USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume I > Part 47
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On December 24, the "Gazette" observes :
"Any President, not wedded to a line of policy which he knows the South will never acquiesce in-the abolition of slavery-would see that it is just the time to extend the olive-branch of peace." It then announces with relief that the "Yonkers quota is at last filled." Trouble appears to have existed on this matter of quotas during the year, for there are frequent appeals to the "rich men of Yonkers to come for- ward, especially those that have not been drafted, and help the rest to buy substitutes." The appeal was little to the credit of the back- sliders, many of whom simulated a belief in the inevitableness and righteousness of slavery, in order to excuse their cowardice. There is an intensification of appeal in the middle of June when the drafts were threatened.
The "Gazette" of February 4, 1865, records the passage of the Con- stitutional Amendment against slavery with a great lamentation over its being "irritating to the South." The issue of February 11th records the circumstance that "in the Legislature of this State the Democrats all voted against the adoption of the amendment." On February 18th, we find the following: "If Mcclellan had been elected, the 'Albany Argus' truthfully says, the people of the South, who long for peace, would have been looking as eagerly for the fourth of March as the Dem- ocrats of the North. General McClellan would have treated with the States of the Confederacy separately for a return to the Union ; would have appealed to the people; would have concerted with the generals of the Confederacy to detach their armies from the dynasty at Richmond." On March 11, the paper rejoices over the rejection by New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky of the Constitutional Amendment, and hopes that one more State will follow their example, so as to make the adop- tion impossible.
In the meantime the quota continues to be a subject of anxiety, and the circumstance is noted that Yonkers has spent $100,000 in town bonds, with $144,000 in county bonds, in filling the different quotas. On April 8th, the news is given out that "Richmond is ours at last." The paper wants a "magnanimous peace and amnesty." It notes the fact that "three hundred millions have been paid out in four months to
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bounty jumpers," and that "only two hundred thousand of the half million called out in July, 1864, have reached the field." On April 15th the refrain is "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." The cry is, moreover, "stop the draft." There are very bitter flings at Jefferson Davis in a burlesque proclamation.
The National Bereavement and Plots-Then deep as the tragedy had been before a deeper tragedy arose in the offing. A change passed over the face of the waters; the people heard the news and stood, stunned beyond the power of speech. We find the general stupefaction crystallized in the "Gazette," the consistent enemy of the simplest and most intrepid of Presidents. "The National Bereavement" is the head- ing it places over the expression of its bitter regret. Lincoln had fallen under the hand of a Southern assassin. The "Gazette" breaks voice to say: "The darkest crime that ever occurred in the history of this nation has been committed, and forever after will leave a foul blot on its pages . Party lines are obliterated in the presence of the nation's dead . .. He has been removed when we least could afford to lose him . . Our beloved President . ... His well-known kindness of heart ... " The editor admits that it "might have been a wise move at the beginning of the war or during the darker days of the struggle ;" but regrets it as being so "foolish and useless" at the moment when it occurred. He ends up by pleading for the extension of mercy to the defeated South.
There was considerable excitement at the close of. the hostilities when everyone, like the editor of the "Gazette," was endeavoring to have his fling at the fallen commander of the Southern forces, Jefferson Davis, over talk which had spread concerning a plot to blow up Croton Dam, which was alleged to have been seriously considered in Canada under the orders of the notorious Jake Thompson. A man who claimed to be a government agent, and who passed by the aliases of James Watson Wallace and Sanford Conover, in testimony given at Washington, swore that he had had conversation with the aforesaid Jake in January, 1865, concerning this and other plots. Later about the middle of the year, in the "Toronto Globe," appeared a letter from this same Wallace or Conover, in which he, on March 20th of that year, made to Thompson the proposition to have the dam destroyed on the ground that "one of my aunts, a Virginia lady, an enemy of everything Yankee, owns the land on which the dam is built, and her residence and out-buildings are only a few rods from the abutments of the work." The alleged government spy went on to say: "This will afford you some idea of the facilities we have at command to accomplish our object. The necessary men for the business are engaged." The letter appeared to be genuine and appeared to be intended as a decoy to get
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Thompson to answer explicitly that he approved such a scheme. In- stead of this the man who took him the letter swore that he said: "Is the man mad? Is he a fool?", and pooh-poohed the whole proposition. The scheme, as hatched by the United States detective, was an in- genious plan to lead Thompson to think that the project of blowing up the Croton Dam was feasible. But beyond that, as a serious under- taking, it never had any existence, outside the brain of the detective.
