USA > New York > The history of the Forty-eighth regiment New York state volunteers, in the war for the union. 1861-1865 > Part 17
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From our first chaplain, the Rev. Dr. W. P. Strickland, there has been received a longer account of his services. He says that one day he ---
" was in company with Colonel Perry, who said to me, 'I have many applications for the chaplaincy of my regiment, but I want you for that post.' My son being one of his captains was urged as an additional reason why I should join the Forty-eighth ; and I was appointed chaplain by Colonel Perry, and at once entered upon my duties, preaching every Sunday to the regiment stationed at Camp Wyman, and offering prayers at dress-parade. My commission bears date December 14, 1861. although I entered the service earlier. Some of the commissioned officers and quite a number of the men were members of the church, which circumstance gave the regiment the name of ' Perry's Saints.' I visited the sick, and distributed papers and reli- gious books and tracts in the tents. While at Dawfuskie Island I had
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a place prepared for holding meetings in the woods. A rude pulpit was made, and the regiment sat around on the grass and leaves. Those who refused to attend were formed in a company and roughly exer- cised in the double-quick. I thought there was more sin in this than in not attending meeting, though the army regulations required at- tendance at religious worship. Afterwards, at Fort Pulaski, as there was quite a number of Roman Catholics in the regiment, who were forbidden by their church to attend Protestant worship, I succeeded in having them excused. I wrote to Archbishop Hughes of New York, requesting him to send me a priest, promising to take him into my casemate, and afford him every facility for ministering to his brethren. In reply, he thanked me for this kind feeling, but could not comply with my request, as the regiment was in the diocese of the Bishop of Savannah. When the Catholics learned of my interest in their behalf the most of them afterwards attended worship.
" A casemate was assigned me for meetings in the fort, which we held every night, except Saturday, which was set apart for temperance meetings. A Sunday-school was organized, with five teachers and sixty scholars ; also one for the contrabands, with a hundred scholars. I also organized a church, and appointed exhorters and class-leaders. On Sunday, the casemate being too small, I preached on the terre- plein. I also formed a class at the Martello Tower, and one for the colored people at the Sky Lark House, near the dock. I never wit- nessed more interesting meetings than some we held in the casemate, and witnessed several conversions. I also visited the hospitals daily, prayed with the sick, and gave a word of exhortation. Many who say that the chaplaincy is a sinecure know not of what they affirm. While I was absent at home on a furlough Colonel Perry was suddenly called to another world. When I returned 1 improved the occasion by a sermon in commemoration, in which I admonished his fellow-officers and men 'to be also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.'
"General Mitchel was ordered to succeed General Hunter. When I met him on the drago, having previously known him in Cincinnati, I said to him, ' What brought you here, General?' He replied, ' I came here to be buried.' Whether he meant this remark as figurative or literal I know not, but it signally proved to be the latter. One morn- ing I was surprised to learn from the signal officer that General Mitchel had ordered Colonel Barton to send me at once by the steamer to Beaufort. Many were the surmises in regard to this order. Though one or both of General Mit her's sons had died of yellow fever, they thought it strange, having so many chaplains around him, he should send for me. The officers objected to my going, not only on my own
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account, but the danger of my bringing the fever to the fort. I said I would obey orders if I took the fever and died ; but I had no fear, as the path of duty is the only path of safety.
"On entering General Mitchel's room he beckoned me to come to his side, and, taking my hand, requested me to offer prayer. He said the religion which he had professed for thirty years sustained him in that hour. When he became so ill that he lost the power of speech, he raised his left arm and pointed with his index-finger to the skies. Then letting it fall gently, he raised his right arm, and, pointing up- ward, closed his eyes and fell asleep. He must have had a vision be- yond the stars more glorious than any he had seen through his great telescope at Mount Adams. I preached a funeral discourse and read the burial-service at the church and grave. On my return I repeated the sermon in the fort at the request of Colonel Barton. It was after- ward published in the Christian Advocate of New York. I remained with the regiment until my wife became dangerously ill, when I re- signed. She died shortly after I came home.
"Thus I have given you a few incidents of my life in the service. My diary, which I kept. contains incidents enough to fill a volume; but I trust the above short sketch will be all that is necessary for your pur- pose. God bless you in your work.
" Yours truly, W. P. STRICKLAND."
Chaplain Strickland died in July, 1884, at Ocean Grove, N. J.
