To sacrifice, to suffer, and if need be, to die : a history of the thirty-fourth New York Regiment, Part 11

Author: Chapin, L. N. (Louis N.)
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Little Falls, NY : Galpin CWRT
Number of Pages: 218


USA > New York > To sacrifice, to suffer, and if need be, to die : a history of the thirty-fourth New York Regiment > Part 11


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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24


" We left the Thirty-fourth Regiment at Camp Mcclellan February 16, 1862, with nineteen besides myself, from the Thirty-fourth. There were 700 from the Army of the Potomac when we left Baltimore; and probably the roughest seven hundred men that were ever on one train. There were a great many killed going, and I have often thought how lucky I was to reach Cairo. On reaching there, I went on board the receiving-ship Moriah Denning. There I suffered. I had nothing to eat for three days. On the third day, Commodore Foote came on board, and picked out all the largest men for his Flagship Benton, taking me with the rest. We soon got under way for Island No. Ten. There I saw my first service in the navy. I volunteered to go in the night. with twelve others, and spike a battery on the shore above the Island. I received for my reward a rating from landsman, at twelve dollars a month, to shipsman, at forty-two dollars a month."


Comrade Bell took part in all the naval engagements, sanguinary in the extreme, occurring along that part of the Mississippi ; the battle of Fort Pillow, the battle in front of Memphis, when Van Dorn, with nine boats, met our fleet of five vessels, and got badly whipped ; eight of his nine vessels being sunk; the engagement at Fort White; the battle at Haine's Bluff, near Vicksburg, where the Union fleet stormed the batteries for three days ; next chasing the rebel ram Arkansas ; but bloodiest of all, the battle of Grand Gulf. He adds :


" History says that was the hardest stand-up fight during the war. We were five hours and a half, and never left until the enemy was silenced. Fifty-two were killed on the Flagship Benton, and eight wounded. General Grant, in his Personal Memoirs, says: 'When I went aboard the Flagship Benton I was heart-sickened.' Well he might be, for the blood was actually above the scupper holes.


"John P. Johnson, of Company H, and Edmund W. Ferris, of Company I. were with me on the Benton. Johnson rebelled, with some fifty more, and would not run the batteries of Vicksburg. They were sent to the Rip Raps Island. Ferris was discharged when I was. The rest of the boys went onto the Mortar Fleet. I saw some of them occasionally. Don't know whatever became of them."


SINCE THE WAR


M ANY are the inquiries that have been made, in regard to the whereabouts and fortunes of the old men, and particularly of the officers, since the war. We have done our best to answer these inquiries, with only fair success, as to the officers, and very poor success as to the rank and file. We give such biographical details as we have been able to obtain.


COLONEL WILLIAM LADEW.


Colonel Ladew was born in Ulster County, N. Y., on the 26th day of February, 1826. His education consisted of a course at a university in Saratoga, N. Y. His first venture into business transpired when he entered a tannery, under his father's supervision. Next, he built a tan- nery for the late Geo. B. Gillman at Monticello, Sullivan County, New York. Shortly after this he erected a tannery of his own in Gray, Herkimer County, New York, which he conducted until the war broke out. He was at this time colonel of the Thirty-eighth New York Militia. When the call came for volunteers, he was one of the first to offer his services to the cause. He remained in active service until fail- ing health compelled him to resign his commission. Following this event he took an active part in quelling the " New York Riot," which occurred about this time. He later resumed business at his tannery, and continued this work for several years. Later he was employed by the Government as a city contractor, in Washington, D. C. Just previous to his death, he was employed in carrying on contracts for the repairing of the New York City streets. He died in New York City on April 26. 1880.


COLONEL JAMES A. SUITER.


Colonel Suiter, who succeeded Colonel Ladew in command of the regiment, January 22, 1862, and was with, and in command of the regi- ment during the whole fighting period nearly of the regiment's history, was born in Herkimer, N. Y., on the 29th day of April, 1816; and in early life learned the trade of a saddle and harnessmaker, which busi- ness he still carries on. We believe he has resided in Herkimer almost, if not continuously, since his birth. He has been connected with the military forces of the state nearly all his life, having joined the old Lafayette Guards, under the command of General Francis E. Spinner, who was a neighbor in the adjoining town of Mohawk at the time, and afterward, during the whole period of the war of the rebellion, United States Treasurer. The boy, Suiter, was faithful in the discharge of his duties, and steadily advanced, until he became the colonel of his regi- ment, the Thirty-eighth New York, which was a part of the old State


