USA > New York > Dutchess County > The "Dutchess county regiment" (150th regiment of New York state volunteer infantry) in the Civil War; > Part 20
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May 25, 1864, near Dallas, Ga., he was wounded. It was at the battle now known as the " Battle of New Hope Church," and the wound proved so severe that he never joined the regiment again. He was first sent to a hospital at Nashville, Tenn., thence to New Albany, Ind., and finally transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps, from which he was discharged July 13, 1865.
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Since the war Mr. Hicks has followed various employ- ments, having now been for some ten years a painter in the United States Navy Yard at New York.
He was married in 1868 to Fannie Fero, who died, childless, in 1870. In 1889 he was again married, this time to Sarah Waineright, who died in 1891, leaving one son, Lester W.
JAMES NEWMAN.
James Newman was born in New Bavaria, Germany, July 23, 1845. His father's name was George M. New- man and his mother's name was Feronika (Seither) Newman.
He attended school in his native village until thirteen years of age, and was then employed in the wine business until the age of fifteen, when he emigrated to America in a sailing vessel, landing in New York City, July, 1859. Here he bound himself out (a not uncommon custom at that time), to learn cigar making, with John Paul Orth at No. 113 West Broadway, where he remained about one year.
When the war broke out in 1861 he enlisted in the Anderson Zouaves, but was prevented from going to the front by his guardian, as his term of apprenticeship had not expired and he was not yet of legal age. He then ran away, coming to the town of Stanford, Dutchess County, whence he enlisted August 22d in Company C, and was mustered in with his regiment October 11, 1862. In order to make his enlistment valid his age had to be given as eighteen, when, as a matter of fact, he was but a month over seventeen. He had been caught once and brought back because the enlistment papers showed he
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JAMES NEWMAN.
was not old enough, and he was determined this should not happen again.
Though young and impulsive he made an excellent soldier. There was no battle or skirmish his regiment was ever in that he was not found in his place in the ranks. On several occasions his impulsive bravery led him into dangerously thrilling situations, which if done by officers of higher rank would have been rewarded by immediate promotion.
During the march from Atlanta to the Sea, down through Georgia and up through the Carolinas, when the army had to subsist principally upon the surrounding country, he was noted as a daring and successful forager, and through his efforts and those of his associates, the Dutchess County Regiment seldom went hungry.
Arriving near Savannah, provisions became very scarce. Company C was detailed to go out foraging. They went back three or four miles and turned to the right. After coming out of the woods there was a swamp in front of them, and the officer in charge did not want to go across as he thought the enemy were on the other side. James Newman started to go across alone, but when about half way a comrade named William Palmatier called out, "Hold on, Jimmie, I'll go with you." He called, "Come on," as loud as he could so if the rebels were there they would fire at him and give him a chance to discover their location and numbers. After getting across the swamp they saw a very nice plantation on the Georgia side of the Savannah river. They called to Company C to come on. Of course they did so, and all went down to the house. It was a very nice place, with
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rows of live oak trees on either side of the drive leading to the house. It looked like paradise.
While they were engaged in getting sweet potatoes and foraging in the house the steamer "Ida " came up the river. Lieutenant Furey called, " Fall in, there is a boat coming up the river!" "Col." Florence and some of the boys ran toward the dyke. It is not known that any ran back. He thinks the whole company ran along the river, and as the boat came along some one fired. The boat turned and ran aground. They hoisted the white flag. The boat was fast to the ground, but they made no show of surrendering, and as they were a little afraid of the enemy they fired again. This time they hoisted the red (hospital) flag. Company C waited a short time, then fired again, and after that they began to make a show of surrendering and let a boat down. Colonel Clinch of the Rebel Army with one colored servant were the only people on the boat, and the colored man said the delay was caused by the Colonel's taking time to tear and burn all papers.
After coming over in the boat, William Brower and James Newman took them to Slocum's headquarters and reported the capture of the boat. The boat was burned, however, while they were delivering their prisoners.
Hearing the firing, the cavalry came over after Colonel Clinch and the colored man had landed, and disputed their rights, and were going to take the spurs off the Colonel's boots, but Captain Gildersleeve interfered and they took their prisoners safely to Slocum's headquarters, spurs and all.
