USA > New York > Dutchess County > The history of Dutchess County, New York > Part 16
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detain me, wished to conduct me himself in his barge to the other side of the river. We landed at 'Fishkill Landing Place,' to take the road on the east which travellers prefer to that on the west. Arriving at the river bank, I parted from the General, but he insisted that Colonel Smith should accompany me as far as 'Pokepsie' The road which leads to that village passes sufficiently near to Fish- kill, which you leave upon your right. From there you travel upon the high land, where the view is beautiful and extended; and traversing the township which they call 'Middlebrook,' you arrive at the Creek and the 'Fall' of 'Wapping.' There I stopped some moments to take in, under different points of view, the charming landscape which that stream forms, as much by its cascade, which is rushing and picturesque, as by the groups of trees and of rocks, which united with the saw mills and other mills made a picture most pleasing and agreeable.
It was not yet half past three o'clock when I arrived at Pokepsie. Although I had the intention to sleep there, yet having found that the Court of Sessions was assembled there and that all the taverns were full, I took advantage of the little of the day that remained for me to reach an Inn, which someone told me of, three miles further on.
Colonel Smith who had business at Pokepsie stayed there and I thought myself very happy to find myself again that night with my two Aides de Camp. In truth it was always a new pleasure for me, when free by ourselves, and in per- fect liberty, we could render to ourselves a mutual account of the impressions which so many different objects had left upon us.
I regretted only not to have seen Governor Clinton, for whom I had some let- ters of introduction. He is a man who governs with all the vigor and firmness possible, inexorable toward the Tories, whom he makes tremble although they are in great number. He has been able to maintain in loyalty that vast province of which one end borders on Canada and the other the City of New York. He was then at Pokepsie, but occupied by the Court of Sessions. Besides, Saratoga and the different fields of battle of Burgoyne were henceforth the sole object of my trip. I tried always to advance in the hope that the snows would not prevent me and render the roads impracticable. Arriving at 'Pride's Tavern, I put some questions to my host upon the probable signs which he found for the continuation of good weather, and perceiving that he was a good farmer I asked him about agriculture and I learned the following details. The land is very fertile in the County of the Duchesse ('Dutchess County'), of which Pokepsie is the capital, as much so as in the State of New York; but they let it remain fallow one out of two or three years, less from necessity than because they have always more land than they can cultivate. They sow upon an acre of land only a bushel of wheat, at the most, and the sowing yields 20 and 25 for one. Certain farmers sow oats, on the land which has borne corn the year before, but more often that kind of grain is reserved for land newly cleared.
Flax is also a quite considerable object of culture. They plough with horses, and they harness three or four to one plough, sometimes even a greater number, when it is necessary to break up new ground, or that which has for a long time lain fallow.
Mr. Pride informed me of these details, and made me hope for good weather
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for the next day. I went to bed perfectly satisfied with him, and his prognosti- cations. Nevertheless in the morning when I awoke I saw the land already all white with snow, which continued to fall in abundance, mixed with hail. What should I do under such circumstances? That for which I decided without hesita- tion. It was to continue my journey, as if it were pleasant, and only to breakfast
little more heartily than I would have done otherwise. That which caused the most annoyance was the snow, or rather the hail, which struck me in the eyes, and prevented me from seeing the country. As far as I was able to judge, I found it beautiful and well cultivated. After I had gone nearly ten miles, I crossed the township of 'Strasbourg,' which the inhabitants of the country called 'Stratts- borough.' That township is five or six miles long, yet the houses are not at a distance from each other. When I saw one sufficiently fair looking and attractive, the proprietor came out, without doubt from curiosity, and asked me in French, if I would dismount from my horse, enter his house and dine with him. Nothing was more tempting, because of the bad weather, than such a proposition, but also nothing is more cruel when one has taken shelter than to leave a second time the corner of the fire, to expose oneself anew to the cold and to the snow. I there- fore refused the dinner which the polite man offered me, but I did not refuse to answer the questions which he put to me. On my side I asked him if he had seen some French officers pass. I would speak of the Vicomte de Noailles, Comte de Damas and Chevalier de Mauduit, who having with them three or four servants and six or seven horses would have been remarked upon the road. My Hollander, for I have since learned that he was called Mr. LeRoy and that he was a Hol- lander, born in Europe and knew France, where he had lived some time- My Hollander answered then as a man who knew France and who spoke French: 'Monsieur, it is very true that M. le Prince de Conty has passed here this after- noon with two other officers going to Albany.' I did not know whether it should be to the Vicomte de Noailles or to the Comte de Dames that I should pay my respects for his Princeship, but as they are both my cousins, I answered very truly that my cousin having wished to take the advance, I was glad to know at what hour he had passed and when I should be able to join him; so that, if Mr. LeRoy consulted his Almanach, as I have no doubt he did, he will conclude that I was the Duke of Orleans or the Duke of Chartres, that which would seem all the more probable, as I had nine horses with me, while the Prince de Conty, a little further removed from the Crown, had only seven. As soon as you leave Strasbourg, you enter the township of 'Rhynbeck.' It is useless to remark that all these names disclose the German origin. At Rhynbeck, no one leaves his house to ask me to dinner, but the snow mixed with hail was so cold, and I was so fatigued keeping up my horse upon the ice, that I should have stopped at that place even if I had not been invited by the good appearance of the Inn, called 'Thomas' Inn.' Although it was only half past two o'clock, seeing that I had so far made twenty-three miles, that the house was good, the fire well lighted and the pro- prietor a big man of good mien, a hunter, a horse merchant and disposed to talk, I decided, according to the English expression, to 'dispense with' the rest of my journey.