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militia. We believe that Colonel Ladew was also, at a later time, the colonel of the organization. At the breaking out of the war with Mexico, Colonel Suiter enlisted, and was made a second lieutenant in Company E, First Regiment New York Volunteers. He served until the close of the war, being mustered out at Fort Hamilton, New York Harbor. In April, 1861, when President Lincoln issued his first call for volunteers, Colonel Suiter was the first man to enlist in a company he formed, that became Company G, of the Thirty-fourth New York Volunteers. He was made lieutenant-colonel of the regiment at its organization in Albany, June 15, 1861, and on the resignation of Colonel Ladew, in March, 1862, was made Colonel, with rank from January 22. He was a brave and always popular officer in the regiment; and on several occasions, as at Glendale, during the Seven Days' Battles, had command of the brigade. The horse he rode was three times wounded, once at Fair Oaks, once at Antietam, and once at Fredericksburg. On leaving the service, the colonel returned to his native town, and resumed his former business. He is now ( 1902) eighty-six years of age, and it is not likely he will ever go to war any more.


COLONEL BYRON LAFLIN.


Colonel Laflin was born in Lee, Mass., in April, 1824. He early took up his residence in Herkimer, N. Y., where, with his brother Addi- son, he was engaged in the business of manufacturing writing paper, when the war broke out in 1861. He entered the service as captain of Company F, which was a Herkimer company, was mustered in as major at the organization of the regiment June 15, 1861, at Albany ; was mustered in as lieutenant-colonel March 22, 1862, vice Suiter pro- moted to colonel, vice Colonel Ladew resigned; was mustered in as colonel January 22, 1863, vice Suiter resigned. After the war he was appointed marshal of Virginia. A letter from Quartermaster Easter- brook gives the following particulars in regard to his subsequent career :


"One day, while he was Marshal of Virginia, and located at Richmond, Captain Rich, of Company D, came into his office at Richmond. Rich wanted place or business. Laflin told him to go to North Carolina, and buy a planta- tion at a price not exceeding $20,000, and he would take half of it. Rich did so. Laflin wrote me that after President Johnson commenced to raise 'hell,' he resigned his position, and went to the plantation with Rich. They were elected to the legislature, Rich as senator, Laflin as assemblyman. Rich died while in the senate, and Laflin, with a legislative committee, took his remains to Vermont. Laflin continued the plantation, and got into the banking business; but recon- struction ruined business and Laflin too, and he got out. He went to Norfolk, Va., where he found Captain Oswald, formerly of Company A, at the head of a steamboat line, of large means and business, but soon after Oswald died, and Laflin went north. He had been an invalid for many years, also a pensioner. He had an attendant, who dressed and undressed him. I last saw him in 1897 at the boat landing in Hudson. I was on my way to Little Falls to attend a reunion of the old Thirty-fourth. He was very desirous of going too, but his physical condition and his infirmities would not admit of his going."


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Colonel Laflin died at his home in the city of Hudson, N. Y., June 19, 1901. In the Army and Navy Journal we find this memorandum : "During the reconstruction period he was Provisional Governor of North Carolina, and afterward member of the North Carolina legisla- ture." (Probably an error as to his having been Provisional Gover- nor of North Carolina .- Ed.) He is buried in the family plot at Her- kimer.


LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN BEVERLY.


After the war Colonel Beverly, in common with many others who thought the opportunities would be great in that opening country, went to the far west, where he addressed himself to the practice of the law ; and in 1891 we find him elected to the office of Probate Judge of Pierce County, Wash. T., by a handsome majority. The term was four years. Later, on account of failing health, he came east, and for several years made his home with his daughter Ada, Mrs. J. N. Bostwick, at Amsterdam, N. Y. Here he died on August 18, 1900. Among his three grandsons, children of Mrs. Bostwick, is one who bears his name, and is said to be his faithful counterpart in looks and actions. Another daughter lives near. The Colonel was a member of the Loyal Legion at the time of his death, and had also taken the thirty-second degree in Masonry. A letter from Mrs. Bostwick gives the following touching reminiscences of the Colonel's last days and burial :


"The last few months of his life, while feeble in mind and body, he lived over much of the old army life; and the names of his old comrades came promptly to his lips, when close friends of a later day were entirely forgotten. We took him back to Brockett's Bridge, (now Dolgeville,) for burial by the side of my mother, who died while he was in the army. (Comrades of the Thirty-fourth will recall the death of the Colonel's wife while we were at Bolivar Heights, after Antietam, and that he was not able to be with her at the time .- Ed.) It was with a mighty heartache we did this, for I said to my husband, 'It is so many years since he left there, no one will remember such a man as John Beverly ever lived.' When the train drew into the station, we were met by a number of grey-haired men, wearing the G. A. R. badge, who escorted us to the cemetery. As we neared it, I remarked, 'There must be another funeral at this hour, so many people are here.' Such was not the case, however, and as we came to the grave, a gentleman stepped to the front, and said: 'I will introduce Captain Frank Faville, who knew our deceased brother well, and will make a few remarks.' When we left him there, I felt that we were leaving him with old and faithful friends. Acts like these mean so much to the living, and are such a comfort."


