USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Gettysburg > Historical sketch: with exercises at dedication of monument and re-union camp fire of 150th New York Volunteer Infantry, Gettysburgh, Sept. 17, 18, 1889 > Part 1
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HISTORICAL SKETCH: WITH EXERCISES AT DEDICATION OF MONUMENT & RE-UNION CAMP FIRE OF 150TH N. Y. VOL. INF., GETTYSBURGH, SEPT. 17, 18, 1889
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M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00822 4625
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1
HISTORICAL SKETCH:
WITH
EXERCISES AT DEDICATION OF MONUMENT -* AND
RE-UNION CAMP FIRE
OF
150TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEER INFANTRY,
GETTYSBURGH, SEPT. 17, 18, ISSO.
NC
PUBLISHED BY THE
MONUMENT COMMITTEE OF THE 150TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEER INFANTRY :
ALFRED B. SMILII, WILLIAM K. WOODEN, OBED WHEELER, CFORGE H. WILLIAMS, SENECA HUMISTON.
17554
HISTORICAL SKETCH:
WITH
EXERCISES AT DEDICATION OF MONUMENT
AND
RE-UNION CAMP FIRE
OF
150TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEER INFANTRY,
GETTYSBURGH, SEPT. 17, IS, ISSO.
PUBLISHED BY THE
MONUMENT COMMITTEE OF THE 150TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEER INFANTRY :
ALFRED B. SMILI, WILLIAM R. WOODEN, OBED WHEELER, GEORGE H, WILLIAMS, SENECA HUMISTON.
F 8349 .5817
------
New York infantry. 150th regt., 1862-1865.
Historical sketch : with exercises at dedication of mon- ment and re-union camp fire of 150th New York volunteer infantry, Gettysburgh, Sept. 17. 18, 1SS9. Poughkeepsie, N. Ya Monument committee of the 150th New York voluin- teer infantry (1889;
99, tl: p. illus. 23°".
CHYLF CARD
1. U. S .- Hist .- Civil war-Regimental histories-N. Y. inf .- 150th. 2. Gettysburg, Battle of, 1863. I. Title.
17-20619
Recat
163618
Library of Congress
E523.5.150th.N
٠
2d and 3d Brigades. First Division.
12th and zoth Corps.
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
The 150th Regiment N. Y. Volunteer Infantry, was raised in Dutchess County, New York, as a county regi- ment. It was' started by a resolution of the board of Supervisors of the county offering to pay S50 bounty to each man who would enlist in a Dutchess County Regi- ment.
Alfred B. Smith was sent to Albany, August 23, 1862, and obtained permission from Governor Morgan (for the executive war committee,) of whom Hon. James Emott was chairman, to raise a county regiment, camp to be lo- cated at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 'The committee consisted of Hon. James Emott, B. J. Lossing, Hon. Ambrose Wager, Hon. James HI. Weeks, Hon. Stephen Baker, Hon. Wm. Kelly, Judge Joseph F. Barnard, Hon. John H. Ketcham and Hon. George W. Sterling.
On the 10th and FIth of October, 1862, the regiment was mustered into the United States service, and left the next day for the field. It was officered by young men repre- senting the best families in-the county, and no quarrels or jealously among them ever marred its usefulness or destroyed its discipline. It never retreated an inch be- fore the enemy.
The officers of the regiment were :
Colonel, John H. Ketcham. Lieutenant Colonel. Charles G. Bartlett.
Major, Alfred B. Smith.
Surgeon, Cornelius N. Campbell. Assistant Surgeon, Stephen G. Cook.
2d Assistant Surgeon, Henry Pearce. Quartermaster, George R. Gaylord. Adjutant, Win. Thompson.
COMPANY A.
Captain, Joseph H. Cogswell; Ist Lieutenant, Homy Gridley : 2nd Lieutenant, James P. Mabbett.
COMPANY B.
Captain, Robert McConnell ; Ist Lieutenant, Albert Johnson : end Lieutenant, Robert C. Tripp.
COMPANY C.
Captain, Henry A. Gildersleeve : Ist Lieutenant, E. P. Welling ; 2nd Lieutenant, Rowland Marshall.
