USA > New York > Jefferson County > Our county and its people. A descriptive work on Jefferson County, New York > Part 15
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1 All writers of cotemporary history have mentioned the patriot leader as the " notorious Bill Johnston." It is true that Johnston was deeply implicated in a ruthless and unlawful war like enterprise, and that the cause which he espoused had small foundation in wrong and op pression to justify the extreme measures adopted by its champions. Had the patriots been successful in their attempt to conquer Canada, their leaders would have been proclaimed heroes, and would have been rewarded with highest honors; but failing, they were denounced as rebels and outlaws. After the war Johnston returned to Clayton and spent his days, living a quiet lite and enjoying the respect of neighbors and friends.
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people of the mother country," and if they would organize here to the number of about 2,000 men, proceed thence to Sackets Harbor and from that port to Canada, the province could be subjugated in a very short time. But in the meantime it was necessary that the troops should proceed to the harbor, and there undergo a thorough training in drill and military tactics, the expenses of which were proposed to be borne by Hill.
Accordingly, about 800 persons, all told, as Mr. Truax says, started from the county seat and marched to the harbor, where they remained about ten days, constantly under instruction in drill by one Corcoran, who had served the war of 1812 and was skilled in military tactics. At the end of the time the steamer United States came down from Buffalo, having in tow two schooners (the Charlotte of Toronto, and the Char- lotte of Oswego). The patriot army at the harbor went on board, and the whole number, including those who came from Buffalo and others taken at Cape Vincent, amounted to about 800 men. From this it is seen that there were many desertions from the ranks of the army be- fore the men were embarked. General Burge (or Birge) appeared to be supreme in command and had his temporary quarters on the steamer. After all were on board Mr. Truax set about forming an acquaintance with the commanding officer, and also sought to learn something of the composition and strength of the army with which it was proposed to invade Canada. He went " below " and there formed the acquaintance of one Conkrite, by whom he was told that on their schooner were about 300 men, while the steamer and the other schooner each had about 250 men, or in all a total of 800. During the voyage down the river " it leaked " out that General Burge intended to make a landing at Gananoque, with the intention to invest Canada from that point. When this place was reached the boats drew in to the dock, but when one of the men attempted to throw the rope to make fast, the speed of the steamer was not sufficiently checked, consequently the line parted and the vessels floated out into the stream. When the deck hand tried to make fast to the dock a British sentry fired at him, but withont in - jury, upon which the patriot sailor returned on board with all possible haste.
After this incident the patriot commander determined to effect a landing at Prescott, nearly opposite Ogdensburgh, but when arrived off that point the steamer cut loose from the schooners and put into port at Ogdensburgh, without explanation or order to the troops on the
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sailing craft. One of the schooners floated down and stranded on a sand bar in the river while the men on the other made a landing on the Canadian side and found safe temporary quarters in the historic old windmill on the point. The troops on the grounded vessel were at the merey of the waters but in no special danger on that seore. Mr. Truax was on this boat, which lay where she struck from early morning until late in the afternoon. In this helpless condition the patriots were dis- covered by the British, who soon after break of day sent the gunboat Experiment down the river to within firing distance, sending in a shot, then retiring to reload for another attack. This was the source of much annoyance to the patriots, who sought safety in the hold of their vessel while the upper works were completely riddled with shot.
At last, tiring of this treatment, one of the patriots, G. O. Gardner, found an old six pound cannon in the hold, and Mr. Truax and one Wright having discovered a gun-carriage in a concealed place, the gun was raised to the deck and mounted on the carriage, then loaded within six inches of the muzzle with ball, slugs and pieces of chains. Soon afterward the British again came down, fired a shot across the deck of the schooner, then swung down the stream to turn around; and just when " full broadside on " Gardner sighted the gun and Truax " touched her off," giving the enemy just as good as they sent. The result of this single discharge, as reported the next day in the Kingston papers, was three British gunners killed and five others wounded. Moreover the Experiment did not again appear, and between four and five o'clock in the afternoon the Paul Pry came along and took on board all the stranded troops and carried them safely to Ogdensburgh. The men were given a hearty dinner at the patriot commander's expense, and remained at the hotel until late in the afternoon.
