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HISTORY 
 
 iitc fttiibreir antr fel^ts-lmtlj fcgiment 
 
 NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 BY 
 
 Ret. WM. H. ROGERS, A.M., 
 
 CHAPLAIN. 
 
 JOHN A. GRAY & GREEN, PRINTERS, COR. JACOB AND FRANKFORT STS. 
 1865. 
 
///?f^ 
 
 E6'Z3 
 ■6' 
 
TO THE SOLDIERS 
 
 OF THB 
 
 ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-NINTH NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS, 
 
 AND THEIR JTRIENDS, 
 THIS RECORD OF OUR COMMON EXPERIENCES 
 
 ^Iffccttonatdg Insrrilijli 
 
 Bt the Author. 
 
PKEFAOE 
 
 Only the outline history of a single regiment is here giv- 
 en. I have not attempted any account of the philosophical 
 connection and design of the general movements in which 
 my regiment participated, except such as was purely inci- 
 dental. I have aimed to gratify their request to give them a 
 souvenir of our experiences during our term of service. The 
 plan that seemed best adapted to this, and to the expense 
 and limits prescribed for the book, was to select and narrate 
 such a suggestive sei-ies of events as would cluster, and thus 
 by association revive all the memories of the year. It is 
 hoped any member of the command will find each historical 
 sentence a text from which he may entertain his children 
 and grand-children with stories of his soldier-deeds and suf- 
 ferings which otherwise might have faUen into oblivion. 
 
 WILLIAM H. ROGERS. 
 
 Wellstille, N. y., August 15, 1S65. 
 
PART FIRST. 
 
 ORGAIs^IZATIOI^ OF THE REGIME^ifT. 
 
 The One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth Regiment of 
 New- York Volunteers was organized of good mate- 
 rials. That portion of Central New-York whence they 
 were raised contributed freely during the war to the 
 Federal forces ; but the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth, 
 though among the last, was one of her choicest offer- 
 ino-s. For more than three years had the Union, our 
 mfghty ship of state, contended with the dark storm 
 of Rebellion's warring elements surging to heaven from 
 Treason's lowest depths. The true of all lands with 
 prayer and anxious trust, knowing that the ship was 
 freighted with the world's best hopes, beheld its compe- 
 tenr pilot, Abraham Lincoln, always master of the sit- 
 uation, making successfully the harbor in which it was 
 to be securely placed. So many of his men were lost 
 amid the furv of the waves during the unparalle ed 
 tempest of the early months of 1864, that he called 
 ao-ain for more help, and with undiminished patriotism 
 the people responded to their country's caU. Among 
 them marched the gallant One Hundred and Eighty- 
 Ninth, of whose Field and Staff and Company organiza- 
 tion the following is the description : 
 
8 180TH NEW-YOKK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 Colonel William VV. Hayt was born in Ithaca, Tomp- 
 kins County, K. Y., January ninth, 1824, where he lived 
 with his parents till he was nine years of age. At that 
 time his father removed with his family to Corning, 
 Steuben County, K. Y., and gave the subject of thts 
 sketch a good education, which so well jDrepared him for 
 his illustrious course of life. A successful merchant in 
 Corning for several years, in 1860 he went to Albany 
 and engaged in the lumber trade. Having been for a 
 long time the efficient Adjutant of the Sixtieth Regi- 
 ment New-York State Militia, and afterward its Ma- 
 jor, he was designated by his eminent military abihties, 
 when the slaveholders made their first traitorous as- 
 sault upon the Government, as one whose quahfications 
 ranked him among its best friends and supporters. Ac- 
 cordingly, leaving Albany, he at once went to the 
 field with the Twenty-third Regiment N^ew-York Vo- 
 lunteers, as its Adjutant under Colonel Hoffman, the 
 old Colonel of the Sixtieth. He served faithfully and 
 heroically with this command, during its active services 
 for two years, when its time expiring, it was discharged. 
 Immediately accei3ting the appointment as Assistant 
 Provost-Marshal at Elmira, under Captain Harmons, 
 he labored untiringly in that position till the spring of 
 1864, when he succeeded Captain Harmons as Pro- 
 vost-Marshal. His patriotic self-sacrificing devotion to 
 the heavy business which crowded his office for several 
 months, as the final quotas of recruits were hurrying 
 forward to the seat of war, overtaxed his constitutioi^ 
 and no doubt sowed those seeds of death which caused 
 to set so prematurely his sun of life in its full-orbed 
 lustre. Attracted by his kind and gentlemanly charac- 
 ter, as the duties of his office brought the new recruits 
 
189th NEW-YOEK VOLUNTEERS. 9 
 
 in contact with him, the gallant soldiers of the One 
 Hundred and Eighty-Ninth received with profound sa- 
 tisfaction the announcement that he was unanimously 
 elected their Colonel, and had promised to accept. Nor 
 did their ardent attachment for him diminish while he 
 was leading them to the field, drilling them, and placing 
 them in comfortable quarters before Petersburgh, near 
 Warren's Station, as a part of the body of the Poto- 
 mac Army. Thence going on the fifth of November 
 to City Point on business, he was attacked next day 
 with severe illness and died, November eighth, 1864, of 
 congestion of the brain, aged forty years. A record of 
 the official procedure of his afflicted regiment, on the 
 occasion of his death, is reserved for its place in a sub- 
 sequent page of this volume. 
 
 Colonel, the soldier's friend ! of soul sincere, 
 
 In action faithful, and in honor clear; 
 
 "Who broke no promise, served no private end, 
 
 Who sought no title, and who lost no friend ; 
 
 Ennobled by himself, by all approved. 
 
 Praised, wept, and honored by the land he loved. 
 
 Colonel Allen L. Burr was born in Camden, Alle- 
 gany County, N. Y., December twelfth, 1821. His fii- 
 ther. Major Allanson Burr, as he was universally called, 
 kept a hotel for nearly thirty-five years in the place 
 which bears his name in that town. He moved into 
 the town in 1810, when the only inhabitants were In- 
 dians. Allen's education was limited, as he attended 
 only district-school, in a log building, one and a half 
 miles distant. Brought up in a hotel, he had no laste 
 for learning, and ceased attending school altogether at 
 fourteen years of age. He drove- stage from Camden 
 
10 189th new-yoek volunteers. 
 
 to Pike till he was eighteen years of age, when he mar- 
 ried a daughter of Samuel Webber. Both were very 
 poor. His first business after marriage was staging. 
 By industry, in two years he had accumulated sufficient 
 means to erect a small house and store in the place of 
 his birth. Fortune smiled upon his mercantile efforts, 
 and he did well for about a year, when, on the sixteenth 
 of May, 1842, his store took fire, and all he had was 
 consumed. Left penniless, with a wife, son, and daugh- 
 ter, owing about seven hundred dollars, he, with good 
 health, went to work at four shillings per day, as that 
 was the best he could do at the time. In January, 
 1843, he procured a clerkship in New- York with Wil- 
 liam H. Livingston, at $200 per year besides board. 
 Although his wages were soon raised, he only staid 
 with his employer till the following summer, when he 
 moved to Buffalo and engaged in the grocery business 
 on commission with a man by the name of W. S. Phil- 
 pot, who owned a wholesale store on the dock. Octo- 
 bar eighteenth, 1 844, witnessed the great blow on the 
 lake, which raised the water to the depth of five feet in 
 the store, and destroyed the concern. Driving a hack 
 till the spring of 1845, he was induced by the sickness 
 of his wife to leave the city. Having worked a hired 
 farm in Bethany, Genesee Co., over a year, he moved 
 back to Camden, as poor, at least, as when he left. He 
 worked by the day until the spring of 1849, when his 
 fortune changed. For the State was about to put a 
 portion of the Genesee Valley Canal under contract, 
 and as no law existed at that time against a poor man's 
 bidding on the public works, he made a proposition for 
 a section of bridges, which was accepted. He com- 
 pleted this contract and a number of others, by which 
 
189TII NEW-YORK VOLUNTEEES. H 
 
 lie made considerable money. Elected Justice of the 
 Peace in 1848, he served with much satisfaction to his 
 fellow-townsmen. In the spring of 1851, he purchased 
 a farm near his native place, where his family now re- 
 sides in a comfortable home. Here he occupied most 
 of his time in the practice of law, politics, etc., until 
 the spring of 1861, when the traitors commenced their 
 pro-slavery war against this Government by firing on 
 Fort Sumter. At that time happening to be in New- 
 York, through his brother-in-law, Commissioner to the 
 Sandwich Islands, he made the acquaintance of the la- 
 mented Colonel Baker, with whom he made arrange- 
 ments to raise a company for the first California Regi- 
 ment, with the promise of its captaincy. He went 
 home without delay, enlisted a portion of his company, 
 and made arrangements for the rest, when he met with 
 an accident by which he dislocated an ankle-joint, and 
 was disabled from walking for nearly a year. Still he 
 assisted in raising three companies. Under the call of 
 1862 he raised a company, and joined the One Hundred 
 and Sixtieth New- York Volunteers at Auburn, with the 
 promise of the Lieutenant-Colonelcy. Notwithstanding 
 Governor Morgan, in the interest of some favoritism, 
 failed to fulfill his promise, still Captain Burr went for- 
 ward with his company to Louisiana. He was in the 
 battles of La Teche, taking the rebel gunboat Cotton, 
 and Irish Bend or Camp Bisland. He not only had to 
 endure the extreme Southern climate, which was very 
 unf ivorable to his health, and the ordinary hardships 
 of the soldier's lot, but the extreme unpleasantness of 
 a Captain's duties when his regiment is officered by un- 
 principled men. His constitution could not withstand 
 all these drafts upon its power of endurance. Pros- 
 
12 3^9TII NEW-TOEK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 trated by disease, he resigned his commission and came 
 home. It was a long time ere he regained his health 
 sufficiently to enter the service again, which he did as 
 soon as possible by assisting in the organization of the 
 One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth New- York Volunteers, 
 as Lieutenant-Colonel. By his love of our country, 
 the only government fit to live in ; by his attachment 
 to his family, two sons and four daughters ; and by the 
 influence of his property worth protecting from the trai- 
 tors, he has been inspired to faithfulness in his duties, 
 in which he has served in all the different capacities 
 of a soldier, from a private in the ranks to that of a Bri- 
 gadier-General, with credit to himself and benefit to 
 the Government. Plis youngest son, Fred, fourteen 
 years of age, has been with him nearly all the time 
 since he first entered the service. His oldest son, 
 Charles, is physically disqualified for the performance 
 of military labors. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph G. Townsend was born 
 December seventeenth, 1842, in Hudson, Columbia 
 County, N. Y. His parents gave him, their only sou, 
 the best opportunities for early culture. Having en- 
 joyed the benefits of primary education till he was four- 
 teen years of age, he was at that time sent to the high- 
 school, at Clinton, Oneida Co., IST. Y., under Professor 
 XL P. Bristol and Rev. Benjamin D wight. These pri- 
 vileges he shared till he was nineteen years of age. 
 Then he spent some months at home, when he entered 
 the service of the American Express Company at 
 Rochester. Enlisting August fourteenth, 1862, in the 
 United States service, he was appointed Second Lieu- 
 tenant in Company D, One Hundred and Forty-first 
 
189i;n NEW-YOEK VOLUNTEERS. 13 
 
 JSTew-York Volunteers, with rank from the eleventh of 
 September, 1862. He was promoted and commis- 
 sioned as Captain August twenty-ninth, 1863. lie was 
 in the entire Suffolk and Penmsula campaigns, under 
 General Dix, and a portion of the Gettysburgh. In 
 the following September his regiment was transferred 
 ,to the First Brigade, First Division, Twentieth Corps, 
 General Hooker, of the Army of the Cumberland, 
 under General Thomas. In the memorable fights and 
 camj^aigns of this army he served with heroic valor till 
 November third, 1864, when he left Atlanta under a 
 commission as Major of the One Hundred and Eighty- 
 Ninth Regiment, New-York Volunteers, dating Octo- 
 ber first, and joined his new command on the second of 
 December. With this he continued till the end of the 
 war ; nor did his military career grow dim amid the 
 closing acts of the mighty struggle, as his record in 
 the following pages will show. 
 
 Major William H. Withey was born in Friendship, 
 Allegany County, N. Y., March twenty-fifth, 1831. 
 Attending school, when he had attained the proper 
 age, and working on the farm until his sixteenth year, 
 he then commenced working at the millwright trade. 
 This he followed till he was twenty-one years of age, 
 when he began attending school at Alfred University, 
 w here he remained a number of terms. On the thirty- 
 first December, 1858, he was married to Miss Amanda 
 M. Bears, of Bolivar. Afterward, lumbermg and the 
 mercantile business occupied his time till he volunteered, 
 October twenty-second, 1861, for the war, and joined 
 the Twenty-eighth New-York Volunteers, of General 
 Banks's Division. With this command he took part in 
 
 y 
 
1-1 189TII NEW-YOEK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 driving out the rebel General Jackson from the She- 
 nandoah Valley, and in the famous retreat from it. His 
 noble Twenty Eighth had become so depleted by the 
 fortunes of war that only four hundred men survived, 
 w^ith whom, on the ninth of August, 1862, he went 
 into the battle of Cedar Mountain, and w^as one of the 
 one hundred and twenty-five survivors of the regiment 
 at set of sun. Ten days after he was taken prisoner 
 w^hile attending the w^ounded officers in the hospital 
 at Culpeper, Virginia. Having been carried to Rich- 
 mond on the tw^enty-fifth of September, he remained 
 there in prison till the seventh of October, when he 
 w^as paroled, and, with others, sent to Washington, 
 where he was discharged. On the twenty-ninth of 
 August, 18G4, he commenced raising a company of in- 
 fantry, of which he was elected Captain, and on the 
 twenty-seventh of September it w^as mustered into the 
 service, at Elmira, as Company B, One Hundred and 
 Eighty-Ninth New-York Volunteers. On being elected 
 Major, the same generous uprightness characterized him 
 as had won him the fullest confidence and love of his 
 Company, and rendered him one of the most popular, 
 true and useful officers of the regiment. 
 
 Chaplain William H. Rogers, A.M.,* was born Octo- 
 ber twenty-first, 1834, in Willing, Allegany County, 
 N. Y., whither his parents had moved from the East, 
 the previous spring. His father, an honest, industrious 
 fiirmer, and his mother, a pious, faithful w^oman of great 
 energy of character, gave him, with their other children, 
 such training as working at home summers, and attend- 
 ing common-schools winters, are adapted to impart. 
 Converted at the age of fifteen, sensible from tliat 
 
 *Tliis sketch was prepared hy a frienrl, and inserted by re<iuost. 
 
189th new-yoek volunteers. 15 
 
 time of his call to the ministry of the Gospel, two years 
 after, he commenced his course of study at Alfred Uni- 
 versity, preparatory to his . life-work. In his twenty- 
 fourth year he finished there the classical course in 
 college, having from his seventeenth year taught every 
 winter and otherwise labored to defray his current ex- 
 penses, besides working meanwhile for his father from 
 time to time. He cherishes especially for Rev. J. M. 
 Allen, A.M., Professor of Psychology, Moral Science, 
 and Hebrew, in his Alma Mater, profound and endur- 
 ing gratitude for so judiciously disabusing his mind, 
 while at college, of some ruinous materialistic errors 
 which he had imbibed in boyhood. 
 
 Having taught a large select-school in Spring Mills, 
 Allegany County, N. Y., the winter of 1858, a flourish- 
 ing institution of learning grew out of it, commencing, 
 the following fall, with a new academic edifice. Of 
 Spring Mills Academy he continued Principal nearly 
 three years, whereupon he resigned in order to accept 
 the principalship of Troupsburgh Academy, in Steu- 
 ben Co., as successor to his brother Lowell, who was de- 
 sirous of resigning. He was map'ied, July third, 1861, 
 to Miss M. Elizabeth Brownell, daughter of Rev. Ve- 
 ranus Bro\\mell, of the East-Genesee Conference, Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church. 
 
 The continued and increasing prosperity of the insti- 
 tution under his administration, illustrated the strength 
 of our popular institutions during the troublous times 
 of the rebellion. Religion, scholarship, and loyalty 
 flourished. Indeed, Chaplain Rogers deserves great 
 credit for wise and loyal management, for though fierce- 
 ly opposed by a cabal of copperheads officially connect- 
 ed with the Seminary, he, without teaching partisan 
 
16 189TH NEW-YOEK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 politics, taught practical loyalty as an ethical duty ; 
 and though his political enemies descended even to 
 fraud, calumny, and perjury in their hostility to him, 
 and all true men and measures, the utter integrity, 
 force, and usefulness of his character, labors, and poli- 
 cies overwhelmed them and gained new laurels for him 
 and his institution. Resigning here, he shortly after 
 accepted the chaplaincy of the One Hundred and 
 Eighty-Ninth, to which he was unanimously chosen. 
 His commission dates October eighth, 1864. All his 
 regiment loved him. He worked faithfully for them 
 through the whole term of service. 
 
 He has been a member of the East-Genesee Confer- 
 ence, Methodist Episcopal Church, six years, and has 
 preached to average once a week since his seventeenth 
 year. 
 
 Adjutant Eugene H. Roney was born in the town of 
 Massena, St. Lawrence County, State of New- York, on 
 the ninth day of January, 1838, and is the youngest of 
 five sons, all of whom are still living. His parents were 
 poor but respectable farmers. At the early age of five 
 years, he was called upon to undergo one of the most 
 sad and irreparable afflictions ever visited on childhood, 
 the loss of an indulgent and afiectionate mother. Al- 
 though twenty-two years have passed into oblivion 
 since her pure spirit ascended to that better land, the 
 memory of her love, her amiable disposition, and her 
 Christian example still remain fresh and green in the 
 archives of his inmost heart. Her hallowed image 
 and angelic presence he hopes watch over him with the 
 tenderest solicitude and affection. His early years were 
 spent in the town of his nativity. Here, at the age of 
 
1S9TH NEW-YORK VOLUNTEEliS. 17 
 
 seven years, he first breathed the air of a district-school- 
 house, but he contracted such disUke for his teacher as 
 to render his attendance at school not only irksome but 
 also of little profit. When he had reached his fifteenth 
 year his father disposed of his farm m Massena, and 
 with his family removed to the State of Connecticut, 
 ^nd located near the village of Thompsonville, in the 
 town of Enfield. Assisting his father on the farm dur- 
 ing vacations and other leisure days, he remained here 
 and attended hicjh-school in the viUao-e three years. 
 But agricultural pursuits had few attractions for him, 
 and in the spring of 1855, his father procured him a 
 clerkship with the firm of Case and Owen, merchants in 
 the city of Hartford. Having remained here two years, 
 his health failing, he was obliged to relinquish his 
 situation and seek needed repose and recreation. The 
 year following was spent with his eldest brother, a cler- 
 gyman, now a member of the Massachusetts Legisla- 
 ture, who resided at Lynn, Massachusetts. Here re- 
 mained Eugene, enjoying the fresh sea-breezes and fre- 
 quent trips on fishing expeditions, until he found his 
 health completely restored. In the autumn of 1858, 
 he went to Cleveland, Oswego Co., N. Y., (his pre- 
 sent place of abode,) and commenced school-teaching, 
 which occupation he continued to follow until the break- 
 ing out of the rebellion in the spring of 1861. In com- 
 pany with a few students from Hamilton College, he 
 assisted in raising a company of volunteers for the war, 
 and entered the First California Regiment, commanded 
 by that patriot, statesman, and brave man, Colonel E. 
 D. Baker, who fell a martyr at Ball's Bluft^ in October, 
 1 862. He served with his regiment through all the Pe- 
 ninsula Campaign, and was with it in every battle in 
 
18 189TH NEW-TOEK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 which it was engaged. Ball's Bluff, West-Point, Fair 
 Oaks or Seven Pines, Peach Orchard, Savage Station, 
 White Oak Swamp, and Malvern Hill. Then came the 
 long period of inactivity while the army remained at 
 Harrison's Landing. Then the retreat to Newport 
 ISTews, and transportation to Alexandria, where he ar- 
 rived just in season to participate in the disastrous bat- 
 tle of Second Manassas. Here his connection with the 
 gallant First California Regiment ended, for he was 
 taken from the battle-field to the hospital. He was ho- 
 norably discharged the service the following February, 
 on account of disease contracted in the Chickahominy 
 Swamps. In August and September, 1864, in conjunc- 
 tion with Captain Edward A. Marble, he assisted in rais- 
 ing a company of volunteers for one year, and pro- 
 ceeded to Elmira, the general rendezvous for Western 
 New- York, where they were finally assigned to the 
 One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth Regiment, New- York 
 Volunteers, Colonel William W. Hayt, and left for the 
 seat of war on the fifth day of October. 
 
 Quaptermaster J. L. Brown was born a.d. 1832, in 
 Corning, New-York. The straightforward course of 
 this upright business man and noble ofiicer is easily deli- 
 neated. Obtaining a liberal education, he worked at 
 lumbering and farming successfully, until his country's 
 call led him to record his name among those not afraid 
 to die for her salvation. In his twenty-fourth year he 
 was married to Miss Hat tie A. Hoag, of Norwich, 
 Chenango Co., N. Y. Joining the One Hundred and 
 Eighty-Ninth New- York Volunteers, he was chosen its 
 Quartermaster, in which he distinguished himself as 
 an honest, prompt, and able officer. 
 
189TH NEW-YOEK VOLUNTEERS. 19 
 
 On returning to his Northern home, "when the cruel 
 war was over," he found it bereft of halflts beauty 
 and its charms. The following touching stanzas are in- 
 serted here, because they, while describing his sad be- 
 reavement, will be perused by others — many others — ■ 
 whose hearts have been kept warm and pure while on 
 picket, battle, or camp duties, by the memory of those 
 loved ones left at home, but whom the " Death- Angel" 
 called away, leaving only a " kiss to dear papa whenever 
 he comes home," and the child's heavenward calling, 
 "Come home!" 
 
 "Died, at White Store, March fifteenth, Grace, aged four years, 
 only daughter of Louis and Harriet Brown, of Corning, N. Y. 
 
 " The icy hand of death 
 
 Was laid on cheek and brow, 
 And Grace, tlje cherished idol, lay 
 Beneath his shadow now. 
 ' Gracie, darling ! leave me not ! ' 
 
 The anguished mother sighed : 
 * Hush, mamma ! mamma, please be still ! ' 
 The little sufferer cried. 
 
 "'Dear brother, Grade's going home; 
 
 Be good, my darling one, 
 And give this kiss to dear papa, 
 
 Whenever he comes home. 
 Now I will go to sleep !' And soft 
 
 The blue eyes closed — the breath 
 Fluttered more faintly — then was still : 
 
 Sweet Gracie slept in death. 
 