After the war he settled in the village of Amenia, where
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JOHN M. SHAW.
he still keeps a store of sporting goods, generously supple- mented by a full line of cigars, tobacco and candies.
JOHN M. SHAW.
The subject of this sketch was born October 19, 1845, in Clinton, Dutchess County, N. Y., the son of John and Helen Shaw. His education was obtained at the public schools of his town, and after completing his studies he began life for himself by hiring out to work on a farm.
He enlisted October 3, 1862, and was mustered into Company C of the 150th New York Volunteers, to carry a rifle in the ranks, before he was seventeen years old. That his service was efficient, even at what we usually speak of as a " tender age," is indicated by the fact that he was in time promoted, first to Corporal, then to Ser- geant. He shared the fortunes of the regiment, through hardship and battle, until its muster-out in June, 1865.
After his discharge from the regiment he removed to Connecticut and there followed the mason's trade about seven years. He later accepted the responsible position of foreman at the Goodwin Brothers' Pottery Co., at Elmwood, Conn., and in this position he is still employed.
Mr. Shaw was married in 1870 to Hattie C. Dann, of South Salem, N. Y., and the union has been blessed by the birth of five children.
WILLIAM K. WATSON.
The subject of this sketch was born at Oxford, Mass., in 1833, and was the youngest son of William K. and Lucretia Watson. The family soon removed from there, and he received his education in the public schools of
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Middletown, Conn. In time he removed to Missouri, and while in that state assisted in organizing the Polk County Rangers, an organization that served with the United States Army during the Kansas troubles prior to the Civil War. While a resident of Massachusetts he was a member of the National Guard of Boston. Later he was a resident of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and was there a member of the Ellsworth Grays, attached to the 2Ist Regiment of the New York State Militia.
He enlisted in Company C of our Dutchess County Regiment at Poughkeepsie, September 9, 1862, and when enrolled was by occupation a tailor. He served as Cor- poral and Sergeant with the regiment until wounded, and was finally discharged from the service June 20, 1865, while in a hospital at Troy, N. Y.
Among the incidents of his service, Mr. Watson recalls an unpleasant experience at the battle of Kolb's Farm in Georgia, during the summer of 1864. When the rebels made their sudden assault he was out on the skirmish line and narrowly escaped capture, being so beaten out with fatigue when at last he reached the regiment that he fell down exhausted.
It was at Averysborough that he received the wound which put him out of action, and he remembers that the stretcher-bearers who carried Lieutenant Sleight's lifeless form from the field also carried him to the rear at the same time. Of this experience he writes as follows:
" I have not forgotten the hail of bullets around us as we were borne from the field, and was very grateful when we at last reached a place of safety, as the danger is more courageously endured when one is actually engaged in the fight."
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JOSEPH WOOLEY.
He also recalls the capture at that battle, by the cavalry, of Colonel Rhett, a member of the distinguished Southern family of that name, and of the profound dis- gust of that member of the Southern chivalry on finding himself a captive among the despised "Yankees."
Mr. Watson was married in 1856 to Sarah Matilda Slack, and they have had six children, one of whom has died. Of the other five, one is living in Missouri, near the place his family evacuated in 1860, just in time to escape the rebel hordes which devastated that state during the war, marauding and plundering all classes of citizens, for the Confederate General Price passed through the place with his army soon after they left.
Mr. Watson is now residing at Zanesville, Ohio.
JOSEPH WOOLEY.
Mr. Wooley was born in 1842, in Unionvale, N. Y., being the son of Winthrop and Catharine Wooley. He received his education at the public schools, and upon leaving home chose farming for a livelihood, following the occupation until the fall of 1862.
Then, in answer to the call for volunteers to go to the front, he enlisted in Company C of our regiment, under Captain Henry A. Gildersleeve. The regiment shows no better record than his, for he never left it a day, was never absent from duty, and he was never wounded or in a hospital.
When he was mustered out with the regiment, June 8, 1865, he went to Amenia, N. Y., and there entered the employ of Chapman & Bartlett in a hardware, agricul- tural implement, and drug store. After six years with the firm he removed to Wassaic, N. Y., in 1874, and has
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since then filled an important position in the factory of the New York Condensed Milk Company, being one of its most valued and trustworthy employees.
