USA > New York > Wayne County > Military history of Wayne County, N.Y. : the County in the Civil War > Part 46
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The Seventy-fifth, though still in active campaign work shared in no other general engagement until the attack on Sabine Pass. It was an unfortunate affair, the steamer Clifton grounded, became a perfect target for the rebel batteries and was obliged to surrender. The Seventy-fifth lost six killed and eighty-six wounded. The expedition return- ed to Algiers. September 15th the Seventy-fifth broke camp at Algiers and took the cars to Brashear. During the next few weeks it was engaged in Provost duty and in
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various movements before and after the battle of Vermillion River, in which it was not engaged. The regiment was now mounted, horses and equipments being levied from the sur- rounding rebels. Winter quarters were established at New Iberia. In January general reinlistment took place under an offer of $700 bounty and a months furlough. The re- enlisted again became infantry, and the now veterans were placed in command of Lieutenant-Colonel Babcock. The re-mustered regiment came to New York January 19, 1864, then to Albany. The portion of the regiment left in Louisi- ana were attached to the Fourteenth Cavalry and shared in the noted Red River Expedition under General Banks; no further account of which can be given here.
In March, 1864, the furloughed volunteers with recruits formed the new Seventy-fifth, mustered in at Auburn, took a train for Albany, presented their tattered regimental colors to Governor Seymour. Monday, April 4th, found them at Washington about 400 strong under command of Colonel Merritt. They had expected to be mounted as Cavalry but were compelled to accept rifles as infantry. March 10th they were ordered South, and June 4th landed at Morganzia Bend, on the Mississippi. After performing various duties in Louisiana until July 13th, they sailed North again, to Fortress Monroe and up the the James to Bermuda Hun- dreds, where they became a part of the Army of the James. They remained here only a short time. July 31st they were at Washington in the vicinity of which they staid a few weeks. August 14th they were off for the Shenandoah Valley. At sunset, August 17th, they waded the Shenandoah and established their camp near Barryville ten and a half miles east of Winchester.
In the battle of Winchester the Seventy-fifth again bore a distinguished part ; the charge of the Fourth Brigade (which included the Seventy-fifth) is highly complimented in the report of the battles. The Seventy-fifth lost sixteen killed, wounded fifty-one, prisoners fourteen. Again at Cedar Creek a month later the Seventy-fifth repeated its old brave record by the most determined persistent fighting. There were two killed, sixteen wounded, thirty-one missing.
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In a few weeks the original terms of service expired and the Seventy-fifth was mustered out. The veterans were formed into the Seventy-fifth Battalion whose further history our limits will not permit us to follow. They con- tinued in service through the campaign of 1865 and were not mustered out until long after the war closed, being paid off at Albany and leaving there for home September 23, 1865. The principal battles in which the Seventy-fifth was engaged are given by the Adjutant-General as Cotton, Bisland, Port Hudson. The above account shows that there were several others ; and besides " Port Hudson," should be regarded as succession of battles for days and weeks together.
NINETIETH INFANTRY .*
In the early fall of 1861, the elements that afterwards united in forming the Ninetieth Regiment, New York State Volunteers, began collecting themselves together. They first crystallized into two distinct organizations, one having its headquarters on Staten Island, and the other at East New York, on Long Island. In the latter part of Novem- ber, the McClellan Rifles and McClellan Chasseurs were consolidated into one regiment, which became known as the Ninetieth. Joseph Morgan, of Brooklyn, a man somewhat known in the militia circles of that city, was Colonel of the new organization, and an Italian soldier, with a history, Tinelli by name, was Lieutenant-Colonel. The Major was a Spanish gentleman named d'Agreda, who remained with the regiment but a few months. There was one company lettered " D" that was composed almost entirely of Wayne county men. One Van Ness, who had been in business at Clyde for a few months before the war commenced, recruited the company, but unceremoniously deserted the men whom his promises and solicitations had induced to enlist, before they were mustered into the United States service. Justin Niles, a Frenchman, whom the men learned in the coming years to love and respect, thereupon became Captain of the company and remained in command until the latter part of 1863. About the middle of December, 1861, the regi-
* The author is under obligations to Charles Saxton, Esq., of Clyde, for this account of the Ninetieth.
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ment left East New York, where it had been encamped for several weeks, and was taken to Governor's Island, in New York harbor. There, in the first days of January, 1862, it was mustered into the service of the general government. On the 5th day of January, a bitter cold day, it embarked on the large steamship Illinois, then numbering perhaps 700 men, and on the 13th inst., after a pleasant voyage, landed upon the coral built island of Key West, where the flowers were in bloom and the tropical fruits were ripening. This island upon which is a fine fort called Fort Taylor, being at the entrance of the Gulf of Mexico, was an important naval station. The Forty-seventh Pennsylvania and Ninety-first New York Regiments arrived there soon afterwards, and General Brannan assumed command of the Brigade.
