; but the book itself is, without doubt, a production of the Smith family, aided by Oliver Cowdery, who was a school teacher on Stafford street, an intimate of the Smith family, and identified with the whole matter. The production, as all will conclude who have read it, or even given it a cursory review, is not that of an educated man or woman. The bungling attempt to counterfeit the style of the Scriptures; the inter- mixture of modern phraseology; the ignorance of chronology and geography; its utter crudeness and baldness, as a whole, stamp its character, and clearly exhibit its vulgar origin. It is a strange medley of scripture, romance and bad composition.
" The primitive designs of Mrs. Smith, her husband, Joe and Cow- dery, was money making; blended with which, perhaps, was a desire for notoriety, to be obtained by a cheat and a fraud. The idea of being the founders of a new seet was an after-thought, in which they were aided by others.
" The projectors of the humbug, being destitute of means for carry- ing out their plans, a victim wasselected to obviate that difficulty. Martin Harris was a farmer of Palmyra, the owner of a good farm, and an honest, worthy citizen; but especially given to religious enthu- siasm, new creeds, the more extravagant the better; a monomaniac, in fact. Joseph Smith, upon whom the mantle of prophecy had fallen after the sad fate of Alvah, began to make demonstrations. He in- formed Harris of the great discovery, and that it had been revealed to him that he (Harris) was a chosen instrument to aid in a great work of surprising the world with a new revelation. They had hit upon the right man. He mortgaged his fine farm to pay for printing the book, assumed a grave, mysterious, and unearthly deportment, and made here and there among his acquaintances solemn enunciations of the great event that was transpiring. His version of the discovery, as communicated to him by the prophet Joseph himself, is well remem- bered by several respectable citizens of Palmyra, to whom he made early disclosures. It was in substance as follows:
"The prophet Joseph, was directed by an angel where to find, by ex- cavation, at the place afterwards called Mormon Hill, the gold plates; and was compelled by the angel, much against his will, to be the in- terpreter of the sacred record they contained, and publish it to the world. That the plates contained a record of the ancient inhabitants of this country, 'engraved by Mormon the son of Nephi.' That on the
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top of the box containing the plates, 'a pair of large spectacles were found, the stones or glass set in which were opaque to all but the prophet ;' that 'these belonged to Mormon, the engraver of the plates, and without them the plates could not be read.' Harris assumed that himself and Cowdery were the chosen amanuenses, and that the prophet Joseph, curtained from the world and them, with his spectacles, read from the gold plates what they committed to paper. Harris exhibited to an informant of the author the manuscript of the title page. On it were drawn rudely and bunglingly, concentric circles, between, above and below which were clear characters, with little resemblance to let- ters. "Apparently a miserable imitation of hieroglyphics the writer may have somewhere seen. To guard against profane curiosity, the prophet had given out that no one but himself, not even his chosen co-opera- tors, must be permitted to see them, on pain of instant death. Harris had never seen the plates, but the glowing accounts of their massive richness excited other than spriritual hopes, and he upon one occasion got a village silversmith to help him estimate their value; taking as a basis, the prophet's account of their dimensions. It was a blending of the spiritual and utilitarian, that threw a shadow of doubt on Martin's sincerity. This, and some anticipations he indulged in, as to the profits that would arise from the sale of the Gold Bible, made it then, as it is now, a mooted question. whether he was altogether a dupe.