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Here is all that I learned from the most interesting part of my conversation with Mr. Thomas:
In time of peace he carried on a large trade in horses, which he bought in Canada and which he sent to New York to transport them to the West Indies. It is nearly unbelievable with what ease one carries on that trade in Winter. He assured me that at one time he had taken only fifteen days to go to Montreal and in driving back seventy-five horses which he had bought. The reason is that one travels straight across Lake George upon the ice, and the wilderness which is between that lake and Montreal upon the snow. The horses of Canada travel usually eighteen or twenty hours a day, and two or three mounted men are enough to drive a hundred before them. 'I am the man,' added Mr. Thomas, 'who made, or rather who reestablished the fortunes of that scoundrel Arnold. He had badly conducted his affairs in the small business that he had carried on in New Haven. I per- suaded him to buy some horses in Canada and to go and sell them himself in Jamaica. That one speculation sufficed to pay his debts and to put him afloat.'
After we had talked commerce, we talked agriculture. He told me that all the land about Rhynbeck was of extreme fertility, and that for one bushel of wheat that is sown, they gather thirty and forty bushels. The wheat is so abundant that they did not take the trouble to reap it, but they mowed it like hay. Certain dogs of a beautiful breed, which were running about revived my passion for the chase. I asked Mr. Thomas what use he made of them. He told me that they were used only to chase the fox. That roebucks, deer and bears were sufficiently common in the country, but that they killed them only in Winter, either by follow- ing their tracks in the snow or by drawing the woods. Every American conver- sation is apt to finish with politics. The politics of Mr. Thomas were a little bit doubtful. He was very rich and he complained too much about the supplies of flour he had to furnish for the Army, for him to appear to me to be a good Whig. Nevertheless he held himself out as such; but I observed that he was very much attached to an opinion which I have found spread throughout the State of New York. It is that there is no expedition more useful and more easy than the conquest of Canada. The reason of it is that their country is so fertile and so happily placed for commerce that they are sure to become rich, provided they have nothing to fear from the savages, but the savages are only redoubtable be- cause they are backed up and inspired by the English.
The 23rd (December, 1780,) I left the Thomas Inn at eight o'clock in the morn- ing and travelled for three hours, always in the district of Livingston (Livingston Manor). The road is beautiful and the country rich and well cultivated. You go through many quite considerable hamlets. The houses are fine and commodious, and everything there announces prosperity. In leaving that district you enter into that of Claverack, where you descend the mountains and approach the Hud- son River."
Two years afterwards, in 1782, the Marquis, on his way from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania, again passed through the lower part of the County of Dutchess. He says:
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TRAVELS THROUGH DUTCHESS COUNTY.
"The 4th (December) I departed (from Litchfield, Connecticut,) at half past eight in the morning. I stopped at Washington, after I had admired once again the picturesque tableau which the two falls and the two mills presented, which you find half way on the road between Litchfield and Washington. It was not with- out much pleasure that I observed the great change which two years had pro- duced in a country that before was wild and savage.