The Ninetieth drilled here constantly for months, several times a day, until it was as thoroughly drilled and disci- plined as a veteran battalion. In May (the Ninetieth then being the only regiment left upon the island) some of our com- panies, among which was Company D, went to Fort Jeffer- son upon the Dry Tortugas, the other two remaining at Key West. Typhoid fever early began its ravages, and before the spring was over, had numbered many among its victims, including Corporal Sylvester Tulor, and John Wager, of Huron ; and John Graves, of Clyde : all estima- ble young men. But a far greater calamity soon cast its dark shadow over the regiment. The Ninetieth, before it had an opportunity to meet the enemy upon the field of battle, encountered a more terrible foe in the pestilence that walketh by night and wasteth by noon-day. In August the yellow fever laid its deadly grasp upon the northern soldiers. Men rose in the morning, and before the dawn of another day, were buried in the coral rock. In the course of a few weeks sixty men and six commissioned officers, about ten per cent. of the entire regiment had fallen before this awful scourge. The regiment was literally decimated. Among the Wayne county men who were slain by the breath of this pestilence, were James Powers, Isaac J. Boswell, Isaac A.Boswell, Philip Kirwagen, Henry Kirwagen, Julius Newhofer and George Angle.
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In December, 1862, the Ninetieth was transferred to Beau- fort, South Carolina, where it remained but a few weeks and then returned to Key West. It was not until May, 1863, that the inactivity of garrison life was exchanged for the stirring scenes of actual service in the tented field. During the month last mentioned the regiment bid adieu to the bright little island in which it had remained so many weary months, and went to Louisiana, where it immediately plunged into the perils and privations of actual campaigning. It par- ticipated in the siege of Port Hudson, bore an honorable part in the bloody charges that were made upon the defences of that stronghold, and was present when General Gardner and his six thousand men laid down their arms and surren- dered themselves prisoners of war. Many brave men of the Ninetieth were killed and wounded during the progress of the siege. The first man in the regiment who fell by a rebel bullet was young Simeon Koets, of Pultneyville. He was in the breastworks and incautiously exposed himself to the aim of a sharpshooter "across the way." The ball passed through his heart and he was dead before his comrades could get to him. Koets was a fine young fellow and a good soldier.
Shortly after the surrender of Port Hudson the regiment took part in the battle of Cox's Plantation (near Donaldson- ville). George Seager and Martin Wambsgans, Wayne county boys, were both wounded in this battle, though not seriously. They were both first rate soldiers and are still living, the former at Rose Valley and the latter at Syracuse. During the winter following the campaign of 1863, the regi- ment was stationed along the line of the New Orleans and Opelousas railroad. In February, 1864, most of the men re- enlisted for another three years. The spring campaign in Louisiana opened with the badly planned and executed Red River expedition, in which the Ninetieth participated. It resulted, as is well known, in nothing but defeat and disaster.
On the fifth day of July, 1864, the regiment embarked at New Orleans on a steamship and started for Washington, where it arrived about the twelfth instant. Then commenced those terrible and seemingly purposeless marches and coun- ter-marches between Washington and the Shenandoah Val-
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
ley, in the hot July and August days. While these were in progress, those of the regiment who had re-enlisted were granted the furlough that had been promised them. The regiment went to New York city, where it remained thirty days. Those who had not re-enlisted were temporarily transferred to the Hundred and Sixtieth New York and took part in the battle of Opequan or Winchester, September 19th. The regiment returned to the Shenandoah Valley in time to take an honorable part in the bloody battle of Cedar Creek. The Ninetieth lost a number of men in that battle, including its Major, John C. Smart, a brave man, who was killed early in the day while in command of the regiment. George W. Yates, the first sergeant of Company D, who was respected by everybody as a gentleman and soldier, was badly wounded. He partially recovered from his wound, obtained a commission, and now fills an important position under Government in the Sub-Treasury at New York city. There was a deed done that day by Martin Wambsgans, a Wayne county boy who formerly lived at Clyde, that de- serves honorable mention. The regiment was falling back in confusion. The color-bearer had been shot dead and his life blood was pouring out in crimson tide upon the old flag he had so bravely borne. Wambsgans, as soon as he saw young Foley fall, rushed forward amidst a storm of bullets, caught up the colors in his arms, for the staff was shattered in pieces, and waving it above his head as best he could, called upon his retreating comrades to rally. This spirited act turned the tide of retreat. The men recovered from their panic and reformed the line in the face of the enemy. This was the last battle in which the Ninetieth was engaged. It went into winter quarters at Newtown, not far from Win- chester. As the army commanded by General Hancock commenced moving up the valley in the spring the news came of Appomattox and the glorious end of the war. The Ninetieth was sent to Georgia in July, 1865, where it re- mained until the following February, when it was sent to New York and mustered out of the service. When it re- turned it was reduced to a battalion of six companies.