COMPANY D.
Captain, William R. Woodin ; Ist Lieutenant, Robert G. Mooney : 2nd Lieutenant, Frank Mallory.
COMPANY E.
Captain, Andris Brant : Ist Lieutenant, Obed Wheeler ; 2nd Lieutenant, Perry W. Chapman.
COMPANY F.
Captain, John L. Green ; Ist Lieutenant, S. V. R. Cruger ; 2nd Lieutenant, Pulaski Bowman.
COMPANY G.
Captain, Edward A. Wickes; Ist Lieutenant, De Witt C. Underwood : 2nd Lieutenant, John Sweet.
COMPANY II.
Captain, Platt M. Thorn : Ist Lieutenant, William S. Van Keuren : 2nd Lieutenant, Charles J. Gaylord.
COMPANY I.
Captain, Benjamin S. Broas ; Ist Lieutenant, Richard Titus ; 2nd Lieutenant, David B. Sleight.
COMPANY K.
Captain, John S. Scofield ; Ist Lieutenant, Michael Corcoran ; 2nd Lieutenant, Wade H. Steenburgh.
The companies were not all recruited to the maximum. there being about 875 men present for muster.
The regiment was detained in Baltimore during the fall, and winter of 1862-3, doing guard dety in that city,
being attached to the Ist Brigade, Ist Division, Sth Army Corps, under Generals Wool and R. C. Schenck. It left that city June 25th. 1863, at first brigaded with Ist Maryland Eastern Shore and Ist Maryland Potomac Home Brigade, as Lockwood's Brigade. It reached Gettysburg on the second day of the fight a little after daylight, and lay on Rock Creek on the right of our army until about 6 o'clock P. M., when it, with the first division of the 12th Corps, (to which it had been attached by an order issued while at Monocacy, on Monday, June 29th, but on account of other troops and trains occupying the bridge and roads, it could not reach its corps till the morning of the second day of the battle), marched across to the left of our line to help General Sickles. The regiment charged with fixed bayonets, over dead and dying. The shells flew lively, but no one was hit. The exhausted troops in front retook their positions, and on retiring from the corrected lines three companies of the regiment drew off four guns of artillery that had been captured by the enemy, but which they had abandoned on retiring before the re en- forced lines. The pieces belonged to Bigelow's Battery. At the dawn of day on the 3rd, this regiment, with the 107th N. Y., supported a battery on the Baltimore pike, which shelled the woods about Spangler's Spring and Culp's Hill, and on the right of the line of works aban- doned by the Ist division the night before on going to assist General Sickles.
Soon after, at 6:30 o'clock A. M., the regiment went in on Culp's Hill, held the works for about two hours, and then was relieved for an hour : the regiment went in again and held the line till the enemy retired from that posi- tion, where it took 200 prisoners. In the afternoon it marched to the top of Cemetery Hill to re-enforce that line, meeting several thousand prisoners on the top of the hill. Pickett's charge being over, the regiment was placed on the right again, and there was no more fight- ing. It lost seven killed, twenty-four wounded, and fif-
teen missing at Gettysburg. The regiment continued as Lockwood's Brigade (3rd Brigade), until the army reached Harper's Ferry, when the two Maryland regiments did not go further, and the 150th was put into Ruger's 2d Brigade, Ist Division, 12th Corps, which afterwards was the 3d Brigade, same division. Its associate regiments in the brigade were the ad Massachusetts, 3d Wisconsin, 27th Indiana, 13th New Jersey and 107th New York.
It went with the Army of the Potomac down to Kelly's Ford on the Rappahannock, where it suffered severely from the typhoid-malarial fever, 200 to 300 being sick at once. It moved forward to the Rapidan, and was de. tached with the 11th and 12th Corps, to form the 20th Corps, on September 26, 1863, and sent west to re-enforce Gen. Rosencrans. It was under its old and loved com- mander, Gen. Joseph Hooker. The regiment disem- barked from the cars at Anderson, Alabama, on the 3d day of October, 1863, and the next day was ordered with its di- vision to return along the road and re-open the same as far as Murfreesborough. This was accomplished prompt- ly, and the regiment was stationed along the railroad (headquarters at Normandy and Tullahoma) from War- trace to Elk River, guarding railroads, building block houses and restoring the road. On October 23d the di- vision was again called to the front, and Ohio troops came down under General Rosseau to guard the railroad. and we again reached Anderson on October 25th, only to return over the same road the next day, to restore the bridges destroyed in our rear by Forest's Cavalry. The regiment was now, on or about Nov. Ioth, 1863, again engaged in building winter quarters, and settled down to guard the railroad from Wartrace to Elk River.
