To sacrifice, to suffer, and if need be, to die : a history of the thirty-fourth New York Regiment, Part 2

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 2


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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


XVI


a copy.


After the boys of the Regt. have seen it, and we have carried the old flag at our annual reunion, I will present it to the Herkimer Co. Historical Society, in your name, to be kept for future generations to look at years after the last member of the old 34th has answered the final roll call.


I sincerely thank you for your confidence in placing the old flag in my custody, and assure you it will be reverently & carefully guarded until it finds its final resting place in the hands of the Historical Society for their care and preserva- tion.


Most Resp & Sincerely Yours, J.A. Suiter, Jr."9


The regimental flag of the 34th New York now rests in the State Capitol building in Albany, New York, where it and many other flags of New York regiments are rapidly deteriorating.


Speaking to his comrades, Louis Chapin prefaced the 34th New York's regimental history with the words, "Underneath all the distress and vexation of your service, is the eternal truth on which you fought and marched. And your children, and your children's children down through long descending lines, will see all this much more clearly than you do." It is the hope of the members of the Captain Henry Galpin Civil War Roundtable, through whose efforts the reprinting of this book is made possible, that the men and the deeds of the 34th New York Volunteer Infantry will continue to shine bright and will ever be remembered


Wells Sponable Papers, Little Falls Historical Society


XVII


"down through long descending lines".


Especial thanks is given to the Herkimer County Historical Society for their loan of an original copy of the 34th New York's regimental history.


All proceeds from this volume will be applied to Civil War restoration projects, including the preservation of the 34th New York's "Old Battle Flag".


David Krutz


E


-


COLONEL JAMES A. SUITER-1903


A BRIEF HISTORY


OF THE


THIRTY-FOURTH REGIMENT N. Y. S. V.


EMBRACING


A COMPLETE ROSTER OF ALL OFFICERS AND MEN


AND A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE


DEDICATION OF THE MONUMENT ON THE BATTLEFIELD OF ANTIETAM SEPTEMBER 17, 1902


WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS


BY


LIEUTENANT L. N. CHAPIN


" PATRIOTISM IS SUCH A LOVING BENSE OF THE UNITY AND THE VITALITY OF THE NATIONAL LIFE AS WILL LEAD ONE GLADLY TO OBEY THE LAW, TO GUARD ITS DIGNITY, TO AID IN ITS ENFORCEMENT, TO EXERCISE A NOBLE SELF-RESTRAINT, TO CULTIVATE CIVIC VIRTUES AND POLITICAL WISDOM, TO SACRIFICE, TO SUFFER, AND, IF NEED BE, TO DIE FOR THE COUNTRY. "


Part of the Record


It was during the administration of the following officers of the Veteran Association of the Thirty-fourth Regiment Volunteer Infantry, State of New York, and between the years 1895-1002, that the Monument was erected on Antietam Battlefield, and this History was written:


PRESIDENT: COL. JAMES A. SUITER.


FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT: MAJ. WELLS SPONABLE.


SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT: QUARTER MASTER NATHAN EASTERBROOK, JR.


THIRD VICE-PRESIDENT: CAPT. IRVING D. CLARK.


SECRETARY: JESSE R. FORT, Little Falls, N. Y.


CORRESPONDING SECRETARY : JAMES N. GREENE, Fairfield, N. Y.


COMMITTEE ON FRECTION OF MONUMENT ON THE BATTLEFIELD OF ANTIETAM.


CHAIRMAN: NATHAN EASTERBROOK, JR., New Haven, Conn.


TREASURER: WELLS SPONABLE, Morris Heights, N.Y.


SECRETARY: LOUIS N. CHAPIN. Hotel Margaret, Brooklyn, N. Y.


WHY THIS HISTORY WAS WRITTEN


M ANY times in the progress of this work I have been asked the question, and, in fact, have asked it of myself, why bestow so much time and labor, and even money, so long after the war, in the preparation of such a narra- tive? What fresh contribution to American history can you expect to make? What hitherto unknown sources of information can you ex- pect to discover? Has not every important fact been stated long ago, ยท and many times over ?


