USA > New York > The Ninth New York heavy artillery : a history of its organization, services in the defe battles, and muster-out, with accounts of life in a rebel prison, personal experiences, names and addresses of surviving members, personal sketches and a complete roster, pt 2 > Part 13
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Enos T. Pimm .- The most of the men in Rose who served in the Ninth were in Company HI, and Comrade Pimm has long held a foremost place in the township. As the landlord of the principal hotel of the village, he became one of the best-known men in eastern Wayne.
While illness has latterly compelled his withdrawal from some of his former activities, he still has a firm hold on public
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affairs. He is and has been for years very active in the local Grand Army Post.
Theodore D. Quick .- Now a citizen of Garland, Penn., a gen- eral grocer and provision dealer, was born in Owasco, N. Y., in 1826; with his father went to Ann Arbor, Mich., 1836; in 1839 came back to New York; in 1843 went to Syracuse and learned the cabinet-maker's trade, and in 1855 removed to Nash- ville, Tenn., and was there when the war broke out. Before the fall of Donelson, he was twice subjected to the draft ordeal, the first time escaping; he was a member of the Rock City Guards, and on the second trial he was drawn, but the confusion inci- dent to the capture of Donelson gave the enemy little time to look after their conscripts.
In 1862 he returned to Syracuse, and there enlisted in Com- pany L, attaining the rank of 2d lieutenant. After the war, he went back to Tennessee and remained till 1874. Taking up his residence in Garland in 1876 he has been there since.
B. Frank Raze .- The projected history of the regiment has had no more enthusiastic supporter than this veteran of Com- pany G, who enlisted in December, 1863, one of the youngest men in the Ninth, though the record puts him at the minimum age. While his home is in Buffalo, for a number of years he has been connected with the office of the comptroller of the state of New York in Albany.
Samuel C. Redgrave .- For several years Lieutenant Red- grave has been the leading hardware dealer in the village of Lyons. He was born in Baltimore April 17, 1836, but early came here with his mother on his father's death, that she might be near her brother, William N. Cole, editor of a Lyons paper. Receiving what the local schools had to give, young Redgrave worked on a farm, and was clerk in stores till the year 1862, when he helped raise Company D, going out as its 2d lieutenant.
After his return from his army service, he entered the employ of Aaron Remsen in the hardware trade, and in 1865 married Miss Malvena Remsen, daughter of his employer. A partnership was formed with Mr. Remsen in 1866, which continued till the latter's death in 1866.
Stephen Reeves .- No man did more faithful service for his whole term than this Marion representative in Company B. Never boastful, he was always ready when there was something to be done.
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HON. ALFRED S. ROE. COMPANY A.
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The war found him a farmer, and when the war permitted him to return to peaceful pursuits, he again took up the im- plements of husbandry. Among those of his company killed at Winchester was Alvin . Andrews, one of his nearest friends. Later he took as wife the widow of this comrade slain.
He is one of the men who give character to a community.
Henry J. Rhodes .- One of the men very likely to be seen at every reunion of the Ninth is Captain and Brevet Major Rhodes of Auburn, and it is always a pleasure to receive a grasp of his hand and to hear his cheerful voice.
It is a long time since he won his laurels on Old Virginia soil, but he wears them well; they will never fade.
Lewis B. Rice .- If Comrade Rice had remained in Company B, it is probable that he would have had enough active service, but he tired of fort-building and went off to direct colored troops. He was an ambulance driver when the change came. Begin- ning as 2d lieutenant, Company K, 1st U. S. C. T., he saw service in eastern Virginia and North Carolina; was promoted to 1st lieutenant, and in the spring of 1865 was discharged.
Staying two years in Sodus, he then removed to Port Huron, Mich., where he has since resided, engaged in the nursery busi- ness. No survivor of the Ninth takes any more pains than Com- rade Rice to attend the reunions. He was a good soldier, and is just as good a citizen.
Alfred S. Roe .- Born in Rose, N. Y., June 8, 1844, he is the son of the Rev. Austin M. and Polly C. (Seelye) Roe; the father is of a family long resident on Long Island; the mother is of northeastern New York and Connecticut extraction. He was prepared for college at Falley Seminary, Fulton, N. Y., but did not enter college till after the war. He was teaching school in Middleville, Herkimer county, the home of his father, a Method- ist minister, when he enlisted.