It went with the 13th New Jersey, under command of Colonel Ketcham, down to Lincoln County, Tenn., and collected within a radius of ten miles from Mulberry the sum of $35,000. Ten thousand dollars for the families of each of three Michigan soldiers who had been mur. dered by Guerrillas secreted by the people in that vicin-
ity. On its way back to Tullahoma George Lovelace and John E. Odell were shot dead by Guerrillas as they were riding Dr. Campbell's and the Colonel's horses a short distance in front of the column. The families of these two men received of the money $2,500 each.
The Regiment started in the spring (with the com- mand) on the 25th day of April, 1864, marched to Tulla- homa and Decherd and thence across the mountains to Bridgeport, Alabama, which we reached on the Ist day of May, 1864.
We were at the first skirmish at Buzzard Roost on May 5th : on the 14th of May the regiment marched to the extreme left of our army. and, with its brigade, saved the 4th Indian Battery from capture.
On the 15th we were heavily engaged with the enemy, holding the extreme left of our line at Resaca, where the Regiment was sent to hold a little hill in the midst of a large cornfield on the continuation of the line, not yet filled out of the woods to this point. We placed a few rails in front of the men, and they were enabled to stand their ground against a whole division of Rebels, who came out in a column of regiments, four abreast, and wheeled and marched towards us, but were checked and driven back by the two regiments that faced them, the 13th New Jersey and the 150th New York. We had only nine wounded in this fight ; one of them, and the one most severely wounded, was our Adjutant, Stephen V. R. Cruger, who was supposed to be mortally wounded and discharged from service, but he recovered, asked to be restored, and returned in October to his command, and as Captain, took the march to the sea with his company.
At Dallas. or New Hope Church, on May 25th, the Regiment occupied the right of the line, and advanced so near the enemy as to prevent his cannon from being de- pressed sufficiently to reach us.
We held this line till midnight. A line of works was built in our rear, and then we were relieved.
-7
We lost heavily in this battle, but not so heavily as the 3d Wisconsin or the 107th New York, which is accounted for by our nearness to the Rebel guns. They could not fire them till after dark.
At Culp's Farm, on June 22d, we had a severe battle with Cleburne's Division, and drove it back, severely handled. Here we lost Lient. Henry Gridley, who fell while on the right in charge of Company A., guiding this fire, and directing private Gollenbeck to bring down the tall color bearer of the Confederates in their front line ; he did so, and Gridley fell while commending Gollen- beck.
The Regiment was under fire most of the time for nearly 100 days, from Chatanooga to Atlanta, and for six weeks in front of the city, suffering a depletion of its effective force of about one-half its number in that cani- paign from casualties and sickness. The Regiment lost one hundred and six men who were killed, died of wounds, or of disease, in the field. It lost two officers, David B. Sleight and Henry Gridley, killed in battle, and three, -- E. P. Welling, R. Marshall and John Sweet -died of disease in the service, and eight officers were wounded. The Regiment marched with Sherman to the sea, and from Savannah to Raleigh.
The Regiment supported the Cavalry at Averysboro, N. C., on the night of the 15th of March, 1865, and drove the enemy from the field, and on the 16th of March, 1865. it lost Lt. D. B. Sleight killed, and a number wounded, and on the Igth it held the extreme left of our line at Bentonville.
It was commanded by Colonel Ketcham until October, 1864, when at Atlanta the command devolved on Major A. B. Smith, who commanded it the balance of the time, except a few days in front of Savannah when it was com- manded by Colonel Ketcham, just before Savannah was taken. While the regiment was reconnoitering in South Carolina, Ketcham was severely wounded and resigned to take his seat in Congress.
