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MY MEMOIRS

OF THE

Military History of the
State of New York

DURING THE

WAR FOR THE UNION, J86J-65.

BY
COLONEL SILAS W. BURT,
Former Assistant Inspector General, National Guard, State of New York.

Edited by the STATE HISTORIAN and Issued as War of the
Rebellion Series — Bulletin, No. I.

ALBANY!
J. B. LYON COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS.
J902.

PREFACE.

WHILE serving in the military establishment of the State
of New York during the war of 1861-65 and later —
in all about eight years — I kept occasional notes of such events
and transactions as I had any connection or acquaintance with,
and copies of printed reports and other literature pertaining to
military matters. I had then no formulated purpose as to the
future' use for these data.
After the war ended I frequently urged upon Governor Morgan
the preparation by some competent literary man of an account of
the remarkable military accomplishment by the State of New York,
during his second administration in 1861-62; saying that, both from
a public and a personal view, he could well afford to pay liberally
for such a permanent record. I think he did engage Dr. Cornelius
R. Agnew of this city, who had been a member o£ his staff in
1859-60, to prepare such an account, but for some reason it was
never done, nor was I ever called upon for my data, which I had
placed at the Governor's disposal.
Unfortunately the greater part of my diaries, memoranda and
other papers were lost in the fire that destroyed the Morrill Storage
Warehouse in this city in October, 1881. This loss and the death
of Governor Morgan in the spring of 1883 for a while put the
matter out of my mind. Three years later, having collected some
material but with a larger dependence on my memory, I began to
write my memoirs of the relation of the State to the whole war
land had concluded the part covered by Governor Morgan's admin-

4 Annual Report of the State Historian.
istration when other more urgent matters; diverted my attention
and the subsequent misplacement of the manuscript, etc., wholly
arrested my completion of the work. The recent recovery of the
manuscript and its acceptance by Mr. Hastings, State Historian,
for incorporation in his annual report will preserve some aspects of
an important part of the history of our State. In revising it now
I have added a few notes and appendices regarding matters of inter
est that have recently occurred to me. These memoirs make no
pretention to literary merit, and the desultory manner in which they
were prepared has bred some repetitions that seemed necessary to
illustrate topics in hand, but I trust they may furnish some material
to the future historian who shall tell in fullness and in fitting phrase
the glorious story of how the Empire State met a great crisis in the
fate of the Nation.
As in most of the events and transactions mentioned I had a part,
their recital may have a personal or even egotistical flavor, but this
I assume is so natural or incidental to such memoirs as not to require
apology. I cannot determine whether I shall be able to continue the
memoirs to the close of the war. The later period is not so impor
tant or interesting, except as to the draft riots of July, 1863, and to
Ihe extraordinary and excessive expenditures of bounties to fill
quotas of localities or furnish substitutes for drafted men. Very
few regimental or other organizations were begun or completed
during this later period and most of the enlistments were for the
recruitment of regiments in the field.
It is a somewhat melancholy thought that I am the sole survivor
of those who served on Governor Morgan's " War " Staff; I am
however becoming used to finding myself " the last leaf ", that
Holmes depicts, on quite a grove of trees.
S. W. B.
New York City, April 25, 1902.

INTRODUCTORY.

AS these memoirs are necessarily personal to some extent, I
will give a very brief account of how, without any previous
military training or connection, I became absorbed in that branch
of the New York State service for nearly eight years and during
the most critical period of our national history.
The project of a trans-continental railroad, first actively pressed
by a Mr. Whitney, had in 1858-9 gained such strength in Congress
as to make its early prosecution seem imminent. As a consequence,
and at the instance of Mr. Horace Greeley, I spent a large portion
of the year i860 in that part of the Rocky Mountain region then
popularly known as " Pike's Peak ", though extending a hundred
miles north of it. It was my idea that I could so acquaint myself
with the larger topographical features of that region, which seemed
to present the most formidable obstacle to the railway, as to make
my engagement as locating engineer probable, if not indispensable,
when the work began. Mr. Greeley in October wrote me that the
coming Presidential election and the conditions of popular feeling.
North and South, would indefinitely postpone the railroad scheme.
We therefore returned to my father's house in Kinderhook, N. Y.,
about January i, 1861. I was without employment and very anx
ious to obtain some business engagement, but the threatening
attitude of the Southern States and the consequent business dis-
Iractions and paralysis were insuperable impediments.

6 Annual Report of the State Historian.
On the i6th of February the New York State Legislature had
appropriated the sum of $50,000 for the relief of the people of Kan
sas Territory suffering from the great drought of the previous year
and my father had been selected as the agent to dispense this
bounty. This task he completed in March and was settling his
accounts with Comptroller Denniston at Albany, when, on April
i6th, the law was enacted, appropriating $3,000,000 for the organi
zation and equipment of volunteers to aid in repressing the rebellion.
My father was requested to aid in auditing the accounts for expendi
tures under this act.
In the meantime I remained at Kinderhook, my impatience with
lack of work, being mitigated by some temporary employment and
by that absorbing interest in the great national drama that held
every one's attention more or less. Perceiving that the immediate
field of the contest would be in Virginia, I cast about for a good
map of that State on such a scale as would give a clear idea of mili
tary positions and movements, but could find none in the village.
In the pursuit of my profession as a civil engineer I had collected
many railroad and other maps, and fortunately had a series of the
U. S. Coast Survey reports, containing charts of the Chesapeake
Bay and other Virginia and Maryland waters and of the rivers flow
ing into them. I was thus enabled to construct a map on a scale
of eight miles to the inch, permitting the representation of such
topographical details as were known to me. On one of his visits
home my father insisted on taking this map to Albany and he
showed it to the Inspector General, Marsena R. Patrick, a former
officer of the regular army, who took it to Governor Morgan and
asked permission to appoint me as a clerk in his office, saying that
while I would not be needed for map-making he believed that my
education and experience would be very useful in the work of

War of the Rebellion Series. 7
organizing and equipping troops. The result was my appointment
as a clerk in the Inspector General's office at a salary of one thou
sand dollars a year.
I repaired to Albany to report for duty on Monday, May 27th,
and found the city in great excitement on account of the funeral
services of Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth of the nth N. Y. S. Vol. Infan
try, assassinated at Alexandria, Va., on the previous Friday, and
whose body was then en route to Saratoga County to be interred
there. I was very kindly received by General Patrick and began my
service in the State military department, little thinking that it would
continue for nearly eight years, and was also the beginning of a long
term in the public service extending to this date.
SILAS W. BURT.
April 25, 1887.

No. J.
FIRST LEVY-APRIL \5 TO JUNE 30, J86I.

IN the history of the great rebellion of 1861 no incident has been
more dwelt upon than the absolutely unprepared condition of
the Free States to meet the shock. There had been for many years
premonitions of the great revolt, but successive compromises had
relieved the situation, and the public mind at the North had finally
concluded that despite the outcry there was no wolf across the bor
der. The Federal army was insignificant in numbers and whether
by chance or design, its largest collected force was in Texas and
so early as February i8th was treacherously surrendered to the
rebel forces by General David E. Twiggs, its commanding officer,
and was released only upon a parole that disarmed many loyal offi
cers at a time when they were sorely needed. By evident design
the greater part of the small arms and munitions of war had been
transferred to Southern arsenals before actual hostilities were begun.
Very few of the Free States had an organized militia and where
there was any such organization it was very feeble compared with
the great mass of population. The Adjutant General of the Army
reported on the ist of January, 1861, that the enrolled militia in the
Free States (excepting Iowa and Oregon, from which there were
no returns) comprised 2,197,236 men,* but of this formidable army
on paper, not over one per cent was in any respect efficient for mili
tary purposes. The return from New York was 418,846, but not
* Army Register for 1861, p. 39

10 Annual Report of the State Historian.
more than 15,000 of this number were uniformed and drilled and
this State was in this respect far in advance of any other.
Directly after the war of 1812-15 with Great Britain, the New
York militia was organized upon a very pretentious plan which
contemplated the annual muster and instruction of the whole arms-
bearing population. But gradually as public interest abated, there
crept in exemptions and commutations and such a perfunctory
observance of the law as became farcical and indeed injurious to
the public interests. The military allegiance of the citizens is the
very cornerstone of the republic and in the words of the Federal
Constitution " a well regulated militia " is " necessary to the security
of a free state ". This political canon had been some fifteen years
earlier more positively enunciated in the fortieth article of the first
constitution of the State of New York, where after stating that " it
is the duty of every man who enjoys the protection of society, to be
prepared and willing to defend it ", the constitution " doth ordain,
DETERMINE AND DECLARE, That the militia of this State, at all times
hereafter, as well in peace as in war, shall be armed and disciplined,
and in readiness for service." A long period of peace had naturally
weakened the force of this principle and probably the isolation of
our country from the other great political powers and our tran
scendent increase in population and might will always be accounted
a release from the burdens of military preparation such as rest on
other nations. But in 1861 what was worse than lack of provision
existed in the general contempt for military affairs encouraged by
the ridiculous manner in which the great principle of military service
had been treated. It was bewildering to suddenly find the very
existence of the nation depending upon the derided militia of the
country. In New York there were some fifteen infantry regiments, most of
them comprised in the great cities, that could be immediately called

War of the Rebellion Series. ii
into service with some assurance of their efficiency. Of cavalry or
artillery there was nothing available that was of value. The general
staff had a paper organization and the chiefs of the departments,
known as the " Governor's staff ", occupied positions more orna
mental than useful. Some attention to military affairs was given by
the Adjutant General, Inspector General and the Commissary General
of Ordnance, but the only service rendered by other officers of the
staff was an attendance upon the Governor at all ceremonial occa
sions when their gorgeous uniforms enlivened the general sombre-
ness of male attire in these sad-colored days.
The session of the New York Legislature began on January i,
1861, and from the very first day its proceedings were strongly
colored by the great political events in the South, though no mili
tary legislation was accomplished until four days after the firing of
the first gun at Fort Sumter, when a law was passed providing
for an army of 30,000 men. On April 15th President Lincoln
issued his proclamation calling into service 75,000 militia. This
proclamation was accompanied by a circular letter to Governor
Morgan, requesting him to detach from the militia of the State its
quota of 13,280 officers and men to serve as infantry or riflemen
for a period of three months to be rendezvoused at New York,
Albany and Elmira. On the next day, April i6th, was enacted the
law, subsequently known as Chapter 277, Laws of 1861, authorizing
the enrollment and muster of the 30,000 volunteers " in addition to
the present military organization, and a part of the militia thereof ".
On the i8th Governor Morgan issued a proclamation making a
call for seventeen regiments to serve three months to fill the quota
of the State under the requisition of the Secretary of War of the
15th. The proclamation provided that these regiments should be
organized under the recent law, and by General Orders No. 13 of

12 Annual Report of the State Historian.
same date the details of organization were pubUshed. In fact none
of the regiments so organized was mustered for three months to
fill the quota under the call of April 15th; this was accomplished
by the muster-in of the uniformed militia regiments for that period.
On April 19th the famous Seventh Regiment left New York
city for Washington with a total of 990 men and officers, a marvel
ous example of speedy recruitment. This notable event was suc
ceeded the next evening by a grand mass meeting in Union Square
which presented such a unanimous and fervid demonstration of
patriotism as to permanently fix the attitude of the metropolis dur
ing the contest and to have a great moral effect throughout the
whole North. An outcome of this significant meeting was the
organization of the Union Defense Committee, composed of promi
nent and active citizens and provided with funds from the city treas
ury and private contributions. This patriotic body materially aided
the recruiting and equipment of the militia and volunteer regi
ments sent from New York city before June ist and extinguished
the last hope of the secessionists that they would find substantial
sympathy there.* Besides the Seventh Regiment of militia there
went from New York city the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Twelfth, Sixty-
ninth and Seventy-first Regiments, from Brooklyn the Thirteenth
and Twenty-eighth, from Kingston the Twentieth and from Albany
the Twenty-fifth. All of these regiments left the State during April,
most of themi before the 23d. There is now no doubt but that the
* I find from data kept by me that all the expenditures by this committee
-were made between April 21st and July 31st, 1861, and there were paid from
the City Fund $771,933-10 and from funds contributed by citizens $58,338.63,
or a total of $830,271.73. Of this, $226,589.27 were spent for arms and
accoutrements; $188,204 for account of the militia regiments, and $415,478.46
for account of volunteer regiments. No part of this amount has ever been
refunded by the United States because of defects and informalities in the
accounts.

War of the Rebellion Series. 13
prompt movement of the militia regiments from Massachusetts and
New York prevented the capture of Washington, which, otherwise
almost defenseless, could have been readily taken by the Virginia
rebels. It is useless to speculate as to the possible course of the
war had the capital of the Union been captured at the very outset
of the rebellion or as to the result on foreign countries of such a
disaster. The militia forces of two loyal States prevented such a
disaster and restored to public confidence and respect that long con
temned organization.*
* The promptitude with which the New York militia regiments were for
warded to the relief of Washington was warmly acknowledged by the Presi
dent, as shown by the following letters: War Department,
Washington, April 26, 1861.
To His Excellency E. D. Morgan, Governor of New York:
Dear Sir: I have to repeat the acknowledgments of this Department for
your very prompt and energetic action in sending forward the troops of your
State. Very truly yours,
Simon Cameron,
Secretary of War,
War Department,
Washington, April 29, 1861.
His Excellency E. D. Morgan, Governor of Neixj York:
My Dear Sir; I have yours of the 24th inst. This Department has again
to acknowledge its many obligations to your Excellency for the promptness
and despatch with which you have sent forward your troops for the defence
of the capital. I have to request that you will not send any more to this
point until you are further advised. I have the honor to subscribe myself,
Very truly, Simon Cameron, t
 Secretary of War,
t Simon Cameron was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, March 8,
1799. He learned the printers' trade and at 21 years of age was editor of a
paper in Doylestown and in 1822 was editing a paper in Harrisburg, Pa.
He embarked in the banking business and constructed railways in central
Pennsylvania where he laid the foundation for the great fortune which he
subsequently accumulated. He was elected to the United States Senate in
1845 as a Democrat, but later become identified with the " People's Party "

14 Annual Report of the State Historian.
The act of April i6, 1861, "to authorize the embodying and
equipment of a Volunteer Militia and to provide for the public
defense ", was a very faulty law and I think of doubtful constitu
tionality in devolving upon a board the authority and power to
enroll, muster and discharge from service the troops to be raised.
I believe this power resided solely in the Governor as Commander-
in-Chief, but whether it did or not, the law should have recognized
it in him or conferred it upon him. Instead of this the Governor
was cojoined with the Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State,
Comptroller, Attorney General, State Engineer and Surveyor and
State Treasurer, an awkward, incongruous and irresponsible body.
The attempt to administer military affairs by a council or com
mission has seldom, if ever, been successful. In the present instance
there were from the beginning a lack of harmony and an official
jealousy that interfered with. the satisfactory administration of the
law. The officers comprising the board were Governor Edwin D.
Morgan, Lieutenant-Governor Robert Campbell, Secretary of State
David R. Floyd-Jones, Attorney General Charles G. Myers, State
Engineer Van Rensselaer Richmond and Treasurer PhiHp
Dorsheimer. The Governor's staff as appointed on January ist were Adjutant
General J. Meredith Read, Inspector General Wilham A. Jackson,
Engineer-in-Chief Chester A. Arthur, Judge Advocate General
William Henry Anthon, Surgeon-General S. Oakley Vander Poel,
Quartermaster General Cuyler Van Vechten, Paymaster General
which subsequently consolidated with the Republicans. He was candidate
for President in i860 and Mr. Lincoln recognized his power and ability by
calling him to his Cabinet as Secretary of War. He resigned his position,
however, January n, 1862, and was appointed as Minister to Russia, which
position he held until the following November, when he resigned. In 1865
he was again returned to the United States Senate and returned for the
fourth time in 1873, but resigned in favor of his son, James Donald Cameron.
For forty-five years he was the acknowledged Czar of Pennsylvania politics.
He died June 26, 1889.

War of the Rebellion Series. 15
Thomas B. Van Buren, Aides-de-Camp Edwin D. Morgan, Jr.,
Samuel D. Bradford and Elliott F. Shepard; Military Secretary
John H. Linsly.
Tlie Legislature adjourned on April i6th, the very day that the
bill became a law. The board of State officers formed by the act
was immediately convened, the Governor being made its chairman
and Mr. Linsly its secretary. The Governor's proclamation, already
referred to, was made on the i8th, on which date the General Orders
(No. 13) were issued providing for the immediate organization of
seventeen regiments in four brigades and two divisions to fill the
quota upon the requisition for three months men, but the orders
provided that the force should be enrolled for the term of two years,
unless sooner discharged. The organization of companies and regi
ments was that prescribed as the minimum in the regular army,
except that the rank of second lieutenant was named ensign and
assistant surgeon as surgeon's mate (and so continued to January,
1863). The unit of organization was the company, which might be
accepted when the rolls had been signed bynot less than thirty-two
nor more than seventy-seven persons and then transmitted to the
Adjutant General, who, if the inspection ordered by him was satis
factory, might accept the company and order an election of the
commissioned and non-commissioned officers by the members of
the accepted company. This election was necessary because the
law having necessarily recognized the force as a part of the militia,*
it was subject to the second section of the eleventh article of the
State Constitution, which provided for the election of all company
and field officers and brigadier generals. After the election the
* The U. S. Constitution contemplates the militia as a State institution and
forbids any State " to keep troops in time of peace " without the consent of
Congress. It is manifest that the only military force that can be authorized
by a State is a part of the militia of that State.

i6 Annual Report of the State Historian.
accepted company was ordered to one of the three military depots
and the officers of any six or more companies, not exceeding ten,
assembled at any depot, and indicating the choice of the same per
sons as field officers could hold an election for the same, who being
commissioned would be put in command.
The issue of the orders caused a general excitement throughout
the State and recruiting was started in every county by active men
aspiring to become commissioned officers. At the capitol at Albany
there was a constant concourse of interested men from every part
of the State, anxious to encourage or advise, or to procure commis
sions or the acceptance of companies on their own account or on
behalf of friends. The Adjutant General's quarters were enlarged
by adding the adjacent room, used as the Assembly Library, and
a corps of clerks was employed to undertake the new and enlarg
ing affairs of that office. Adjutant General Read was a man of
good Philadelphia parentage who had married an Albany lady of
wealth. He had an excellent education and had been prominent
in local political matters as a leader of the Repubhcan "Wide
awakes " the previous autumn. He would have made a fair officer
in the piping times of peace, but the sudden exigencies of 1861 were
too much for his capacity, mental or physical. His assistant,
Colonel Duncan Campbell, was an indolent man who declined any
part in the new work, addicting himself entirely to the old militia
routine matters. General Read was industrious and zealous, and
had as an official adviser Captain Edmund Schriver,* of Troy, and
* Edmund Schriver was a native of Pennsylvania; graduated from
West Point in the class of 1833 and was assigned to the Second
Artillery. In 1838 he was appointed captain and assistant adjutant-
general. Four years later he was commissioned captain in the Second
Artillery, where he remained until July 31, 1846, when he resigned.
From '47 to '52 he was treasurer of the Saratoga & Washington

War of the Rebellion Series. 17
late captain of the Second Artillery and Assistant Adjutant General,
United States Army, who had resigned. Captain Schriver on May
13th was made an aide-de-camp of the Governor vice Colonel
Edwin D. Morgan, Jr., resigned. Later Major Lorenzo Sitgreaves,*
United States Topographical Engineers, became attached to the
headquarters as an adviser. Some aid was also received from Cap
tain Frank Wheaton, First U. S. Cavalry, on duty at Albany as
recruiting officer.f
Railroad Company, now a part of the Delaware & Hudson system, and from
'47 to '61 he was treasurer of the Saratoga & Schenectady Railroad Com
pany and of the Rensselaer & Saratoga. He was president of the Rensselaer
& Saratoga Railroad Company from '51 to '61. At the outbreak of the war
he was appointed by Governor Morgan as an aide-de-camp with the rank of
colonel. May 14, 1861, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the
Eleventh United States infantry and a year later was transferred to the staff
with the rank of colonel. March 13, 1863, he was commissioned inspector-
general and participated in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg,
being deputized by General Meade to carry to the War Department thirty-
one battle flags and other trophies from that field. He was brevetted as
brigadier-general and major-general of the United States army for merito
rious and distinguished services. He was retired January 4, 1881, and died in
Washington, D. C, February 10, 1899.
?Lorenzo Sitgreaves was a native of Pennsylvania. He graduated from
West Point in the class of 1832, and served several years in the First artil
lery; he was out of the service two years; reappointed second lieutenant of
topographical engineers in 1838, served through the Mexican War with dis
tinguished credit; was mustering officer at Albany at the outbreak of hos
tilities, but was transferred to the west, where he remained until July 10, 1866,
when he was retired with the rank of lieutenant-colonel of engineers. Died
May 14, 1888, at Washington, D. C, aged 78 years.
t Captain Wheaton was the son-in-law of Col. Samuel Cooper, Adjutant-
General of the U. S. Army, who on the outbreak of hostilities resigned that
position to accept the similar one in the Confederate army. Col. Cooper was
the son-in-law of the Confederate agent, ex-U. S. Senator Mason (Virginia),
who, with his associate, ex-U. S. Senator Slidell (Louisiana), being on his
way to England on the British passenger steamer, the Trent, was forcibly
taken from it by Capt. Wilkes, commanding the U. S. steamer San Jacinto,
and conveyed to Boston. The disavowal of this act by our government pre
vented the declaration of war by England.
Captain Wheaton was born in Providence, R. I., May 8, 1833. He was
educated as a civil engineer and was occupied in California and in the Mexi-
2

i8 Annual Report of the State Histori.\n.
The three depots were put under command of brigadier generals
of the militia: General Charies Yates at New York, General John F.
Rathbone at Albany and General Robert B. Van Valkenburgh at
Elmira.* These officers were provided with ample staffs for all pur
poses of administration. The headquarters of the Quartermaster
General were at Albany and his department was represented at
New York by General Chester A. Arthur, Engineer-in-Chief, and at
Elmira by Captain Charles C. B. Walker. There being no com
missary officers in the militia organization in those days, the com
missariat was administered by the Quartermaster General's
department. In every part of the State there was an excitement and bustle such
as never had been known. Personal ambition and local pride and
rivalry added their stimulus to the painfully vague promptings of
patriotism. For the first time in half a century this sentiment was
strongly aroused; we had been proud of our country's attractions,
wealth and progress and aggressively sensitive to all criticism of
our resources, government, society, manners, etc.; but safe from
foreign assault and in the conceit of our omnipotence and immuta
bility, our love of country had only a superficial expression and we
knew neither its depth nor strength. There was much of pathos
in the almost impotent rage of this passion when it was suddenly
can boundary service from 1850 until he was appointed first lieutenant of
the United States Cavalry, March 3, 1855. In July, 1861, he was commis
sioned lieutenant-colonel of the Second Rhode Island Volunteers, and as
such participated in all the early engagements of the Army of the Potomac,
until his promotion to the command of a division of the Sixth corps, and as
such saw much active service in the Shenandoah Valley. For gallant and
meritorious services at the Opequon, Fishers Hill and Middletown, Va., he
received several brevets, including that of major-general. In July, 1866 he
was presented with a sword by his native State for gallant services in the
battle of the Wilderness, Cedar Creek and Petersburg. He was retired the Sth
of May, 1897, as major-general of the United States Army.
*See Appendix B.

War of the Rebellion Series. 19
aroused by the assault upon Fort Sumter; the reverberations of
those guns sent a tremor to every true heart in the North and crys
tallized there the diluted and solvent sentiment of patriotism. Men,
women and children with feverish ardor sought some means of
expressing this newly roused passion which for a while over
whelmed all other feelings and interests. The starry flag of the
Union was everywhere displayed and within a week or two every
yard of bunting- of appropriate hues in the country was exhausted.
The old familiar airs, " Yankee Doodle ", " Hail Columbia ", etc.,
had a new and thrilling significance that brought tears to the eye
and tremors to the voice. But all this enthusiasm and exaltation
lacked the depth, the sincerity and tenacity that defeat, deferred
hope, suffering, death and affiiction subsequently breathed into it.
The first ebullitions of patriotic fervor were somewhat frothy, and
as will be hereafter noted it affected the character of the first levies
of troops from this State.
The board of State officers advertised for proposals to furnish
uniforms and equipments which were to accord with those pre
scribed by the State regulations for the militia. It consisted of a
jacket of dark army-blue cloth, cut to flow from the waist and to
fall four inches below the belt; trousers of light army-blue cloth;
overcoat of same, patterned after that of the United States Infantry;
a fatigue cap of dark blue cloth, with a waterproof cover having a
cape attached; two flannel shirts; two pair of flannel drawers; two
pair of woolen socks, one pair of stout cowhide pegged shoes and
one double Mackinac blanket.
The first opportunity that the women found for a practical dis
play of their patriotic ardor was in making a gratuitous addition
to this uniform in the shape of a white linen cap-cover with large
cape attached falling over the shoulders. Such a headgear had

20 Annual Report of the St.\te Historian.
been used by the English troops in India and was called a " Have
lock " after that celebrated general. It was thought our boys would
need them under the fervid rays of the Southern sun, and sewing
societies were organized that soon produced an ample supply, but
I do not think they were much used by our troops. The women
soon found an occupation more necessary, if less pleasant, in the
preparation of lint and bandages for use in field and hospital.
The sudden demands by both general and state governments for
military supplies soon exhausted the stocks on hand and much dif
ficulty was met in procuring uniforms and blankets. Messrs.
Brooks Brothers of New York city made a contract to furnish
12,000 sets of uniforms, consisting of jacket, trousers and overcoat,
at $19.50 per uniform. In filling this contract and finding the sup
ply of army kerseys exhausted, they substituted other materials
which proved in active service to be so inferior that great com
plaints were made and much scandal arose. It was at this time that
we began to apprehend the meaning of the word " shoddy " which
had recently come in vogue. It appeared that the 7,300 poor uni
forms had been made of gray satinet of poor quality and the gar
ments had been shabbily trimmed and sewn. The Military Board
wrestled with this matter for some time and made formal inquiries
that disclosed great indifference on the part of the contractors. It
was further shown that four citizens of New York, of high character
for integrity, who were selected by General Arthur to inspect these
uniforms, namely, Wilson G. Hunt, George Opdyke, Charles Buck
ingham and John Gray, had given certificates of inspection after
a most cursory and inadequate examination. The result was that
Brooks Brothers furnished 2,350 additional uniforms to make good
their deficiencies. The contracts made by the Military Board for
army supplies gave cause for some scandals regarding the State

War of the Rebellion Series. 21
Treasurer, Dorsheimer, and Attorney General, Myers. Amid the
mass of rumors and objurgations regarding the matter I never saw
any reason to doubt the honesty of these officers. The desire to
push the troops forward, the dearth of suitable materials and the
general inexperience of all concerned would account for many
defects without recourse to impugning personal motives. Never
theless these stories seriously injured the reputation of the officers
named. There was great difficulty also in obtaining good blankets, and
some of the specimens submitted were ridiculous mixtures of the
coarsest wool, shoddy, hemp and cotton — I recall some that were
actually dangerous as a source of slivers in handling. I brought to
Albany as a sample a pair of five-pound blankets used by my wife
and self on " the Plains " the previous year, but the contractors said
they were unapproachable in quaHty in the market.
There was not much trouble in obtaining the other clothing, or
the leather accoutrements, and camp equipage, but the question
cf proper arms was a very troublesome one. Those that the United
States had gradually accumulated in its arsenals had been slyly
transported to the Southern States by the late Secretary of War,
John B. Floyd, an ardent secessionist. The output of our armories,
public and private, was then comparatively small — indeed one of the
former at Harpers Ferry, Va., was dismantled in June, having been
in the hands of the rebels since April. It was evident that recourse
to the European arsenals would become necessary, and agents were
sent thither by the general and state governments to purchase
muskets, and speculators also repaired thither to control if possible
these needful weapons and " corner the market ". It was not a
very creditable enterprise — this trading upon the necessities of an
imperilled fatherland — but the man who has the money-making

22 Annual Report of the State Historian.
instinct generally slakes his atiri sacra fames without scruples. All
through the war there was no quality that exceeded in intensity the
avidity of the military contractor, whether dealing in materials or
men. Some of these private transactions in arms resulted in great
public scandals, notably one connected with supplies to troops in
Missouri in 1861, and they certainly were a boon to foreign nations
in clearing their arsenals of antiquated and condemned weapons.
New York escaped these scandals and bad bargains ; so early as the
24th of April an arrangement was made to send Mr. Jacob R. Schuy
ler of the firm of Schuyler, Hartley & Graham (of New York) to
Europe to purchase 25,000 stands of arms. Governor Morgan wrote
at the same time to Lord Palmerston, then the British premier, ask
ing him under the existing conditions of affairs in this country to
sanction the purchases Mr. Schuyler was authorized to make. The.
refreshing simplicity of this letter is a notable illustration, of our
ignorance and anxiety in those first days of warfare. Lord Palmer
ston doubtless consigned the letter to the wastebasket and conceived
Governor Morgan's avoidance of our minister at the court of St.
James as an evidence that the principle of " State rights " was quite
as orthodox in the Northern as in the Southern States. Under this
arrangement Mr. Schuyler purchased for the State nineteen thou
sand Enfield muskets which were issued to the two years regiments.
About the same date of the letter to Lord Palmerston an applica
tion was made to Governor General Head of Canada for leave to
purchase Minie rifles there, who answered that he was prohibited
by law from allowing arms and accoutrements to be taken out of
that Province.
One of the minor incidents of this early period was the excite
ment at Troy over the discovery that a man, named F. W. Par-
menter, in that city was making a bullet machine upon the improved

War of the Rebellion Series. 23
ordnance patterns used at the United States Arsenal at Watervliet,
N. Y., where Parmenter had been previously employed. Upon the
rumor that he was a " traitor " and was making the machine for
the use of the rebels, a committee of citizens took possession of it
and the matter was brought before the Governor and his associates.
After much investigation it was concluded that Parmenter was inno
cent of treason and his machine was purchasecj by the State for
$1,700 and subsequently offered to the United States. I cannot
now recall its ultimate disposition.
Although it was intended that the thirty-eight regiments raised
under the State law should all be organized as infantry, some
arrangements were made under the advice and direction of Major
Richard Delafield, United States Engineers, to procure for the State
some rifled Parrott field pieces, and sixteen such were finally received
and I befieve are, still in the State arsenals, having never been in
service. There were some ambitious young men who desired
authority to raise cavalry regiments, but this was refused.
The recruiting throughout the State was very active, and so soon
as the proper number were gathered at any point, being not less
than thirty-two nor more than seventy-seven persons, they were
inspected by order of the Adjutant General, usually by some militia
officers, under whose supervision was held an election of the com
pany officers, commissioned and non-commissioned, and with rolls
and elections duly certified, the company was given transportation
to the nearest of the three general depots. In the enthusiastic feel
ing of the day, the Hudson River Railroad proposed to carry all
the State troops free and other roads proposed a considerable abate-
' ment from' the usual fares. Later this ardor was supplanted by
strictly business views, but under the orders of the War Depart
ment a maximum rate of two cents per recruit per mile was fixed.
As will be hereafter shown, this rate was reduced in one instance.