About this time five of the men, of whom Mr. Truax was one, deter- mined to cross the river to the windmill. Among the five was a son of Col. Vaughn, one of the heroes of 1812-15, George Kimball and two others whose names Mr. Truax does not recall. They at once procured a boat and crossed to the queen's domain, arriving at Windmill Point about dark. They were met on the river bank by a crowd of patriots and escorted to the windmill. This was Monday night, November 12, 1838.
The famous windmill stood on the bank of the St. Lawrence river; was built of stone, six stories high, the walls being about three feet thick. It had previously been used as a grist mill and its machinery
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was operated with wind power. The party from the other schooner were already in possession, and had removed all the machinery, and had also " punched " holes through the walls that the building might be used for the purposes of a fortress. The troops, early on Tuesday morning, reorganized in military form and elected Col. Von Schoultz, a Polish exile, as their commander. This officer then addressed his men (in good English for a Polander) and advised every man to pro- vide himself with good arms and plenty of ammunition, for he had been made aware that the British were "pressing hard upon them, and that they were in the enemy's country." After the speech was finished the men cheered their commander and then returned to quarters in the mill. At about ten o'clock Von Schoultz discovered the British on the brow of a hill, nearly a mile away, upon which he ordered his men to take a position in a butternut grove about half a mile from the wind- mill, and when there to prepare earth and breastworks to resist an attack, each man to act in his own defense. This was done hastily, but according to orders, and within the next half hour the enemy had reached a point within thirty-five rods of the grove, where Col. Dundas of the 85th regulars ordered his men to "dress up and fall in, four deep." In Dundas' command were 800 regulars, while on his left was Col. Frazier with 200 Canadian militia. Then came the order to fire. and from ten in the morning until two in the afternoon was kept up a constant discharge of firearms. This battle, says Mr. Truax, " con - sidering the odds, was as hard as ever was fought on this continent."
Between two and three o'clock Col. Dundas gave an order to charge bayonets, and inasmuch as the patriots had no bayonets on their guns with which to repel the attack, they hastily concluded to "use their Yankee legs and get back to the windmill." In this attempt, however, thirty-six of the men were made prisoners, but the others reached the mill in safety. The result of this historic engagement, says Mr. Truax, and as reported in the Kingston papers, was 356 British regulars and 388 militia killed, while the loss to the patriots was only three killed and five wounded. But the fortune of war was with the British, and by Saturday night the last of the little invading army was securely im- prisoned in the Kingston jail. The remainder of the story is told on a preceding page, hence needs no repetition in this place.
Nelson H. Truax, who relates this incident of the patriot war, was born at Lowville. November 23. 1818, and in 1826 came with his father, John Truax, and family to Antwerp, where he settled on a farm. Soon
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afterward Nelson went to live with William McAllaster, land agent for George Parish, but in 1833 removed to Watertown and served an ap- prenticeship with Jason Fairbanks, learning the trade of harness mak- ing. Later on he returned to Antwerp, where he lived several years, but in 1869 came again to the county seat where he has ever since re- sided. He is a very estimable man and has always been highly re- spected in the communities where he has lived.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE WAR OF 1861-65.
In the history of nations there are times when reason is disregarded ; when all rational laws are trampled under foot; when the best counsels are unheeded, and the wisest dietations of statesmen are ignored. These times grow out of the struggle of men for power in the race for personal advantage or political preferment; in contests for recognition with the determination to triumph and control regardless of the ex- pressed wishes of the majority, and to secure success at the sacrifice of the rights of others. There can be but one end, one natural and legiti- mate outcome of such conditions, and that revolution and war. The present generation has witnessed and been participants in the events of a period in our nation's history when no settlement of questions at issue was possible save by arbitrament of the sword.