The first surgeon of the regiment was Joseph L. Mulford, M.D .: he was practising medicine at Matawan, N. J., when the war broke out ; he enlisted with the Forty-eighth New York. and was commissioned surgeon in October, 1861, to rank from the preceding 5th of September. He was with the regiment on the Port Royal expedition, and indeed through- out its career, until the fall of '64. Often he was assigned to the staff of brigade commanders, and at one time he was
division surgeon. He was especially skilful in surgical operations, and the most of our desperately wounded men at Morris Island and at Fort Wagner came under his kindly care. He was engaged in operating upon and attending the wounded after the battle of Cold Harbor for four days and nights without rest ; indeed. after every battle the boys who had the misfortune to be wounded found relief at Surgeon Mulford's hand.
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In the fall of '64 he accepted a staff position, and was assigned to duty at the hospitals at the headquarters of the general army corps for the winter. In the succeeding May he was sent to New Berne, N. C., and placed in charge of the Foster General Hospital ; thence he was sent to Greensboro', N. C., receiving his final discharge August 25, 1865. While holding his staff position he was often in charge of steamers used for conveying the wounded to Hampton, Norfolk, and Washington,-among others the steamers Matilda, the Thomas Powell, and the George Wash- ington, operating day and night.
The foregoing brief record is a poor and inadequate ac- count of the great and invaluable service which Dr. Mulford rendered to the Forty-eighth Regiment. After the war he settled in New Brunswick, N. J., where he practised his profession successfully until 1880, when, his health fail- ing, he was given a contract as acting assistant-surgeon, and spent three years with the army in Texas. In the summer of 1883 he returned North with restored health, and is now (1885) practising his profession in New Brunswick, N. J., and in New York City.
Quartermaster Irving M. Avery, to whom the regiment owed so much, and whom all trusted and esteemed. stayed with us his full three years. He was attentive to all of our interests and unwearied in his care for us. Few regiments could boast of a Quartermaster so efficient, and none of one more popular. He now resides in Brooklyn, is hale and happy. and he and his good wife are still our valued friends.
The writer began this history with the sketch of its first Colonel. James H. Perry. How can he better close it than by a brief sketch of its last commander, WILLIAM B. COAN? Colonel Coan was born in Exeter, Penobscot County, Me., October 19, 1830. His grandfather, Captain Elisha Coan, was a Cape Cod sea-captain, who was taken prisoner and con- fined in England during the French spoliation. The Colo- nel's father. Abraham Coan, was also a native of Maine, and moved to Exeter in his eighteenth year. He married Mary
WILLIAM B. COAN,
THIRD COLONEL 48th, N. Y. S. VOLS.
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Abbott. The Colonel was the second son. the family consist- ing of six brothers and one sister. Only one brother, Captain Alonzo Coan of Boulder, Col., and the sister, Mrs. James R. Simpson, of Lawrence, Mass., survive. Colonel Coan went from Maine to New York when a boy, and at the outbreak of the war wasa partner in a restaurant on Chambers Street. He went to the front for thirty days with New York's famous Seventh Regiment. and returning, raised Company E for the Forty-eighth New York, and was commissioned its Captain. He served through the war from the first to the last, being one of the four original commissioned officers of the regi- ment who remained with it at its final discharge. He was three times wounded, once in the leg, once in the ear, and the third and most serious one, a scalp-wound, at Fort Fisher. He received repeated mention in official orders for gallantry of conduct in battle. No man ever doubted his bravery. After the war Colonel Coan settled in Lawrence, Mass., and engaged in the grocery business until his death, on January 28, 1877.
The Colonel was married, and leaves one son, William A. Coan. Colonel Coan was brave in battle, honest in his deal- ings, liberal-hearted, unassuming, and quick in his sensibili- ties. He wilfully wronged no man. His sense of honor was keen, and what he believed to be the right, that he did. The writer is indebted to his brother-in-law, Mr. J. R. Simpson, for the foregoing data. He had, however, seen Colonel Coan since the war, having called upon him at his store in Lawrence two or three times. His sudden and sad death was a great shock to all who loved him. His record is the record of his regiment ; whoever would know in what battles he participated, let them follow the fortunes of Company E and the Forty-eighth New York. He was a member of Post No. 39, G. A. R. of Massachusetts ; beyond that he belonged to no secret organizations. The survivors of the Forty-eighth Regiment will ever cherish the memory of their last commander, Colonel William Bloomfield Coan.
CHAPTER X. Sketches of the Companies.
COMPANY A.
