£^75 E 475 ^^^ ^RE PORT ^_^___^ OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Appointed by Chapter 466 of the Laws of 1886, TO DesiffQate and Mark the Positions of the New Yorii Troops in the Battle of Gettysburg, A BILL ACCOMPANYING THE REPORT. n TRANSMITTED TO TKE LEGISLATUivE FEBRUARY 17TH, 1887, ALBANY; THE ARGUS CCivlPANY, PRINTERS, 1887. Me-. State of New York. No. 65. IN ASSKNIBLY, February 25, 1887. To the Legislature : The undersigned Commissioners appointed under chapter 466 of the Laws of 1886, to designate and mark the positions occupied by New York troops on the battlefield of Gettys- burg, and to make suitable recommendations to the Legisla- ture for the erection of monuments commemorating the services of New York regiments and batteries in that battle, have the honor to report : That in the discharge of their duties the Commission have held sundry meetings at Gettysburg, Albany and New York, to which they invited delegations representing the survivors of eighty-seven New York regiments and batteries that fought at Gettysburg, and, after hearing all parties inter- ested, the Commissioners have determined and marked all the positions where monuments should be placed. These positions are shown on the map accompanyirg this report, prepared, after a careful survey of the battlefield, by Gen. Charles K Graham, civil eijgineer, chosen for that duty by the Commissioners, and appointed as the engineer of the Board at their first session in Gettysburg, held in July last. So far as the Commissioners are informed, this survey of the battlefield is the most comprehensive and accurate of any that has been made, and is of itself a valuable contribution to the historical records of the battle. The Commissioners have paid from the small appropriation available to them, only the actual expenses incurred by the engineer in the performance of his duties ; the sum appro- priated by the Legislature, $5,000, being insufficient to provide for any compensation to the engineer or to the Com- missioners, wlio have only drawn upon tlie fund for tlieir necessary traveling expenses. Upon the organization of the Board of Commissioners in June last, Major- General Daniel E. Sickles was chosen chair- man of the Board, Major George W. Cooney was appointed secretary, receiving $100 a month for his services, in attend- ing daily at the office of the Commissioners in New York, and for conducting the large correspondence of the Commission and keeping its records. Of the sum of $5,000 appropriated by chapter 466 of the Laws of 188G to pay the disbursements of the Board in the performance of their duties, $2,893.82 have been expended, leaving in the treasury $2,106.18 still available for the purposes of the act. The Commissioners have the honor to transmit herewith the draft of a bill embracing such enactments and appropria- tions as will, in their judgment, be necessary to provide for the erection of suitable monuments to commemorate the services and sacrifices of the New York troops at Gettysburg, and this bill is respectfully submitted for the consideration of the Legislature. It will be observed that it is proposed (section 1), to make an appropriation of $1,500 for each regiment and battery of New York troops engaged in the battle, to be expended under the supervision of the Commissioners in the erection ^of the appropriate monuments with suitable inscriptions, marking the respective positions of our troops during the conflict. In this recommendation the Commissioners have flollowed the example of all the States which have made similar appropriations ; they have all made provisions for separate monuments, designating the position of each regiment and battery. There are now erected on the battlefield ninety regimental and battery monuments. Of this number, Massachusetts has thirty, including all her regiments and batteries that took part in the battle ; Pennsylvania, twenty-eight : Connecticut, four ; New Hampshire, three ; Rhode Island, four : Indiana, six ; Delaware, three ; whilst the State of New York, which had eighty-seven regiments and batteries in the battle, is only represented by two regimental monuments, both of which were paid for by the survivors of the respective bat- tallions, to wit, The One Hundred and Twenty-fourth New York, of Orange county, known as the "Orange Blossoms," and belonging to the Third Army Corps ; and the One Hundred and Fifty- seventh Regiment, of Madison and Cortland counties, and belonging to the Eleventh Corps. Ohio has appropriated $1,500 each for all of her regiments engaged at Gettysburg, and her monuments will be dedicated this year. All of the States above named, except New York, have appropriated from $500 to $1,500 for each command. The cost of the ninety monuments so far erected ranges from $4,000, expended for the monuments built for the First Massachusetts, and for the One Hundred and Twenty -fourth New York, respectively, down to $750, which is the amount appropriated by Delaware for each of her regiments and batteries. In nearly every instance, considerable additions have been made by subscriptions raised among the survivors, to the sum appropriated by the Legislatures ; and, as we have already mentioned, the only two monuments marking the positions of New York regiments, were wholly paid for by the survivors themselves, in the absence of any appropriation from our State. Several States, including New York, have made appropria- tions for the purchase of land on which their monuments are placed, and for laying out avenues leading to them. For these purposes Pennsylvania has given $16,000 ; New York, $10,000 ; New Jersey, $3,000 ; Vermont, $2,500 ; Massachu- setts, $5,000; Rhode Island, $1,000 and New Hampshire, $1,000. The commissioners