USA > New York > Essex County > Elizabethtown > Pleasant Valley : a history of Elizabethtown, Essex County, New York > Part 23
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In 1854 Hiram Putnam and sons took possession of the forge and saw-mill property at New Russia. Herbert Asa Put- nam went west but returned to New Russia in 1862, since which time the New Russia property has been in his hands. Elbert H. Putnam left New Russia in 1868 and now lives in Benning- ton, Vt., having a summer home-Caldron Fell-at New Russia
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where his wife and daughters spend considerable time each year.
In 1854 Levi DeWitt Brown and Charles Noble Williams conducted mercantile business in the Marks store, the former being Post Master and keeping the Post Office in that building.
In 1855 William Simonds served as Elizabethtown's Super- visor.
In 1854 the Methodist Church was erected, being dedicated in February, 1855.
Miss Amelia M. Murray, Queen Victoria's Maid of Honor, arrived in Westport September 11, 1855, and joined Governor Seymour and niece (Miss Miller) at Elizabethtown early on the morning of September 12th. While in Elizabethtown she met Prof. Spencer F. Baird, the great ornithologist, who was staying here, studying birds, etc. Speaking of her departure from Elizabethtown with Governor Seymour and niece Miss Murray says on page 378 of her book-United States, Canada and Cuba : "We set off after making backwood arrangements and selecting kettles and pans. Tea, biscuits, lemons, porta- ble soup, and arrow-root went into small space; these with trout and venison, will feed us nobly for a week." The late Samuel Hand accompanied Miss Murray and Governor Sey- mour on that "gipsy expedition" to Saranac Lake and thence to the Raquette Lake region.
September 30 and October 1, 1856, will always be remem- bered in Elizabethtown history. The rainfall of September 30 so raised the streams of Elizabethtown that but few if any bridges of consequence were standing October 1. The Lock- wood barn, so-called, on Water Street, was carried away. Saw logs came down Water Street with terrific force, striking peo- ple and knocking them down. Mrs. Eunice Williams was nearly killed by being knocked down by a log while fleeing from her home which was entirely surrounded by water. John
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Archibald was also hit by a log. The T. C. Lamson tin-shop on Water Street was nearly ruined by the flood.
A temporary bridge, a ladder arrangement, was thrown across the Little Boquet near where the iron bridge by Harry H. Nichols' store now spans that stream and while Matthew Hale and Miss Mary Churchill were crossing the hastily im- provised structure the latter became dizzy, the result being that she fell off into the raging stream. Miss Churchill was carried fully twenty rods down the swollen stream. Several men, including Clifford A. Hand, plunged into the water in a vain attempt to rescue. Finally Abijah Perry ran way down stream to where the water was more shallow and jumped in just in time to catch Miss Churchill as she passed. Miss Churchill was taken to Judge Robert S. Hale's home a few rods away and there received the congratulations of numer- ous friends upon her narrow escape from drowning. How- ever, the marriage of Matthew Hale and Miss Ellen Hand took place at the Judge Augustus C. Hand home the evening of October 1st just as though nothing had previously occurred, Miss Churchill attending, and as has been well said, "if it had happened in the Scottish highlands, what a ballad would have been sung by some ancient bard to his harp that night."
The freshet of 1856 swept through the whole town with the besom of destruction, doing great damage in the Boquet Valley, especially at and above New Russia.
From a letter dated Oct. 5, 1856, written by Mrs. Safford E. Hale describing the effects of the flood the following lines are quoted : "No fire, which I have always dreaded so much, could have done half the mischief."
General Sylvester Churchill, Inspector General of the United States army, visited Elizabethtown several times be- tween 1855 and his death in 1862. Gen. Churchill stopped with Dr. Safford E. Hale, Mrs. Hale and her sister Miss Mary
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Churchill being nieces of the Inspector General. Prior to this Captain Jeremiah Stone had invented a breech loading gun which General Churchill pronounced both safe and serviceable. Richard L. Hand has one of the first of these guns made by Captain Stone and there is every reason for believing that it was one of the first, if not the first breech loading gun ever made in America.