These are formidable ques- 1862 tions ; but, in spite of them, some- thing still remains undone, unsaid and unwritten. When the good Queen of England wished to thank a man for some noble deed done for the glory of her empire, she did not deem it sufficient that every paper in the land had proclaimed his praise ; but she called the hero to her side, and took him by the hand, and called him by his name, and thanked him for what he had done, in right good earnest. That, perhaps, indicates the purpose and nature of this little history. Vocif- erous adulations, scattered broad- cast, do not go home like a hand- to-hand clasp, and a heart-to-heart talk. Hence the design of this vol- ume is, to bestow an honorable mention on each particular man of this particular regiment. The vet- 1902 eran, scarred band, is summoned LIEUT. L. N. CHAPIN for a final muster. Out of the cloudy lands, in which, through forty years of human vicissitude, men wander, and are lost, the comrades are summoned for a last parade, and a final muster, on the heights of time; once more we call them all by name; and again recount their distinguished services, their patriotism and their valor. Alas, it is a scanty muster. In vain the drum beats, and the evening bugles sound. There are many who do not respond. Captain, where are your men? Sir, all are present, or accounted for. They have crossed the river on the swaying bridge at Fair


6


WHY THIS HISTORY WAS WRITTEN


Oaks, and they have not returned. They have passed down the valley of Falmouth, and climbed the heights of Fredericksburg, and thence have vanished in chariots of fire. They have never returned to the old camp ground. And at the little Dunkard Church of Antie- tam their eulogies have been pronounced. Their white tents glisten on another shore. Alas, it is a scanty muster.


Comrades, this is your book. Your names are in it, every one. It does not seek to recite the whole story of the war. But it seeks to re- visit the scenes where once your lives were in such deadly peril; to once more put your feet into the same tracks, and to again remind you of the many scenes, incidents and hardships you ought not to forget. Those old roads may now be retraveled, and those old camps and battle- fields revisited, without the danger of encountering any foe.


And I have not only had in mind to make praiseworthy mention of all the members of the regiment, but also to give their names a sure footing for all time to come. Granite will crumble; iron will rust; wood will decay; and nothing in this world is very stable; but, so far as lay in my power, I have tried to fix the records of these comrades in an enduring form and place.


Comrades, some of you now deem your military record to have been of little moment. But that is because you see so much of the dross of it, and so little of its clear shining truth. Time clears away the one, and leaves the other standing strong and fair. Underneath all the dis- tress and vexation of your service, is the eternal truth on which you fought and marched. And your children, and your children's children, down through long descending lines, will see all this much more clearly than you do. Each one of these, in times remote, when history shall re- count her noble sons, can stand and say, with a just pride : "My father, too, was a soldier in the great war, and I have the volume which gives his name, and tells his story."


LOUIS N. CHAPIN.


NEW YORK, JANUARY, 1903.


ERRATUM .- Top of page 96: "Was it for this the First Minnesota was being saved up at Antietam, where it scarcely lost a man?" This should read "Fair Oaks," instead of Antietam. Colonel Sully, of the First Minnesota, in his report of the battle of Fair Oaks, makes no mention of any losses whatever; but elsewhere it is officially reported that the regiment had two enlisted men killed and two wounded. At Antietam, however, it took 435 men into action; had 16 men killed, 79 wounded, and 24 missing. Captain Holzborn was among the killed.


CONTENTS


CHAPTER I.


A Story of Beginnings 9


CHAPTER II.


Off to the Front. Camp Kalorama. Camp Jackson . 19


CHAPTER III.


Edward's Ferry. Ball's Bluff. Winter at Camp Mcclellan. . 25


CHAPTER IV.


Moving at Last. Opening of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.


3I


CHAPTER V.


The Peninsular Campaign .


35


The Battle of Fair Oaks .


CHAPTER VI.


4I


CHAPTER VII.


The Seven Days' Battles 48


CHAPTER VIII.


Leaving the Peninsula.


Harrison's Landing at Antietam.


56


CHAPTER IX.


The Battle of Antietam


6I


CHAPTER X.