24 Annual Report of the State Historian.
Upon arrival at the depots, these companies were sent to the
respective barracks; at Albany these consisted of a large brick build
ing in the southwestern suburbs of the city, originally built for an
industrial school, and to which were added sundry wooden struc
tures. The old city soon assumed the aspect of a garrisoned town;
companies were arriving by trains or boat daily and proceeding in
ordinary garb and unarmed but preceded by drum and fife, they
passed to the front of the Capitol, and being there reviewed by the
Adjutant General or some member of the Military Board, marched
thence to the barracks. These finally proved to be inadequate, and
my first official duty on May 28th was to select a camp for two
regiments; after a survey to the north of the city, where nothing
suitable was found, a choice was made of a plot on the land of a Mr.
William E. Haswell, three miles south of the city,* and under the
direction of General Patrick, assisted by the diagram in the United
States Army Regulations, I succeeded in laying out the camp in
excellent shape, being aided by my experience as engineer. The
Sixteenth and Twenty-eighth Regiments were camped here for a
short period and were the only ones at Albany ever under canvas.
But it did not need tents to remind us of the great strife before us;
the usually quiet streets were enlivened by soldiers on leave and
officers, bright in fresh uniforms and bearing themselves with the
air of heroes. A constant throng of visitors poured in and out of
the Capitol intent upon every shade of interest, personal or public.
Governor Morgan was then in his prime; a man of great bodily
vigor, a sound judgment, of large business experience and also in
public administration, being then in his third year as Governor. At'
this period he was hampered by the act that conferred joint powers
in raising troops upon several officers besides himself, and it was
* On what was known as the upper river road in the town of Bethlehem.

War of the Rebellion Series. 25
not until later that he was enabled to display to the best advantage
his rare executive ability. Though Governor Morgan was more
able as a politician than as a statesman, he possessed those business
qualifications that were most useful in his position in those disturbed
and distressful times. Much of interest and value and also much of
twaddle has been written about the " War Governors ", but it is
undeniable that success in the great contest for the Union depended
very largely upon the ability and disposition of the men at the head
of the State governments when that contest began. In the value
of the services thus rendered Governor Morgan was second to none.
On April i8th Major Marsena R. Patrick, President of the State
Agricultural College at Ovid, came to Albany at the Governor's
request and consented to act as general supervisor of disbursements
and auditor of accounts payable from the fund of $3,000,000. (Chap.
277, Laws of 1861.) He was a graduate of the West Point Academy
in 1835 and had served in the Florida and Mexican wars, having
been in the latter contest chief commissary officer on, General Wool's
staff. He was a man of great firmness and integrity of character,
well versed in mihtary affairs and having friendly personal relations
with all the army officers. He had resigned from the army and
been engaged in other business for about ten years. His advice in
regard to the propriety of purchases on military account, form of
vouchers and their proper certification and on all matters concern
ing the equipment of troops was invaluable. My father was assigned
as an expert accountant to assist General Patrick about May ist and
I was engaged as an additional clerk on May 27th. Upon my
father's resignation on August 15th to become a paymaster in the
army, I succeeded as auditor of military accounts, serving as such
until January i, 1869, and thus becoming acquainted with all matters
connected with the raising of troops in the State of New York
during the whole war.

26 Annual Report of the State Historian.
General Wilham A. Jackson having resigned the position of
Inspector General to take the colonelcy of the Eighteenth Regiment
Infantry, New York State Volunteers, Major Patrick was appointed
to the vacancy on May 17th.
Although seventeen regiments would fill the President's requisi
tion on the State, there was no thought of relaxing efforts to raise
all of the thirty-eight authorized by the law. So early as April 22d
Governor Morgan proposed to the " Military Board " that the full
complement of 30,000 troops named in the law be organized at
once, saying " it was no time to delay organization until the enemy
is at our door", and his motion was unanimously carried. It was
however very difficult to induce the Washington Administration to
recognize the excess beyond the call. Secretary Seward's opinion
that the war would be closed within a few months was probably not
shared by the President and the remainder of the Cabinet, still
there was a great reluctance to accept the generous proffers of aid
that came from the people and the States. It is true that these
proffers were to some extent extravagant and that some were im
possible of fulfillment, but the conservatism at Washington went
beyond this. There was from the start a lack of confidence in the
people, a fear that the burdens of the war would be deemed intoler
able.* The discontent and threats of the comparatively few copper
heads at the North were deemed of an alarming importance and
these rebel sympathizers had the satisfaction at least of making the
war cost hundreds of milUons and thousands of lives on both sides
that might have, been spared had the Administration absolutely dis-
* The fact that the Governors were nearer to the people than the President
and his official advisers in their isolation at Washington, will account in part
for the greater zeal of the former in providing adequate military forces since
they knew the prompt patriotic response the people would give to such
demands upon them.

War of the Rebellion Series. 27
'¦ regarded their presumed influence. All through the war the people
: were far ahead of their rulers in this respect, and history exhibits
' no more signal instance of popular response tO' every appeal to
patriotic endeavor ,'than was shown by our people in those four
5 years. The proffer of twenty-one regiments more than had been
; formally called for was not an illusory or irresponsible act ; the regi-
¦ ments were authorized by a State law that provided for their enlist-
¦ ment, equipment and support until ready for muster into the United
States service, yet two weeks of earnest importunity were required
: before any favorable reply from the Secretary of War could be got.
On April 29th Governor Morgan received a telegram from Gov
ernor Dennison of Ohio inviting him to a conference at Cleveland
with Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania, Governor Morton of In
diana and Governor Yates of Illinois, and General McClellan in
command of the Ohio troops. Governor Morgan could not attend.
The result of the conference was unimportant.
All through the month of May recruiting continued quite lively.
On the 1st the enlistment rolls of four Canadian companies were
received, but which could not be accepted. The lack of competent
instructors in drill and tactics led to an application to Secretary
Cameron that the highest class of cadets at West Point be assigned
for such purpose ; but though the regular time of graduation of this
class was anticipated, the members were assigned immediately to
active service in the field.
There now arose another disagreeable and prolonged controversy
with the War Department. The call of the President of May 3d
indicated three years as the term of enlistment, while the State law
had provided for a term of two years, but the Secretary of War on
May 3d accepted the whole force of thirty-eight regiments for two
years. Three days later the Secretary telegraphed that three-years

28 Annual Report of the State Historian.
men were wanted, and on the 15th wrote that it had been his inten
tion on the 3d to accept twenty-eight and not thirty-eight regiments
and thus the whole controversy was reopened. Governor Morgan
again represented the peculiarity of these regiments, raised, equipped
and sustained under a State law and pointed out the great damage
to the Union cause should it become necessary to disband ten regi
ments and have the State lose the moneys expended on them. It
was not until June 12th that a definite order was given by Secretary
Cameron to Colonel Wm. B. Franklin* to muster in these regiments
for two years. This long uncertainty caused many compUcations,
some of which may be mentioned beyond, and one of them was the
popular confusion concerning the respective military jurisdictions of
the general and State governments and the weakening of the author
ity of the latter. Among the regiments organized under the State law
* General William B. Franklin was appointed to West Point from Penn
sylvania and graduated number one in the celebrated class of 1843, which
contained such representative men as General Grant, Father Deshon, Gen
erals William F. Raynolds, Isaac F. Quinby, John J. Peck, Joseph J. Rey
nolds, James A. Hardie, Henry F. Clark, Christopher C. Augur, Joseph H.
Potter, Charles S. Hamilton, Frederick Steele, Rufus Ingalls, Frederick T.
Dent and Roswell S. Ripley. He served through the Mexican war as lieu
tenant of engineers, and as superintending engineer had charge of the exten
sion of the Capitol at Washington, including the new dome, ujjtil .the out
break of the Rebellion, when he was appointed colonel of the-Sas^^^nfan-
try and immediately thereafter brigadier-general of volunteers. May 17, 1861.
He was engaged in the battle of Bull Run and held commands in the vicinity
of Washington and its defenses until the spring of 1862, when he was placed
in command of a division of General McCleUan's Army of the Potomac, and
was promoted to command of the Sixth Army Corps, and as such partici
pated in the combat at West Point May 8, 1862, action at Goldings Farm
June 28th, battles of White Oak Bridge, Savage Station, Malvern Hill. July
4, 1862, he was appointed major-general United States Volunteers, and took
part in the battles of Cramptons Gap, South Mountain, September 14, 1862,
Antietam September 17, 1862, and Fredericksburg, where he commanded the
left grand division consisting of the First and Sixth corps. Immediately
after the battle of Fredericksburg General Franklin was selected as one of
the victims for the failure of that disastrous affair. Burnside claimed that a
number of his generals, who were strong friends of General McClellan had

War of the Rebellion Series. 29
was the Eleventh Infantry, known as the " Fire Zouaves " and com
manded by Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth, who had attracted some
attention the previous year by the exhibition of a Chicago company
drilled by him in what he called the " Zouave " tactics, introducing
some novel acrobatic feats quite interesting to view, but of little real
military value. Our journals had often contained articles concerning
the French Zouave troops, their picturesque uniform, courage and
elan in battle, and insouicance and deviltry amounting almost to
insubordination. Great interest had been taken in CaptainEllsworth's
exhibitions, and in the ignorance of the day he was accounted such
a military genius that he had no trouble in rapidly recruiting a
regiment in New York city, particularly from among that mass of
reckless dare-devils who largely composed the volunteer fire corps of
that day. These were habited in one of the brilliant, picturesque and
not given him proper support, and on this frivolous and whimsical accusa
tion General Franklin was relieved of command and for a time discredited
by the national administration. He was then transferred to the southwest
ern department and took part in the expedition of Sabine Pass; he was in
command of the Nineteenth Army Corps and of the troops in Western Louis
iana from August 16, 1863, to April 29, 1864; participated in the Red River
expedition and the battle of Sabine Cross Roads April 8, 1864, where he
was wounded. From April 29 to December 2, 1864, he was on sick leave,
but when on his way to Washington in order to obtain a command from his
old classmate, General Grant, he was captured by rebel raiders at Gun
Powder Creek between Philadelphia and Baltimore, but escaped the
next night, July 12, 1864. He was president of the board for retired and
disabled officers from December 2, 1864. He was breveted major-general
of the United States Army for gallant and meritorious services in the field
during the rebellion. He resigned from the volunteer service November
10, 1865, and from the regular army March, 1866, having been appointed vice-
president and general agent of the Colts Fire-Arm Manufacturing Company
of Hartford, Conn., a position which he still retains. From January i, 1877,
to December 31, 1878, he was Adjutant-General of the State of Connecticut.
Since July 8, 1880, he has been president of the board of managers of the
National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. He was appointed com
missioner-general of the United States for the International Exposition at
Paris, October 20, 1889, and later became grand officer of the French Legion
of Honor.

30 Annual Report of the State Historian.
preposterous garbs that were so attractive during the first year of
the war. This regiment elected its officers and proceeded to Wash
ington without orders from the Governor as Commander-in-Chief,
and it required much vigilance to restrain further endeavors to
ignore State authority.
The predilection for gaudy and unusual styles of uniform did not
last long and during the second and succeeding years of the war
the plain, serviceable and inconspicuous light and dark-blue kersey
clothing was adopted without demur.
The decision of the government to accept troops for a period not
less than three years bore heavily upon certain of our militia regi
ments that had been delayed in their equipment or in their recruit
ing to full ranks. These regiments expected to be accepted for
three months on the same terms as those mentioned on page 12,
but the rapid organization of volunteer regiments made it inexpe
dient to accept any short term troops. Our Second, Ninth, Four
teenth and Seventy-ninth regiments of militia reached Washington
too late to be included in the call of April 15th and they were mus
tered into service " for the war", which was subsequently construed
as for three years. These regiments were renamed as the Eighty-
second, Eighty-third, Eighty-fourth and Seventy-ninth Regiments
Infantry, New York State Volunteers. Their unexpected extension
of service was very embarrassing to many of the privates and non-
com-missioned officers, who left homes and business with the expec
tation of a three months' absence only. My youngest brother had
enlisted as a private in the Ninth Militia, presumptively for that
short period and was quite disconcerted to find himself bound to
serve " for the war".
The military forces of the United States had been limited to the
regular army and to the militia and so continued up to March, 1863.

War of the Rebellion Series. 31
The volunteers were considered a part of the militia; the two years'
regiments from New York were expressly designated as militia in
the law that authorized their organization. They were thus subject
to the provisions of the United States Constitution " reserving to
the States the appointment of the officers " of the militia. By the
Constitution of the State of New York all company, field and gen
eral officers below the rank of major-general were elective, the
major-generals being appointed by the Governor. In times of
peace this method of selection is not very objectionable; the officers
are usually elected from those having some experience in the ser
vice, and if this is lacking they obtain it after election without any
great risk to the general welfare or to the comfort and safety of
their commands. It is also probable that this democratic method of
selection is essential to the very existence of our organized militia
in the form of uniformed companies and regiments. It was not
however a successful method in these thirty-eight regiments, except
as aiding their rapid recruiting and as not introducing any new
principle at a time when it was deemed of prime importance not to
shock public sentiment in the slightest degree. The officers elected
were not examined as to competency or conditioned in any respect;
they were commissioned without question. The result was that
about two-thirds of these officers failed to serve their full term of
two years, having been discharged or having resigned in the mean
time ; at least one-third of them resigned within the first six months.
These results were not wholly attributable to the mere fact of elec
tion; the qualities that are most efficient in recruiting soldiers are
generally those least desirable in their commanders. The good
nature, sociable, easy manners, good-fellowship and other such traits
as attract the great mass of mankind are generally incompatible with
the power to enforce subordination and discipline. This failure in

32 Annual Report of the State Histori.vn.
active service of those officers most successful in recruiting was
not confined to these early regiments but obtained in all the subse
quent levies where commissions were conferred upon inexperienced
men who had simply recruited the requisite number of privates.
Of course the least qualified of these officers, sooner or later,
" dropped out " in the field, but it was an expensive process in
many ways. While such officers did remain in command their men
suffered through their inefficiency, and the injurious results con
tinued in force after they had resigned or been discharged. To the
foreign critic the greatest defect in our volunteer armies was the
laxity of discipline and it is doubtful if this were wholly counter
balanced by the higher inteUigence or motives of our troops as
compared with those of European armies.
Not only were these unversed officers unable to properly dis
cipline, drill and instruct their men, or to conduct and maneuvre
them in the field, but with few exceptions they were ignorant as to
all matters touching the health and comfort of the men under their
charge. There were among their number, men who had had some
training or had the ability to quickly acquire the requisite knowledge
and to enforce military discipline, and as the " law of survival, etc.,"
operated these were recognized, promoted or transferred to other
commands. From these thirty-eight regiments about twenty brig
adier generals were selected and some of these again promoted to
be major generals.
In harmony with the general plan adopted. General John A. Dix
had been appointed major general and on May 17th a General
Order (No. 41) was issued by Adjutant General Read, organizing
the First Division of State Volunteers under command of General
Dix, to consist of two brigades and directing General Dix to hold
an election for brigadier general of each brigade by the field officers

War of the Rebellion Series. 33
therein respectively. This brought about a distinct collision between
the State and General Government, in which the former had the
right and the latter the victory. There can be no doubt but that
all the volunteers accepted from the States were so accepted as
miUtia, and that as such the appointment of their officers was
reserved to the States and so exercised as to regimental officers up
to the end of the war. There can be no doubt but that the authority
of appointment reserved to the States extended to general officers
also. It was however seen at an early day that this was one of the
points where strict adherence to the text of the Constitution must
give way to the supreme safety of the nation. All through the war
it was apparent that there must be a certain elasticity of construction
and perhaps a certain disregard of the text of the Constitution, if
the union of the States was to be preserved. It was fortunate that
the cases where such a strain was necessary were very few, since
infrequent as they were they gave a coherence to the hollow and
despicable clamor of the " Copperheads " during the struggle, and
have since encouraged a tendency toward centralization in our
governmental system that is fraught with evil possibilities.
It was evident that if the troops of each State were organized into
brigades and divisions commanded by generals elected by these
constituencies and commissioned by the State authority, the control
of them by the general administration would be seriously weakened.
The several armies instead of being each a compacted force would
represent mere localities, while the jealousies and rivalries between
the several brigades and divisions would be shared by their respec
tive States and counteract the closer union that the war was con
ducing to. There would have been repeated the weakness of the
allied armies of the old German Empire, when a score of potentates
furnished their distinct quotas. In general orders from the War
3

34 Annual Report of the State Historian.
Department issued May 4th, giving the plan of organization of the
volunteer forces called into the service of the United States by the
'President, it was announced that the general officers and their staffs
(except aides-de-camp) would be appointed by the President with
the advice and consent of the Senate. This assumption of authority
caused much discussion and even alarm on the part of patriotic
men, who feared that it was the precursor of such encroachments
by the central government as would in the end destroy our federal
system as originally constructed under the Constitution. The vast
increase of patronage by the President was also represented and
by some it was held that the States would resent such a deprivation
of their constitutional rights. On the other hand some attempts
were made to show that the volunteers were not a part of the militia
and therefore that the constitutional reservation to the States did
not apply to their officers. I was much interested in this discussion
and -finally became .convinced that these troops were a part of the
militia; the Constitution gives Congress the power "to raise and
support armies " and " to provide for calling forth the militia to
execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel
invasions," and these are the only powers granted to the United
States in regard to land forces. The violation of the laws of the
Union and the insurrection by the Southern States strongly indi
cated a resort to the militia, and the result was that while the
increase of the regular army was almost inappreciable, there were
milUons of volunteer militiamen engaged in suppressing the
rebellion. The very fact that the appointment of all regimental
officers was left with the States iiidicates the nature of the force.
It was plainly an exigency when the rigid lines of the Constitution
had to swerve in the interests of self preservation. There was now
quoted the old axiom, soon to become trite, " inter arma silent leges."

War of the Rebellion Series. 35
The Governor had appointed as major generals of the State
volunteers, John A. Dix and James S. Wadsworth, and Lieutenant
Governor Campbell was sent to Washington to procure their recog
nition, but the President through Secretary Cameron, announced
his irrevocable determination to appoint general officers, and not
to accept troops under any other conditions.
So rapid were the enlistments for these first regiments that the
entire number of 30,000 men was accepted within three weeks from
the first call, and on May 7th the Governor issued a general order
announcing such consummation and that no additional force could
be accepted, and advising that " no further expenditure of time or
means may be needlessly incurred by the patriotic citizens of the
State in further efforts for organization." The members of the
Military Board were not unanimous in approval of such an
announcement. Mr. Jones, Secretary of State, insisted that in view
of the probability that troops would be required beyond existing
calls, it would be bad policy to discourage or disband any organi
zations, and that it was not wise to weaken any patriotic endeavor.
However, these irregular organizations were being recruited with
out the authority of the State, and the Board felt compelled to
discountenance them. They were subsequently a source of much
trouble to the State and Federal administrations.
Before all of the two-years regiments reached the field, there were
two tragical events in which some of them were concerned. Some
allusion was made on page 29 to the Eleventh Regiment, known as
the Fire Zouaves, commanded by Colonel Ellsworth. This regi
ment being on May 24th at Alexandria, Va., Colonel EUsworth
I directed one Jackson to take down from the staff on top of his
hotel a secession flag flying there, and not being obeyed, the
¦ Colonel went himself to haul it down and was shot by Jackson and

36 Annual Report of the State Historian.
immediately avenged by his men, who riddled the assassin with"
bullets. Ellsworth was the first victim of the war, and his body was
conveyed with much ceremony for burial at his father's home at
MechanicvUle, N. Y. Although much was popularly expected of
him, he was simply a drill-master, and so far as fame is concerned
was fortunate in his eariy death, but that event made a marked
impression that the war was a stern reality. This impression was
deepened by the unfortunate affair at Big Bethel, Va., on June
loth, where the First, Second, Third, Fifth and Seventh Regiments,
New York Volunteers, were prominently engaged. General
Butler, in command of the Union forces at Newport News, had =
intended to surprise the rebels under General Magruder, and the
New York regiments were put in motion before daybreak, when
there occurred such a calamity as might have been expected from
troops and officers so green. The Seventh Regiment, under
Colonel Bendix, coming upon the Third under Colonel Townsend
in the dawn, mistook it for a rebel force and fired upon it, killing
several men and wounding more. This fiasco gave the alarm to
the enemy and so upset the Union plans that'the subsequent attack
was not only a failure but a signal disaster. Among the killed were
Major Theodore Winthrop,* New York Volunteers, acting on
General Butler's staff, and a young author of great promise, and
Lieutenant John T. Greble,t Second Regiment, United States
_^  s 
* Theodore Winthrop was born in New Haven, Conn., September 22, 1828.
He graduated from Yale 1848, and the following year went to Europe, where -
he remained until 1851. He was admitted to the bar in 1855. Then visited
California and Oregon and made a survey of a canal road across the Isthmus
of Panama. In the campaign of 1856 he was an ardent and eloquent Fre
mont orator. Before the war he had established his reputation as an author,
but at the outbreak of hostilities he enlisted in the Seventh New York. For
a time he acted as military secretary to General B. F. Butler, with whom he
planned the attack on Little and Big Bethel, at the latter of which he lost
his life while rallying his men June 10, 1861.
tjohn T. Greble was a native of Pennsylvania. He graduated from the
military academy in 1854 and was assigned to the Second Artillery and as

War of the Rebellion Series. 37
Artillery. Although the whole affair in its dimensions and casual
ties was a mere skirmish compared with the great battles to come,
it was in that eariy day an engagement of the first importance and
the deaths of the two estimable young men above mentioned brought
a chiU to many a home where the son had put on the blue uniform
or was preparing to do so. It gave a shocking realism to a contest
that so far had been an ebuUition of excitement without the dark
shadow of sudden death on the battlefield to overcast it. It was
the reaction from this that made us magnify the successes of
General McClellan in the western part of Virginia, which, however
important in themselves or as inspiring our hopes, were not such
guarantees of miUtary qualities as were assumed.
By the end of June the thirty-eight regiments authorized by the
State law were in the field; nineteen from the New York depot,
nine from the Albany and ten from the Elmira depot. Their
organization was that of the regular army with some tincture of
the old militia forms and nomenclature. Reference has been made
to the term " ensign " for second lieutenant; the assistant regimental
surgeon was termed " surgeon's mate ; " both these were afterwards
given the regular title. Surgeon General Samuel O. Vander Poel
exhibited high administrative qualities, both in regard to tl^e exami
nation of recruits and their sanitary conditions in barracks, and also
in the selection of surgeons and their mates. Of course through
inexperience these matters fell short of what was subsequently
accomplished. Less than thirty-seven per cent of the medical
officers of these regiments resigned or were discharged before the
end of their terms, a very favorable contrast with the other com
missioned officers.
first lieutenant covered the retreat of our defeated troops with the fire of his
own battery at Big Bethel. He was killed June 10, 1861, aged 27 years. For
the service he rendered in this engagement he was brevetted captain, major
and Heutenant-colonel.

38 Annual Report of the State Historian.
Each regiment was entitled to a chaplain, and all but one or two
took one to the field, though many did not retain them. It was a
fact that some of these chaplains were frauds, not being even
ordained ministers, but rollicking acquaintances of the officers or
newspaper reporters who sought tl;iis easy and well paid position
in order to have favorable opportunities for reportorial observation.
Each regiment also had a paymaster to pay the troops and officers
while in the State service and not accompanying them to the field.
Paymaster General Thomas B. Van Buren was not a good business
manager and the pay-rolls were the most confusing and difficult
of the vouchers that I examined.
Considering all things, I think the supplies for these troops were
of fair quality, and their commissariat while in barracks was well
selected and managed. I kept at general headquarters a running
account of military property, crediting the contractors with all
deliveries to the quartermaster and ordnance departments, and
those departments with their issues to the troops. There' was
great difficulty in having all these issues conducted in accordance
with the army regulations, which were unknown and even
unattainable to the great mass of officers concerned. In the subse
quent adjustment of accounts between the State and general
governments many defects and omissions in the forms had to be
disregarded. Though neither John A. Dix nor James S. Wadsworth, who had
been appointed by the Governor as major generals of these troops,
was recognized as such by the United States authorities. General
Dix was appointed major general of volunteers with rank from May
1 6th by the President, and General Wadsworth* was appointed a
* James Samuel Wadsworth was born at Geneseo, N. Y., October 30 1807.
He was educated at Harvard and studied at the Albany Law School, com-

War of the Rebellion Series. 39
brigadier general of volunteers with rank from August 9th, so that
both these accompUshed gentlemen entered the active service.
I had official opportunities to acquaint myself with the character
of all the successive levies for the service made in New York and
found them naturaUy affected in character by the changing con
ditions and spirit of the times. These first regiments were raised
during the foaming excitement of the early days when it was
generally thought that the war would be concluded within a few
months, and its serious aspects of privation, discomfort, danger,
suffering and death were scarcely contemplated. It was to be a
picnic on a grand scale, with brass buttons, tinsel, silk banners and
music to enliven it, and the fun to be hallowed by its patriotic pur
pose. The adventurous and frolicsome were attracted while the
apparently temporary needs of the country did not demand any
pleting his course with Daniel Webster. He never practiced his profession,
however, but devoted his time exclusively to the management of his vast
estates in Livingston county, which amounted to 15,000 acres. In 1852 he
was elected president of the State Agricultural Society, with which up to the
time of his death he was conspicuously identified. He supported the Free
Soil party in 1848, but was a presidential elector on the Republican ticket
1856 and i860. He was a delegate to the peace convention in Washington in
1861, and at the beginning of the war was one of the first men who was
willing to surrender the comforts of a luxurious home to the deprivations
and sufferings of the field. When communication with Washington was sus
pended, he chartered two ships at his own expense, loaded them with provi
sions and accompanied them to Annapolis. He was at the battle of Bull Run
as volunteer aide to General McDowell. March 15, 1862, he was appointed
military governor of the District of Columbia. That fall he was the unsuc
cessful candidate for Governor of New York, nominated by the Republicans.
He took part in the battle of Fredericksburg as a division commander and
displayed great military judgment. At Gettysburg his division was the first
to engage the enemy and his losses aggregated 2,400 out of 4,000
men. He was one of the few generals who voted in favor of pursuing the
enemy after Pickett's disastrous charge on the 3d of July. On the reorgan
ization of the Army of the Potomac he was assigned to the command of the
fourth division of the Fifth Corps, which constituted part of his old com
mand. May 6, 1864, at the battle of the Wilderness, he was shot in the head
and lingered for two days.

40 Annual Report of the State Historian.
sacrifice from the steady and thoughtful men, who had other
responsibilities upon them. There were some few who, foreseeing
the deadly character, if not the duration of the strife, put aside all
business, social and domestic claims and entered the ranks or
accepted commissions in April and May, 1861. The greater num
ber, however, did not expect or were not prepared for the stern
ordeal of defeat, delay, suspense and painful toil that awaited them.
But when these regiments were later subjected to drill and to
', the discharge of everyday duties and were seasoned by skirmishes
and battles, by victories and defeats, they rendered good service and
sustained the honor of the State.
When the levy was completed there was a large number of
enlisted men in detached companies and other fragmentary organi
zations throughout the State, which subsequently became part of
the second levy, though the actual recruitment should be credited
to the first levy.

No. 2.
SECOND LEVY— JULY I, J86 J, TO MARCH 31, 1862.

BY the 1st of July all of the thirty-eight regiments raised under
the State law had been mustered into the United States
service and had been despatched to the seat of war. There remained
the settlement of many accounts for materials and service, and these
Under the general direction of General Patrick were carefully
audited and paid mostly within a month's time. The Military Board
continued its sessions, which were largely engrossed by attempts
to fix or evade the responsibility for the inferior uniforms accepted
under the contracts. As before said, I have never believed that any
of the members of this Board or any other State officers were
corrupt in these transactions. The failure to secure the best
clothing, etc., may be fairly attributed to the extent of the pur
chases, the hurried manner of their initiation and completion and
the almost absolute inexperience of all concerned in them. To
this may be added the divided and personally vague responsibility
of a cumbrous board which the Legislature had constituted through
that jealousy of the " one-man power " of the Executive which
has been so characteristic in our State governments. Within the
board itself this jealousy raged and did further pubhc injury. It
was evident that certain military authorities could be far better
exercised by the Governor alone as commander-in-chief than by

42 Annual Report of the St.\te Historian.
this motley board, but on several occasions resolutions to confer
such authority upon him were voted down. It is not strange that
of the members of that board the Governor alone retained his
political influence.
About the middle of the month. Attorney General Myers and
Treasurer Dorsheimer, as a committee of the board, visited the
regiments about Washington and reported certain deficiencies in
equipment which were repaired.
I can recall vividly those three first weeks in July which followed-
our engrossment in military preparation. There was nothing very
exciting going on in the field; General McClellan continued his
several successes in Virginia and defeated the rebels in an engage
ment at Carricks Ford on Jul)' 12, thus clearing Virginia west
of the Blue Ridge. These events were cheerful, but their larger
importance was in the establishment of McCleUan's fame that led
to his subsequent promotion as general-in-chief. The concentra
tion of troops about Washington under General McDowell was the
most significant event, and we now believed that city safe and the
suppression of the rebellion certainly at hand. Our Albany officials
were mostly strong partisans of Secretary Seward and probably
imbibed his optimistic opinion that the contest would not exceed
a few months. We underlings, whose retention in service depended
upon continued hostUities, met in the Adjutant-General's office in
those summer evenings and discussed the probabilities of early dis
missal and the need of searching for employment. Daily in my
own office in the southeastern corner of the second story of that old
capitol I sat oy the windows looking out upon the trees and lawn,
meditating what means of livelihood I should adopt when the brief
rebellion collapsed. I was a type of so many others soon to be
stricken and shocked.