Societies Giving Succor-Reference has already been made to the manner in which in the valley of the Bronx and the adjoining country the different parties joined in the effort to avert suffering from the families of the companies that went to the front in the beginning of the Civil War. The local communities everywhere in the county of Westchester as elsewhere were energetic in the good work. From the New York "Herald" of August 17, 1861, we learn that the town of Bedford held a fair on the sixteenth of that month, under the auspices of the Ladies of Katonah, in which Judge Robertson auctioned off the goods, and read a letter from Mrs. Lincoln, stating that she had pre- sented the "Havelocks" sent from Katonah to the Second, Ninth, Twenty-seventh and Tammany Regiments, and that they had been re- ceived "thankfully and with cheers." The town of Cortlandt has pre- served the names of the members of the first society raised in that town for the purpose of giving succor. This was on April 27, 1861. The officers of this society, which was denominated the "Soldiers Relief Associa- tion," were: President, Mrs. Daniel Janes; Secretary, Miss Amelia B. Mills; Treasurer, Miss Sarah Taylor. The committee to raise funds was: Mrs. John B. Mills, Mrs. Conrad Quin, Mrs. Edward Mills, Mrs. Joseph Mason, Misses Amanda Wright and Augusta Taylor. This association had weekly meetings throughout the war, sent out large supplies of lint, bandages, clothing and supplies for the Sanitary and Christian Commissions, and otherwise did noble work, being one of those bands of noble women in the Northern States who, together managed to raise the sum of seventeen millions of dollars by strictly voluntary contributions, for those great charitable societies.
The records of the work of aid at Port Chester show that the first fervor there, as elsewhere, required stimulation to keep it at a useful level. The first week's work left the treasurer a balance of over two hundred dollars to distribute ; but the next, in spite of new contributions, the fund sank to eighty dollars, and the conductors of the work appear to have had to stir themselves to get further subscriptions. By June 4th the balance rose to a hundred and eighty dollars; and on June 8th S. K. Satterlee appears to have taken up the business of collecting, for he brought in two hundred and six dollars in a lump, all of which was paid on the same day for the families of soldiers, or to the military
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committee for the expenses of recruiting. The balance sank by July 7th to seventeen dollars and ninety cents, the payments being made in small sums to wives or parents of soldiers, on a weekly allowance, scaled according to the number of mouths to feed. The low state of the fund appears to have stirred the committee to work again raising subscriptions, for on the eighth the balance rose to two hundred dollars, brought in by the members of the committee. During the rest of the month the debit side of the treasurer's cash account was empty, while the drafts for families were unceasing until July 20th, from which date to the twenty-third there was a stream of subscriptions, testifying tc the manner in which the news of the disaster at Bull Run on July 21st had affected the neighborhood. The end of the month left the balance, in spite of the usual drafts, $333.63, which was increased, on August 11th, by some other subscriptions. The givers in the ensuing weeks were few, while the wives of the soldiers on the other side of the page increased in number as the weeks went on and the war progressed. By September 23rd the balance sank to sixty-six dollars. All the efforts of the committee to increase the subscriptions seem to have been use- less, for the debit side of the "cash" continued to grow smaller until by October 5, 1861, it sank to its lowest point during the war, seven dollars and eighty-nine cents. This condition of things excited the committee to redoubled exertions and they succeeded in raising a hundred and fifty dollars the next day ; but by the end of the month, in spite of this amount and two hundred dollars more, the balance on hand was only twenty dollars and forty-nine cents.