During its service it had over 1,200 men on its rolls, and about 450 came home with the regiment at the close of the war. It was mustered out at Washington, D. C., June 8th, 1865, and disbanded and paid off at Pough- keepsie, New York, on the 16th day of June, 1865.
It was permitted through the kindness of Gov. Fenton and the secretary of war to return home with its arms to Poughkeepsie, and on the 12th of June it was tendered a reception under the auspices of the efficient fire depart- ment of the city, in which the whole county participated, which in magnificence, could not be excelled.
A. B. SMITH, Colonel.
REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. HENRY H. LOCKWOOD,
U. S. Army, commanding Second Brigade, relating to the part taken by that Brigade in the Battle of Gettysburg.
H'DORS SECOND BRIG., FIRST DIV., TWELFTH A. C., JULY 16, 1863.
CAPTAIN: I have the honor to render the following report of the operations of this command during the late battle near Gettysburg :
After a long and painful march from Baltimore, via Frederick City, two regiments of this command, namely, the First Regiment Potomac Home Brigade, Maryland Volunteers, Col. William P. Maulsby, and the One Hundred and Fiftieth New York Volunteers, Col. J. H. Ketcham, arrived and reported to the First Division, Twelfth Army Corps, at 8 A. M., July 2. They were posted at various places until about 5 P. M. of that day, when, having received an order to support the left wing of the army, then heavily engaged, they were marched to, and deployed near, a battery then firing on the enemy. The First Regiment Potomac Home Brigade, Maryland Volunteers, Col. William P. Maulsby, formed the first line, and the One Hundred and Fiftieth New York Volun-
teers, Colonel Ketcham, the second line. Thus formed, these regiments, under my charge, advanced about one mile, a portion in double-quick, amid the most terrific firing of shells and musketry, to and beyond the extreme front, driving the enemy before them and entirely clear- ing the field. A battery which had fallen into the hands of the enemy was retaken, and on our return drawn off the field by hind by a detachment of the One Hundred and Fiftieth New York.
On a portion of the ground over which we drove the enemy, was found a number of dead and wounded. The latter were cared for by Dr. Willard, assistant surgeon, First Regiment Potomac Home Brigade, Maryland Vol- unteers, who, having with difficulty procured ambulances, removed them to the hospitals. This occupied him nearly the whole night. The command withdrew from the field by special order after full darkness set in.
I cannot too much commend the cool and steady courage of both officers and men on this trying occasion, which is the more remarkable as it is the first time they had been under fire.
I am specially indebted to Colonel Maulsby, not only for his daring and intrepidity, but for many suggestions, which were the more valuable in consequence of his knowledge of the ground upon which we were operating.
Early on the morning of the 3d, these regiments sup- ported a battery placed to shell the woods in front of the rifle-pits on our right. At about 6 A. M. I received orders to deploy a regiment and engage the enemy within these woods. Colonel Mauisby's regiment (First Poto- mac Home Brigade, Maryland Volunteers) was selected for this purpose. Under my command, the wood was entered and the enemy engaged and driven back behind a stone wall, which was nearly parallel with the turnpike. While preparing to charge and drive him from this cover, information reached me that another regiment was taking him on his right, and that our fire would damage that movement. Having already lost in killed and
10
wounded some So men, and our ammunition being short, I withdrew the regiment and returned to the turnpike.
I cannot too strongly commend the courage and good conduct of every officer and man engaged in this fearful enterprise.
Soon after our return the One Hundred and Fiftieth New York was detailed for duty in the rifle-pits, and suc- cessively the other regiments of the command (now in- creased by the arrival of the First Eastern Shore Mary- land Volunteers, Colonel Wallace) were assigned to the same duty. Finding Brigadier-General Greene already on duty at this position, I declined taking command, though his senior, and served under him there. The de- tailed operations of the regiments here are made in the accompanying regimental reports. I believe that every man did his duty.
Toward the close of the day I was ordered to cover the center, and, on my arrival near the cemetery, was directed to hold myself in readiness to re-enforce any point requiring aid. Here we remained inactive until near evening, when we were ordered to occupy the breastworks on the right, near the position we had held on the previous day.