War of the Rebellion Series. 43
The papers began now to announce "the early movement of our
army upon the force of rebels massed a few miles west of Wash
ington, commanded by General Beauregard. I have mentioned
that these first levies of troops contained some light material, the
scum of patriotic ferment, the adventurous and thoughtless who
viewed the contest as an exciting picnic. So now we heard of the
Congressmen and others who were going to accompany our army
in carriages, supplied with lunch baskets and wine, as if on a
pleasure jaunt. What indeed could be more satisfactory and
pleasurable than to see our valiant troops " bag " these Ul-advised
rebels? What could resist our army panoplied in the majesty of
the Union, the power of the Right, the invincibility of Freedom?
The war correspKDndents with glowing phrase — alas so soon to
become trite and inexpressive — depicted the advance of the army
on July i6th, accompanied by its hordes of non-combatants, mov
ing slowly as became its stateliness, its irresistible power. Since
May 27th, when placed in command, General McDowell had been
disciplining his troops as best he could, though as the larger portion
had reached him within four weeks before his advance, the drilling
had been meagre. We, however, had such absolute confidence in
our cause that any such lack of preparation seemed very trivial.
Day by day the papers gave us the picturesque incidents of the
march with flattering prognostications of victory. Even our news
on the morning of Monday the 22d was very encouraging, but
about noon of that day dispatches reached Albany first that there
had been a check and then the terrible announcement of defeat — a
rout — a retreat — then in an exaggeration quite as vivid as that of
our invincible advance came the intelligence of disorganization and
panic, of the flight towards Washington, of a demoralized mob, of
intermingled " warriors " and civilians crying " the devil take the

44 Annual Report of the State Historian.
hindmost", and of the probable capture of the capital. What an
agonizing shock! At the first there was humiliation, shame,
despair. We were still in the frothy sentimental stage of patriotism
of those early days — quickly depressed, but fortunately as quickly
recovering from the dejection. In a day or so, our thoughts were
again bent on the future and the means to shape it.
Now that we look back ujxm the war as a whole, the significance,
indeed the fitting purpose of Bull Run as the first great link in the
chain of events can be recognized. The panic of our troops was
no stain upon our manhood; fresh, undrilled troops, many of them
with terms of service about expiring, led by regimental and com
pany officers quite as fresh and uninstructed, did not in any proper
sense make an army. We know now that the rebel troops were
quite as panicky and disorganized and unable to take any advantage
of the retreat of our men. The ridiculous features of that rout
can now be enjoyed — the capture of the picnicking Congressmen;
the early retreat of the troops whose service expired in the midst
of the battle and as General McDowell reported, " marched to the
rear of the sound of the enemy's cannon." Such was the cowardly
feat of a New York city battery commanded by Captain James
Lynch, and it is a signal evidence of the catholic charity and liber
ality of the Tammany party that less than four months later it
elected Captain Lynch to the lucrative office of sheriff of New York
city and county.
The disaster at Bull Run convinced us that a single battle would
not extinguish the rebelUon, and that the majesty of the right must
be sustained by well organized and trained battalions. We now
extended the probable term of the war from six months to a whole
year. Congress had on July 4th convened in special session ending on
August 6th, the legislation being almost wholly military and finan-

War of the Rebellion Series. 45
cial. Provision was made for the calling of a volunteer force not
to exceed five hundred thousand men, for an increase and reorgani
zation of the regular army and for the employment of the militia
upon the call of the President. The first of these acts passed July
22d, two days after the disaster at Bull Run, and under its pro'-
visions the President made an immediate call for volunteers, and
Governor Morgan issued on the 25th a proclamation calling " for
a volunteer force of twenty-five thousand men to serve for three
years or during the war."
At this time the three-months militia from this State had either
returned or were on their way home. The volunteer regiments
in the field comprised the thirty-eight two-years regiments organ
ized under the State law, the four miUtia regiments (Second, Ninth,
Fourteenth and Seventy-ninth) that had been forced to enlist " for
the war (vide page 30, supra) and eight irregularly organized regi
ments subsequently remanded to the State supervision, of which
more anon; and three batteries of light artillery, a total force of
about 40,000 men. Of this force there had been engaged at Big
Bethel five of the two-years regiments (vide page 36, supra) and
at BuU Run seven of the two-years regiments, viz.: the Eighth,
Eleventh, Thirteenth, Eighteenth, Twenty-seventh, Thirty-first and
Thirty-eighth, and one of the irregular regiments (subsequently the
Thirty-ninth Infantry) were engaged, but the aggregate casualties
in all these would not reduce the number on July 25th much below
the 40,000 above given.
Much care was given to the preparation of the general orders
for the organization of the additional regiments, in which I had
a share. Fortunately the Governor was supreme now, the function
of the Military Board appertaining only to the two-year troops.
General Order No. 78, issued on July 30th, provided for a regi
mental organization ¦ of ten companies as fixed by General Order

46 Annual Report of the State Historian.
No. 15, U. S. Army (May 4, 1861), for the regular army. The
depots of organization at New York, Albany and Elmira were con
tinued.* When thirty-two volunteers had been inspected and
accepted, they were authorized to elect by ballot a captain and
lieutenant of the company, the remaining officers to be nominated
when the company was completed. The field officers were to be
appointed by the Governor, as commander-in-chief, and all officers
had to pass a military examination before acceptance. It will be
observed that so far as the company officers were concerned the
plan of election by the recruits was continued. There was still
a general recognition that all the volunteer troops were a part of
the militia of the State. Then, too, there was the advantage that
this contingency of a commission was a great incentive to recruiting,
and in every instance within my observation the person who
enlisted the necessary number of recruits, received their votes for
the office. Recruiting was in many cases expensive; though the
general government reimbursed the officers for a part of these
expenses it was usuaUy the minor part only. The declination of
the general government by general orders of May 7th to receive
any further troops, had discouraged recruiting in the rural districts,
as also did the organization in the cities of many irregular organi
zations which for awhile occupied an anomalous position, their serv
ices in many cases being accepted by the United States, into whose
service the enlisted men were mustered, whUe the officers remained
without commissions. Among these regiments were those included
in what was called the " Sickles' brigade," composed of five regi
ments raised in New York, of one of which Daniel E. Sickles was
the colonel (subsequently the Seventieth Infantry), and who was
appointed by the President a brigadier general on September
* See Appendix B.

War of the Rebellion Series. 47
3d. General Sickles and other officers connected with these
regiments were contemptuous of the State authority, in the
belief that they would be accepted as United States Volun
teers and thus be superior to the State troops. Of course this
was absurd, since there were only three recognized classes of
troops — ^the regular army, the militia, volunteer or drafted and
mustered into service for three years, and the ordinary militia
organizations called into service for short periods. There was evi
dently some looseness of opinion on this subject in the War Depart
ment since authorizations were issued thence to persons to raise
regiments independently of the State authority, but such author
izations ceased after May 31st, and on September 3d general orders
(No. 95) of the War Department directed aU persons who had
received authority to raise volunteers in the State of New York, to
report unreservedly to Governor Morgan, and that all officers of
regiments, etc., " raised in the State of New York, independent of
the State authorities " could receive commissions from the Gov
ernor. Thus was fortunately terminated a practice that would have
brought most embarrassing results. The conflict between the two
governments in recruiting in each State, the jealousies of the
officers and other complications would have been disastrous, irre
spective of the grave constitutional questions raised. Subsequently
the colored troops raised in the insurrectionary States were termed
United States Volunteers, but were in fact a temporary increase of
the regular army. Sixteen infantry regiments were thus remanded
to the State authority, and so far satisfied the quota allotted to New
York on the President's calls. Many of these regiments were
almost wholly composed of men of foreign birth, a fact amply illus
trated by the names of the colonels— as D'Utassy, Von Gilsa,
Kozlay, Kryzanowski, De Trobriand, Von Amsberg, Rosa, D'Epi-

48 Annual Report of the State Historian.
neuil and Betge. Several regiments of cavalry and batteries of
artillery that were being recruited under authorizations from
the War Department were remanded by the same general
orders to the State authority. The recruiting under the latter
authority was not very active during this period; the conflict
between the two sources of authority had a depressing effect,
and the disaster at Bull Run was not relieved by any successes in
the east, while the defeat at Wilsons Creek, Missouri, terminating in
the death of the gallant General Lyon,* on August loth, was fol
lowed about a month later by the surrender of Lexington in the
same State by Colonel Mulligan. A month later (October 20th),
* Nathaniel Lyon was born at Ashford, Conn. His granduncle. Colonel
Knowlton, was killed in action at Harlem Heights. Lyon graduated from
West Point in the class of 1841, and was assigned to the Second Infantry.
He served through the Seminole and Mexican Wars. Was wounded at the
Belen Gate of the capital. For several years thereafter he saw considerable
Indian service in California. He took part in the Kansas struggle as captain
in the Second Infantry, and was stationed at Fort Scott when Sumter was
fired upon. He was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers May 17,
1861, and through his knowledge, energy, determination and sagacity Mis
souri was held to the Union. At the conference of July 11, 1861, between
Governor Jackson and General Price on one side and Colonel Blair and
General Lyon on the other, Lyon brought the proceedings to a close at the
end of four or five hours by declaring: " Rather than concede to the State
of Missouri the right to demand that my Government shall not enlist troops
within her limits, or bring troops into the State whenever it pleases, or move
its troops at its own will into, out of or through the State; rather than con
cede to the State of Missouri for a single instant, the right to dictate to
my Government in any matter, however unimportant, I would " (rising as he
said this, and pointing in turn to every one in the room) " see you, and you,
and you, and every man, woman and child in the State, dead and buried."
Then turning to the Governor he said: "This means war. In an hour one
of my officers will call for you and conduct you out of my lines." Subse
quently he captured the State militia at Camp Jackson, drove the Governor
from the capitol and all his troops to the farthest corner of the State held
Price and McCulIouch until the Union men had time to assemble, deposed
the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor and aU of the members of the Gen
eral Assembly. He was killed at Wilsons Creek August 10, 1861, aged 42
years.

War of the Rebellion Series. 49
occurred the calamitous affair at Balls Bluff on the Potomac and the
kilUng of Colonel Baker,* the Oregon Senator and soldier. A week
or so later the capture of the forts at Hilton Head and Phillips
Island by the expedition under General T. W. Sherman and Com
modore Dupont gave us a valuable lodgment on the Atlantic coast
and a depot of suppUes and base of operations at Port Royal, S. C,
but this achievement was not sufficient to encourage enlistments.
These, however, steadily continued during the fall and winter, par
tially during the latter part of the time for regiments in the field.
The mUitia Brigadier Generals Yates, Rathbone and Van Valken
burgh, who had respectively commanded the depots at New York,
Albany and Elmira, under the previous call, were continued in com- -
mand, and each was provided with a full staff of assistants.! The
War Department, by general orders (No. 58) issued on August 15th,
proposed to establish near New York and Elmira camps of
rendezvous and instruction for volunteers under the command of
officers of the army, but these orders were never carried out; in
fact there was too great a lack of such officers to permit such a
scheme. So, early as April 26th, Governor Morgan had requested
?Edward Dickenson Baker was born in London, England, February 24,
1811. At the age of five years he came to America. Later he moved to
Springfield, 111., where he studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1837
he was elected a member of the Legislature. Three years later promoted to
the Senate; 1844 sent to Congress. He fought with great distinction at the
head of his regiment during the Mexican War and commanded a brigade
after General Shields was wounded at Cerro Gordo.i He served again in
Congress from December, 1849, until March 3, 1851, declining renomina
tion. The gold fever found him in California, where he at once took rank
as a leader of the bar. In i860 he was elected to the United States Senate
from Oregon. When Sumter was fired upon, he repaired to New York and
raised what was called the California Regiment, several companies having
been recruited in Philadelphia. At Balls Bluff he commanded a brigade and
fell mortally wounded.
tSee Appendix B. "Headquarters, Depots, etc."
4

50 Annual Report of the State Historian.
the Secretary of War to assign the West Point cadets of the first
class from this State to duty with the regiments of volunteers as
militar}' instructors. The answer was that the early graduation of
the first class of cadets was under consideration, and that if possible
the (^vernor's request would be granted, but the scarcity of army
officers might render it necessary to assign these cadets immediately
to active commands in the service, and indeed this necessity was
so overwhelming that these newly-fledged warriors were soon in
high commands, even as colonels and generals, reaching in a few
months the rank that was attained by few during life-long service
in peaceful days.
Adjutant General Read, who had been overburdened by his
duties, both through bodily weakness and lack of qualifications,
resigned on August 15th, and was succeeded by Thomas Hillhouse,
of Geneva, late senator from that district, who proved to be an
earnest and untiring official.
By a letter on August 3d to Governor Morgan, the Secretary of
War authorized him to make requisitions upon the various bureaus
of the War Department for expenses incurred in the organization of
troops under the recent call, and this letter was the basis for the
subsequent adjustment of accounts covering a large aggregate
sum, payable from the appropriation by Congress on August 5th
of twenty millions for the expenses of collecting, drilling and organ
izing volunteers. A large part of this fund was disbursed through
army officers stationed in the principal cities, most of them being
of that unfortunate number paroled when General Twiggs treacher
ously surrendered his army in Texas. These officers trained in
the rigid requirements and formalities of the army, insisted upon
vouchers and forms that most of the recruiting officers could not
furnish, since they were ignorant of these requisites at the time

War of the Rebellion Series. 51
when their accounts accrued and could not repair their defects.
These disbursing officers at a later day were more liberal arid con
siderate, under orders of the War Department relaxing the strict
ness of regulations. An edition of the General Regulations of the
United States Army was published by the State in June, 1861, for
the use of its own officials, but very few of the persons engaged
in enlistments ever saw it.
There was from the very beginning of the war a clashing with
the regular, military establishment. The militia, the volunteers,
the State officials and the people, full of patriotic aspirations and
ardor, eager each to do his utmost to aid their assaulted country,
found their efforts hampered and entangled in the web of military
formalism; this latter had its uses and value, perhaps never more
strongly than in this period of dizzy effervescence, but it might have
been, yet was not, tempered by a just discretion. The iron wall of
militM-y discipline and precedent would not yield even to the fervid
importunity of patriots rushing to arms. The most exasperating
of these army officers were those attached to the staff departments,
particularly the quartermaster's. The officer in charge of that
branch at New York when the war began was Colonel Daniel D.
Tompkins, one of the assistant quartermasters general, who
delighted in scolding, abusing and cursing the unfortunate volun
teer officers who had business with him, and in this respect was
a type of many of his fellows. I recall a ludicrous incident in
the autumn of 1862 when he was finally discomfited. The One
Hundred and Eleventh Regiment Infantry (of the third levy),
raised at Auburn, was commanded by Colonel Jesse Segoine, an old
brigadier general of militia, noted for his bruskness and vituperative
fluency. His regiment should have gone to the Army of the
Potomac via Elmira and Harrisburg, Pa., as the shortest route, but

52 Annual Report of the State Historian.
Colonel Segoine for some reason wanted to pass through New
York, and by the influence of his distinguished fellow townsman,
Secretary Seward, got leave to do so. When he applied to Colonel
Tompkins, at his office on State street, opposite the Battery, for
his transportation papers for Washington, that officer began his
usual tirade, damning Colonel Segoine for his round-about route
and objurgating in red-hot terms aU volunteer colonels. The
imperturbability of Colonel Segoine inflamed the irascible quarter
master, and he cursed untU the air was blue and untU, out of breath,
he had to desist. Then the volunteer colonel began in a cool but
stentorian voice to return the malediction, in such new and endless
flow of execration that the olci regular stood aghast and finally over
come by the interminable array of new phrases of denunciation and
blasphemy he begged his master in BilUngsgate and imprecation
to go out and take a drink. When at our headquarters in Walker
street we heard of Colonel Tompkins' ignominious discomfiture in
the field of filth where he had reigned supreme there was general
rejoicing, and for many days thereafter volunteer officers found
the late truculent quartermaster quiet and even courteous in his
official demeanor.
The attitude of the United States authorities regarding facilities
for recruiting was various; it was adverse in the difficulty or
impossibility of obtaining reimbursement for expenses, so costly was
it that only the hope of obtaining a commission gave encourage
ment. At first it was proposed to pay the enlisted men only from
date of muster, but this was soon abandoned and payment made
from date of enUstment, but even so late as June, after the minute-
men from our militia had been several weeks guarding Washington,
there was pquired some urgence to obtain their payment from the
date they abandoned family and business to protect the threatened

War of the Rebellion Series. # 53
capital. There were discouragements in the frequent decisions that
no more troops were required, followed at intervals by an urgent
call for them; and the unsettled question as to whom application
for authority should be made for several months disturbed the
military mind. I have caUed attention to several New York regi
ments (p. 47, supra) composed almost entirely of foreigners, and
by a general order of July 19th the War Department announced
" in future no volunteer will be mustered into the service who is
unable to speak the English language." There were many such
foreigners ready for enUstment, generally Germans with a mUitary
training, and this injudicious order was modified on August 3d so
as to permit the muster of foreigners into regiments of their own
nationality. The order of August 12th that all regiments should
be for a term of three years was a sound one, but it sensibly
arrested enlistments. There was also some discouragement regard
ing the period for muster-in of officers, which, however, was modi
fied in September. The State General Orders of July 30th (No. 78)
provided that the pay of the captain and first lieutenant of a com
pany might date from their acceptance with 32 men, and the United
States Pay Department subsequently ratified this order, but it was
not extended to officers of organizations raised under later orders
who received pay only from date of their muster-in to the United
State service.
On the other hand Congress increased the pay of privates from
$11 to $13 per month, but this additional $24 for a year's service
could not be accounted an inducement. A beneficent arrangement
under the law was made for the allotment of an optional part of a
private's pay for the benefit of his family, such allotments being
secured at the time of enlistment, when domestic attachment was
strong and before the demoralizing effect of military life had im-

54 f^ Annual Report of the State Historian.
paired it. These allotments served an excellent purpose, not only
in aiding the support of the dependent families, but in preserving
even in that slight form the tie with home that might in many cases
have been severed by absence and the degrading effect of warfare.*
It was provided by the act of July 22, 1861, that not only should
the volunteers receive the same pay, allowances and pensions as
soldiers in the regular army, but also that a bounty of one hundred
dollars should be paid to the widow or heirs of any volunteer who
was killed or who died in the service. This was doubtless an
inducement, though overshadowed soon by the increasing bounties
paid at time of enlistment, and not after date of discharge, .which
in many cases would be post-mortem, like a life insurance. Another
act considerably increased the army ration during the period of
"the present insurrection," and a general, order of August reduced
the minimum stature of recruits from the standard of five feet four
and a half inches to five feet three inches. The War Department
also gave its attention to many details hitherto overlooked, such
as the record of evidences on which pensions might be granted,
and to the interment of deceased soldiers and proper identification
of the places of their burial.
The State in August made an offer of a premium (miscaUed
" bounty ") of two dollars per man on every thirty-two recruits
presented and passed at the depots; this was intended as a partial
reimbursement of expenses, but it was found that the United States
would not recognize nor probably refund such advances, having
by law (§ 9, Act Aug. 3) abolished such premium. The State,
therefore, rescinded its order on October 17th, but I cannot now
recall the aggregate amount of these premiums.
On August 22d, with the purpose of stimulating enlistments.

* See Appendix A.

War of the Rebellion Series. 55
Governor Morg-an issued a vigorous proclamation, appealing to
the patriotism of the people and urging the pressing necessities of
the United States Government.
The staff organization remained the same, except that Colonel
Edmund Schriver resigned on September i as aid-de-camp to
accept the position of inspector general in the regular army, and
was succeeded by Colonel Thomas B. Arden,* also a West Point
graduate. General Chester A. Arthur continued to act as assistant
quartermaster-general at New York. Captain H. C. Hodges,t of
the United States Quartermaster's Department, was assigned to
duty under the War Department letter of August 3d, already referred
to, conferring authority on Governor Morgan to equip volunteers.
At first the accounts under this authority were payable either by
drafts on the Treasury or by Treasury notes bearing interest at
six per cent. This option was rescinded, however, on August Sth,
and payments made by draft only.
* Thomas B. Arden was appointed from New York and graduated from
West Point in the class of 1835. He served during the Florida war; resigned
December 31, 1842, and acted as president of the Putnam County Agricul
tural Society from 1851-1856. From April 26th to August, 1861, he served
as an aid-de-camp to Major-General Sandford, New York State Militia, with
the rank of major in the defenses of Washington, D. C, and subsequently
as aid-de-camp to Governor Morgan with the rank of colonel, acting as mili
tary agent of New York State troops in the field September 2, 1861, to Jan
uary I, 1863.
t Henry C. Hodges was born in Vermont, graduated from West Point
class of '51 and was assigned to the Fourth Infantry, in which he served in
California, Oregon and Washington until the outbreak of the war, when he
was appointed assistant quartermaster, with the rank of captain, and acted as
purchasing and disbursing quartermaster on the staff of Governor Morgan,
August, '61, to January, '63, in clothing and equipping New York volun
teers. He was then assigned to the center grand division of the Army of the
Potomac as quartermaster with the rank of colonel, and subsequently served
as chief quartermaster on Major-General Rosecrans' staff in the Ten
nessee campaign, participating in the battle of Chickamauga. He was
appointed to the various grades and to the rank of colonel, assistant quarter
master-general and was retired January 14, 1895.

56 Annual Report of the State Historian.
On a previous page I have spoken of the many resignations of
officers from the eariy regiments; the glamour of military glory
was soon dissipated by the stern realities; some found themselves
physically unable to endure the privations of the camp or the
fatigues of the march; others failed in qualities of discipUne and
command, and a few were lacking in courage. On August 3d
(G. O. No. 51) the War Department called attention to the numer
ous resignations of commissioned officers and the probability of
their abuse, and on August 15th directed that no person who had
resigned his commission should be again mustered in as an officer
of another regiment. So, too, the discharges of enlisted men for
disabiUty were so numerous as to demand the most stringent meas
ures, not only by greater vigUance in the medical examination of
recruits, but by the order that all men discharged for disability
within three months from date of enlistment should not receive
pay for any period of service. Discharge of minors who had failed
to produce the permission of their parents or guardians, through
deception or forgery, was also prohibited. In fact, the stern, inex
orable facts of war were being enforced and realized. The exami
nations of persons aspiring to be officers (under War Dept. G. 0.
No. 47 and State G. O. No. 78) had salutary effects. The State
examinations were made by military officers and were not calcu
lated to secure any large degree of military knowledge or efficiency,
but they did deter to some extent the application of conspicuously
unfit men, particularly as they suggested that there might be fur
ther examinations in the field under more rigid conditions.
Before taking up the incidents of this period seriatim the charac
ter of this levy may be reviewed in mass. It includes all the regi
ments mustered into the United States service between July i,
1861, and March 31, 1862. In this levy were included much mate-

War of the Rebellion Series. 57
rial similar to that of the earlier regiments, the adventurous and
thoughtless; it comprised several regiments composed almost en
tirely of men of foreign birth, mostly Germans and Irishmen. The
proportion of men of foreign birth in the Union armies has been
absurdly exaggerated; they formed a very small percentage of the
aggregate. From this State, where the influx of immigration and
the large number of foreign residents in the large cities gave more
than the average opportunities for recruiting from this class, I do
not think the percentage exceeded ten in a hundred. Despite the
mUitary education of these German officers from this State, none
of them reached the distinction of their Western counterparts, Gen
erals Sigel and Schurz.
The Eighth Volunteer Infantry Regiment was one of the first
of the two-years regiments in the field, and was commanded by
Colonel Louis Blenker, who had been an officer in the German army,
and I recall the ridiculous anticipations of his military career and
the newspaper puffs showered upon him. In the summer of 1861
we were made to believe that Washington was safe because Blenker
was there. He was one of the first batch of brigadier-generals of
volunteers appointed by the President on August 9, 1861, but he
never became distinguished. Julius Stahel, the Ueutenant-colonel
of this regiment, was made a brigadier-general on November 12,
1861, and did good service in that rank. Prince Felix Salm-Salm
was a major in the same regiment, and he and his wife were among
the picturesque features of the Army of the Potomac. None of the
German officers in this second levy reached the rank of brigadier-
general. There were many military fantasies in this period. Colonel
William A. Howard began to raise a regiment of " marine artil
lery," and I recall him as a handsome, plausible man with a breezy

58 Annual Report of the State Historian.
salt-water manner and in neat, semi-nautical attire, but I never
could grasp the purpose or utility of his amphibious regiment, which
he claimed would serve with equal facility on land and water. He
never completed his task, and the companies raised were disbanded
in March, 1863. Then there was the " rocket battahon," which was
to use Congreve rockets, an " exploded " missile, but it never did
so and was, at an early day, transformed into two battaUons of artil
lery. One of the first infantry regiments raised under the Gov
ernor's call of July 25th was the Forty-fourth, called by the melo
dramatic title of " the EUsworth Avengers," referring to the assassi
nation of Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth (see page 35, supra). It was
proposed that this regiment should consist of one representative
from each of the thousand towns in the State, and though this
project was not fully carried out, many selections were made by
towns. When this regiment left Albany " for the field " in Octo
ber its full ranks of stalwart men, marching down that grand ave
nue. State street, made a deep impression upon all spectators.
During its three years it served continuously in the Army of the
Potomac, being engaged during that period in all the battles of
that much-belabored host. In the first levy there had been two or
three infantry regiments clad in Zouave uniform, and in this second
levy there were one or two more, being the last, since the United
States was averse to the supply of anything but standard articles
of every kind, since any exceptional type led to great confusion.
The most fantastic, brilliant and outre of these uniforms was that
of a proposed regiment of Zouaves attempted by a French officer.
Colonel Lionel J. D'Epineuil, and largely French in its composi
tion (Fifty-third Infantry), but which was a failure, and was dis
banded March 21, 1862. Another regiment (Fifty-fifth Infantry)
was given the same number as the French military regiment in

W.'S.R OF THE Rebellion Series. 59
New York city, known as the Guard Lafayette. This regiment
was largely French in material, and was commanded by Colonel
Regis De Trobriand, a weU-known writer, who, in January, 1864,
was made a brigadier-general of volunteers, in June, 1866, colonel
of the Thirty-first Regiment of regulars, and is now on the retired
Hst of the Army.* In the first levy there were no cavalry and only
three batteries of artillery. The First Regiment of ArtiUery was
mustered in on September 25, 1861, and its colonel was First
Lieutenant Guilford R. Bailey, of the Second Regiment Artillery,
United States Army. Colonel Bailey was a fine-looking, enthusi
astic and gallant young man and very popular when at West Point.
He was kUled in action at Fair Oaks, Va., on May 31, 1862.
There had been much hesitation on the part of the War Depart
ment to authorize the raising or accepting of cavalry, which was
considered the least desirable arm of the service for a volunteer
force; more costly and requiring a higher and prolonged training.
Tlie pressure of events overcome this reluctance, and nine regi
ments of cavalry from this State were included in this second levy.
One of the earliest attempts in this direction was made at Troy to
raise a regiment known as the " Black Horse Cavalry ,"t but its
pretentious name did not aid it, since it was disbanded within four
months, being mustered out of service on March 31, 1862. There
is a certain glamour of chivalry in mounted troops, and in those
early days there was the more practical idea that this branch of
the service is less fatiguing. Thus there was a strong drift toward
cavalry, the proportion of which was reduced, however, in our
* General De Trobriand has died since the above was written. His death
occurred 15 July, 1897.
t This name was probably borrowed from the popular designation of a
syndicate of legislative lobbyists who had been successful in previous ses
sions at Albany. But why the secretive and insidious tactics of this body
suggested the dashing onset of a " Black Horse Cavalry " is now difficult to
explain.

6o Annual Report of the State Historian.
volunteer forces by the consideration that the occasions would be
rare when mounted troops could be employed in mass. Our rough,
wooded country, intersected by deep streams, particularly in the
regions where the war was chiefly waged, prevented those grand
charges of massed squadrons that greatly influenced and in some
cases decided the Napoleonic battles. First Lieutenant Judson Kil
patrick, of the First Artillery, United States Army, was appointed
lieutenant-colonel of the Second New York Cavalry, promoted to
its colonelcy, made a brigadier-general of volunteers in June, 1863,
and subsequently appointed major-general, and was one of the
most conspicuous cavalry leaders of the war.* He was a signal
example of the rapid rise of officers in that great contest. Two
regiments of engineers were raised in this period, and subsequently
a two-years infantry regiment (the Fifteenth) was changed to the
same arm of the service. These regiments, largely composed of
skilled artisans and officered by experienced civil engineers, ren
dered excellent service during the war in pontoon and bridge build
ing, dismantling and repairing railroads and in other operations,,
constructive and destructive.
Including the irregular organizations remanded to the State
authority. New York raised in this levy of three-years volunteers
sixty-five regiments of infantry, nine of cavalry, two of engineers,
three of artillery and four battalions and nine batteries of artillery,
aU being sent into the field before April i, 1862. From the officers
of these regiments twenty-three were promoted to be brigadier-
generals. * The cavalry force during the war, both in the east and west, was most
valuable in skirmishing and protection of the army flanks. It also by its
rapid raids demoralized the enemy. In these directions mounted troops
were employed by both sides. On our own side the most distinguished
cavalry leader was General Sheridan, a native of Albany, N. Y.

War of the Rebellion Series. 6i
In addition to these troops there had been considerable recruit
ment of regiments in the service. On April i, 1862, the account
of troops furnished by the State stood about as follows, inclusive
of the recruits as above :
Militia for three months in 1861  13,906
Two-years volunteers in 1861  30.950
Three-years volunteers in 1861-62  89,000
Total  133.856

This levy was the last one organized by concentration of super
vision at three depots and the first one under the sole and supreme
control of the Governor. It was in many ways relieved from the
difficulties attending the organization of the previous levy. Instead
of the dUuted responsibility of a military board there was the proper
miUtary supervision by a single officer. There was a more thorough
and efficient organization of the staff departments and a larger
experience in the details of recruiting by those engaged in it.
Nearly all the accounts connected with the first levy, amounting
in the aggregate to nearly $3,000,000, had been audited in the
Inspector-General's office, and that experienced officer, General
Patrick, had charge of all expenditures for supplies under the sec
ond levy, until reUeved by the officers detailed to that service by
the War Department in October (1861). All the contracts for
these supplies were made by the Governor, under the authority
conferred August 5th. There was kept in the Inspector-General's
office by me a record of all contracts, of the receipt and issue of
supplies under them and of payment on account. Under Adjutant-
General Hillhouse's systematic supervision the personal records
were greatly improved. Two hundred and six candidates for the

62 Annual Report of the State Historian.
positions of regimental surgeon and assistant surgeon were ex
amined by Surgeon- General Vander Poel. The general health of
the recruits in barracks was much better, partly owing to cooler
weather and more particularly to better arrangements and greater
experience. At New York General Arthur continued to represent
the Quartermaster's Department.
During this period there were no great military events, though
some at the time were regarded as of signal importance. On Au
gust 2oth General George B. McClellan was placed in command
of the Army of the Potomac, the first page in the varied history
of that body. Under his supervision the chain of forts encircling
Washington was completed, and in a great camp of instruction
were gathered the regiments then in that vicinity and arriving there
from time to time. In defensive works and in the organization and
drUling of armies General McClellan had no superior in our service.
On the same day that he took command of that army there sailed
from Fortress Monroe a joint naval and military expedition under
Commodore Goldsborough and General Butler, which captured
Forts Hatteras and Clark at the mouth of Pamlico Sound, thus
obtaining lodgment on the North Carolina coast that was never
relinquished to the end of the war. These successes somewhat
counterbalanced the defeat of forces in the battle at Wilsons Creek,
Mo., when our commanding officer, General Nathaniel Lyon, was
kUled, the first officer of high rank lost on either side. The rebel
Generah Price subsequently invested the town of Lexington, occu
pied by Colonel Mulligan of Illinois and his Irish Brigade, who
surrendered on September 20th. Colonel Mulligan was at Albany
a few weeks later, and I recall how we lionized him as a hero. I
had been sUghtly acquainted with him at Chicago some six years
earlier but lost sight of him after this meeting.