" The wife of Harris was a rank infidel and heretic, touching the whole thing; and decidedly opposed to her husband's participation in it. With sacrilegious hands she seized over a hundred of the manu- seript pages of the New Revelation and burned or secreted them. It was agreed by the Smith family, Cowdery and Harris, not to transcribe these again, but to let so much of the New Revelation drop out, as the · evil spirit would get up a story that the second translation did not agree with the first.' A very ingenious method, surely, of guarding against the possibility that Mrs. Harris had preserved the manuscript with which they might be confronted should they attempt an imitation of their own miserable patchwork. The prophet did not get his lesson well upon the start, of the household of imposters were in the fault. After he had told his story, in his absence, the rest of the family made a new version of it to one of their neighbors They showed him such a pebble as may any day be picked up on the shore of Lake Ontario- the common hornblende-carefully wrapped in cotton and kept in a mysterious box. They said it was by looking at this stone, in a hat,
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the light excluded, that Joseph discovered the plates. This it will be observed, differs materially from Joseph's story of the angel. It was the stone the Smiths had used in money digging and in some pretended discoveries of stolen property.
"Long before the Gold Bible demonstration, the Smith family had with some sinister object in view, whispered another fraud in the ears of the credulous. They pretended that in digging for money, at Mor- mon Hill, they came across 'a chest, three feet by two in size, covered with a dark-colored stone. In the center of the stone was a white spot about the size of a sixpence. Enlarging, the spot increased to the size of a 24-pound shot, and then exploded with a terrible noise. The chest vanished and all was utter darkness.'
"It may be safely presumed that in no other instance have prophets and the chosen and designated of angels been quite as calculating and worldly as were those of Stafford street, Mormon Hill and Palmyra. The only business contract-veritable instrument in writing, that was ever executed by spiritual agents, has been preserved, and should be among the archives of the new State of Utah. It is signed by the Prophet Joseph himself and witnessed by Oliver Cowdery, and secures to Martin Harris one-half of the proceeds of the sale of the Gold Bible until he was fully reimbursed in the sum of $2,500, the cost of printing.
" The after-thought that has been alluded to: the enlarging of orig- inal intentions-was at the suggestion of Sidney Rigdon, of Ohio, who made his appearance and blended himself with the poorly-devised scheme of imposture about the time the book was issued from the press. He unworthily bore the title of a Baptist elder, but had by some previous freak, if the author is rightly informed, forfeited his standing with that respectable denomination. Designing, ambitious, and dishonest, under the semblance of sanctity and assumed spiritual- ity, he was just the man for the uses of the Smith household and their half-dupe and half-designing abettors; and they were just the fit in- struments he desired. He became at once the Hamlet, or more appro- priately perhaps, the maw-worm of the play.
" Under the auspices of Rigdon a new sect, the Mormons, was pro- jected, prophecies fell thick and fast from the lips of Joseph; old Mrs. Smith assumed all the airs of a mother of a prophet; that particular family of Smiths were singled out and became exalted above all their legion of namesakes. The bald, clumsy cheat found here and there an enthusiast, a monomaniac, or a knave, in and around its primitive
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locality, to help it upon its start; and soon, like another scheme of im- posture (that had a little dignity and plausibility in it), it had its hegira or flight to Kirtland; then to Nauvoo; then to a short resting place in Missouri, and then on over the Rocky Mountains to Salt Lake City. Banks, printing offices, temples, cities, and finally a State have arisen under its auspices. Converts have multiplied to tens of thousands; while its illegal and disgusting practice of polygamy called down upon it the detestation of all civilized people and the wrath and interference of the general government."