 " Blest sleep ! to open those blue eyes 
 
 Where death can never come. 
 To gaze with wonder and surprise • 
 
 Upon her heavenly home : 
 
20 ISDTII XEW-YOKK VOLrNTEERS. 
 
 And looking back to the sad world, 
 
 To her darkened earthly home, 
 Is she not calling: 'Brother dear, 
 
 Papa, mamma, come home'' P^ 
 
 Surgeon Howard E. Gates ^vas bom at New-Hart- 
 ford, Connecticut, June lit'teentli, 1S40. His father, a 
 manufacturer, died >vhen Howard was twelve years of 
 age. When his mother married again he lived with 
 his step-father, in Litehlield, and attended school till he 
 was eighteen years of age, excepting some time in 
 which he was employed in the drug business. After- 
 ward having studied medicine quite steadily till the 
 winter of 1 860, he then went to Xew-York City, and 
 attended a course of lectures. Heturning home and 
 studying during the summer, he attended another 
 course of lectures in the city the winter following. In 
 July, 1861, he graditited at Long Island Hospital, 
 Brooklyn, having completed the third course of lec- 
 tures. After practicing in Litchfield till March, 1862, 
 he moved to Fallsburgh, Sullivan Co., X. Y., where 
 he practiced till July nhieteenth, 1862. He was mar- 
 ried August twenty-second, 1862, to Miss Gracie M. 
 Wessels. As Assistant-Surgeon he entered the service 
 in the Eightieth New-York Volunteers, leavmg an ex- 
 tensive business in Fallsburgh, for this purpose. AYith 
 this regiment he was in the battles of Beverly Ford, 
 Gainesville, Second Bull Kun, Chantilly, Groveton, 
 South-Mountain, Antietam and Second Fredericks- 
 burgh. From this regiment he entered the One Him- 
 dred and Eighty-Ninth New- York as Surgeon, his com- 
 mission bearing date November twentieth. 
 
 Assistant-Surgeon Sidney D. Grasse was born in 
 Bath, England, in the year 1841, of English parents. 
 
189TII NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 21 
 
 His father, who was a pious man, the Son of Sir Frede- 
 rick Grasse, was an officer in the Thirty-Ninth Regi- 
 ment, or Rifle Brigade. His mother, Charlotte Her- 
 chiner, was daughter of Rev. WilUam Herchiner, Dar- 
 lington, Kent, England. When Sidney was about a 
 year old his flither was ordered to India with his regi- 
 ment, where he served, eleven years. On his return to 
 'England he was transferred to the Royal Canadian Ri- 
 fles, a permanent Canadian force, in which he served in 
 diftcrent parts of the Provinces, until 1849, when cir- 
 cumstances induced him to sell out, and he settled near 
 Kingston, his present residence. He gave Sidney a 
 good domestic education, and in 1853 he entered the 
 University of Toronto, and graduated in 1857 with the 
 degree of B.A. Until the year 1860 he devoted him- 
 self to the study of civil engineering, when he entered 
 the medical department of Queen's College, Kingston, 
 where he graduated in the spring of 1864. In 1862 he 
 obtained a commission as Assistant-Surgeon in the Uni- 
 ted States service, under which he acted on duty at 
 Washington till sickness necessitated his return home. 
 On graduating at Queen's College he reaeived his com- 
 mission, dated December twenty-third, 1864, for service 
 in the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth New-York Vo- 
 lunteers, and joined this regiment while in camp before 
 Petersburgh, and served with it faithfully, " through 
 thick and thin," till the downfall of the rebellion. 
 
 Henry Lanning, M.D., Assistant-Surgeon, was born 
 in McLean, Tompkins County, N. Y., the sixteenth day 
 of June, 1843. Until he was fifteen years of age, he 
 attended the village school of his native place, after 
 which he took the academic course of instruction at 
 
22 189TH NEW-YOEK VOLUNTEEES. 
 
 Cortland Academy, Homer, N". Y. He commenced 
 the study of medicine in 1860, with his father, Richard 
 Lanning, M.D., then practising in McLean. The win- 
 ter of 1861-2 was spent in attending the Medical De- 
 partment of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 
 In the spring of 1862, he accepted the position of Hos- 
 pital Steward of the Eleventh Regiment, Louisiana 
 Volunteers, United States Army, stationed at Milli- 
 ken's Bend, La., where he remained until the climate 
 had so impaired his health as to oblige him to leave. 
 In 1864, he graduated at the Albany Medical College, 
 and received commission of the date December twenty- 
 sixth, 1864, as Assistant-Surgeon of the One Hundred 
 and Eighty-Ninth N"ew-York Volunteers, with which 
 he served with honor till it was discharged at Elmira, 
 ISTevv-York. 
 
 Addison Evans, Sutler, was born in Richburgh, Alle- 
 gany County, N. Y., February thirteenth, 1837. Re- 
 siding with his parents till 1854, he went to Bolivar 
 village as clerk for Stephen W, Thomas, Esq., mer- 
 chant. Thence traveling West, he visited California ; 
 and having done some business, returned in Novem- 
 ber, 1860. He enlisted on the first of May, 1861, in 
 Company B, Twenty-third New- York Volunteers. In 
 the fall he was transferred to Battery B, Fourth Unit- 
 ed States Artillery, and with it fought in the battles of 
 Rappahannock Station, White Sulphur Springs, second 
 Bull Run, South-Mountain, Antietam, and second Fred- 
 ericksburgh. In the battle of Antietam he was dan- 
 gerously wounded in the left side by a Minie ball. 
 Mustered out May twenty-second, 1863, he commenced 
 keeping an eating-saloon in Washington, which busi- 
 
189TH NEW-YOEK VOLUNTEEES. 23 
 
 ness he pursued till he was appointed Sutler of the One 
 Hundred and Eighty-Ninth. He was an obliging and 
 highly respected officer. His partner, Mr. James W. 
 Willett, whose portrait is also furnished in the frontis- 
 l>iece, was well worthy of the high esteem with which 
 he was universally regarded. Far better had it been 
 for the soldiers if the Sutler's Department had always 
 been conducted with as much uprightness as ours was 
 by these two gentlemen. 
 
 COIVSPANY A. 
 
 This Company was principally raised in the town of 
 Bath, Steuben County. It being well known that if 
 volunteers were to be raised, Captain John Stocum was 
 the man to do it, his townsmen urged him to enter the 
 field once more. When, therefore, this popular and 
 well-tried officer erected his little tent in the park of 
 Bath village, volunteers flocked to him. The result is 
 thus stated in one of the village papers : " Single-hand- 
 ed and alone, in nine days he had a full company rais- 
 ed, equipped, and mustered into the service. A better 
 one it would be hard to find, as the military record 
 shows." At the election of its officers, the company 
 unanimously chose for First Lieutenant, Benjamin iN". 
 Bennett ; for Second Lieutenant, John W. Brown ; 
 whose cooperation and help had not been wanting in 
 getting up the company. 
 
 Captain John Stocum was born in Pultney, Steuben 
 County, ]Sr. Y., April twenty-seventh, 1825. Orphan- 
 ed at an early age, he came to Bath, Steuben Co., 
 ISr. Y., a poor, friendless boy. There, by his industry, 
 urbanity, and Christian integrity, he won a position 
 
24 189TH NEW- YORK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 amongst his fellow-citizens. He was an exemplary 
 member of the Presbyterian Church. He was married 
 February, 1847, to Miss Elizabeth Metcalf, of Bath, 
 who died in October, 1858. In June, 1860, he married 
 again to Miss Susan B. Townsend, of Elmira. An up- 
 right business man and merchant, he prospered. Sucli 
 was the confidence the young men had in him, that in 
 1861, when he announced that he was about to raise a 
 battery, in two weeks his company was full. He was 
 appointed Caj)tain, and his command denominated 
 Battery E, First New- York Artillery, and was ordered 
 to the front. After five months' service, a number of 
 the officers of the regiment, among them Captain Sto- 
 cum, were ordered to report for examinaticn, and very 
 unwisely and unceremoniously dismissed the service, 
 as the result showed. Soon after, Battery E was di- 
 vided up and put in other batteries. Returning home, 
 in 1862, when there was another call for men. Captain 
 Stocum commenced recruiting Company F, One Hun- 
 dred and Sixty-first Regiment, and was soon with his 
 full command at Elmira. A severe epidemic breaking 
 out among his troops, numbers died, and he was pros- 
 trated with a fever three months. Meanwhile, his re- 
 giment having been ordered to the Department of the 
 Gulf, when he had sufiiciently recovered, he rejoined 
 them rendezvoused at Baton Rouge in time to partake 
 of the campaign against Port Hudson. Tho igh still 
 feeble in health, he continued in command th"',,igh the 
 battle of Plain's Store and during the memorajle siege 
 and surrender of the stronghold, Port Hudson. But 
 the effect of that climate being so severe upon his 
 somewhat broken constitution, the surgeon ordered 
 him to the hospital, where he remained two months. 
 
189th NEW-YOKK VOLUNTEERS, 25 
 
 The hope of recovery there being small, he resigned 
 and returned home. On the third day of September, 
 1864, he commenced raising his third and last company 
 for the war, with which he served, often placed in high- 
 er commands, till the utter overthrow of the traitors* 
 cause terminated the struggle. When he brought his 
 company with the loss of only seven back, after it had 
 been mustered out and paid, and marched it into the 
 village square of Bath, to bid the brave boys farewell, 
 then was to be seen how the noble, sympathizing, able 
 officer was beloved by his men. 
 
 First Lieutenant B. N. Bennett was a young man 
 and highly useful officer. Having lent his influence 
 for the raising of Company A, he was chosen, without 
 any dissent, as its First Lieutenant. He was always 
 present with his command, and did his duties cordially 
 and well. On the march, in camp, or in battle. Lieu- 
 tenant Bennett was ever on hand where duty called, 
 reliable and true. He furnished no materials for his 
 biographical sketch, but his deeds while a soldier are 
 a sufficient praise and memorial. 
 
 Second Lieutenant John W. Brown was born June 
 twelfth, 1833, at Wheeler, Steuben County, N. Y. 
 Living with his parents till he was twenty-one years of 
 age, helping them upon the farm, he, as the oldest son, 
 had but limited opportunity to acquire education. He 
 was married in 1854, to Miss R. P. Haddon, adopted 
 daughter of John J. Popins, Esq., of Pultney, and pur- 
 sued his farming occupations on his own farm till 1862, 
 when he enlisted as a private in Company G, One Hun- 
 dred and Seventh New-York. Some time i^revious to 
 2 
 
26 189TH NEW- YORK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 the close of his term of service, he was discharged on 
 a surgeon's certificate of disability. On returning 
 home, he entered the grocery business in Merchants- 
 ville, till he again enlisted on the twentieth of Septem- 
 ber, 1864, as Lieutenant, in Company A, with which 
 he faithfully served till it was disbanded. 
 
 Non-Commissioned Officers' and Privates' Memorial— Co. A. 
 
 Orderly Sergeant, George Ellsworth ; Second Ser- 
 geant, A. B. McFee ; Third Sergeant, Alonzo Van 
 Wee ; Fourth Sergeant, Adin Yose ; Fifth Sergeant, 
 Martin Higgins. 
 
 Corporals : James Van "Wee, David Morrison, Vol- 
 lin Court Allen, Nelson Kring, Horace Bennett, Isaac 
 Adams, Charles Hackett, David Sharp, (died m hos- 
 pital.) 
 
 H. G. Preston, Drummer ; A. E. Booth, Fifer. 
 
 Privates : Samuel A. Alden, Gilbert Alden, William 
 Alger, John D. Aker, (died in Division Hospital,) 
 Abel A. Andrews, Ira Bennet, Charles H. Brown, 
 Byron Bennet, Isaac Baker, George Blakesley, Patrick 
 H. Powers, Edgar H. Babcock, Daniel Burley, Daniel 
 Brownell, James Bain, G. F. Culver, Henry D. Cum- 
 mings, William B. Cox, Sidney Church, (died in hos- 
 pital,) William Cooper, Jefferson J. Chase, ISTathaniel 
 Dawley, Jary F. Eddy, James Farley, Isaac H. Ferris, 
 George W. Ferris, (promoted Corporal,) Benjamin F. 
 Ferris, (promoted Corporal,) John A. Filkins, Daniel 
 Gray, Nelson C. Higgins, Warren Hurlburt, Joseph 
 Hand, David Ilecox, Henry Herron, James Herron, 
 Pobert Herron, Barney J. Hyre, Martin V. House, 
 James Jackson, Jerome Jenkins, Frank Kaiser, (pro- 
 moted Corpora],) Charles P. Knapp, Samuel Lewis, 
 
189TH NEW- YORK YOLUXTEEES. 27 
 
 Wilson Logeiy, Samuel Lewis, Jr., Robert McBeth, 
 Horace M. Weeks, Fayette A. Matteson, James JVfc- 
 Cue, William Minnich, Richard McDowell, Moses F. 
 Meeks, James McChesney, Moses M. Morse, Moses 
 McChesney, William McChesney, (died in hospital,) 
 E. J. Philijoson, Wilis Piatt, D. Philips, John Quigley, 
 (died in hospital,) Lewis P. Russell, Isaac A. Rising, 
 Kathaniel Searles, Norman Stewart, Charles E. Stew- 
 art, Henry F. Travis, Henry L. Townsend, (promoted 
 Corporal,) John Talbert, (died e7i route to front,) 
 Wesley Travis, Jarvis Talbert, John Van Campen, 
 Adolphus Welch, Henry Willis, Squire Wessels, Web- 
 ster W. Waggoner, Isaac Warrick, John Watson, 
 William H. Winship, Henry Covell, William Covell. 
 
 COMPANY B 
 
 was raised from the towns of Bolivar, Wirt, Clarks- 
 ville. Friendship, New-Hudson, Caneadea, and Ahna, 
 Allegany County. WiUiam H. Wlthey, Esq., of Rich- 
 burgh, by his reputation as a soldier, and his ability 
 and influence as a man and citizen, was the one to 
 whom his fellow-citizens naturally looked when ^their 
 town quotas were to be raised. By their request he 
 undertook organizing a company. Receiving author- 
 ity from Governor Seymour on the twenty-sixth of 
 August for that purpose, assisted by his brother, Ser- 
 geant Fayette Withey, of tfie One Hundred and Eigh- 
 ty-fifth New- York Veteran Volunteers, and E. II. 
 Kilbury, Esq., of Bolivar, he had one hundred and 
 three men enlisted by the sixteenth day of September. 
 They were mustered as a company organization on the 
 twenty-first. The next day they elected by a unan- 
 imous vote, William H. Withey, Captain ; Fayette 
 
28 189TH NEW-YOEK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 Withey, First Lieutenant ; and E. R. Kilbuiy, Second 
 Lieutenant. These officers cooperated at Eltnira with 
 those of other companies circumstanced similarly with 
 themselves, to secure a new regimental organization 
 for their companies to enter, and the One Hundred 
 and Eighty-ninth was the result. 
 
 Captain Fayette Withey was born in Friendship, 
 New- York, February tenth, 1833. When he was nine 
 years old, his parents removed to. Bolivar, N". Y., where 
 they resided until the death of his mother. He received 
 a good common-school education. At the age of eigh- 
 teen, he commenced work by the month in the lum- 
 bering business. This and mechanical business engag- 
 ed his time till the breaking out of the rebellion. In 
 August, 1861, he enlisted as a private soldier for three 
 years, and soon was appointed Sergeant in Company 
 A, Eighty-fifth I^ew-York Volunteers, then about to 
 start for the field. His regiment was under General 
 Casey through General McClellan's Campaign before 
 Richmond ; and, besides several skirmishes, participat- 
 ed in the battles of Fair Oaks and Malvern Hill. In 
 December, 1862, he went with his regiment to ISTorth- 
 Carolina, and fought in the battles at Kinston, White- 
 hall, and Goldsboro, and at the siege of Washington, 
 K. C. Reenlisted at Plymouth, N. C, January first, 
 1864, for another three years, he was at Roanoke Is- 
 land during the siege of Plymouth, where all his regi- 
 ment was captured by the rebels, excepting his com- 
 pany, April twentieth, 1864. While detailed at Ply- 
 mouth to superintend the construction of fortifications, 
 he won by his able and strict attention to his duties 
 the esteem of both officers and men. He built Fort 
 
189X11 NEW-YOKK VOLITNTEEES. 29 
 
 Foster and other extensive and important works on 
 Roanoke Island, giving entire satisfaction to the com- 
 mandant of the post. Obtaining a furlough home Au- 
 gust fifteenth, 1864, he soon engaged with his brother, 
 Major William H. Withey, and Lieutenant E. R. Kil- 
 bury, in raising Company B. He obtained an honor- 
 able discharge from his old command, and was assign- 
 ed to the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth New- York 
 as First Lieutenant of his company. On his brother, 
 William H.'s promotion to the majority, he was made 
 Captain. A better officer can not easily be found. 
 
 First Lieutenant Edwin R. Kilbury was born Sep- 
 tember second, 1826, in Fremont, Steuben County, 
 N. Y. While dwelUng with his parents till he was of 
 age, and helping them on the farm, he enjoyed the 
 privilege of common-schools. At the age of twenty- 
 one he married Miss Hannah M. Gates, of Fremont, 
 and thereafter lumbered in Howard till February, 1854. 
 At this date, moving into Allegany Co., he con- 
 tinued his lumbering till 1859, when he was called as 
 Justice of Sessions to move to Bolivar, where he acted 
 till the close of his term, and was reelected Justice 
 March, 1863. Assisting in raising Company B, he was 
 chosen Second Lieutenant. While the regiment was 
 in camp before Petersburgh, near Warren Station, he 
 was detailed November nineteenth, 1864, as Brigade 
 Ambulance Officer. He was promoted First Lieuten- 
 ant at the time of the election of Major Withey. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Lyman P. Hotchkiss was born 
 October twenty-fourth, 1841, at Homer, Cortland Coun- 
 ty, N. Y. He lived with his parents till his thirteenth 
 
30 189TH NEW-YOEK VOLUNTEEES. 
 
 year, then traveled West, " to see the world," till the 
 fall of 1859, when he returned to the State of New- 
 York and worked with his brother on the farm. He 
 had visited many of the most important places in the 
 " far West," and became satisfied to settle at more 
 quiet and steady pursuits. But the pro-slavery war 
 breaking out, fired his heart with patriotic ardor, and 
 he enlisted in the Twenty-third Regiment New-York 
 Volunteers, in McDowell's Corps. He fought with his 
 regiment in the battles of Rappahannock Station, Sul- 
 phur Spring, Groveton, Second Bull Run. At the 
 last place he was disabled by a shell. He so far re- 
 covered as to rejoin his regiment at Belle Plain Land- 
 ing, doing provost duty under General Patrick. Mus- 
 tered out with his regiment at Elmira May twenty- 
 second, 1863, he went to Eau Claire County, Wis., and 
 worked by the month at lumbering the following year. 
 Reenlisting September twenty-first, he was elected Or- 
 derly in Company B, and afterward promoted to the 
 Lieutenancy, vice Lieutenant Kilbury. At the battle 
 of Gravelly Run, on March thirty-first, while forming 
 picket-line with twenty men of his company, he was 
 struck in the ankle-joint by a Minie ball. On his be- 
 ing carried to the hospital, a council of surgeons de- 
 cided that amputation was necessary. The brave Lieu- 
 tenant replied : " I would like to save my leg, if pos- 
 sible ; but if not, let it come ofi"." This was the only 
 case of an officer's siiflTering amputation in the One 
 Hundred and Eighty-ninth. A more courageous or 
 better officer was not in the army. Although crippled 
 for life, his marriage to Miss Almeda E. Smith, his 
 former affianced, was celebrated on liis return home. 
 
1S9TII XEW-YORK VOLUXTEERS. 31 
 
 Be it always an honor in our country to wear the 
 marks and maims of her wounded defenders ! • 
 
 Non-Commissioned Officers' and Privates' Memorial— Co. B. 
 
 Orderly Sergeant, Lyman P. Hotchkiss, (promoted 
 Second Lieutenant,) Second Sergeant, Hosea K. 
 Gould ; Third Sergeant, Russell L. Hubard ; Fourth 
 Sergeant, John Stickney ; Fifth Sergeant, S. D. Wil- 
 liams. 
 
 Corporals : Joseph C. Scott, (promoted Sergeant,) 
 James Denison, James B. Wood, Andrew Kilbury, 
 William H. Stryker, Dennis L. Gardiner, Thomas G. 
 Crandall, Mathew V. Franklin, (promoted Orderly 
 Sergeant.) 
 
 Privates : Christopher Allen, Perry Allen, Marshall 
 Allen, John E. Alexander, (wounded at Gravelly Run,) 
 Joseph G. Ackerman, Walter B. Amidon, Thomas H. 
 Applebee, George W. Baily, John J. Beers, Rowland 
 L. Burdick, Laverne Burdick, Charles F. Brown, 
 (taken prisoner at Lewis's Farm,) George W. Brooks, 
 (wounded at Lewis's Farm,) Olin Baker, George W 
 Burdge, Levi Barnum, James Bentley, Alfred J. Coon, 
 (wounded at Lewis's Farm,) William Crandall, Sid- 
 ney C. Clark, Hamilton Crane, Nelson J. Coolerick, 
 Edward Clark, Joseph Cole, Webster W. Cole, Lyman 
 J. Cole, Charles L. Carter, H. J. Campbell, (wounded 
 at Lewis's Farm,) Daniel W. Drumb, Hiram Donal- 
 son, James Eells, George E. Fritts, (promoted Corpo- 
 ral,) Marcus A. Furnald, Charles K. Fay, Alva S. 
 Foster, Benjamin H. Gardener, John Graham, Hiram 
 Goodno, Charles Griffith, Henry Garthwait, (deserted 
 in Elmira,) Stephen Gillet, Henry J. Gilbert, Oliver 
 H. Gilbert, Oliver P. Hazzard, Harlan P.^ Hazzard, 
 
32 189TH NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 Elihu Hazzard, Hubard W. R. Head, (promoted Ser- 
 geant,) Edmond C. Howe, Richard J. Ives, (died from 
 wound received at Lewis' Farm,) Richard Lehar, Mo- 
 ses Miller, Samuel Mead, Merrit Myers, (deserted,) 
 James McElheny, John Nolan, William P. Neff, (died 
 in hospital,) Cyrus Pattison, William Peterson, (died 
 in hospital,) Thomas T. Pollard, (died in hospital,) 
 Tisdell A. Puffer, Oscar A. Pyre, Ethel P. Rogers, Le- 
 roy Rogers, William E. Richardson, Almond Robin- 
 son, Lyman E. Root, (brigade blacksmith,) Albert 
 Reed, (teamster,) Benjamin K. Stickney, (pioneer,) 
 John Straight, (died in hospital,) Charles N. Smith, 
 William H. Smith, Sanford IST. Scott, Edgar J. Scott, 
 John Scott, Chandler R. Spencer, (died in hospital,) 
 Samuel Severence, James A. Torry, (promoted Corpo- 
 ral,) Daniel Thurston, (provost-guard,) Andrew J. 
 Upham, Denis Vars, Sewal Wells, Charles W. Wilcox, 
 Andrew J. White, (teamster,) Henry F. Woolstrura, 
 Charles N. Williams, ISTorman O. Wheeler. 
 