It was seen, however, that the character of the work did not measure up to the requirements that were inevitably growing. By the end of the year the fact was revealed that the members had raised by voluntary subscription the sum of $3,289.25, and had expended for relief all but about seventy dollars of that amount, in sums ranging from three to seven dollars a week. During the early months of 1862 the amounts contributed for the relief increased notably, every member of the com- mittee seeming to have been hard at work, while other people were inspired by them to cooperate in their personal efforts, so that the balance never fell below a hundred dollars, and was generally nearer two hundred, in spite of increasing appeals for help from other quarters. At the close of the voluntary period, when the system of helping the families of volunteers gave way to the juster and more practical method of relief by town and county bonds, the record shows that there had been raised $4,403.75, of which the balance remaining on hand, when the first bonds were received, was $218.53.
The time came when that system of relief was to give way to another method. On September 1, 1862, arrived the first town bonds and were
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given into the hands of the committee; and with them arrived also the first tokens of the "bounty system," which is considered by many to have done more in the direction of depreciating the name of the American soldier than anything else that occurred in the course of the war. This change of system introduces the subject of the cost of the war to the neighborhood and to Westchester County in general, made necessary by the unconcealed antagonism of a considerable part of the population to partaking in a war from which the romance had departed and where nothing remained but the grim reality of death. The work of the Union Defence Committees, therefore, gave way to that of the "Ladies Aid Societies" and the "Councils" of the Sanitary and Christian Commissions, whose sphere of action was different. A report of one of the councils, dated July 27, 1865, after the return of most of the volunteers, gives an idea of what that sphere of action was:
This Association commenced its labors on August 27, 1861, just four years and three months ago. Since that period they have received $3,766.88 from donations, festivals, church collections, lectures, etc., and the Sanitary Commission Sociables. Those sociables sent in $129 by their treasurer, Miss Hubbell. They have ex- pended $3,378.09, leaving a surplus of $388.79. It must be remembered that nearly an equal amount has been given in garments, materials and hospital stores, and during the past year, also, the Christian Commission has had in active operation a Society in this village, sending constantly to the front supplies of clothing and hospital stores. Taking all into consideration, Sing Sing has great reason for congratulation that the cry for help fell not on unheeding ears, and that her children have not been weary of well-doing. The number of garments sent away exceed 9,000. Several pieces of muslin were sent away by the Woman's Central Association to be made up; and when after battles the calls were urgent, efficient help was rendered by the ladies of New Castle, Pine's Ridge, and Pleasant- ville. It would occupy too much time and space to thank all who have aided in this noble work, but the managers must express their grateful obligations to the clergy of the village for their cooperation and hearty good will, and also to the editors of the two papers who have constantly published all their reports and notices free of expense. They also desired heartily to thank Messrs. Tallcot and Burrhus for the use of the rooms for several years. Since the commencement of this society three active and useful managers-Mrs. Neff, Mrs. Weston, and Mrs. Truesdell-have entered into their rest. Their associates gratefully recall their labors and pleasant companionship ... While unfeignedly grateful to their Heavenly Father that war has ended and peace dwells again in the land, it is with saddened hearts that the managers recall the thought that they will never again meet as a Soldiers' Aid Society. The good motive for labor, which united them and caused so close a bond, has passed away. The many pleasant and painful associations are things of the past. United in our common Christian work, we can never in after days forget the bond of union that kept us together during four years of the war.
The Bounty Bonds-The first burden which was taken by the various local communities during the war came in the shape of bonds issued by Boards of Supervisors under the provisions of an act passed in the Legislature on March 1, 1862, "to relieve the families of volunteers
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in the field." The amount issued in Westchester County was fifty thousand dollars, which was placed in bonds of varying amounts, bear- ing seven per cent interest; issued to the supervisors of the different towns for sale, the proceeds to be expended in relief to the families, in much the same manner as that adopted by the Port Chester Volunteer Committee. The amounts issued to the different towns varied from twenty-five hundred dollars, or less, to ten thousand, according to population. The last of these bonds was paid off in the year 1867.