It is a somewhat remarkable coincidence that another pseudo-religious. movement, the consequences of which were ultimately scarcely less mo- mentous than those of Mormonism, should have had its rise in Wayne county. Reference is made to the very beginning of what is now known throughout the world by the general name of spiritualism. Like Mormonism, this other new doctrine had its origin in deception. It began in the little hamlet of Hydeville in the town of Arcadia, where John Fox and his family settled. Mr. Fox bore a good reputation and carried on his trade of blacksmithing. On the night of March 31, 1849, the two daughters of Mr. Fox, Margaret and Catharine, and their cousin, Elizabeth Fish, claimed to have heard a mysterious rapping which greatly frightened them. A simple system of brief communi- cation was devised, probably by the girls and their mother, the latter being possibly deceived by her daughters, and the sounds were attrib- uted to spirits from another world. Among the communications said to have been received through the rappings, was one to the effect that a man named John Bell had killed a peddler and buried the body in his cellar. This created much excitement, the news spread, and digging was begun to find the remains of the murdered man. The little place was visited by hundreds of people from the near by villages. The diggers struck a vein of flowing water, which prevented further inves- tigation in that line. As the mysterious rapping's continued, thousands of people visited the Fox home, some of whom believed in the super- natural origin of the sounds, while others ridiculed the whole thing. It was not long before a financial return became a part of the plans of the daughters, and to reach a larger audience they removed to Roches- ter and appeared in public, their operations becoming widely known as the " Rochester Rappings." > The alleged intercourse with disembod- ied spirits led to the evolution of so-called " mediums " who professed to be especially adapted for the reception of the news from the other
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world. From the simple rappings of the Fox sisters, was developed by others still more bold in their deceptions, the appearance of ap- paritions, the sound of voices, and various other demonstrations. The mania spread in its later varied phases until ultimately it reached over the civilized world. Late in the life of the Fox sisters they claimed to explain the mystery of the rappings, stating that they were produced by certain movements of some of their joint bones, which could be moved without detection.
CHAPTER VII.
End of the Reign of Peace-The First Gun-Military Enthusiasm-Wayne Coun- ty-The President's First Proclamation-The First Company Recruited in Wayne County-Sketches of the Various other Wayne County Organizations.
The long reign of prosperous peace in America was rudely and ruth- lessly closed when citizens of one of the Southern States fired the first hostile gun upon Fort Sumter in 1861. Almost before the echoes of that cannonade had died away, a tide of patriotic enthusiasm and indig- nation swept over the entire North, and the call to arms found an echo in every loyal heart, while thousands, young and old, rich and poor, native and alien, sprang forward to offer their services and their lives at the altar of their country.
The history of the civil war has been written and rewritten, and al- most every intelligent citizen has become familiar with the story of the great contest. Were this not true, it would be manifestly impossible to follow in detail the various campaigns in which Wayne county sol- diers honorably shared, or to trace in detail the career of those brave officers and privates who fell on the battlefield. Such records are for the general historian who has ample space at his command. The mus- ter rolls of the State, too, that have been deposited in every county clerk's office, are accessible to all and enable the reader to see at a glance the noble part performed by the soldiers in the great struggle for the maintenance of the Union. 'As a rule the several calls of the president for volunteers were freely met, and though a draft was held in the county on two occasions, it did not reach all of the towns, and its re- quirements were promptly complied with.
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Prior to the actual outbreak of the Rebellion, the president issued a proclamation calling forth "the militia of this State (as well as of the other Northern States), to the aggregate number of 75,000, in order to suppress combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed." Following this and the first gun of the great conflict, the principal vil- lages of this county became at once centers of military activity and en- thusiasm.
On Monday, April 15, 1861, the State Legislature passed a bill ap- propriating $3,000,000 and providing for the enrollment of 30,000 men to be subject to call in aid of the general government. The volunteers under this call were to enlist in the State service for two years and be subject at any time to transfer into the Federal service. This measure caused intense excitement throughout the State, and the villages of Wayne county were ablaze with enthusiasm.
The following brief sketches of the complete organizations that left Wayne county for the Southern battlefields will give a general glimpse of their service.
Recruiting began here promptly after the first call for volunteers was issued, and before the close of May, 1861, Company I, which joined the 17th Regiment, was chiefly raised in Newark and its immediate vicinity. Andrew Wilson was captain and Isaac M. Lusk, first lieutenant. In this early regiment were a considerable number of recruits outside of Company I. The latter company joined the regiment in New York city and was there mustered in for two years, under command of Col- onel Lansing. The first engagement in which the 17th took part was at Hanover Court House. A part of the command shared in the Seven Days battle, and later the regiment was in the Second battle of Bull Run, where Company I suffered the loss of Captain Wilson. In the battle of Antietam this regiment was actively engaged and again on December 13, 1861, at Fredericksburg. The regiment was mustered out June 2, 1863.