 COMPANY C 
 
 was enlisted in August, 1864, in the towns of Whee- 
 ler, Bath, AvOca, Canona, and Urbana, by Captain 
 Burrage Rice, assisted by Lieutenants Robison and 
 Warren. Mustered and clothed by September thir- 
 teenth, it was at first assigned to the One Hundred 
 and Seventy-fifth New- York, but a revocation of that 
 assignment was secured by Captain Rice, at Albany, 
 and it was afterward connected with the One Hundred 
 and Eighty-ninth. 
 
 Captain Burrage Rice was born June third, 1829, 
 in the village of Bath, Steuben County, iN". Y., and re- 
 
189TH NEW-YORK VOLITNTEERS. 33 
 
 mained there until he was four years old, when his 
 father, Samuel A. Rice, removed to Michigan with his 
 family. At the age of fourteen, he came to Pratts- 
 burgh, and attended school at the Franklin Academy. 
 Prepared to enter college — as an education was his 
 greatest ambition — ^he was arranging to devote all his 
 energies to completing his full educational course, 
 when unfortunately his plans were frustrated, which 
 has been the regret of his life. In 1850 he returned to 
 Bath, and entered the store of James R. Dudley, as 
 clerk. June eighth, 1853, he married Miss Mary F. 
 Smith, daughter of Orrin Smith, of Bath. He was an 
 active man in all public enterprises, and enjoyed in a 
 large degree the confidence of his fellow-citizens. He 
 had also made great progress in the study of law. At 
 the breaking out of the rebellion, he Avas among the 
 first to offer his services to his country. Enlisting as a 
 private in the First Vermont Regiment, under the 
 President's first call for three months men, he was 
 stationed near Fortress Monroe. He took an active 
 part in the battle of Big Bethel, in which his regiment 
 distinguished itself for bravery. Mustered out with 
 his regiment, a new one immediately being organized, 
 he wasxjhosen Captain of one of its companies. This 
 position he reluctantly relinquished, in response to an 
 urgent appeal from his family and friends, and accept- 
 ed the position of Under-Sheriff, in Bath, the duties of 
 which he performed with marked ability for more than 
 two years. Besides his own company, he helped raise 
 other troops. A general favorite on account of his 
 eminent military qualities and urbanity of character, 
 he was promoted, November fourth, to be Brigade In- 
 spector on the staff of Brigadier-General Gregory, of 
 2* 
 
34 189TH NEW-TOEK YOLUNTEERS. 
 
 the Second Brigade, to which the One Hundred and 
 Eighty-ninth belonged — a position he filled with great 
 ability till January eleventh, 1865, when he was shot 
 dead by ambushed guerrillas, w^ho attacked a foraging 
 party under his command, an account of w4iich is 
 found in its proper place in Part Second of this work. 
 His body was embalmed and sent home to his native 
 village, where it was buried on Thursday, the nine- 
 teenth of January, 1865, with Masonic honors. A 
 large procession of his friends followed his remains to 
 their final resting-place, mourning the untimely loss of 
 a brave officer Jind loved commander, an estimable 
 citizen and a worthy man. Dulce et decorum est pro 
 patria mori. 
 
 Captain Silas W. Robison, from the time of his 
 birth, January sixth, 1832, in Hornellsville, Steuben 
 County, N. Y., lived with his parents till his seventeenth 
 year, busied with lumbering. He enjoyed but limited 
 school privileges till at the age just mentioned, he went 
 to Hammondsport to live with his sister, where he at- 
 tended school winters, working on the farm during the 
 summer season. He was one of the first volunteers 
 who in 1861 shouldered the musket for right -against 
 wrong, freedom against slavery, democracy against 
 aristocracy. 
 
 Entering Company I, Thirty-fourth New- York, as 
 a private, he served two years faithfully. He was in 
 the battles of Ball's Bluff, siege of Yorktown, Seven 
 Days' Fight on the Peninsula, South-Mountain, Antie- 
 tara, first and second Fredericksburgh. He wins pro- 
 motion as Sergeant, and then as Orderly, and is dis- 
 charged with his regiment at Albany, July, 1863. 
 
189th new- YORK VOLUNTEERS. 35 
 
 Working on the farm for his sister till February, 
 1864, he married at that date Miss K. T. Dykes, of 
 Hammond^port, and buying a piece of land, pursued 
 his farming avocation, until he entered the service again, 
 as First Lieutenant of Company C, and having been in 
 command of the company since Captain Rice's promo- 
 tion, was commissioned Captain in his place upon the 
 death of that accomplished officer. 
 
 First Lieutenant Dwight Warren was born March 
 twenty-first, 1831, in Bath, Steuben County, N. Y. His 
 father was a farmer, and for several years was Colonel 
 of the Ninety-sixth Regiment, New- York State Militia. 
 He worked with his father on the farm till his twenty- 
 first year, acquiring, meanwhile, a substantial common- 
 school education. At that age he became foreman for 
 a heavy contractor in railroading, on the Buffalo, jN'ew- 
 York and Erie Railroad, and in ]^ovember of the same 
 year was married to a daughter of the late Colonel 
 Steven Grant, of Bath. Traveling in 1852, he visited 
 most of the Western States, and acquired much valu- 
 able knowledge, by which he will ever be greatly assist- 
 ed in his business enterprises. Having worked at rail- 
 roading a year, in Michigan, he returned in 1858 to 
 New-York, and purchasing a farm, worked thereon till 
 the war commenced. Selling his farm, he enlisted, 
 August nineteenth, 1862, .as a private in Company F, 
 One Hundred and Sixty-first New-York Volunteers, of 
 which he was made Orderly Sergeant, October twenty- 
 seventh. Attacked with the typhoid fever, he was left 
 behind w^hen kis regiment sailed, December twelfth, for 
 New-Orleans, with Banks's Expedition. Having suffi- 
 ciently regained his health, he left the city of New^-York 
 
56 189TH NEW-TOEK VOLUNTEEES. 
 
 January seventeenth, 1863, and barely escaping being 
 wrecked on that stormy passage, landed at Key West, 
 January twenty-fourth. Reembarking the twenty-sixth 
 and encountering a severe gale on the Gulf, he safely 
 arrived at New-Orleans, and joined his regiment at Ba- 
 ton Rouge on the twentieth February. He heroically 
 served in the campaign through Louisiana, under Gen- 
 eral Banks, that terminated so gloriously on the eighth 
 of July, 1863, in the capture of that famous stronghold, 
 Port Hudson. At the close of one year he w^as obliged 
 by sickness to leave the service, and, being discharged, 
 returned, home. In the fall of 1864, having partially 
 recovered, he assisted Captain Burrage Rice to raise 
 Company C, of which he w^as unanimously elected Se- 
 cond Lieutenant. On the death of the Captain he was 
 made First Lieutenant. His services were always con- 
 scientious and satisfactory. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Mortimep W. Read was born in 
 
 LTrbana, Steuben County, N. Y., March sixteenth, 1841. 
 
 When he was but seven years of age he undertook the 
 
 responsibility of a " hired man," for wages, at farming, 
 
 «^hich continued his principal business until treason's 
 
 irst gun shot at Fort Sumter caused the great uprising 
 
 :)f the North to rescue the Republic. No braver heart 
 
 A^as then fired with patriotism than that of young 
 
 Read. He promptly responded to the call of " Honest 
 
 Old Abe," and volunteered for two years in Company 
 
 A, Twenty-third New-York Volunteers, served out his 
 
 time, and with his regiment received his discharge. May 
 
 twenty-sixth, 1863. Thereupon he traveled through 
 
 the West, and returned in time to enlist again under 
 
 Captain Rice, August twenty-second, 1864. Upon the 
 
189TH KEW-TORK YOLUNTEERS." Si 
 
 organization of Company C, at Bath, he was unani- 
 mously chosen its Orderly Sergeant. He rose to the 
 lieutenancy in due course, upon the captaincy being va- 
 cated by the death of Captain Rice. 
 
 Non-Commissioned Officers' and Privates' Memorial— Co. C. 
 
 Sergeants : Mortimer W. Read, Orderly, (promoted 
 Second Lieutenant,) Andrew P. Snell, (promoted Order- 
 ly,) Joseph Mott, Seymour H. Huston, (promoted Ser- 
 geant-Major,) Shephard S. Wheeler. 
 
 Corporals : Jonas W. Emmons, (promoted Sergeant,) 
 Harvey A. Fairchild, George Wheeler, John Horton, 
 John Presho, William A. Jayn, WiUiam McEIwain, 
 Charles E. Willys, Drummer; F. Abbott, Fifer; H. 
 Sprague. 
 
 ^ Privates: Thomas H. Aulls, John S. Benham, Wil- 
 liam Bottriel, Henry G. Bull, (died in camp,) Daniel 
 Brace, (died in hospital,) Charles W. Barrett, (missing 
 at Hatcher's Run,) Ebenezer Barrett, James Bennett, 
 Anthony Bates, Stephen A. Baily, James Bradley, 
 William Brewer, John J. Buchannan, David D. Chapin, 
 (promoted Corporal,) Abraham Clarkson, George B. 
 Carr, William Cornwell, Myron Clark, Theron H. 
 Clark, Elisha Dyer, Simeon Decker, Benjamin Davis, 
 Julius C. Dunton, George T. Daniels, Elisha H. Evans, 
 William Edgar, Oscar F. Ellison, Mortimer Furguson, 
 Samuel Faucett, (promoted Sergeant,) Charles M. Frink, 
 (died in Division Hospital,) Charles S. Gray, Charles M. 
 Gi-ay, Abraham S. Gould, (promoted Corporal,) Judson 
 V. Gaige, Stephen H. Hagadorn, (promoted Corporal,) 
 Samuel G. Hicock, Edward Huston, (promoted Corpo- 
 ral,) Obadiah Jacobus, Solomon Jordan, Warren J. 
 
38 189TH 3^EW-Y0EK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 Knight, (died in Post Hospital,) John Kniffin, Harvey 
 King, (deserted at Elraira, October third,) Wilbur 
 Ketchum, John II. Kingkade, James S. Loghry, (died in 
 hospital,) Amos Little, Henry C. Little, Justin Lamb, 
 Marcus Lockwood, Charles Laughlin, Eli S. Little, 
 Henry Morrison, James McPherson, Joseph Mulholen, 
 Thomas Maxwell, Charles McCann, John McCullough, 
 Merton Ostrander, John Pratt, George A. Peck, Theo- 
 dore Ries, William C. Rice, (promoted Corporal,) Mi- 
 chael Shea, John P. Slocum, Stephen Smalley, Andrew* 
 Sillyman, Louis Sillyman, Washington Sillyman, Pa- 
 trick Shanley, Barney Shanley, Alva D. Simons, Merlin 
 L. Shultz, James N. Thorp, Alonzo Vunk, Amos C. 
 Yanorsdale, David Vangelder, Amasa Vangelder, Sa- 
 muel White, William White, William H. Wheeler, 
 George A. Weaver, Isaac Watts, (promoted Hospital 
 Steward,) Howard Watters, (died in hospital,) Charles 
 H. Wood, Frank S. Woods, James Woodbury, Fran- 
 cis M. Woodruff. 
 
 ^ COMPANY D. 
 
 The patriotic towns of Brookfield and Hamilton, 
 Madison County, desirous of promptly raising their 
 quotas under the last call of the President, consulted 
 with Captain E. D. Hills, of the former town, through 
 their town committees, and induced him to undertake 
 the organization of a company, in conjunction with 
 Messrs. C. H. Searle and William H. Kellogg, and, as- 
 sisted by the town committees, he, more by private ap- 
 ])lications than by public meetings, prospered in recruit- 
 ing finely, and the Company was full in ten days. The 
 enlisted men assembled at Oswego, on the first of Sep- 
 tember, and having been mustered as a company, with 
 
189Tn NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 39 
 
 E. D, Hills as Captain, C. H. Searle First Lieutenant, 
 and W. H. Kellogg Second Lieutenant, they received 
 furloughs till the twelfth September. On the thirteenth, 
 having returned to Oswego the previous day, they were 
 ordered to Elmira. They expected to join the One 
 Hundred and Eighty-fourth, but that already having 
 received its maximum number, their officers cooperated 
 with those of several other companies then at the ren- 
 dezvous, and obtained permission to organize the One 
 Hundred and Eighty-Mnth, of which this Company be- 
 came a part, lettered D. 
 
 Captain E. Darwin Hills was born November twelfth, 
 1838, in Brookfield, Madison County, K". Y. Living 
 with his parents till he had attained his twentieth year, 
 he acquired a good education. At this period he went 
 to Oswego, and engaged in the carpentering business, 
 which he soon exchanged for wagon-making. This busi- 
 ness he maintained till the manifest qualifications he 
 possessed as a military man, and his influence in his 
 county, pointed him out as the one to raise a company 
 standard to rally recruits towards the five hundred 
 thousand call. His commission as captain dates, Sep- 
 tember twenty- third, 1864. He was married on the 
 fourth of February, 1862, to Miss L. Adelia Sloan, of 
 Middleville, Herkimer County, N". Y. An excellent 
 commander, he possessed the confidence of all his fellow- 
 officers. His popularity w^ith his Company is evinced 
 by their oft-expressed aftection for him, and by a perma- 
 nent memento of their regard which he bears with him 
 in the shape of a valuable gold watch, presented him 
 by them while in camp near Hatcher's Run, shortly af- 
 ter the last battle at that locahty. 
 
40 189TH NETV-TOEK TOLUNTEEES. 
 
 Lieutenant Charles Henry Seaple's flither was a 
 farmer and si^eculator. For many years, also, he was 
 a prominent officer in the militia of his State, manifest- 
 ing such ability as won him successive promotions, from 
 the office of Second Lieutenant to that of Brigadier- 
 General. This position he held at the time of his sud- 
 den death, in 1844, when the subject of this memoir 
 was only two years old. He was the fourth of five 
 rons whom their father's death left to a fond and ex- 
 cellent mother's care. Born and brought up on a firm, 
 he became well instructed in the various phases of an 
 agricultural life. A mile distant from his native place 
 in Brookfield, is the school-house where he learned his 
 first lessons and afterward prosecuted his maturer 
 studies. At eighteen years of age he commenced at- 
 tending "Whitestown Seminary, first studying only win- 
 ters, but subsequently teaching winters and studying 
 summers. In the spring of 1864 he had finished his 
 academic course, and planned to enter Hamilton College 
 the following term, when the President's " call for five 
 hundred thousand more" changed his plans. Two bro- 
 thers. Lieutenant T. E. Searle, and Captain Homer "W. 
 Searle, both then in the army, with his mother, en- 
 deavored in vain to persuade him not to enlist. Vol- 
 unteering, he at once commenced assisting in raising 
 Company C. Owing to the illness of the Captain, the 
 command of the company often during the year de- 
 volved upon Lieutenant Searle. This was the case dur- 
 ing the Weldon Railroad raid, on a foraging expedi- 
 tion in the winter, and during the battle of Five 
 Forks. 
 
189th new-yoek volunteers. 41 
 
 Second Lieutenant William H. Kellogg was bora 
 ill XJtica, New- York, February fourth, ]838. When 
 lie was three years old, his father moved to Brookfiel^, 
 Madison County, N. Y., where he prosecuted his stu- 
 dies in the English branches without much interrup- 
 tion-till his father died, which occurred when William 
 was seventeen. Still he pursued the higher branches 
 of education afterward for several winters at the 
 Brookfield Academy, defraying his necessary expenses 
 with funds raised by his own industry. Traveling 
 through the Western States and Canadas a year, on 
 his return he was married, and engaged in shoemaking. 
 This was his business till the minions of slavery insult- 
 ed the glorious flag of the free, when he enlisted in 
 the United States service for three years. He was 
 private in Company A, First ISTew-York Artillery, and 
 took part in several engagements in the Peninsula cam- 
 paign. His battery losing its guns at the battle of 
 Fair Oaks, the company were assigned to other bat- 
 teries, and he was detailed on the recruiting service. 
 After assisting to raise another artillery company, he 
 served with it six months as Second Sergeant, when 
 he was honorably discharged, having seen twenty 
 months' hard service. Owning a house and lot in 
 Leonardsville, he there resumed his former business 
 w^ith unabated success. Rearoused with thousands 
 of others by the last Executive call for help, when vol- 
 unteering was stimulated by the warning of an im- 
 pending draft, by the profiers of large bounties, and 
 chiefly by the promptings of a noble patriotism, he 
 again enrolled his name with his country's armed de- 
 fenders, and, with Company C, raised in part by his 
 help, marched to meet the rebel foe, nor shrank from 
 
42 189TH NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 duty till the Union triumphed, and peace, lovely peace, 
 revisited our slavery-cursed, war-desolated land. 
 
 Non-Commlssioned Officers' and Privates' Memorial— Co. D. 
 
 Sergeants r Willis A. Merrifield, Orderly; John T. 
 Rogers, H. D. Scott, Oscar IST. Burdick, James E. 
 Tracy. 
 
 Corporals: E. D. Morgan, Millard F. Morgan, 
 Charles P. White, Lorenzo D. Morgan, Ray D. Mor- 
 gan, John Fisk, Amos A. Frost, Daniel French. 
 
 Privates : A. J. Austin, William L. Austin, (wound- 
 ed at Gravelly Run,) Isaac Armstrong, Sidney Beek- 
 man, ISTathan R. Burdick, Chancy Beekman, (died in 
 hospital,) Orrin D. Bassett, Smith A. Bronson, John 
 A. Bradley, Morris Blanchard, Alanson S. Clark, C. E. 
 Clark, Stephen H. Collins, James H. Crowell, (died 
 April seventeenth, from wound received at Gravelly 
 Run,) James Clark, Robert Cramphin, Henry Cash, 
 Levi J. Davids, Lafayette Dennison, Thomas Dye, 
 Jeremiah Dyball, James K. Deyo, Martin Frink^ ."Wil- 
 liam M. Fulkerson, Eri R. Green, Ambrose Groves, 
 William R. Gardener, Milo Green, Truman M. Greg- 
 ory, Ethan Greenman, Van R. Gray, John Galligher, 
 Thomas Griffin, F. Eugene Hills, Jonathan Hibbard, 
 (wounded at Gravelly Run,) Henry W. Hibbard, 
 Duane Holmes, Franklin J. Holmes, (died in hospi- 
 tal,) Eugene Holmes, Jerome Holmes, Edward Jor- 
 dan, Marshall Johnston, Dwight Jaquay, James M. 
 Johnson, William D. Knight, William H. Kenyon, 
 Amos D. Lamb, (died in hospital,) Elwood Lamb, 
 (died in hospital ;) La Mott Morgan, Marvin S. Mi- 
 ner, Charles M. 3Lann, (died in hospital,) Mortimer 
 L. Moon, Leroy T. Maxton, Charles Mattison, Albert 
 
189TII NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 43 
 
 Morgan, Jesse P. McDonald, Adelbcrt ISTutting, Ai 
 D. Poppleton, J. Morris Palmer, Sardis Palmer, Her- 
 man Palmer, Chester C. Risley, Mortimer C. Risley, 
 George W. Rice, William H. Rollins, Levi W. Sam- 
 son, Squire J. Swan, Oscar F. Sturtevant, Delos Sher- 
 wood, Jerome Sherwood, W. C Stm-tevant, Henry 
 Stowell, Andrew Stowell, Samuel Shapley, Giles R. 
 Talbott, Eli Waters, Daniel O. Welch, Alvine Welch, 
 William H. Welch, John A. White, Francis M. White, 
 John M. Wildman, George A. Wilcox, Thomas B. 
 Wells, Alfred Wix, William Worrey, 
 
 COMPANY E 
 
 was one of the finest companies of its regiment. It 
 was raised in the county of Oswego. The county war 
 committee appointed Professor A. M. Beman Captain, 
 to raise a company for the One Hundred and Eighty- 
 fourth ISTew-York Volunteers. By his energy and in- 
 fluence, assisted by Professor D. D. Owen and some 
 others, the formation of the company was completed, 
 and left Oswego on the fourteenth of September, for 
 Elmira, with Professor Beman its Captain, Professor 
 Owen its First Lieutenant, and Mr. Byron Hinman its 
 Second Lieutenant. On their arrival at the rendez- 
 vous, they found themselves shut out of the One Hun- 
 dred and Eighty-fourth, but uniting with others, suc- 
 ceeded in getting another regimental organization, de- 
 nominated the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth New- 
 York Volunteers. With this they cast in their lot, re- 
 ceived their literal designation, and marched to the 
 front to " do and dare " for " God and their native 
 land." 
 
 Captain A. M. Beman was born at Orwell, Oswego 
 
44 189Tn NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 County, N. Y., January twenty-ninth, 1840. Ilis par- 
 ents, when he was three years old, removed to Ellis- 
 burgh, Jefferson County, remained three years, return- 
 ed to Orwell, remained till the spring of 185*7, thence 
 removed to Redficld, Osw^ego County, remained three 
 years, and again returned to Orwell. That most en- 
 during, fascinating, and important part of a true educa- 
 tion in this life — that which the loving words and deeds 
 of a fond mother impart — he early received. His moth- 
 er taught him the principles of the Christian religion. 
 When a mere chilli, he remembers his mother telling 
 him about heaven, its holiness, and the happiness of its 
 inhabitants. He was early sent to the district-school, 
 and was always found at the Sabbath-school. In the 
 fall of 1854, his mother died. Cold, how cold and 
 drear, seemed the World then to him ! But so peace- 
 ful was her death, ever has he prayed that his last days 
 may be like hers. While her spirit lingered on the con- 
 fines of this world, she softly said : 
 
 " Jesus can make a dying bed 
 Feel soft as downy pillows are." 
 