Elizabethtown's Supervisor from 1856 to 1860, inclusive, was Oliver Abel, Jr.
In 1856 Robert Safford Hale was elected Essex County Judge and continued to serve as such till Dec. 31, 1864, two four year terms.
In 1858 Elisha A. Adams was elected Sheriff of Essex County.
April 3, 1858, John Archibald died, aged 66 years. His re- mains were buried in the old cemetery.
February 21, 1859, the old Valley House burned and Wil- liam Simonds, who had been running the house since 1857, went across the river and kept hotel in the Williams block, which stood where the Post Office block now stands.
During the summer of 1859 two of Elizabethtown's pioneers -Dr. Asa Post and Captain John Lobdell-died. Dr. Asa Post died July 24, 1859, aged 92 years, his mortal remains be- ing buried in the Boquet Valley cemetery.
Captain John Lobdell moved on to a farm in the Boquet Valley in the spring of 1848 and there the sturdy old warrior died August 28, 1859, not only venerable in years but full of glory, going to his grave thoroughly respected and appreciated by all who knew him. The mortal remains of Captain John Lobdell were buried in the Black River cemetery.
In 1859 and 1860 Root & Nicholson added a starch fac- tory to their business. The starch factory was just above the Rice grist-mill. Potatoes were taken there in great
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quantities but the starch factory did not prove a winner and operations were discontinued in 1860. In 1861 Root & Nich- olson went out of business and in 1862 Charles Noble Wil- liams moved into the old grist-mill block on the corner, where he remained, Essex County Treasury and all, until 1869, when he moved to his own new block across the street, where he continued in business until his death in the spring of 1905.
In the early autumn of 1859 John Brown, the abolitionist, visited Elizabethtown for the last time, remaining over Sunday, attending services at the Baptist Church with Levi De Witt Brown, whose guest he was upon that occasion. A few weeks later the fatal attempt was made at Harper's Ferry and on Dec. 2d, 1859, John Brown, having been convicted and duly sentenced to die, was hanged, the body afterwards being re- spectfully delivered to the tender care of Mrs. Brown and friends as had been promised by that distinguished Virginia Governor, Henry A. Wise.
The mortal remains of John Brown were brought to New York, from thence up the Hudson River, taken to Vergennes, Vt., and then brought across Lake Champlain to Barber's Point in the town of Westport and there furnished conveyance for North Elba. The cortege arrived in Elizabethtown at 6 o'clock Tuesday evening, Dec. 6, 1859, going to the hotel which then stood on the site of the "Deer's Head Inn" of to- day. The hotel was then kept by Elisha A. Adams, at that time Sheriff of Essex County, and to-day living in extreme old age at Plattsburgh, N. Y. With the body came Mrs. Brown, Wendell Philips and Mr. McKim. The body of John Brown was taken to the old Court House and placed in the Court room. Four young men-Richard L. Hand, A . C. H. Living- ston, Orlando Kellogg and Henry J. Adams, "watched" with the body. At 4 o'clock Wednesday morning Henry J. Adams, son of Sheriff Adams and afterwards famous for bravery as a
Essex County Court House, Clerk's Office, etc.
AROD KENT DUDLEY.
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Lieutenant in Captain Livingston's Company, F, of the 118th Reg't, N. Y. Vols. in the civil war, started for North Elba to get the people of that section ready to receive the body of John Brown, going on horseback and having a perilous pas- sage, as several bridges had been washed away by a recent storm.