Company B of the 27th Regiment was chiefly recruited in Lyons in 1861. The regiment was organized at Elmira in May of that year, un- der command of Col. W. H. Slocum, of Syracuse, who subsequently attained the highest military honors. The Lyons company was com- manded by Capt. Alexander D. Adams, and left Lyons May 10. There were also many other volunteers from Wayne county in this regiment, outside of Company B. The 27th was mustered into the United States service May 29, 1861, and proceeded to Washington. The principal
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engagements in which it took part were at Bull Run (where Colonel Slocum was wounded), Fairfax, West Point, Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mills (where the Lyons company lost one killed and twenty-three wounded), Manassas, Crampton Gap (in 1862), and Fredericksburg in 1863. The regiment was conspicuous for brave and gallant conduct before the enemy.
The 33d Regiment, recruited chiefly in Rochester in 1861, contained one company (B) from Wayne county, most of whom were from Pal- myra. This organization became considerably depleted, and in Sep tember, 1861, received 240 recruits. The regiment was commanded by Col. Robert F. Taylor, of Rochester, and left Elmira for Washington July 8, 1861. It was under fire at Yorktown in April, 1861, for fifty- four hours, and soon afterwards fought at Williamsburg. In the fight at Mechanicsville in May, 1862, the regiment participated, and in its movements reached a point within six miles of Richmond. Other en- gagements in which the 33d shared were Malvern Hill, Second Bull Run, Antietam (where fifty were killed and wounded in this regiment). The recruits before mentioned, many of whom were from Wayne county, joined the regiment October 29, 1862. Then followed the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville (in 1863), and and the charge on Fred- ericksburg Heights (May 5, 1863.) The regiment returned to Elmira May 12, 1863, and was mustered out.
The 44th Regiment (known as the People's Ellsworth Regiment), which was designed to be recruited in all the counties of this State, re- ceived its proportionate number from Wayne, eight of whom were from Sodus. The regiment was organized in the fall of 1861 and served to October 11, 1864. Its principal battle was Gettysburg, July 3, 1863.
Towards the close of the year 1861 an attempt was made to raise a full regiment in Wayne county; but when about 400 men had been re- cruited, an order was given for consolidation, and the Wayne volunteers were organized into three companies and united with seven other com- panies from Franklin county to form the 98th Regiment. William Dut- ton, a Wayne county graduate of West Point, was made colonel of the regiment. The Wayne county men had remained in Camp Rathbone, at Lyons, until February, 1862; the three companies were lettered F, I, and K. They were respectively commanded by Captains Kreutzer, principal of the Lyons Union School, Birdsall, a Lyons merchant, and Wakely. Dr. William G. David, a leading physician of the county, went out assurgeon. The regiment left Lyons February 21, 1862. In
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the movement upon Yorktown in the spring of 1862 the regiment par- ticipated, and afterwards in the bloody engagement at Fair Oaks. This was the last important battle in which the 98th participated down to February, 1864, when the men re-enlisted as veterans and went home on furlough. In April of that year they were again at Yorktown, and they soon became known as one of the best disciplined and equipped or- ganizations in "Baldy" Smith's 18th Corps. In the operations of the Army of the Potomac before Richmond in the summer of 1864, the reg- iment was in active participation, fought in the battle of Cold Harbor, June 1-4, where heavy loss was sustained. Within twelve days at this period the 98th lost 121 killed and wounded. The regiment was then sent to take part in the siege of Petersburg, and on June 21 entered the trenches and continued to share in the operations in that vicinity until about August 29. In the capture of Fort Harrison, September 29, the regiment lost sixty men in killed and wounded, and on October 27 at Fair Oaks it bore an honorable part in the second engagement on that field. The 98th enjoyed comparative quiet from this time until the evacuation of Richmond, and on the 3d of April, 1865, was among the first to enter the Confederate capital. August 31 the muster-out order came and the men returned to their homes.