 Her holy living and dying has since been a constant 
 souvenir to him of the supreme worth of virtue, purity, 
 manhood, character, above all other things. Intent 
 upon acquiring a liberal education, the winter he was 
 seventeen he commenced school-teaching. He was 
 converted in his eighteenth year. Teaching Avinters 
 and working manually summers, he was truly making 
 his way onward with that most proper and noble inten- 
 tion that ever inspired the soul of youth — that of ac- 
 quiring a collegiate education — when the outbreak of 
 " the irrepressible conflict '^ resounded through the 
 
189TH NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 45 
 
 length and breadth of the land, ari;esting all pursuits, 
 calling the son from his home, the student from his 
 books, the farmer from his plow, the merchant from 
 his counter, and the mechanic from his trade, all unit- 
 ing " to uphold the Constitution and enforce the laws." 
 Captain Beman enlisted as a private in the Twenty- 
 fourth New- York Volunteers, and served the full pe- 
 riod of his regiment — twO years. Returning home in 
 June, 1863, he taught the winter following, and resum- 
 ed in the spring of 1864 his studies, which he prosecuted 
 with vigor till August twenty-seventh, 1864, when he 
 commenced raising, with the assistance aforesaid, his 
 Company E, with whom he was destined to see the end 
 of secession and oppression, and the triumph of free 
 labor. He was married September sixth, 1864, to Miss 
 Anna S. Wood, adopted daughter of J. "W. Wood, 
 Esq., of Pulaski, New- York. Never a better officer 
 drew the sword. Putting down the rebellion was a 
 part of his religion. It was he whom Brigadier-Gen- 
 eral Gregory called to his staff as Inspector-General of 
 the Second Brigade, in place of Captain Rice, when 
 that honored officer was stricken from his place by 
 cowardly guerrillas' murderous hands. In that position 
 he served till the end of the war. 
 
 First Lieutenant D. D. Owen was fortunate in hav- 
 ing his birth and early education in a district in the 
 town of Palermo, Oswego County, w^hose inhabitants 
 prided themselves on having the best conducted rural 
 common-school in the county. They sought superior 
 teachers. Accordingly, the scholars felt a like pride 
 in the success and high standing of the school. Win- 
 ter classes were organized in the higher mathematics, 
 
46 189TH new-toek: volunteers. 
 
 natural sciences, a^d ancient languages. Here Lieu- 
 tenant Owen well-nigh completed an academic course. 
 The winter after he was seventeen — that of 1854 — he 
 taught district-school, which has been his business 
 every winter since, excepting last winter, during which 
 he was mostly engaged in teaching " the school of the 
 soldier and company how to shoot." Attending Mex- 
 ico Academy the fall of 1856, he continued his studies 
 under Professor J. R. French, one of the best mathe- 
 maticians and teachers of the State, for several terms. 
 From the autumn of 1858 to the time of his enlistment, 
 he was teacher of Mathematics and Natural Sciences 
 successively in Mexico Academy, Fairfield Seminary, 
 and Pulaski Academy. August, 1864, came, and he 
 raised at Pulaski, New- York, several recruits for Com- 
 pany E, with whom he did the duties of an accom- 
 plished soldier and officer. He was another of those 
 consistent Christian men whom all soldiers feel glad to 
 have among them, though all do not emulate. He had 
 command of the company from the promotion of Cap- 
 tain Beman till the close of the war. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Bypon Hinman was born March 
 twenty-seventh, 1837, at Sandy Creek, Oswego Coun- 
 ty, N. Y., and always resided there. By trade he is 
 a carpenter and joiner. He first entered the service on 
 May seventeenth, 1861, as Sergeant, for two years. 
 At the termination of his term, he was discharged, 
 bearing home with him the high esteem of his officers 
 and fellow-soldiers, side by side with whom he faith- 
 fully fought in the memorable battles of Rappahannock 
 Station, Gainesville, Bull Run, Centreville, Fredcricks- 
 burgh, Falmouth, South-Mountain, and Antietam. Re- 
 
189TH NEW-YOEK VOLTTNTEERS. 47 
 
 enlisting August twenty-seventh, 1864, and assisting to 
 raise his company, he was promoted to be Second Lieu- 
 tenant by a unanimous vote at its ©rganization. Be 
 such a record as this an imperishable honor to an 
 American citizen ! 
 
 Non- Commissioned Officers' and Privates' IVIemorial— Co. E. 
 
 Sergeants : Judson Field, Orderly and Acting Ser- 
 geant-Major three months ; Andrew S. Coey, Charles 
 E. Thomas, Solon W. Martin, A. J. Simonds. 
 
 Corporals : D. D. Porter, S. A. Seymour, Franklin 
 Sperry, E. Eoberts, (escaping from hospital insane, com- 
 mitted suicide by throwing himself before a locomotive 
 at City Point, and was run over,) Abram Doane, H. J. 
 Dopp, Porter J. Homer, Leroy Wellington. 
 
 Privates : Hiram Allen, Philip Ament, John Arm- 
 strong, George Aldrich, H. J. Burch, J. F. Bonner, 
 Porter Beebe, M. C. Brooks, William Barney, Samuel 
 Brown, William Brothers, Jerome Bleakman, H. 1\ . 
 Babcock, James Burke, Peter Cadet, D. Castle, N. S. 
 Crossett, Jerry Cornnell, Daniel Carter, George Da- 
 mon, EHas R. Dingman, Lewis Durgey, John Devits, 
 Ebenezer Evans, Henry Finstre, William H. Gardner, 
 P. M. Gaylord, Simon Grote, A. D. Gray, Charles 
 Gurley, Henry Groves, Harvey Gregory, Henry Hollis, 
 Sidney Hall, Darius Hall, (died in hospital,) Robert Li- 
 graham, Charles S. Jeffers, L*a Kimball, Herbert E. 
 King, (promoted Corporal,) A. C. Kellogg, William T. 
 Kenyon, Eugene H. Menzie, E. H. Morris, Fred. Myers, 
 Levi Miles, A. B. Morse, Thomas Mullen, H. W. 
 Myers, John McNamara, Edward Morris, John Moshcr, 
 J. R. Nash, John Nash, George W. Odekirk, Chailes 
 
48 189TH NEW-TORK VOLUNTEEKS. 
 
 Oatley, Henry S. Phelps, Sylvester Phelps, Erastus 
 Porter, Simeon Plummer, Thomas Qiiinn, Randolph 
 Rathbun, J. T. • Richards, (died in hospital,) L. C. 
 Riinyon, William. Royce, Ransom Snyder, Marshall 
 Stoel, (died in hospital,) G. E. Stowell, Milan Stoel, L. 
 C. Sampson, A. E. Sherman, S. G. Snyder, Charles 
 Stuart, George G. Simons, Henry N". Smith, Truman 
 Smith, Alexander Shipman, Warren Sturdevant, George 
 Simons, G. D. Thomas, Jacob Thomas, James Thomp- 
 son, (deserted at Little York, Pa.,) David A. Vanal- 
 stine, R. A. Wakefield, Sherman Wart, A. A. War- 
 ner, William Walworth, Thomas Wills, George C. Wil- 
 ber, Barak G. Whipple, J. S. Wilcox, Stanley Westfall, 
 Martin B. Wardwell, George Witmaier. 
 
 COIVIPANY F 
 
 was raised mainly in Constantia, Oswego County. In 
 consultation with Messrs. E. A. Marble and Eugene H. 
 Roney, the town war committee prevailed on them to 
 undertake the enterprise of raising a company. A 
 public meeting was held in Cleveland, and one at Con- 
 stantia, at which several men were enlisted. But advo- 
 cates of the claims of individual duty generally suc- 
 ceed better by personal appeals to those concerned 
 than by public addresses. So they visited men at their 
 homes or place of business, and secured their enlist- 
 ments under the army banner of the Union. In five 
 days they had the quota of their town filled, and the 
 residue of the maximum number of their company they 
 obtained in Elmira, by the aid of Provost-Marshal 
 Hayt. On the second of October, the company was 
 mustered with Mr. Marble as Captain, Mr. Roney 
 
189Tn NEW- YORK VOLUNTEERS. 49 
 
 First Lieutenant, and Mr. A. C. Reynolds Second 
 Lieutenant. Joining the One Hundred and Eighty- 
 Ninth, they started for City Point on the fourth of Oc- 
 tober. 
 
 Captain Edward A. Marble was born November 
 tenth, 1840, at Cleveland, Oswego County, IST. Y., 
 ,where liis father, Cyrus Marble, Esq., owned a hotel. 
 He has always lived with his parents there, enjoying 
 the privilege of acquiring a liberal education, at district, 
 select and academic schools. When the strange cry, 
 " To arms ! Washington is in danger ! ! " reverberated 
 throughout the North, he marched to the seat of war 
 as a private of Company G, Fourteenth New-York Yol- 
 iinteers. May third, 1861. He was promoted to Cor- 
 poral, and then to Sergeant, which was his position at 
 the end of his two years' term, when he was discharged 
 Avith his regiment. He partook of the hard fighting 
 during the Peninsula campaign, under McClellan, in 
 the battles of second Bull Run, Hanover Court-House, 
 Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mill, Malvern Hill, Antietam ; 
 under Burnside, in first Fredericksburgh, and under 
 Hooker, in Chancellorsville. He was ever faithful in 
 his duties ; 
 
 " And a better soldier none 
 That Christendom gives out. " 
 
 At Malvern Hill he was wounded in the arm. En- 
 listing as private again, September twenty-third, with 
 Adjutant Roney's aid, he raised Company F, and with 
 it " did battle to the last." 
 
 First Lieutenant Andrew C. Reynolds suffered at 
 the age of seventeen the loss of his mother, who died 
 in 1850. Thereupon, leaving his native place, West- 
 
50 189TH NEW-YORK YOLUNTEERS. 
 
 Monroe, Oswego County, X. Y., where lie had lived 
 with his parents up to that time, he followed boating 
 and lumbering till the year 1 85 8. He had been brought 
 up on a farm, and had acquired a good common-school 
 education. He married, March, 1856, Miss Sarah C. 
 Dakin, of Constantia. Returning from a lumbering en- 
 terprise in Michigan, and purchasing a boat, he resumed 
 his former avocation as boatman. Having read law 
 wath William H. Baker, Esq., he was elected Justice of 
 the Peace, and serving a year, resigned, and bought a 
 boat again. His military career begun August thirtieth^ 
 1854, as a private. Being elected Second Lieutenant 
 by his company, at its organization, he was promoted 
 to be First Lieutenant when Lieutenant Roney was 
 made Adjutant. Few officers served more conscien- 
 tiously and efficiently than he. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Ch'fford E. Rohde, born in Con- 
 stantia, Oswego Coimty, N. Y., January first, 1820, 
 lived with his parents till he arrived at his twenty-first 
 year. He had acquired as much learning as common- 
 schools are accustomed to impart. He engaged in the 
 boating business on the Oneida Lake and Canal, in which 
 he continued ten years. In 1851 he was married to 
 Miss Rachael B. Sperry, of Constantia, and buying a 
 farm followed agricultural pursuits till the spring of 
 1852, when he took a journey overland to California. 
 Passing Saint Joseph, his train reached Salt Lake City 
 just in time to wdtness the grand Mormon celebration 
 of the 24th of July — the anniversary of the beginning 
 of the Saints' settlement in Utah. A well-entertained 
 guest among them for two weeks, he beheld with utter 
 disgust the workings of their '' peculiar institution," 
 
189TH NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 51 
 
 " twin sister of barbarism " to slavery. Would that 
 both of them had perished together ! Westward the 
 resistless sway of true progress makes its way, and our 
 Republic, if true to her divine mission, with free 
 thought, free speech, free press, and free labor, regulat- 
 ed by righteous law, shall renovate the vast West, and 
 obliterate all customs and crimes hostile to Christian 
 civilization. Remaining in the gold regions three years, 
 he returned, to take another trip after the lapse of three 
 years. On this second trip, in 1859, he barely escaped 
 death, in an attack upon the train by Indians, when 
 eighty miles north of Salt Lake. This time he also 
 staid three years, when, returning home, he followed 
 farming, until he enlisted, September fifth, 1864; was 
 elected Orderly Sergeant, and succeeded to the lieute- 
 nancy on its being vacated by Lieutenant Reynolds's 
 promotion. His honest, steady service attracted the 
 love of all his comrades. 
 
 Non-Commissioned Officers' and Privates' Memorial.— Co. F. 
 
 Sergeants: Clifford E. Rohde, Orderly, promoted 
 Second Lieutenant ; George F. Marble, promoted Or- 
 derly ; Levi W. EUis, Charles F. Yates, Silas Drum. 
 
 Corporals : Simon Halligan, promoted Sergeant ; Le- 
 raan Teter, promoted Sergeant ; Warren Razy, John 
 C. Kimball, Thomas D. Dean, Frederick Wright, Eu- 
 gene L. Albee, Henry Cook ; Fifer, J. Arthur Watson ; 
 Drummer, Edward H. Hoose. 
 
 Privates ; George W. Abbee, John H. Babcock, Da- 
 rius L. Babcock, Timothy Bartlett, Nathan G. Beebee, 
 George A. Bedell, Edgar Benchley, Luman C. Berry, 
 Benjamin F. Bristol, Richard Burdan, Oscar Bunker, 
 (promoted Corporal;) George W. Bunker, James N. 
 
§2 189TH NEW-YOEK VOLtTNTEEES. 
 
 Brady, Barney Bebee, (deserted ;) John Casey, James 
 G. Clark, (died in transitu from Corps Hospital North ;) 
 Charles W. Clark, (deserted;) Benjamin Coant, Francis 
 Clock, Frederick H. Cook, Andrew Crandall, Thomas 
 C. Chambers, (promoted Corporal;) Henry Davis, 
 (killed at Lewis's Farm ;) John B. Davis, Washington 
 Dutcher, W. H. Dutcher, A. J. Dmiham, Horace Dickie, 
 Frank Emerey, (killed at Lewis's Farm ;) Peter B. 
 Ferris, Chauncy Foot, Louis P. GiUins, Samuel God- 
 frey, A. P. Gould, Livingston B. Gregory, Albert Ha- 
 milton, Jacob Hedrick, William H. Houghtailing, (de- 
 serted ; Daniel Heman, Henry Harris, (promoted Com- 
 missary Sergeant ;) John H. Haxton, (Provost Guard ;) 
 Peter Farrand, William H. Hilly er, Jamain Kimball, 
 (killed at Lewis's Farm;) James P. Krusen, A. B. 
 Lewis, (promoted Orderly ;) James Little, (deserted ;) 
 Samuel Loder, Benjamin F. Lewis, Henry McDonald, 
 (wounded at Lewis's Farm ;) WilUam Mara, Owen 
 Mulholland, Charles L. Madison, Hiram Morton, George 
 S. Marsh, John H. Maloney, Andrew Nickerson, David 
 Nudd, Simon H. Odell, John E. Pearsall, William Per- 
 kins, Amos G. Payne, John Quackenbush, Martin Row- 
 ley, John Kyan, William H. Taylor, John Town, Henry 
 P. Sherman, Frederick Ulman, (suffered amputation, 
 afterward death, from wound received at Lewis's 
 Farm ;) Samuel Vanderpool, Peter Van Den Bergh, (pro- 
 moted Corporal ;) Henry Vandenwerken, Edwin West, 
 Theodore Wood, Deloss Withey, George Wilder, H. 
 S. Wagoner, Irving Wetherbe, (discharged before leav- 
 ing Elmira.) 
 
 Company G 
 
 was recruited in the towns of Cohocton, Avoca, and 
 Wayland, in Steuben County. . In this section the feel- 
 
189TH NEW-TOEK VOLITNTEEES. 53 
 
 ings of the inhabitants were the same as everywhere 
 prevailed under the Administration's last call for men. 
 Three things, the large bounties, the coming draft, and 
 the love of country, made " the field white, ready for 
 the harvest." The full maximum number of this Com- 
 pany was raised by the perseverance and patriotism of 
 William Washburn, Esq., assisted by Mr. E. A. Draper, 
 and mustered in the month of September, 1864. The 
 former gentleman w^as unanimously chosen Captain, the 
 latter First Lieutenant, and Mr. A. J. Alden, Second 
 Lieutenant, who accompanied it to the field and through 
 the final campaign which successfully crushed the great 
 rebellion. 
 
 Captain William Washburn's parents moved from 
 Connecticut to his native place, Cohocton, Steuben 
 County, N. Y., ten years previous to his birth, July 
 ninth, 1826. According to his parents' custom, he 
 being the fourth son, at twelve years of age, was placed 
 at work for wages, under good care, both to earn his 
 own livelihood and diminish the expenses of the large 
 family. Going to school winters and to manual labor 
 summers, he thoroughly learned the lessons 6f industry, 
 economy, temperance, integrity, and primary literature, 
 certain to conduct to success in life. He never in his 
 life drank a drink of ardent spirits, never smoked a 
 cigar or pipe, never uttered a profane word, and does not 
 know one card from another. At the age of eighteen 
 he removed to the then North- West Territory, (Wis- 
 consin,) purchased eighty acres of land, worked it 
 summers and taught school winters for ten years. 
 His family is eminently pedagogic. Plis father taught 
 nineteen years, his sisters, Clarissa and Sarah, taught, 
 
64 189TH NEW-TOEK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 respectively, twenty-one and nine years ; his brothers, 
 George, Richard, James, and Jackson, respectively ele- 
 ven, six, five, and four years. No one of them ever 
 failed to complete any term he or she commenced. 
 
 On the eighth day of June, 1848, he was married to 
 Miss Mary R. Johnson, daughter of William Johnson, 
 Esq., of Groveland, Livingston County, N. Y. On 
 returning from the West to his native place, in 1851, 
 he soon entered into the railroad business, as agent of 
 the Buffalo, Corning and New- York Company, subse- 
 quently the Erie Railroad Company, in which employ- 
 ment he continued till he entered the service of his 
 Government. 
 
 First Lieutenant Edwin A. Draper always lived with 
 his parents in his native village, Cohocton, Steuben 
 County, N. Y. He w^as born October eighth, 1837. 
 All the privileges of common and select schools were 
 given him by his parents, who were clothing merchants. 
 His urbane manners made him his father's most natural 
 assistant in the store when not at school. Enlisting 
 October first, 1862, as Second Lieutenant in Company 
 I, One Hundred and Sixty-first New- York, he served 
 faithfully two years with General Banks in Louisiana 
 through the battles of Sabine Cross-Roads, Pleasant 
 Hill, Red River Crossing, Alexandria, Atchafalaya, 
 and Morganzia Bend. He was married July fifth, 1864, 
 to Miss C. M. Goss, of Detroit, Michigan. Reenhsted 
 as a private, August thirty-first, 1864, and enhsting 
 twenty-seven men for his company, upon organization, 
 it promoted him by vote to the First Lieutenancy. He 
 was a neat, skillful officer and real military man, whom 
 
189th NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 55 
 
 the Adjutant would always designate to perform Lis 
 duties when he was absent. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Andrew J. Alden was born Oc- 
 tober twentieth, 1827, in Milo, Gates County, IST. Y. 
 His parents gave him common-school opportunities, 
 which he improved till he was fifteen years old. Tlien 
 he learned the harness trade, and made that his busi- 
 ness. On the twenty-fifth of December, 1851, he wns 
 married to Miss Sarah A. Newkirk, of Avoca, N. Y., 
 at which place he had established his business in 1846. 
 Enhsting August twenty-second, 1864, and being made 
 Second Lieutenant, he went to the field, but disability 
 interrupted considerably his duties with his Company. 
 
 Mon-Commissioned Officers' and Privates' Memorial,— Co. G. 
 
 Sergeants : Elbert E. Kimball, (Orderly ;) George H. 
 Granger, Charles E. Hall, Josiah Guiwits, Cyrus H. 
 Stone. 
 
 Corporals : Alfred M. Hess, Amenzo L. Deyo, (en- 
 tered the Drum Corps ;) John W. Johnson, Frank N. 
 Barney, More C. White, Edwin H^ Wetmore, Jerrons 
 S. Fowler, Ira L. Goff. 
 
 Privates: Lorenzo Alden, Austin H, Bacon, (died in 
 hospital ;) Adison Brasted, Joel Beagle, Henry E. But- 
 ler, Seth D. Briggs, (promoted corporal ;) Jacob Bellin- 
 ger, Solomon J. Conute, George Curtis, Abner Cavy, 
 Frank Carpenter, Simeon D. Carpenter, Chris. Conrad, 
 (died in hospital;) John H. Covill, Luther Cleland, Al- 
 bert L. Corry, L-a W. Chase, Horace Dean, Nelson H. 
 Demerest, Asa Demerandville, A. I. N. Duel, (desert- 
 ed ;) Jacob Eckerman, Willard L. French, L^ither L. 
 Ferris, Robert C. Gurnsy, George ^Y. Gunsolus, John E. 
 
56 189th new-yoek volutn^teees. 
 
 Griswould, (Bugler ;) Laertus Goff, (Drummer ;) Wil- 
 liam B. Golden, George M. Hewitt, Jr., Leonard Ilart- 
 er, Edgar S. Haight, (died in hospital ;) Peter Hoffman, 
 Alanson Hooper, Rensler Hooper, (died in hospital ;) 
 James Harris, Charles F. Plassell, James Henshaw, Hor- 
 ace Hammond, David Harrington, Bishop Harrington, 
 Amizey Harris, Philip Hunt, Oscar Johnson, Henry 
 Jones, Joseph Jenks, Luther M. Kimball, (died in Elmi- 
 ra ;) Jerome Kingsley, John McDaniels, Wesley Martin, 
 Anson L. March, Samuel Oeds, Warren W. Oxx, Silsbe 
 Peck, Jerry A. Palmateer, Thaddeus W. Petrie, Luke 
 Parshall, (died in hospital ;) Elmer Peterson, Lorenzo 
 Roberts, Vincent L. Reynolds, John S. Randolph, Wil- 
 liam Randolph, Rila Rasy, Franklin Randall, Bolster 
 Sourbier, Walter C. Slayton, Hugh Smith, Michael K. 
 Smith, (died in hospital;) Robert Swart, Jasper E. 
 Seeley, Jeremiah Shaver, Thomas Sherwood, Oliver R. 
 Towner, Henry Tuttle, Seth S. Tubbs, (died in hospi- ' 
 tal ;) Joel H. Towner, Joseph Tucker, Oscar Tucker, 
 (supposed to have died in Farmville Hospital ;) Bradley 
 Tobias, William B. Tobias, Luke H. Voorhees, Fayette 
 M. Van Wormur, (died at home ;) Haskell Wilkinson, 
 (discharged for accidental wound ;) Henry M. Whea- 
 ton, (died in hospital ;) George W. Williamson, Jacob 
 Waggoner, Andrew J. Wood, Ransom Woodmansee, 
 John Warring, William Zugenfuss. 
 
 Company H. 
 
 In the fall of 1864, after Captains Burrage, Rice, and 
 John Stocum had each raised a company of men, the 
 quota of the town of Bath not yet being full for the call 
 of five Jiundred thousand, Hon. D. B. Bryan, of Sono- 
 ra, John T. Allen, and others of Bath, proposed to Su- 
 
189th NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 67 
 
 pervisor John L. Smith, tbat authority be obtained for 
 Professor N. Crosby to recruit a company of infantry. 
 The Professor, for five years connected with the So- 
 nora Academy, was designated by his influence, espe- 
 cially with the best classes of the youth, as the proper 
 leader of another recruiting campaign. Duly author- 
 ized from Albany, and assisted by Lieutenants H. F. 
 Scofield and L. G. Rutherford, and Sergeants D. Cros- 
 by, R. McCann, and S. P. Teachman, he succeeded so 
 well .that in five days were mustered at Elmira, on the 
 fourteenth of September, over seventy men for this 
 Company, who thereupon received furloughs home, 
 until the twenty-sixth. Punctually they returned, 
 and enough others came to fill the Company's comple- 
 ment, and about a hundred besides. Captain N". Cros- 
 by and his Lieutenants were mustered on the nineteenth, 
 and gallant Company II awaited in Barracks No. 1, at 
 Elmira, orders to move to the front. 
 