The city of Brooklyn gave the Ninetieth a fine reception the day after their arrival, a full account of which was given
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in the New York Herald, from which the following extract was taken :
" The returning volunteers numbered one hundred and eighty men all told. As they marched in the ranks they presented a very healthy appearance, but looked somewhat bronzed. Some had overcoats, others had not; some felt hats of different hues, and others caps of various shades, but they marched well and deported themselves as veteran sol- diers always do. The following are the names of the officers of the regiment, reduced to a battalion by long service :
" Field and Staff: Lieut .- Colonel, N. Shaurman ; Major, H. de la Paturellie ; Adjutant, W. T. Wooley ; Quartermas- ter, A. H. Ward; Surgeon, Arnold Stub ; Assistant Sur- geon, J. F. Patterson. Line : Company A., Captain E. A. Stoutenborough ; Company B, Captain William H. Lamb, Second Lieutenant, W. M. Bartley; Company C, Captain F. T. Jones, First Lieutenant H. J. Merchant, Second Lieu- tenant, J. F. McNamara ; Company D, First Lieutenant, J. Y. Blaney ; Company E, Captain G. W. Smith, Second Lieutenant, J. H. Ferguson ; Company. F, Second Lieu- tenant, A. Edwards. Non-commissioned Staff : Sergeant- Major, Charles T. Saxton ; Quartermaster Sergeant, R. H. Mckay ; Commissary Sergeant, Thomas Bennett; Hospital Steward, William H. Hopper."
The battles in which the Ninetieth was engaged are given by the Adjutant-General as Port Hudson, Opequan, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek. To these should be added at least Cox's Plantation, besides many other skirmishes. Port Hudson too was a long series of battles.
CHAPTER IX.
HISTORY OF REGIMENTS CONTINUED - THE SIXTY-FIFTH, SIXTY-SEVENTH, NINETY-EIGHTH, ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH, ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVENTH AND ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTIETH INFANTRY-NINTH HEAVY ARTILLERY TWENTY-SECOND CAVALRY -FIRST VETERAN CAVALRY-SECOND MOUNTED RIFLES.
SIXTY-FIFTH. INFANTRY.
T HIS regiment would have had no connection with the history of Wayne county, were it not for the fact that the drafted men in the spring of 1865, were assigned mostly to this organization. The original formation of the regiment is given in the Adjutant-General's report of 1868, as follows :-
" This regiment was raised and organized in New York city, to serve three years. It was mustered into the United States service July Ist to October 31, 1861. On the expira- tion of its term of service, the original members (except veterans) were mustered out, and the regiment, composed of veterans and recruits, retained in service until July 17, 1865, when it was mustered out in accordance with orders from the War Department."
The battles whose names the regiment was declared to be entitled to have carried upon the records, were :- Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericksburgh, Mary's Heights, Salem Heights, Gettysburgh, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburgh, Opequan, Cedar Creek. The drafted men of Sodus and Ontario were required to report at Auburn, March 27, 1865. On the 4th of April they obtained their uniform. For a few days the men were under drill; varying their time between drilling and playing ball. It was already the 14th of April before they were sent southward. The noise of the final victory of Grant over Lee, was in the air; it was evident the contest was over. They went from Auburn to Elmira, April 6th, and were quartered in Ward 18, Barracks No. I. They were duly mustered in on the 10th, and drew the bounty due them on the IIth. Saturday, April 15th, they reached Jersey City,
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
crossed to the Battery barracks, New York, and from thence to Governor's Island. Sunday and Monday they had an opportunity to wander all over the Island and examine forts, cannon, pontoons, and all the enginery of war. At dusk, Monday evening, they sailed for City Point, Va. Tuesday they were on the ocean, and Wednesday morning reached Fortress Monroe. They sailed up the Jamesriver and came to City Point about 4 o'clock P. M. The next day they landed, took the cars at 7 o'clock for Burksville, passing Petersburgh and having a chance to see the entrenchments and the dismantled fortifications. On Friday, the 21st, they reached Burksville ; went to the camp on a hill in the rear of the village. There they were enrolled as members of the Sixty-fifth Regiment, Company I, Second Brigade, First Division, Sixth Corps. They now started upon a march of six days at the rate of twenty-five to thirty miles a day. It was a weary affair to men unused to the hardships of war; with blistered feet and aching limbs, they reached Dansville April 27. They stayed there until May 2d, when they took the cars and were transported to Burke Junction. May 4th they encamped in Notaway county. Here they staid until the 17th engaged in drills, in dress parades, in a little foraging &c. On the 18th the regiment moved northward, passed through Richmond on the 24th, Fredericksburgh on the 30th, Fairfax Court House June I, and went into camp near Washington on the 2d. This march was full of hard- ships like the long route they first traveled going south. The regiment shared in the Grand Review in Washington-a fearful hot day, when many soldiers were sun struck. The regiment remained in camp until July 17th, when they were mustered out of the United States service. On the after- noon of the 19th the Sixty-fifth picked up and went into Washington where they were cared for at the Soldiers' Rest. The 20th they reached Philadelphia, the 21st New York, and on the 22d encamped on Hart's Island. They signed their last pay-rolls on the 29th, and the Wayne county men reached Newark, July 30th.