The 111th Regiment, Col. Jesse Segoine, was recruited in the sum- mer of 1862, in Wayne and Cayuga counties, to serve three years. Five companies, A, B, C, D, and E, were from this county. The regiment left Auburn for Harper's Ferry August 2, on which day they were surrendered by General Miles to Stonewall Jackson, and were paroled and sent to Chicago, and remained till December and were then trans- ferred. After this regiment was transferred and camped near Wash- ington, Col. Segoine resigned, and Lieut. - Col. C. D. MacDougall was appointed colonel. A. P. Seely succeeded Colonel MacDougall, who was promoted to brevet brigadier general. During its term of service the 111th participated in engagements at Harper's Ferry on September 15, 1862, and camped near Washington during the succeeding winter; B and C companies were detached, and the balance of the regiment was in the battles at Gettysburg (where 120 were killed and wounded); at Bristow Station, October 14; Blackburn's Ford, October 15-17; Mine Run, November 28-30, and Morton's Ford, February 6, 1864. In the Wilderness, early in May the 111th shared bravely in three days of almost continuous fighting, losing forty-four killed, 126 wound- ed, and twenty missing-190 out of 386 effective men. At Po River,
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May 10-12, Spottsylvania, May 13, 14, 18; North Anna, May 23-4; Tolopotomy, May 31 and June 1, and in several minor engagements between June 3 and 16, the regiment was conspicuous for its heroic deeds. On June 21 the 111th participated in the movement upon the Jerusalem Pland Road; fought at Deep Bottom July 26-8, and again August 12-14; at Reams's Station, August 25; in garrison at Fort HIell was long under constant fire; and March 25, 1865, repulsed a fierce attack upon their lines. At Gravelly Run, March 30 and 31, the regi- ment shared in the fierce battle and then took up the pursuit of the fly- ing Lee, which ended only at Appomattox. The regiment returned home after the consummation of the great conflict, and was discharged June 6, 1865.
The 138th Regiment was locally known as the Second Wayne and Cayuga, and was recruited immediately succeeding the 111th, in Au- gust, 1862. It was commanded by Colonel Joseph Welling, of Wayne; lieutenant colonel, Wm. H. Seward, of Cayuga; major, Edward P. Taft, of Wayne; surgeon, Theodore Dimon, of Cayuga; quartermaster, Henry P. Knowles, of Wayne; adjutant, William R. Wasson, of Cayuga; first assistant-surgeon, Samuel A. Sabin, of Wayne; second assistant-surgeon Byron De Witt, Cayuga; chaplain, Warham Mudge, Wayne; sergeant- major, Lyman Comstock, Cayuga. Six of the ten companies were raised in Wayne county and were lettered A, B, D, G, H, and K. The regiment left camp September 12, and proceeded to Albany and thence to Washington, going into camp on Arlington Heights. There the or- ganization was changed to the 9th Artillery and placed in charge of forts near Georgetown. In the spring of 1864 the artillery shared in the fighting at the Wilderness, Spottsylvania and North Anna. At the beginning of June the command, as part of Burnside's 9th Corps, saw active service at Cold Harbor. The regiment was engaged in skirmish or battle between June Ist and 9th and lost during that time nine killed and forty-two wounded. Other engagements in which the 9th partici- pated were at Monocacy Junction July 9, losing heavily; on August 7 four companies were detached for service in the Washington defenses, the other eight joining the 6th Corps and going into Western Virginia, where, under Sheridan, in the fall of 1864, they participated in the brilliant operations of that great commander. On the 25th of March, 1865, the 9th was posted at the extreme front before Petersburg, took part in the recapture of Fort Steadman; was engaged April 2, and again on the 6th, at Sailor's Creek. The greater part of the regiment was mustered out in April, 1865.
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