War of the Rebellion Series. 63
On October 21st occurred the disastrous battle at Balls Bluff
on the Potomac, perhaps, considering the force engaged, the most
disastrous battle of the war. Colonel Baker, the United States Sen
ator from Oregon, led our forces and was killed before the end of
the engagement, which comprised on our part a little less than
2,000 men, of whom- at least one-half were lost as killed, drowned
or missing. There were palpable evidences of mismanagement — ¦
indeed General Charles P Stone was arrested and incarcerated in
Fort Lafayette on this charge, and, though subsequently released,
never recovered his position.* This second disaster on the Poto
mac, though not as important as the previous one at Bull Run, was
very disheartening. Our Forty-second Infantry, known as the
"Tammany Regiment," was engaged in it and lost heavily, and
its colonel, MiUon Cogswell, was in command after the gallant
* General Charles P. Stone was born September 30, 1824, at Greenfield,
Massachusetts; graduated from West Point July i, 1845, and was assigned
to the ordnance corps. During the Mexican War he was. attached to the
only siege battery in the army. He served on the staff of General Scott, and
distinguished himself throughout the campaign which ended in the capture
of the city of Mexico. He resigned from the army November 17, 1856, to
go in the banking business in San Francisco. To General Stone, more than
to any other officer, is due the credit of saving Washington from falling into
the hands of the insurgents in the spring of 1S61. He was commissioned
colonel of the Fourteenth Regular Infantry May 14, 1861, and brigadier-gen
eral United States Volunteers three days later; assigned to the Shenandoah
Valley and commanded at the battle at Balls Bluff. He was selected as the
victim for the blunders committed at that slaughter, and was incarcerated at
Fort Lafayette, N. Y., February 9, 1862, to August 16, 1862, without charges
being preferred against him. Subsequently he served in the southwest for a
time, but returned to the Army of the Potomac and commanded a brigade
before Petersburg in the latter part of the summer of 1864. He resigned
from the army September 13th of that year and eventually became attached
to the Egyptian Army, where for " his valuable services in commanding,
organizing and administration," he was decorated by the Khedive several
times. He constructed the pedestal and colossal statue of " Liberty En
lightening the World," on Bedloes Island, New York Harbor, 1886-7.
He died at New York city January 24, 1887, aged 62 years.

64 Annual Report of the State Historian.
Colonel Baker's death, and conducted the melancholy and deadly
retreat across the Potomac.
On September 26th the President appointed Governor Morgan a
major-general of volunteers, the only appointment of the kind that
was made during the war. Governor Morgan accepted this posi
tion with great reluctance, and only yielded to the urgency of the
President and Secretaries Cameron and Seward. The military
importance of New York in many respects, and particularly as the
source of armies, suggested the endowment of its Governor with
every possible token of authority. On October 26th the War
Department, by General Orders No. 92, created the Military Depart
ment of New York, under the command of Major-General Morgan,
to whom all United States officers reported for duty within the bor
ders of the State. General Morgan subsequently appointed Captain
George BUss as his assistant adjutant-general and Lieutenant John '
H. Linsly his aid-de-camp. The former had been in 1859-60 his
private secretary as Governor and subsequently was paymaster-gen
eral oh the State staff. Lieutenant Linsly was his military secretary
as Governor.
On November ist was announced the retirement from active
service of Brevet Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott, then in his
seventy-sixth year, having served over fifty years, in the last twenty
of which he was in command of the army. It is not derogatory to
General Scott's fame to say that the unique character of the war
and his age and physical condition made his retirement necessary.
It wiU be to his lasting honor that, though like General Lee he
was a native of Virginia, he had a clearer conception of his alle
giance as a citizen of the United States, and never wavered in his
loyalty. He died in May, 1866, having seen the Union fully re
stored. The same order that announced General Scott's retirement

War of the Rebellion Series. 65
pubUshed the President's appointment of Major-General McCleUan
to the command of the army. Fle was in his thirty-fifth year when
he thus began his interesting militar)' career as the general-in-chief.
His past life had been in all respects creditable. As one of the
military commissioners sent by our Government to the Crimea dur
ing the war there in 1855 he had written a valuable treatise upon
the " Organization of European Armies and Operations in the
Crimea," which was published by the Government. Resigning from
the army two years later to engage in railway management he vol
unteered in the Ohio forces at the outbreak of the rebellion, and
on May 14, 1861, was appointed a major-general in the regular
army that he had left two years earlier with the rank of captain. I
shall not attempt to describe a career about which so much has been
written and from such different standpoints. Whatever may have
been General McCleUan's defects or shortcomings, he in the end
suffered most from that national craze of hero-worship that, pre
vailing throughout the entire war, was more frantic in its earlier
period. This tendency was always capricious and unreasonable;
feeding upon deceptions and illusions, it was quite as unjust in its
adulation as in its condemnation. Some allowance must be made
for the natural excitements of those days of peril and uncertainty,
but it now seems strange that we believed such unfounded reports
and were so readily deceived concerning the vices or the virtues of
those in high position. I have mentioned (p. 57, supra) our faith
in the invincibUity of " General Blenker." For a year after the
disaster at Bull Run it was generally believed that our defeat was
owing to the intoxication of General McDoweU, in command, who
was represented as an habitual drunkard and anathematized even
from the pulpits, and though the truth was that he had always been
S

66 Annual Report of the State Historian.
a man of scrupulously sober habits, he never recovered from the
effects of these baseless scandals.
General McClellan attained the generalship of the army at a
remarkably early age. His successes in Virginia, west of the Blue
Ridge, had been accounted very brilliant amid the almost universal
disasters to our cause elsewhere. He was a man possessing many
elements of popularity in his personal appearance and address, and
had the power of attaching firmly to him those near his person and
to whom he gave his confidence. The task he had undertaken in
the organization, or rather the creation, of a grand army, so far as
drill and discipline could accomplish that end, was a work for which
he was peculiarly fitted by his temperament and training. The
national appetite for a hero was stimulated by our many reverses.
We did not as yet appreciate the transcendant character of that
patient, overburdened and faithful occupant of the " White House,"
who bore the responsibility of those dreadful days. General Mc
Clellan was the champion, the warrior-defender of the Union, the
gallant chieftain who was to lead us to certain and early victory.
As I have observed above, the conditions were all favorable for an
exhibition of that hero-worship that as a nation we are so addicted
to, and in this instance the fire was fed by the foolish adulation of
the hero's friends, who began to call him " the young Napoleon,"
and otherwise to associate him in the public mind with all the
famous soldiers of the past. The newspaper correspondents with
the army took up the theme and gave loose reins to their laudations
and imaginations. Many of General McCleUan's misfortunes may
be fairly attributed to this universal folly and weakness.
On Tuesday, November 5th, occurred our State election, which
resulted in a complete change of all the State officers except the
Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, whose terms expired over a

War of the Rebellion Series. 67
year later. None of the other members of " the military board "
was renominated, and what was known as the " Union ticket " was
elected by the unprecedented majority of more than one hundred
thousand votes. The two prominent men so elected were Daniel
S. Dickinson, as Attorney-General, and Lucius Robinson, as Comp
troller. Mr. Dickinson had been a State Senator, 1837-41 ; Lieu
tenant-Governor, 1841-42, and United States Senator, 1844-51; also
holding other offices, all of them as a Democrat. In the division
of that party he was a " Hunker; " but the rebellion had opened his
eyes and, like Douglas and many others, he became an uncompro
mising Unionist, and was the competitor of Andrew Johnson for
the nomination as Vice-President in 1864. Mr. Robinson was one
of the Free-soil Democrats who had acted with the Republican
party. He had been a member of the Assembly from Elmira in
the sessions of i860 and 1861, was reelected Comptroller in 1863 and
again on the Democratic nomination in 1875, and was elected Gov
ernor in 1876, being the first officer in that position to serve three
instead of two years under the recent change in the Constitution.
At this same election there was chosen a Legislature that in both
bodies, particularly the Assembly, was representative in character
and energy of the patriotic exaltation of that first year in our cruel
war. On November 8th we heard of the battle at Belmont, Mo., on the
previous day, where our forces were commanded by Brigadier-
General U. S. Grant, this being the first occasion when that officer's
~ name became generally known, a name thenceforth to be associated
only with victories. Several days later General McClellan issued
a congratulajtory order (G. O. No. 99) in which he grouped this
battle of Belmont, the recent successes of General Nelson at Pike-
ville, Ky., and the reduction of the forts at Port Royal and capture

68 Annual Report of the State Historian.
of Beaufort, on the South Carolina coast, by the naval and army
expedition under Commodore Dupont and General T. W. Sher
man. In contrast with the later and larger events of the war these
seem to afford scanty material for a War Department cry of exulta
tion, but at that time we needed an encouraging tonic, and the
order was of great value in its influence upon the troops being col
lected and converted into an army near Washington.
General Patrick had believed for some time that his proper post
of duty as inspector-general on the Governor's staff was with that
army containing the largest part of the troops from this State.
There were many reasons why a representative of the State should
be near the troops — the volunteer organization preserved the dis
tinction of States and appealed to State pride. All promotions to
the company and regimental offices were made by the Governor,
who needed unprejudiced information and advice as to the quali
fications or conspicuously good service of those in line of pro
motion; the presence of a State official of suitable rank would
strengthen the home attachment of the State troops, encourage
their esprit de corps and their contentment, while it also secured
a prompt means of communication between them and their friends
at home. Many other obvious reasons might be given, but Gen
eral Patrick was content with an occasional visit " to the front "
until General McCleUan began the work of organizing a grand
army. By November 1st there were over twenty regiments of
infantry from this State in that body and many more almost ready
to join it. General Patrick's relations with General McClellan were
very cordial, and he had been at West Point with General Marcy,
the father-in-law of General McClellan. He convinced the Gov
ernor that his place was now in the field, and on November 15th
reported to General McCleUan and, as he wrote me, was accepted ^

War of the Rebellion Series. 69
as a volunteer aid on his staff. It was a brilliant staff, and in addi
tion to the administrative officers comprised many distinguished
persons appointed aides-de-camp under the recent act of Congress.
Among these, with the rank of captain, were Louis Philippe
d'Orleans (Compte de Paris) and his brother, Robert d'Orleans
(Due de Chartres), the former the Orleanist heir to the French throne.
About the middle of November we heard of the " Trent affair."
The Confederate government had commissioned Mr. Mason as dip
lomatic commissioner to England and Mr. Slidell to France. They
got through our blockade and reached Havana and embarked in
the British steamer Trent for Nassau, where they would connect
with the regular line thence to England. Captain Wilkes, in com
mand of the United States vessel San Jacinto, overtook the Trent
and forcibly took from it the rebel commissioners and brought
them to Boston, where they were incarcerated in Fort Warren, in
the harbor of that city, as " contraband of war." In our then ex
cited condition there was general exultation over Captain Wilkes'
violent capture of the rebel emissaries. We had no idea of inter
national law, and we viewed this violation of it as a proper exercise
of our right to suppress the rebeUion. Almost without exception
the public expression was jubilant and laudatory. But soon came
the menacing echoes from England, the outcry against the violation
of neutral rights, the rapid miUtary and naval preparations and the
prospect of a foreign war superadded to our domestic troubles.
There was some foolish ebullition of defiance, but to the thoughtful
the prospect was very threatening and almost fatal. In case of war
with Great Britain the brunt would have to be borne by New York.
Its long sea coast, its great vulnerable metropolis, its long boundary
at the north, coterminous with Canada, and its important ports on
the great lakes, were aU points of probable attack or invasion. So

70 Annual Report of the State Historian.
s6on as the inteUigence of hostile preparations in England reached
this country, we who were engaged at the Governor's headquarters
recognized the gravity of the situation, and that under existing
conditions our State would have to provide largely for its own
defense. Indeed there were many official and semi-official intimations
from Washington that the threatened safety of that city would re
quire the retention there of all the troops then near it, and that
few could be spared from other quarters should there occur a dec
laration of war by England, as then seemed imminent — in other
words, that we would have to take care of ourselves. This was a
very serious consideration. Our organized militia, very feeble at
the best except in New York city, had everywhere been weakened
by the volunteering of a large part of its best element, since a
considerable share of the officers in the new regiments had been
drawn from the militia. There were several regiments within the
State not yet completed, but they were comparatively few and at the
best were raw and undrilled, and would count for little in a sud
den contest with the disciplined soldiers of the regular British
army. So far as the approach from Canada was concerned there
was some relief in the imminence of winter, which would lock up
the St. Lawrence in ice and make an invasion by land very diffi
cult. We were more particularly concerned about New York city,
which, as the largest and most important of our commercial cities,
would be the principal objective point of a hostile navy, and Eng
land was then the best equipped naval power in the world. Major
John G. Barnard, of the United States Engiileer Corps, had in
1859 addressed a paper to the Secretary of War entitled " The
Dangers and Defences of New York," in which he demonstrated
the pressing need of stronger defensive works. There was in pro
cess of construction a great granite fortress on Sandy Hook, which

, War of the Rebellion Series. 71
was to control the entrance to the ship channels leading into the
outer bay, but this work was in a very incomplete condition, in
fact scarcely advanced beyond the foundations. The great change
in aggressive and defensive conditions since that day has led to
an abandonment of the plans and materials of this work. At the
Narrows there were two shore batteries and Fort Richmond, on
the Staten Island side, and Forts Lafayette and Hamihon, on the
Long Island side, but the armament both in number of pieces and
in their caliber was deficient. As there were no guns at Sandy
Hook, the engineers had decided that at least 300 pieces at the
Narrows should be so mounted as to concentrate their fire upon
a vessel passing between them, but not half that number were then
available. At Governors, Bedloes and Ellis Islands only three-
quarters of the armament had been supplied, though it is now
evident that a fleet that had passed the Narrows might disregard
these inferior works and readily destroy the city. There were also
no works at all to prevent the disembarkation of a hostile army in
Gravesend Bay, and a repetition of the British advance from there
in August, 1776. The eastern entrance to the hanbor by Long
Island Sound was defended only by Fort Schuyler on Throgs
Neck, where only 95 guns out of a complete armament of 300 had
as yet been supplied, while no works or guns had been prepared
for the opposite shore of Long Island at Willets Point. In fact,
the conditions of defence of the city were very faulty, and though
the United States engineers had plans for completing the works
and armaments so as to bring them fully up to the times, these
would require years, and the dangers we were confronting were
imminent. It was decided that shore batteries in earthworks might
be hastily constructed to prevent disembarkation in Gravesend Bay
and at Willets Point to further secure the natural gate at Throgs

T^ Annual Report of the State Historian.
Neck. As for the regular harbor channel entrances earthworks at
Sandy Hook mounted with heavy guns would guard the outer bay,
but as the Narrows were the real gateway to the upper bay and to
such an approach as would enable the bombardment of Brooklyn
and New York, there was a concentration of attention upon that
point. Besides consultations with General Totten and Major Del
afield of the Corps of Engineers, the Governor appointed a com
mission of eminent civil engineers to cooperate with General Ar
thur, engineer-in-chief on the staff, in devising some plan of defence
at this point and particularly to consider the methods of temporarily
closing the channel. This commission made an elaborate report
in April, 1862, recommending the closing of the passage by a float
of heavy timbers bound together by iron bolts and cables and secured
by cables to the shores and anchorage.* In the imminence of our
Trent troubles about half a mUlion cubic feet of pine timber was
purchased at New York in the latter part of December, by order
of the Governor, at a cost of about $80,000, and arrangements were
made for the supply of a much larger quantity.! The Governor
also directed the purchase of 100,000 pounds of cannon powder,
which was stored in the United States magazines on Ellis Island
in the harbor. Some attention was also given to the defences on
the lakes and northern frontier, though nothing practical was
attempted. Under the treaty of April, 1818, neither the United
States nor Great Britain could have upon the boundary lakes, includ
ing Lake Champlain, any naval vessels, except a single one on each,
of small burden armed with a single gun. At the time of the orig
inal treaty it placed the two powers on equal terms, but since that
* The cost of such float was estimated at $1,118,915.60.
t The timber so bought was sold later at a large profit because of the great
advance in prices of all commodities.

War of the Rebellion Series. 73
date the construction of canals around the several rapids of the St.
Lawrence river and of the Welland canal, connecting Lakes Ontario
and Erie, would enable the British Government to place upon the
great lakes a fleet of war vessels at the very outbreak of hostilities.
These canals had locks that would admit gunboats from the lower
St. Lawrence river to Lake Ontario having a length of 186 feet,
a width of 44 1-2 feet and a draught of 9 feet, or of 600 tons,
and the Welland canal would admit vessels from Lake Ontario to
the upper lakes having a length of 162 feet, 26 feet beam and a
draught of 10 feet, or of 350 tons.
Our Erie canal locks would not admit boats with more than 98
feet of length, 173-4 feet width and 6 feet draught, or of less than
100 tons. We would therefore have to depend upon fitting out
the mercantile lake craft for naval purposes, and though I do not
doubt that had the pressing occasion required such a recourse, we
would have rapidly improvised an excellent navy on the lakes, we
would still have been at a great disadvantage with our antagonist,
who could have brought upon those waters its sea-going naval ves
sels of small tonnage.
Such was the high pressure under which we served in those days
that the whole question of coast and frontier defence was rapidly
considered and the general line of conduct determined within a com
paratively brief period. The terrible emergency never came, and
the threatening war cloud that had so suddenly gathered from over
the sea as suddenly passed away, but none of those who partici
pated in the anxieties and discussions and bore a part of the respon
sibilities in those portentous days can forget them. Had the con
flict ensued we should have been in a terribly unprepared condi
tion, our harbor and frontier forts in bad condition, with very inade-

74 Annual Report of the State Historian.
quale armament for them or for our improvised navies, and with
only a raw, hastily gathered militia to encounter the British regu
lars seasoned in the Crimea and India. With little aid from the
forces of the General Government, the menaced States would have
had to depend upon such resources as each could gather within its
borders and upon' that peculiar American aptitude and inventive
faculty that have so often responded to the occasion. As an
instance of the latter I recaU a proposition made by an old Hudson
river steamboat captain, as suggested by his own practical experi
ence. All the British naval vessels of any moment were propellers
and our captain advised that all the many shad-nets owned along
the Hudson should be gathered and arranged in the ship channels
abreast Sandy Hook and Fort Schuyler on the Sound. These nets
were to be both anchored and buoyed so as to float a few feet below
the surface, where the propeller blades would entangle and then
wind up the nets so tightly as to disable the propeller, whUe a
reverse motion would fail to disengage these hidden obstacles.
The captain said that on the Hudson, in the shad season, propellers
were thus disabled every year and he would engage that the Brit
ish vessels would be unmanageable and kept within the range of
our shore batteries until well perforated.
During these exciting days the Trent " affair " was being diplo
matically treated, and the negotiations ended in the release of Messrs.
Mason and Slidell on January i (1862), and placing them on a
British man-of-war, which conveyed them to Nassau, thus restoring
so far as possible the status quo, A perusal of the dispatches and
other State papers in this notable case does not disclose any appar
ent settlement of the larger aspects of the matter at issue. The
discussion revived among our people the vexed and painfully sore

War of the Rebellion Series. 75
questions connected with that " right of search " that England
brutally enforced so long as our national weakness tempted it.
There were those living who could recall the national feeling during
and after the " war of 1812," and the avoidance of a fair settlement
of this dispute in the treaty that ended that war. It did seem to
the passionate and thoughtless that this right of search was a very
one sided affair and I think that the prevalence of this sentiment
somewhat governed Secretary Seward in his negotiations. There
was no direct break-down on our part, but a flaw in our case was
conceded in that Captain Wilkes did not capture the Trent as con
traband of war and convey it to one of our ports for regular con
demnation. However, the gist of the settlement was that passen
gers in a neutral vessel could not be forcibly taken from her by a
naval vessel of a nation at war, even if such passengers were engaged
in concerns affecting the interests of that nation.
There was in the matter a plain reminder of the weakness of our
coast and frontier defences that has never been practically heeded
and of which I may speak again.
On January ist the new State officers entered upon their duties in
the usual quiet way, except in the case of the treasurer, conceming
whose induction into office there was an unprecedented and ridicu
lous opposition. Philip Dorsheimer, whose term as treasurer
expired on that day, was a typical German politician, having the
normal quantity of irascibility and obstinacy. He was much
irritated by the fact that he had not been renominated and held
that Mr. Lewis who had been elected to his office having failed to
file his official bond prior to January ist was precluded from enter
ing upon the office and that he (D.) was constrained to hold it.
It was a veritable tempest in a teapot, and there was the scandal

76 Annual Report of the State Historian.
of two treasurers — Mr. Lewis, who was recognized by the new c^omp-
troller, Mr. Robinson, and Mr. Dorsheimer, supported by Canal
Auditor Benton. There was much fun in this official contention
which fortunately for the public interests was settled by the decision
of Attorney-General Dickinson in such strong terms as compelled
the irate Dorsheimer to yield.
On January 7th the Legislature convened in a session remark
able in one respect at least, and that was in the almost ,absolute
limitation of its action to public purposes and in the absence of
jobbery. The immediately previous two or three sessions had been
notorious for the corrupt enactment of New York street railroad
charters and other Uke schemes — it was credibly asserted that what
is known as " the lobby " was never before so well organized, so
arrogant, so successful. For the previous half century the political
corruption in our State had been ' largely confined to the adminis
tration, repair and enlargement of its canal system which had been
the principal bone of contention between the two parties so far as
touched our State concerns. The power of the Legislature to grant
franchises for the horse railways in the cities, particularly in New
York and Brooklyn, disclosed new and rich placers which were
worked to their full extent. When I went to Albany in May, 1861,
these corruptions were still discussed in spite of the distant but
audible thunder presaging the direful lightnings of four years of
war. There were two reasons for this exceptional character of the
Legislature of 1862, and for its purity compared with its immediate
predecessors and its successors to this day. It was elected in the
early period of the war when we were all exalted by the vivification
of patriotism, and it performed this work while this exaltation was

War of the Rebellion Series. "jy
bright and clear, as yet undimmed by the meaner motives and pur
poses that at a later date tarnished and vitiated it. There were also
elected to the Assembly or lower house a larger proportion of pub
Uc spirited, experienced and honorable men than had been chosen
in recent years. Among these were Henry J. Raymond, the
brUliant editor of The New York Times, who had been a member
of the same body in 1850 and 1851, being its Speaker in the former
year and was in 1855 and 1856 Lieutenant-Governor of the State.
Calvin T. Hulburd, of St. Lawrence county, and subsequent mem
ber of Congress for two terms; Charles L. Benedict, of Brooklyn,
United States District Judge since 1865; Lemuel Stetson, of Qinton,
who besides other offices held by him was a member of Assembly
in 1835, 1836 and 1842; Peter A. Porter, of Niagara, son of Peter
B. Porter, who was Secretary of War in 1828; Thomas S. Gray,
.of Warren; Ezra Cornell, of Tompkins; Benjamin Pringle, of
Genesee; Tracy Beadle, of (Themung; Royal Phelps, of New York;
Benjamin F. Tracy, of Tioga, now* Secretary of the Navy; Chauncey
M. Depew, who thus began his public career, and many others of
similar high character, were among the members of this body, of
which Mr. Raymond was elected Speaker. The Senate, while not
containing so many distinguished men, was a highly reputable
body. The Governor's message was largely occupied by questions
connected with the conduct of the war, and these of course occupied
a great part of the attention of the lawmakers.
There had been for several weeks an increasing misunderstanding
on the part of the Governor and Inspector-General Patrick. The
latter said that he had been promised the rank of major-general in
the State service and every possible aid and support in his project
*This material was written in 1889.

78 Annual Report of the State Historian.
to represent the State troops in the field and carry out the several
purposes hitherto mentioned (page 68, supra). My official relations
to General Patrick as his acting assistant at Albany made me well
acquainted with his grievances, though I was never satisfied as to
the sufficiency of their grounds. He was a sincerely upright and
honorable man, but better qualified to deal with military than with
civil affairs. He was methodical, industrious and one of the most
open and transparent characters I ever knew. I think that there
was some secret influence operating against him either of a personal
or political nature and that Governor Morgan was anxious to get
rid of him, though I cannot believe that the Governor would have
wilfully deceived him. The controversy was a very disagreeable
incident to me, particularly as General Patrick, in his irascibUity,
wanted to appeal from the Governor to the Legislature at a time
when harmony between those distinct authorities was more than
usually desirable. General Patrick's appointment as a brigadier-
general of volunteers led to his resignation from the Governor's
staff early in February and fortunately ended the dispute. He subse
quently became famous as provost-marshal-general of the Armies of
the Potomac and the James. His successor as inspector-general
was General C. A. Arthur, who was promoted from the position of
engineer-in-chief. The recent danger of a foreign war suggested the lack of
defensive preparations upon our part, and several legislative com
mittees considered this proposition, particularly in regard to our
naval forces on the lakes. The subject most discussed was the
enlargement of the canals and their locks so as to admit the passage
of gun boats, and several reports were made on this subject. State
Engineer Taylor reported that to convert the Champlain canal into

War of the Rebellion Series. 79
a ship canal would cost $3,750,000, and the enlargement of the locks
on the Erie and Oswego canals so as to admit the passage of gun
boats of 400 tons would cost $3,500,000. Nothing practical camp
of this discussion, but it was obvious that time would be required
for these enlargements that could not be spared in a sudden
emergency. I made the proposition that it would be much easier
to convey vessels from the Hudson to Lakes Erie and Ontario
by means of the double tracked Central railroad; the vessels to
rest in cradles supported by trucks running on each track with
proper inclined planes at the Hudson river and the lakes for draw
ing out and again launching the vessels. This would require the
substitution of temporary tressel-work bridges for such as had the
track running on their lower chords and the temporary removal
of the canal viaduct near Syracuse, but these constructions and
removal could be simultaneously conducted and would occupy but
a short time. Mr. Taylor thought my plan feasible and I beUeve
it could have been carried out had occasion required.
There was some talk of taking the partially constructed Stevens
steam battery at Hoboken and converting it into an efficient means
of harbor defense. The Hoboken Stevens family had a hereditary
interest in steam navigation through John Stevens and Robert L.,
his son. The former had rivaled Fulton in the practical construction
of steamboats and had proposed iron-clad batteries; the latter had
been commissioned by the United States government in 1842 to
construct according to his father's plans, improved by himself, a
floating iron-clad battery for the defence of New York harbor.
Work was immediately begun upon it, but the rapid alternative
development of ordnance and defensive armor interrupted its
progress and finally appropriations were withheld. Robert L.

8o Annual Report of the State Historian.
Stevens died in 1856, and his battery about half finished was on the
stocks at Hoboken when the war broke out. Our naval author
ities were disinclined to recommend its completion and the success
of Ericsson's " monitor " naval vessels Jurther diverted attention
from it. After the war a final effort was made by the Stevens family
to have it finished, but this failing it was broken up. Though it
never reached a practical trial it is interesting as an example of the
early appreciation of the modern iron-clad naval system by a dis
tinguished and public spirited American engineer.
There were the usual number of inventors and projectors impor
tunately pressing upon the notice of the Legislature their various
engines of war or novel means for defense. Nothing was done
however but to listen.
One of the earliest lessons of the war had been the inadequacy of
our State militia laws, and by the Governor's direction General
Wm. H. Anthon, judge-advocate-general on his staff, had prepared
the draft of a new law, which being introduced in the Assembly
was referred to the military committee. This bill provided for the
enrollment of able-bodied citizens between the ages of eighteen and
forty-five years as liable to military duty and forming the militia
of the State. This was divided into two classes^first the organized
voluntary force to be known as the National Guard, to be armed,
uniformed, equipped and otherwise aided at the expense of the State;
detailed ahd definite provision was made for the organization and
government of this force which under the terms of the Constitution
was entitled to the election of its own officers. The remainder of the
militia formed the reserve force subject to a draft of such number for
active service as the public exigencies might demand from time to
time, and detailed provisions were made for the conduct of such

War of the Rebellion Series. 8i
drafts when so required. General Anthon was a lawyer of ability,
and had carefully prepared this bill and discussed it before the com
mittees of both houses. It was also considered, section by section,
in the houses, and after the amendment of details was passed by
a large vote in substantially the same general form as when intro
duced. This law provided for the appointment of an assistant
inspector-general with the rank of colonel, to which place I was
appointed on April 23, 1862, the day after the passage of the law
which provided that the duties of the office should include the
auditing of all accounts for military purposes. My general duties
were the same as I had theretofore rendered, but were now recog
nized as worthy of high rank.
Beyond the appropriation for the regular military establishment
no allotment of funds for future expenditures were made at this
session comparable with those for 1861. The sum of $50,000 for
reimbursement of the militia regiments for their uniforms lost or
destroyed in active service in the last year and the sum of $500,000
for the payment of military expenses incurred in the State and not
otherwise provided for were appropriated. I was secretary of the
two boards of audit for claims payable from these appropriations.
It was now evident that the conduct of the war so far as con
cerned expenditures for the organization and equipment of the
troops must be controUed by the United States, the States limiting
their outlay to the support of the militia not in the general service,
to works of benevolence, to such matters as concerned the appoint
ment and promotion of regimental officers and the preparation and
preservation of the records of all troops from each State, to which
was added subsequently the cost of bounties for enlistment. The
6

S2 Annual Report of the State Historian.
State of New York had exceeded all others in its appropriation of
funds for the war. In April 1861, in addition to the $3,000,000 for
raising two years volunteers (Chap. 277), there was appropriated
$500,000 to provide arms and equipments for the militia and pro
vide for the public defence (Chap. 292). Under the former appro
priation a contract was made with Schuyler, Hartley and Graham,
of New York, on April 24, 1861, whereby the senior partner, Mr.
Jacob R. Schuyler, was to proceed to Europe and purchase 25,000
stand of Enfield or Minie rifles or rifled muskets with bayonets
and fixed ammunition for the same, and on August 20th a similar
contract was made with the same parties to procure 10,000 stand
of like arms for the militia payable from the fund appropriated for
that end by Chapter 292. At the very outbreak of hostilities the
dearth of arms at the North had been a grave matter for considera
tion. The national arsenals had been surreptitiously depleted and
their contents sent to the slave States. There were but two armories
making small arms, one at Springfield, Mass., and one at Harpers
Ferry, Va., and the latter was captured by the rebels in April (1861)
and destroyed by them when they evacuated that place two months
later, and the capacity at Springfield was probably not more than
100 muskets per diem, but a drop in the bucket, while the private ,
armories were not adapted to the making of military arms. There
was, therefore, a great demand upon the European stocks of these
articles, and agents of the United States and the various loyal States
were early abroad competing with speculative buyers and agents
of the insurgent States. Not only were arms of recent and improved
kinds bought, but the stores of discarded arms in every country
were gathered and sent to us. Old muskets from France, Austria,
Belgium and England were shipped in large quantities up to the

War of the Rebellion Series. 83
middle of 1863, and many scandalous transactions resulted from
the sale of these both to the United States and the States, and there
was also the danger of such an introduction into active service of
arms of different calibres as would confuse the proper distribution
of ammunition and lead to disasters. On June 17th a general
notice was issued by the chief of ordnance, that ammunition of the
calibre of the United States muskets would alone be issued. From
all these scandals and mishaps our State escaped through the good
management of its officials, and no arms were purchased except
Enfield rifled muskets of the regulation United States caUbre of
.58 inch. Of these Mr. Schuyler obtained for the two years volun
teers 19,000 stand, and for the militia 6,080 stand at an average cost
of about $17.60 delivered at New York. The competition in Europe
between the various agents became so strong and prices advanced
so rapidly, both through the demand for America and several
other countries, and the bids of speculators, that in November
Secretary Cameron requested the States to withdraw their agents,
leaving the procurement and supply of arms to the United States.
Of course there was a general compliance with this request. There
were purchased forty field pieces of 3.67 inch bore, rifled and rein
forced at the breech on the " Parrott " principle, with carriages,
caissons, short battery and forge wagons, with solid and hollow
ammunition for the same. The guns known as " Parrott guns "
were contracted for and made under the supervision of Major
Richard Delafield, United States engineers, stationed at New York,
whose advice and active labor were always at our disposal. I may
add here that in the last two years of the war there was no dearth
of rifled muskets. The Springfield armory turned out 1,000 of them
daily, and the aggregate product by private armories equalled this.