From Antietam to Fredericksburg. 7I


CHAPTER XI.


The Battle of Fredericksburg


79


CHAPTER XII.


Winter in Camp. Second Fredericksburg


85


CHAPTER XIII.


Going Home 94


That Western Flotilla 98


Since the War, with Biographical Sketches 99


Post Office Addresses ot Known Survivors III


Officers of the Regiment, with the Order of Their Promotion II3


Complete Roster of the Thirty-fourth Regiment. 115


The Dedication I55


Official Reports. 185


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


PAGE


Colonel James A. Suiter


. FRONTISPIECE


Lieutenant L. N. Chapin, the Author


5


Colonel William Ladew


9


Captain Henry Baldwin


13


Captain Monroe Brundage 26


Camp Mcclellan


Captain Thomas Corcoran, 1865


28


Colonel Byron Laflin, 1863 and Late in Life.


32,33


Captain Irving D. Clark, 1862, 1903 ..


38


Captain William S. Walton, 1863, 1900


39


Fair Oaks, The Adams House and "Our Field," The Williamsburg Road. 42


Tucker's Spring, and the Spring at Keedysville. 45


50, 51


Captain John O. Scott, 1861, 1900


54


Captain Emerson S. Northup, 1861, 1902 55


Captain Davis J. Rich, Civilian 57


Major Wells Sponable, 1861, 1903 59


61


Lieutenant William R. Wallace, 1863


62


Antietam, Bloody Lane, 1862, 1902


63


Lieutenant Henry W. Sanford, 1903


64


Antietam, View of Hagerstown Pike, South of Dunkard Church, General View of "Our Field," from Our Monument. 66


68


Harper's Ferry, Va., A Recent Picture 72


Quartermaster Nathan Easterbrook, Jr., 1861, 1903 74,75


Captain Eugene B. Larrowe, 1863


76


Falmouth, Our Old Camp Ground, as it Looks at Present


77


Falmouth, Colonel Laflin's Headquarters.


78


Fair Oaks, The Adams House


8 I


Falmouth, The Woodman House, Looking Down the Falmouth Valley, The Marye Mansion, Marye's Heights, Fredericksburg 81


Colonel George W. Thompson, Our First Adjutant, 1861, 1903. 83


Falmouth, Lieutenant Colonel Beverly's Headquarters 87


The Colors 89


Lieutenant John Oathout, 1863


90


General Alfred Sully, 1862


91


Captain Benjamin H. Warford, 1863


93


Adjutant John Kirk, 1863 94


Surgeon, Socrates N. Sherman, 1861 95


Assistant Surgeon, Edward S. Walker, 1862, or after 102


104


Captain Joy E. Johnson, 1863 106


Captain Charles Riley, 1861 108


The Antietam Monument 153


Village of Sharpsburg, Md., 1902 156


James N Greene, and Jesse R. Fort, of Committee .


157


Group of Comrades and Their Families at the Dedication


160


Ladies and Comrades at the Dedication.


I66


Another Group at the Dedication 170


Bronze Tablets on the Monument I74


Entrance to the National Cemetery, Antietam 176


"The Bivouac of the Dead," Where Our Dead Sleep, in Unknown Graves,


at Antietam 188


I7


Lieutenant Colonel John Beverly, 1863, 1900


Antietam, Battlefield Morning after the Battle


Antietam, View of Dunkard Church and Our Monument, from "Our Field.' Antietam, Burnside's Bridge, 1902 7I