BY GEO. W. BRUSH.
Company A, Forty-eighth Regiment, N. Y. S. Vols., was the first company of that regiment organized. Recruiting for it began on the 9th day of July, 1861. On that day Mr. B. R. Corwin of Brooklyn, who afterwards became the First Lieutenant of the company, opened an office in At- lantic Street at his own expense. These were not the days of thousand-dollar bounties, and the young men who signed the roll of the organization were actuated by no other mo- tive than that of patriotic love of their country and a firm resolve to stand by the old flag. With this end in view they obtained the promise from Colonel Perry that they should be the color company. Some of the first to join were originally from Huntington, Long Island, and vicinity, and their old friends at home. hearing of their enlistment, came down and cast in their lot with them, until about one quarter of the whole number were Huntington " boys."
Recruiting became so lively, and those already in were so active, that more than the required one hundred men were obtained, and about fifty men were assigned to other companies who were originally enlisted for Company A.
By the middle of August as fine a set of men as any officer could wish to command answered to the reveille roll-call at " Camp Wyman," near Fort Hamilton, and after the fatigue of the drill during the day, and the "left." "left," "left " of the drill-sergeant was over, as night came on, songs and earnest prayers might be heard in some of
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SKETCHES OF THE COMPANIES.
the tents, evincing the fact that these men, like Cromwell's, were soldiers of the cross. The blood of some of the best families of Brooklyn and vicinity was here, and proved itself in the work which the company did in the field afterward.
Louis H. Lent, a former member of the Seventh Regi- ment of New York, was appointed Captain of the company. This position was first offered to Mr. Corwin, but he de- clined, with the request that Mr. Lent should take it on account of his experience in the Seventh Regiment, Mr. Corwin accepting the First Lieutenancy, and Mr. A. H. Ferguson the Second Lieutenancy.
The following is the roll of non-commissioned officers as mustered into the service :
J. G. Hamil, First Sergeant.
Chas. Fox, Second Sergeant.
Robt. F. Mackellar, Third Sergeant.
William A. Corwin, Fourth Sergeant.
E. B. Spooner, Fifth Sergeant. William H. Conklin, First Corporal.
George W. Brush, Second Corporal. T. Jarvis Carman, Third Corporal. Geo. S. D. Vredenberg, Fourth Corporal.
Elliott B. Dupree, Fifth Corporal.
George D. Hunter, Sixthi Corporal.
William A. Powelson, Seventh Corporal. James Himrod, Eighth Corporal.
The company was mustered into the service August 19. IS61.
The first death was that of Solomon W. Price, at Hilton Head, who succumbed to a disease induced by the change of climate. The next was that of Corporal De Witt C. Dutcher, who walked overboard in his sleep from the deck of the steamer Winfield Scott when the regiment was on the way to Dawfuskie Island, and was drowned. John Brush died at Dawfuskie Island, S. C., in April, 1862. Never strong, he fell
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a victim to consumption, his death hastened by hardships en- dured while building the batteries upon Jones's Island. After this there was a lull in the death-call. The company did ser- vice in Fort Pulaski after its capture, and upon Tybee Island. Many of the boys who survive will remember the raid of some twenty of the company upon Dawfuskie Island for sweet potatoes and eggs, on New Year's Day, 1863, when these delicacies, purchased of the "darkies," formed the principal portion of the bill of fare. Rosebuds and choice flowers from the adjoining garden adorned the table, while tin plates and cups from Uncle Sam's crockery store filled out the picture, and a set of schoolboys on a lark never en- joyed a day more. On our way home we got into the surf on the bar, and came near being swamped, but beyond a great fright and a thorough wetting none were harmed.
Others will remember the "coon-hunt" on Tybee Island, and the " non-coms'" coon-stew dinner afterwards-relished as no dinner at Delmonico's has been since; the perform- ances of the Jam Club, who sang and often thought of " The Girl I left behind me :" these all helped to soften the sterner realities of camp-life. In the latter part of June the regi- ment was ordered to Folly Island, S. C., to aid in the siege of Charleston. Then the angel of death began to call his roll again. On the morning of July 10th, Captain Lent, while leading his company in the first assault on Morris Island, was shot and instantly killed. Andrew Foss and William H. Ferguson were also killed. On the 18th came the fearful and bloody assault upon Fort Wagner ; and here Lieutenant Fox, who had assumed command on the death of Captain Lent, was mortally wounded while leading the charge. Jesse G. Smith, T. J. Carman, and many others fell in this charge or were taken prisoners. On Sunday morning, July 19th, the day after the battle, only seventeen men (some of these men being wounded), in command of Sergeant Robert F. Mackellar, answered reveille roll-call. the others being either killed, wounded, or taken prisoners.