 Captain Nathan Crosby was born in the year 1833. 
 Working on the farm till his twentieth year, he attend- 
 ed school scarcely any during that most important edu- 
 cational portion of life. Thereupon he determined to 
 seek that culture of manhood and character which a 
 college course is so wisely designed to give to all who 
 faithfully pursue its steep but favored way. Accord- 
 ingly, he commencing by study to prepare himself, and 
 by teachmg winters to accumulate means. In the fall of 
 1858, he entered the Sophomore Class of Michigan Uni- 
 versity. He was converted at Olivet Institute, Michi- 
 gan, in 1857, and joined the Baptist Church, and has 
 since been a true man and Christian laborer. Having 
 completed that collegiate year of study, he became 
 3* 
 
58 180TH NEW-YOEK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 assistant teacher in Sonora Academy, which position he 
 occupied, keeping up with his class in the University at 
 the same time, till he graduated there in 1862. The 
 fall following, he was made Principal of Sonora Acade- 
 my, where he labored with distinguished success two 
 years more. Commencing the study of law, April, 
 1864, with David Ramsey, Esq., of Bath, he prosecuted 
 the preparations for his chosen vocation — the legal pro- 
 fession — ^till the next September, when, by the urgent 
 request of friends, he engaged in recruiting a compa- 
 ny, was chosen their Captain, and served with them 
 conscientiously and nobly, mi til compelled by severe and 
 dangerous illness to seek, in the quiet and healthful 
 climate of home, that restoration of his vigor and health 
 which was despaired of amid the privations and expos- 
 ure of army life in the South. 
 
 First Lieutenant Hiram F. Scofield is in the prime 
 of life. In August, 1862, he joined Captain Biles's Com- 
 pany, then organizing for the One Hundred and Sixty- 
 first Regiment, as a private, and was at once promoted 
 to the position of Sergeant. Upon the organization of 
 several regiments of colored troops at New-Orleans, 
 Sergeant Scofield was made a Second Lieutenant of 
 one of the companies, his soldierly abilities and prompt- 
 ness indicating him as well worthy of the promotion. 
 He held this position until, with many other officers, he 
 was mustered out by process of consolidation, some 
 time in the fall of 1863, and returned home. He re- 
 mained but a short time, however, being called unani- 
 mously to the position of First Lieutenant of Company 
 H, One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth Regiment. Lieu- 
 tenant Scofield was Acting Quartermaster of the Regi- 
 
189TH NEW- YORK VOLUNTEERS. 59 
 
 nient for some time after its organization, and dis- 
 charged the duties of tlie office with signal abiUty and 
 success. He was one of the most active and efficient 
 officers of the regiment, and was a general favorite on 
 account of his bravery and soldierly bearing. 
 
 Second Lieutenant L. G. Rutherford was born in 
 Bath, IST. Y., January second, 1840. From his child- 
 hood he had good school opportunities, and always 
 learned easily ; but the skates, fish-hooks, and the old 
 gun that hung in the kitchen had for him far greater 
 charms than books. At sixteen years of age he was 
 sent by his parents to the Prattsburgh and Sonora Aca- 
 demy. Afterward, at the age of twenty-one, begin- 
 ning the study of law with C. F. Ringsley, Esq., of 
 Bath, he made good progress therein. When about to 
 be admitted to practice at the New- York bar, he vol- 
 unteered for three years in the Seventy-eighth New- 
 York Volunteers, under the President's first call for 
 three hundred thousand troops. Conspicuous for sol- 
 dierly merit, he served in the Shenandoah Valley under 
 Generals Sigel and Banks, with great favor among his 
 comrades and officers, until an attack of the typhoid fe- 
 ver, and afterward of inflamation on the limgs, reduced 
 him by a long illness to the very gate of death, whence 
 happily recovering, he reached home, yet more to suf- 
 fer from chronic diarrhea for ten months longer. Hav- 
 ing regained his health sufficiently, he reenlisted in the 
 fall of 1864, and with great enthusiasm bent his atten- 
 tion to recruiting men, and w^as made Second Lieute- 
 nant by the unanimous voice of his Company. He was 
 a brave and reliable officer in all the vicissitudes of the 
 service. 
 
60 189TH NEW-TOEK VOLUNTEEKS. 
 
 Non-Commissioned Officers' and Privates' Memorial.— Co. H. 
 
 Sergeants : David Crosby, (Orderly ;) Rev. O. J. 
 Moon, Robert McCann, Isaac P. Teachman, Amasa M. 
 Gleason. 
 
 Corporals: M. J. Moss, (Died in hospital;) D. 11. 
 Green, Samuel Gi'een, Alexander Ilolley, James Ke- 
 nety, (died in Division Hospital ;) Thomas AYalling, 
 W. A. Waldo, M. J. Crookston. 
 
 Privates : W. Austin, (deserted ;) G. Beaton, J. Bon- 
 nell, O. Billington, ^Y. Brush, D. Burch, C. Butts, H. 
 Colgrove, (promoted Corporal ;) H. Calhoun, D. Church- 
 ill, L. Clark, W. Covert, G. Cole, C. Crane, F. Craus, 
 S. Coats, W. Crawford, (deserted ;) A. Dennis, Moses 
 Davison, J. Dunn, J. Dunlap, S. Dunton, P. Evland, 
 (died in Division Hospital ;) C. Emery, H. Genung, J. 
 Gleason, J. Gray, W. H. Grey, W. Goodsell, P. 
 Grimes, D. Gregory, W. Higgings, N. Hill, A. Hollett, 
 
 E. Husted, H. Haight, A. E. Johnson, H. Forman, 
 (promoted Corporal ;) H. Foster, W. Griffith, R. Lyons, 
 
 F. Manning, "\Y. McComber, G. McCabe, H. McCabe, 
 D. C. Mills, B. Moss, R. Morrow, N. Morse, ^Y. Or- 
 cutt, O. Pyatt, (died at home ;) J. Putnam, E. L. Rent, 
 R. Reid, F. Sanford, D. Scofield, W. Scott, (deserted 
 in Elmira ;) O. Sawyer, S. Shoemaker, R. Seager, B. 
 Simeson, C. H. Smith, A. 1^. Smith, J. Spencer, J. 
 Spiers, (promoted Corporal ;) W. Spicer, MV. Stewart, 
 T. Stilts, (promoted Corporal ;) I. JST. Storm, W. Tay- 
 lor, I. B. TrumbeU, J. A. Tayler, N. Thomas, G. W. 
 Velie, (died in hospital ;) S. Yau Buren, C. Wells, AY. 
 TYithey, T. WiUiams, D. C. Whitacer, E. A. Washburn, 
 A. Willett, J. R. Wyckoff, H. WiUover, A. S. Yeo- 
 mans. 
 
189Tn NEW-YOKK VOLUNTEEES. 61 
 
 Company I 
 
 was raised principally from Allegany County, by the 
 patriotic devotion and honorable enterprise of Messrs. 
 Elias Horton, Lewis II. Ackerman, and Leonard Briggs. 
 Of course, the Town Supervisors and others interested 
 lent their assistance, but the three just named are most 
 praiseworthy for their self-sacrificing zeal for the good 
 of the cause. Indeed, some towns, such as Willing and 
 Independence, would probably not have escape! the 
 draft had not their quotas been filled by volunteers for 
 Company I, Let the generous fellow-citizens, not only 
 of these officers, but of all those who throughout the 
 land stepped forward at the right time and devoted 
 themselves to the public service, see to it that those 
 who have returned from the deadly conflict, receive a 
 just, ay, generous reward. They bear the marks— let 
 them hereafter also have the deserved honors of their 
 hard service. Organized and mustered at Elmira into 
 the United States service, as an independent company, 
 it afterward joined the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth, 
 with Professor Elias Horton, Captain ; Lew^is H. Acker- 
 man, Esq., First Lieutenant; and Mr. Leonard Briggs, 
 Second Lieutenant. Few companies show a better re- 
 cord than this. 
 
 Captain Elias Horton was born August twentieth, 
 1836, at Spring Mills, Allegany County, N. Y. Liv- 
 ing with his parents till he was twenty-one, he enjoyed 
 opportunities for an excellent education, not only at the 
 first-elass common-school, but also at Spring Mills Select 
 School, subsequently Spring Mills Academy, Rev. Wil- 
 liam II. Rogers, A.M., Principal, which it was then the 
 
62 189TII NEW-YOEK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 pride and honor of the enterprising New-England in- 
 habitants of his native village to maintain. Having gra- 
 duated at Poughkeepsie Commercial College, he went to 
 Kansas in the spring of 1857, but attacked by the ague 
 and fever, he returned in the fall of 1858. On the six- 
 teenth day of August, 1862, he enlisted as a private in 
 the One Hundred and Thirtieth IS^ew-York Volunteers, 
 and was promoted Second Lieutenant of his Company 
 at its organization. While his regiment was at Sujffolk, 
 Virginia, he was taken sick with typhoid fever, and con- 
 fined to the hospital three months. Recovering suffi- 
 ciently, he resigned and returned home. May six- 
 teenth, 1863, he was married to Miss Ada M. Walker, 
 of Wellsville, Allegany County, K. Y., and his wife, a 
 graduate of Alfred University, assisted him in the in- 
 struction of Spring Mills Academy, of wdiich he had 
 previously been elected Principal. They continued in 
 this important position till the spring of 1864. On the 
 twenty-second day of August, receiving authority from 
 Governor Seymour to organize a company of infantry, 
 he engaged in recruiting the men. By the thirtieth of 
 September, with the maximum number of troops for a 
 company, he was mustered as their Captain. Never 
 absent from his post, he was an officer of decided abi- 
 lity and popularity. From boyhood leading a moral 
 life, he was converted at the age of twenty-four, and 
 has since maintained his Christian faith and character. 
 
 First Lieutenant Lewis H. Ackerman received a 
 good education at the common, select, and academic 
 schools within his reach. He was always characterized 
 by energy and enterprise. Moving West in 1860, he 
 engaged in teaching. Prospering successfully as an in- 
 
189TII NEW-YOKK VOLUNTEERS. 63 
 
 strnctor, he was, however, one of the first to enlist 
 when the war broke out. Going immediately into act- 
 ive service with an Indiana cavalry regiment, he was 
 made First Lieutenant. At the battle of Pittsburgh 
 Landing, his Captain was disabled, and Lieutenant Ack- 
 erman assumed command. This was the place for his 
 abilities to find exercise, and he won an enviable repu- 
 tation for gallant military ability. But his arduous ex- 
 ertions and constant exposures prostrated his health and 
 forced him to turn his face homeward, just as well-earned 
 l^romotion was about rewarding his valor and worth. 
 He recovered, after a protracted and dangerous sickness, 
 sufficiently to do his full share of recruiting for Compa- 
 ny I, One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth New- York Vol- 
 unteers. To him much is due, for unswerving fidelity 
 in service. He drilled and everywhere conducted with 
 true military promptness and exactitude. One incident 
 fitly illustrates his soldierly life. Just after the battle 
 of Lewis's Farm was over, and our forces were establish- 
 ing their lines of defense. General Gregory called for a 
 volunteer commissioned officer and twenty men to 
 drive the rebel sharp-shooters from an old house which 
 stood between our lines and those of the enemy. Lieu- 
 tenant Ackerman stepped forward, saying : " I'll go, 
 with twenty volunteers from my company. " They 
 went. The anoying rebels were dispersed, but volley 
 after volley was showered upon Company I's little he- 
 roic band. They fought like tigers, but soon the Lieu- 
 tenant discovered a strong force of rebels deploying to 
 capture them, and retreated without the loss of a man. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Leonard Briggs acquired a com- 
 mon-school education at his native place, Spring Mills, 
 
04 189TH NEW-TOEK VOLUNTEEBS. 
 
 Allegany County, IST. Y. He was born August twen- 
 ty-fourth, 1833. His parents were farmers. In the 
 lumber forest of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, he 
 worked for a time, at twenty-one years of age, after 
 which he emigrated to California. But few Have ex- 
 perienced more of genuine pioneer life than he. Min- 
 ing and lumbering was his business. On one occasion, 
 he helped capture and hang two Indians, for the murder 
 of two Chinamen who were mining in his neighbor- 
 hood. In the spring of 1855, he was chased by a griz- 
 zly bear, from which he barely escaped by climbing a 
 tree and remaining in its top over night, the ferocious 
 animal meanwhile prowling and gnawing at the roots 
 of the tree. On the organization of the California Vi- 
 gilance Committee in the spring of 1856, he was elect- 
 ed a member, and assisted in purging the State of 
 thieves, cut-throats, gamblers, and robbers. 
 
 He was at Panama during the summer of 1856, at 
 the time of the great riot by the natives upon the Tran- 
 sit passengers, whom they robbed of every thing valua- 
 ble ; sixty men, women, and children being killed and 
 wounded. Having traveled through most of the West- 
 ern States, Mexico, and Island of Cuba, he enlisted in 
 the United States service in August, 1861, and served 
 with the Forty-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers, with dis- 
 tinguished valor, for two years. Having assisted to. 
 raise Company I, One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth New- 
 York, he was elected Second Lieutenant, and served 
 faithfully till severely wounded in the right leg, below 
 the knee, March twenty-fourth, 1864. Recovering from 
 this wound, after much suifering, he was discharged 
 some time after his regiment, having deserved, in all his 
 services, well of his country. , 
 
189TH NEW-YOKK VOLUNTEERS. 65 
 
 Non-Commissioned Officers' and Privates' iVlemoriai.— Co. I. 
 
 Sergeants: Merrit Hall, (Orderly;) Elisha Acker- 
 man, (died while on furlough home ;) Charles J. Ro- 
 gers, (Regimental Mail Agent ;) Charles Palmer, John 
 Chase. 
 
 Corporals: Delos Leonard, (promoted Sergeant;) 
 ISToice Snyder, (promoted Sergeant ;) Asa Graves, Jo- 
 siah Rogers, Clinton D. Stillman, (died in hospital;) 
 Francis Krusen, Austin A. Swetland, Horace Jones, 
 (Drummer;) Lester Stone, (promoted Drum Major;) 
 Fifer, Edgar King. 
 
 Privates : Addison Atwater, Wesley Brundage, (died 
 in hospital ;) George D. Brundage, Sylvester Bell, Ed- 
 win W. Bishop, Sylvester Bartlett, James Bentley, 
 Morgan Baker, Solomon Baker, Charles Barnes, Fre- 
 derick Burman, Edward C. Brink, Francis M. Chase, 
 James L. Chase, Oliver H. P. Campbell, (died in hospi- 
 tal;) John Dunham, William H. Donehi, John Daniels, 
 Gershon Darling, Jesse W. Evans, Charles A. Elhott, 
 Ambros D. Erway, David Finch, John' Feller, Seth 
 Graves, William R. Green, William A. Guinop, (died 
 in hospital;) Peter M. Gostley, Thaddeus Holliday, 
 Charles Horn, (promoted Corporal ;) Heartwich Hears, 
 Henry Hears, Hiram P. Hewett, Alva L. Horton, 
 James W. Hoard, Michael Helmer, Dr. J. G. Horton, 
 Newton W. Hubbard, Joseph B. Johnson, Vine John- 
 son, Cassius M. Keiser, (died in hospital ;) Thomas A. 
 Kibble, Alonzo A. Lee, Alexander Leyttle, Jesse Mat- 
 teson, Philetus G. Mayhew, James D. McKee, Wash- 
 ington Norton, Henry Outman, William W. Plants, 
 Frank M. Rogers, Ethan A. Rogers, Nelson Reynolds, 
 Henry Reynolds, Albert Robbins, John Root, Samuel 
 
66 189TH NEW-.YOEK YOLUNTEERS. 
 
 Rolfe, (promoted Corporal;) Sylvester Stephens, (pro- 
 moted Corporal;) Cassius M. C. Stephens, Lee Ste- 
 phens, Horace N. Stone, (promoted Corporal;) Mmn- 
 ford R. Swetland, Morace Snyder, William Statham, 
 Anthony Shaw, (died in camp ;) Jeremiah Shultz, (died 
 in hospital ;) Chester Stone, Royal Segar, Warren Se- 
 gar, Frederick Spear, Marnard Teribury, Asa G. Wheat? 
 W. D. Whitaker, E. Way, Leonard Simmons, William 
 H. Reynolds. 
 
 Company K 
 
 was from the towns of Florence, Camden, Boonville, 
 Ava, Westmoreland, Verona, and Rome. Amos Soper, 
 Esq., of Camden, long a prominent and efficient officer 
 in the State miUtia, and Thomas Barrel, Esq., of West- 
 moreland, commenced the enterprise of organizing it in 
 Utica, September first, 1864, and with some other assist- 
 ance, by the twenty-third of that month, had an entire 
 company mustered at Elmira, with Mr. Amos Soper as 
 Captain, Mr. Thomas Barrel, First Lieutenant, and 
 
 * Second Lieutenant. This excellent company 
 
 was originally designed for the Engineer Corps, but that 
 being full, they were ordered to report to Colonel Boyd, 
 Fourteenth Veteran Reserve, under whom they did 
 duty two months. Ordered to duty with the Eighty- 
 eighth New-York, they served with it in Fort Com- 
 mings till the return of the expedition from the Wel- 
 don Railroad raid, and on the sixteenth of December 
 joined the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth New-York, 
 then commencing their winter quarters before Peters- 
 burgh. 
 
 * The name of this ofiiccr is omitted by his own request. 
 
189TH NEW-YOKK VOLUNTEERS. 67 
 
 Captain Amos Sopep was born April thirteenth, 1813, 
 ht Camden, Oneida County, N. Y. Left fatherless a 
 week before his birth, he, the youngest of three child- 
 ren, lived with his mother till his fifth year. There- 
 upon adopted by his uncle, farming summers, going to 
 school some winters, he gained a then common-school 
 education, it being deemed useless at that day and loca- 
 lity to study grammar, or arithmetic further than the 
 Rale of Three. Subsequently he studied nearly a year 
 at a select-school, wisely adding to his store of know- 
 ledge. At seventeen years of age, commencing the 
 furniture business and cabinet-making at his native 
 place, he afterward continued them in Boston, where 
 he was married, in 1841, to Miss Mary A. Dodge, of 
 that place. Removing to Camden again in 1851, he 
 prosecuted his trade till he entered the army. Having 
 been Adjutant of the One Hundred and Fifty-ninth 
 New- York State Militia four years, in 1841 he was made 
 Major. The colonelcy was afterward oifered him, which 
 he declined. A conscientious man and cordial officer, 
 he is deserving of great credit. 
 
 First Lieutenant Thomas Burrel was the son of Eng- 
 lish parents, who immigrated to America and settled 
 in Westmoreland, Oneida County, N". Y., when he was 
 quite young. Born December eleventh, 1838, he lived 
 with his parents till his sixteenth year of age. He 
 went as far as the farthest in the erudition of the com- 
 mon-schools. Although accustomed from boyhood to 
 farm-work with his father, he imbibed at the age of 
 fourteen a liking to cigar-making. This became his 
 business, until he donned the insignia of the Union sol- 
 dier, April, 1861, and took his place in Company E, 
 
68 189TH NEW-YORK VOLTTNTEEES. 
 
 Fourteenth ISTew-York Volunteers, Second Brigade, 
 First Division, Fifth Array Corps. He was under Gen- 
 erals Porter and Meade through the Peninsular cam- 
 paign, from the siege of Yorktown to the battle of 
 Chaucellorsville. Two years — the term of his enlist- 
 ment — having e;i:pired, he came home and pursued his 
 former trade up to the time of the popular response to 
 the Government's last call for soldiers. Then again he 
 went forth to assist in preserving the Republic founded 
 by our fathers. N^ever was a neater presentation made 
 than by the members of his company to him, as their 
 worthy and loved First Lieutenant, unostentatiously 
 placing in his hands, as they were parting with him at 
 Elmira, a gold watch of great beauty, valued at one 
 hundred and sixty dollars. 
 
 Non-Commissioned Officers' and Privates' iVIemorial.— Co. K. 
 
 Sergeants : Orderly, Dennis Whitford, Josiah Cush- 
 man, Adolphus J. Neff, James D. Spencer, Ira B. 
 Griffin. 
 
 Corporals : Alfred Kinne, George H. Peckham, Hen- 
 ry A. Read, William N. Mott, Theodore Anson, An- 
 drew H. Richardson, (died in hospital ;) Charles Still, 
 Eli Spencer. 
 
 Musicians; Abram W. Robison, Charles Wagoner. 
 
 Privates : James L. Armstrong, (wounded at Hat- 
 cher's Run;) Jason Anson, Joseph Brown, Thomas 
 Brown, (promoted Sergeant ;) Morgan O. Boardwell, 
 Solomon A. Briggs, Leonard Belknap, Frank J. Bailey, 
 Stewart Comins, (killed at Hatcher's Run ;) Daniel 
 Comins, Phineas H. Castle, Philip Cain, Adelbert Chase, 
 Frederick Casler, George Derick, Alexander Dunham, 
 (wounded at Hatcher's Run ;) John Davis, Asa Dillen- 
 
189th NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 69 
 
 beck, Milton Dillenbeck, Albert Dibble, George Evans, 
 Lewis Ernst, James II. Freeman, Menzo Fox, Edward 
 E. Fitch, Joseph S. Grey, (died in camp ;) Eugene Gor- 
 donier, (wounded at Hatcher's Rim;) James Graham, 
 Ira Grinnel, Charles E. Higby, William B. M. Hill, 
 James B. Holmes, Seyley Holenbeck, Thomas Hay- 
 dock, J. ]^^. Hull, Luke Jones, (wounded at Hatcher's 
 Run;) Tallman Jordan, Homer C. Kimball, Richard 
 Kelley, Philip G. Kilmer, John Kilburn, William Lehr, 
 Charles M. Letts, Hiram Landers, John Millis, Jr., Mor- 
 ris McGraw, (promoted Corporal ;) Hiram McOmber, 
 Philip Mackin, Ezra B. Murry, Smith McMullen, (died 
 in hospital ;) George W. Outman, John II. Olley, Tho- 
 mas Oniel, Joseph Philpot, Franklin Parckhurst, Lewis 
 Putnam, (wounded at Hatcher's Run ; Charles E. Piatt, 
 Alexander Ferine, Richard Padgham, (killed at Hat- 
 cher's Run ;) William H. Roberts, William Rowland, 
 William W. Raymond, George Raymond, Henry Sa- 
 senbury, (died in hospital;) Henry Sasenbury, Jr., 
 Augustus Sypher, (wounded at Hatcher's Run ;) Giles 
 Spencer, (died in hospital ;) John Sadler, Sanford Sher- 
 man, Nathan Sweatman, (died in hospital;) Seymour 
 Smith, John Spavin, John Still, Emmett Tucker, Robert 
 Talcott, Hezekiah Wright, Elon A. Wheelock, James 
 Warner, Carlos York. 
 