From the time when man first learned it possible to take the life of his brother, the stronger has triumphed in his ambition at the cost of blood. Nations have gone out in the smoke of battle, while others have enlarged their territory and brightened their civilization through victorious armies; but while we all look for the time when reason shall hold absolute sway in the human mind and make war impossible, at least no longer a necessity, yet we must bear in mind that this great condition cannot be reached until man shall have advanced higher on the ladder of evolution, and when political ambition shall have become subordinate to the welfare of country.
On an eventful morning in April, 1861, Moultrie's guns were trained on Sumter, and with that single boom of eannon, civil war in the
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United States was proclaimed throughout the world; the south was arrayed against the north in a strife that cost billions of money, hundreds of thousands of human lives, and untold suffering following in the wake of battle. For many years previous to 1860 strong antag- onism between two sentiments had existed in this country: the south was the avowed enemy of the free paid labor of the north, and the north of the slave labor of the south. Advocates of both principles were earnest and determined, and their respective views were enlarged and extended until the remotest corners of our territorial limits became more or less impregnated with the prevailing ideas. The political con- test of that year was fevered and exciting, for never before had so much depended on the result of the ballot. There were numerous murmurings of a significant character and preparations which carried alarm to a nation which had devoted all her energies to the fruitful arts of peace. Then followed an assault upon the integrity of the ballot and the will of the majority, which, if successful, must of necessity destroy our republiean form of government. The voice of reason was lost in the thunder of the cannon. The question was: Shall liberty and union walk no longer hand in hand, and if either was to go out, which ? How sudden the transformation of the peaceful citizen into the uniformed soldier. Almost every citizen realized that it was his duty to be loyal in his service to the country, and volunteers were furnished from every state, county and town in the great north. Loyal men only knew that they were needed and hastened to respond; they ex- changed the rippling music of the hillside stream for the thunder of deep mouthed cannon and deafening musketry volley. It was not with them a question what battles were to be fought, what graves filled, but the spirit of secession must be buried and breathe its last amid shriek- ing shell and hissing bullet.
Jefferson county was no exception to the rule, and freely sent her sons whose blood crimsoned the soil of a hundred battlefields. They fell as heroes fall, a sacrifice to union, liberty and freedom; and the mothers who gave these sons displayed a heroism which has been the admiration of the world, equal to the Spartan mothers in their un- selfish sacrifice of household idols The hardships of a soldier life, suffering from wounds and disease and the surrendering of young lives, presents a chapter of patriotism that warms the heart of every true American, but the weeks and months and years that came and passed, father, mother, wife, sister and brother waited in their homes;
THE CIVIL WAR
when the heart stood still as the stranger came to the door; when the hands trembled as the message was opened; and when in hushed words they wondered if the wounds would kill or had killed the soklier boy in whom they had such hope. When we reflect on all the scenes we can only doubt who suffered most when the shadows of war dark- ened our fair land.
During the period of the war there was furnished to the Union army a grand total of 2,867,315 men, of which the state of New York con- tributed 184, 260, and Jefferson county a total of probably 2,000 men, though not by any record extant can the number be accurately deter- mined. Careful computations have been made, state, county and town records have been examined, and individual effort has been brought to bear in every loeality, yet the results attained are unsatisfactory. From published muster rolls the names of about 5, 000 of the county's soldiery have been obtained, but it is needless to reproduce them here as an unofficial or incomplete record. The state now has a corps of competent compilers engaged in preparing a complete roster of its sol- diers in service during the war, and the work when published will be distributed and made accessible to all interested persons, in view of which it is not deemed prudent in this contemporary work to furnish a similar list, and one which at best would be imperfect.1
Again, almost every regiment in service from this state has a pub- lished and widely circulated history, recounting at length all the trials and hardships, successes and reverses of its troops in and about the capital, at the front, in camp, and on the field of battle, where so many of Jefferson's patriot dead lie in eternal sleep 'neath the southern sun. Indeed, it seems not right to tell the story in its entirety again, nor to revive in the breasts of now aged parents, beloved brothers and sisters, or perhaps ever mourning children, fresh memories of the dust which feeds the wild flowers at Chancellorsville, Antietam, South Mountain, Fredericksburg, Spottsylvania, the Wilderness, Gettysburg, Peters- burg, and a hundred other battlefields of the south. Nor need we re- count the awful sufferings of Jefferson's sons in the loathsome pens at Andersonville, Salisbury, Libby and Belle Isle where others wait the final reveille.