Captain William L. Oswald, 1861 79


General John B. Van Petten, Our First Chaplain


HISTORY OF THE REGIMENT


CHAPTER I


A STORY OF BEGINNINGS


P RESIDENT LINCOLN'S proclamation, calling for 75,000 vol- unteers, to serve for a period of two years, issued April 15, 1861, was followed by rapid recruiting in all parts of the state. This was stimulated by sermons bristling with a fiery and bayonet patriotism, from nearly all northern pulpits; by rousing mass meet- ings, at which there was a great output of Patrick Henry oratory; and by the voice of the public press, which was most hearty in support of a vigorous war policy. Sel- dom was there heard even a feeble protest. The voice of the country was for war, and that of the most ruddy variety. The crisis was a great opportunity for able and am- bitious young men; and many were quick to take advantage of it, by opening offices for securing enlistments. A man who could raise a whole company, immediately became its captain. Another, who could only raise part of a company, would com- bine with some other man, similarly fixed, and so on. In Little Falls, Herkimer County, where the author resided, Wells Sponable, a capable and ambitious young man of the town, and whom everybody in- stinctively recognized as a suitable spirit for such an enterprise, immediately headed a roll, and soon had a good number of names beneath his own. Nathan Easter- brook, Jr., another young man of the town, then connected with the freight depart- ment of the New York Central Railroad, in a most important capacity, also saw his opportunity, headed a similar roll, and soon had an enthusiastic following. At the same time, as in so many thousands of similar cases, it was not ambition that actu- ated these men, but patriotism; and the bona fide article. These companies were known in local annals respectively as A and B. The writer of these lines remem- COL, WILLIAM LADEW-1861


IO


HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FOURTH REGIMENT


bers those days very well, and the tempest of discussion which arose in his own mind as to what was his particular duty in the case. In his extremity he took counsel of no one but his own mother, who promptly replied : "If our country demands the service of her sons in this, her great extremity, I, for one, would say go." Shortly there- after we find his name enrolled below that of Captain Easterbrook.


The following are the very first organizations completed in these Little Falls companies :


COMPANY A. Captain, Wells Sponable. First Lieutenant, John H. Fralick. Ensign (Second Lieutenant), Irving D. Clark.


First Sergeant, Lewis M. Clark. First Corporal, Warren Van Allen.


Second Sergeant, Orrin W. Beach.


Second Corporal, A. A. Perry.


Third Sergeant, Lawrence L. Brown.


Third Corporal, Dennis Canaan.


Fourth Sergeant, Wallace Zuper.


Fourth Corporal, Edwin Redner.


And thirty privates.


COMPANY B. Captain, Nathan Easterbrook, Jr. First Lieutenant, Timothy O'Brien. Ensign, O. P. Barnes.


First Sergeant, William S. Walton. First Corporal, William Burns.


Second Sergeant, James T. Hurley. Second Corporal, Henry Traver.


Third Sergeant, Benjamin J. Loucks. Third Corporal, John Johnson.


Fourth Sergeant, Romeyn Roof. Fourth Corporal, Charles Lasure.


And thirty-three privates, among whom were two drummers.


Before leaving home, the trustees of the village (now city), pre- sented each man with a bounty of five dollars. This seemed an unheard- of gratuity at the time, and came wholly unexpected. But later on, when men received bounties as high as fifteen hundred dollars each, this original five-dollar bounty seemed a very reasonable proposition. The above lists are from the Mohawk Courier of Little Falls, date of April 30, 1861, the day the above two companies left for Albany.


At Herkimer, in the same county, the same things were taking place. Two companies were immediately started. At the head of one was the name of James A. Suiter, a veteran of the Mexican war, and who had clearly earned the right to stay at home, but had no such disposition ; and at the head of the other the name of Byron Laflin, then engaged with his brother, Addison, in running a large writing paper factory.


These companies were also known at the first as A and B, and num- bered about forty men each, in addition to their first officers. At the home election, the commissioned officers were elected as follows :


COMPANY A. Captain, Byron Laflin. First Lieutenant, Charles Riley. Ensign, S. Lepper. COMPANY B. Captain, James A. Suiter. First Lieutenant, Warren Mack, Jr. Ensign, Michael Schaffner.


This selection of officers, however, was only tentative, as, in the organization of the regiment, at Albany, Laflin became major and


II


A STORY OF BEGINNINGS


Suiter lieutenant-colonel. We then find the organization of Companies A and B to be as follows :


COMPANY F (its letter in the final assignment) .- Captain, Charles Riley. First Lieutenant, Joseph R. Shoemaker. Ensign, Wm. H. Helmer.


First Sergeant, William S. Van Val- kenburgh.