The citizens of Elizabethtown turned out en masse to meet and greet Wendell Phillips at the hotel. Many of our citizens went to North Elba to witness the burial of John Brown. Rev. Joshua Young, then stationed at Burlington, Vt., was the only minister at North Elba and officiated at the grave. Wen- dell Phillips delivered the oration, which as an oratorical effort, has no parallel in America, with the possible exception of Webster's greatest speech. Standing by the open grave, the great hearted, finished scholar and all powerful orator gave his hearers one of the most impassioned orations ever listened to by mortal man, giving John Brown credit for having loos- ened the roots of the slave system, etc.
In the autumn of 1860 the "Lincoln Wide Awakes" occupied a prominent place in Elizabethtown. This campaign company was drilled by Charles Henry Noble, recently home from a military school, and commanded part of the time by Captain Levi De Witt Brown of militia and old "training days" fame. William Wall, the hero of the Battle of Waterloo, played the fife and it was real martial music too, even if he was old and bent over. 'Tis said that the "Lincoln Wide Awakes" went to Schroon Lake and to Plattsburgh, besides making minor ex- cursions.
During the campaign of 1860 Charles Williams, son of Col. Edmund F. Williams, wrote letters to the Elizabethtown Post from the "Sunny South," predicting that in case of Lincoln's election war would follow, a prediction which proved strictly true.
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In November, 1860, Charles Noble Williams was elected Essex County Treasurer, which office he filled continuously for 12 years, four 3 year terms.
Civil War Period.
Elizabethtown's Supervisor during the eventful years 1861 and 1862 was William Whitman Root.
As soon as news of the firing upon Fort Sumpter reached Elizabethtown the tide of patriotic enthusiasm rose high among our grand old hills, resulting in the formation of Com- pany K which went into the 38th Regiment, being the last company accepted from New York by the United States gov- ernment under President Lincoln's first proclamation calling for 75,000 troops.
Great stories are told of the pranks played by the "boys" of Company K just before they left Elizabethtown. "Fort Sumpter," as Wm. Simonds' hotel under the bank was called, was their headquarters. The daguerreotype establishment conducted by Thomas Felt, the first one in Elizabethtown, stood on Maple Street. One morning people were surprised to see that the picture taker had moved, his shop being in the river down by Aunt Flavia Morse's. Felt said his shop being down there might "make talk" and he wished the "boys" would move it back. Accoodingly the shop was moved back and the incident closed.
Company K left Elizabethtown May 28, 1861, under the leadership of Captain Samuel C. Dwyer, Elizabethtown's Dem- ocratic Postmaster. In accepting the flag presented by the ladies of Elizabethtown just before Company K left, Captain Dwyer said he would protect the emblem with his life if need be. Besides Captain Dwyer the other Elizabethtown men
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who marched away in Company K that day were A. C. Hand Livingston, Ensign, John H. Glidden and William H. Mitchell, Serg'ts, Abraham Griffin and Walter N. Nicholson, corporals, George P. Boutwell, William H. Cornwright, James A. Coburn, Marten B. Davis, John R. Hall, Orson Hall, Abraham S. Kelly, Francis LaDue, George Luck, Martin V. B. McDougal, Albert F. Mitchell, Loyal A. Merrill, John Owens, Henry N. Palmer, William Sharpe, Nelson Shene, William Todd, Joseph Trom- bley, Loyal E. Wolcott, John Van Rensselaer Williams.
Company K as part of the gallant 38th Volunteer Regiment under command of Colonel James H. Hobart Ward, a veteran of the Mexican War, was mustered into service at New York June 3, 1861. The 38th left the State of New York on the 16th of June and reached Washington on the 21st and was soon after attached to Wilcox's brigade and Heintzel- man's division. It advanced with the Union army to Bull Run on the 21st of July (Sunday and an uncommonly hot day without the effects of battle) and was engaged in that initial conflict, suffering a loss in killed, wounded and missing of 128 men. It was distinguished by its heroic bearing. "During four hours it was in close action," says Watson, "and exposed for a long time to the deadly fire of artillery both in front and on its flanks. Such an exposure affords the severest test to the constancy and courage of fresh troops. The regiment bore the heat and dust with all the suffering of the early part of the engagement with the highest soldierly reslution and when confronted with the enemy, it firmly met and success- fully repulsed the attacks of his infantry. When compelled by the disasters of the day to abandon the field, the 38th re- treated in comparative order and returned to the encamping ground from which it had marched in the morning. Company K, in this action, was in charge of Lieutenant Smith and Lieu-
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tenant Livingston, owing to the absence from sickness of Cap- tain Dwyer."