PART SECOND. 
 
 SERVICES OF THE KEGIMENT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 AWAY TO THE TEONT. 
 
 When in September, 1864, it became necessary to 
 forward soldiers rapidly, in transitu^ to keep room at 
 Elmira for the in-coming recruits, four companies 
 pledged for the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth, Be- 
 man's, Washburn's, Hill's, and Pond's, were sent to 
 City Point, via Baltimore, before the regimental or- 
 ganization was completed. They found their passage, 
 though on many accounts very uncomfortable, decided- 
 ly an improvement upon life in the rendezvous barracks 
 at Elmira among bounty-jumpers and pickpockets. 
 The scenery along the Susquehanna was charming. 
 Farm-lands, crowned with ripened crops, and woods 
 golden-hued with autumnal foliage, stretched away to 
 the horizon on either side. Along our route good ver- 
 nacular cheers for "Honest Old Abe" and the brave 
 soldiers, and a few foreign hurrahs for "Little Mac," 
 foreshadowed the way the Presidential election was 
 going the approaching November. Amid the pano- 
 
189th new-yokk tolunteers. 11 
 
 r.iraic throng of ever-changing scenes, new and old, 
 pacific and warlike, through which we passed, a power- 
 ful fleet anchored at Fortress Monroe attracted unusual 
 attention, while the huge guns of the Fortress com- 
 manded obedience from all who plied the surrounding 
 waters, and the dreadful Rip Raps frowned on the dis- 
 tant sky, keeping up their august vigils. Arriving at 
 City Point, Captain Pond, breaking faith with the One 
 Hundred and Eighty-Ninth, joined the Engineer Corps, 
 and the other three companies, encamping in a place 
 designated near the wharf and the depot of the Uni- 
 ted States Mail Railroad, engaged in doing guard, fa- 
 tigue, and drilling duty, under General Patrick. 
 
 Sabbath, October twenty-third, the welcome church 
 call was sounded, and religious services were held in our 
 camp within the inclosures of a redoubt and its maga- 
 zine; preaching by the chaplain from Luke 18 : 1 : " Men 
 ought always to pray and not to faint." On the follow- 
 ing morning, the remaining six companies arrived from 
 Washington. There they had been drilling three Aveeks, 
 boarding at the Soldiers' Rest. Pitching their tents 
 by the deep railroad cut, on the opposite side from the 
 three companies' quarters, they joined in their duties, 
 and the whole regiment, except one company, were on 
 drill and dress-parade together, as often as practicable. 
 
 After breakfast, the twenty-eighth, Colonel Hayt 
 announced our order to move up towards Petersburgh, 
 two and a half miles. Packing up, we soon moved off 
 on our first march. The rain of the previous night 
 having laid the dust, the movement was performed in 
 the best of spirits, and on a slight elevation of ground 
 we again erected our tents. Assisting to build some 
 earth-works and a fort connected with the inner line oi 
 
72 189TH NEW-TOEK VOLUNTEEES. 
 
 the defenses of City Point four days, worshiping the in- 
 tervening Sabbath under an oak tree beside the camp, 
 on the first of November we returned to the depot at 
 City Point, and took the cars at ten o'clock a.m., Colo- 
 nel Hayt having been ordered to report with his regi- 
 ment to General Warren, Commander of the Fifth 
 Corps. Seated and standing, promiscuously, in and on 
 a train loaded with army supplies, we were hurried 
 away to Warren Station, fifteen miles from City Point. 
 On a new uneven track laid over its ungraded course, 
 with our corresponding ups and downs, we "marched" 
 through plantations and woodlands, parks of army 
 trains and camps of soldiery, while here and there stood 
 a fine mansion, its chimneys outside and negro huts sur- 
 rounding, now the headquarters of somebody, but for- 
 merly, ere God arose to destroy rebellious slavery, the 
 quiet home of happiness and plenty possessed by one 
 of the slaveholding " F. F. V.'s. " Twelve miles' ride 
 brought us in sight of Petersburgh. The spires of this 
 rebel stronghold became the centre of a circle whose 
 arc the course we were pursuing described with a ra- 
 dius of about three miles. Arriving at Warren Sta- 
 tion, then the terminus of the railroad, we were con- 
 nected with the body of the Potomac Army, (General 
 Meade,) Second Brigade, (Brigadier E. M. Gregory,) 
 First Division, (General Griftin,) Fifth Army Corps, 
 and marching onward two miles farther, hastily bivou- 
 acked in the dark for the night. Early after breakfast 
 next morning, filing out into a small open field, the re- 
 giment formed in column, which was no sooner done 
 than General Gregory and staff came dashing along 
 the line, and ordering Colonel Ilayt to follow, led the 
 way back to a fine locality for a camp, near Warren's 
 
189TH NEW-TORK VOLUNTEERS. IS 
 
 Station, where he had determined to rendezvous hig 
 brigade. Brigadier General Edgar M. Gregory's char- 
 acter is symmetrical. A perfect mihtary officer, a true 
 gentleman, and an exemplary Christian, the One Hun- 
 dred and Eighty-Ninth were fortunate in being thus fa- 
 vorably brigaded. The regiment being located in its 
 place of encampment, all began preparations, in a rain 
 which had continued the entire day, for as comfortable 
 supper and lodgings as possible. 
 
 The following few days were mainly spent in build- 
 ing tents, policing streets, and fitting up the camp in 
 comfortable military style. On the fifth. Colonel Hayt 
 went down to City Point on business, and Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Burr being placed in command of the brigade 
 instead of Brigadier Gregory, on leave of absence, 
 Captain Stocum meanwhile had command of the regi- 
 ment. Details for building railroad, corduroy roads, 
 and other fatigue duties, were daily made from the re- 
 giment, but its principal employment was drilling in the 
 various tactical lessons of the soldier, company, and bat- 
 talion schools and the evolntions of a, brigade. Here 
 one of the most sorrowful and disastrous events of our 
 -experience occurred. Of it, the following is the official 
 account : 
 
 " The painful tidings of the sudden death of Colonel 
 William W. Hayt, at eight o'clock a.m., November 
 eighth, 1864, at City Point, Virginia, of congestion of 
 the brain, having reached his command at its camp, 
 near Warren Station, Virginia, the commissioned offi- 
 cers of the regiment were convened by order of Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Allen L. Burr. After mutual consulta- 
 tion, by request, the commanding officer appointed 
 Captain Burrage Rice, Chaplain William H. Rogers, 
 and Captain William H. Withey a Committee to drafc 
 4 
 
74 189TH NETT-YORK: VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 resolutions expressive of the sentiments of the regi- 
 ment. The Committee reported the following pream- 
 ble and resolutions, which were unanimously approved : 
 
 " WTiereas, It haspleased Almighty God, in his all-wise 
 providence, to remove suddenly by death, our highly 
 esteemed commanding officer, Colonel William W. 
 Hayt; therefore, 
 
 " Resolved^ That in his death the One Hundred and 
 Eighty-Ninth Regiment of New- York Volunteers has 
 suffered a great loss, which is deeply felt by all its offi- 
 cers and privates, and the country has been deprived of 
 a faithful friend and an ardent supporter. 
 
 " Resolved^ That as an officer and soldier, by his noble 
 conduct, trueness of. heart, out-spoken frankness, and 
 many virtues of a superior character, he has endeared 
 himself, during his brief connection with this regiment, 
 to all our hearts, and won the genuine confidence and 
 cordial esteem of all his men. 
 
 " Resolved., That we tender our sincere sympathy to 
 his deeply afflicted wife, children, and large circle of re- 
 latives, and earnestly pray God to sustain them under 
 the weighty sorrows of this great bereavement. 
 
 " Resolved., That while we regret the military condi- 
 tion will not permit a larger escort, Captain William 
 Washburn, who attended the Colonel duiing his short, 
 fatal sickness, and Rev. William H. Rogers, Chaplain 
 of this regiment, be appointed a deputation to accom- 
 pany the body home and to attend the funeral. 
 
 *' Resolved., That a copy of these proceedings be sent 
 to the family of the deceased, and to the various papers 
 interested, for publication. 
 
 " BuREAGE Rice, 
 William H. Rogers, \ Committee,''^ 
 William II. Withey, 
 
189TH NEW-TORK VOLUNTEERS. 'JB 
 
 Becoming acclimated was one of the most dangerous 
 ordeals of the service. Here in camp we suffered its 
 effects ; yet the efficiency of our medical department 
 was so thorough, that we passed through it with com- 
 paratively little mortality. Yet many, ay, too many, 
 brave boys sickened amid the daily routine of camp 
 life, and were carried in ambulances away to the hospi- 
 tal, never again to re-cross the beat of the camp-guard, 
 nor to re-visit the loved threshold of home. The heart 
 here became sober and reflective. Between the fondly 
 cherished memories of home and friends whose endear- 
 ments must so long be sacrificed, and the certain pros- 
 pect of deadly dangers to be faced, the soldiers' minds 
 more easily responded to the threefold ministry of the 
 Holy Spirit, a faithful chaplaincy, and the Christian 
 Commission. Many there happily received pardon, and 
 obtained a title and preparation for heaven, where 
 separations, death and war are forever unknown. A 
 request signed by all the commissioned officers of the 
 regiment to commission Lieutenant-Colonel Burr as 
 Colonel, vice Colonel W. W. Hayt, deceased, was for- 
 warded to Governor Seymour. 
 
 The golden bonds which link the heart to home 
 never any more revealed their power than when all the 
 soldiers in camp, officers and privates, were placed on 
 the qui vive of excitement by the blowing of the bri- 
 gade bugle to call the regimental mail agents to come 
 and get their mail. Our mail agent was Charles Ro- 
 gers, the brother and tent-mate of the Chaplain, and, 
 the questions, " Chaplain, has Charley come with the 
 mail yet?" "Have you a letter for me this time?" 
 etc., etc., were asked again and again from the sound- 
 ing of the mail-call till the distribution of the mail 
 
76 189TH NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 eacli clay, when the mail was regular. The arrival of 
 boxes from home were also great occasions in camp. 
 Our first installment of these was received on the six- 
 teenth of November. 
 
 Pursuant to the proclamation of the President ap- 
 pointing a day of National Thanksgiving, at eleven 
 o'clock, Thursday, November twenty-fourth, our com- 
 mand, with arms, marched to Brigade Headquarters, 
 there to join with the other two regiments of the Bri- 
 gade in the observance of thanksgiving, by recom- 
 mend of General Gregory. 
 
 When the Brigade was formed, the following w^as 
 the order of religious exercises : First, Reading the 
 thanksgiving proclamation ; second, music, " My Coun- 
 try, 'lis of thee;'' third, reading the ninth Psalm; 
 fourth, prayer, by Rev. Wayne Spicer, Chaplain of the 
 One Hundred and Eighty-eighth ; fifth, music, " In a 
 Noble Cause contending;" sixth, preaching from Rev. 
 19 : 6 ; seventh, music, " Sail on, thou Mighty Ship of 
 State;" eighth, remarks by General Gregory, Rev. O. 
 J. Moore, Sergeant Company G, One Hundred and 
 Eighty-Ninth, and others ; ninth, Doxology and Bene- 
 diction. 
 
 Thereupon the regiments returned to their camps, 
 feeling that of all the abundant occasions for thanks- 
 giving that American citizens possessed, the certain in- 
 dications of speedy triumph for our cause, the collapse 
 of that of the rebels, the end of the war, and the har- 
 bingers of the sure return of peace, were preeminent. 
 On the twenty-sixth of November, when we were 
 about concluding that the great newspaper ado con- 
 cerning a " Thanksgiving Dinner for the Soldiers " was 
 " all talk and no turkey," to our great joy, a supply 
 
189TH NEW-YORK VOLUNTEEKS. '77 
 
 wagon appeared in camp with les materiels for the din- 
 n-er. Justice, however, demands this warning concern- 
 ing the transportation of such palatable supplies through 
 so many hungry hands and headquarters, that due pre- 
 caution be taken to secure them from the self appro- 
 priating tendency of excited gastronomic attraction, 
 from which the quantity of our excellent dinner had 
 somewhere suffered a sad diminution. The following 
 is the "authorized version" of how our presents were 
 received and disposed of 
 
 Petersburgh, Va., November 2Y, 1864. 
 The baked poultry and other food for our Thanks- 
 giving Dinner arrived in the camp of our regiment on 
 the twenty-sixth instant, in a splendid condition. ^ The 
 quarters of the non-commissioned officers and privates 
 were gladdened by their dinner at noon, but the com- 
 missioned officers having purchased some additional 
 supplies had their banquet served at seven o'clock p.m. 
 After the feast, on motion of Colonel A. L. Burr, 
 Chaplain William H. Rogers, Captain John Stocura, 
 and Surgeon Howard E. Gates were appointed a Com- 
 mittee to express our sentiments of pleasure and grati- 
 tude to our kind and thoughtful friends of the Empire 
 State who contributed these Thanksgiving Gifts. Tho 
 following was reported to-day at dress-parade, and ap- 
 proved : 
 
 Besolved, That we hereby express our cordial thanks 
 to every one of our friends at home who have, with 
 such bountiful liberality, contributed to our Thanks- 
 giving Dinner, whose quantity we value not so much for 
 w^hat it was worth as for what it betokened. 
 
 Besolved, That these fresh tokens of love from our 
 
^8 189TH NEW-YOEK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 noble fellow-citizens, while they created a sense of pre- 
 sent pleasure, being such a startling change from our 
 customary diet, have renewed in all our minds sweet 
 memories of home, and re-nerved our souls to do and 
 dare for the defense and maintenance of that glorious 
 Government the affectionate honor of whose citizens 
 is thus manifested to their defenders. 
 
 Resolved, That these statements be forwarded for 
 publication. 
 
 William H. Rogees, > 
 
 John Stocum, t Committee, 
 
 H. E. Gates, ) 
 
 Animated by a desire to make our condition as neat 
 and sanitary as possible, we were arching our streets 
 and decorating them and our tents with various devices 
 of evergreens, and our thriving little canvas-roofed log- 
 city began to seem quite home-like when rumors began 
 to be rife that the Fifth Corps was about to move, and 
 the movements of the Second and Ninth Corps ex- 
 changing places with each other was interpreted as 
 confirming the report. 
 
CHAPTER SECOND, 
 
 THE WELDON RAILROAD RAID. 
 
 Tuesday, December sixth.— The whole of the Fifth 
 and a part of the Second Corps, preceded by Gregg's 
 Cavalry and accompanied by a good supply of artillery, 
 were in motion at nine o'clock this morning, starting 
 for an expedition. Our regiment having six days' ra- 
 tions, with every thing in marching order, " fell into" 
 its designated place in the vast column, bidding adieu 
 to our roofless houses, camp and whatever property we 
 were compelled to leave, for the accommodation of 
 other troops who soon entered and took possession. 
 We marched about four miles and massed on the Jeru- 
 salem Plank-Road, three miles from Warren Station, 
 Half of Company E went out on picket and the rest of 
 the One Hundred and Eighty-Nmth bivouacked for the 
 night in the woods. 
 
 On the morning of the seventh, reveille sounded at 
 four o'clock, and at sun-rise the whole column was 
 again advancing. The cavalry scoured the country 
 before us. Our course was along the Jerusalem Plank- 
 road for several miles. At half past eight o'clock a.m., 
 the rain began to fall, and continued with intervals 
 during the day. The country through which we passed 
 
80 189TH NEW-TOEK VOLrNTEEES. 
 
 was the first we had beheld since landing in Virginia 
 undesolated by the horrid tramp of war. The sight 
 of fences, new-sown fields and quiet dwellings was a 
 relief. Having marched twenty miles through the mud, 
 all were rejoiced when the weather having cleared up 
 pleasantly, we were marched out into a large corn-field 
 for supper and rest. Many had fallen out by the way. 
 Some corn-stacks found standing here and there in the 
 field contributed forage for horses and stalks for our 
 beds. The moon, and stars shone from a serene sky. 
 At one o'clock in the night, however, a furious rain- 
 squall awoke us from our slumbers. Preparing a hasty 
 breakfast by our rail-fires, at two o'clock we were 
 again on our way toiling through the mud and dark- 
 ness. We crossed the Nottoway River on pontoons. 
 These were made by investing boat-shaped frames 
 twenty-four feet in length with canvas, which being 
 anchored above and below the crossing parallel with 
 the current and covered with scantling and boai-ds, 
 sounded and swung beneath the tread of the horses and 
 men as the column passed over. The light from the 
 camp-fires left behind us seemed to intensify the dark 
 ness before us. Soon after crossing the river the men 
 began to throw away their knapsacks, and blankets, 
 and extra clothing. Stopping at daylight to permit 
 cavalry to advance, we passed Sussex Court-House at 
 seven o'clock. Our cavalry had a shght skirmish with 
 that of the rebels ahead of us at a place called Cowan's 
 Well. At half past one o'clock we halted for dinner, 
 the difiicult, rapid marching having made the burdened 
 soldiers almost intolerably fatigued and foot-sore. 
 Many of the houses of the country through which 
 we marched were large and well-built. The carriage- 
 
189TH NEW- YORK Y0LUNTEEE3. 81 
 
 houses contained luxurious coaches, and appearances in- 
 dicated considerable wealth. The women, negroes and 
 few "un-colored" men who yet remained were poorly 
 clad. Evidently, the supply of caUco and cassimere 
 had long since failed in this region. Brisk marching 
 brought us at half-past seven to the Weldon Railroad, 
 which we struck five miles south of Reams's Station, 
 other portions of the expedition having also reached 
 the track by different roads, some above and some be- 
 low us. Stacking arms, our regiment soon stood in 
 single file along one side of the road, and laying hold 
 of the rail the whole length of our line, the track was 
 quickly torn up and thrown overturned and racked in 
 pieces on the opposite side. Piling the ties back upon 
 the road in cob-house style and laying the rails across, 
 the rebel thoroughfare, either wa^ as far as the eye 
 could penetrate, was shortly in flilies, kindled by the 
 pine fences and other most combustible materials along 
 the track. The rails were rendered useless either by 
 the ends bending down of their own weight, or being 
 seized by four or five soldiers were bent, when heated, in 
 the middle around some neighboring tree into the form 
 of the Fifth Corps badge and other fantastic shapes. 
 Thus a track many times the length of our regiment 
 yielded to the prowess of our arms by one o'clock 
 that night. Thereupon we halted at Jarratt's Station 
 till morning. The men were very tired, most of them 
 having blistered feet and empty knapsacks. Adding to 
 our discomfort, the weather became intensely cold, and a 
 furious north wind swept, almost unobstructed, along the 
 line, thus rendering fires and all attempts to sleep of 
 little avail. Daylight appearing, Ave began to search 
 for breakfast, and captured several beeves, hogs, chick- 
 4.* 
 
82 189TH NEW-TOEK VOLUNTEEES. 
 
 ens and other "game.'* The meat being cooked, the 
 breakfast was eaten with a relish which only they who 
 have worked hard for twenty-four hours, and then 
 stood around in the biting cold of a "norther" for six 
 hours longer, can properly appreciate. Marching on 
 from this place, at nine o'clock a.m., December ninth, 
 with loaded guns, our business this day was to act as 
 guard to defend j^arties who were busy destroying the 
 track. At dark we were halted near the Mekerren Ri- 
 ver, five miles from Bellfield, and the left wing of the 
 regiment thrown out on the right of our line of march 
 as pickets and skirmishers. The thunder of cannon at 
 the front a few miles, indicated that our advance were 
 encountering some trouble. All night steadily fell the 
 rain and sleet, covering every thing with a thick coat of 
 ice, and causing tk^wretchedest sufferings for pickets 
 and all concerned^iat our command had thus far ex- 
 perienced. 
 
 Before daylight, December tenth, we received orders 
 to return. "Falling in," our fcAV remaining blankets 
 and tents proved to be so frozen, wet and heavy, the 
 men were generally compelled to abandon them. Break- 
 fastless and dinnerless we marched all day rapidly, the 
 enemy meanwhile shelling the rear of our column, and, 
 it was rumored, were endeavoring to reach Sussex 
 Court-House before us to dispute our re-crossing the 
 Nottoway. Leaving the railroad, we pursued the di- 
 rectest route to the Court-House, which we reached at 
 seven o'clock in the evening, having marched twenty- 
 two miles in the rain without halting. The Second 
 Brigade rendezvoused that night closely massed in the 
 woods thick with underbrush. This quickly disappeared 
 before the hundreds of hatchets, axes and fires. A 
 
189TH NEW-TOEK YOLUNTEEES. 
 
 83 
 
 hasty supper and as mucli sleep as possible in a rainy 
 night were greatly relished. 
 
 Sabbath, December eleventh.— We marched at dawn 
 of day, re-crossing the ISTottoway without hindrance. 
 "We found nine regiments of the Ninth Corps here pro- 
 tecting the passage for us. At noon halting for dinner, 
 we remained till the next morning. All day it had 
 rained, but at sunset the weather cleared up, and we 
 passed the only comfortable night during the entire 
 
 raid. 
 
 December twelfth was a beautiful day, and the mud 
 being frozen solid and dry, our jaded column, by mak- 
 ing a march of thirteen miles, returned to the same 
 grounds in the woods, three miles from Warren Station, 
 
 on which we had bivouacked the fi^ night of the raid. 
 All along the rOute for the last ^M^ 
 burned all buildings and destroyed 
 could not be brought along with us. 
 
 Colonel Burr, taken sick on the ninth, returned in an 
 ambulance, and, being carried to the hospital, soon 
 went home on leave of absence, the command of the re- 
 giment meanwhile devolving upon Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Townsend. 
 
 While one company each day Avent out on picket, 
 the regiment, having moved its camp twice to secure 
 a better locality, on the fourteenth, commenced "camp 
 before Petersburgh," located between the Jerusalem 
 Plank-Road and the Gurley House, the whole brigade 
 rendezvousing there for the rest of the winter. 
 
 On the sixteenth. Company K joined our regiment 
 in time to build up their quarters with the other com- 
 panies. 
 
 About this time the place of making the picket de- 
 
84 189TH NEW-YOEK YOLimTEEES. 
 
 tail was changed, so that sixty men and a commissioned 
 officer from the whole regiment, each company furnish- 
 ing its quota, were sent out daily. While the detail 
 was being filled before the Adjutant's tent, each man 
 gladly received a fresh religious newspaper or tract for 
 his entertainment in unemployed hours on the line. 
 This plan of sending out our pickets was maintained 
 during our encampment here. With commendable 
 pains and ingenuity, tlie quarters of officers and men 
 were soon made comfortable and even attractive. 
 Building and keeping in repair our own supply-road 
 from camp to Parke Station, United States Military 
 E-ailroad, constructing and repairing various forts, etc., 
 drew from time to time heavily upon our command for 
 fatigue details. 
 