MAJOR WELLS SPONABLE.


Major Sponable was born December 16, 1829, at Minden, Mont- gomery County, N. Y. Moved to Little Falls, N. Y., April 1, 1847, and commenced to learn the mason business. Afterward he carried on the building business till April 19, 1861, when he recruited a company, which became Company B, in the Thirty-fourth Regiment, New York Volunteers. He became captain of the company, and subsequently major of the regiment. On the return home of the regiment, the Major


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was not mustered out with the others, but transferred to the Fifteenth United States Infantry, Veteran Reserve Corps, and appointed Inspector General of Prisoners ; and assigned to Camp Douglas, Chicago, where he remained till the close of the war. While here, he was subjected to many annoyances, and the story of how he re- sisted and exposed the machinations of a lot of scamps who thought the depart- ment ought to be run for what there was in it is one of the interesting, and widely- published chapters of war history. The Major sends us the following account of a most interesting event connected with his service at Camp Douglas :


ASSISTANT SURGEON EDWARD S. WALKER


"In the spring of 1865, it was discovered that Charles Walsh, who lived near the camp, had made a plan to release the prisoners. Walsh was arrested. We found 700 revolvers, a large amount of ammuni- tion, and three Confederate officers, in .Walsh's house. We turned Walsh and the officers over to General Hooker. Lee sur- rendered soon after, and Walsh was never tried. When the New York and Chicago Fast Mail began to run, I was placed in charge of the east end. One morning a man came to me, and presented a pass to ride in the mail car to Chicago, and said he had the contract to carry the mails in Chicago. I believed the man was Walsh, and said, 'I think the Postmaster-General does not know you, I will wire him, and if he then wishes you to ride in the postal car, all right; but in my opinion you have no business in the United States.' 'You need not wire the Postmaster-General; I will ride on another train,' he replied."


The Major left the military service of the United States in July, 1865. Was appointed a clerk in the railway mail service in 1868, and remained in the service till removed by Mr. Cleveland, October 23, 1888 ; was reappointed by President Harrison, in April, 1889, and again removed by President Cleveland, in October, 1893; was again reap- pointed by President Mckinley, in July, 1897; and is still ( 1902) in the same service. The Major has been informed by persons in Chicago that it was through the machinations of Walsh that he was removed during the administrations of Cleveland.


DR. SOCRATES N. SHERMAN.


Socrates Norton Sherman was born in Barre, Vt., 1801. Gradu- ated at the Medical College at Castleton, Vt., in 1825. Moved to Ogdensburg, N. Y., and commenced the practice of his profession with Dr. Smith, whose niece, Lois Low, he married. Was representative in Congress in 1861-62 : entered the Thirty-fourth Regiment, New York


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SINCE THE WAR


State Volunteers, as surgeon, April, 1861. In 1862 was mustered into the United States service, and given charge of the hospital at Grafton, IV. Va. Here his wife joined him in 1864, where she suddenly died the same year. He died in Ogdensburg, N. Y., February 1, 1873.


ADJUTANT GEORGE W. THOMPSON.


Adjutant Thompson left us January 28, 1863, to become lieutenant- colonel of the One hundred and fifty-second Regiment, New York State Volunteers, a regiment composed largely of Herkimer County men. December 12, following, he was commissioned colonel. He saw a good deal of hard service in that regiment. He was present during what is known as the Blackwater Campaign, in 1863, the Second Peninsular Campaign, and also in the operations connected with the suppression of the New York riots of that same year. At the battle of Spottsylvania Court House, May 9, 1864, he was badly wounded, and for a long time was not able to do duty in the field, but was assigned to duty on Gen- eral Court Martial : before which occurred the trial of many important cases, the Court sitting at Washington, D. C., Carlisle, Pa., Wheeling, W. Va., and Philadelphia, Pa. He remained continuously in the service until June 24, 1865, the close of the war. He is now a busy and prosperous man, head of the Diamond Mills Paper Co., with head- quarters at 44 Murray street, New York. He was born at Pittsfield, Mass., February 12, 1830, and is therefore now over seventy vears old ; but, if we are not greatly mistaken, he still has a great many busy days left to his record. We think the Colonel, and Captain Northup, judg- ing from the pictures we give, have changed more, in their physical expression, than any other officers in the regiment. We think the comrades generally will agree with us in this.