September 10, 1862, he was married to Mary J. Shaw, and five children have been born to them, as follows: Fred S., Warren, Edward B., Clayton L., and Bertha E.
When asked for some incidents of camp or campaign service, something of a personal nature, he gave the fol- lowing from memory :
"Being at Chattahoochee Bridge, near Atlanta, Ga., on the morning of August 31, 1864, two companies of our regiment, Company C being one of them, were ordered out on a reconnoissance. We left there at six in the morning and advanced two miles. Lieutenant Van Keuren of Company K was then ordered to take ten men and hold a by-road leading to the main road, so that the rebels should not flank the remainder of our force, which had advanced two miles ahead of us to find out the position of the enemy.
"I was one of that detail, and we had not been there very long before we heard the rattle of horses' hoofs, and of cavalry sabres. I said to the Lieutenant, 'Do you hear that noise ? '
"He replied, 'Yes. Keep still and lie down.'
" Presently Luman Place, of my company, asked if he could go and get some water. Lieutenant said, 'Go, but be very still, and hurry back.'
" He had not gone more than three hundred feet from us when we heard some one call out, -- ' Halt! Halt! you Yankee! Surrender! Come here, sir; come quick !'
" We immediately knew that they were rebels, and that Luman was a prisoner. My heart went pit-a-pat, for
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WILLIAM W. PALMER.
then I began to realize our position, knowing there was a rebel force within a stone's throw of us, and not know- ing how large it was, nor how distant our two companies were.
"Lieutenant ordered us not to fire until he gave the word, and when we did fire to immediately holler out,- 'Surrender! ' to the rebels. We remained in that position about three hours, when our two companies fell back and joined us. You can imagine how relieved we felt at their arrival."
There are many other incidents which Mr. Wooley delights to recall as he lives over again in his imagination the three years spent in the service of his country as a volunteer.
WILLIAM W. PALMER.
The subject of this sketch was born in the Town of North East, Dutchess County, N. Y., June 2, 1844, the son of Martin C. and Elsie M. (Babcock) Palmer.
He was a farmer's lad, receiving his education in the public school, and when our regiment was being organ- ized he had just reached the military age of eighteen. He enlisted September 6, 1862, in Company D, and served with it to the close of the war, when he was mustered out with the regiment.
The fact that during his whole term of service he was never absent from the regiment, and was never absent from duty, is a worthy record, and indicates that "blood will tell." His great-grandfather, Gilbert C. Palmer, was a veteran of the Revolutionary War, his grandfather, Hughson Palmer, was a veteran of the War of 1812, while his father, Martin C. Palmer, served in the Civil
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War, dying in 1892 from the effects of wounds received at Berrysville, Va.
For many years Mr. Palmer has resided at Millerton, N. Y., where he finds employment as a carpenter. Upon the organization at that place of a Grand Army Post it was through his influence that it was named the "Henry Gridley Post," in honor of our first commissioned officer to be killed in battle. For several years he has been commander of that Post.
Mr. Palmer was married in 1873 to Caroline R. Bishop, and three children have been born to them, of whom one, Elsie M., is now living, making her home with her father.
OBED WHEELER. By STEPHEN G. COOK.
Obed Wheeler was born in the Town of Dover, Dutchess County, N. Y., November 15, 1841. His father, Thomas Wheeler, a prosperous farmer and cattle dealer, was born in the same town in 1814. This branch of the Wheeler family came from Connecticut about the middle of the last century, and were noted for their enterprise and thrift.
The subject of this sketch passed the years of his boy- hood at the paternal home, dividing his time between the local district school, and the farm, and pleasures of the rod and gun, in the last two of which he was an acknowl- edged expert.
In 1858 he entered the Amenia Seminary, at Amenia, N. Y., at that time an institute of learning of considerable reputation, where he was prepared for Yale College, which he entered in 1860, and where the breaking out
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OBED WHEELER.
of the war found him in 1861. For a time he hesitated between his patriotism and his intense desire to complete his education, but when, in 1862, President Lincoln issued the call for 300,000 more volunteers, he hesitated no longer. The organization of the 150th had taken its initial start, and he joined it at once and was appointed First Lieutenant of Company E.
