USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II > Part 160
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His conduct in the battle of Bull Run was so judicious, ekillful
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and gallant that he was recommended, without his knowledge, by his superior officers for promotion. His regiment was marked for its discipline and good conduct. On reaching camp again, he forth with resumed drilling his men. His early amateur ex- perience in the militia and study of tactics had made him at the ontset a specially capable instructor and trainer of his command.
A new brigade was soon formed by General Franklin (of the regular army), consisting of Colonel Pratt's regiment (the 31st) and 18th and 32d New York and 95th Pennsylvania, of which General John Newton was placed in command.
The fall and winter were occupied by Colonel Pratt in the usual routine of camp, picket duty and drilling, and on courts marshal, by one of which Colonel McCunn, of New York, was tried and dismissed; and much of Colonel Pratt's time was spent in examining, by a Board of which he was the president, into the qualifications of officers, many of whom were examined and dropped from the rolls on reports made by the Board.
In April, 1862, Colonel Pratt embarked with his command from Alexandria for the Peninsula, and arrived at Pocosin Creek a few days before the battle of Williamsburgh, remaining on the transports until the 6th of May, when he sailed up the York River and landed at Brick House Point (or West Point, as it was commonly called). On the morning of 7th of May, he received orders before daylight to take his regiment (the 31st New York) and 95th Pennsylvania, and to skirmish in front-make a recon- noiseance and report. In obeying this order, he concluded that from the nature of the ground one regiment was sufficient to cover the fronts; so, exercising his judgment, and taking the responsi- bility, he kept the 31st Regiment in reserve (his doing which was afterward commended by General Newton). He then dashed on with his skirmishers, and soon found the enemy. General New- ton thereupon sent in the 32d New York and 95th Pennsylvania to make an attack. They encountered the enemy in such force that they were compelled, after sharp fighting, to fall back, with much loss to both regiments. Colonel Pratt was thereupon or- dered to advance with his regiment (the 31st New York), which he did, and took a position which he held through the day, carrying on a heavy skirmish, and encountering a formidable attack by a large force of the rebel infantry, which, with the assistance of the 27th and 16th New York Regiments, he repulsed with great loss to them, and sustained in his own command the loss of eighty- seven men, a majority of whom were killed, and among them five commissioned officers out of the eighteen who went into the battle. Such a loss out of a command of only six hundred men atteste the severity of the engagement.
The next day the regiment received the thanks of General Mc- Clellan. Colonel Pratt was specially named for his gallant service, and was strongly recommended for promotion by a large num- her of general officers, not only of high rank, but of very high personal standing.
Soon after the battle of West Point the army marched to the Chickahominy River, which Colonel Pratt, with his command, crossed about the 24th of June, and was busily engaged in build- ing bridges, and other work, preliminary to the fierce conflict which soon followed. On the 26th the memorable battle of seven days commenced near Mechanicsville, on the extreme right of our army.
On the 27th, Colonel Pratt was ordered to return across the river (to the north side) to support General Fitz John Porter. The battle was desperate, terrible. Colonel Pratt was ordered with his regiment to charge the enemy, and while in its front, gallantly leading it on, was struck in his left check, about an inch below the eye, by a bullet, which passed through into the head, back of the nose, crushing the bones, and lodging under the check bone, below the right eye, where it still remains, causing him at times excruciating pain. He was taken to the rear, but in spite of his suffering, and the state of almost total blindness caused by the wound, he mounted his horse and rode to the hospital on the south side of the river.
The wound could not be then dressed, and the next day he went, some six miles, to Savage Station, where the surgeons examined it, pronounced it fatal, and directed that he should not be moved. . A few hours after this he heard sharp firing at a short distance, and learning that it was a skirmish between the rear guard of our own army and the advance of the rebels, de- termined not to fall into the hands of the latter, but ordered his horse, and, almost entirely blind from his wound, which was still undressed, started to follow the army, then falling back to James River, which was reached on the fourth or fifth day after he was wounded.