 Here we enjoyejfelie benefits of two churches. The 
 work of their coffl^Riction was performed voluntarily 
 by the soldiers in a short time. Their bodies and gable 
 ends were made of pine logs and poles, the crevices 
 being chinked and smeared with the re-consecrated soil 
 of old Virginia. Roofed with canvas flies, warmed by 
 large " stoves — the panel-doors snugly fitting — they 
 were attractive places in which to worship the God of 
 the American Republic. The new roofs and stoves 
 were grants to us from that great and noble institution 
 the United States Christian Commission. One, called 
 " the Brigade Church," forty by sixty in size, was on the 
 left of the brigade ; the other, called " the Church of 
 the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth," thirty by forty, 
 was on the right. The former was dedicated on Sab- 
 bath, the twenty-second of December, by BishojD Ed- 
 mund S. Janes; the latter the following Sabbath, by 
 the Rev. J. K. Tattle, of Waterloo, New-York. These 
 
189TH NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 85 
 
 were among the cliief luxuries of our military life, and 
 we revert to them with emotions of pleasure and gra- 
 titude. 
 
 In the morning of January sixth, occurred suddenly 
 the first death in camp which our regiment suffered, 
 that of Joseph S. Grey, of Company K. In all such 
 cases we had funeral services, and military burials. 
 
 Several foraging expeditions by our brigade termi- 
 nated profitably. Not so the one a brief account of 
 which I am about to relate. On Wednesday morning, 
 January eleventh, a detail of two hundred and forty 
 men from the Second Brigade, including companies H 
 and K, of the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth, was sent 
 out, with nine wagons, each (?ra\vn by a team of six 
 mules, to gather in some forage. Captain Burrage 
 Kice was placed in command. Proceeding two miles 
 down the Jerusalem Plank-Road^^they turned away 
 from it in the direction of the forsaken j^lantation 
 whereon a supply of valuable forage had been dis- 
 covered. It was about eight miles from camp and six 
 and a lialf outside our lines. Reaching this. Captain 
 Rice bid the teamsters load and stationed picket-guards 
 around sufiiciently distant. While thus engaged he 
 was apprised by a loyal resident of the near proximity 
 of a band of rebels. Soon he ^ya.s twice fired at. 
 Rallying the reserve guard, he found no enemy. The 
 train having been loaded as quickly as possible, com- 
 menced to return. By order of Captain Rice, Com- 
 pany H, under command of Lieutenant H. F. Scofield, 
 had the advance both going out and coming in, throw- 
 ing out skirmishers on each side of the road, under 
 Lieutenant J. G. Rutherford. About a mile from the 
 Jerusalem Plank-Road, amid dense woods, a swamp 
 
86 
 
 189TH NEW-TOEK VOLUNTEEES. 
 
 swollen full by the recent rains compelled the flankers 
 on the left of the train to come into the road to pass. 
 The enemy secreted as near the road as possible, by 
 this swamp, fired upon the middle and rear of the train 
 as it was passing. Instantly riding back from the front 
 of the train. Captain Rice ordered it forward as rapid- 
 ly as possible, and the men to halt and form in line of 
 battle. The firing of the enemy, the stampedino- of 
 our men, and the hurry of the teams and wagons, now 
 made every thing confusion. The two companies of the 
 One Hundred and Eighty-:N'inth were the only ones 
 that stood firmly in line of battle and deliberately re- 
 turned the enemy's fire. There Captain Rice fell from 
 his horse mortally wounded. Enough ofiicers and men 
 gathered around him. Discovering the firing had 
 ceased, evidently thinking the enemy's intention was to 
 flank us before we could reach the Plank-Road, to the 
 commanders whose unflinching troops had silenced the 
 enemy with great emphasis he immediately said • 
 " Move forward your men to protect the train. You 
 can not assist me. Move forward. Save the train'" 
 They obeyed. The fiillen leader should have been 
 borne to the train by those around him, and promptly 
 succeeded in command by the Captain next in rank 
 But, shamefully, both of these duties were neglected 
 for which neglects unjust blame was attributed to the 
 whole expedition instead of those whose duties they 
 were.^ Instantly upon the assault being commenced. 
 Captain Rice, with the coolness of a veteran, dispatched 
 an orderly to General Gregory for reinforcements It 
 was not long before the long-roll was beating in the 
 camp of the One Hundred and Eighty-Xinth, and Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Townsand quickly led his other ei-ht 
 
189TH NEW-YOEK VOLTINTEEES. 87 
 
 companies, under command of General Gregory, to the 
 rescue. Meeting at our picket-lines the train, the Gen- 
 eral ordered it to camp and all its guard to " About 
 face !" and with the rest confront the foe, if necessary, 
 and bring in Captain Rice's body. 
 
 When within half a mile of the place of the attack 
 all were halted, and Company A, with a detachment of 
 Company H, under Lieutenant Rutherford, sent for- 
 ward. It was now dark. They had proceeded about 
 half a mile when Sergeant Yose, of Captain Stocum's 
 Company, called out he had found a body. Captain S. 
 identified it as Captain Rice's, but received command 
 to jjroceed cautiously half a mile further and wait for 
 orders. No enemy was foand in front, but while halted 
 he heard firing in the rear. This was the rebels attack- 
 ing a company searching in vain for the body. Cap- 
 tain S. thereupon received orders to report to his regi- 
 ment on double-quick. Which being done, General 
 Gregory, having posted two companies as flankers on 
 both sides of the road, ordered Captain S. to " go in 
 and bring out the body." Advancing his line of skir- 
 mishers a few roads beyond the body, he halted them 
 and directed Sergeant A. Van Wie, George Blakesly, 
 Warren Halbert, and Stephen Sayles to be the bearers. 
 While doing this they were fired on, but promptly re- 
 turning the fire, and charging through tlie woods, quick- 
 ly routed the ambushed murderers, and brought in the 
 body. It had been stripped naked and shot once 
 through the waist and twice through the head. On 
 the thirteenth, it was embalmed at City Point and sent 
 home in charge of Lieutenant D wight Warren. The 
 following communication was published by his deeply 
 afflicted fellow-ofiicers relative to his death : 
 
88 189TH NEW- YORK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 " Headquarters Second Brigade, First ) 
 
 Division, Fifth A. C, January 12, 1865, ) 
 
 " The sacrifice of precious lives — the noblest and the 
 best — continues daily upon our country's altar. 
 
 " Yesterday, Captain Burrage Rice, Acting Inspect- 
 or-General of this brigade, from Company C, One 
 Hundred and Eighty-Ninth New- York Volunteers, 
 while ably commanding a foraging expedition and re- 
 turning, was killed in a sudden attack on his command 
 by guerrillas, as he was bravely j)rotecting his train. 
 
 " His last words were : ' Boys, tell my dear family I 
 am killed. I send my cordial love to them. Take this 
 Bword to my wife.' 
 
 "At a meeting of his regimental and brigade fellow- 
 officers, called to-day by Brigadier Edgar M. Gregory, 
 of which Joseph G. Townsend, Major commanding the 
 One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth Regiment, was chosen 
 Chairman, and A. M. Beman, Captain of Company E, 
 Secretary, the following preamble and resolutions, re- 
 ported by a committee appointed for that purpose, were 
 unanimously adopted : 
 
 " Whereas, In the righteous providence of God, our 
 noble and accomplished fellow-officer Burrage Rice, 
 Captain and Inspector-General, has lost his life, while 
 courageously engaged in the discharge of his duty; 
 therefore, 
 
 ^^Jiesolved, That we feel the great loss which his regi- 
 ment, brigade, and the whole country have suffered in 
 his death. 
 
 ^^Jiesolved, That the superior attributes of his gentle- 
 manly, soldierly, and upright character, had endeared 
 him to the hearts of the officers and men of this entire 
 command, and we mourn his loss, as of a brother. 
 
189TH NEW-TOEK VOLUNTEERS. 89 
 
 " Hesolved^ That we kindly tender the sentiments of 
 our deepest sympathy to his bereaved wife, children, 
 and friends, and earnestly recommend them to the 
 Saviour, to sustain them in this great affliction. 
 
 '•'Resolved, That a copy of these proceedings be sent 
 to his family, and to the papers interested, for publi- 
 cation. 
 
 E. M. Gregory, 
 Brevet Brigadier-General, 
 William H. Rogers, 
 Chaplain 189th New- York Volunteers, 
 
 John Stocum, 
 Captain Company A. 
 
 ^ 
 
 At eleven o'clock of the following Sabbath, January 
 fifteenth. General Gregory called the brigade together 
 at his headquarters, for the funeral services of Captain 
 Rice and private Henry G. Bull, of his company, who 
 cfied suddenly in camp on the thirteenth. The sermon 
 Avas preached from Eecl. 8:8. On the twenty-fifth, 
 Colonel Burr returned from home with his own com- 
 mission as Colonel and that of Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Townsend as Lieutenant-Colonel. On the evening of 
 the twenty-eighth. Captain Withey was unanimously 
 chosen Major. * Brigadier-General Gregory being home 
 on leave of absence on account of his wife's dangerous 
 illness, and Lieutenant-Colonel Townsend and Major 
 Withey on business connected with their promotion, 
 the command of the brigade meanwhile fell on Colonel 
 Burr and that of the regiment on Captain Stocum. 
 Leaves of absence and furloughs being now permitted 
 to twenty per cent of the regiment at a time, by a 
 general order, as many officers and privates as possible 
 are improving the opportunity to visit home. Dili- 
 
90 189TH NEW-YORK VOLUNTEEES. 
 
 gent picket, fatigue and drill duties keep us busily en- 
 gaged. " Coming events cast their shadows before, " 
 in military service generally, in the form of camp ru- 
 mors. Accordingly, February third, it was rumored 
 that the Fifth Corps was under orders to be ready to 
 march at a moment's warning. The certainty and des- 
 tination of our going soon were unknown to all. 
 
CHAPTER THIRD. 
 
 BATTLE OF HATCHER'S RUN. 
 
 The rumored movement of the Fifth Corps came on 
 Sunday, February fifth. The One Hundred and Eigh- . 
 ty-Ninth received command the iDrevious evening to he 
 ready with three days' rations for a movement the next 
 morning, with hght-marching orders. Our sixty pick- 
 ets also had three days' rations distributed to them, 
 with directions to remain Avhere they were till further 
 orders. A small camp-guard, mainly composed of those 
 imable to march, was left in our quarters to preserve 
 every thing'.intact till our expected return. The move- 
 ment bore the appearance of a general advance involv- 
 ing the Second, Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth Corps. 
 
 The light of subsequent events alone revealed its in- 
 tent and°importance. Passing Warren Station, taking 
 the track of the old Weldon Railroad for some dis- 
 tance, we encountered the enemy's intrenched forces at 
 Hatcher's Run about eleven o'clock, nine miles from 
 our camp. Thick woods of underbrush, and small trees 
 skirted both sides of the run, and mostly concealed the 
 rebels' works. Soon our skirmishers were hotly en- 
 gaged and as fast as our column came up it was formed 
 into Unes of battle in an open field reaching nearly to 
 
92 
 
 189TH KEW-TOEK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 the run. Oar brigade constituted the second line 
 But a cliarge by the One Hundred and Forty-seventh 
 -t ennsylvania, and Fourth Delaware, completely routed 
 the confederates; and marching forward till night, we 
 supped, and half of the regiment going out as pickets, 
 the rest lay down to sleep. The cannonading of the 
 feecond Corps, engaged with the rebels, had been heard 
 durmg the latter part of the day away to our rio-ht 
 and It became evident General Warren had moved'too 
 far to the left to form the designed connection with 
 that corps. 
 
 Accordingly, at twelve o'clock that night we were 
 ordered quietly to withdraw to the right. A hasty 
 march of seven miles brought us amidst the brio-ht 
 camp-fires, trains, and intrenchments of the Second 
 Corps, which was itself moving toward the right 
 
 Our brigade was marched into a position behind 
 some breastworks just thrown up by the Tiiird Division 
 Second Corps. An extension of the Federal lines for 
 about four miles in a south-westerly direction toward 
 the Southside Railroad being thus achieved, our position 
 was the extreme left. It was to be determined the fol- 
 lowing day whether the rebels could drive us from it. 
 On the sixth, a reconnoissance and the lively eno-ao-e- 
 ment of the opposing skirmishers determined the^'pre- 
 sence of a strong and menacing foe. 
 
 At three o'clock p.m., our regiment advanced to the 
 skirmish-lme to relieve the One Hundred and Fortieth 
 New-York, Third Division, Fifth Corps. Engaged 
 sharply here for a time, we were relieved, and betno- 
 joined by the rest of our brigade, wheeled into a line 
 of battle m rear of a portion of the Third Division 
 The rebels poured a heavy volley into us and charged 
 
189TH NEW-YOPwK VOLUNTEERS. 93 
 
 with a fiendish yell. The hne before iis broke and gave 
 way in confusion. Back upon our Hne rushed the fly- 
 ing Federals, jDursued by the furious rebels. The rout 
 away to the left and right seemed to be complete. 
 Never did Colonel Burr and his staff exhibit greater 
 coolness and bravery. Riding to and fro along the 
 line in front of his brigade, amid a storm of ieadeu 
 hail, he rallied and strengthened them to stand firm. 
 Many portions of the line were forced tempormily to 
 give way, but quickly re-formed, and stayed the prog- 
 ress of the confederates in this part of the field. The 
 One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth, under Captain Stocum, 
 did gloriously. 
 
 Night having come on, we were ordered to fall back 
 to the fortifications. The One Hundred and Eighty- 
 Ninth had two killed and eleven wounded in this ac- 
 tion. February seventh, the pickets lefc on the line at 
 the old camp were ordered up. Having erected an- 
 other line of breast-works less than a quarter of a mile 
 in advance of the first, our regiment made themselves 
 as comfortable as possible beside these, with fires and 
 pine boughs so placed as to protect us to some extent 
 from the wind and cold rain which was fallincc* A strongr 
 picket-line was thrown out beyond the battle-field, of 
 which the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth maintained 
 its share. On the edge of an open field close by, we 
 buried the fallen heroes of the Second Brigade, making 
 a solitary row of graves more honorable for a final rest- 
 ing-place than Westminster Abbey or the Pyramids ! 
 A few passages of eternal truth from the Scriptures 
 read, a hymn sung, a prayer offered — these were the 
 simple ceremonies of their burial ; and we left them, 
 
94 189TH NEW-TOEK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 erecting for each a rude head-board telling his name, 
 company, and regiment. 
 
 On the eleventh, we changed our position to the other 
 side of Hatcher's Run, on the edge of Cummings's 
 plantation. The new branch-railroad was soon built 
 from Yfarren Station to this place, and Humphreys's 
 Station, the terminus, located on the opposite side of 
 the farm from our camp. The notion of returning to 
 our old quarters again being abandoned, the remainder 
 of our "goods" were brought to this place. Although 
 this encampment was on worse ground than either of 
 our former ones, still, by the twenty-second, the men 
 had comfortable quarters erected. The general ap- 
 pearance of our camp improved constantly during our 
 stay here. On the sixteenth, in line with the quarters 
 of the field and staff, our church was again erected, 
 constructed of the forty by sixty fly, without logs, so 
 as to be all canvas, and, with its exterior and interior 
 ornaments, looked well. It did good service. A free 
 writing-table, furnished with writing materials, and 
 tactical schools, occupied it week-days, and religious 
 meetings every Sabbath and every evening. 
 
 Building forts, abattis, and performing picket and drill 
 duty were our chief employments. The same plan of 
 detailing the pickets was observed as at the previous 
 camp. 
 
 Thursday, the twenty-third, was the One Hundred 
 and Eighty-Ninth's first pay- day. We received pay- 
 ment up to January first, 1865. 
 
 At dress-parade on the afternoon of March third, 
 occurred the presentation of a horse and equipage to 
 Colonel Burr. Each company of his regiment contri- 
 buted forty dollars toward its purchase. The animal 
 
189TH NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 95 
 
 was noble in appearance, and the testimonial ceremo- 
 nies interesting. The following account of them is 
 from the proper committee: 
 
 *' Headquarters One Hundred and Eighty-TTinth ) 
 N. Y. v., March 6, 1865. f 
 
 " Official courage and good management in battle 
 are. most important qualitie^s in a commander. Their 
 conspicuous manifestation yi presence of the enemy de- 
 serves special honor and reward. At a meeting of the 
 officers of the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth 'New- 
 York Volunteers, March first, 1865, it was 
 
 " ' Resolved, That as a token of our high appreciation 
 of the noble manner in which Colonel A. L. Burr com- 
 manded the Second Brigade, during the battle of Hatch- 
 er's Run, February sixth, 1865, we will purchase and pre- 
 sent to him the black horse now owned by Captain 
 Burdett, Brigade Commander, the price of which is 
 placed at six hundred dollars.' 
 
 " The presentation occurred at dress-parade of the 
 third of March, when Captain Crosby made the follow- 
 ing speech : 
 
 " ' Respected Colonel : In behalf of the One Hun- 
 dred and Eighty-Ninth Regiment, in view of the deep 
 interest you have ever taken in our welfare, and the 
 gallantry you displayed on the memorable field near 
 Hatcher's Run, on the sixth of February last, I have 
 the honor to present you this noble horse. We desire 
 you to receive it. Sir, as a token of our high regard 
 for you. Judging from the past, we feel that we have 
 a friend in you, and we desire you to feel that you have 
 friends indeed in us. You have ever labored, not only 
 for the welfare of the officers of this Regiment, but 
 also for the men, for w^hich they feel indeed grateful to 
 
96 189TH NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 you. They have contributed very liberally of their 
 means for the purchase of this horse, which now stands 
 so proudly before you. The deadly contest is before 
 us ; but may this animal, like the celebrated horse that 
 bore the illustrious Ca3sar across the Rubicon, carry 
 you on to victory and renown : but, unlike him, he will 
 never urge you forward to tyranny and usurpation. 
 No doubt many of us will fall in the coming campaign, 
 but whether or not we survive this eventful struggle, 
 we all desire to be remembered by you as we shall ever 
 remember jou. We are engaged in a glorious cause 
 for the old flag and a united country, and may the con- 
 test soon terminate successfully for our Government 
 and mankind, and we be permitted to lay aside our ar- 
 mor and return to our homes and friends ; but may 
 this Black Hawk, unlike one of former times, pass 
 without harm the fiery ordeal, and encounter without 
 injury the shot and shell and the dreaded Minie, and 
 then accompany you to the Empire State, there to re- 
 mind you of these ready hands and liberal hearts — will- 
 ing ever to contribute to your comfort and prosperity, 
 and ready ever to follow you to victory beneath the 
 ample folds of our starry flag. Take this token, Colo- 
 nel, and allow me to remind you that you have our be^ 
 wishes for your welfare.' 
 
 " Colonel Burr, though much affected, made the fol- 
 lowing response ; 
 
 " ' Captain Crosby and Fellow-Soldiers of the 
 One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth ! I can not now com- 
 mand language to adequately convey my sentiments 
 and tlianks for this valuable and flattering expression 
 of your regard. Permit me to thank you with all my 
 
189TH NEW-YOKK VOLUNTEERS. 97 
 
 heart — all of you, both officers and privates — for this 
 favor. I have simply aimed to do my duty. Beyond 
 this I claim no merit. Indeed, any man in this mighty 
 cause ought to be faithful to his trusts, his country and 
 his God ! I can only say, I hope hereafter as heretofore 
 to do in camp and in battle my duty in every thing, and 
 continue more and more to deserve your confidence 
 and love, which you have been pleased in this unexpect- 
 ed manner to manifest to me. Again, I thank you ! 
 and may the God of our glorious cause bless you for- 
 ever ! ' 
 
 " Such unanimity in a command is prophetic of good 
 to the service. 
 
 J. L. Brown, ) 
 
 Elias Horton, V Gommittee.^^ 
 
 D. D. Owen, ) 
 
 The news from General Sherman and from all parts 
 of the Government's operations at this time give the 
 utmost satisfaction and encouragement. The desert- 
 ers who daily present themselves at our lines, and 
 give themselves up, express the deepest despondency 
 and hopelessness of their cause. 
 
 Oar division having been reviewed on the sixth, it 
 was followed by a review of the corps on the four- 
 teenth. On the latter occasion, a blow of dust, sand, 
 and wind, like a simoom, swept mercilessly across the 
 plains, making the pageant any thing but pleasant for 
 the soldiers. Colonel Burr being home on leave of 
 absence, Lieutenant-Colonel Townsend was now in 
 command. Every thing again became prophetic of 
 the opening of the spring campaign. Sheridan was 
 said to be on his way to join our corps in assisting to 
 5 
 
98 189TH NEW-YOKK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 capture Richmond. The sutlers were commanded, on 
 the fourteenth of March, to move their property to 
 City Point, and a general order given for us to have 
 four days' rations and sixty rounds of cartridges pre- 
 pared, and hold ourselves ready to march at a mo- 
 ment's warning. Having been ourselves again review- 
 ed on the sixteenth, we reheved the Second Corps on 
 the twenty-third, to give them the opportunity of suf- 
 fering review. On the night of the twenty-fourth, the 
 rebels making their assault on Fort Steadman, and be- 
 ing repulsed with great loss, the next day were attack- 
 ed by the Second Corps, and our brigade was ordered 
 out to hold the redoubts and breast-works eighty rods 
 to our left, in case they should be attacked. On the 
 twenty-sixth, all surplus baggage was either expressed 
 home, or consigned to the Quartermaster. In this 
 nervous, unsettled condition we waited for marching 
 orders till the afternoon of Tuesday, the twenty-eighth, 
 when Sheridan's cavalry having passed up the Jeru- 
 salem Plank-Road, we received orders to start early 
 the next morning. 
 
CHAPTER FOURTH. 
 
 THE FINAL CAMPAIGN. 
 
 On the morDing of Wednesday, March twenty- 
 ninth, we breakfasted a little after four o'clock. Tak- 
 ing our places in the moving column at five o'clock, 
 we passed out through the low-lands, across which our 
 picket-line had extended in the rear of our encamp- 
 ment. Soon our cabins disappeared in the distance. 
 
 The gentle zephyrs breathed through the woods, 
 which had begun to blush with vernal beauty, and the 
 tender grass was beginnmg to greet us with its ver- 
 dent freshness, and all things, that silent spring morn- 
 ing, seemed to conspire to make the march of our au- 
 gust column to its terrible work grand in the highest 
 degree. 
 