The company had previous to this time furnished a num-
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ber of commissioned officers for the new regiments formed under Father Abraham's call for " three hundred thousand more." Two or three had been commissioned in the colored regiments organized by General Hunter, so that now the company's ranks were sadly thinned.
From Morris Island we went to Florida, and a few months afterward came the battle of Olustee, which added others to the number of the slain. The company continued with the regiment to the last, participating in all its battles.
Of the original number who went out from Camp Wyman in 1861 there are now ( 1883) some fifteen survivors, mostly settled in Brooklyn, and they look back with pride and plea- sure upon the record of the company, and forward to the time when they shall join their comrades and answer the roll-call in the last grand muster, when the Great Captain shall say, " Well done."
The following is a list of the names of those promoted from the company :
B. R. Corwin. Major Thirty-fourth U. S. C. T.
A. H. Ferguson, Captain Forty-eighth N. Y. V.
John G. Hamel, Captain Thirty-fourth U. S. C. T.
Charles Fox, Second Lieutenant Forty-eighth N. Y. V. Robt. F. Mackellar, First Lieutenant Forty-eighth N. Y. V.
James Himrod, First Lieutenant Forty-eighth N. Y. V.
William H. Conant, Captain One Hundred and Twenty- seventh N. Y. V.
George W. Brush, Captain Thirty-fourth U. S. C. T.
D. B. Fletcher. Captain Forty-eighth N. Y. V.
Jos. M. Williams, Second Lieutenant Forty-eighth N. Y. V.
E. J. Barney, Second Lieutenant Forty-eighth N. Y. V.
G. K. Doughty, Second Lieutenant Forty-eighth N. Y. V.
William H. Conklin, Second Lieutenant Forty-eighth N. Y. V.
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FORTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT, N. Y. S. VOLS.
COMPANY B.
BY JAMES A. BARRETT.
Company B was mustered into the service at Camp Wy- man, near Fort Hamilton, N. Y., September 5, 1861, with the following officers :
Captain-Edmund R. Travis of Peekskill, N. Y.
First Lieutenant-Nere A. Elfwing of Sweden.
Second Lieutenant-Theo. C. Vidal of New York.
Captain Travis kept a country store in Peekskill before the war, and belonged to the " Jefferson Guards" of that place. He recruited about twenty men from Peekskill and vicin- ity, and as many more while in Camp Wyman. When the regiment left the State, Company B had only about forty men, while several other companies had over one hun- dred. At Annapolis, Md., all the companies were equalized, and Company B was filled up. Captain Travis served with credit with his company until August 30, 1862, when he resigned to accept a position as Major in the Sixth Regiment New York Heavy Artillery. He was afterwards promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel of that regiment.
First Lieutenant Nere A. Elfwing had seen service in his native country, and to his energy, discipline, and thorough military training the company was largely indebted for its future grand record, of which every Company B man has a right to be proud. Lieutenant Elfwing was skilled in the sword-exercise, and spent many an hour in teaching it to the officers of the regiment. He was promoted to Captain, Major, and Lieutenant-Colonel.
Second Lieutenant T. C. Vidal was detailed as Signal Officer, and rendered valuable service in that position, and was formally transferred to the Signal Corps in June, 1864. He was promoted to First Lieutenant and Captain in the regiment. but declined the latter commission, preferring that of First Lieutenant in the Signal Corps.
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SKETCHES OF THE COMPANIES.
COMPANY C.
BY HENRY ACKER.
Company C, Forty-eighth Regiment N. Y. S. Vols., was organized and recruited by Captain James Farrell of Brook- lyn ; First Lieutenant George Macardle, Brooklyn ; Second Lieutenant Townsend L. Hatfield, New York ; Orderly Ser- geant Henry Acker, Sergeants Harman C. Schultz, Sanford H. Frankenberg, John Vanderbilt, and Corporal Lorenzo Bond ; and was mustered into the U. S. service at Camp Wyman on the 10th day of September, 1861, and participa- ted in every engagement of the regiment. The company suffered its most severe loss at the assault on Fort Wagner, July 18, 1863, in which the brave and gallant Captain James Farrell and First Lieutenant Robert S. Edwards were killed while heroically leading the company in that terrible conflict. The Company also lost heavily at the battle of Olustee. Captain Moser was killed in action at Drewry's Bluff, and Lieutenant Ingraham at Cold Harbor.