When the war was over, he came home, and, in September, 1866, entered Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., where he was graduated in 1870. From 1870 to '75 he was principal of the Ashland, Mass., High School; from '75 to '80 a teacher in the Worcester High School, and the following ten years was principal.
In 1890 he made a short trip to Europe, and in 1891 was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature, serving in the House the following four years and the Senate the subsequent three.
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He has written many pamphlets and books on historical sub- jects, and frequently speaks on such matters before lyceums, schools, etc. His home since 1875 has been in Worcester, Mass.
Samuel A. Sabin .- The first surgeon of the Ninth was born in Ontario, N. Y., and had the educational opportunities of the town and of Walworth Academy, until he entered the medical department of Michigan University, where he was graduated in 1857. Coming back to York state, he began to practice in Mac- edon, soon came to Palmyra, and thence went into the army, as all survivors of the regiment well remember.
Late in 1864 he suffered from a very severe attack of typhoid fever, which left him in a sadly weakened condition, so much so that he resigned his commission and resumed his profession in Palmyra, but the stalwart form never regained its old-time vigor, and he fell an easy prey to pneumonia April 3d, 1871, dying in the village of his adoption, and is buried there. His widow resides in Rochester.
William H. Seward, for fifty years the most noteworthy fig- ure in central New York; the father of our lieutenant colonel on leaving for Washington; the man with whom our own regi- mental name was connected; ever devoted to our interests,- no one will doubt the propriety of entering his name in this list of Personals.
From 1838, when he was first elected governor, defeating the famous William L. Marcy, for more than thirty years no face was better known in the Empire State than that of the Sage of Auburn, the author of the Irrepressible Conflict. That he did not become president of these United States was one of the rulings of fate, where the obviously logical candidate was set aside through the rule of expediency.
Born in Florida, Orange county, May 16, 1801, he was grad- uated from Union College, Schenectady, in 1820, being one of the boys who received a start in intellectual living under the care of Dr. Eliphalet Nott. Having been admitted to the bar in 1822, he settled in Auburn the following year as a law partner of Elijah Miller, the first judge of Cayuga county, whose daughter, Frances Adaline, he married in 1824. He entered at once on a career in public life, extending to 1869. He was prominent in every public measure, and in the light of subsequent events it seems that he was nearly if not quite always right. His ad- dresses during these vigorous days of his early life are grand tributes to his thought and eloquence.
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He was an original Whig, and was the first governor elected by that party. While thus prominent in political measures, his advocacy of educational, liberal and every broad-minded meas- ure marked him the most conspicuous man of his day in the Empire State. The leading features of his life are too well known to be repeated here, but his defense of the negro, Free- man, for the murder of the Van Ness family, while it may have alienated some of his immediate supporters, gave him a repu- tation far beyond the borders of his native state. While he made many addresses and delivered many eulogies, perhaps nothing from his lips excelled his words before the New York Legisla- ture in 1848 on the death of John Quincy Adams. It is risking very little to state that nothing in the whole range of eloquence is grander than the peroration of that address, wherein he con- trasts Napoleon and our Old Man Eloquent. When Seward died, Charles Francis, a son of John Quincy Adams, delivered the address in behalf of New York's most distinguished son, before the Legislature; but though magnificent, it did not reach the pinnacle on which Seward's words rested.
Defeated at the Chicago Convention of 1860, on the success of the Republican party in the following November, he became the leader in Lincoln's administration, remaining to the end of Andrew Johnson's term as secretary of state. After ending the affairs of office, he made a journey around the world, August, 1870, to October, 1871, a most entertaining account of which was afterwards published.
How he felt the assassin's knife in the April tragedy of 1865 every one knows. How thoroughly his family was identified with the prosecution of the war may not be so generally under- stood. His eldest son, Augustus, a graduate at West Point, served in the Mexican War, and during the Rebellion was a pay- master. receiving the brevet rank of colonel when the war ended. The second son, Frederick, was assistant secretary with his father, and was one of the victims of the conspiracy at the close of the struggle. The third son, William H., Jr., needs no introduction.