 Having proceeded toward Dinwiddle Court-House 
 till noon, w^e turned, after a halt, to the right, and 
 soon, at Skunk's Hollow, brisk skirmishing deepened 
 into a spirited conflict, called the battle of Lewis's 
 Farm. Companies A, B, and a portion of F composed 
 our skirmish-line, under Adjutant Roney, which, follow- 
 ed by the regiment in line of battle, advanced through 
 brushy woods obUquely to the right, struggling with 
 the enemy, who were constantly giving way. The 
 First Brigade, now upon our right, were heavily at- 
 
100 1S9TH NEW-YOKK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 tacked and driven back. We, ordered to their sup- 
 port, moved rapidly forward, and a battery opening 
 with ns upon the rebels, they were finally routed, leav- 
 ing their dead and wounded upon the ffeld. Our regi- 
 ment had none killed, but twelve wounded mostly 
 upon the skirmish-line, among whom was Lieutenant 
 Leonard Briggs. Company B took twenty-five prison- 
 ers and three horses, with tlieir equipments. The 
 skirmishers, with orders to keep vigilantly awake, re- 
 mained allliight upon the advanced line. Constantly 
 it rained, often in torrents. The regiment stood 
 around in the darkness, and made themselves as com- 
 fortable as possible. On the thirtieth, at one o'clock 
 P.M., our skirmishers having been relieved to join us, 
 it continuing to rain, we moved out on the Quaker 
 Road to the Boydtow^n Plank-Road, and took our po- 
 sition as supporters of a battery which was hotly en- 
 gaged with the enemy. Furiously shot and shell were 
 flying at a dangerous proximity over our heads. 
 Quickly we w^ere ordered to lie flat upon the groimd. 
 Our place w^as betw^een two lines of breast-works, 
 thrown up by the Third Brigade while succeeding 
 slowly in forcing the stubborn foe to retire. The 
 ground beneath us was a complete slough of mud and 
 w^ater. The steadiness of our men, while those furi- 
 ous blasts of iron-storm were sweeping over them, was 
 admirable. At four o'clock a solid shot came, career- 
 ing on its deadly mission at a lower range than the 
 rest, and striking in the midst of Company F, instant- 
 ly killed Jamain Kimball, Henry Davis, and Frank 
 Emery, mangling them fearfully, and w^ounded Frede- 
 rick Ulmer and Henry McDonald. Ulmer, poor fel- 
 low ! nobly endured amputation of one leg near the 
 
189TH NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. ' 101 
 
 thigh, while the other ankle was badly mutilated. 
 How pale he looked when, after the operation of am- 
 putation and dressing was over, he left the field-hos- 
 pital for City Point ! His spirit was soon after called 
 home to a better world. Just before dark that after- 
 noon, the regiment moved into a piece of pine woods 
 about a mile to the rear, and took supper and lodgings 
 for the night. 
 
 At daylight the next morning, being relieved by 
 troops belonging to the Second Corps, we took a 
 hasty breakfast, and marched along the Boydtown 
 Plank-Road to Gravelly Run, and massed in support 
 of the Second and Third Divisions of our Corps, who 
 were engaged desperately with the enemy. The First 
 Brigade, Third Division, giving way in front of us, 
 with some confusion, we were marched by left flank to 
 occupy the ground lost by that division. Meanwhile, 
 they were re-forming behind breast-works, and our 
 batteries opened suddenly with tremendous power, 
 mowing down the woods, and causing our antagonists 
 to retreat, while the One Hundred and Eighty-Xinth, 
 with vociferous yells, charged on double-quick through 
 dense woods past our skirmish-line, and poured deadly 
 volleys into their flying ranks, killing and wounding 
 many, and capturing fifty-three prisoners, with their 
 rifle pits and intrenching tools. Colonel Townsend or- 
 dered to cease firing, post pickets, and throw up in- 
 trenchments. Hardly was the work begun, before the 
 rebels opened upon us with twelve-pound shot and 
 shell, which they furiously continued for two hours. 
 Although nearly every shell burst directly over it, our 
 regiment was again strangely preserved from death, 
 the shield of a merciful Providence averting destruc- 
 
102 189TH KEW-YOEK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 tiou while we were defending the ground won by our 
 daring deeds that day. But here, while posting the 
 pickets, Lieutenant Lyman P. Hotchkiss was wound- 
 ed. So conspicuous was the success of the One Hun- 
 dred and Eighty-Xinth to-day, that their brave conduct 
 was complimented by their Brigade, Division, and 
 Corps commanders. This night, at two o'clock a.m., 
 we marched seven miles to the support of Sheridan at 
 Five Forks. At four o'clock p.m., Major Withey, with 
 three companies, was sent to the skirmish-line, support- 
 ed by the other seven companies of our regiment in 
 line of battle. Advancing on double-quick, left-wheel, 
 we closely pressed the fleeing enemy. Thus they were 
 completely flanked. Thereupon a charge was made 
 all along our line, by which six thousand rebels, with 
 their arms and ammunition, were captured, and the 
 battle of Five Forks, the key to Petersburgh, Rich- 
 mond, and the downfall of the rebellion, turned glori- 
 ously in ftwor of the Union. Li this decisive charge, 
 every ofiicer and man was in his place. General Greg- 
 ory followed closely by the One Hundred and Eighty- 
 Ninth, being the first whose horse leaped the enemy's 
 fortifications, and who struck down with his sword 
 those who attempted to f-aise their guns to take his 
 life. General Warren's shameful abuse of four of our 
 men, whom he had sent to make a reconnoissance ot 
 the position and strength of the rebels, caused our regi- 
 ment to receive, with entire satisfaction, the announce- 
 ment on the next day, that General Sheridan had re- 
 lieved him, by putting General Griftin in his place, in 
 command of our corps. 
 
 Sunday, April second, having rested and replenish- 
 ed our haversacks with hard bread, cofiee, and sugar, 
 
189TH NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 103 
 
 we received the joyful tidings of the capture of Peters- 
 burgh, as we were about to march to support Sheri- 
 dan's cavahy, who were pursuing the enemy's retreat- 
 ing columns. Moving rapidly onward, we crossed the 
 Southside Railroad at two o'clock r.M. Everywhere 
 appeared the beginiaings of those scenes of ruin which 
 the disjecta memhra of Lee's shattered army present- 
 ed along the whole line of our rapid pursuit. On the 
 third, the news of the evacuation of Richmond evoked 
 the wildest cheers and enthusiasm. The beauty of the 
 'country, whose plantations and woodlands had begun 
 to put on the appearances of spring, the frequent re- 
 ports of startling triumphs of our forces closing around 
 the rear of Lee, and the animating sights of victories 
 by our cavalry or infantry in his front, overmatched 
 the fatigue and hunger of our men, and nerved them 
 to disregard the long marches and short rations, be- 
 lieving that they were actually amid the final scenes 
 and rushing events of the nation's grand triumph. 
 INTow across lots of farm or woodland, and now along 
 tbe roads our exultant columns took their way. Pass- 
 ing through Mannsboro, Amelia County, Virginia, and 
 Dennisville, we struck the Dan\dlle Railroad at dark 
 on the fourth, seven miles east of Burksville, and im- 
 mediately were ranged in line of battle to encounter 
 the forces of fugacious Lee, trying to elude Sheridan, 
 who had intercepted him in his westward flight. 
 
 Hastily erecting breast-Nvorks across the railroad, 
 the One Hundred and Eighty-Xinth at length lay 
 down behind them for the night, no enemy appearing. 
 On the morning of the fifth, planting batteries, 
 strengthening earth-works, and maneuvers of forces, 
 indicated the proximity of the enemy. Soon wo wer« 
 
104 189TH NEW-TOEK VOLTJNTEEES. 
 
 ordered to advance to assist the cavalry in capturing 
 a body of rebels with whom they were engaged. We 
 had not proceeded far, when shouts of victory were 
 heard, and jubilant troops of cavalry came back, bring- 
 ing many captured battle-flags, and announcing that 
 we were not needed, as that portion of the rebels had 
 been taken prisoners. We returned to the fortifica- 
 tions, and staid all night. The name of the railroad 
 station by which we were bivouacked, is Jettersville, 
 forty-three miles west from Richmond, and seventy- 
 five east from Lynchburgh. 
 
 The next day, the sixth, the Fifth Corj^s marched 
 circuitously through Paynesville thirty-three miles, to 
 head Lee, which being done, at eight o'clock, weary 
 and hungry, we lay down by the road-side for the 
 night. Up at daybreak, we marched slowly in the 
 forenoon, but rapidly in the afternoon and evening, to- 
 ward the beautiful Blue Moun tarns in the distance, 
 and at nine o'clock p.m., halted for the night at Prince 
 Edward's Court-House. On the eighth, at six o'clock 
 A.M., we moved rapidly forward, passing Sidney Col- 
 lege, a fine edifice, in the morning, and Prosjoect Sta- 
 tion, on the Danville Railroad, in the evening, and 
 halted at midnight in a condition of extreme exhaus- 
 tion, " better felt than described." 
 
 The bugle-notes by which at six o'clock on the 
 morning of Sunday, the ever-memorable ninth day of 
 April, we were summoned to renew our marching, 
 called us forth to the proudest deeds that ever shed 
 lustre upon human efforts. Word was brought that 
 Lee, completely surrounded, was engaging Sheridan, 
 intent upon cutting through. Marching toward Ap- 
 pomattox Station, we met forty cannon, numerous 
 
189TH NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 105 
 
 wagon-trains and army stores, and at the depot four 
 railroad-trains of supplies, captured the previous night 
 by the cavalry, who were now struggling with the 
 advance of our ensnared foe. The enemy, unconscious 
 of the presence of the Fifth Corps in support of Sheri- 
 dan's cavalry, are slowly but surely repelling it, ex- 
 pecting to break through its lines and escape. Form- 
 ing in hne of battle in an open field half a mile in the 
 rear of our cavalry line, which was fighting briskly, 
 but giving Avay, companies A and F, of the One Hun- 
 dred and Eighty-Ninth, being deployed as brigade- 
 skirmishers, advanced and relieved the cavalry, who 
 moved off to the right of our corps, and took their po- 
 sition in the invincible circle, w^hose toils now sur- 
 rounded the greatest hope and army of the rebellion. 
 Coolly and steadily our columns advanced under the 
 volleys of shell and sohd shot poured upon us from the 
 rebel batteries. Our infantry skirmish-line having be- 
 come hotly engaged with that of the rebels, we pro- 
 ceeded double-quick to their support. Rapidly the 
 foe drew back, and our column rose to the brow of 
 the hills around Appomattox Court-House. Here the 
 grandest mihtary view ever presented to mortal sight 
 appeared. Wherever the woods did not intercept the 
 view. Grant's dread phalanxes of embattled hosts, in- 
 fantry, cavalry, and artillery, were seen converging, 
 " with awful tread and slow" down the slopes toward 
 Lee's hostile and defiant battalions moving to embrace 
 annihilation, if made to give battle. On both sides 
 the banners are all floating on the breeze. Generals 
 and their mounted aids and ofiicers are hurrying to 
 and fro, directing the movements which are to decide 
 5* 
 
106 189TH NEW-YOEK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 the issue of the four years of war. The double circle 
 of skirmishers comes into closer and closer conflict. 
 
 Our boys, with fixed and pallid features, move on- 
 ward, expecting every minute to j^articipate in the 
 most overwhelming outburst of fire and death and ruin 
 that ever shook the martial field. Then across the 
 fields, at terrible speed through our brigade skirmish- 
 line, came Lee's orderly, bearing a flag of truce, and 
 exclaiming : " Cease firing ! General Lee surrenders 
 with all his forces !" Instantly was riven, as if by a 
 thunderbolt from heaven, the iron spell which had 
 bound every man to his duty and his fate in the ex- 
 pected conflict, and in an unrestricted confusion of 
 shouts and demonstrations*of joy, ofiicers and privates 
 gave the wdldest vent to their feeling of gratitude and 
 delight. 
 
 Thereupon both armies bivouacked ioi static quo^ 
 while the Generals-in-Cliief, victor and vanquished, met 
 together in the court-house to agree definitely upon 
 the terms of the surrender. General Gregory having 
 formed his brigade ready to encamp, requested the 
 Chaplain of the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth to 
 lead in prayer and singing the Doxology in devout 
 thanksgiving to God, for thus causing the nation to 
 gain the victory, and mankind their rights. Never 
 was an act of religious devotion performed with a 
 deeper cordiality. That night w^e slept with the glad 
 satisfaction that the war was practically ended, which 
 was such ambrosial food for the mind, as partly to sup- 
 ply the want of food for the body. But it rained dur- 
 ing the night and most of the next day, both protract- 
 ing our stay, and making it more uncomfortable. For 
 the ceremonies of the surrender were postponed, and 
 
189TII NEW-TOKK VOLUJJTEEES. 107 
 
 our camping-ground became extremely muddy. Hav- 
 in- moved our bivouac to tlie opposite hill-side on the 
 eleventh, the First Division received orders on the 
 twelfth to return to the Court-House Villa and take 
 position as receivers of the arms of the surrendered 
 army This we did, ranged in three parallel columns. 
 The rebels marched in order from their bivouac on the 
 adiacent hill-side, between the first and second column, 
 which were facing them, and stacked their arms and 
 colors, and by file right, marched back between the 
 second and third columns to their camp. These cere- 
 monies were finished at three o'clock on the twelfth, 
 whereupon the rebels commenced to go away to their 
 homes. In this surrender were embraced twenty-si.^- 
 thousand men, one hundred and forty-seven pieces of 
 artillery, and eighteen thousand stands of small-arms, 
 besides wagons, mules, and other army matenals. Our 
 utter destitution of all food for man and beast was con- 
 tinued, by the first supplies received after the surren- 
 der being given to our prisoners, who had to be fed 
 before tSey started for home, as they had nothing 
 
 Torn Dicked up by the soldiers where cavalrymen had 
 ^ri horses, a'nd ground in a coffee-mill fastened 
 
 o a tree in the camp, and called "the regimenta 
 
 grist-mill," constituted our principal subsistence till 
 
 the fourteenth, when suppUes arrived. 
 
 In apprehension of danger from lawless incursions 
 
 of gnen-illas, said to be prowling through the su - 
 
 roundinc. country, considerably large camp-gunid. 
 
 wl nightly posted at the proper distances around 
 he exposed sides of our rendezvous while we remain- 
 diX vicinity. Appomattox Co«vt-House re.u^r- 
 
 ed forever historically conspicuous as the place of the 
 
108 189TH NEW-YORK yOLUNTEEKS. 
 
 surrender of the rebel army of Western Virginia, em- 
 braces in all about a dozen houses of rather ordinary 
 architecture and appearance. A store, court-house, 
 jail, hotel, and a lew dwellings, are all it can boast. 
 The surrounding country, traversed by deep ravines, 
 is undulating, and occupied by extensive plantations 
 and beautiful Avoodlands. Here culminated in utter 
 failure the slaveholders' efforts to dismember and over- 
 throw the free American Union, for the purpose of 
 rearing upon its ruins a slaveholding aristocracy. Here 
 ended the greatest war known to the annals of time. 
 Here rebellion, secession, and slavery found a common 
 grave, "/Sec semper tyrcmnis .'" 
 
CHAPTER FIFTH. 
 
 RETUKN HOME CONCLUSION. 
 
 At noon Saturday, April fifteenth, we coramenccd 
 our return. On account of the mud and rain, our 
 march of fifteen miles that half-day was as hard as any 
 previous day's performance, and the regiment was glad 
 to halt for the night, which they did after dark. The 
 next day at one o'clock p.m., found us rendezvoused 
 on the highest hill in the vicinity of that lovely village 
 called Farmville. Here Colonel Burr rejoined the 
 regiment, and resumed command. As we stopped, 
 the dispatch announcing the assassination of President 
 Lincoln was received, producing in all hearts the pro- 
 foundest sorrow for the loss of so beloved and great a 
 man, and rage at the perjDCtrators of the hop'id 
 crime. 
 
 Proceeding at seven in the morning, we followed 
 the Southside Railroad to five miles west of Burks- 
 ville, where we staid, gaining rest and refreshments, 
 until early on the twentieth. Then, the regiment in 
 fine spirits took up its line of march toward Peters- 
 burgh, and on the twenty-second, commenced guard- 
 ing the railroad two miles east of Ford's Station, the 
 regimental headquarters being located at the cite of 
 the former mansion of the Osborn plantation, so called 
 
110 189TH NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 from the name of its owner, who lived in Petersburgh. 
 The fine edifice, which was his dwelling, had been 
 burned a few months previous, and only the weaving- 
 house, negro-quarters, etc., remained. The railroad 
 guards were detailed after the manner of pickets, com- 
 panies A, D, and F located separate from the rest of 
 the regiment toward Petersburgh. On the twenty- 
 fifth, obedient to a general order, the One Hundred 
 and Eighty-Ninth was paraded at noon, to pay our fu- 
 neral honors to the memory of our beloved martyred 
 President. By changes and pains in locating and con- 
 structing our camp, we had fairly commenced to enjoy 
 some of the luxuries of military life once^nore, when 
 the contraction of the lines of the Fifth Corps was or- 
 dered, it having by mistake assumed guardianship of 
 ten miles too much of the railroad toward Petersburgh. 
 Accordingly, on the twenty-seventh, taking up our fine 
 of march westward, on the raih-oad we passed our 
 brigade headquarters at Ford's Station, and after some 
 oscillation, fixed our tents on the plantation of Mr. 
 Sydnorj who, while the regiment was doing its guaid 
 duties, was beginning to " make a crop " on four hun- 
 dred acres of his long-neglected land, two hundred 
 acres being so fenceless and overthrown by military 
 occupation, that its recovery was looked upon as hope- 
 less till another year. 
 
 The reading, at dress parade, on the evening of the 
 twenty-eighth, of the ofiicial news of Johnston's surren- 
 der on Grant's terms, caused the Old Dominion to re- 
 sound again with loyal acclamations. 
 
 In a few days, the summons of the Fifth Corps to 
 Washington for discharge, began to be predicted in 
 camp rumors, and on the second day of May, the web 
 
189TH NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. Ill 
 
 come order arrivecl, and instantly, with irrepressible 
 joy, the troops pulled down their tents, and setting 
 out on the long overland route to the national capital, 
 were " homeward bound," Accustomed to fatiguing 
 marches, this one we performed with double courage, 
 for the dear attractions of home drew on our hearts, 
 and its bright light shone upon our spirits. 
 
 Passing through charred and conquered Peters- 
 burgh on the third, and proud, humbled Richmond on 
 the sixth, we were glad when, on the thirteenth, we 
 pitched our tents on Arlington Heights, four miles 
 from the Capitol, whose triumphant dome was visible 
 from near by our camp. Among all the incidents 
 of this homeward journey, none will linger longer in 
 our memories than those of one rainy night, when, 
 having marched till after- dark, we turned aside into 
 the woods, and obedient to command^ embraced that 
 privilege the soldier sometimes enjoys, of maA;i;?<7 him- 
 self as comfortable as possible. This we did, by 
 standing beside trees, tireless and supperless, amid tlie 
 torrents of rain, which came rushing down. At Man- 
 chester, some whom the surgeons deemed unable to 
 travel further, went aboard a steamer, to finish " the 
 march " by water, and rejoined their regiment after it 
 had rendezvoused at Arlington. 
 
 On the morning of the day appointed for the Grand 
 Review, with our guns and equipage as bright as 
 bright could be, and dressed in our neatest military 
 suit, our corps took its part in that magnificent pageant 
 of our nation's unparalleled glory of military greatness 
 and power, the One Hundred and Eighty-Xinth pass- 
 ing the reviewing stand, occupied by the President, 
 Lieutenant-i^eneral, et alii, at a quarter past two o'clock 
 
112 ^ 189TH NEW-YORK VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 P.M. Returning to our bivouac, the officers busied 
 themselves preparing their reports, ready for muster- 
 out. 
 
 On the twenty-ninth. Governor Fenton reviewed all 
 the New- York troops of our corps. Evidently it was 
 a superb sight. But we returned to our quarters, 
 feeling that however important and entertaining such 
 pageant military exhibitions may be to others, they are 
 great bores to the soldiers. That afternoon the proper 
 officer appeared in our camp, and mustered us out. 
 
 The following morning, the detailed men from de- 
 tached duty, and convalescents from hospitals, having 
 returned to the regiment, we marched to the head- 
 quarters of our beloved Brigadier-General to pay to 
 him our parting respects. General Gregory, in tears, 
 bade us good-by, with the foUowiqg memorable words : 
 
 " Officers and men of the One Hundred and 
 Eighty-Ninth : You are about to go again to your 
 homes. Thanks be to God, our nation is saved ! You 
 can go to your homes with the proud consciousness 
 that you have faithfully contributed, by your honorable 
 and arduous services, to this great salvation. Officers, 
 you have ever been kind and obedient in the discharge 
 of your duties. Men, you have been faithful soldiers. 
 Your lives have been signally preserved in the shock 
 of battles and privations of the service. The bonds by 
 which you are united to my heart are inseverable. I 
 shall always cherish your memories with the tenderest 
 affection and proudest satisfaction. But your time will 
 not allow of a speech from me. May the God of our 
 cause, who has guided us through this -mighty strug- 
 gle, who has given the nation such com^^lete and glo- 
 rious victory, ever grant you his blessings and protec- 
 
1S9TH NEW-YOKK VOLUNTEERS. 113 
 
 tion. I wish you a successful journey home, and may 
 prosperity and happiness always there attend you !" 
 
 Few eyes w^ere dry at the conclusion of this speech, 
 and with three cordial cheers for our noble General, 
 we made our w^ay in the dust and heat to the depot at 
 the city. Loading upon the cars similar to those on 
 wiiich we took passage down to the war, we reached 
 Baltimore in the night, and after a weary waiting in 
 the streets of that blood-redeemed city, changed cars 
 for Elmira. From the beginning to the end of this 
 journey, we w^ere greeted by the most gratifying 
 cheers and w^elcomes from the people as we passed by. 
 When within four miles of Elmira, a number of wheels 
 and axles of the cars broke and escaped from beneath 
 the train, and we came very near being precipitated 
 down the banks of the high grade whereon the acci- 
 dent occurred. But the same Providence to whom w^e 
 attribute the preservation of our lives when often be- 
 fore as a regiment conspicuously imperiled, saved us 
 again. Three only, by this railroad accident, Avere 
 wounded. Half of the command remaining on the 
 cars which had kept the track, rode onward to the 
 city, and the rest marched on foot. After a tedious 
 w^aiting in the barracks there, for payment and dis- 
 charge, the time of our disbandment at length arrived. 
 On the tenth of June, our existence as a regimental 
 organization terminated, and with heart-felt adieus and 
 benedictions mutually interchanged among those who 
 had been companions in arms during our term of service 
 of exceeding efficiency, we separated, each going home 
 to enjoy as a citizen again, those rights to life, liberty, 
 and the pursuit of happiness, which his valor had aid- 
 ed to secure for himself and for mankind. 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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