Captain Joseph R. Taylor succeeded Captain Moser in command of the company, and after his discharge on ac- count of wounds, Captain A. H. Ferguson, formerly of Com- pany I, and who had been recommissioned, was assigned to Company C, and remained with it until it was mustered out of the service.
The casualties in Company C were larger than in any other company of the regiment. This fact speaks volumes for the gallantry and service rendered by it.
Six enlisted men became commissioned officers, as follows : Henry Acker. First Lieutenant Forty-eighth N. Y. V.
Harman C. Schultz, First Lieutenant Forty-eighth N.Y.V. Henry Lang, Captain Forty-eighth N. Y. V.
Jeremiah O'Brien, First Lieutenant Forty-eighth N. Y. V. Sidney A. Groser, Second Lieutenant One Hundred and Fortieth N. Y. V.
John P. Welch, Assistant Engineer U. S. Navy.
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FORTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT, N. Y. S. VOLS.
COMPANY D-" THE DIE-NO-MORES."
BY WM. J. CARLTON.
This company was organized by its first commandant, Captain D. C. Knowles, who, at the outbreak of the rebel- lion, was a teacher of languages in a seminary at Pennington, N. J., and a clergyman.
Under the impulse of duty and the stirrings of patriotism he early resolved to offer his services to the government should there be a call for volunteers, and began at once the study of military tactics, using for an imaginary company a set of chessmen ; and to acquire a knowledge of the rules of war and the regulations of the army.
The name and reputation of Colonel Perry attracted the attention of Captain Knowles, and he received from him authority to recruit a company for a regiment to be under the direct orders of the general government.
By circulars and personal appeals, some of them made at religious meetings, dressed in uniform, he soon had in camp at Fort Hamilton the nucleus of a company. Within a month the maximum number was enrolled, and several ad- ditional recruits were turned over to other companies.
The moral and social qualities of the men were far above the average. Several came from educational institutions. A majority were from the rural districts 'of New Jersey, and for this reason Company D was known as the " Jersey Com- pany," as well as the " Die-no-mores." This last sobriquet came from the refrain of the favorite song of some of its members, and clung to it long after the company had lost its reputation for piety.
From the first the company took a high rank in the regi- ment both for discipline and drill. Particular attention was given to these qualities by Captain Knowles, heartily aided by Lieutenants Paxson and Bodine. On the ground of merit it ranked equal to any company, and therefore was assigned to the left flank in regimental formation.
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SKETCHES OF THE COMPANIES.
Company D was a typical body of American volunteers in the best and truest sense-in intelligence, moral and physical worth. Its personnel compared favorably with the highest. None excelled it and few equalled it among the thousands of companies that followed the Union banner through the four years of the war.
The descriptive list of the company shows that of the eighty-seven officers and enlisted men remaining after the transfer of fifteen to Company B at Annapolis, to equalize the companies of the regiment, seventy-eight were American born, fifty-eight being natives of New Jersey. Forty-seven were farmers, twenty-three mechanics, nine teachers and students. and eight were engaged in mercantile pur- suits. The average age was twenty-one years and eight months, and the average height was five feet six and a half inches. Z. Sithen and J. M. Tantum were the tallest, and G. H. Richman, P. Parkin, and A. J. Palmer were the shortest in stature. R. R. Croasdale was the oldest and A. J. Palmer the youngest.
The record of the company shows that of the original eighty-seven, twenty were killed in action or died of wounds, four succumbed to disease in hospital, and two starved to death in rebel prisons. Fifteen were discharged for disease contracted in the service, or on account of wounds in battle. Seven were transferred to the Invalid and Reserve Corps. These casualties were fifty-five per centum of the whole number. Several additions might be properly included of those who received their discharge in hospital at the expira- tion of term of service, and thus increasing the percentage of casualties. Fifteen were discharged at the expiration of original term of enlistment, in September, 1864, and fifteen served until the regiment was mustered out after exactly four years of service. Twenty-eight re-enlisted and be- came " Veterans." Seven enlisted men became commis- sioned officers, and one was appointed a cadet at West Point Military Academy. One was promoted to non-com- missioned staff. Thirty-one received wounds not fatal,
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FORTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT, N. Y. S. LS.
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