It only remains for me to notice the conduct of the troops. Considering that these regiments, as such, had never before been under fire, I claim for them praise for the coolness and firmness exhibited by them. Beyond a too rapid fire and a too hasty and inconsiderate advance, I have nothing to find fault with.
I beg leave to notice favorably my personal staff, to whom I am indebted for very efficient service, and both of whom had their horses killed by shot and shell on the 3d.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, HENRY H. LOCKWOOD, Brigadier-General.
Capt. S. E. PITTMAN,
Asst. Adjt. Gen., First Division, Twelfth Army Corps.
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A VALUABLE LETTER.
At the close of the war when the 150th Regiment was ready to be mustered out, GEN. HENRY W. SLOCUM called upon CoL. A. B. SMITH, and upon taking his leave placed in the Colonel's hands the letter as here published, addressed to GEN. KETCHAM, then a member of Con- gress :---
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF GEORGIA, WASHINGTON, D. C., June 5, 1865.
DEAR GENERAL :
The 150th New York is now nearly ready to start for home. I hope they will meet with a most cordial reception, for they certainly deserve it. No Regiment goes home with a better record. They are an honor to the service and to our State.
Your Friend, H. W. SLOCUM, General Commanding.
GEN. J. H. KETCHAM.
THE LAST ORDER.
The final order which was issued dissolving the Regi- ment is here given as having an appropriate place in this volume, which is designed as a memorial of the Regi- ment :-
(OFFICIAL) REGIMENTAL ORDERS No. 20.
HEADQUARTERS 150TH N. Y V., > POUGHKEEPSIE, June 16, 1865.
Your commanding officer announces that the time for the final disso- lution of the tooth Regiment N. Y. Vols. has arrived. You have re- ceived the congratulations, the thanks, the marked commendational and affectionate farewell, of Generals Sherman, Slocum, Mower, Williams and Hawley; to this has been added a spontaneous and magnificent re- ception by your friends in old Dutchess County. It was the outburst of
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sentiments of loyalty and esteem for the old flag and its defenders, never to be forgotten.
I cannot add to the honors and generous tokens of gratitude you have received from your commanders and from a grateful people.
I thank you from my heart for the generous and cordial support, the promp and cheerful obedience, you have accorded me, during the ardu- ous campaigns through which I had the honor to command you. You have made a record for patriotism, bravery, endurance and heroism, upon which there is no spot or blemish.
I am proud to have been your companion. and to have shared with you such a record. We remember our fallen comrades with emotions too sad for utterance. We will cherish their memories with that of our fallen President's, as freedom's noblest martyrs. We are all now to take that last noble promotion to citizenship, and judging by your zeal, fidelity, and perfection as soldiers, I expect a most brilliant, happy and successful career for each one of you as citizens.
My friends : no language can express the sadness that pervades my heart at sundering the tic's that have for three long years so happily bound us together in the noblest and purest cause in which men were cver united.
I shall follow each one of you-men and officers-with the deepest interest, and hope and pray that the same good God who has blessed and protected you, and crowned your labors with such abundant success in the past. may still have you in his tender, fatherly keeping, and crown your old age with all the blessings of peace, as he has crowned your manhood with the most brilliant honors of war. I bid you an affectionate farewell.
A. B. SMITH.
Colonel 150th N. Y. Vols.
13
DESCRIPTION OF MONUMENT.
THEDUTCHESSCO RECT
The monument erected on Culp's Hill, Gettysburg, by the survivors and friends of the 150th Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, is briefly described below by Mr. GEORGE E. BISSELL, of Poughkeepsie, its architect and
14
sculptor. (The action which suggested the style adopted for the monument was the gallant defence of the works on Culp's Hill by this Regiment).
It isa strong and aggressive-looking battlemented tower, with the deeds of its defenders recorded on its outer walls, and is a most fitting memorial for such a historic spot. It expresses, in a symbolic way, the cause which this and all other Union Reginients were organized to defend on so many hard-fought battle-felds.