An incident occurred on his way to James River worthy of mention. It was after dark when Colonel Pratt, in wretched plight, arrived at the place, on the south side of White Oak Swamp, where the 6th Corps had encamped in line of battle. A warm friend of his, Captain Platt, of the regular army, was then chief of artillery of the 6th Corps, and had placed his guns in battery ready for an attack by the enemy. Colonel Pratt rode up to the battery and inquired for an officer, but finding none, asked the sergeant for some feed for his horse. The man replied that they had none to spare, and were, in fact, short themselves. Colonel Pratt asked for Captain Platt, who soon after came, when the colonel at once asked him for some forage. The captain said it was impossible to spare any; that he was sorry, but it was impossible, &c., and wound up by saying, " Who are you ?" Colonel Pratt replied, as well as the condition of his face and mouth would admit, "I am Colonel Pratt, of the 31st New York." Captain Platt replied, "I don't think you can get anything on that statement, for we left him dead on the other side of the Chickahominy three days ago." "Well, I am the man," Colonel Pratt replied. It is needless to say that after that he was supplied with the necessary forage he sought, and having found his regiment, tied his horse to a tree and laid down upon the ground to sleep.
General Slocum, learning that Colonel Pratt had come into camp, sent Captain Hopkins, his quartermaster, who at last found him and took him to the general's headquarters, where he spent the night with the general upon the floor of a small cabin.
The next day, Colonel Pratt mounted his horse and started for the James River, witnessing the battles of Charles City, Cross Roads and Malvern Hill, and it was not until after those con- flicts were over that he received any surgical attention to his terrible wound, which had thus remained during five days wholly uncared for.
He returned to Brooklyn about the 7th of July, and when so far relieved from his wound as to be able to travel, rejoined his regiment (about the 1st of September), just after the second battle of Bull Run. General McClellan then resumed the com- mand of the army, and nominated a number of colonels for pro- motion to the rank of general. Colonel Pratt was one of those whom he recommended.
About the evening of the 5th September, the army moved on the famous Maryland campaign to meet Lee, who with the rebel force had commenced the expedition which ended disastrously to them at Antietam.
On the 10th September, 1862, while on this march, Colonel Pratt was, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the field, ap- pointed by President Lincoln Brigadier-General of Volunteers. His commission did not reach him until the 19th, when he was assigned to succeed General Hancock in command of a brigade in General W. F. Smith's Division of the famous 6th Army Corps.
On the 18th September, in the desperate battle of Antietam, General Pratt was stationed in front of the Dunker Church, and bore an active and efficient part in support of the Federal bat- teries. He was struck by a piece of shell, but the injury did not disable him from duty. His horse was at the same time wounded under him.
A few days after the battle, he was sent with his brigade to Cunningham's Cross Roads to intercept Stewart, a rebel general,
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who was making a raid in the rear of the Army of the Potomac. After this service, he remained with the army in the neiglibor- hood of Hagerstown, while it was recruiting and receiving sup- plies, until about the 1st November, when it moved down the east side of the Blue Ridge to New Baltimore and Warrentown. At New Baltimore, General Pratt was ordered to make a recon- noissance through the gap west of that place, to ascertain if the rear of the Confederate army had passed, which was done and report made that it had not. It appears that at this time Jackson and the two Hills were far north of this point upon the march, and if Mcclellan had been permitted to attack Lee and Long- street in his front at Warrentown, he must have defeated them in detail. At this time Mcclellan was removed, and Burnside succeeded him in command of the army. Thence it marched to White Oak Church and Falmouth, on the north side of the Rappahannock, opposite Fredericksburgh.
In December, about the 13th, 14th and 15th, occurred the great and disastrous battle of Fredericksburgh. The necessary limits of this sketch of General Pratt restricts us (as in all the other portions of the narrative) to a very concise mention of the part he bore. His brigade was the first of the left grand division to cross the river, and was in the first line of the desperate battle for two days and two nights. It was hopeless from the outset, for our troops had nothing to do but te charge their uncovered breasts against the impregnable breastworks of the rebels, and though they did so again and again with the most intrepid, im- petuous, and reckless bravery, there could, in the nature of things, be but one result -that of failure. On the night of the retreat across the river, in the face of the enemy, General Pratt was ordered to take charge of the troops of the left grand divi- sion at the crossing. This most delicate, difficult, and all-im- portant duty was performed with such skill and ability, that the last of the rear guard was crossed to the north bank just before daylight. The slightest accident, panic, or confusion might have resulted in the loss of half the army. General Pratt acquired much added distinction by his conduct in this battle and at its close.