Aside from the priceless services connected with the admin- istration during the war, Secretary Seward left a legacy whose value grows more and more evident as the years advance, viz., the purchase of Alaska, one of the steps whose successors shall lead to the uniting of all North America. Had his plan for the
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acquirement of the Danish West Indies and Samana Bay also carried, there had been no war with Spain over Cuban affairs.
He died at his old home Oct. 10th, 1872, and his body rests in Auburn's beautiful cemetery by the side of that of his loved wife.
In recognition of the great services rendered to the nation by this great statesman, for many years in Madison square, New York, a heroic statue in sitting posture has claimed and re- ceived the admiration of beholders. A generation nearly has swept around it in the whirl of business, and generations to come will pause to speak of the man who, in a manner second to none, laid the impress of his hand upon the affairs of this great people. But to those of central New York there is a figure which they like better, the one which stands hard by his old "home, in the city which knew him best, standing near the house which sheltered him and his loved ones, with uplifted hand seemingly saying, as he did say of slavery, "It must be abolished, and you and I must do it." It is this figure that is taken to go along with the many others in this story of men whom he knew and fellowshiped, that our children may know what manner of man he was, whom traitors deemed worthy to suffer with Lincoln.
William H. Seward, Jr., the first lieutenant colonel of the Ninth, was born in Auburn June 18, 1839. While his older brothers were educated, one of them at West Point, the other in Union, our officer had his instruction at the hands of private tutors, under the care and direction of his mother, but the process, sometimes considered enervating, in his case does not seem to have had that effect, for we surely never saw the time when he was not an energetic leader of his men. This course in his education may have been necessitated by early troubles with his eyes.
His career as an officer of the Ninth it is quite unnecessary to rehearse here, but of his life after leaving us much may be said. Commissioned brigadier general for gallantry at Monoc- acy, it was a strange decree of fate that he should be stationed so near his former command, though not in the same depart- ment, being in command of the 1st Brigade, 3d Division, De- partment of West Virginia. While he took some of his friends from the regiment with him to Martinsburg, it is a fact that so often did duty call our officers and men to that place, he must
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BRIG. GEN'L WM. H. SEWARD AND STAFF.
General Seward.
Capt. Ilsley. Capt. Watkins. Capt. Knowles. Major Buck. Lieut. Watson.
Capt. Monforth.
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have been able to see a soldier from the Ninth any day he chose. His military family included our former quartermaster, H. P. Knowles, and Lieutenant George R. Watson, his brother-in-law.
Though there did not come to General Seward the same kind of service that he had done so well when with his old regiment, he was by no means consigned to a bed of roses. Martinsburg became a great depot of supplies, and guerrillas held him in full survey. It speaks volumes for his affectionate remembrance of his old boys that he asked, through the secretary of war and the adjutant general, that the Ninth might be assigned as a part of his command. This was on the 3d of October, and the request was referred to General Sheridan, but the latter at Winchester had observed some of the fighting qualities of those same lads, and this is his reply:
Woodstock, October 7, 12 M.
General E. D. Townsend,
Assistant Adjutant General.
Your dispatch informing me of the assignment of Brigadier General Seward received. I think that the Ninth New York Artillery had better be kept with the fighting force.
P. H. SHERIDAN, Major General Commanding.
Hence it was that the Ninth stayed with the "fighting force" and had the glory of Cedar Creek and Appomattox, but General Seward's good intentions demand our gratitude.
As we know, he resigned his commission early in June, since the war was over, and there was nothing for him to do in the line of peace. He returned to the calling he had entered upon before the war, and began over again the useful life he has continued to lead through the intervening years. Blessed with an abundance of this world's goods, he has taken pleasure in making others happy through its judicious employment. Dur- ing the winter months, a stranger could not be long in the city of Auburn without being asked by some one, not the general by any means, to visit the Free Reading Rooms opened and maintained by him, not for any particular class nor under vexa- tious restrictions, but for any and all who choose to use, always provided that they behave themselves when in the rooms. It is hardly likely that such a system can be duplicated in the land. The rooms are large, comfortably furnished, warmed, and well equipped with reading matter adapted to the needs of the average reader.