When I passed that way two years ago there was only a bad public-house. At the present time one can choose between four or five Inns, all fit and habitable. That of 'Morgan' passed for the present for the better, but a mistake caused me to alight at another, which I think was not less good. This is so because the war, by stopping the growth of commerce, has been advantageous to the interior of the country. It has not only forced many traders to leave the coasts and to seek peaceful habitations among the mountains, but it has forced commerce to resort to land transportation, and to frequent the roads, which before people made only a little use of.
I arrived at 'Moor House's Tavern' about five o'clock in the afternoon. This time, as I crossed the river at 'Bull's Works,' stopping again to behold that beau- tiful scene, I was convinced that I had not made too great an eulogy upon it in my first journal.
The river, which was swollen from the thaw, was itself more imposing in its cataract, but they had let a charcoal pit tumble down, and that made the view of the mills less pleasing. On this occasion, I had no reason to praise the Inn of Moor House. The Colonel, who had given it his name, kept it no longer, but had conveyed it to his son, who was absent, so that there were only some women in the house. M. Dillon, who had gone a little in advance, had all the trouble in the world to make them kill some chickens. Our supper was poor, and after it was finished and we had withdrawn to the chimney corner, we saw the women, to the number of four, seat themselves at the table in our places, and eat the rest of our supper, with an American dragoon, who was stationed there. This caused us some anxiety on account of our men. We learned afterwards that the women had left them only a very little portion of the supper."
Two of the women in the house were young girls, refugees from the Wyoming massacre, and they gave to the Marquis of Chastellux a very interesting account of their escape, all of which he sets forth in his journal.
"On the 5th, I leave at 9 o'clock, and go straight to Fishkill, where I arrive at half past two, after I had made twenty-four miles over very bad roads.
I alighted at the Tavern of Mr. 'Boerom,' which I recognized was the same where I had lodged two years before, and which was kept then by Madam Egremont. I found the house changed to its advantage, and had a very good dinner. I crossed the North River at night-fall and arrived at six o'clock in 'Newborough' where I found Madame Washington, Colonel Tighman, Colonel Humphreys and Major Walker.
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The headquarters at Newborough consist of a single house, and that house is constructed in the Holland style. It is neither large nor commodious. The larg- est room which it contains is that where the family of the proprietor lives and which General Washington made his dining room. It is, to be sure, sufficiently spacious, but it has seven doors and only one window. The chimney, or to speak more correctly, the back of the chimney, is against the wall, so that there is in fact only a flue of a chimney, and the fire is in the room itself. On arriving I found the company assembled in a rather small room which served for a parlor."
The Marquis goes on to recount a very pleasant visit with Wash- ington and the officers whom he met at the Colonel Jonathan Has- brouck house, Washington Headquarters at Newburgh.
On the 7th of December, 1782, he took his leave of Washington and proceeded on his journey to Philadelphia.
-
I. D. Budd.
SAMatthieu, Publisher.
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DUTCHESS COUNTY IN THE REBELLION.
CHAPTER XIV.
DUTCHESS COUNTY IN THE REBELLION.
N the Civil war of 1861-'65 the people of this county proved them- selves worthy representatives of a heroic ancestry. In all the larger towns meetings were held immediately upon the fall of Fort Sumter. Men and money were freely tendered for the defense of the Union. Enlistments commenced forthwith, and the action of the citizens was everywhere prompt and enthusiastic. At a later period when it became necessary to raise large sums to fill the several quotas, these were voted without hesitation. 1
On the 16th of April, 1861, meetings of the officers of the 21st Regiment and the American Citizens' Corps were held to put those organizations on a war footing and prepare them for any emergency. Within a few days from the issuance of the Governor's call on the 18th of April, companies were raised and organized in many of the towns of the county, and united with various regimental organizations. Many joined the 20th Regiment, which was raised at Kingston. Com- pany A of this Regiment, commanded by Captain James Smith, was raised in Poughkeepsie. Theodore Van Kleeck was sergeant-major of this Regiment, and Dr. Robert K. Tuthill went as assistant sur- geon. Others united with the 30th Regiment, forming Company E, commanded by Captain Harrison Holliday. Eleven battlefields wit- nessed the devotion to the Union of the 30th Regiment. In the battle at Gainesville and second Bull Run, the Poughkeepsie company lost its captain, and the Regiment its colonel.