' Previous to July 2, 1-62. the state kept no account with localities of troops furnished, and when quotas were assigned for drafting, they were constantly modified. Were it possible to collate the reports of provost-marshals throughout the state, more than 150,000 men would be unaccounted for.
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But, let us rather turn to scenes and incidents at home, noting the composition and organization of the several commands in which were Jefferson volunteers, and then follow them to the front and recall the battles in which the regiments and companies were engaged, as dis- closed in official reports. The record is truly a proud one and from the disastrous scenes of first Bull Run to the crowning victory at Appo- mattox forms one of the brightest pages in all its history ; yet were we to reproduce the record in full, this volume would scarce contain the narrative.
One of the most interesting events in connection with the military history of Jefferson county during the war was the establishment of a provost-marshal's office and headquarters in Watertown, for the proper enlistment, examination and concentration of recruits, and their expe- ditious transportation to the front when needed. At that time the 20th congressional district included Jefferson, Herkimer and Lewis counties, and Ambrose W. Clark was representative. Through his influence and friendly interest the designation was made, and also the appoint - ment (April 16, 1863) of Frederick Emerson as provost marshal; an appointment which met with approval on every hand, for Captain Em - erson possessed the requisite qualities, temperament and disposition to fill the position with credit both to the war department and the county. The marshal stood firm and earnest in the performance of his frequent- ly unpleasant duty, yet dealt leniently with doubtful cases.1 During the incumbency of his office, a serious accident occurred which caused him much suffering, and from which he never afterward recovered, but his interest in the work committed to his charge did not abate. Indeed, this office is said to have been one of the best conducted of its kind in the state, a full share of the credit for which was due to the persevering efforts of the provost-marshal and the admirable corps of assistants drawn about him.
I Perhaps the most trying occasion for Capt. Emerson and the people of the county seat was about the time of the draft. When the fact became known that the draft was really to be made great excitement prevailed in Watertown and a violent outbreak was feared. In this feeling of dread and uncertainty a committee visited the provost-marshal and made a request that the draft be postponed, at least until public excitement had subsided. The marshal held the matter under advisement only for a minute, and then replied : "Gentlemen, the draft will be made at the appointed time, and there will not be any demonstration against it." When the day arrived the inhabitants were wrought up to a fearful pitch of excitement, but all of a sudden there marched through the streets and took up quarters on Arcade street a full company of Michigan soldiers, direct from Gettysburgh, travel-strained but well trained and armed soldiers. Then the draft was made without serious incident, and only the usual copperhead mutterings were heard against it.
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THE CIVIL WAR.
Dr. Edward S. Walker, of Herkimer county, was detailed as examining surgeon, and Dr. Charles Goodale as assistant surgeon, both physicians of acknowledged ability, faithful to every duty, and popular through- out the district. They, with Commissioner Arthur W. Pond, of Lewis county, comprised the examining board. The deputy provost-marshals were James J. Cook, of Herkimer county, and James B. Phillips, of Lewis county ; marshal's clerk, Charles H. Van Brakle, appointed April, 1863; resigned in September following, and enlisted, and was snecceded in office by John J. Safford. Both were competent attaches of the office. Clerk Safford, however, soon resigned, and was succeeded by Louis C. Greenleaf, who served until the office was closed at the end of war. Brayton C. Bailey was appointed enrolling clerk, and David O. Gates, assistant. The latter died late in 1863. Edward M. Gates was a later clerk, and his was the last name drawn on the occasion of the final draft, he himself turning the wheel. Lieut. I. P. Wodell, a vet- eran, was appointed to command the veteran reserve corps, which com- prised the military forces attached to the provost's headquarters. First Lieutenant George MeOmber, who had served in the 94th infantry and who was discharged for wounds received at second Bull Run, was appointed special agent in May, 1863, but resigned in August follow- ing and again entered the service as first lieutenant in the veteran re- serve corps. He was succeeded as special agent by Albert D. Shaw, who had served two years in Co. A, 35th infantry, and who retained his position in the " provo's" office until it was finally closed. James P. Kirby, a veteran of the 94th infantry, who was also wounded at second Bull Run, was another special agent in the office. William Wright, a well known figure in and about the county seat during the period, officiated as janitor of quarters.