He entered it almost a boy, fresh from his books, and returned with it a man with a force of character, intel- lectual status, and personal magnetism, that made his regimental associates not only respect, but love him. Just the date of his promotion to a captaincy I am unable to recall, and it does not much matter, because for all prac- tical purposes he was always captain of his company.
He was in command of his company when the regiment left Baltimore in June, 1863, to join the Army of the Potomac, and was in command throughout the Gettys- burg campaign, where he and the regiment received their first baptism of fire. From that time to the close of the war, in and through the battles of Gettysburg, Resaca, Dallas, Kulp's Farm, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, the March to the Sea, Savannah, Averysboro, and Benton- ville, he was present and in command of his company, without losing a day by reason of sickness or from any other cause.
While a soldier he was never foolhardy, yet he pos- sessed that true courage which prompted and sustained him in the execution of all orders from his superior officers, and to do his full duty as it was given him to understand it.
His courage was never doubted by friend or foe. He never ordered his men to do what he would not dare to
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do himself, nor go where he would not dare to lead them.
A prominent trait of his character as a commanding officer of a company was his persistent efforts to provide for the general welfare of his men. Every article in the way of rations and clothing that the Quartermaster or Commissary Departments furnished must be so distributed that his company received its full and exact share, or else there was sure to be trouble in the camp, and the same paternal and watchful care over the welfare of his men during the war was continued after he and they returned to civil life.
Possessing, as he did, a bountiful supply of this world's goods, his whole-souled, generous nature would not permit him to allow any old comrade, and especially one from his own company, to suffer for the necessaries of life, and many an old soldier in New York City, and all up through the Harlem Valley, mourns his death, not only as a com- rade gone, but also as a friend whose willing heart and ready hand were ever prompt to supply their needs.
At the close of the war he became again as completely the civilian as though he had never led men into "the deadly breach," heard the " rattle of musketry all along the line," or the booming of hostile cannon. And yet he never ceased to regard the years he had served as a soldier as the most important and interesting years of his life. (What old and true soldier does not ?)
To the end of his existence it was his delight to gain the companionship of some one of his old comrades and recount the thrilling incidents of their army lives, dur- ing which they had shared common dangers, and when at last he realized that in the battle of life Death was
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OBED WHEELER.
about to be proclaimed the victor, he composed himself on his couch and exclaimed: "Well, let me die like a soldier."
During his funeral services at the Murray Hill Hotel the Rev. Dr. Paxton, his lifelong and intimate friend, in eloquent words, and by way of contrast, drew word pic- tures of two men, of which the following is a brief sum- mary, to wit:
" When the room was entered by one the light seemed a little dimmer, the atmosphere a little heavier; the pet dog glanced at him uneasily, and retreated to a safer dis- tance, the children ceased their play and began to gather together their toys, while men conversed in undertones and with evident restraint. This was the non-magnetic man, the negative pole of the battery.
" But when the other entered the room he brought the sunshine with him, the air at once seemed fuller of ozone and oxygen, the pet dog bounded with delight to greet him, and children shouted their welcome, while, men vied with each other in the heartiness of their salutations; and this man was Obed Wheeler."
If a thousand of his sorrowing and surviving friends were asked what they thought of him, the unvarying answer would be: "One of the best fellows that ever lived."
Immediately after the close of the war he took up his residence in New York City, where he was elected to the Stock Exchange, and where he remained a prosperous member until he died.
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PERRY W. CHAPMAN.
Perry Wheeler Chapman was born in Dutchess County, N. Y., in that portion of the Town of Dover which is known as South Dover, March 27, 1841. His parents were Richard and Sarah (Wheeler) Chapman. He received his education in the public schools of his town, where he was the schoolmate and personal friend of Obed Wheeler, who also became an officer in our regiment, and even in their boyhood studies and sports they showed a taste for military life, little dreaming that they were them- selves to take part in the greatest of modern war dramas.
At the early age of fifteen Mr. Chapman was engaged in assisting to build the first telegraph line which was installed in that part of the country, and after its com- pletion he went to New York City to learn telegraphy. He soon acquired the art, and followed it for several years, part of the time in Iowa, then the border of civili- zation. For a year he was engaged, with his father and brother, in the restaurant business at Pawling, N. Y., but in 1861 again accepted a position as telegraph oper- ator, this time at Dover Plains.