First Corporal, Charles B. Taylor.


Second Sergeant, Christian Wayman. Second Corporal, John T. Booth.


Third Corporal, Thomas White.


Third Sergeant, James B. Crist.


Fourth Corporal, Charles Pierce.


Fourth Sergeant,


COMPANY G (the permanent letter of B). Captain, Charles L. Brown. First Lieutenant, Warren Mack, Jr. Ensign, Michael Schaffner.


First Sergeant, Joy E. Johnson. First Corporal, Jeremiah Ferrill.


Second Sergeant, Albert Arnold. Second Corporal, A. S. Rounds.


Third Sergeant, James H. Cory. Third Corporal, William Manning.


.Fourth Sergeant, Richard D. Masher. Fourth Corporal, John B. Raynor.


Dr. Daniel P. Van Court, who was a Company G man, and who, since the war, has resided at Mohawk, N. Y., speaks of his own com- pany with commendable pride. He says that it was composed, almost exclusively of country boys, with good records, and nearly all of whom were " dead shots." This last clause would seem to justify Quarter- master Easterbrook in some of the grief he says he has always felt that the regiment, at the outset, was not called "the Adirondack Regiment." He says : " Seven of our companies, without stretch of the imagination, were from the Adirondack region, viz. : B, C, D, F, G, H and K; and it has been my boast for years that we had one hundred men, more or less, that could, at a hundred yards, knock an apple off a man's head, without hurting a hair." And he adds that " this was the argument that, later, at Washington, brought about the change of arms from the old Spring- field muskets to the modern Enfield rifles." Quartermaster Easter- brook is a man of most unimpeachable veracity, of the soundest judg- ment, and great precision of statement ; but our impression is that he never lined up behind the regiment, when it was doing some of its first rifle practice, down at Camp Jackson, and beheld the target, standing solitary and immune, in the only absolutely safe place in western Mary- land. But to resume.


At Gray, in the northern part of the county, under the inspiration of such men as William Ladew, a prosperous tanner of the place, and colonel of the Thirty-eighth Militia, we find another company under way, with Thomas Corcoran as its destined captain. This company also contained between forty and fifty men, at its first organization, which was as follows :


COMPANY C. Captain, Thomas Corcoran. First Lieutenant, Samuel P. Butler. Ensign, William S. Burt.


First Sergeant, William R. Wallace. First Corporal, Simon Loyd.


Second Sergeant, Jacob Ashley. Second Corporal, Richard Manning.


Third Sergeant, S. S. Walter. Third Corporal, Harrison L. Banks.


Fourth Sergeant, Charles B. Barton.


Fourth Corporal, Joshua Sherwood.


I2


HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FOURTH REGIMENT


At Brockett's Bridge, now Dolgeville, in the northeastern part of the county, John Beverly, a rising young man of the place, soon had a company organized, which is mentioned in the papers of the county as " Captain Beverly's Mountain Rangers." It will thus be seen that all parts of Herkimer County were simultaneously making contributions to the war. This company, at its organization, numbered forty-five men, and, before leaving home, had its election of officers, as follows :


COMPANY K. Captain, John Beverly. First Lieutenant, Henry B. Chamberlain. Ensign, Emerson S. Northup.


First Sergeant, Mark Dye. First Corporal, Alonzo K. Hayes.


Second Sergeant, William De Forest. Second Corporal, H. B. Greenly.


Third Sergeant, James N. Greene. Third Corporal, B. F. Lewis.


Fourth Sergeant, James M. Talcott. Fourth Corporal, Egbert H. Caswell.


This company was made up from the towns of Fairfield and Salis- bury. Quite a number of the men were students, at the time of their enlistment, at Fairfield Seminary, an institution which, throughout the whole period of the Civil War, made steady contributions to the Union armies of its best and brightest young men. Below is told the story of how this company and that of Captain Easterbrook, were eventually combined, at Albany. In the merger which took place, Captain Easter- brook's company lost its commissioned officers, and Captain Beverly's company lost its non-commissioned officers. First Lieutenant Timothy O'Brien, of Easterbrook's company, not being in the best of health, returned home: while Ensign O. P. Barnes seems to have done the same, since we find no further trace of him. Among the non-commis- sioned officers in Captain Beverly's company, Second Sergeant, James T. Hurley, dropped out. and Fourth Corporal, Charles Lasure, took his place ; while John Williams took the place of Fourth Corporal. The merger certainly worked to the disadvantage of the non-commissioned staff in Captain Beverly's company, many of whom were splendid men. and every way worthy of the rank of commissioned officers.