84 Annual Report of the State Historian.
Tlie period of the second levy by the State beginning July i, 1861,
may be considered as ending on March 31, 1862,* and the force
was distributed among the various arms of the service as follows:
65 regiments infantry  '  59.^83 men
9 regiments cavalry  8,742
2 regiments engineers  1,000
3 regiments artillery 
4 battalions artillery  ' 6,584
9 batteries artillery 
Total in new organizations  76.3^9
Recruits sent to regiments, etc., in the field.  12,500 " .,

Total  *88,889 "
On December 3, 1861, was issued General Order No. 105
of the War Department, announcing that no more regiments,
batteries or independent companies were to be raised by the
States except upon special requisition, and providing an elabor
ate system of recruiting for regiments, etc., in the field.
During the winter General McQellan and his division and
brigade officers were actively engaged in drilling into effective
condition the troops assembled at and near Washington, the
greater part of them on the Virginia side of the Potomac. Not
only were there regular daUy exercises in company, regimental
and brigade tactics, but frequent reviews whereby the army
became conscious of its size and condition, and gained the con-
* In this levy is included much the greater part of the effective cavalry,
engineers and artillery organized in the State during the whole war. The
regiment composing the levy had a longer service and on the whole more
severe service than the others.

War of the Rebellion Series. 85
fidence impaired by the disasters of 1861. General McCleUan
deserves great credit for his ability tO' convert these raw troops
into an army, and he gained by it that admiration and enthusiastic
attachment that survived his usefulness and was the cause of many
cabals and conspiracies injurious to the cause of the Unionists. The
muddy and impracticable condition of the Virginia roads was given
as the cause of inactivity, and no engagements occurred during the
whole winter. General Lee's line being in front of Manassas, so
that the two armies confronted each other for two months. Our
long remembered daily announcement in the papers was "All is
quiet on the Potomac." This monotonous news irritated the
ardent and impatient and soon there was a counter demand for an
advance upon the enemy — " On to Richmond " was the cry that
became vociferous when we heard of the capture of Forts Henry
and Donelson on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. When
we heard our commanding officer's reply to General Buckner's pro
posal for a capitulation of Fort Donelson on February i6th in
these words : " No terms except an unconditional and immediate
surrender can be accepted. / propose to move immediately upon your
¦works," there was a thrill of exultation and pride in the heart of
every patriotic citizen, and thenceforth the name of " Ulysses S.
Grant " was a household word beneath every loyal roof-tree. The
demand for prompt and vigorous action on the Potomac was now
overpowering; the knowledge that the army was in excellent con
dition and provided in every respect gave added strength to the
demand. Succumbing to the popular pressure an advance was
made on March 6th only to find the Rebel army gone, the earth
works provided with " Quaker " guns, the cantonment destroyed
and the whole plan of the campaign frustrated by this unexpected

86 Annual Report of the State Historian.
stratagem. The bitter disappointment and chagrin of our people
was only relieved by the announcement that General McClellan,
relieved from " the command of the army," that is of all the United
States forces (March nth), had projected a movement upon Rich
mond upon the line of the James river. This radical change in the
road " On to Richmond " distracted all minds for the time from
criticism of the failure at Manassas, and relying upon the superior
inteUigence and military genius of the general in command, we saw
with high hopes the Army of the Potomac embark for " the penin
sula " between Chesapeake bay and the James river.

No. 3.
THIRD LEVY-CFIRST PART) APRIL U iS62, TO
DECEMBER 31, 1862.

THE record of the second levy ends with March 31, 1862,
but I have not included within that period the dramatic
episode of the Merrimac. It was known that the Confederate
government was fitting this old naval vessel as an iron-clad with
batteries protected by a sloping roof of iron plates and provided
with a " ram " at its bows. It was reported that her destination
was the seaboard cities of the North, and that New York was the
favored objective point. During the discussion in the Legislature
of the defenseless condition of that city so sharply suggested by
our recent fears of a war with England, this probable attack by
the Confederate iron-clad was considered and we again realized our
helplessness. Only one desperate resource remained, and that was
to collect in the upper bay all the available steam vessels, including
ferry boats and tugs, and in a compact fleet to bear down upon the
iron-clad and board her, and by mere overpowering numbers
smother her. It was a barbaric project, like a thousand naked
Indians overbearing a mailed knight; hundreds would be killed and
numberless vessels destroyed, but in the end the enemy must have
succumbed to the swarm of assaUants. On March 8th came the
telegraphic message from the Secretary of War that the Merrimac
had that day destroyed the Cumberland and Congress and disabled
the remainder of our fleet in Hampton Roads and would probably
leave there immediately for New York. There were hurried councils

88 Annual Report of the State Historian.
and telegraphic warnings sent to New York, where great alarm was
felt, but before any preparations could be even improvised we
heard of the theatrically opportune arrival of the " Monitor " at
Hampton Roads on March 9th and of the retreat of the Merrimac
at the end of that eventful day— a day that instantaneously changed
the methods of naval warfare. It was the second escape of New
York city within six months, and yet to this day when I write,
twenty-seven years later, no adequate defence for the great metro
poUtan city has been provided.* Was there ever before such a
shiftless, happy-go-lucky people?
On April 2d General McQeUan reached Fortress Monroe, where
his entire army of 115,000 men was soon after assembled to begin
the famous " Peninsula campaign " which has since been the cause
of so much discussion and acrimony. It was a splendid army both
in personal and material elements; it had the most enthusiastic
admiration for and confidence in its commander; every possible
resource of the government had been freely drawn upon for its
equipment; it had the good wishes, the confidence, the tearful
prayers of our loyal people. It was the first grand army and the
first great enterprise of that army in our efforts to restore the
Union. We read with pride and joyous anticipation that the first
advance would be to occupy the historic Yorktown, where the
surrender of Cornwallis had practically closed our Revolutionary
struggle and made us a nation. It seemed a happy augury that
the first great encounter to preserve that nation would occur upon
that memorable field. Day after day we heard that our army was
confronting the rebel earthworks there ; that breaching batteries were
being constructed and great guns brought up from the fort, and
that the attack was about to be made. I recaU the discussions
* See Appendix " C."

War of the Rebellion Series. 89
around the Capitol, the newspaper dispatches, the official communi
cations from Washington, the private advices from our troops, and
in all these there was the single hue of trust in the commander and
his army and reliance upon success. So those precious spring
days slipped away and the army confronted the earth-works
stretched across the peninsula for thirteen miles and so scantily
manned, and yet such a formidable bugbear that our splendid army
was paralyzed there for thirty days. We fretted at this obstacle,
though in our simple faith we believed it insuperable, and thought
our final triumph none the less assured because of the delay. And
when on May 5th the works were taken because there were no
troops defending them, we still were deluded by the idea that this
was scientific warfare and therefore the best. Our small success
at West Point, on York river, and the evacuation of Norfolk by
the rebels seemed to be a foretaste of the speedy occupation of
Richmond. Then came the repulse of our fleet under Commodore
Rodgers at Drewrys Bluff, only eight miles below Richmond on
the James river, and on the 20th of May we read that our army
had reached the Chickahominy — a new, strange name not yet lurid
with bloody disasters and miasmatic poison. I need not recount
the story of those eventful weeks of alternate hope and depression,
of how the celebrated " Stonewall " Jackson foiled our Generals
McDoweU, Banks and Fremont in the Shenandoah country and
then rapidly joined his forces with Lee. From Seven Pines and
Fair Oaks to Malvern HUl the various battles were waged for five
hot pestUential weeks, and after a successful battle at Malvern HiU
we learned on the fourth of July that our army had on the previous
day retreated in disorder to Flarrisons Landing on the James river.
We could not believe that this was the fatal end of our campaign
"On to Richmond;" we were beguiled by the announcement that

90 Annual Report of the State Historian.
a " change of base " had been accomplished, a new phrase that was
accepted as conveying the idea of consummate strategy. How
many of us remember our first acquaintance with that specious
phrase and its temporary consolations.
During these days of anxiety and suspense, matters had been
very quiet in the military department of the State. Recruiting for
regiments in the field was continued, but with very meagre
results. We were absolutely bewildered by the conflict between our
bright anticipations in May and the awful losses on the Chicka
hominy. If such an invincible army led by a " young Napoleon "
could make no headway there was little encouragement for mere
civilians to enlist. Strenuous efforts were made to return to the
army the many absentees.*.
Governor Morgan had daily a meeting of his staff to discuss
openly all matters, and the head of each department brought for
ward matters for inquiry and consideration. Inspector-General
Arthur being resident at New York, I represented our department
at these daily reunions, which were productive of great benefit and
harmony to the military administration. The fearful slaughter in
the battles on the York and James rivers gave us a realizing sense
of war in its more awful aspects. The ready water communication
enabled the transportation of many of the wounded to purer air and
* In fact, absenteeism was a monstrous evil in the army. General Orders
Nos. 60 and 61 of the War Department early in June, 1862, were directed
against this insidious depletion of our active force. The latter orders said:
" The great number of officers absent from their regiments without sufficient
cause is a serious evil that calls for immediate correction," and this was in
the very midst of the desperate struggle on the James River. Subsequently,
in a Congressional investigation, it was asserted that hundreds of leaves of
absence and furloughs from the Army of the Potomac during the Peninsula
campaign were issued upon direct solicitation by Members of Congress.
Such a scandalous misuse of official influence astonished us, but we subse
quently became more accustomed to the unwarrantable interference with
military matters by our legislators.

War of the Rebellion Series. 91
better attention at the North, where the land was aflame with pity,
sympathy and zeal. One steamboat brought a load of the wounded
to Albany, where they were transferred to the hospitals and engaged
the constant ministrations of the compassionate. The sanitary and
Christian commissions now began on a large scale those benefi
cent and wonderful tasks that will make their names immortal.
Surgeon-General Vander Poel's suggestion that a corps of volun
teer surgeons be organized to aid the regular medical staff in the
field was approved by Secretary Stanton. General Vander Poel
organized such a special corps, comprising some of the most highly
qualified surgeons in the State, who were commissioned by Gov
ernor Morgan and under Surgeon-General Vander Poel's super
vision rendered great aid in the field and hospital service during
the terrible spring and summer of 1862. General Vander Poel went
to Fortress Monroe in the latter part of April to superintend the
transportation of the sick and wounded to the more bracing air of
the North and made himself well acquainted with the needs of the
medical service.
The disasters to our troops in the Shenandoah country led to a
requisition upon us in the latter part of May for all our avaUable
National Guard regiments for a three months service, and 8,588
such troops were within a few days sent forward to Washington
and the vicinity.*
On June 3d were issued general orders for the enrollment under
the recent militia law of all persons in the State liable to militia
duty. This work, under the provisions of the law, was to be per
formed by the officers of the National Guard. It was directed that
* These regiments were Seventh, Eighth, Eleventh, Twenty-second,
Twenty-fifth, Twenty-seventh and Seventy-first. When their three months
term of service expired on September ist, there had been nearly twice their
number of new three year regiments sent to the field.

92 Annual Report of the State Historian.
the enrollment should be complete by July ist in order that the
State might be prepared to meet further requisitions for troops by
a draft from the great mass of the enrolled militia. There were,
however, great differences of opinion in our staff council as to the
expediency of abandoning volunteer enlistment and resorting to a
draft. There had been two general orders issued providing for the
organization of volunteers, one on November 26, 1861 (No. 113),
and one on May 23, 1862 (No. 31), neither of which had accom
plished any considerable result. This, however, was not so much
attributable to the methods and their details as enjoined by such
orders as to the general apathy prevalent at that period originating
in the military conditions. Early in January a mixed military and
naval expedition under General Ambrose E. Burnside and Commo
dore L. M. Goldsborough had sailed from Fortress Monroe for
the North Carolina coast and obtained a lodgment on Roanoke
Island which was the base of an occupation on Pamlico Sound that
was never relinquished. Then we had the good news about Forts
Henry and Donelson in Western Tennessee. About the end of
February General Butler and Captain Farragut left Fortress Monroe
with a mixed military and naval force for Ship Island, in the Gulf
of Mexico, and in April came the glorious news of the passage of
Forts St. PhiUp and Jackson, on the Mississippi river, and then of
the capture of New Orleans. In this same month (AprU 6-7) was
fought the desperate battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing in
Tennessee near the Mississippi boundary, foUowed by our posses
sion of the Mississippi river down to Vicksburg. But all these
successful enterprises were in the West and Southwest, and our
attention in New York was directed more to the Army of the
Potomac, largely composed of our regiments. In fact during the
entire war our closest sympathies were with this army — we had

War of the Rebellion Series. 93
regiments in other armies, I might say in all other armies; we
mourned over our defeats and exuUed over our victories where-
ever and by whomever fought, but stUl the armies in Eastern
Virginia were not only nearest in distance but closer to our hearts
and our imagination. From' November ist to Mjarch ist that army
was practically on guard in front of Washington, and the tiresome
reiteration of its inaction, of its petty affairs of parades or discom
forts, roused no such depth of interest or feeling as would stimulate
recruiting. The enroUment of the miUtia, impeded by the absence of so many
officers of the National Guard in service, was not half com
pleted when the series of disasters on " the Peninsula " ending in
the retreat to Harrisons Landing, brought us face to face with the
supreme peril of our cause and there was the most grave appre
hension throughout the North. Upon an original invitation by
Governor Morgan, nineteen Governors of the loyal States united
on June 28th in an address to the President proposing that " in
view of the important military movements now in progress and the
reduced condition of our effective forces in the field " they respect
fully request the President to call upon the several States for such
numbers of men as would fill up the regiments in the field and also
add largely to the volunteer armies then in the field, and furthermore
expressing the strong desire of the citizens they represented " to aid
promptly in furnishing aU the reinforcements you may deem needful
to sustain our Government." This vigorous address was answered
in an equally prompt and vigorous tone by the President on July
1st in a call for 300,000 additional volunteers, to be chiefly infantry.
In the meantime the situation had been fully discussed and it was
determined to adopt a new plan of recruitment, and one that, whUe
stimulating local pride and emulation, would also engage the active

94 Annual Report of the State Historian.
assistance of eminent and influential men in every part of the State.
There are thirty-two State Senatorial Districts, and in each of these
a regimental camp was to be established, and a district military
committee composed of twelve or more prominent citizens selected
from both political parties.* On July 2d Governor Morgan issued
a stirring proclamation setting forth the pressing need of reinforc
ing the armies and appeaUng to aU patriotic citizens to aid.f Then
began the most glorious and purely patriotic endeavor of our Em
pire State, when her vast resources and endurance were strained
to the utmost with such an outcome in men, considering their
numbers and quality, as has never been surpassed. Then the days
of labor by the Governor, the staff and subordinates seldom ended
before midnight, and often were prolonged far beyond that hour.
On July 7th were issued General Orders No. 52, prescribing the
details of enlistment and organization of the troops to be raised
under the President's call. Regimental camps were to be estab
lished in each Senatorial District, except in the first seven districts,
comprising the counties of Suffolk, Queens, Richmond, Kings and
New York, within which metropolitan districts persons organizing
regiments might select the location of the camp subject to the
approval of the Governor. A commander of each proposed regi
ment was to be designated by the Governor, to be commissioned on
its completion; and in addition an adjutant, quartermaster and sur
geon; the first two, upon the nomination of the commander, were
to be appointed in advance by the Governor, and immediately mus
tered into service. Upon the application of persons approved by
* Unfortunately I am not able to give a list of the committeemen, which
would form rolls of honor similar to the lists of like patriotic " War Com
mittees " immediately before and during our Revolutionary War.
t Among the many responses to this appeal, reinforced by patriotic heat,
was the proposal of a Sunday school teacher in New York to raise a com
pany of soldiers to be composed of " professors of religion." No discrimi
nation as to sect was named, but probably it " went without saying " that no
Quakers were expected to enlist in the choice company.

War of the Rebellion Series. 95
the regimental commanders, the Governor would issue certificates
granting authority to enroll volunteers, and entitling each person
so authorized to the commission of second lieutenant when not
less than thirty men were enroUed by him and had been mustered;
of first lieutenant when not less than forty such men had been
mustered, and of captain when eighty-three, the minimum of a
company, had been mustered. Provision was made for the mus
ter into service of the company and field officers when the proper
number of recruits and companies had been mustered in. The
pay of the enlisted men began from the date of enrollment, and
of officers from the date of muster in. All the proper expenses of
recruitment were payable by the United States mustering officers,
and subsistence in camp was furnished by contractors, paid by the
General Government. Clothing, equipments, etc., were to be issued
to the proper regimental staff officers, upon requisitions upon the
chiefs of the State military departments, who in turn obtained their
suppUes by requisition upon the proper officers of the General
Government. There had been a great advance since the first
levy. The Governor, as commander-in-chief, was now the supreme
power and selected the commandants of the prospective regi-
ments; authority to recruit came from him, upon the approval
of these commandants, and every vestige of the system of election
of officers had disappeared. We had learned that war was such
a barbarous institution that it could not be conducted upon the
democratic principles of our civil polity. The autocratic concen
tration of power in the Governor gave energy and harmony to
our work, and this effect was manifested in every direction.* Now,
* But this was in reality a violation of the State Constitution, which pro
vided that the militia should elect its own officers ; and the volunteers were a
part of the militia, for if they were not, then how could the Governor appoint
and commission them? The United States Constitution provides that offi
cers of the United States shall be appointed by the President and Senate, so
these officers of volunteers were not officers of the United States; and if

96 Annual Report of the State Historian.
too, we enjoyed fully the advantages of our Governor's position
as major-general, which enabled prompt and favorable arrange
ments with the United States military establishment. Captain
Henry C. Hodges, of the United States Quartermaster Depart
ment, was detailed as quartermaster on Major-General Morgan's
staff. He was an excellent officer, efficient, vigorous and cour
teous. He is now a deputy quartermaster-general. Captain George
W. Wallace, of the First United States Infantry, one of the unfor
tunate paroled officers of Twigg's command in Texas, was com
missary of subsistence on the staff. He is now a Ueutenant-colonel
on the retired list.* The contracts made through these officers by
the Governor aggregated a large sum, of which I kept a record
and a copy of each contract, with a debit and credit account of
all deliveries of supplies and payments thereon, and upon my check
of the accounts they were approved by the Governor. Under, this
call it became necessary to concentrate at New York the requisi
tions for uniforms, blankets, tents, etc., to be filled there by Lieuten
ant-Colonel Vinton, deputy quartermaster-general United States
Army, whose depot of supplies was on Broadway near Canal street.
This concentration of work in New York, where General Arthur
was resident, and more particularly his superior ability, caused an
exchange of places between him and General Van Vechten, the for
mer becoming, on July 9th, the quartermaster-general and the lat
ter, inspector general.f
officers of the State, they were officers of the militia, the appointment of
which that instrument concedes to the several States. It was another
instance of the supreme need to suspend certain constitutional obligations in
order to save the Union.
* Colonel Wallace was promoted major of the Sixth Infantry in 1862; lieu
tenant-colonel of the Twelfth Infantry in 1866. He was retired December
IS, 1870, and died 12 October 1888.
t Regarding General Arthur's Headquarters, see Appendix B, " Head
quarters, Depots, Etc."

War of the Rebellion Series. ' 97
Congress during the session ended July 17th had provided that
every volunteer enlisting for three years should receive, when mus
tered into service, one-quarter of the bounty of $100 provided by
the act of July 22, 1861, and might also draw at the same time
one month's pay. These were inducements to some extent, since
they gave the recruit a fund to leave with his family, but in the
competition between counties and States there was being paid in
Massachusetts and Connecticut a further bounty which placed us
at a serious disadvantage, and the discussions at our staff meetings
led to the conviction that some further encouragement must be
offered, and that to prevent rivalry and extravagant competition
and outbidding, a uniform State bounty was advisable. Fortu
nately we had not only an energetic and courageous Governor,
but an equally so Comptroller in Lucius Robinson. The State
Constitution, in terms, forbade the payment of any money from the
treasury or the contracting of any debt upon public account, except
in pursuance of a law enacted by the Legislature. The Governor
had power to convene that body, but this would delay action that
must be immediate, if at all, and besides it was undesirable to
add to the difficulties and distractions of that period by the con
vocation of a body that once in session would have power to trans
cend the purposes for which convoked. The Governor and Comp
troller, after conferences with the officers of the principal banks
at Albany and New York and the counsels of many prominent
citizens, concluded to take the responsibility of borrowing and
expending enough money to pay a bounty of fifty dollars to every
recruit when mustered into service, enlisting either in the regi
ments about to be raised or in those in the field. These sagacious
and intrepid officers believed that our patriotic citizens would insist
that this action should be legalized by the Legislature at its next
7

98 Annual Report of the State Historian.
session, and the general acquiescence and applause by the public
press, when their determination was announced, seemed an earnest
that they would not suffer.*
On July 17th the Governor issued a proclamation setting forth
the desirability of a uniform bounty, the exigent demand for some
action and that such a bounty of fifty dollars would be paid to each
recruit. General Orders on July 19th prescribed the details of pay
ment of this bounty, one-half when the recruit was accepted and
the other half when his regiment was mustered into service. Under
this stimulant, but more particularly through the general popular
sentiment as to the need of military reinforcements, the patriotic
endeavor of the several district committees and the emulation of
localities, the enlistments day after day exceeded by far any period
of the war. The staff departments were humming like beehives;
committeemen from every district were arriving and departing;
authorizations to raise companies were issued daily by the hun
dred and every nerve and muscle were strained to keep pace with
the popular ardor and to provide for the swarms of recruits at every
camp. In the meantime the enrollment of the militia was slowly
progressing, and as it was a menace of the much-feared draft, it
added to the incentives to rapid recruitment. I also had in hand
the preparatory work for the several auditing boards for military
claims, of which I was the secretary. The unprecedented rapidity
of enlistments and their collection at so many camps caused the
issue of General Orders No. 62, on July 28th, providing for a sys
tematic and regular inspection of the camps by the Inspector-
General's Department. For this purpose Colonel John Bradley,
* The total amount of the bounties paid under this arrangement reached
$2,721,050, and the Legislature at its session in 1863 passed an act legalizing
the payment and providing means to reimburse the patriotic banks that had
advanced the funds.

War of the Rebellion Series. 99
who had been acting as our State agent at Washington, and Colonel
EUiott F. Shepard, one of the Governor's aids, were attached to
our department as acting assistant inspector-generals. The State
was divided into four grand districts of inspection: General Van
Vechten taking the metropolitan district of New York city. Long
and Staten islands; to me were assigned the camps at Yonkers
and Sing Sing, Newburgh and Goshen, Poughkeepsie, Kingston,
Hudson, Albany, Troy, Salem, Plattsburgh, Schoharie, Fonda, and
Mohawk and Herkimer. The other camps were divided between
Colonels Bradley and Shepard. A sketch of my duties under this
order for three weeks may give a clear idea of the great work of
reinforcing our armies that was so successfully and gloriously accom
plished by our State in the summer and autumn of 1862. On July
29th I left Albany early for Newburgh, where, after a hurried con
ference with some members of the district committee, one of their
number, Mr. A. Post, accompanied me to New Windsor to see
Mr. A. Van Horn Ellis, the selected commandant of the regiment.
Mr. ElUs had a beautiful residence on the banks of the river and
every reason to enjoy life. He was one of the devoted men of
the day who felt that their place was in the field of danger. After
some talk as to the relative merits of Newburgh or Goshen as the
location of the camp, I left for Kingston, where Mr. George H.
Sharpe had been selected as commandant of what was to be the
One Hundred and Twentieth Regiment. The camp was placed
upon a plain near the village, and some recruits were already
collected and under canvas. The adjutant and quartermaster were
gaining some intelligence in their duties. On the 31st I visited
Hudson, where David S. Cowles, a prominent lawyer, had been
selected as commandant of the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth
Regiment. Few recruits had as yet been collected, but the reports

loo Annual Report of the State Historian.
were very favorable. Here, as at Newburgh and Kingston, I was
deeply impressed by the earnest and serious interest in military
matters evinced by every one I met. The members of the district
committees were very active, but it was the general popular sense
of the gravity of the situation that was most noteworthy. On
August 1st I reached Fonda, where many recruits were coUected,
as also at Mohawk, where the camp was being laid out upon a
height above the river, opposite Herkimer. Upon my return to
Albany I induced the Governor to modify his order that barracks
should not be built, but tents issued for encampment, for such were
the increasing numbers of enlistments that tents could not pos
sibly be procured in time. On Monday, the 4th of August, I
inspected the One Hundred and Thirteenth Regiment at Albany,
which was quartered at the " industrial school " barracks, occupied
by us since April of the previous year. Many of the new regiments
were to be commanded by officers of the regular army and others
by experienced officers from our State volunteer regiments in the
field. They thus went into service with a great advantage over
those of the earlier levies. The colonel of the One Hundred and
Thirteenth was Captain Lewis O. Morris, of the First Regiment
Artillery, United States Army. He was killed before Cold Har
bor on June 4, 1864, and Major E. A. Springsteed was killed in
action at Reams Station, Va., on August 25, 1864. The regi
ment had been converted into the Seventh Heavy Artillery.
I reached Plattsburgh on the morning of August 5th, where the
camp had been placed at the old United States barracks on the
bluff overlooking Lake Champlain, south of the village. This regi
ment (the One Hundred and Eighteenth) was commanded by Sam
uel T. Richards, an experienced miUtia officer and excellent dis-
cipUnarian, who had already begun the erection of additional quar-

War of the Rebellion Series. ioi
ters near the barracks. The next day I was at Salem, Washington
county, where the One Hundred and Twenty-third Regiment was
organizing under the command of Archibald L. McDougaU, a young
lawyer of Salem, and who died June 23, 1864, of wounds received in
action near Dallas, Ga. Lieutenant-Colonel Franklin Norton of
this regiment was kUled at the battle of Chancellorsville, Va.
At Troy, the next day, I found a large collection of recruits in
a camp on the banks of the Hudson north of the city. The adjutant
and quartermaster, overburdened by their regular duties, could give
no attention to the discipline, and everything was in a disorganized
state. Hon. John A. Griswold, a wealthy and prominent citizen
of Troy, was the titular commander until relieved by Captain George
L. Willard, Eighth Regiment Infantry, United States Army. I
learned that the district committee was in session in the city hall,
whither I repaired and made a most vigorous protest against the
condition of the camp, threatening to advise the transfer of recruits
to Albany. Being told that Mr. Griswold could not take active
command at the camp, I induced the selection of Colonel Levi Cran-
deU, an old militia officer, and who became lieutenant-colonel of
the regiment (the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth). Colonel Wil
lard was killed at Gettysburg, and Major Aaron B. Myer died of
wounds received in the Wilderness. I mention the names of the
field officers of these regiments that were killed in battle to show
the great mortality on that account.
On the 8th I went to Schenectady to see if Prof. Elias Peissner,
of Union College, could be selected as commander of the regiment
in that district, but learned that he had accepted the command of
a regiment organizing in New York, and which became the One
Hundred and Nineteenth. Colonel Peissner was killed at the bat
tle of Chancellorsville, Va. The regiment in this district was the

I02 Annual Report of the State Historian.
One Hundred and Thirty-fourth, with camp at Schoharie, which
I visited on the 9th and found some progress made. The tem
porary commander was Brigadier-General George E. Danforth, of
the National Guard, but the colonel was Captain Charles R. Coster,
first lieutenant Twelfth Infantry, United States Army, who had
not yet reported for duty. From the 9th to the nth I was engaged
in cleaning up my office work at Albany.
The reports from all parts of the State were of a most encourag
ing character, and the regiment (One Hundred and Seventh) at
Elmira was about complete and several others were nearly so. Gov
ernor Morgan was absolutely indefatigable. He had a vigorous
physical constitution that enabled him to work sixteen hours a day
in these momentous days, and everyone else responded, though
some of them at the risk of health and life. Adjutant-General Hill-
house had a great capacity for work and had an exceUent staff of
clerks. The correspondence and personal conferences conducted
in this office at this time were very large. Quartermaster-General
Arthur exhibited great executive ability, though embarrassed by
the failure of the United States officers to fill his requisitions. In
fact, the unexpectedly rapid progress of enlistment astounded every
one.* On August uth I went to New York to confer with Gen
eral Arthur about supplies for the One Hundred and Thirteenth,
One Hundred and Fifteenth, One Hundred and Twentieth and One
Hundred and Twenty-first regiments in my district, all of which
were rapidly approaching completion. I also submitted plans of
* On August 9th was published the order of the President, dated on the
4th, for a draft of 300,000 militia to be called into immediate service for nin'e
months, the maximum term under the act of July 17, 1862. General Orders
No. 99 of the War Department provided that the draft should be conducted
under orders of the Governors of the several States. The imminent pros
pect of a draft greatly stimulated the endeavors of the several localities to fill
their respective quotas. An account of the enrollment and the reasons for
abandoning the draft will be given later.