For these dates and the order of these marches and encampments we are indebted to Justus H. Pulver, for the
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use of an interesting diary kept by him during this brief war experience.
SIXTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY.
Certain records of this regiment which it was hoped to secure have not been obtained, Major Kemper, of Clyde, not having found papers which he supposed were in his posses- sion. Its work is told and well told by the Adjutant Gen- eral's brief statement. Twenty of the severest battles of the war are inscribed upon its banners as a memorial of its heroic conduct. The Adjutant-General says :
This regiment was raised and organized at Brooklyn, N. Y. It was mustered into the service of the United States, June 24, 1861, to serve three years. The original members. (except veterans) whose term of service had expired, were mustered out July 4, 1864, and the veterans and recruits transferred to the Sixty-fifth New York Volunteers. The battles in which the Sixty-seventh was engaged were : Yorktown ; Williamsburg ; Seven Pines ; Glendale ; Turkey Bend ; Malvern Hill ; Chantilly ; Antietam ; South Moun- tain; Williamsport ; Fredericksburgh; Salem Heights ; Gettysburgh ; Rappahannock Station ; Locust Grove; Mine Run ; Wilderness ; Spottsylvania ; Coal Harbor ; Petersburg.
THE NINETY-EIGHTH INFANTRY.
Lieutenant Seymour S. Short, of this regiment, furnished to the newspapers of the county a valuable war corres- pondence during the entire career of this regiment. He was with the regiment from its organization to its final discharge. The following sketch of the movements of the regiment is from his pen. For further detailed accounts of the regiment, the reader is referred to the volume published by Colonel Kreutzer a few years since ; a work wholly devoted to the Ninety-eighth, and which the members of that organization will find to be a valuable memorial of their brilliant career.
The Ninety-eighth Regiment, New York Volunteers, was organized in the winter of 1861'-62, under President Lincoln's call for 300,000 three years' men, and was formed by uniting seven companies, recruited in Franklin county, with three recruited in Wayne county. The three Wayne county companies had their camp of instruction at Lyons, and were originally officered ås follows:
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Co. F-Captain, William Kreutzer, Lyons.
66 First Lieutenant, D. L. Norton, Lyons.
66 Second Lieutenant, L. A. Rogers, Lyons.
Co. I- Captain, Alfred Wakely, Williamson.
66 First Lieutenant, W. H. Adams, Canandaigua.
Second Lieutenant, Ethel M. Allen, Williamson.
Co. K-Captain, George W. Birdsall, Lyons.
First Lieutenant, Geo. N. Williams, Canandaigua. Second Lieutenant, Hoyt Chapman, Palmyra.
The Fair grounds at Lyons, were converted into a mili- tary camp, and Floral Hall was compelled to do duty as barracks for the soldiers .. Great enthusiasm was manifested by the people of the surrounding country, and the " Boys in Blue " were the lions of the hour. But these halcyon days were of short duration. February 6th, 1861, the troops at Lyons were inspected, and mustered into the service for three years ; and on the 15th, were ordered to Albany, where the consolidation of the regiment was practi- cally effected. The aggregate strength of the regiment was nearly one thousand men, and the following named officers constituted the field and staff :
Colonel William Dutton, Wolcott.
Lieutenant-Colonel, Charles Durkee, Malone.
Major, Albon Mann, Malone.