CHAPLAIN JOHN B. VAN PETTEN.


Reverend J. B. Van Petten, our first chaplain, was born at Sterling, N. Y., in 1827, and at the outbreak of the rebellion, was Principal of the large and prosperous seminary at Fairfield, in northern Herkimer County. This institution contributed many men to the Union armies during the Civil War, and a good number of its earliest volunteers were in the Thirty-fourth. He resigned his position as principal, and went with the regiment as its first chaplain. He was with the regiment con- tinuously until the fall of 1862, when he resigned, to accept the position of lieutenant-colonel of the One hundred and sixtieth Regiment, New York State Volunteers. This regiment was ordered to the Depart- ment of the Gulf, and took an active part in the Banks' Expedition. Three weeks after entering the department, the colonel of the regiment went on detached service, and our old chaplain was made its permanent commander. The regiment saw a good deal of hard fighting, and he was with it through it all. In the summer of 1864, he was with Sheri-


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dan, in the Shenandoah Valley, and at the battle of Opequan, September 18, 1864, he was severely wounded, but gained offi- cial recommendation. On recovering from his wounds, he accepted the colonelcy of the One hun- dred and ninety-third Regi- ment, and was shortly made a brevet brigadier. He re- mained in the military ser- vice until January 18, 1866. Returning to civil life, he again became Principal of Fairfield Seminary; and while in this position was elected to the State Senate of 1868-69. Immediately at the close of his term, he went to reside in Sedalia, Mo., but in 1880 he again returned to the principal- ship of Fairfield Seminary : frain which position he GENERAL JOHN B. VAN PETTEN Our First Chaplain Went to the chair of Latin and history in Claverack College, New York, where he remained sixteen years. In 1900 he went to Syracuse, where he still resides, being connected with the Syracuse Classical School.


CAPTAIN HENRY BALDWIN.


Henry Baldwin raised a company of volunteers, at Addison, Steuben County, in the early part of May, 1861, in response to that first call of President Lincoln. On May 17, he was elected its captain. He was then twenty-eight years of age. Was mustered into the state ser- vice, with his company, May 22, and on the 27th of the same month was ordered with his company to Albany. On the 15th of June, his own, with various other companies, five of which were from Herkimer County, were organized into the Thirty-fourth New York Volunteers. His company then became Company E. He held his position as cap- tain until the final muster out. When this occurred, in 1863, he re- turned to Steuben County. In 1867 he was breveted major, and in 1869 was appointed colonel of the One hundred and sixth Regiment, New York State Militia. In 1885 Captain Baldwin, or, as we should now speak of him. Colonel Baldwin, was elected sheriff of Steuben


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SINCE THE WAR


County, and served a full term of three years from the first of January, 1886. He was a man of prominence and standing in his community, was president of a bank at the time of his death, in 1895, and was uni- versally respected by all who knew him.


CAPTAIN MONROE BRUNDAGE.


Captain Monroe Brundage, Company I, was born in the town of Bath, N. Y., October 27, 1836, and lived while a boy on the farm with his parents, until his father's death, which occurred when Monroe was about fifteen years of age; he continued to reside with his mother on the farm, until his majority ; when he came in possession of the property, which he continued to conduct until the breaking out of the rebellion ; when, on April 23, 1861, he enlisted in what afterwards became Com- pany I, of the Thirty-fourth New York Regiment. On the comple- tion of the organization of his company, he was, by the unanimous vote of his company, elected second lieutenant, on June 10, 1861. He served in this capacity, being continuously in service, until September 17, 1862, when, at the Battle of Antietam, he was wounded in the right arm, near the shoulder, by a minnie ball, which shattered the arm, which was after- ward amputated. He was then given leave of absence, and went to his home, where he remained until January following, having recovered sufficiently to rejoin his company. Meanwhile, on November 10, 1862, he was appointed first lieutenant, and on February 10, was made cap- tain of his company. He remained with his company in the field until March 17, 1863, when, on the advice of Dr. Sherman, surgeon of the regiment, he resigned his commission, and returned home, where he resumed the conduct of his farm, and continued it until his death, which occurred May 26, 1875. At the election of 1868, he was elected a member of Assembly of this State; in which capacity he served during the legislative term of 1869, serving with credit to himself, and the highest satisfaction of his constituents. He was a man of sterling quality, highly respected by the members of his company, and all the parties with whom he came in contact. His friends were simply num- bered by the people who knew him. His death occurred as a direct result of typhoid fever, which he contracted during the winter of 1875.