Speaking of this battle, Martin V. B. McDougal says : "We went up to Bull Run on the double quick but after the battle went back on the Dead Run."
In this initial battle of the greatest of civil wars recorded in the world's history, Company K was the only organization from Essex County engaged and on that hot July day the fol- lowing Elizabethtown men were wounded : James Alva Co- burn, taken prisoner, Henry Van Ornam, afterwards killed at Chancellorville, Loyal E. Wolcott, John H. Glidden and George P. Boutwell.
Early in August, 1861, Lieutenants Smith and Livingston resigned.
Until the opening of the peninsula campaign the 38th was em- ployed in picket duty and the construction of field works for the defense of Washington. In August the regiment was as- signed to Gen. Howard's brigade. This brigade, known as the 3d brigade, was successively commanded by Generals Sedg- wick, Kearney and Birney. Upon the organization of the Army of the Potomac, the division to which this brigade was attached, constituted the first division of the 3d corps and these various designations were retained during the subse- quent services of the regiment.
The 38th was at the siege of Yorktown and sustained in the operations before the works some slight casualties.
Marten B. Davis was the first Union man to enter the works at Yorktown after the Confederates retreated and carried the news of the evacuation to General George B. McClellan.
It may be stated that gallant old Company K of the 2d Scott Life Guards took part in the following engagements aside from those already named: Williamsburgh, Fair Oaks, Harri- son's Landing, Malvern Hill, 2d Bull Run, Chantilla, Freder-
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icksburgh, Chancellorville, the Seven Days Fight, the skirmish at Fairfax Court House, Hanover Court House, Glendale, the Cedars and Seven Pines.
At Williamsburgh Company K bore itself conspicuously. In this engagement the gallant Captain Samuel C. Dwyer fell mortally wounded and died a few days afterwards at St.John's Hospital in Philadelphia. His body, claimed by the popular enthusiasm, was borne to the little mountain bordered village of Elizabethtown. In the box with his body came the flag made by the ladies of Elizabethtown, the emblem literally serving as his shroud. The body of the talented but ill-fated Captain Dwyer was buried in the old cemetery with imposing and touching obsequies and in after years an appropriate stone was placed over his grave.
The local Grand Army Post formed in 1885 was named S. C. Dwyer Post in his honor.
In the autumn of 1861 the following Elizabethtown men en- listed in Company C, 7th Vermont infantry : John Allen, Salem Denton, Alembert J. Durand, Henry Farmer, (died in Marine Hospital, New Orleans.) Chester Gates, Philemon Hanchett, George Jasper Miller, Edwin Shores and Charles Westcott. Charles Westcott died in a hospital near Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island. These men served in the Department of the Gulf and while they were not mixed up in heavy battles, they were nevertheless compelled to contend with malaria and yellow fever and to sleep in swamps, a serv- ice which proved far from desirable.
Ezra Samuel Lewis of Elizabethtown went as a member of Company A, 77th N. Y. Vols., and witnessed cavalry charges and cannonading of which Marshal Ney, the great Napoleon's first choice, would have been proud.
In the autumn of 1861 the following Elizabethtown men went into Compay H of the famous 5th New York cavalry :
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Benjamin Cross, Brooks Dwinnell, Edward McManus and E. C. Marshall. E. C. Marshall died at Winchester, Va., Jan 6, 1865. His body was brought home and given burial in Riv- erside cemetery.