War of the Rebellion Series. 103
temporary barracks that I had recommended at the several camps,
of light and rough construction, sided and roofed with inch hem
lock boards and constructed by the recruits, among whom there
were artisans of every kind. Separate buildings 96 feet long by
20 feet wide, 13 feet high on the sides and 19 1-2 feet high at
the roof peak, were of the most convenient size, enabUng the use
of 13-foot boards without cutting, except for large doors and gable
windows at the ends. Four rows of bunks, each three tiers high,
extended the full length, and afforded accommodation in each build
ing for 180 men. The sides were not battened, but spaces were
left between the boards, affording sufficient ventilation, though the
later regiments complained of this free admission of air in the
cooler weather. The contractors for subsistence usually built in
the same manner the mess rooms and kitchens, while the officers
were generally provided with wall tents. Of course these struc
tures were flimsy and unsubstantial, but they subserved their pur
pose at a very trifling cost, since the lumber had a certain value
after this temporary use.
On the I2th I inspected the camp at Goshen, where five barracks
such as I have described were completed, but the messroom and
kitchens not being yet done the recruits were being boarded about
town at a cost of about thirty-five cents each per day. Colonel
Ellis, of this regiment (One Hundred and Twenty-fourth), and
Major Cromwell were killed at Gettysburg. I went the next day
to Sing Sing, where I found very little progress made and a gen
eral opinion that the camp should be located at Yonkers, which I
telegraphed to (^vernor Morgan, and received permission to so
change the camp. This change, however, delayed the completion
of the regiment, which otherwise would have been one of the very
first mustered in. It was organized as the One Hundred and

104 Annual Report of the State Historian.
Thirty-fifth Infantry, and subsequently became the Sixth Artillery.
The colonel was Captain WiUiam H. Morris,* assistant adjutant-
general. United States Volunteers. The lieutenant-colonel, J. How
ard Kitching, who succeeded to the command of the regiment, died
January lo, 1865, from wounds received in action. At Kingston,
the next day (August 14th), I found great progress had been made;
444 men mustered and 400 morereported as enlisted; but the quarters
were inadequate, and as none of the men were uniformed there were
more of them loafing about the vUlage than there were in camp,
where they appeared merely as a mob. Adjutant TuthUl was so
absorbed in his routine work that he could give no attention to
other matters, and Colonel Sharpe was engaged in a personal can
vass of his district to urge enlistments, and so could not* attend
to the discipline in camp. Captain S. S. Westbrook had completed
his company and been mustered into the United States service, and
* General William H. Morris was born in Fordham, Westchester county,
N. Y. Graduated from West Point in the class of 1851. He was assigned
to the Second Infantry, but resigned in 1854 to become assistant editor of the
New York Home Journal, where he was found at the outbreak of hostilities.
He served in the defenses of Washington as captain and assistant adjutant-
general from August 20, 1861, to March, 1862. In the Peninsula campaign
he acted on the staff of General J. J. Peck and took part in the siige of
Yorktown and the battles of Williamsburg and Fair Oaks. He was ap
pointed colonel of the One Hundred and Thirty-fifth New York Volunteers,
which later became the Sixth Heavy Artillery. As brigadier-general he was
in command at Harpers Ferry and Maryland Heights from December, 1862,
to June, 1863; in reserve at the battle of Gettysburg; engaged at Wapping
Heights July 23, 1863; in the Rapidan campaign; in the action of Locust
Grove, Va., November 29, 1863; in the Richmond campaign. Army of the
Potomac; the battle of the Wilderness May 5, 1864; battle of Spottsyl
vania May 9, 1864, where he was severely wounded. He was mustered out
of service August 24, 1864. Was brevetted major-general March 13, 1865,
for gallant services in the battle of the Wilderness. He is the inventor of
the conical repeating carbine and automatic ejecting revolver. He was the
author of a system of infantry tactics. He was a member of the Constitu
tional Convention of the State of New York in 1867, chief of ordnance of
the State of New York January i to October 26, 1870, and inspector-general
January i, 1873, to December 31, 1874.

War of the Rebellion Series. 105
upon my suggestion was made acting commandant of the camp,
where he soon assembled the recruits, who, though as yet deprived
of their equipment, were well sheltered and fed. Indeed the sub
sistence furnished this levy was of an excellent quality,' and the
contractors seemed to have imbibed the patriotic fervor of the hotu".
In some cases the rations were enriched by extra articles furnished
by the district committees. I recall butter as so furnished at Hud
son, and other " camp luxuries " at other places. At Hudson I
found the camp on the agricultural fair grounds, and some need
lessly extravagant barracks being buiU, though I arrived in time
to change the plans of three of them. Colonel Cowles, of this regi
ment (One Hundred and Twenty-eighth), was kUled in action at
Port Hudson. I then inspected the camps at Fonda and Mohawk,
both placed upon sightly hills with excellent drainage, but far from
any water supply. At both places the buildings were completed
and a change of location unadvisable. These camps were fortunate
in the contractor for rations, Mr. John H. Starin, who has since
become a very wealthy and prominent citizen of our State, but
none of whose business concerns can have been more creditable
than were these contracts to feed our recruits, in which he exhibited
his great business sagacity and enterprise, supplemented by patriotic
ardor. He supplied at his own expense water-works, whereby both
these camps had an abundance of pure water. The regiment at
Fonda (One Hundred and Fifteenth) was commanded by Colonel
Simeon Sammons, Mr. Starin's uncle, and that at Mohawk (One
Hundred and Twenty-first) by Colonel Richard Franchot. The
latter, who was then a member of Congress, had accepted the com
mand as locum-tenens for Lieutenant Emory Upton, of the Fourth
Regiment Artillery, United States Army. On the i8th I was en
gaged all day in making the final provision of supplies for the One

io6 Annual Report of the State Historian.
Hundred and Thirteenth Regiment at Albany, which the next day
was fully mustered, aU bounties and advance wages paid, and on
that evening (19th) started for Washington, being the first regi
ment going forward from my grand district.
On the morning of the 19th I was at Plattsburgh, where every
thing was in fine condition, and at the evening parade about 650
men of the One Hundred and Eighteenth Regiment were in line,
exhibiting a state of discipline and training quite honorable to
Colonel Richards and Adjutant Charles E. Pruyn, the latter of
whom, subsequently promoted to the majority, was killed in action
before Petersburg in June, 1864. I found several deserters in arrest,
as also one Antoine Bouchard for assisting desertion. The prox
imity of the Canadian border at this point, readily accessible by
Lake Champlain, made this one of the principal points for the exit
to Canada of both deserters and copperheads. Mr. Ladue, the
sheriff of CUnton county, and his deputies were kept constantly
engaged in guarding against these desertions.
Military matters in Virginia were now more urgent and impor
tant than ever. General Pope was now in command of our main
army, but the rebels, encouraged by McCleUan's unsuccessful cam
paign, were threatening Washington. On August 9th our Gen
eral Banks had been defeated at Cedar Mountain by " StonewaU "
Jackson, and there were indications of an advance in force upon
the capital. The demand for reinforcements were almost daily, and
Governor Morgan was straining every nerve to meet them. On
the 20th I received an order from him to send daily at 8 p. m. a
brief report of every matter of importance connected with the
regiment I had inspected, particularly the date when ready to
move, and iny " proposed destination for the next ensuing day."
From Plattsburgh I went to Salem, where I found the regiment

War of the Rebellion Series. 107
two-thirds full arid in good condition. I took tea with Colonel
McDougaU and his wife at their pleasant home, where in less than
two years she became one of the thousands of widows whose mourn
ing pervaded the land. I recall her gentle melancholy that even
ing as if dark forebodings assailed her heart.
The next day, at Troy, I found the One Hundred and Twenty-
fifth Regiment nearly full, and from there again to Fonda, where the
One Hundred and Fifteenth only lacked, a few of completion.
Upon reporting in person to the Governor on the 23d, he said
that he was much emharrassed about the payment of so many
regiments to be completed almost simultaneously; that Paymaster-
General George Bliss had accepted as assistants in this work Col
onel Arden, one of his aides, and Mr. Frederick G. Burnham. But
the Governor did not deem this aid sufficient, and had proposed
that I should also make these payments. Colonel BUss, a man of
remarkable energy and activity, ever insistent upon the control
of his own field of labor, had protested against my detail, saying
he would not be responsible for me under his bonds. The Gov
ernor, however, did detail me, being himself my only surety, and
I subs'equently paid the bounty to twelve regiments, the total sum
received by the enlisted men in these being $553,225 (to 11,065
men). I will add here that Colonel Bliss was soon reconciled to
my detail, treated me with kind consideration and publicly thanked
me for my assistance. I paid regiments at Fonda, Mohawk, Syra
cuse, Buffalo, Portage, Jamestown, Brooklyn, Troy and Staten
Island. Thus in inspection and pay duties I was enabled to view
the progress and character of this levy in all parts of the State.
This payment of bounty was the most severe and exacting labor
I ever performed; everything was pressing and hasty; daily tele
grams to the Governor from the President or Secretary Stanton

io8 Annual Report of the State Historian.
urged the need of prompt reinforcements, and the Governor, in
turn, furiously spurred all his subordinates to incessant activity.
The regiments were mustered into the United States service on the
day before or often on the very day of payment, and the muster-rolls
were in many cases very confusing and misleading, particularly
where there had been a cotemporaneous equaUzation of companies,
so that the officers and the men themselves were uncertain where
they belonged. At the same time the State bounty was being
paid the United States paymaster was paying the advance
of United States bounty and the month's pay, and the allotment
commissioners were procuring the aUotments of pay. There was
the further difficuUy that a part of the men had received a moiety
of the State bounty and another part had not, and as the regiment
was under orders to march the very next day after the payment,
there was no chance for the correction of any errors. I was totally
unversed in the counting of money, and these separate sums, a
thousand for each regiment, had to be counted, not behind a quiet,
safe, bank counter, but in the open air, amid a hundred distrac
tions, with a rough packing case for a table, and sometimes in
a breeze that threatened to disperse money and pay-rolls in a
most irregular manner. Our money was in the then novel form
of " greenbacks " or Treasury notes,* fresh from the printing
press, and the soft, green pigment constantly coated my fingers
so that I had to have a basin of water beside me in which to wash
them at frequent intervals.
* These " greenbacks " were an interesting novelty at every camp where I
had disbursed them. It may be appropriate to say here that the National
Bank system inaugurated by Secretary Chase was practically the same as
the Free Bank system in operation in New York State since 1842 — at least
in the basic method of securing the notes issued for circulation. The system
had been imperfectly imitated in other States, but in New York the security
exacted was as stable as that on which the National Bank notes rest.

War of the Rebellion Series. 109
My first payment was that of the One Hundred and Fifteenth
Regiment, at Fonda, on August 27th, where there had been a hur
ried equalization of companies the night before and a recast of the
muster and pay rolls by Adjutant Horton, a most worthy man, but
of a nervous temperament and lack of strict business training that
seriously disqualified him for his office, and his rolls were in such
a confused state that the United States mustering officer, the
United States paymaster. Major Paulding, and I were all day
engaged in endeavors to properly decipher them. I found another
morbidly nervous adjutant when I paid the One Hundred and
Thirtieth Regiment, at Portage, on September ist, and what an
anxious day that was. The downpour of rain was copious and
constant, and I did not finish my task until near midnight, paying
for five hours at the broad door of a leaky barrack, by the light of
two flaring tallow candles stuck in beer bottles. A relay of com
pany officers tried to screen the flame with their hands, but so
ineffectually that we were occasionally in darkness, except for the
dim rays of a stable lantern. Poor Cawee, the adjutant, resigned
a month later and shortly after ended his life by suicide.
The amount of work performed by Colonel Bliss within two
months was a remarkable exhibition of physical endurance, and
I felt myself the terrible strain of the daily struggle with respon
sibility and endeavor, with wakeful nights of travel and prepara
tion. While on this duty I met Colonel Bliss, at New York, on
September Sth, when he finally succumbed for a day or so to a
severe attack of diarrhea, impatient and fretful over even so small
a delay. During the first week of this duty I was so engrossed with it
that I did not read a newspaper, and so was unaware of what was
going on in the field, and I recall my grief and depression, on reach-

no Annual Report of the State Historian.
ing Buffalo on the morning of August 31st, to leam of Pope's
great defeat at the second battle of Bull Run — ill-fated name. I
got this news from Mr. (Tharles Van Benthuysen, of Albany, who,
with his wife, was at the same hotel, and who, being a red-hot
copperhead, though usually disguising his disloyal sentiments in a
politic manner, could not conceal his glee over a disaster that he
said proved the failure of the war. While I did not conceal my
disgust at his sentiments (our fathers had been business partners
many years before), I was eager to get the papers and assure myself
of the situation, and blue enough it looked. There probably never
was a darker period in the whole war than after this last of General
Pope's faUures, and this darkness was made more distressing by
the sneers and chuckling of the copperheads on one side and the
" I told you so's " of McQellan's partisans, who attributed all
our misfortunes to the displacement of their favorite and hero.
On September ist occurred the battle of ChantiUy,* another bloody
contest, and the last one under General Pope, who, the next day,
relinquished command of the Army of the Potomac.
On August 30th the Governor, by proclamation, announced that
he believed the quota of the State, by the organization of new regi
ments and by enUstment of recruits for those in the field, was
about filled, therefore the State bounty for the former would cease
after September 5th, but be continued for recruits for the older
* In this battle was killed General " Phil " Kearny, a characteristic " beau
sabreur." I saw him at our office in Albany when he came in June, 1861, to
see General Patrick. Both had served in the Mexican War, where Kearny
lost an arm. He had been unable to get a suitable command from the
authorities of New Jersey, his native State, and had come to see if he could
not get him a commission from New York. This matter was not decided,
but he soon after was appointed by the President a brigadier-general of
volunteers. I can recall his gallant soldierly bearing and his empty sleeve,
that in the early days of our military tutelage appealed sharply to my
sympathy.

War of the Rebellion Series. hi
regiments. Our quota, under the call of July 2, 1862, was 59,700,
and as active recruiting did not begin untU July i8th, nearly 60,000
men had been enlisted in six weeks; a remarkable result. Giving
proper credit for popular patriotic zeal, and for the extraordinary
exertions of the State authorities, there is no doubt they were aided
in this vast achievement by President Lincoln's order on August
4th for a draft of 300,000 militia, to serve nine months, to be made
under the act of July 17, 1862.
During this period many recruits for our regiments in the field
had been forwarded. The conduct of the General Government
regarding the recruiting service was as irregular and spasmodic as
its disposition regarding the raising of new regiments. General
Orders No. 105 of the War Department, issued December 3, 1861,
provided a detailed system for recruiting, and Major J. T. Sprague,
First Infantry, was appointed general superintendent of that serv
ice for our State, but on April 3, 1862, this service was abandoned
and the officers detailed to it were ordered to join their regiments.
Two months later, on July 6th, the service was resumed. Of course
such desultory efforts were not productive of much good; indeed,
the long delay of the army in winter quarters before Washington
repressing recruiting as being needless, and the subsequent disasters
in the essay " On to Richmond " were even more discouraging. I
recall protests against the publication in the newspapers of the ter
ribly long lists of killed, wounded and missing as seriously imped
ing efforts to reinforce the army, as if the repression of such facts
would not have bred imaginary horrors a hundred fold more vivid.
Pope's later campaign had produced many such lists of losses. At
the second battle of Bull Run fifty-two commissioned officers of
New York regiments were killed in action, and by this can be judged
the further number who died of wounds and of the losses in the
ranks.

112 Annual Report of the State Historian.
During August and Septem'ber there were reports of reverses in
Kentucky, and on September 2d General McQellan was made gen
eral commanding the Army of the Potomac, vice Pope. On Sep
tember Sth, General Lee having crossed the Potomac at the fords
near Leesburg and encamped at Frederick, issued an appeal
ing address to the people of Maryland, who, during the whole war,
were presumed by both sides as friendly. It was the first invasion,
in force, of the loyal States, and we beheld with alarm a great
army forty miles north of Washington, and we had to oppose it
an army that had suffered fearfully from overconfidence and
poor strategy, but by its unhappy vicissitudes converted into an
army of stalwart veterans inured to but undismayed by defeat.
On September 14th was fought the battle of South Mountain, and
on the 17th that of Antietam, both severe engagements, and substan
tially drawn battles, though after the latter Lee was able to recross
the Potomac practically without molestation. In these battles fifty-
seven New York regiments were engaged, two of which, the One
Hundred and Seventh and One Hundred and Eighth Infantry of
our third levy, had left the State only a month previously, and at
Antietam received their " baptism of fire." Our regiments lost more
than seventy commissioned officers kUled on the field. These new
lists of casualties again filled the land with mourning, while the
facile return of the enemy to the south bank of Ihe Potomac was
discouraging. It did seem as if thousands of lives were being sac
rificed without any permanent advantage, though this may also have
been the dismal conclusion of the Confederates after their repulse
in Maryland.* It was a strange coincidence that their President,
Davis, had by proclamation named the i8th day of September as

* The failure to pursue Lee was probably attributable to the exhaustion
of two severe battles in which all our force was engaged, leaving no fresh
reserves to follow up success.

War of the Rebellion Series. 113
a day of prayer, inviting the people of the Confederate States to
assemble for worship and to render thanks for the triumphs over
our armies at ChantiUy, Manassas, etc., and that on that very day
Lee's broken columns should be on their retreat southward.
*We had in August and September several alarms that the Con
federate iron-clad Merrimac No. 2 was about to sally out from
the James river and devastate our seaboard cities. Portentous
descriptions of the invulnerability and powerful armament of this
vessel were received through Southern channels, but she failed to
appear. Incidentally, may be mentioned here, the vast mass of
rumors, originating in fervid imaginations, or concocted with pur
poses more or less malign, that vexed us during the whole war.
Some of these frauds were punished, notably an impudent one
hatched by a New York newspaper man who had a chance to cool
his heated fancies in the casemates of Fort Lafayette. The public
mind was so occupied by the facts and fallacies concerning the
details of the war that it now seems astonishing that any attention
could be given to other matters. In those far-off days we first
became accustomed to the cry of "Extra! Extra!!" often startUng
us in the midnight and suggestive of slaughter and bereavements.f
* During the period when paying bounty to regiments near New York,
I found General Arthur overwhelmed by the amount and multiplicity of
duties devolving upon him, and such time as my own duties as paymaster
did not exact I aided him, since there was no officer of sufficient rank in
his office to transact important business. I had been his assistant when
inspector-general and we were college mates, and I know he had confidence
in my fidelity and capacity. The result was that he induced the Governor
to detail me to assist him, particularly in transportation matters, and from
that time — October ist, 1862 — until I finally left the State military service
on January i, i86g, my official headquarters were in New York city.
t It was an unknown blessing in those days that the era of the " yellow
journals " had not come. Their rumors and lies during the recent Spanish
war hatched an " extra " every half hour, and even more often, for Wall
Street consumption. 8

114 Annual Report of the State Historian.
As a whole, the newspaper correspondents in the field were con
scientious and careful men, and such erroneous dispatches as were
sent were attributable to the confusion and distractions incident to
battle, only a small part of which any single observer can see, and
to competitive endeavors to give their papers the earliest news
before it could be verified. We gradually became inured to the
possibly untrustworthy character of the first accounts of military
events. On September 22d President Lincoln issued his ever-memorable
proclamation declaring the emancipation on January i, 1863, of all
slaves in the States then in rebellion. This famous State paper
worked powerful influences in every direction. It was the first
authoritative announcement that the extinction of slavery had
become the objective point of the war for the preservation of the
Union, since the limitation of emancipation to the revolting States
could not prevent as its logical result the extinction of slavery
throughout the restored Union. There had been a certain lack of
courage and candor on this point. The relation of slavery to seces
sion, kept in the background by the South, had not been acknowl
edged by our side for reasons of policy that in part were specious
only. There was a fear of disaffecting the border slave States still
loyal, but in reaUty the effect on these was slight. There had been
a reserved idea that the inviolability of slavery would be a bridge
over which in extremity the seceded States would return, but this
was a hopeful fallacy. The proclamation invigorated the North
and gave to our friends in England such support as enabled them
to enforce the continuance of a neutrality that was obnoxious to
the ruling classes and probably to a majority of the English people.
It had the same repressive effect in France. But while the proc
lamation was joyfully received by the great mass of our people, it

War of the Rebellion Series. 115
gave precision and vigor to the protestations of the " Copperhead
element,"* which now with renewed virulence accused the admin
istration of tyranny, disregard of the Constitution and subversion
of all law and right.
* The prominent representative of this element at Albany was Colonel
Walter S. Churchy whose audacity and skill in dialectics and caustic invec
tive were remarkably exasperating. While we were all enraged by the
vaporings of the Copperheads, there was no general effort to prevent their
freedom of utterance. Some of them wore as a badge the head of " Liberty,"
made by filing away the material surrounding that effigy on the large copper
cent piece of that day — a " copperhead " indeed but at the same time a
reminder of the privilege of perfect liberty. I believe that the injurious
influence of this class of citizens was not so much an encouragement of
the rebellious States as the intimidation of our own government, which
magnified the numbers of the Northern protestants and their influence on
public sentiment.

No. 4.
THIRD LEVY (CONTINUED)- APRIL J, 1862, TO
DECEMBER J, J 862.

THE tenderness of the " secession sympathizers " in the North
for the institution of slavery is a remarkable instance of the
insuperable bigotry of political partisanship. They inveighed
against the edict of General Butler at Fortress Monroe in 1861 that
slaves were "contraband of war"; and while asserting that they
were property, they claimed their immunity from the general mili
tary liabilities of property. Every act or movement in the war that
tended to weaken the institution so sacred in their eyes called forth
their unmeasured denunciations. They had a regular bureau for
the dissemination of pro-slavery literature, and it is wonderful in
the light of to-day to read these publications deifying and conse
crating the vile monster of human servitude a few brief months
before its extinction. And the most sad effect of this propagandism
of the degradation of the negro race was the stimulation of the
hatred of the blacks so long cultivated in the benighted minds of our
foreign population, and finding expression in such acts of vio
lence as the attack of an infuriated mob upon the inoffensive
colored working men and women in Brooklyn on August 4, 1862,
and to the frightful atrocities during the New York riot in July,
1863. I think that the loyal men of those days still living can for
give and forget the Southern rebels and give them fraternal greet-

War of the Rebellion Series. 117
ing, for their education (civil and religious), self-interest, in fact
every condition of their lives might find an excuse for their revolt.
But the copperhead of the North can never be forgiven — he sinned
in the light, in a light after April, 1861, such as that that over
came Saul on the roadside.*
In the latter part of September there was a remarkable con
vention of Governors of Northern States at Altoona, Pa. Gov
ernor Morgan had decUned the invitation to attend; there were
present the Governors of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wis
consin, Michigan, Rhode Island, Virginia, lUinois, Iowa, Indiana
and New Hampshire. The motive of the conference was, I beUeve,
to impress upon the President the necessity of a more vigorous
poUcy; the apparent failure thus far to suppress the rebellion was
the alleged cause of great popular dissatisfaction. The Governors
went from Altoona to Washington and had audience with the
President, but nothing practical resulted from their concerted action.
In fact the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation a day or so
before their meeting took from the latter any importance it other
wise might have had. Governor Morgan was shrewd or fortunate
in being able to decline a participation in this meeting because of
the exigency of his official concerns.
Before October i (1862) we had sent into the field forty-three
infantry regiments, four battalions and one battery of artillery,
* The headquarters of these secession sympathizers in New York city
was the old " New York Hotel " on Broadway, between Washington and
Waverley places, which was demolished about 1896. This hotel had been
a favorite with visitors from the Slave States. Many can recall the groups
who lounged about the hotel entrance in the war times and whose coun
tenances were infallible indices of the varying military conditions; if these
were favorable to us the faces were glum and dejected, but if we had
reverses there were exulting smiles and derisive laughter to give a sharper
flavor to our discomfiture as we passed by.

iiS Annual Report of the State Historian.
being a total of 43,350 officers and men, and leaving in camp in
the incomplete organizations a little over 10,000 more, which, with
the 14,305 recruits sent to the field, much more than filled our quota
of 59,700 men under the President's call of July 2d for 300,000
volunteers for three years.
From October ist there was a perceptible sag in the enUstments.
As before stated, the State bounty of $50 for enlistment in the new
regiments ceased on Septeraber 5th, and by a subsequent proclama
tion by the Governor, the same bounty for recruits for regiments
in the field ceased on September 30th. There had been additional
bounties given by committees and town and county officials, but the
announcement that the quota of three-years men was filled relaxed
personal and local interest, though a similar quota of nine-months
militiamen remained to be furnished.
Of the supreme and glorious achievement of the State of New
York in July and August, more will be said later, and the subject
of the contemplated draft will be considered now.
Our experience in 1861 had not been altogether favorable as to
the policy of a continued dependence upon volunteering to supply
troops should the war be greatly prolonged. After the first burst
of enthusiasm had filled our thirty-eight regiments under the first
levy, the progress of recruitment was very slow, the most potent
influence for a while being the efforts in cities and counties to
enlist full regiments. The raising of the second levy extending
from August i, i86i, to March 31, 1862, and excluding the irregular
regiments raised during the first excitement, but remanded to State
authority, comprised about 75,000 men, whose enlistment extended
over a period of eight months. Under the State General Orders of
November 26, 1861, and May 23, 1862, not a single regiment was
raised, though every inducement was given to those ambitious of

War of the Rebellion Series. 119
a commission. Adjutant-General HUlhouse, in his annual report
sent to the Legislature in January, 1862, recommended the adoption
of a militia system similar to that of Germany, based upon the
Uability to military service of every citizen of proper age and con
dition of body. Obviously such a system could not be immediately
established in the midst of a great war. Judge-Advocate-General
Anthon recognizing the principle of compulsory service, tried to
apply it practically and equitably in the militia law drafted by him
and enacted April 25, 1862, substantially as introduced. This pro
vided for an enrollment of all citizens between the ages of eighteen
and forty-five, with exemptions for physical disability, also of fire
men who were in active service or had served their time as firemen,
and of those exempt under the laws of the United States. The
active force of the militia was called the National Guard, and com
prised eight divisions under a major-general and geographically
coterminous with the eight grand Judicial Districts of the State;
thirty-two brigades corresponding with the Senatorial Districts
and one hundred and twenty-eight regiments corresponding with
the Assembly Districts, with a proper contingent of cavalry and
artillery. Where regiments were not formed or filled by volunteers
from the body of the militia, they were to be filled by draft from the
respective districts. The entire militia thus organized and with a
maximum strength of over 130,000 officers and men, exclusive of
cavalry and artillery, could be ordered into the United States ser
vice at once, in whole or any part of the same, and provision was
made for an organization in the same geographical districts of
additional regiments, etc., until the supply of men was exhausted.
The enrollment of the militia under this law was ordered on June 3,
1862, and, as before mentioned, progressed very slowly and
irregular. ' ¦ i

120 Annual Report of the State Historian.
The act of Congress of July 17, 1862, provided -that the Presi
dent might call forth the militia of the States for a period of nine
months, and " If by reason of defects in existing laws, or in the
execution of them in the several States, or in any of them, it shall
be found necessary to provide for enrolling the militia and other
wise putting this act into execution, the President is authorized in
such cases to make aU necessary rules and regulations; and the
enrollment of the militia shall in all cases include all able-bodied
male citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, and shall
be apportioned among the States according to representative popu
lation." This sketchy and tentative provision was the first step
toward the assertion of the absolute military supremacy of the
United States. I have mentioned (pages 33-34) the early dis
cussions as to the status of the volunteer forces and my own opinion
that they were a part of the militia of the several States.* The
military power granted in the Constitution to the United States is
comprised in three allowances in Section 8, Article i, conferring
power on Congress " to provide for the common defence," " to
raise and support armies " and " to provide for calling forth the
militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and
repel invasions." It was held by those favoring the provision in
the act of July 17, 1862, above quoted, that the constitutional grant
of power to provide for the general defence and to raise and support
armies was so large and definite as to be practically unqualified.
But it must be considered in connection with the third power "to
* Some of the Constitutional points raised regarding the military powers
granted to the General Government and the reservation to the States of
certain powers regarding the militia have been previously touched upon,
but it seems expedient to repeat them in discussing the culmination of the
gradual extinction of most of these reserved powers arising from the
supreme exigencies of the nation.

War of the Rebellion Series. 121
call forth the miUtia" upon which dependence is to be placed in
the supreme emergencies of insurrection or invasion. It is obvious
that the framers of the Constitution were apprehensive of too great
military power in the general government; their reading of history
convinced them that the greatest danger encountered by a republic
was that of conversion into a military dictatorship; in this as in
many other directions their indisposition to concentrate power led
them into undue conservatism. That the supreme defence of the
Union was made dependent upon the militia is further shown by
the grant of power to Congress to provide for the organization,
arming and discipline of the militia, so that if drawn from different
States and incorporated in one army there should be uniformity in
these important conditions, and the President is made commander-
in-chief of the miUtia when in the service of the United States.
Among the ten declaratory amendments to the Constitution pro
posed in the first Congress and subsequently ratified by the States
was this, "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security
of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall
not be infringed." In all these provisions the mUitia is assumed to
be an institution of the States, and is so recognized in their several
Constitutions and laws. The law of 1862 was, therefore, one of
those radical departures from precedent deemed necessary for the
preservation of the Union, and as subsequently expanded and
enforced in the law of March 3, 1863, was vituperously denounced
by those who claimed that there should be a strict adherence to
the letter of the Constitution, even if it involved its destruction, and
out of this denunciation sprang the hideous New York riots of July,
1863. Upon August 9, 1862, at "3 p. m." were issued from the War
Department " General Orders, No. 99," giving detailed directions

122 Annual Report of the State Historian.
for the enroUment of the mUitia in the several States, and for a
draft in each State of its quota of 300,000 militiamen for nine
months, and of any additional number required to make up the
deficiency in the quota of 300,000 three-years volunteers under
the President's call of July 2d. " The Governors of the respective
States will proceed forthwith to furnish their respective quotas of
the 300,000 militia called by the order of the President." There is
a peremptory flavor in this " will proceed forthwith " until then
unprecedented in communications to Governors of States from a
Federal source. It denotes the superlative urgency of the situation
and the need to exercise every power, assured or doubtful, in order
to sustain the Union. There is in the austere tone a reflection of
Secretary Stanton's rigor, rather than of President Lincoln's mild
inflexibility. The orders continue this tone, " The Governors of
the respective States will cause an enrollment to be made forthwith
by the assessors of the several counties or by any other officers to
be appointed by such Govemors, of all able-bodied men between
the ages of eighteen and forty-five within the respective counties,"
and full details are given as to the methods of enrollment, the
classes of persons exempt and the procedure in making the draft.
The enrollment under the State law was at this time partially
completed, but it was evident that the draft could not be based
upon it, since the State law provided for the filling of the one
hundred and twenty-eight district regiments, and no credit was
allowed for men already furnished, the proportions of whom to the
population were very unequal in the several districts. State General
Orders were accordingly issued on August 13th giving the text
of the War Department orders * and further providing for putting
* The quota of each county for total State draft of 60,000 proportioned
upon the basis of the census of i860.