Thirteen courses of massive stone forming the monu- ment, cemented one upon the other, making one solid and harmonious whole, represents the Union of States founded by our forefathers, which was cemented by their blood, and the blood of those who fought to preserve it, from 186: to 1865.
Four bronze panels on the four sides of the monument give details of the service, casualties and rosters of the Regiment, as it was mustered in and mustered out.
# On the front panel the oak and laurel are united, as the emblems of the citizen soldier; and below the in- scription is the coat of arms of the United States, over and partly concealing the coat of arms of New York State, which symbolizes the supremacy of the Union over all the States.
On the reverse, under the laurel and palm-emblems of victory- the laurel for the living, for the dead the palm-are the names of the dead and the wounded in this battle, and the names of the principal battles in which the 150th took active part, from Gettysburg, where they received their baptism of fire, to Atlanta, and with Sherman on his triumphal march to the sea, and through the Car- olinas. Floating above the panel is the brigade flag. with the 12th Corps badge upon it-the royal star.
The third panel contains the Roster as regiment was mustered in ; the fourth, the Roster as mustered out and its total strength, with recapitulation of losses.
On the front, as upon all monuments erected by New York upon this field, is the coat of arms of the State,
15
which is used to indicate that these monuments are State Memorials to the Nation's defenders.
The monument, from base to battlemented cap, has a height of 25 feet, with a base 10 feet square, and a weight of some 70 or more tons ; no stone of less than three tons' weight has been used.
These figures will give some idea of the solidity of this monument, which fairly entitles it to be called a " TOWER OF STRENGTH."
* The four succeeding pages represent the panels as described above. The first page being the front panel ; the second, the reverse ; the third, the right-hand side when facing the front of the monument, and the fourth, the left-hand side.
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16
150TH NEW YORK INFANTRY
2d BRIGADE, [LOCKWOOD'S]
Ist DIVISION
12th CORPS
JULY 2d and 3d, 1863.
THIS REGIMENT DEFENDED THESE WORKS ON JULY 3D, FROM 6:30 TO O A. M., AND FROM 10 A. M. TO 12 M., AND CAPTURED 200 PRISONERS.
PT
RITS
UNUM
17
CASUALTIES.
KILLED,
Corp'l John Van Alstyne, Co. A. Private Jedediah Murphy, Co. E.
Private Charles Howgate, " A. .. Bernard C. Burnett, " G.
Levi Rast, . A. .. W'm. H. Barnes, .. I.
.. John P. Wing, " A.
WOUNDED.
Corporal Geo. T. Wilson, Co. A. Private Albert Waterman, Co. E. Private James L. Place, A. " Steph'n H. Rhynders, " F.
Jas. M. Chambers, B. Michael McGeen, H.
.. .. Valentine Jones, B Elward Hart. I.
Owen O'Niel, ..
B. Alexander Rogers, I.
.. Nelson P. Shafer,
* B. Corp. Geo. W. Buckmaster. " K.
.. Charles Weaver, B. Private Patrick Kane, K.
.. L. T. Dutcher, · K. Sergt. Alfred Seelev. " C.
Private Talmadge Wood, ** C.
James Lynch, " K.
Corp'l Richard Germond, " D. F. Puttenburgh,
K.
Private Samuel Clements, " E. .. Thomas Way. " K.
A. Woodin, . K.
ENGAGEMENTS.
Gettysburg.
Resaca.
Sherman's Campaigns of Georgia and the Carolinas.
New Hope Church.
Culp's Farm.
Savannah.
Peach Tree Creek.
Averysborough.
Siege of Atlanta.
Bentonville.
STH CORPS. 12TH CORPS. 20THI CORPS.
1×
ROSTER.
MUSTERED IN, OCTOBER 1ITH, IS62.
COLONEL JOHN H. KETCHAM. LT. COL. CHARLES G. BARTLETT. MAJOR ALFRED B. SMITH. SURGEON CORNELIU'S N CAMPBELL. IST ASST. STEPHEN G. COOK.
2D ASST. HENRY PEARCE. ADIT. WILLIAM THOMPSON. Q. M. GEORGE R. GAYLORD. CHAP. THOMAS E. VASSAR.
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