The members of Company H constituted material such as Cromwell had in his memorable Ironsides, having signed un- der the following : "We, the undersigned, hereby agree to serve the government of the United States in the mounted service for three years, unless sooner discharged, subjecting ourselves to all the rules and regulations governing troops in that branch of the regular service."
Each Elizabethtown man in Company H rode a horse of his own selection. Company H was collected mainly through the zeal and earnestness of John Hammond of Crown Point, who was made Captain and rose to be Colonel. Hammond's cav- alry, as the 5th New York is locally referred to, faced the music heroically, passing through an infinitude of toils, priva- tions, perils and triumphs.
The 5th New York cavalry fought at Hanover, Pa., the first battle on free soil, was the first Union regiment that crossed the Rapidan in Grant's campaign, it received the first shock at the Wilderness and was the last to leave the field.
Six Elizabethtown men went in Company G of the 96th New York Volunteers : George Brittell, Jeremiah Brittell, (son of George,) Patrick English, Alexander McDougal, Myron String- ham, George Wiggins.
Speaking of this Company on page 251 of his History of Essex County Watson says : "The company for a time was in charge of Orderly Sergeant Patrick English and was ultimate- . ly consolidated with Company C of Clinton County."
The 96th took part in Gainsville, 2d Bull Run, South Moun- tain, Antietam, Mine River, Fredericksburgh, Chancellorville, Gettysburgh, Wilderness, North Anna, Mattapony, Spottsyl-
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vania, Bethesda Church, Petersburgh, Weldon Rail Road, Chapel House, Hatcher's Run, Yorktown, Williamsburgh, Fair Oaks, Seven Days Battle, Blackwater, Kingston, Whitehall, Goldsboro, Siege of Newbern, Drury's Farm, Port Walthall, Coal Harbor, Battery Harrison, Charles City Road.
The following Elizabethtown men went to the front in Com- pany F, 118th New York Volunteers :
Captain Robert W. Livingston, Henry J. Adams, Nathaniel P. Hoag, Sergeants, Harrison Allen, William A. Brittell, Har- vey D. Bronson, Chancy Denton, Lewis P. Daniels, Oscar J. Gates, William H. Hays, Jerome Hanchett, Frederick C. Hale, Macomb Kennedy, Rowland C. Kellogg, Lewis Morse, Samuel Mayo, Fayette Nichols, Almon Post, Alfred E. Wakefield, Ira Wakefield, Jr., Joseph Wilson, Henry Westcott, Cyrus Wescott.
The 118th was a fighting regiment and did a full measure of service. At Drury's Bluff Elizabethtown's intrepid young Lieutenant Henry J. Adams, at the moment the 118th was driven back, seized a standard, and shouting the words so fa- miliar to the scenes of home and festive joyousness : "Rally round the flag, boys," assisted in arresting the retreat and, says history, "essentially aided in rallying the troops."
At Battery Harrison Lieuts. N. J. Gibbs and Henry J. Adams were the first men in the redoubts and promptly turned the captured guns upon the retreating enemy. General Butler afterwards said : "Lieuts. N. J. Gibbs and H. J. Adams of the same regiment, the first men in the redoubts, are commended for their presence of mind in turning the enemy's guns to bear upon them. They are respectfully recommended to his Excel- lency the Governor of New York for promotion."
Captain Robert W. Livingston early in the action, while standing exposed, was struck down by a frightful wound in the arm and shoulder. Lieutenant W. H. Stevenson saw him fall and called on the men to bring in their Captain. Lieu-
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tenant Stevenson, the ranking officer, who then took command, was shot dead a moment after Captain Livingston was wounded. Four men rushed out to bring in Captain Living- ston who admonished them of the great exposure they incurred and urged that he might be left, but they persisted in their noble purpose. Two of the brave men-George Miller and William Huff-were prostrated by wounds, were captured and died in southern prisons. However, Nathaniel P. Hoag(whose wheelwright-shop a few rods below the Livingston homestead on Maple Street is well remembered by elderly Elizabethtown people) succeeded in getting Captain Livingston on to his back and as he was bearing him off the field another shot struck the fated leader, terribly lacerating his foot and leg. Captain Livingston was taken to Chesapeake Hospital, where he languished over a year before his severe wounds permitted a return to his beloved home among the mountains, a muti- lated and disabled soldier. A bullet taken from Captair Livingston's leg was labeled by himself: "A way down in shi- Bone Alley."