Company I of the 74th Regiment was raised in Poughkeepsie in the summer of 1861, by Captain Arthur Wilkinson; and in Septem- ber of the same year 135 men were enlisted in the county by Lieut. Broom for Col. Ramsey's Regiment, then stationed at Dobb's Ferry. About the same time, Edward Titus, of Little Rest, in the town of Washington, was authorized by Col. De Forest to recruit a company of cavalry ; fifty-five men, mostly from the interior and eastern part
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of the town, were accepted, and joined the Ira Harris Guard then rendezvoused in New York. August 19, 1861, Pawling sent six young men to the "People's Elsworth Regiment" at Albany. In the same month a company was raised at Fishkill Landing to join the 19th Regiment, whose headquarters were then at Newburgh. Nearly an entire company of the Washington Greys, recruited from the towns of Stanford, Pine Plains and Clinton, under command of Col. Henry Moore, joined the 47th Regiment in New York the latter part of August. In September, 1861, a recruiting office was opened at the corner of Main and Bridge Streets, Poughkeepsie, by Captain Charles Bohrer, who recruited twenty-eight men for the Morgan Rifles, com- posed entirely of Germans, and commanded by Col. Andrew Leutz. Thirty men were enlisted by William H. Wheeler for Captain Crom- well's company of the First New York State Cavalry. They left Poughkeepsie for the encampment at Troy on the 24th of September.
Thus the bone and sinew of the yeomanry of Dutchess County were represented in detached fragments in these and various other military organizations, exceeding in the aggregate a thousand men, who re- sponded to the President's first call for troops.
The prospects of an early peace in the spring of 1862 induced the government to suspend the organization of new regiments; but on the 2d of July of that year, the President realizing the severe losses sustained by the federal armies in recent campaigns, issued a call for an additional 300,000 men, to serve for three years or during the war. New York's quota was 59,705 men, and to facilitate the labor of rais- ing them the State was divided into military districts corresponding with the senatorial districts. Dutchess and Columbia counties formed the 11th district, in which the raising of a regiment was authorized, and Tivoli was designated as the regimental camp. Hon. William Kelly of Rhinebeck was appointed chairman of a joint committee from the two counties, which met at Poughkeepsie July 17, 1862, when it was resolved to request the Governor to change the camp for this district from Tivoli to Hudson. The change was authorized July 25, 1862. Early in August more than a thousand men were rendesvoused in Camp Kelly at Hudson, and the organization of the district regi- ment, designated the 128th, was soon completed, with the following officers from Dutchess: Lt. Col. James Smith, Poughkeepsie; Quar- termaster, Alexander Annan, Fishkill; First Asst. Surgeon, C. H.
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Andrus, Poughkeepsie; Commissary Sergeant, E. Angustus Brett, Fishkill ; Quartermaster Sergeant, George S. Drake, Amenia; Ordi- nance Sergeant, John Matthews, Jr., Matteawan; Color Sergeant, James M. Braley, Rhinebeck. Companies B, C, D, F, H, and I were raised in this county. September 4, 1862, the regiment was mus- tered for three years.
The 128th bore a conspicuous part in the movements in Louisiana, comprising a part of the second brigade of Sherman's division. In the assault on the rebel works at Port Hudson, near Baton Rouge, May 27, 1863, this regiment lost twenty in killed, and seventy-nine in wounded. In 1864 the regiment was sent to the Shenandoah Val- ley, participating in the brilliant engagements which distinguished their intrepid commander, Sheridan.
The 128th was mustered out in Savannah, July 12, 1865, and sent to Albany to be paid off. The regiment went out with 993 men and returned with only five hundred. Their return was appropriately welcomed by the towns from which the several companies went.
THE DUTCHESS COUNTY REGIMENT-150th.1
In response to a resolution passed by the district war committee, the Board of Supervisors met August 22nd, 1862, and adopted meas- ures for the raising of a Dutchess County Regiment, so that the county's full quota of troops could be raised without a draft. After obtaining the required permission from the Governor, the war com- mittee on the 26th of August, selected Hon. John H. Ketcham for Colonel of this regiment, Alfred B. Smith for Major, George R. Gay- lord for Quartermaster and William Thompson for Adjutant. The regiment was designated the 150th, and recruiting offices were opened by Joseph H. Cogswell, Robert McConnell, Henry A. Gildersleeve, William R. Woodin, Andrus Brant, John Green, Edward Wickes, Edward Crummey, Benjamin S. Broas and John S. Schofield. As soon as eighty men were enrolled by any one of these gentlemen, he went to Albany and received his commission as Captain; the com- panies receiving their alphabetical designation, commencing with A in the order in which their respective Captains were commissioned.