Surgeon, William David, Lyons.
Assistant Surgeon, G. W. Balch, Malone.
Adjutant, E. H. Hobbs, Malone.
Quartermaster, George H. Clark, Rochester.
Chaplain, William C. Hubbard, Clyde.
The regiment went into barracks at Camp Rathbone, but remained only a few days before Colonel Dutton was ordered to report with his regiment at Washington. Before leaving Albany Governor Morgan presented the regiment with its State and National colors and upon reaching New York, arms were issued to the different company command- ers for the men. These were the Austrian rifled musket, and the " boys" then began to look like soldiers in earnest. We reached Washington March 9th, and after partaking a repast of salt beef, bread and coffee we proceeded to Meridian Hill, near Columbia College and went into camp. During our first six weeks of army life at Lyons we had fared as well as most of us had at home; but after that, we
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were let down by easy stages, until now we had reached the level of a soldier's life in the field. Here the Ninety-eighth, Ninety-third, Ninety-second and Eighty-first New York Regiments were organized into a brigade under command of Brigadier-General Palmer, and attached to. Casey's Divis- ion of Key's Corps. On the 27th of March the regiment received four months pay and on the 28th left its camp and marched to Alexandria, Virginia, which place we reached at ten o'clock in the evening and slept on the cold flag-stones of the sidewalks until morning. On the following morning we went into camp in a piece of timber, a short distance from the city. We had received no tents as yet, and as the weath- er was cold and stormy we had an uncomfortable time for the next few days. On the Ist of April we again broke camp and marched to the wharf where we embarked for Fortress Monroe. There on the morning of the 2d we disembarked and took up the line of march for Yorktown, The Ninety- eighth participated in all the toils and dangers of that memor- able siege, and when the enemy evacuated the works on the 4th of May, we were up and after them. On the 5th the battle of Williamsburg was fought by Hooker; and while Kearney's Division and Casey's Division were compelled by orders to stand all day within two miles of that bloody field without becoming engaged. On the morning of the 9th we were again on the road to Richmond, and continued alter- nately marching, resting and skirmishing with the enemy, until we reached Fair Oaks, four miles from Richmond, where the army commenced entrenching. Casey's Division occupied the extreme left of the line. At this time Colonel Dutton was attacked with malarial fever and taken to New York, where he died on July 4th. He was a good officer and had he lived would have risen to distinction in the army. On the 31st of May, the enemy massed a heavy force opposite our division, and at noon hurled them with terrific force upon Casey who held his ground until his bat- teries were taken and turned, and his rear was threatened by overwhelming numbers, when he fell back upon Couche's division, which in turn gave way, and the confederate advance was not checked until Sumner's corps stayed the
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tide of battle, and night put an end to the conflict. In McClellan's report of the fight he says, "Casey's division gave way unaccountably." Had he been upon the battle field he never would have made such a random assertion. Really " Little Mac " had " scented the battle afar off," and kept at a safe distance.
The simple truth of the matter is that Casey's Division was crushed by overwhelming numbers. History tells us how the next day our boys "waxed " the Johnnies and would easily have taken Richmond had there been an aggressive policy. No further movement of the Army of the Potomac occurred until the 25th of June, when Mc- Clellan began his famous "change of base." During the seven days' fighting that followed Casey's Division was detailed to guard the wagon-train. After the battle of Mal- vern Hill the Army of the Potomac fell back to Harrison's Landing where we lay until August 4th, when the whole army was ordered North to check Lee's invasion. Casey's Division was, however, stationed at Yorktown to hold that point where we remained until the 25th of December. Dur- ing our occupation of Yorktown Lieutenant-Colonel Durkee was promoted Colonel, Lieutenant F. F. Mead, Sixteenth New York Volunteers, was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, Quartermaster Clark was elevated to the rank of Major and Sergeants Wm. H. Rogers and Wm. B. Rudd, of Lyons, were promoted Lieutenants. On the 25th of December, the Ninety-eighth embarked at Fortress Monroe and joined Foster's expedition to North Carolina. We encountered a terrific gale off Cape Hatteras, and the "boys" became acquainted with all the delightful sensations of sea-sickness. On the night of the 29th the old iron-clad Monitor that saved our honor and our navy in the spring of '62, foundered in the gale. On January Ist, we anchored at Morehead City, N. C., and went into camp at Carolina City where we remained until the 21st. While encamped at that place, private Charles J. Peterson, (a Sodus boy and a member of Co. F.,) died and was buried with military honors by his comrades. On the 21st of January, 1863, we again embarked, but on account of bad weather the expedition did not sail
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