After this date the county took no further action, in regard to the war, until July 27, 1864, when in consequence of the drafts, the increas- ing claims of the bounty jumpers and the difficulty the towns found in floating their, bounty bonds, the burden was assumed by the county, as it had been in the relief of volunteers in 1862. The sum of five hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars was raised in county bonds ; distributed by the supervisors of the towns, as in the case of the first set of relief bonds, the rate of interest being seven per cent .; the princi- ple payable in periods ranging from twelve to sixteen years. The first hundred of these bonds was cancelled at the end of the year 1876, and . the last sixty-two in April, 1881. The amount raised in all went to answer a single call for troops; and when the next one came the State was obliged to step in to help the towns, which actually made money on the difference between the bounties they paid and the amount awarded them by the State. The town of Cortlandt, then one of the largest in Westchester County, raised, to take an example, in the year 1862, $20,000 for bounties, of which $16,795 was expended, and 324 men sent out-an excess of 13 over the town quota. In October, 1863, the town raised $14,000 more, besides sums paid by substitutes, and sent out its quota of 116 men. In February, 1864, it raised $35,000 to send out 73 men. In March, 1864, $24,000 was used to send out 49 men, with $5,000 more, paid by drafted men for substitutes. In July, 1864, the town received from the county bonds, already mentioned, $107,800; raised $15,375 in town bonds; assessed the drafted men in the sum of $10,595, with a further sum of $30,175, which the drafted men them- selves paid, making their own bargains, and thus managed to fill the town quota of 219 men. The total cost of this draft is estimated at $164,500 or thereabout. On the last call, made after the reëlection of Lincoln, 100 men were furnished at a cost of $60,000, but the town re- ceived from the State an amount sufficient to leave it a gainer of about $7,000, that being the excess of the State money furnished for bounties. The history of all the towns, during the war, shows how, as the needs of the contest slowly increased, what had been left at first to individual patriotism was gradually shifted, first on the towns, then on the county, and finally on the State.
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The great expenditure in comparison with the number of men actually sent to the front is also instructive in the way in which the political disturbances that marked the northern States during the war increased the cost and made the victory more difficult of achievement. The price of substitutes steadily rose as the election of 1864 approached, while the last draft, after the contest was settled, was effected without dif- ficulty, and left some of the towns actual gainers by the affair. The substitutes moreover, obtained at a cost of from five to six hundred dollars a man, seldom went to the front at all, but remained at home, breeding that odious class denominated "bounty jumpers," who drifted from regiment to regiment, and from broker to broker, until the figures of men enlisted into the United States service, must probably be dimin- ished by one third, if not one half, to allow for the number of reënlist- ments and desertions. A summary of the figures in the town of Cortlandt shows that it cost to send out each man who was enlisted, as follows: in 1861, nothing; in 1862, $51.82 per man; in 1863, $120.70 per man, from the town, with a probable hundred more from each drafted man for a substitute; in 1864, an average of $519.60 per man, before election; and nothing for the last draft, in which the cost fell on the State, and the towns were gainers to the extent of about $70 per man enlisted.
Return of the Volunteers-Following the day on which General Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House the thoughts of the volunteers in the field were turned, with a unanimity seldom seen in the history of war, towards the homes they had left so readily at the beginning of the conflict at the call of their country. The impatience became so great, after the final collapse of the Rebellion, when Johnston and Kirby Smith had surrendered, that the men in the field could hardly be kept by the colors, for the necessary purposes of police ; breaking out into open mutiny in some instances, when it was proposed to put them into the regular army; indignantly spurning the idea that they were professional soldiers at all; demanding when their work had been done that they should be discharged and sent home as soon as possible.