It was indeed fitting that Captain Livingston should have been made Major by brevet. He was a War Democrat of whom Elizabethtown may justly be proud. A brother officer in the 118th, Captain James H. Pierce, said of him : "A bet- ter man never lived."
At Drury's Bluff Rowland C. Kellogg commanded Company D of the 118th, composed of Warren County men, and was but a few feet from Captain Livingston when the latter was wounded. Major Kellogg, as he is known in military circles, now Essex County Judge, says Lieutenant Stevenson was standing on the embankment issuing orders when he was shot down. Some of the Confederates had run up the white flag, a handkerchief on bayonet. Other Confederates were crowding forward and as the dense fog lifted, like a veil, Lieutenant Stevenson from his
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The E, E. Wakefield Hardware Store.
JUDGE FRANCIS A. SMITH.
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elevated position shouted enthusiastically : "Give 'em hell, boys, they're deceiving you." In that moment of recklessness he made a target of himself and fell, never to rise more.
It was of Companies D, F and K that General Burnham's Adjutant General said : "There's a line the rebels can't break."
The 118th took part at Suffolk, South Anna, Drury's Bluff, Coal Harbor, Petersburgh, Crater, Fair Oaks and Battery Harrison, besides several skirmishes. The 118th was known as the Adirondack Regiment and was the object of Congress- man Orlando Kellogg's special attention.
Calvin Denton served as a member of Company F, 83d New York Vols., losing his right arm at Spottsylvania Court House.
Chauncey L. Denton, son of Alexander Denton, Charles Miller and George Morgan served in Company F, 192d New York Vols.
Morton H. Davis and Martin Brownson served in Company E, 2d United States Sharp Shooters, the latter being Lieuten- ant.
Nathan Mason served in Company H, 16th Regiment West Virginia Vols. His brother William Mason was killed at 2d Bull Run, but no one seems able to tell what Company and Regiment he belonged to, though he went from Elizabethtown.
Several Elizabethtown men served in Company K, 4th New York Heavy Artillery. Martin Van Buren McDougal of Eliz- abethtown furnishes the following list : Walter N. Nicholson, William H. Cornwright, M. V. B. McDougal, Veterans, Adiel T. Stevens, Robert Slaughter, Lewis H. Roscoe, Thomas Roscoe (killed by a sharp shooter), Peter Cross, Edward Cross.
Peter Mayo served as a wagoner in a cavalry regiment.
Louis Careau also served in the Union Army from Eliz- abethtown.
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Elizabethtown furnished three men in Company C, 11th New York cavalry: James E. Patten, Daniel L. DeGroff and Syl- vester Smith.
Milton Hanchett served in the 142d New York Vols. Charles Henry Davis went in the 2d Veteran N. Y. Cavalry and died in New Orleans.
Orville Griffin, Charles Palmer, Cornelius Brittell, Joshua Brittell, Ransom Hays and Philo Wiggins also served in the Union army from Elizabethtown. Charles Palmer, a brother of William H. Palmer, Elizabethtown's well-known blacksmith, was accidentally shot through the body at Patrick Station by one of his comrades. Charles Palmer has been credited to Westport but the fact is Elizabethtown paid his mother the $300 bounty money. Charles Palmer's mortal remains were buried in Lewis.
Marten B. Davis re-enlisted in the 10th Vermont, being transferred into the 11th Vermont, where he served as Drum Major.
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