Late in December, in the same year (1862), he went on what was familiarly termed "the mud campaign " of General Burn- side. His brigade was selected to lead in crossing the Rappa- hannock River, and in storming the rebel works. But a severe rain-storm made it impossible to bring the artillery and the pontoons through the hopeless depths of mud to the bank of the river, and the attack and campaign were necessarily abandoned.
The command of the army was then assumed by General Hooker, and soon after General Pratt was ordered to select the requisite number of regiments and to form a Light Division. He did so, and the command which he thus organized consisted of the 31st and 43d New York, the 49th and 62d Pennsylvania, the 6th Maine, the 5th Wisconsin, and Hahn's Independent Light Battery. General Pratt was placed in command of this fine body of troops.
A short time prior to the campaign of Chancellorsville, General Pratt stated to General Hooker that he would with his command march ten days without any supply wagons. General Hooker doubted this bold proposition, as up to that time the infantry troops of the Army of the Potomac had not carried more than five days' rations. General Hooker, however, at once issued an order appointing a Board, of which General Pratt was the Presi- dent, to take the subject into consideration and report to him. The Board met at General Pratt's headquarters. Men were de- tailed from various regiments to appear in heavy marching order. Every article borne by them was weighed, and then the knap- sacks were emptied and the usual three days' rations were placed in haversacks, and seven days' rations of hard tack packed in the knapsacks. It was found that the extra rations, with blanket and extra pair of socks, did not, on the average, weigh more than what soldiers usually carried. A report of the facts was made in detail, and General Pratt submitted a proposition to
drive upon the hoof sufficient meat for the other seven days, and to furnish each regiment with a mule and pack-saddle to carry camp kettles and desiccated vegetables sufficient for the seven extra days. The report was at once adopted, approved, printed and circulated through the army.
This, we believe, was the first attempt to leave the supply train behind for more than three or five days at one time.
General Pratt's new command was then diligently drilled, and thoroughly fitted for special service. It remained through the winter in camp, without being called on for any general picket duty.
General Pratt's promotion as brigadier-general was confirmed by the United States Senate in the winter of 1863.
His military service, which had to this time been brilliant and successful, was unexpectedly terminated by an imperative call to another, though less congenial, field of duty, which he was not at liberty to disregard, or postpone to his own wishes and advancement. The death of a near family connexion, by whose will (disposing of a large property) he was made an executor, and the probate of which will was resisted, resulting in an active and protracted lawsuit, left him no alternative, but compelled him to resign his commission, and devote himself to the war of the forum instead of that of the field.
His resignation was not acted on until after the army had moved on what is known as the Chancellorsville campaign.
General Pratt was ordered to assume the duty, with his com- mand and that of General Alexander Shaler, of making the nec- essary preparations for the army to cross the Rap River, be- low Fredericksburgh, under direction of General Bonham, the chief engineer on General Hooker's staff. This duty he performed, and the crossing by the army was successful. The following day (May 3d) he received notice of the acceptance of his resignation (which had been sent in about the 1st April), and, with a reluctant heart, sheathed his sword and resumed the weapons of the law.
On returning to his home, he again pursued the practice of his profession, in partnership with the late Grenville F. Jenks, Esq. Ex-Judge James Emott and Hon. Joshua M. Van Cott afterwards became members of the firm. Their business was large and prosperous. Among the cases in which they were employed, were that of Mrs. Gaines, the widow of General E. V. Gaines, and several capital cases of great interest.
In the summer of 1865, General Pratt was appointed by Presi- dent Johnson to the office of Collector of Internal Revenue, which he held until March 4th, 1866. He continued thenceforth in the active practice of law until 1869, when he was elected, we may say, by the common consent of the whole community, and of the Bar, as a judge of the Supreme Court of the Second District. He received the rare honor of a nomination by both political parties, and was elected without opposition. His term expired in 1877, when he was selected for a term of four- teen years with the like expression of respect, confidence and approval, for he again received an unanimous nomination by both the Democratic and Republican parties. The satisfaction which he has given and the ability which he has shown dur- ing his fourteen years' service as a judge, could not be more fully vouched.