The regiments and organizations from the neighborhood of The Bronx and from Westchester County in general were in the same category as the rest and their history to the time they returned home is revealed by the official records of the State. Company B, of the Seventeenth Regiment, the banner company of the county, from Port Chester, served its term of two years, and was mustered out on June 3, 1863, the recruits, enlisted for three years after the company was in the field, being transferred to the Twelfth Regiment, New York Volun- teers. This regiment, being also a two years' organization, had already been mustered out; but the recruits for three years, with a part of the
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Twelfth New York Militia, with which it had been consolidated Feb- ruary 3, 1862, were formed into a battalion, which, in its turn, was mustered into the Fifth New York Veteran Volunteers on June 2, 1864. The whole force remained in the service till finally mustered out on August 21, 1865. The next organization in rank was that part of the Fourth New York Cavalry recruited at Yonkers by Captain Parnell. On the expiration of the original term of service the regiment was mustered out and the reënlisted men, with the later recruits, consoli- dated with the Ninth New York Cavalry, on February 27, 1863, under the name of Companies B, E, and L, of that regiment; with which it remained to the close of the war, being mustered out on July 17, 1863. The Fifth Battery Light Artillery, remarkable as being the only organ- ization in which the name of a Mount Vernon man appears as having been an original member, was retained in the service till July 6, 1865, when it was also mustered out. The First Regiment Mounted Rifles was consolidated with the Third New York Cavalry on July 21, 1865, the whole force being known as the Fourth Provisional New York Cavalry. This regiment remained in the service till finally mustered out on November 29, 1865. The Sixth Heavy Artillery, being a three years' regiment, was mustered out on June 25, 1865; but the reënlisted veterans and the recruits whose terms were not yet out were formed into a battalion of four companies. The remaining members of the Tenth and Thirteenth Regiments of Artillery, in the same condition, were added to the Sixth two days later; and the whole force remained in service until August 24, 1865, when they were finally mustered out. The Sixteenth (Sprague Light) Cavalry closed the history of the connection of the neighborhood of The Bronx and Westchester County generally with the war. This force was consolidated with the Thir- teenth New York Cavalry on June 23, 1865, the consolidated regiment being known as the Third Provisional New York Cavalry, under which name it was mustered out on September 21, 1865.
There were few official records kept of the names of men, bona fide residents of the different towns in Westchester County, who enlisted and died in the service. In some towns the patriotism of the people in charge secured such a record. In others no such records were made. The town of Cortlandt kept such a record. The town of Yorktown also preserved a partial list, showing that of the Sixth Heavy Artillery. Had there been a little more forethought in the different localities of the county, concerning the conduct of its citizens in the course of the war posterity would have been put in possession of records which it would have gratefully preserved. It would appear that the unfortunate dif- ferences that existed in the neighborhood over the righteousness of the war militated against the records being properly kept. Save by the
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families of those who actually went to the front but little interest appears to have been taken by any one in the accomplishments of the Union armies and as a result of the apathy the right kind of officials were not elected and local pride was not cultivated. Following the close of the Civil War there was a movement in the establishment of Grand Army Posts at different places to collect the records in something like a reliable form. The graves of Union volunteers began to be decorated annually, but these did not represent in any proper proportion the men who went into service from the neighborhood of The Bronx and from Westchester County generally, but rather those who settled in the neighborhood after the war.
The Drafted Men-The records of the draft in Westchester County, as far as regards the names of the men drafted, are generally missing, though the bonds necessary to save them from going to the front re- mained, to be finally extinguished, in 1881. In the town of East- chester, F. Whittaker, however, succeeded in securing a copy of the names of the men drafted, and the prices paid for substitutes. It embraces the calls for July, 1864, and the last call in December of the same year. Stephen Bogart was supervisor for that year, and his name appears among the list of drafted men. The numbers drawn by the provost marshal appears to have been taken at random over the county of Westchester, for they are not continuous. The first man caught in Eastchester was No. 964, William M. Harward, while the highest number was 3,241. There were two hundred and thirteen men drawn in the town altogether. Some took the commutation of three hundred dollars, allowed by the State, and furnished their own substitutes, in the best way they knew how. Others furnished the substitutes at a definite cost; but the greater part let the town military committee do all the work, through the bounty brokers, who settled the whole busi- ness. Of the whole two hundred and thirteen, only two entered the service, taking the bounty money themselves.
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