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In addition to the banking-house so long conducted by the general, he is a director of the American Express Company, and was one of the chief promoters of the Southern Central Rail- road, now a part of the Lehigh System. He is interested in local history, being one of the founders of the Cayuga County Histor- ical Society, and is also its president. He is president of the City Club, Auburn; vice-president of the Auburn City Hospital and of the Cayuga County Savings Bank. He is a trustee of Wells College at Aurora, and of course wears the bronze button of the G. A. R. with the rosette of the Legion of Honor. Through his descent from Colonel John Seward, his great grandfather, he is a member of the Sons of the Revolution, and in New York city he maintains membership in the Union League and Trans- portation Clubs.
While always an active member of the Republican party, he has held no political office, wherein it is safe to say that the public has been the loser. In 1884 his friends pressed his candidacy before the convention, but unsuccessfully, for the gubernatorial nomination. Let us think that if he had been nomi- nated he might have succeeded Grover Cleveland. In 18SS he was an elector at large. and presided over the college which cast its vote for Benjamin Harrison.
It is an interesting item for those who think that the sons of well-to-do and noted men seldom have the spirit of self-help themselves that, when eighteen years old. or in 1857, when his honored father was in the very zenith of his power, this the youngest son chose to go to Albany and there to serve for two years in a hardware store, thus acquiring a business training to be had in no other way. Then as private secretary to his father, at that time United States senator, he had an invaluable opportunity to form the acquaintance of prominent men in Washington. Altogether he had a good preparation for the work he did during the war, especially for the mission to Lou- isiana, in the early winter of 1863, alluded to in the paper pre- pared by Mrs. Seward.
The home life of a man is an excellent index to his character, and General Seward's marriage in June, 1860, to Miss Janet M. Watson of Auburn has been an extremely happy one. With the first child, Cornelia, or "Nellie." born the day before the regiment left the city, the "boys" feel quite well acquainted, for they dated their letters from her camp for some weeks. As
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REV. CHARLES L. SHERGUR. COMPANY F.
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Mrs. Frederick I. Allen they might have some difficulty in rec- ognizing her. Then, too, she must have changed some in the intervening generation and more. There is another William H. Seward, Jr., now, a lawyer and banker in Auburn. There is also a younger daughter, Miss Frances Janet.
Retaining the old Seward homestead, where his father so long dispensed free-hearted hospitality, General Seward maintains the traditions of the family and the house, for the same goes back of the governor and secretary, since it is a mansion built by the distinguished lawyer and judge, Elijah Miller.
To the survivors of the regiment, the presence of the general at their gatherings is always a pleasure. His words, though not many, are carefully weighed and are ever listened to with ap- proval. It is said that in manner of speech he much resembles his noted father. Be this as it may, the men of the Ninth re- member him for what he is and what he was. That at this time, thirty-four and more years since the end of the war, our colonel is still meeting with us, and likely to do so for years to come, is a blessing for which all are grateful. Every veteran grasps his hand with cordial greetings.
Charles L. Shergur .- The veteran who for a number of years has been chaplain of the Ninth's association of survivors is a Methodist preacher in the Wyoming Conference, and though the rules of his denomination require him to live now here, now there, his place of residence never disturbs for a moment the thoroughness of his devotion to his old army friends.
When he was living down below the Pennsylvania line, he came to the reunions just the same, and we may expect, as long as the association continues and Comrade Shergur can raise a dollar. just so long he will be on hand each recurring year.
Few if any men. among the survivors, have brighter recollec- tions of the days rapidly becoming obscured in the lapse of time. He came into Company F from Lansing, one of the small num- ber that Tompkins county contributed to the regiment. Enter- ing the company as private, he rose steadily till he was mus- tered out as 1st sergeant; he also enjoys the honor of a brevet 2d lieutenancy for conspicuous bravery on the field.
His home now is Caton, Steuben county.
Frank A. Sinclair .- Veterans of the Ninth who go near Mott- ville. Onondaga county, should look in on Captain Sinclair, who has long conducted there a prosperous chair-making business.