His experience and service at nisi prius exceed, perhaps, that of any other judge. He has, it is believed, presided at more jury trials than any other judge in this country (unless, possibly, Judge Van Brunt of New York ) has done, having been constantly engaged during the last fourteen years in holding circuit until January, 1883, when he took his seat at General Term, pursuant to assignment by Governor Cornell. The "causes celebre" tried before him have been too numerous for mention here. Among them, was the remarkable case of Rubenstein, convicted of murder in 1875, in which Judge Pratt's charge to the jury, delivered without note, or reference to the testimony on the trial, which lasted several days, was decided by lawyers as a
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model of lucid statement, and of exposition of the law as regards circumstantial evidence.
His service during this period was not exclusively on jury trials. He sat in a great number of important equity cases, and from time to time at the General Term. His opinions are con- tained in the volumes of reports, and constitute a part of the record of his life.
The boldest, if not the best, act of his judicial life was that of granting a stay of proceedings in the case of Foster, convicted of murder in 18 -. Popular opinion, popular clamor, and ths public press were unanimous, excited, vehement, in call- ing for the execution of the culprit-against "the law's delay " of an appeal to the Court of Appeals-therefore against the stay of proceedings necessary to effect the appeal. But Judge Pratt, with whom it was discretionary, deemed it, under the circum- stances, the prisoner's right, and therefore his own duty, that the stay should be granted. To make the order was to defy all the potent influences we have named, but he did not hesitate, and, with characteristic courage, and the like boldness which marked his action in the field, he made the stay. From one end of the country to the other, his action was denounced. Threatening letters poured in upon him. Even the pulpit up- braided him. But justice held its even course, and the calm dignity and power of the law and the rights even of the guilty were vindicated. The Court of Appeals, in its opinion confirm- ing the conviction of the prisoner, expressed its strong ap- proval of Judge Pratt's action in granting the stay, which it held to bs eminently proper and right. Fickle popular opinion soon reacted and changed its direction, and before the day fixed for Foster's execution, the most prominent lawyers, many ministers, and a multitude of others made urgent appeals to Governor Dix for executive clemency; and, to cap the climax, the succeeding Legislature amended the law, so as to prevent another conviction in like cases.
In the beginning of this sketch, we intimated that we should refrain from commendations of its subject, but we may be pardoned if, in closing it, we cite the words of one of Judge Pratt's political opponents, who (at the Republican Convention which nominated him for re-election in 1877) described him as "a judge who, in administering his high office, has held the acales with even hand, has been absolutely impartial, and known no favorites, who has been diligent and efficient in ths despatch of business, who has brought to the performance of his duties clearness and strength of mind, muscular common senas, patience in listening to cases, laborious study, sound judgment and uprightness, and who, by his dignity, courtesy and kindness, has secured the respect and attachment of the Bar."
Such has been the career of Judge Pratt as lawyer, soldier and on the Bench; and such is the esteem in which he is held in this community.
LUCIEN BIRDSEYE.
LUCIEN BIRDSEYE was born at Pompey, Onondaga County, N. Y., October 10th, 1821. His father, the late Hon. VICTORY BIRDSEYE, was a historic character of central, and we may well say of the State of New York; a native of Cornwall, Connecticut; born December 25th, 1782; the descendant of the most prominent family of his native State.
The unusual name of Victory came into the family by an interesting incident.
Ons of Mr. Birdseye's maternal ancestors, when a young infant, was brought by its parents one Sunday morning, in September, 1759, to the church to receive the rite of baptism; this was in one of the most exposed settlements of the Colony of New Haven, Connecticut, during what is known as the French and Indian war.