CAPTAIN IRVING D. CLARK.


Captain Irving Delos Clark, 34 Grand street, Gloversville, N. Y., was born in Little Falls, January 26, 1839. He came of New England stock. His great-grandfather, Daniel Clark, was a captain in the Revo- lutionary War, from Middletown, Conn. He has been twice married, and has a son by his present wife, Dr. Frank F. Clark, a practising physician in New York City. His father's family consisted of three sons and three daughters. The sons and also the daughters' husbands were Union soldiers. A brother, Roswell Clark, of Little Falls, a ser- geant in the Ninety-seventh Regiment, was killed at Antietam. He has


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resided in Little Falls and St. Johnsville, and for thirty-two years in Gloversville. Except for typlioid fever in Virginia and a slight wound at Fair Oaks, and an injury by falling horse at Edward's Ferry, October 21, 1861, he has never been ill a day in his life. Time has been generous, and he is as fresh as a boy to-day.


CAPTAIN JOY E. JOHNSON.


"Captain Johnson, when he joined us, was a stranger from the State of Connecticut. CAPT. JOY E. JOHNSON-1863 When he was mustered out of the service, he returned to his native state, became a benedict, had a fit of sickness, became insane, was sent to an asylum, where he died, as his wife wrote me. She was an applicant for a pension." Thus wrote Colonel Suiter. Captain Johnson's military record is as follows : "Enlisted May 1, 1861, at Herkimer, to serve two years ; mustered in as first sergeant Company G, June 15, 1861 ; as first lieutenant. Decem- ber 2, 1861 : as captain March 20, 1862; mustered out with company June 30, 1863."


CAPTAIN EMERSON S. NORTHUP.


After the war, Captain Northup, in common with many others, drifted to the west. We find him, in the nineties, a practising physi- cian, in Kansas City, Mo. Here he put in eighteen years of hard work. In February, 1899, he went to southern California, to seek recovery from a very serious attack of pneumonia. He decided to remain in that sunny clime. In 1901, he was on crutches, caused by a painful abscess on his left knee. This was not the first time the captain had been on crutches ; for he was badly wounded in the leg at the battle of White Oak Swamp, or Glendale, and was carried by his comrades to Malvern Hill and safety. The captain had not fully recovered from his wound at the Battle of Antietam, the following year, although he was back for duty ; and in a private letter he wished the secretary to publicly thank private George Getman, of his company, who took him on his back, and carried him across Antietam Creek, on that eventful morning, when we were advancing from Keedysville, toward the battlefield. The captain sent a tender message to Colonel Suiter, and all his old comrades, which was read at the dedication. He had fully intended to come on, and was down on the program to make the dedicatory prayer : but at the last mo- ment was compelled to give up coming. His daughter, Miss Ella Clare Northup, also expected to be present, and sing a solo ; but was likewise prevented ; both were, however, present in spirit. The captain is now permanently settled in Los Angeles, Cal., and reports himself in good health. Now, as always, even before the war, at his home in Salisbury Center, N. Y .. he is deeply immersed in church work.


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CAPTAIN HENRY W. SANFORD.


After being mustered out of service at Albany, N. Y., in the sum- mer of 1863, First Lieutenant, Henry W. Sanford, of Company E, who had on several occasions been the only commissioned officer present with the company, raised and organized a company of cavalry, and joined the Second New York Veteran Cavalry, then organizing at Saratoga Springs. Many of this company were old veterans, quite a number of them being from Company E, of the Thirty-fourth Regiment. This com- pany, which became Company G, was mustered into the service with H. W. Sanford as its captain, and Melville S. Dunn, second lieutenant in Company E, of the Thirty-fourth, as its first lieutenant. The regi- ment served on the Red River Expedition, in Louisiana, on the Pasca- goula raid in Mississippi, and participated in the taking of Mobile, Ala., the last battle of the war. Company G was under fire, in battles, and on the skirmish line, for thirty consecutive days, on the Red River campaign. Lieutenant Dunn was killed in a cavalry charge, made on a bridge near Campti, La., in May, 1864. The regiment was not mus- tered out of service until the last of November, 1865.




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