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He was born in 1834, a son of James Sinclair, who, a native of Paisley, Scotland, 1804, came to this country and died in Skan- eateles, 1892.
Mr. Sinclair began his business in 1859, and left it during the war interval of 1862-'65, for he went out as a private in Company I and came home the captain of L. On his return, he resumed his business, and by dint of honest work and faithful attention he has built up a reputation second to none. For su- perior workmanship and quality of goods he possesses numerous medals, diplomas, etc., awarded at many exhibitions.
In politics he is an out-and-out Prohibitionist. He is one of four brothers who went into the service and all came out again.
James W. Snyder .- In all the labor of preparing this volume, nothing has occasioned greater regret than the utter failure to secure direct information from the last commander of the regi- ment. There is no survivor of the Ninth who has not in his heart the most kindly sentiments for the gallant officer who always led to win success. It mattered not whether it was his first or last fight; he went in like one born to rule. But his "boys" have seen very little of him since war's din was over, and for this their regret is all the greater.
He was born in the town of Wolcott, N. Y., in the Red Creek portion thereof, and there resided till the war sent him to Wash- ington. His career in the army the preceding pages have al- ready told. Coming home in 1865, he remained in his native county for a time and then went, possibly, to Buffalo, where he engaged in the flour and grain business, and for a time was a member of the Board of Aldermen, serving in this capacity when Grover Cleveland was mayor of the city.
He was next heard of in Oklahoma, where he was treasurer of the city of Guthrie. An attack of the "grippe" two years since made sad inroads upon his strength, leaving a legacy of rheumatism, and as the colonel is now turning seventy years of age, he does not recuperate as he did in his younger days.
Irvin Squyer .- Many years have passed since the first cap- tain of Company K went to his eternal home, but many of us love to think of his heroic endurance and the grand record that he made. His educational advantages were those of the district school, and at an early age he began learning the millwright's trade with his father, with whom he labored many years. One of the jobs that they did in workmanlike manner was the put-
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ting in of a wheel for the Auburn Woolen Mills, when it was supposed that the mills would have to be shut down, but they did not, for the night enabled the workmen to make all the nec- essary changes, and the day work went on as usual.
He was working in a mill when the war epidemic overspread the land and infected him and his neighbors. We are told that the Ira infection came from a fervid address made in Hannibal by Colonel D. C. Littlejohn, and we well know how eloquent he could be on occasion. "It seemed as though every one was beside himself that night, each saying to the other, I'll go if you will.' About 12 o'clock Sunday night there was a rap at the door, and, when opened, there stood four of our best young men, and one of them said, 'Irvin, if you will go as our captain we will go to the war.' The horses were gotten out, and away they went to the eastern part of the town. Tuesday thirty men started for Auburn, returning Saturday. Sunday night the peo- ple of the town presented the captain with a sword and belt, and Monday all went back to Auburn, where in September they were sworn into the service of the United States."
Mrs. Squyer was with her husband for some time in the de- fenses, having very pleasant experiences in Forts Gaines, Mans- field and others, but when the grand marching orders came she had to return to the North. It was at Cold Harbor that the captain received the wound which laid him off so long. Colonel Seward had sent his orderly for a report, which the captain made upon a piece of paper, not leaving the works; but the man speedily returned saying the colonel wanted a report in person. Captain Squyer rose and started, but had gone only a few steps when he was hit by a sharpshooter, the ball badly wounding the right shoulder. He was carried back on a stretcher and when he reached the commander, he said, "Col- onel. I am here for orders."
While his friends advised him to go to the hospital, he de- termined to go home, and did so, reaching that blest spot wholly unannounced. Let Mrs. S. tell how he was received: "I knew nothing about his coming nor his wound till he stepped on the veranda, looking like a ghost. He had on his fatigue coat, with one sleeve empty. I could not get out of my chair, and when I could speak it was to say only, 'Oh, Irv, where is your arm?' He threw back his coat and said, 'Here it is,' having it in a sling. He was put to bed and kept there for quite a while, and
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I dressed his wound three times a day, from then till September, when two large pieces of his flannel shirt were taken out with three pieces of bones."
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