Upon the success of the English depended the safety of the
little settlement from the tomahawk of the Indian. Hardly had the pastor and people gathered at the little church, when a horseman, bearing a white flag and shouting "Victory! victory! victory!" halted at the church door. In a moment the con- gregation were on their feet, and the glorious news of the victory of the English on the heights of Abraham, on the 13th of September, was announced. The French and Indians had been defeated, and all danger from a murderous attack on the colonists was at an end. General Wolfe, the glorious commander of the English, had fallen, but he died victorious.
The congregation caught up the cry, and the words " Victory! victory!" resounded through the church. When quiet was restored the child was brought forward for baptism. The aged minister, still excited by the glorious news, probably forgetting the name of the child, dipped his hand in the water and laying it on the forehead of the child, said, with impressive fervency, "Victory, I baptize thee, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Henceforth, the name of Victory became a family name, and was highly honored by the distinguished lawyer, Victory Birdseye, to whom we have referred.
He prepared for college partly at the grammar school at Cornwall, Connecticut, and at Lansingburgh, New York. In September, 1800, he entered Williams College, Massachusetts, from whence, on September 4th, 1804, he was graduated. Among his classmates were Luther Bradish, Robert and Henry D. Sedgwick. In the class of 1803 were the Hon. Samuel R. Betts and Daniel Mosley, afterwards so prominent in the judicial history of New York.
As he had decided upon entering the legal profession, he went to Lansingburgh, and became a law student in the office of his maternal uncle, Gideon Tomlinson, a prominent lawyer of that place. His industry and acumen as a student attracted the attention of the members of the Bar, who did not hesitate to express a decided opinion that he was to be successful as a lawyer. Victory Birdseye was admitted as an attorney of the New York Supreme Court, February 12th, 1807, and took the degree of counselor at law, February 15th, 1810.
In June, 1807, he became a resident of Pompey, Onondaga County, New York. In October, 1813, he married Miss Electa Beebee, of Onondaga Hill. Possessing those qualities which admirably capacited him for the legal profession, he entered ardently and successfully into practice. About the time Mr. Birdseye settled at Pompey, that powerful legal gladiator, B. Davis Noxon, so well known in the legal history of Central and Western New York, settled at Marcellus, Onondaga County, and became one of Mr. Birdseye's rivals at the Bar, but the rivalry between the young lawyers was generous and high-toned; each seemed to rejoice in the other's success, and both made their way to the front rank of the profession. Mr. Birdseye was a man who, without any apparent effort, was always a favorite with the people, and always receiving evidence of their confi- dence, personal, political and professional.
In November, 1814, he was elected to Congress, serving from March 4th, 1815, to March 4th, 1817.
He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1821, which formed the second Constitution of the State. He was a member of the Assembly for 1823, and of the State Senate during the years 1827-28. He was again elected member of Assembly in 1838 and 1840, and was elected to the 27th Congress in November, 1840; he occupied a seat in that body from March 1841-43. As a legislator, he took a high and responsible posi- tion, wielding influence as a strong, cogent and versatile debater; as a quick-sighted, sagacious and energetic member of com- mittees. Few men were more thoroughly esteemed and honored at home than Mr. Birdseye; this is evidenced by many pleasing illustrations. He was for many years postmaster; Master in Chancery for several years; in 1818 he was appointed District Attorney of Onondaga County, discharging the duties of that important office for about fifteen years. Time or space will not
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permit us to detail but a small part of the history of this eminent and highly esteemed lawyer; esteemed as few men have ever been. His long, distinguished and useful life came suddenly to a close.
On the evening of September 15th, 1853, he retired in his usual health, and sometime during the night his spirit peace- fully passed away. Such was the father of Lucien Birdseye. The truthful and faithful historian can find no better subject for his pen; the life of the distinguished father should form a part of that of his eminent son.
LUCIEN BIRDSEYE, the real character of this sketch, with the example of such a father before him, entered life under auspicious circumstances. He prepared for college at the Pompey Academy, and entered Yale in October, 1837, graduating August 16th, 1841. A singular incident connected with the class of 1841, is the fact that it has furnished four judges of the Su- preme Court of the State-Gilbert Dean, Lucien Birdseye, and Joseph F. Barnard, of the Second District; and Wm. L. Larned, of the Third District.
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