As early as the first week in May these Little Falls companies started for Albany, the state's eastern rendezvous : having had their medical examinations, their elections of officers, and their muster into the state service. And during the first days of May all the Herkimer County companies arrived at the same destination. The scenes which attended their departure from home were touching in the extreme. Parents parted from their children, and young wives from their husbands, and sweethearts from their lovers, fully realizing that they might never look into their faces again. A Little Falls paper, under such brave headlines as " All Hail to the Volunteers," etc., had this to say :


"Should any of them fall in battle, let the memory of their brave patriot- ism abide forever in the hearts of their townsmen. Should they return. let it be the return of victors-of conquerors-to whose pride it may be said they never turned their backs upon the flag of their country. May the God of battles ever attend them."


The crowd at the depot was very great. They who had to stay at home hung on to their boys till the last, and every man wanted to shake


I3


A STORY OF BEGINNINGS


the hand of his friend, and give him some part- ing injunction. The events of the years that followed showed that the gravity of this part- ing was more than justi- fied.


At Albany the men were first quartered in the old Adams House, in the heart of the city. Not many decent things can justly be said of this old rat hole, of the utter disregard of sanitary laws that prevailed, of the food which was served out to the men, nor of the manner in which it was served. Even when the com- panies were shifted to vacant lofts about the city, they were still fed at the same trough, and on the same swill. Our great war governor, Ed- win D. Morgan, had not yet got on his war togs; CAPTAIN HENRY BALDWIN, LATE IN LIFE but he did later, and then there was less cause for complaint. For we were then moved to the large Industrial School Barracks, in the suburbs of the city, where there was plenty of air and room, inside and out. And here the cooked rations were quite as good as any soldier had a right to expect.


It had been the expectation of these six Herkimer County companies that they would be incorporated with other companies, from the same county, in the formation of a distinctively Herkimer County regiment. This was but natural ; but it soon became evident that such an arrange- ment was impossible. Though recruits were coming in almost daily from the home field, no new companies were being formed at home, New York State's quota, under the call, being now nearly filled. And besides, not one of the six companies was anywhere near full. Captain Sponable's company left Little Falls with 41 officers and men ; Captain Easterbrook's with 44; and Captain Beverly's left Brockett's Bridge with 45 officers and men. The other three companies were of about the same strength. The law required that each company should have 77 officers and men. However, there was equally good material accumu- lating in other parts of the state.


14


HISTORY OF THE THIRTY-FOURTH REGIMENT


Simultaneously with the formation of these six companies in Herki- mer County a company was being recruited by Leland L. Doolittle, at Crown Point, Essex County. The organization was completed on the first day of May, and consisted of 77 officers and men. The company, as our informant has it, was composed of "the heartiest young men in town." So much local pride did the citizens of the place take in this organization, that they uniformed it throughout, and sent it off with the greatest demonstrations of interest. Afterward they gave the com- pany a beautiful silk banner, which Chester S. Rhodes, of the company, was commissioned to bear. How bravely, and nobly he fulfilled his commission, even to his death, was told at the dedication of the monument.


The following was the first organization of this company :


COMPANY H.


Captain, Leland L. Doolittle. First Lieutenant, Hiram Buck, (never mustered). Ensign, John B. Wright.


First Sergeant, Darwin E. King. First Corporal, Selden D. Orcutt.


Second Sergeant, Oscar H. Nichols. Second Corporal, James McCormick.


Third Sergeant, Charles Haile. Third Corporal, Wm. H. Barnett.


Fourth Sergeant, Henry H. Hurd. Fourth Corporal, Simeon P. McIntyre.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.