1. A history of the Dutchess County Regiment, edited by S. G. Cook, M. D., and Charles E. Benton, published in 1907, contains a detailed and interesting account of the organiza- tion of the 150th, and its participation in the various campaigns ; also a complete roster of the regiment.
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Platte M. Thorne of Company H filled the place of Edward Crummey, who had recruited the company for him. The regimental camp was located at Poughkeepsie, just north of the old Alms House farm, and was named "Camp Dutchess." At this camp on Saturday, October 11th, 1862, the 150th was mustered into the service of the United States for three years, and that night left for Baltimore, where the regiment was stationed until June 25th, 1863.
The part borne by the 150th in the battle of Gettysburg may be briefly told. It arrived on the field of Gettysburg between 4 and 5 o'clock on the morning of July 2d, 1863, and was assigned to the 2d brigade, first division, of the 12th corps. It was held in reserve until the afternoon of that day, when, with the first division of its corps, it was marched to the support of Gen. Sickles, who had in- judiciously posted his forces in an untenable position and was forced back with the loss of half his troops to the position originally de- signed for him by Gen. Meade. The 150th returned during the night to the position of the 12th corps, on the extreme right of the National line, at the barb of the hook formed by Cemetery Ridge, on the crest of which from Culp's Hill to Round Top, Meade's army was posted. While the contest for the possession of Little Round Top was in progress, Ewell, who had discovered that Culp's Hill was weakly defended, from the withdrawal of troops from Slocum's command to the left of the line, made a vigorous attack late in the afternoon and succeeded in getting a foothold within the exterior entrenchment, but was dislodged at the point of the bayonet early the next morning. This was the first actual fighting in which the 150th regiment en- gaged. Its casualties were 8 killed and 23 wounded. Some 200 of the rebels surrendered to it.
The regiment then joined in Meade's pursuit of Lee's army, march- ing and countermarching until August 1st, when it crossed the Rappahannock at Kelly's Ford, and supported as skirmishers the cavalry, who drove the enemy. During the month of August the regiment lay in camp and many of the men were sick with acclimating fever. There were 250 cases in the hospital with typhoid and malarial fever.
Late in September the 150th was transferred to the army of the Cumberland. In April of '64 it participated in the battle of Resaca, where one officer and eight men were wounded. During the Atlanta
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campaign, in which it was next engaged, the casualties of the 150th where 1 officer and 18 men killed; 4 officers and 83 men wounded. In Sherman's memorable march from Atlanta to the sea, the Dutchess County Regiment was a part of the first division of the 20th Army Corps. They left Atlanta November 15th, 1864, and arrived at Savannah just one month later. In a skirmish on Argyle Island, near Savannah, December 20th, 1864, Col. Ketcham was seriously wounded, and was unable to join his command again in active cam- paign service. While at Atlanta, he had been promoted to be Brigadier-General by Brevet, and subsequently for conspicuous bravery, to the rank of Brevet Major-General.
The 150th was discharged from the United States service, June 8, 1865, near Washington, D. C., and June 12th was formally wel- comed home by a public celebration in Poughkeepsie.
The following is a list of the forty-seven members of the Dutchess County Regiment who were killed in battle, or died from wounds re- ceived in battle, arranged by companies and in order of occurrence. In addition to this list of fatal casualties, sixty-one deaths occurred from disease.
COMPANY A-John Van Alstyne, killed at Gettysburg, Pa., July 3, 1863. Charles Howgate, killed at Gettysburg, Pa., July 3, 1863. Levi Rust, killed at Gettysburg, Pa., July 3, 1863. John P. Wing, killed at Gettysburg, Pa., July 3, 1863. Henry L. Stone, killed near Marietta, Ga., June 11, 1864. Henry C. Winans, wounded near Pine Hills, Ga., June 11, 1864, and died in Nashville Hospital July 12, 1864. First Lieutenant Henry Gridley, killed in action at Culp's Farm, Ga., June 22, 1864. John Hart, killed on picket near Marietta, Ga., June 24, 1864. Willis D. Chamberlain, killed in front of Atlanta, Ga., August 23, 1864. John Cass, killed at Averasboro, N. C., March 17, 1865.
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