In 1862, when the organization of the Dutchess County Regiment was begun, Mr. Chapman, associated with Andrus Brant and Obed Wheeler, recruited men for a company, and upon its completion they were mustered in as the officers of Company E; Brant as Captain, Wheeler as First Lieutenant, and Chapman as Second Lieutenant. Captain Brant resigned December 18, 1863, when Lieu- tenant Wheeler was promoted to his position, and Mr. Chapman was then made First Lieutenant of the, com- pany, his commission bearing date January 16, 1864, with rank from December 18, 1863. In addition to this he
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PERRY W. CHAPMAN.
was brevetted Captain, and afterward Major, in 1865. He served to the close of the war, and was mustered out with the regiment.
April 13, 1864, Mr. Chapman was married to Ann, daughter of Charles G. and Maria (Chapman) Thomas, and six children have been born to them, as follows:
Cora Louisa, now Mrs. George A. Daniels, Frank S., who died in infancy, Gilbert Thomas, William Ross, mar- ried to Cadelia A. Burgess, Emma Dodge, now Mrs. Charles T. Schieman, and Fred Wheeler Chapman.
Mr. Chapman's service in the war was with the regi- ment until April, 1864, when he was sent, along with Captain Cogswell and Lieutenant Humeston, on recruit- ing service, with headquarters at Poughkeepsie, and it was while there that he was married. But the honey- moon was brief, for General Grant soon issued an order for all on detached service to report at once to their regiments.
After the fall of Atlanta he was detailed for a short time on the train guard, but October 6, 1864, he received an order to report to the commandant of the brigade, with forty men from the regiments of the brigade as a Pioneer Corps, of which he was placed in command. This made Lieutenant Chapman a member of General Ruger's staff, and he at once became one of the official " family " at brigade headquarters.
His duties in this new field of service were laborious and trying, but so satisfactorily were they performed that he was retained in this position until the close of the war. In recounting his experiences in this work, Mr. Chapman modestly gives a great deal of credit, for the accomplish- ment of the tasks assigned to him, to his faithful assistant,
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Sergeant Charles E. Brewer, of Company B, who had a real genius for bridge building and the like work.
Since the war Mr. Chapman has followed various occu- pations, sometimes in the far West, and a portion of the time in New York. At the present time, 1906, he is engaged in business at Pawling, N. Y.
SAMUEL H. PAULDING.
Samuel H. Paulding was born January 21, 1828, in the Town of Hyde Park, Dutchess County, N. Y.
His father's name was Levi and his mother's name Hannah (Griffin) Paulding.
He received his education in the district schools near which his father resided, which he attended some nine or ten years. On leaving school he went to learn the coopering trade, or how to make barrels, casks and kegs. He followed that business from 1846 to 1862, and left it to join the 150th Regiment, in which he was enrolled September 6, 1862, and was mustered in as First Sergeant of Company F, October 11, 1862. He was promoted as Second Lieutenant of Company H April 9, 1863, and as First Lieutenant of Company F July 21, 1864, and when he was mustered out with the regiment he was in command of Company A. The records show that he came of good fighting stock. His grandfather, John Paulding, was a major in the War of 1760, known as the French and Indian War. It seems that his grand- father and General Washington became quite friendly, both being members of the Episcopal Church. Together they started a series of prayer meetings in camp, and kept up their friendship as long as they both lived.
General Washington visited him at his home in Dutchess
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SAMUEL H. PAULDING.
County, during the War of the Revolution, and he has often heard his old aunts brag of eating at the table with General Washington. His old home still goes by the name of " Paulding's Manor."
His grandfather had three sons in the Revolutionary War, and one of them was taken prisoner near Tarry- town, and he wrote some very funny things that happened while he was a prisoner. They are still treasured up in the family. The Paulding who, with Williams and Van Wart, captured Major Andre at Tarrytown was a rela- tive of his father.
His mother's father came from Wales, and some of his relatives were soldiers in that country, and he has a crest of one of them, which he thinks it is quite an honor to possess. His grandfather Griffin also served in the Revolutionary War as Second Lieutenant in a Westchester County regiment, and he has certain knowledge that he drew a pension during the last years of his life.
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