War of the Rebellion Series. 123
them in effect. General Anthon had general charge of the enroll
ment in New York and Kings counties, and Colonel Campbell,
assistant adjutant-general, supervised it in the remainder of the
State, and the enrollment was completed and the lists filed on
October 14th. The imminent prospect of a draft caused great
excitement throughout the State, and large numbers attempted to
avoid the risk of conscription by fleeing to Europe or Canada. So
early as August Sth Secretary Seward gave notice that no passports
would be issued by the State Department to persons liable to a
draft before the quotas were filled, and a strict surveillance was
kept upon all out-going steamers to prevent the exodus of such as
were liable. A similar guard was kept upon all routes to the
Canadian frontier. Indeed, I recall the examination of all passen
gers on a train going west from Buffalo on September 3d. Soon
after leaving the city a deputy provost-marshal went through each
car and questioned every man whose apparent age indicated him as
a probable conscript. It was a sharp reminder of the old adage
"inter arma, leges silent." At this time the expressive word
" skedaddle " was adopted into the vernacular, to denote flight from
the draft and the opprobrious epithet " skedaddler " was added to
that of " copperhead " in the daily commination of all patriotic
citizens. Of course the tender consciences of those who at this
time constituted themselves the special guardians of the Constitu
tion, " ruat coelum," were horrified by this new act of despotism.
The enrollment was to be made under the personal charge of the
assessors and supervisors in each county, aided in the cities by the
aldermen, and the lists were to be filed with the sheriffs. On
October 2d it was announced by General Orders that as the quota
under the call of July 2d for three-years volunteers had been fiUed
with an excess of twenty thousand men to apply on the quota of

124 Annual Report of the State Historian.
August 4th, volunteers for nine months would be accepted to com
plete such quota until the final orders for the draft. These orders
were issued on October 14th thus, " The enroUment of the militia
of the State being now nearly completed, a draft from the popu
lation liable to bear arms will be made on the tenth day of November
next, equal in the aggregate to the number of men required on that
day to complete the quota of one hundred and twenty thousand
apportioned to this State."* The draft was to be made under the
supervision of General Anthon, aided by commissioners and sur
geons, one for each county except New York and Queens, for
which there were respectively twenty and fifteen of both officers,
the selection in aU cases being made from men of the highest
reputation. Regulations were prescribed for the assemblage, sub
sistence and transportation of the men from the county seat to the
camps, and there was a republication of General Orders of the War
Department of August 29th, relative to supplies for the drafted
men. One extract from these orders illustrates the needs of those
trying days, "As the sudden call for volunteers and mUitia has
exhausted the supply of blankets fit for miUtary purposes in the
market, and it will take some time to procure by manufacture or
importation a sufficient supply, all citizens who volunteer or are
drafted, are advised to take with them to the rendezvous, if possi
ble, a good, stout woolen blanket. The regulation miUtary blanket
is 86 x 66 inches and weighs five pounds." To be forced into the
cruel war, and invited to bring the blanket off your bed, too, seemed
* It is apparent that the differences of period of enlistment were not yet
taken into account and a recruit for nine months counted for as much as
one for three years. Within a month or so later the principle that one
" three-years man " should be equivalent to four " nine-months men,'' and
that all periods of enlistment should have their proper relative value was
established and obtained to the end of the war.

War of the Rebellion Series. 125
to the captious like a mockery of misery. The population of the
State by the census of i860 was 3,880,735, and the enrollment gave
764,603 men as of suitable age, and of course exclusive of about
150,000 volunteers in field and camp. Of those enroUed, 139,198
were returned as exempt. This latter number was proportionally
large since it embraced not only those exempt under the United
States law but a far larger number under the State law, such as all
clergymen, judges, justices and officers of the courts, all officers and
employees in the military and civil service of the State, Shakers,
Quakers, professors and teachers, commissioned officers of the
militia honorably discharged after full term of service, all officers
and members of the organized miUtia (about 200,000) and many
other classes, including " idiots, lunatics, paupers, habitual drunk
ards and persons convicted of infamous crimes." These last were
properly included, not only as indicative of the honorable service
to be rendered by drafted men and the exclusion therefrom of the
mentally and morally unworthy as also of the physically unfit, but
as a corrective of the ill-advised action of some judges in this and
other States who in the early days of the war gave convicts the
option of imprisonment or enlistment in the volunteer army, a
degradation of the military service not only vicious but manifestly
impoUtic. I do not recall the number exempted for physical disa
biUty, but there were some complaints that these were excessive,
and suggestions that the names and causes of disability be pub
lished as a corrective. The reservoir of drafted men Uable to be
drawn on was 625,405, and had the entire quota of 60,000 been
required, it would have taken about one in ten. To complete the
account of this enrollment it may be added that on November 7th,
by an order, it was announced that the number of camps for
enlisted and drafted men would be reduced, because the quotas

126 Annual Report of the State Historian.
in so many counties had been filled by enlistments and in others
the deficiency was too small, and on the 9th it was informally
announced that the draft was postponed until further orders, but
in fact it never was resumed under the then existing law and orders.
In reality, trustworthy reports of persons enlisted since July 2d, and
to be credited upon the quotas, could not be procured, no proper
records had been kept by the towns or counties; there were many
disputes as to whether men were to be credited to the place of their
residence or to that of their enlistment where they often received
a local bounty. At once there arose a contention regarding the
credit in accordance to the terms of enlistment — i. e., whether one
" three-years man " should or should not count for as much as
three " one-year men." Other contentions between localities as to
credits on quotas were subsequently sources of infinite trouble, mis
representations and disaffection.
The portentous preparations of this draft, that proved a myth,
had very important results; it stimulated the several towns and
counties to fill their quotas and in this respect it served an excellent
purpose; on the other hand it caused the grant of local bounties
which through fear and competition, reached great sums in succeed
ing years; indeed in the last four months of 1S62 these reached as
high as four hundred doUars per man in some places. But worst
of all it ended the period when patriotism was a motive for enlist
ment and substituted for it money in the hand of the " volunteer "
and the frantic desire of his fellow townsmen " to fill the quota " in
any way and at any expense.
During October, eleven full regiments and two battalions of
infantry and three batteries of artillery were mustered into service
for three years, most of the men in which had been enlisted prior
to the first of that month, the slowness of enlistments retarding

War of the Rebellion Series. 127
their completion, and one of the regiments being organized by con
solidation of incomplete organizations. During November, there
were mustered in eight infantry regiments for three years, five of
them formed by consolidations, and one regiment, the Tenth
National Guard of Albany, for nine months. During December
one regiment and one battalion of infantry were mustered in for
three years, as also five batteries of artillery. At the end of the
year there were remaining in camp two regiments of infantry, one
being the Nineteenth National Guard of Newburgh, that were
subsequently mustered in for nine months and counted upon
this levy, which sums up as follows : sixty-three regiments and three
battalions (with regimental numbers) of infantry, one regiment and
four companies of sharpshooters, four battalions artiUery (one
battalion afterwards incorporated into the Fifth and the others
organized into the Tenth Regiment), ten batteries of artillery and
one regiment of cavalry (the Eleventh, mustered in June, 1862, but
included in this levy) ; all of the above enlisted for three years, and
in addition there were three regiments of infantry enlisted for nine
months. The total number of men furnished was 78,904 for three
years, and 1,781 for nine months.
During October there was an animated political canvass of the
State, the Republicans having nominated for Governor, Brigadier- |
General James S. Wadsworth, and for Lieutenant-Governor, Lyman
Tremain, of Albany, and the Democrats Horatio Seymour for Gov- /
ernor, and David R. Floyd-Jones for Lieutenant-Governor. General /
Wadsworth had been one of the Free-soil Democrats who aided in .
the formation of the Republican party. Fie was a man of large
hereditary wealth, of excellent capacity, high character and marked
public spirit. He was named as one of the major-generals for our
first volunteer regiments before it was known that no general

128 Annual Report of the State Historian.
officers would be accepted, and was appointed by the President a
brigadier-general of volunteers in August, 1861, and was the miUtary
governor of Washington at the time of his nomination. Lyman
Tremain had been a Democrat of the " old Hunker " or " hard "
stripe until the breaking out of the war, when he joined the Repub
Ucan party and became an earnest supporter of every effort to sus
tain the Union. Mr. Seymour had been Governor in 1853-54; he
was a man of fine character and an excellent example of the higher
type of the pro-slavery Democracy of the Northern States. Mr.
Flpyd- Jones had been Secretary of State in 1860-61.
While the utterances of the Democratic newspapers and speakers
were for "a 'more vigorous prosecution of the war," there was also
a general censure by them of about every movement by the adminis
tration. The election on November 4th resulted in a majority for
Seymour of 10,752. The total vote was 70,000 less than two years
before and indicated the large number of voters in the military serv
ice and, therefore, debarred from the polls. Another potent ele
ment in the defeat of Wadsworth and Tremain was the disaffection
of Thurlow Weed, who was always implacably hostile to that
element in the Republican party derived from the old Democratic
party. Weed's influence was omnipotent with the men who had for
years been his political instruments in the Whig party.
General Wadsworth was at his own request detailed to active
service in December, 1862, and was conspicuous in the battles of
Fredericksburg and Gettysburg. He died on May 8, 1864, from
wounds received two days before in the battle of the Wilderness.
A great many interpreted the result of this election as a vote of
lack of confidence in the National Administration, and many strong
utterances in this direction were made. At a political jollification
meeting in New York, on November loth, Fernando Wood said:

War of the Rebellion Series. 129
" I do not understand the Governor-elect if he would not stand up
for his State against any Federal usurpation," having direct refer
ence to the draft then impending. John Van Buren, looking to
a submission of vexed questions to Congress, "thought it best before
an election of representatives the President should declare an
armistice." Much eloquence was expended in condemning the
President's Emancipation Proclamation and in eulogizing General
McClellan. The latter officer had been relieved of the command of
the Army of the Potomac by General Burnside on November 7th,
at Warrenton, Va. This was the end of General McCleUan's
military career. He was a good organizer and had excellent
executive qualities. His services in the drill and discipline of the
raw troops assembled about Washington in the winter of 1861-62
were of incalculable value. Not only did they acquire the necessary
tactical training but by frequent brigade and division reviews they
were massed in such numbers as to inculcate confidence and mutual
assurance of strength and support. This restoration of confidence
was absolutely essential after the disastrous surprises and panics
that had so often distinguished the Union forces on the Une of the
Potomac. Thus the morale of the regiments engaged at Bull Run
and Ball's Bluff was restored, and instead of a congeries of mobs
about the Capital we had a drilled and disciplined army. Probably
no officer in our army could have accomplished this preparatory
work so well as he, and it was only when he undertook the active
operations of a great campaign that he was overtasked. In an
estimate of his miUtary capacity I do not think his operations in
West Virginia should count for much; they were a series of
skirmishes by untrained forces on both sides. He started for the
Virginia peninsula in April, 1862, with a trained, organized and
well-balanced army enthusiastically devoted to him. The plan of
9

130 Annual Report of the State Historian.
campaign had been devised and elaborated by himself, and an
excellent plan it was, for he possessed great skill in military con
ceptions ; it was in their execution that he failed. The President and
Secretary of War were well disposed toward him and he had the
hearty good wishes and prayers of the loyal people of the whole
country. Whatever practical military ability General McClellan
possessed fitted him for defensive rather than aggressive warfare.
He was well versed in military engineering, and as one of the three
officers of our army commissioned to the Crimea in 1854 he saw
the grand results of Todleben's genius in the earthworks about
Sebastopol, and they gave him a great respect for intrenchments.
The thirty days delay before the feebly manned works at Yorktown
ruined his elaborate campaign against Richmond. He was also
lacking in that enterprising, persistent spirit that is forever pushing
on, and in that iron will and self-confidence that in the supreme
moment do not hesitate to sacrifice many lives that more may be
saved. Such a rigid, unbending will is not compatible with that
amiability that made " Little Mac " loved by his soldiers, who had
yet to learn that the successful warriors are forged from sterner
stuff. His last great battle at Antietam was a defensive one against
invasion, and where all his valuable qualities could be displayed.*
Most fortunately for him the Northern Democrats, who foresaw
the extinction of their party unless it had a support in the Union
armies, selected him as their corner-stone, and aware of this he
permitted political purposes to color his military plans and even
find expression in his official papers. There had been much dis
appointment through our failure to actively pursue Lee after the
* It is also credibly asserted that he had a copy of General Lee's orders
giving the plan of battle and disposition of his troops, which had been
captured in some way. This information gave General McClellan great
advantage.

War of the Rebellion Series. 131
battle of Antietam; it was naturally argued that a beaten army with
a river like the Potomac across its line of retreat could be utterly
demoUshed. This, however, does not accord with the experience
in our war ; in none of the great battles of the East was there a rapid
and effectual pursuit; in none of them did the victor have a reserve
unengaged in the main contest and fresh for such active duty, nor
was there on either side in any such battle a contingent of cavalry
large enough and so efficiently armed and drilled as to convert a
retreat into a rout or a surrender. In fact the mUitary function of
cavalry had already much changed at the time of our war.
The unopposed passage of the Potomac by Lee caused another
popular cry for action, and the newspapers were vociferous for an
advance. The report that the army was hampered by a lack of
shoes was derided. In the autumn of 1861, said they, we were
beguiled by tbe story that McClellan was delaying until the leaves
dropped from the trees so that our marksmen could see the enemy
and more readily slaughter them; after the leaves had faUen came
the adhesively retarding mud— and now it is " shoes " that are
lacking. It seemed ridiculous to plead the same privations as were
endured by our poverty-stricken army at Valley Forge, nearly a
century earlier. But in reaUty the Army of the Potomac was in
good condition and largely reinforced by new regiments. AU the
regiments and batteries remaining in our State on November ist
were turned over to General Banks, who was to reUeve General
Butler at New Orleans and carry on active operations in the
Mississippi vaUey; these comprised eleven regiments of infantry
and five batteries of artUlery. Some of the other of our new regi
ments went to the Army of the South, some to North Carolina,
others to the Army of the Tennessee, and four infantry regiments,
the One Hundred and Thirteenth, One Hundred and Twenty-ninth,

132 Annual Report of the State Historian.
One Hundred and Thirty-fifth and One Hundred and Thirty-eighth,
were from October, 1862, to February, 1863, materially increased in
force and converted into heavy artillery regiments and assigned
to occupy the forts encircling Washington.* The remainder of
the third levy was incorporated in the Army of the Potomac, which
in December, under General Burnside, crossed the Rappahannock,
and on the 13th fought the disastrous battle of Fredericksburg, in
which our losses were very heavy. Seventy New York regiments
participated in this battle. In the West there had been some suc
cesses, though the rebel General Bragg had, on October ist,
ostentatiously and impudently inaugurated a Governor at Frank
fort, Ky., but after the severe battle at PerryviUe, nine days later,
retreated to Tennessee. The year ended with the completion of
preparations for the battle of Murfreesboro, one of the most hotly
contested battles of the war and, like so many of them, without
apparent advantage to either side.
On January 1st Governor Morgan handed over his trust to Mr.
Seymour and became a private citizen, since he had stipulated in
accepting the position of major-general of volunteers that not only
would he accept no pay for services in that capacity, but that his
tenure of the place should cease with his term as Governor.
* They were increased to twelve companies, divisioned into three bat
talions, each commanded by a major, and were respectively named as the
Seventh, the Eighth, the Sixth, and the Ninth New York Artillery. After
General Grant's frightful losses in the Wilderness early in May, 1864, in
response to his request for reinforcements. General Halleck ordered these
heavy artillery regiments to the front. Each regiment was as large as the
average brigade of the Army of the Potomac, as then constituted. The
" heavies " received their baptism of fire at Spottsylvania Court House,
Va., May 19, 1864. Their losses were very severe. At Cold Harbor the
Seventh lost its colonel, Lewis O. Morris, one adjutant, one captain, one
first lieutenant and one second lieutenant. The Eighth lost its colonel,
Peter A. Porter (of Niagara Falls), its lieutenant-colonel, who died of the
wounds he received, one major, three captains, four first and eight second
lieutenants.

War of the Rebellion Series. 133
These first two years of the war were far more important in their
relations to the State than the succeeding two years; in them were
begun all the military experiments in the raising and organization
of troops; after December, 1862, there was no pure volunteering,
and money alone became the incentive. The General Government
assumed a larger control in the raising of troops and but few new
organizations were added to those in the field. Of the thirteen
regiments of infantry raised after December 31, 1862, only one or
two rendered any efficient service. Nineteen regiments of cavalry
and three of artillery were organized after that date. This is a
meagre list compared with that of 1861 and 1862, which comprised
one hundred and seventy-one regiments infantry, twelve cavalry,
eleven regiments, two battaUons and thirty-four batteries of
artiUery, two regiments of engineers and one regiment and four
companies of sharpshooters. Of course these numbers in them
selves are no disparagement to the later period, when the effort was
mainly to recruit the veteran organizations in the field, rather than
to raise new ones, but they indicate the diminished influence of the
State authority in the later period.
Of aU these regiments the early ones in the third levy were com
posed of the best material. The conditions for such an outcome
were favorable; the failure of McCleUan's campaign against Rich
mond, followed by Pope's disasters, brought us face to face with
the peril of our cause, and demanded every patriotic effort and
sacrifice. Death in field and hospital, mutilation of wounds,
malarial poison, rebel prisons, in fact all the horrors of war were
now familiar to us, and going to the field was now a stern reality,
and those who enlisted knew aU the direful chances to be
encountered. The formation of regimental camps in aU parts of the State
aroused local emulation which was practically guided by the district

134 Annual Report of the State Historian.
committees composed of eminent citizens who by their " gratuitous,
unremitting and efficient efforts " aided in the rapid recruitment of
the regiments. The popular interest and anxiety found expression
in public meetings in all parts at which earnest appeals were made
to succor our endangered armies. Such a meeting was held in
Union Square, New York, on the evening of July i6th, and another
in the City Hall park on August 27th, both largely attended, as was
one in Brooklyn on September 3d. Colonel Corcoran, of the
Sixty-ninth Regiment of our State militia, composed exclusively
of Irishmen, who had been made a prisoner of war at BuU
Run on July 21, 1861, was released August 15th by exchange
and became a marked figure at these meetings, where his pres
ence and speeches aroused great enthusiasm on the part of our
Irish population. Then there was the stimulus of the bounty
offered by the United States and State amounting to seventy-five
dollars in hand and correcting the evils arising from the tardy pay
ment of troops in the field. The delay in payment had been so
serious as to cause much pauperism in the families of the soldiers,
and which, though reUeved by public and private charity, seriously
deterred enlistments.
Our State Legislature in January, 1862, voted an appropriation
of money to be advanced to the United States for payment of our
troops, a part of which was used for that purpose and subsequently
refunded by the United States Pay Department. The sum of
seventy-five doUars was a fund to be left for family use and not a
mere mercenary inducement Uke the later large bounties. Recalling
the character and condition of the men who enlisted in the rural
districts in July and August, I cannot believe that the sum of
seventy-five dollars was in itself a provocative, and it only served
as a small guaranty that dependent families should not suffer. The

War of the Rebellion Series. 135
payment of this bounty caused a more thorough physical inspection
of the recruits, and under the direction of Surgeon-General Vander
Poel there was, in addftion to the examination by the regimental
surgeons, a rigid examination by surgeons selected by that officer;
these were Dr. Mason F. CogsweU at Albany, Dr. WUUam C. Wey
at Elmira and Dr. William FI. Thomson at New York, who rejected
a large number that had passed the regimental surgeons. The
regiments that left the State in August and September contained
the very cream of our military class — young, robust, patriotic and
inteUigent. In some cases farmers brought their sons to the camp
to see them enlisted, and in many cases fathers and sons were
enrolled together. At some of the camps I inspected in July the
recruits so soon as enlisted were furloughed to return home and
help in the harvest-field. The ingenuous and unsophisticated
character of some of these recruits was touching. I recall being
asked by a bright-eyed youth who had enlisted in a company, the
second lieutenant of which used to be the recruit's old schoolfellow
and playmate, if he could not be permitted to mess with his friend
in the field. Although the war was a year old, its ruthless extin
guishment of social, domestic and moral laws was not yet generally
apprehended. I think the most inspiring spectacle in my tours of
duty was presented at Jamestown, where upon my arrival early in
September I found that, the date of the regiment's departure (One
Hundred and Twelfth) being announced for an early day; the rela
tives and friends from both counties in the district, Chautauqua and
Cattaraugus, had driven into town for a farewell visit to the
" soldier laddies." As I approached the camp ground, the road
for half a mile was lined each side by vehicles of the visitors, their
horses tied to the fences; the camp itself was thronged; fathers,
mothers, sisters, brothers and lovers were having last interviews

136 Annual Report of the State Historian.
with the boys in blue; many were the affecting scenes, and for a
while the strict discipUne was relaxed in deference to an occasion that
affected every heart. The visitors brought home-made viands to
enrich for that day the plain camp fare, and many a stalwart boy
unmindfully tasted then for the last time the toothsome pies and
cakes his mother made, and that often recurred to him in those
coming days of " hard tack " ere the fatal buUet pierced him. These
scenes of pathos were enacted at many camps.
The health of the men was exceUent. The summer weather
encouraged the constant ventilation of the rough barracks, and
there were none of those diseases incident to crowded quarters.
The only disorders that seemed prevalent were diarrhea and other
bowel complaints, caused by change of water and diet, probably
aggravated by the large use of fresh vegetables in the subsistence
furnished by the contractors. The inspector-general and assistants
were particularly charged with the proper enforcement of discipline
in the camps, and in spite of the general ignorance this was an
easy task. The only serious exceptions were riotous outbreaks by
soldiers in what was called the " Empire Brigade," at East New
York, one in August and another at a later date, when the Seventh
Regiment National Guard was put on duty there. But this was
in an organization composed largely of city " roughs."
One indication of the excellent character of the men in these
regiments was the large allotments of their pay toward the sup
port of families. These in the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth
Regiment, encamped at Goshen, reached an annual sum of $109,956,
and in others was nearly as large. These results were greatly aided
by the public-spirited and gratuitous efforts of the allotment com
missioners of this State.*
* See Appendix A.

War of the Rebellion Series. 137
These regiments were also fortunate in their commanding officers,
ten of whom were taken from the Unfted States service, four from
other New York regiments in the field, which also supplied many
other field officers.
A remarkable feature of this levy was the slackness of recruiting
in the great cfties included in the first seven districts (New York,
Kings, Queens, Suffolk and Richmond counties). Of the 39,787
enlisted men sent to the field before October ist, the proper quota
of these counties would be 12,547, but they furnished only 3,043
men. A part of this was due probably to the fact that the cities
had on previous levies furnished more than their quotas, and to
the large number of naval enlistments, which were almost wholly
in New York and Brooklyn, but did not count in their quotas.
Beyond these reasons, however, were the closer and more intimate
relations of the committeemen in the country to their " constitu
encies " and the stronger local sentiment. Of course in the end
all districts had to furnish their quotas, but it was finally through
liberal bounties rather than any sentiment. These city regiments
were also composed of much poorer material. It was computed
that over one-half the total desertions from this levy during the
period of enlistment occurred in New York and Brooklyn, attrib
utable not only to the inferior class of recruits, but the ease of
secretion in large cities. In August a reward of five dollars was
offered in these cities for the apprehension of a deserter, and the
police did arrest some. It was in these city regiments that the
only material disturbances occurred as has been before mentioned.
I recall an official visit to the One Hundred and Fifty-eighth Regi
ment when encamped at East New York, and being shown at the
guardhouse a very large coUection of bottles of liquor attempted
to be smuggled within the lines by recruits and their friends. The

138 Annual Report of the State Historian.
proximity of a great city to an encampment was a constant source
of annoyance and anxiety to the officers.
In Septerriber I paid the bounty to the One Hundred and Forty-
fifth Regiment in camp at New Dorp, Staten Island. It was
ostensibly being raised by Colonel WilUam H. Allen, who com
manded the First Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry, mus
tered into the Unfted States service at New York on May 7, 1861.
This was a distinctively New York city regiment, composed of
what were known in those days as " Bowery boys." A biU pre
sented to me for audft in 1862 was for " medical stores " for this
regiment in camp in April, 1861, and which comprised " 120 gal
lons bourbon whiskey, 42 gallons pale sherry, 21 1-2 gallons pale
Otard brandy, 40 gallons cabinet gin and 24 dozen AUsop East
India ale," and nothing more. Of course I could not allow suCh
an extraordinary array of drugs which, without doubt, never went
into any hospital, but enlivened the officers' mess; but it is a fair
indication of the character of this regiment. The First Regiment
was ordered to report to General Butler at Fortress Monroe early
in May, 1861, and the very next month Colonel Allen exhibited
his lawless character. On June 28th he was arrested by order
of General Butler and subsequently tried by court-martial on sev
eral charges. On September 12th the President approved the
sentence that he be cashiered. It was like his rare impudence to
assume that the Governor would give him another commission.
The One Hundred and Forty-fifth was quite as boisterous as the
First Regiment had been, and I had an amusing illustration of it.
Among the extraordinary appointments of those days was that of
a noted New York lawyer, known as " Dick " Busteed, to the rank
of brigadier-general. Why this was done no one could tell, since
there was good reasons to believe that he would never get a com-

War of the Rebellion Series. 139
mand in the field. To give him some employment he was directed
to inspect the regiments organizing about New York, and in one
of my official visits to the New Dorp camp I found General
"Dick" there in all the glories of a new uniform. This regiment
went to the field under Colonel Price, was disbanded in a year and
the men incorporated in other regiments.*
While the early regiments of this levy were of the superior char
acter mentioned, the later ones, with few exceptions, were of a much
lower grade, and as the draft increased and with it the amount
of local bounties, the result was reflected in the men who responded.
Mention must be made of the effort to carry out the provisions
of the new militia law of April. The enrollment was completed in
* So far as I know General Busteed never had an opportunity to exhibit
his military qualities, except in airing his uniform about town, but he pro
fessed a strong desire to flash his maiden sword in the field. I recall his
coming to see General Arthur at our Walker Street Headquarters in Octo
ber, 1862, when I was present. He said he had made up his mind to run
down to Washington and get Secretary Seward to have him put in active
service. A day or so later he returned and gave an account of his trip.
" I got to the Secretary's house," he said, " late in the evening, and when
he saw me he seemed astonished and asked me if I had been ordered to
come, and when I said no, he told me that Secretary Stanton had issued
an order that any officer found in Washington without orders to report
there should be arrested and confined in the Old Capitol Prison, and that
I had better get back to New York as soon as possible by the midnight
train, saying that as I had escaped the scrutiny of the guard at the railroad
station I might be as lucky on my return. So I skulked back, fortunately
escaping the provost marshal's dogs, and here I am." His discomfiture
was so comical that we roared with laughter, in which Busteed joined.
After he left us we concluded that the Secretary was glad to get rid of him.
One of the nuisances to the President, Secretary Stanton and other officials
was the congregation of officers at Washington away from their stations
and intent on getting promotions and other favors. At one time it was a
trite saying that you could not throw a stone at a dog in Washington and
not hit two or three brigadier-generals. Early in the Reconstruction era
President Johnson appointed Busteed a United States District Judge in
Alabama, probably through Secretary Seward, who appeared to have some
interest in him. He doubtless had legal acquirements, but I never learned
of his judicial career in those troublous times in the South that followed
the end of the war.