respectfully recommend a further appropriation for the purchase of necessary lands for sites and avenues leading to them, which, in their judgment, should not be less than $10,000, to be expended under the direction of the Commissioners, with the approval of the Comptroller. If it be the pleasure of the Legislature that the Commis- sioners shall proceed in the execution of the duties assigned to them in the proposed bill, an appropriation not less than the amount provided for in section seven, to wit, $1(),00(J, will be necessary to pay the engineer and his assistants and to meet other proper expenditures. It is unnecessary for the undersigned to undertake any- thing like a discussion of tlie reasons which commend liberal appropriations to provide suitable monuments commemorat- ing the heroic condu(;t of our troops at Gettysburg. By common consent this famous battlefield has been chosen to signalize the patriotism, valor and fortitude of the defenders of the Union in the great civil war of 1861-1865. It was a decisive victory, won at a moment when defeat might have been ruinous to our cause. The assaults upon our lines at Gettysburg were made by the most powerful army ever encountered by the Union forces ; the advance of the army of General Lee to the Susquehanna, marked the extreme limit reached by the invading forces of the South ; the victory of Gettysburg, contemporaneous with the capture of Vicksburg, proved to the European powers the supremacy of the North, and deprived our enemies of all hope of foreign interference in their behalf ; to the Union forces in this decisive conflict the State of New York contributed more men than any other State, and our losses in killed and wounded were greater than any of our sister Commonwealths. It is surely most fitting that upon a battlefield so memorable in American annals and in which the volunteer soldiers of our State bore so distinguished a part. New York should be represented by monuments not inferior in impressive ness to those erected by any other State. The surviving volunteer soldiers of New York, mindful of the large expenditures necessary in recent years for the com- pletion of our Capitol at Albany, have deferred making any application to the Legislature for such an aj)propriation as is now asked for, because they felt unwilling to increase the burdens of taxation for purposes not demanded by any exigency. But now when our State is becoming conspicuous in comparison with Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware, for what it has not done in recognizing its grateful apprecia- tion of the services of its soldiers, it is believed that the moment is opportune for the consideration of the bill submitted by the Commissioners. Besides the regimental memorials marking the positions where the New York troops fought, it is respectfully suggested that in honor of more than 800 nameless dead, who fell in the ranks of the New York troops at Gettysburg, and who are buried on the field, that a conspicuous monument should be erected on the battlefield by the State of New York. Such a monument is provided for in section six of the bill t (9EK:rmCATE "'J p^.nl.i bH Ch„pKr4bl3. I.,„,.( m Ih'ts map. art. \Uosi.J;tM or cai^p'iti i^^^U.'^iicQ §\ci^ Clr«p., .,...„p«- upon u.f.'cl. monuminU s^^ul> t\ tri Explanation ShDiumn pD5itiDn5 occupied during the Battles Df July P'2'and 3°I863. NbvYorkRegimenmdBatteries. >.. i%.ou.,.Sh 13 LIST OF NEW YORK OFFICERS COMMANDING CORPS, DIVISIONS, BRIGADES, REGIMENTS AND BATTERIES, Killed and Wounded at Gettyslnirg, Pa., July 1, 2 and 3, 1863. First Corps. Killed. Major Andrew J. Grover, commanding Seventy-sixth New York, Wounded. Col. Adrian R. Root, commanding Ninety-fourth New York. Second Corps. Killed. Brig.-Gen. Samuel K. Zook, commanding Third Brigade, First Division. Col. James Huston, commanding Eighty-second New York. Lieut.-Col. Max A. Thoman, commanding Fifty-ninth New York. Col. George L. Willard, One Hundred and Twenty -fifth New York Yolunteers, commanding Tiiird Brigade, Third Division. Col. Eliakim Sherrill, One Hundred and Twenty-sixth New York Yolunteers, commanding Third Brigade, Third Division. Capt. James McK. Rorty, commanding Battery B, First New York Light Artillery. ' Wounded. Brig.-Gen. Alexander S. Webb, commanding Second Brigade, Second Division. Lieut.-Col. Charles G. Freudenbergh, commanding Fifty-second New York Yolunteers. Col. O. H. Morris, commanding Sixty-sixth New York Yolunteers. Lieut.-Col. John S. Hammell, commanding Sixty-sixth New York State Yolunteers. Col. C. D. McDougall, One Hundred and Eleventh New York Yolunteers, commanding Third Brigade, Third Division. Lieut.-Col. Richard C. Bentley, commanding Sixty-third New York. Capt. Richard Maroney, commanding Sixty-ninth New York Yolunteers. 14 Third Corps. Killed. Col. A. Van Horn Ellis, commanding One Hundred and Twenty- fourth New York Volunteers. Wounded. Major-Gen. Daniel E. Sickles, Corps Commander. Brig.-Gen. Charles K. Graham, commanding First Brigade, First Division. Lieut.-Col. F. M. Cummins, commanding One Hundred and Twenty-fourth New York Volunteers. Lieut.-Col. C. D. Westbrook, commanding One Hundred and Twentieth New York Volunteers. Lieut.-Col. B. L. Higgins, commanding Eighty-sixth New York Volunteers. Fifth Corps. Killed. Brig.-Gen. Stephen H. Weed, commanding third Brigade, Second Division. Col. Patrick H. O'Rourke, commanding One Hundred and Fortieth New York. Eleventh Corps. Killed. Lieut. Bayard Wilkeson, commanding Battery G, Fourth United States Artillery. Wounded. , Brig.-Gen. F. C. Barlow, commanding First Division. Col. John T. Lockman, commanding One Hundred and Nine- teenth New York Volunteers. Twelfth Corps. Woitnded. 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