The federal and state military laws, and the exigencies of war, re- quired that every male person between the ages of 21 and 45 years be en- rolled and made subject to military duty. Accordingly, the enrollment was made by persons especially designated in each of the towns, and when completed was revised and corrected by the special agents and clerks of the provost marshal's office.' The occasion, however, gave
I The assistance received by the marshal from the patriotic citizens of each of the towns is worthy of more than a passing mention, yet from the fact that no record was kept showing the hundreds of instances of unselfish loyalty during the war period, the names of all the persons foremost in this commendable work cannot be recalled without omissions. Even from the out- break of the war, a feeling of patriotism seemed to provade the whole county, and at every cross-roads settlement one or more public meetings were held, addresses were made, and the
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rise to many ludicrous incidents, and still others of a truly pathetic nature. To clear the rolls of men unfit for duty was an arduous task for the surgeons and other attaches of the office, and while all manner of tricks and devices were frequently resorted to in order to mislead the officials, they were seldom deceived. Then followed the period of furnishing substitutes by men who sought to relieve themselves of the possibilities of the "draft," and who possessed the means to do so. The generous bounty and premium offers for recruits to fill town quotas brought to the marshal's office many citizens and residents of Canada, some of whom were willing and earnest in their desire to enter the army, but there were others of an undesirable class, who sought only the bounty money and then a favorable opportunity to escape to British soil. This class was the cause of great annoyance to the office, and all along the frontier every precaution was required to be used to defeat the desperate wiles of the " bounty jumper, " and also of the dis- contented recruits who freely enlisted, then regretted the action and deserted to places of concealmeut within the county, or to more safe refuge across the border. Would space and policy permit, the narra- tive of scenes and incidents might be extended indefinitely by reciting only the events connected with the provost-marshal's office and the per- formance of its many duties by those in authority. The period was indeed one of excitement and interest, and many were the amusing and thrilling episodes witnessed by the officers and agents connected with the department. At times there was danger, especially during the period of the draft, for in various sections there existed a sentiment of strong opposition to the war, and one which manifested itself on more than one occasion. But now, that the period and its passion have
flag was unfurled to the breeze at the top of the highest pole cut from the neighboring woods. Each town had its organization, whose object was to see that the quota should be filled without delay on every call for men. One of the most efficient organizations of this character was the Union league of Watertown, of which William C. Thompson was the first president, and Azariah H. Sawyer secretary, but later president. The league at one time had 500 members, a fair pro- portion of whom were democrats, for there was a strong effort to induce membership from that party. The purpose of the league was to develop a spirit of patriotism throughout the region; to unhesitatingly support the government on all war measures, to aid in enlisting men in the service, and also to do all possible things to hold m subjection a certain element of disorder and opposition to the cause for which our arms were contending. In other words the league was de- voted to the Union in direct opposition to the spirit of Copperheadism, which, unless checked, threatened to become rampant in the region. The league was not a secret organization, yet at meetings only members were admitted. The exercises related chiefly to raising men and means for the prosecution of the war, but a quast military organization was maintained, as an open anti-war outbreak was greatly feared. Indeed, on one occasion the president of the league, hav- ing spent the early part of the night in writing letters, was returning from the post-office in the arcade when a large stone was hurled at but just missed his head.
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