I40 Annual Report of the State Historian.
an imperfect manner and out of the 128 regiments of National
Guard only 59 regiments, with an aggregate of 22,154 officers and
men, had been organized. This incomplete result, which was not
greatly increased until the war ended, did, however, serve an excel
lent purpose, and National Guard regiments entered the United
States service for short periods in 1863 and 1864, besides render
ing important services within the State. The general plan initiated
by that law still remains in operation.
In drawing to a close this account of the military transactions
under Governor Morgan the total number of the men sent to the
field should be given. My own data being lost, I give the report
made by Adjutant-General Sprague on February iS, 1863, in
response to a request of the Legislature for information as to the
number of men enlisted and turned over to the United States Gov
ernment by this State since April 16, 1861, and which is probably
a correct summary from the official records:
Mustered into United States service for 3 months  15,922
Mustered into United States service for 9 months  2,560
Mustered into United States service for 2 years  30,250
Mustered into United States service for 3 years  173,321
Total  222,053

As practically none were so mustered between January i and
February 18, 1S63, the total represents the achievement by Gov
ernor Morgan's administration. The report of the adjutant-general
in 1S59, made to the War Department, gave the miUtia force of
New York State as 418,846 officers and privates, so the State had
responded by sending one-half its available force as so published, a
wonderful achievement indeed. I cannot leave this topic without

War of the Rebellion Series. 141
some general reflections upon the whole body of troops sent out
by our State during the entire war, which numbered, as reported
by United States Provost Marshal General Fry, in February, 1866,
455.568 individuals, or reduced to the standard of three-years' en
Ustment, to 380,980 men, or about 17.9 per cent, of the whole num
ber furnished by aU the States, while the quota of the State, based
upon the census of i860 was only 17.2 per cent., without allowing
for the large naval enlistments in our State or for the larger pro
portion of arm-bearing men in the new States.
Disregarding the mixed motives of patriotism, ambition, cupid
ity or frivolity that led to enUstments in this State, motives that
obtained equaUy throughout all the States, I am confident that the
people of no other State surpassed those of New York in the
promptitude of their responses to the exigent needs of their coun
try or in the character and efficiency of those who responded. To
those citizen-soldiers is due the meed rather than to those who
supervised their organization and equipment. And I wish to say
here that I have not consciously misrepresented or disparaged those
who enlisted by any mention of their motives as revealed to me.
As time goes on there is a disposition, more and more, to exalt all
who enUsted as patriots and heroes, so that laws are passed in
Congress even to condone desertion and crown it with a pension.
It was my rare opportunity to see close at hand the elements of
otir volunteer armies, and I must express my impressions without
any gloss of exaggeration or depreciation. No one can surpass
me in profound respect and praise for the large proportion of men
who enlisted from pure patriotic feeUng or in gratitude to those
who died or were grievously wounded on the battlefield, or died
or were disabled by iUness contracted in and incident to that serv
ice. But there were at the bottom of this miUtary mass the dregs

142 Annual Report of the State Historian.
represented by the poltroons, skulkers, deserters and bounty-
jumpers. There was not a battle or skirmish that did not have in
its rear and on its flanks a fringe of these vagabonds, who, dropping
from the ranks, sought shelter and left to their comrades the perils
of the assault. These are now raised to the same plane as those
who rendered good service — they are pure patriots, heroes, Union-
saviors, entitled to honor, glory and all that the most generous of
nations can bestow. I cannot refrain from some protest against
such injustice to the true veteran soldiers and to the truth of history.
By the end of November the strain imposed upon the State to
meet the demand for troops was almost wholly relaxed. There
were a few incomplete organizations, some of which remained for
the coming new State officers to exercise their prentice hands on.
It had been a very strenuous strain for four months, during which
every day, including the Sundays, had brought its added burdens.
I can recall one day — a Sunday at that — that certainly burdened
me. General Arthur was at Albany, and on the Saturday of a week
of great toil for all, I had allowed all the leading subordinates to
leave early in the afternoon, not to report again until Monday, since
they needed some relaxation, so I was practicaUy alone. Late in the
day I received telegraphic advices of the sudden movement of three
regiments for New York, one from the west by the Erie Railroad,
and another from the west and one from the north to arrive by the
Hudson River road, all to arrive on Sunday forenoon at different
hours. I had a further dispatch from general headquarters direct
ing these regiments be sent immediately forward to Washington
en route to the army. I could not recall our absentees, as I did
not know where they had gone for their brief vacations. On Sun
day, by the use myself of relays of hacks, I was able to provide
for the needs of these regiments, getting arms and accoutrements

War of the Rebellion Series. 143
for two of them, rations served at the Park barracks for two and
at the Battery barracks for the other, and transportation for two
by the railroad to Philadelphia via Jersey City and the other by
the then New Jersey Southern railroad route via Sandy Hook.
Tlie last regiment did not leave until midnight. Fortunately Colonel
Welch, assistant ordnance officer, was on duty that day and ready
to issue the arms, etc. I mention this incident only as exempUfying
the great pressure of those stirring days.
The later work of this period had been much increased by the
difficult and delicate work of consolidating incomplete companies
and regiments. In this I took no part, being detailed to other
duties, and the consoUdations were effected by General Van Vechten,
whose tact and courteous ways alleviated much of the disappoint
ment, rancor and jealousy incident to the exclusion of sO' many
supernumerary officers.
As the general staff officers have always been considered as per
sonal selections by successive Governors, and the new adrainistra
tion would take charge on January ist, the month of December
was largely occupied in the completion of unfinished business and
in the settlement of accounts. The auditing board created by
Chap. 397, Laws of 1862, consisted of the inspector, judge advocate
and quartermaster generals, who were authorized to exaraine and
audit claims against the State for expenses incurred in raising vol
unteers, for which purpose an appropriation of $500,000 was made
to pay audited and proper claims. Generals Van Vechten, Anthon
and Arthur composed this board, of which I was, ex officio, secretary.
Many sessions were held in December and some claims audited,
but the principal achievement was the estabUshment of the prin
ciples governing the audit. I may say here that the board remained
in existence until April, 1868, when I prepared the final report, show-

144 Annual Report of the State Historian.
ing a total disbursement of $294,948.92, or only about three-fifths
of the appropriation, a remarkable accomplishment in our State
finance, and what is quite as satisfactory, about the whole of this
sum has been refunded to the State upon the presentation of the
vouchers to the United States.
Another board, comprising the same officers, and of which I was
also secretary, audited the claims of our militia regiments for uni
forms, etc., worn out or destroyed in their three months' service in
1 861, for which purpose $50,000 was appropriated.
There was also the settlement of heavy accounts for supplies for
the third levy delivered on contracts made by Governor Morgan,
but payable directly by the United States.
In leaving that chamber in the old capitol where he had labored
so assiduously and with such a conscientious sense of duty Gov
ernor Morgan had every reason to congratulate himself. Under
conditions the most grave and urgent the State had responded
promptly and nobly to every just demand upon it. Governor Mor
gan was not a constructive statesman, nor had he the gift of oratory,
but he did have what was more important in his position in that
crisis, an excellent administrative ability, trained and seasoned by
his extensive experience as a merchant. As Governor and major-
general of volunteers, he was sagacious and untiring. His own
remarkable physical powers led him to overrate those of his subor
dinates, some of whom broke down under the unremitting toU of
the last half of the year 1S62. He assumed large responsibilities
and expected all of us to imitate his example when confronted by
an exigency requiring prompt relief. His natural traits and mer
cantile training made him exact and exacting in all financial mat
ters, and, if anything, inclined to be too parsimonious. As an
example of his economic ideas may be stated the inadequate pay

War of the Rebellion Series. 145
of the overworked generals on his staff, which was put at that of
a major in the Unfted States service; but these were of his " military
family," from whom he expected sacrifices in those trying days.
His rare mercantile abiUties were displayed in the contracts for
quartermaster and commissary stores in 1862, which bred no
defalcations or scandals. My official account of the terms and mag
nitude of these transactions was accidentally destroyed.
Adjutant-General Hillhouse (of Geneva) had been a member of
the Senate and subsequently was State Comptroller and Assistant
United States Treasurer at New York. He was a methodical, assid
uous and conscientious official.
General Arthur held three positions on the staff: engineer-in-
chief, January i, 1861, to April 11, 1862; inspector-general, April
12 to July II, 1862, and quartermaster-general, July 12 to Decem
ber 31, 1S62. He administered these somewhat incongruous
functions with singular ability, and under his auspices, aided
by distinguished engineers, miUtary and civil, reports of great
value upon the defensive needs and works of the State were
made to the Legislature of 1862. As head of the quarter
master's department in New York, both acting and actual, he
showed unusual executive ability both in routine and in occa
sional fields of business and under conditions very difficult and com
plex. As an instance of his shrewdness there was saved in the
transportation expenses of the third levy $43,174.13, being that
sum less than the aUowance by the United States. He was a man
of fine and attractive personal qualities, and Governor Morgan
almost invariably insisted that General Arthur should accompany
him on his official visits to Washington. Of his subsequent career
as collector of the port, Vice-President and President there is no
need to say anything here.
10

146 Annual Report of the State Historian.
Surgeon-General Vander Poel, who had held the same position
under Governor King, 1857-8, was not only a good physician but
also had a high administrative capacity. He selected competent
men as surgeons for the regiments and military depots, and by a
re-examination by his special aids of recruits passed by imperfect
examinations he caused the rejection of many with great advan
tage and economy to the Govemment.
Quartermaster-General Van Vechten was a faithful, plodding offi
cial, but lacking in the power or initiative.
General Welch, the ordnance officer, had been State Treasurer
and a raan of great social popularity. He resigned in 1862 to take
a place with the rank of colonel on the staff of General Pope, com
manding the Army of the Potomac, and contracting malarial fever
in the field, died after a short service.
Judge-Advocate General Anthon came from a scholastic famUy
and was a sound lawyer. His duties were confined to legal ques
tions and the operation of the new militia law, of which he was
the author. His death at a comparatively early age cut short a
career that would have been useful and honorable.
Paymaster Bliss was a man of tireless activities in many direc
tions. Among other tasks he had supervision of the care of 14,000
wounded soldiers who were quartered at the Park barracks while
en route through the city in May, June and July in 1862, and sub
sequently was indefatigable in the payment of the State bounty.
After the war he became well known in the city as a prominent
figure in the management of his party and as United States district
attorney. The New Year on January i, 1863, dissolved our military connec
tion, and we parted with mutual esteem. I am certain that the
others felt the same pride that I did in having been an official part
of a State administration so patriotic, pure and efficient.

APPENDIX A.^

ALLOTMENT OF PART OF SOLDIERS' PAY.

AT the very outset of the war it occurred to thoughtful people
that the withdrawal from productive labor of a large part of
its citizens for an uncertain period would breed grave conditions,
which, if not successfully met, would bring great embarrassments,
ever increasing as the war was prolonged. The citizens who enlisted
were selected, both as to age and bodily condition, from the class
whose productive capacity was in a physical sense the highest.
In this withdrawal of so many wage-earners the first question to be
solved was as to the assured support, during their absence, of those
dependent on them, since the enforced assumption of this obliga
tion as a public charge would not only be a grievous addition to
the burdens resting upon the people, but what would be worse,
would generate a large pauper class, with all the demoraUzing con
sequences and influences so noxious in older nations, and which
we had fortunately so far esqaped. There was also to be consid
ered the subjective effect of such a severance of faraily interests
and obligations upon the soldiers theraselves, separated frora their
homes, at great distances and for long periods, immersed in excite
ments and distractions and often without communication of any
sort for many months. War exerts upon most of those engaged
* See pages 54, 136.

148 Annual Report of the State Historian.
in it tendencies so vicious and depraving that society, in self-
defence, can neglect no agency by which the evils may be prevented
or mitigated.
The pay of the private soldier, $13 a month, at first glance seems
paltry, but when it is considered that, in addition, he receives food,
clothing, quarters and medical attendance, there seeras no reason
why he should spend for his own needs more than $3 to $5 a
month, and not aUot the residue for the support of his dependents,
or if free from that contingency, should not direct its deposit in a
savings bank to accumulate as capital when he returns to the
working world. These motives led to an inadequate act of Con
gress, passed July 22, 1861, during the short session called to meet
the sudden exigencies and perils caused by the rebellion. So imper
fect were this law and the agencies for its execution, that it bore
no good results. A more effective law was passed on Deceraber
24, 1861, and under its provisions President Lincoln, four days
later, appointed as coramissioners for the State of New York three
of its citizens who had been largely instrumental in the passage of
the law. These were Theodore Roosevelt, father of President
Roosevelt; William E. Dodge, Jr., and Theodore Bronson, all of
New York city, and notable as foremost there in all good works,
moral, social and political. Mr. Roosevelt was chairman of the
commission, and in the brief survey here of the achievements of
the merabers it may be premised that the law expressly declared
that in the discharge of their functions under it they " shall
receive no pay or emoluments whatever frora the Treasury of the
United States." Thus not only were their services purely gratui
tous, but they paid every cent of their expenses out of their own
pockets. These public-spirited cftizens iraraediately set about their
task by visiting the Array of the Potoraac, encamped in a quagmire

War of the Rebellion Series. 149
of deep, tenacious mud on the Virginia side of that river opposite
Washington. During the months of January, February and March
they beat up the quarters of 80 regiments in that army, and at Bal
timore, Annapolis, Fortress Monroe and Newport News. It was
a very severe winter, and away from all the usual conveniences of
civilization they were almost entirely dependent upon the higher
officers for quarters, subsistence and transportation. Their method
of solicitation was to request the officers to have the companies, or,
if practicable, an entire regiment, drawn up in hollow square, when
one of the commissioners would address the soldiers, explaining
the law, appealing to them on behalf of their distant famiUes, and
disabusing their minds of prejudices arising from the defects of
the earlier law or raised by interested parties. Of these latter were
some of the paymasters and their clerks, who found their labor
increased by the division of payments into money in hand and
cheques for the allotted amounts. But the most effective opposi
tion came from the sutlers, who, seeing the serious dirainution of
their profits from the sales, at exorbitant prices, of wares mostly
unnecessary or injurious, put up placards impudently warning the
men that the law was an atterapt of the Government to swindle
them out of their wages. The commissioners were informed that
officers were often partners with the sutlers, and shared in their.
profits, and that liquor was sold constantly in violation of law,
often " hidden under all kinds of ingenious devices, disguised as
tobacco, bread, etc., and even in some cases in imitation Bibles."
It was my own observation that sutlers, as a class, exerted a very
demoralizing influence.
In April the commissioners visited the New York troops under
General Hunter on the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia and Flor
ida, but with indifferent success, having been preceded by _osten-

150 Annual Report of the State Historian.
sible agents of the New York common council, who, in the clumsy
presentation of their own allotment system, prejudiced the men
against any method. During the raising of the third levy — in the
summer and fall of 1862 — the commissioners visited aU the regi
ments in their respective camps throughout the State and secured
a large allotment. It was during this service that I became per
sonally cognizant with the admirable work they were doing, which
I was further brought in contact with a year later in Washington,
Virginia and the camps south of Harrisburg, Pa.
On November 15, 1862, the comraission made a report to the
President, from which some of the above information is abstracted,
giving the aUotments raade up to that date by soldiers frora this
State as aggregating $5,341,890.21 per annum. This vast sum rep
resents, economically, socially and morally, more than can be con
ceived at this late day, when the abnormal and relaxing conditions
of that long, exhausting war are forgotten or unknown. It was a
work in the advantages of which the soldier, his family and his
State participated, rendered by three raen, who, doubtful of their
miUtary ability and value, gave in lieu of service under arms such
other good service as they could in an unselfish and devoted spirit.
All the saviors of our country did not go into the martial arena; if
they had there would have been no salvation.
The efforts of the commissioners continued to the end of the war,
but all the later recruiting was by individuals for the regiments
in the field, or by drafting, or by purchase of men in the open mart
to fiU quotas, and it was difficult to reach these isolated cases,
though in spite of obstacles raany allotments were secured.
The experience gained by Messrs. Roosevelt and Dodge in the
operation of the allotment system drew their attention, towards the
close of the war, to the disadvantages which the families of deceased

War of the Rebellion Series. 151
soldiers, as also the disabled soldiers theraselves, suffered in the
coUection of back pay and pensions. The procedure in these claims
being intricate and technical, the claimants were apt to become the
prey of unscrupulous pension agents, who deducted large commis
sions and often, in their own interest, delayed collections, causing
great hardship. In cooperation with other leading citizens of New
York city they organized the " Protective War Claim Association,"
of which the venerable General Winfield Scott was president, with
an office at 35 Chambers street. The purpose of this organization
was the collection of claims without any cost to the claimants, the
giving of gratuitous advice to the discharged soldiers and sailors
regarding bounties, pensions, etc., and, not least, in preventing the
making of false claims against the Government — purposes of course
very obnoxious to sorae parties. This good work was only closed
when the pension and related business was monopolized by the pen
sion agents through their practical alliance, for mutual benefit, with
the organized veterans, an alliance that has achieved stupendous
results. Mr. Roosevelt died in February, 1878, and Mr. Bronson some time
later, leaving Mr. Dodge the sole survivor of this trio of unselfish
patriots.

APPENDIX B.^

HEADQUARTERS, DEPOTS, STOREHOUSES,
BARRACKS AND CAMPS.

OF course the general headquarters were at Albany, where
the Governor, adjutant-general and inspector-general had
offices in the Capitol, where the Assembly library was given to the
adjutant-general and two rooms built in the front of the spacious
hall on the main floor were added to the offices of the Governor
and adjutant-general. The inspector-general's office, when the
Legislature was not in session, was in the ante-room and post-office
of the Senate over the Executive Chamber. These rooms, which
I occupied in 1861-62, had some hereditary associations, as my
grandfather, James Burt, of Orange, had been in the Legislature
for twenty years between 1797 and 1827. He voted in the Assera
bly on the bill to erect the Capitol, and was in the Senate ten years;
my father was deputy clerk of that body for several years prior
to 1829. Surgeon-General Vander Poel, for convenience, had his
office in his residence on the northeast comer of Pearl and Steuben
streets. The quartermaster-general had an office a part of the time
in the Capitol and a part at the depot. General Arthur had his
office in New York in the military storehouse, No. 51 Walker street,
of which more anon.
* See pages 18, 46, 49, 96-

154 Annual Report of the State Historian.
The three depots designated as the rendezvous for volunteers were
as follows:
At Albany, in the industrial school building, a large brick struc
ture in the southwest part of the city, to which many rough wooden
additions were made. Brigadier-General John F. Rathbone, of
Albany, was commandant. He was a prominent and public-spirited
citizen of Albany, where he died in 1901 at an advanced age. His
assistant adjutant-general was Charles Emory Sraith, then just grad
uated from coUege, and since favorably known as editor of the Phila
delphia Press, Minister to Russia and Postmaster-General.
The depot at New York was at brigade headquarters in the
armory over the old market house on Grand and Centre streets.
Brigadier-General Charles Yates was commandant. General Arthur
had been a meraber of his staff.
In the auturan of 1S61 there were established branch depots at
Binghamton, Boonville, Buffalo, Cherry Valley, Cortland, Deposit,
Geneseo, Hancock, Kingston, Le Roy, Lyons, Malone, Ogdens
burg, Oswego, Plattsburgh, Potsdam, Rochester, Sackets Harbor,
Syracuse and Troy.
The three principal depots were used for the first levy, and these
and the branch depots for the second levy.
The depot at New York had from the first raany places for ren
dezvous, among which were the Park barracks, the Battery bar
racks, No. 632 Broadway and other buildings in the city used tem
porarily; Camps Scott, Washington, Arthur, Decker, Peissner and
Quarantine, in the towns of Castleton and New Brighton, Staten
Island; on which also were camps at New Dorp and Elm Park.
In Brooklyn there were camps in the city park and East New York,
one at Flatbush, and on the Sound at Rikers, South Brothers and
Davids islands, at Fort Schuyler and Willets Point, and at Scars-
dale, Westchester county.

War of the Rebellion Series. 155
The most interesting of the barracks and camps in the State was
the structure built in New York city in April and May, 1861, on
the truncated triangle forming the southern part of the City Hall
park, now occupied in part by the post-office building and Mail
street. It was known as the Park barracks, and was in constant
use untU its demolition after the war in 1865. It was, in a primitive
way, a picturesque building of wood, and the fine elm trees on its
site were carefully preserved, their great rugged trunks appearing
inside the building as Druidical columns supporting its roof, while
from without were seen the branches shooting high above the edi
fice, giving it a peculiarly sylvan aspect, and when in foliage pro
tecting it from the hot sun.
In the interior were spacious apartments for offices, kitchens,
messrooms and for sleeping bunks accommodating a thousand men
or more. The main entrance was at the north end on Broadway.
These barracks were not only used for recruiting purposes in the
city, but were also a convenient shelter for regiments passing
through, to and from the field, and this use was not confined to the
regiments of this State, but extended to those of all the New
England States. As to these latter, there were special organizations
of citizens, natives of the respective States, who not only welcomed
these transient regiments, but added the luxuries of the season,
usually fruits but occasionally ice cream, to the regular rations served
in the messrooms. Colonel Frank Howe, who was military repre
sentative of Massachusetts, may be remembered by old city resi
dents as quite conspicuous on these occasions. He had a great
penchant for exhibiting his tall and rather handsome person and
having his " doings " prorainently chronicled in the papers.
Special welcorae was given to the embrowned and tattered mera
bers of the shrunken regiments returning at the expiration of their

156 Annual Report of the St.\te Historian.
enlistraent, the first of these being those of our first levy. Isolated
soldiers on leave found a temporary asylum here, but in April, 1863,
a spacious " home " for these was established by the State in two
five-story warehouses, Nos. 50 and 52 Howard street, and the adjoin
ing building, No. 16 Mercer street, which were comfortably fitted
with all the appliances of a hotel, and where soldiers, without regard
to their State, obtained without expense lodging, meals and other
conveniences, including special attention to the wounded and sick.
This house remained open until the close of the war.
The Park barracks are associated with many memories of the
war times in the minds of all those who had a part in the State mil
itary establishraent and of the thousands of veterans who were
accommodated there, as also of old citizens who recall the many
incidents connected with that quaint building. It is to be regretted
that the city has no painting of the Park barracks as a memento
of those exciting times, and also of the patriotic endeavors and
public spirit of its citizens, and as a preservative of the scene where
they gave welcome and God-speed to so many soldiers of this and
other States. Yet why could we expect any such sentimental con
siderations by a city that subsequently relinquished this site to
the United States for a paltry sum and the erection of an architectu
ral monstrosity on it, and so mutilating our municipal park from
every point of view, and contracting a space not only valuable in
a sanitary sense, but also as a part of the open area or common
connected with our civil life and annals for two and a half centuries?
The wooden barracks erected in the Battery park were of smaller
dimensions and less importance, though very useful.
In 1861 the bark " Kate Stamler," anchored in New York, was
used as a rendezvous for recruits for the " marine artillery."*
* See page 57.

War of the Rebellion Series. 157
At Plattsburgh were used the United States barracks on the Lake
Champlain bluff, south of the town, which, having accommodations
for two companies only, were supplemented by teraporary additions
made by the State.
The regimental camps for the third levy and the regiments, etc.
(infantry when not otherwise specified), that were organized at them
were as follows:
Albany, One Hundred and Thirteenth Regiment — two inde
pendent companies;
Auburn, One Hundred and Eleventh, One Hundred and Thirty-
eighth and One Hundred and Sixtieth Regiraents;
Brooklyn, One Hundred and Thirty-ninth, One Hundred and
Fifty-eighth and One Hundred and Fifty-ninth Regiments;
Binghamton, One Hundred and Ninth and One Hundred and
Thirty-seventh Regiments ;
Buffalo, One Hundred and Sixteenth and One Hundred and
Fifty-fifth Regiraents and one battery of artillery;
Delhi, One Hundred and Forty-fourth Regiraent;
Elraira, One Hundred and Seventh, One Hundred and Forty-first
and One Hundred and Sixty-first Regiments;
Fonda, One Hundred and Fifteenth and One Hundred and Fifty-
third Regiraents;
Geneva, One Hundred and Twenty-sixth and One Hundred and
Forty-eighth Regiments ;
Goshen, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Regiment;
Harailton, One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Regiraent;
Hudson, One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment;
Jamestown, One Hundred and Twelfth and One Hundred and
Fifty-fourth Regiments ;
Kingston, One Hundred and Twentieth and One Hundred and
Fifty-sixth Regiments;

158 Annual Report of the State Historian.
Lockport, One Hundred and Twenty-ninth and One Hundred and
Fifty-first Regiments and four batteries of artillery;
Mohawk, One Hundred and Twenty-first and One Hundred and
Fifty-second Regiments ;
Monticello, One Hundred and Forty-third Regiment;
New York, One Hundred and Nineteenth, One Hundred and
Twenty-seventh, One Hundred and Thirty-first, One Hundred and
Thirty-second, One Hundred and Thirty-third, One Hundred
and Forty-fifth, One Hundred and Sixty-second, One Hundred and
Sixty-third, One Hundred and Sixty-fourth, One Hundred and Sev
entieth, One Hundred and Seventy-first and One Hundred and
Seventy-third Regiments;*
Norwich, One Hundred and Fourteenth Regiment;
Ogdensburg, One Hundred and Sixth and One Hundred and
Forty-second Regiments ;
Oswego, One Hundred and Tenth and One Hundred and Forty-
seventh Regiments and one battery of artillery;
Plattsburgh, One Hundred and Eighteenth Regiment;
Portage, One Hundred and Thirtieth and One Hundred and
Thirty-sixth Regiments ;
Poughkeepsie, One Hundred and Fiftieth Regiment;
Rochester, One Hundred and Eighth and One Hundred and For
tieth Regiments and two^ batteries of artUlery;
Rome, One Hundred and Seventeenth and One Hundred and
Forty-sixth Regiraents ;
Salera, One Hundred and Twenty-third Regiment;
* While these regiments were finally organized in and around New York,
their component parts should be credited to other localities for the most
part. They were partially formed of companies raised elsewhere and con
solidated in New York, but it would be difficult to give the proper credits

War of the Rebellion Series. 159
Sackets Harbor, four battalions of artUlery ;
Stapleton, S. I., One Hundred and Seventy-fifth Regiment;
Syracuse, One Hundred and Twenty-second and One Hundred
and Forty-ninth Regiments;
Troy, One Hundred and Twenty-fifth and One Hundred and
Sixty-ninth Regiments;
Yonkers, One Hundred and Thirty-fifth and One Hundred and
Seventy-second regiments ;
At most of these camps barracks, mess buildings, etc., were
erected except where there were those that had been built or leased
for the earlier levies.
The military storehouse at Albany was in a rented warehouse on
Broadway opposite the steamboat* landing. Colonel Isaac Vander-
pool was the military storekeeper.
At the Elmira depot Brigadier-General Robert B. Van Valken
burgh (N. Y. MUitia) was commandant, with headquarters in two
storehouses on Baldwin street back of the (then) Brainerd House.
The military storehouse was a part of the same buildings, under
charge of Colonel C. C. B. Walker.
Early in May, 1861, orders were received from Albany to prepare
for the reception of ten companies of the first levy, but forty arrived
alraost simultaneously; a part of this unexpected muster was quar
tered in a building recently erected for a barrel factory and there
after used and known as Barracks No. i, and the remainder tem
porarily quartered in churches, etc., until rented lodgings could be
procured. Commodious barracks were later buift on the banks of
the Chemung river, east of the city, and used for all the levies, and
in 1S63-64 were occupied by the Confederate prisoners collected at
Elmira under the general supervision of Colonel Benjamin F. Tracy,
One Hundred and Ninth Regiment, Volunteer Infantry.

i6o Annual Report of the State Historian.
General Van Valkenburgh's assistant adjutant-general was Cap
tain William Rumsey, who resigned in August, 1861, to take the
adjutancy of the First Regiment New York Artillery, and has been
a judge of the Supreme Court — 1881 to 1901. He was succeeded
by Captain Ira Davenport, who was State Senator 1880-81 and
State Comptroller 1882-83. General Van Valkenburgh was com
raissioned colonel of the One Hundred and Seventh Regiment
Volunteer Infantry in Septeraber, 1862, being then a member of
Congress, as was also Alexander S. Diven, who was lieutenant-
colonel of the same regiment and its colonel after October 21, 1862.
General Van Valkenburgh served two terms in Congress and was
United States minister to Japan 1866-70. Colonel Diven was assist
ant United States provost-marshal-general in 1S63-64 in charge of
the conscription in this State.
Colonel Elliott F. Shepard became comraandant of the Elmira
depot in September, 1862.
At New York General Arthur, in the early part of May, 1861,
secured a new warehouse at 51 Walker street, which, with its novel
iron front and four stories, was conspicuous in a block of old-time
low buildings. The railitary stores were received here, issued to
regiments in the vicinity and shipped to the other mUitary stores.
The building was spacious, occupying about all of the lot, and in
the upper stories were offices for the departments of the quarter
master and inspector generals and the auditing boards. It was the
center of vast activities in the exigent period when 60,000 recrufts
were fitted out in July and August, and was not abandoned until
May I, 1865.
The State ordnance departraent was administered in the new
State arsenal on the northeast comer of Seventh avenue and Thirty-
fifth street. It had recently replaced the old arsenal in Central

War of THfe Rebellion Series. i6i
park, facing Fifth avenue at Sixty-fourth street, since occupied by
the park department and surrounded by. the menagerie buildings.
In the new arsenal were stored cannon, small arms and their accou
trements and a certain amount of cartridges. It was invested by
the rioters in July, 1863, and became one of the principal points of
concern in those perUous days, since the capture of its arms and
ammunition would, under the grave condition of affairs, have made
the mob invincible. II

1 62

Annual Report of the State Historian.

G>IoneIs of New York Volunteer Regiments Promoted by the
President to be Brigadier-Generals of United States Volunteers.

name.

Colonel of

Date of Rank.

Michael Corcoran,

69th Militia,

July

SI, 1861

Henry W. Slocum,

27th Regiment Infantry,

August

9, 1861

Louis Blenlcer,

8th Regiment Infantry,

Augus'

9, 1861

Abraham Duryea,

Sth Regiment Infantry,

August

31, 1861

Daniel E. Sickles,

70th Regiment Infantry,

Sept.

3, i86i

Issac I. Stevens,

79th Regiment Infantry,

Sept.

28, i86i

Julius Stahel,

Sth Regiment Infantry,

Nov.

13, 1861

Thomas A. Davies,

i6th Regiment Infantry,

March

7, 1862

Isaac F. Quinby,

13th Regiment Infantry.

March

17, 1862

James H. Van Alen,

3d Regiment Cavalry,

April

15, 1862

Max Weben

20th Regiment Infantry,

April

28, 1862

George S. Greene,

60th Regiment Infantry,

April

28, 1862

John Cochrane,
Joseph B. Carr,

65th Regiment Infantry,

July

17, 1862

2nd Regiment Infantry,

August

29, 1862

Joseph J. Bartlett,

27th Regiment Infantry,

Sept.

4,1862

Nelson Taylor,

72d Regiment Infantry,

Sept.

9, 1862

Edward Ferrero,

51st Regiment Infantry,

Sept

TO, 1862

Adolph Von Steinwehr,

29th Regiment Infantry,

Sept.

12, i86a

Calvin E. Pratt,

31st Regiment Infantry,

Sept.

13, 1862

Francis C. Barlow,

6ist Regiment Infantry,

Sept.

19, 1862

Gouverneur K. Warren,

5th Regiment Infantry,

Sept.

26, 1862

J. H. Hobart Ward,

38th Regiment Infantry,

Oct.

4,1862

Charles C. Dodge,

ist Regiment Mounted Rifles,

Nov.

29, 1862

Lewis C. Hunt,

92d Regiment Infantry,

Nov.

29, 1861

William Dwight, Jr.

70th Regiment Infantry,

Nov.

29, 1862

Wladimir Kryzanowski,

sBth Regiment Infantry,

Nov.

29, 1862

James H. Ledlie,

3d Regiment Artillery,

Dec.

4, 1862

Daniel UUman,

78th Regiment Infantry,

Jan.

13, i8f3

Francis L. Vinton,

43d Regiment Infantry,

March

13, 1863

Robert B. Potter,

Sist Regiment Infantry,

March

13, 1863

Charles K. Graham,

74th Regiment Infantry,

March

15, 1863

William H. Morris,

6th Regiment Artillery,

April M^y

2, 1863

Gustavus A. De Russy,

4th Regiment Artillery,

23, 1863

Samuel K. Zook,

S7th Regiment Infantry,

May

23, 1863

Alexander Shaler,

65th Regiment Infantry,

May

26, 1863

Judson Kilpatrick,
Alfred N. Duffie,

2d Regiment Cavalry,

June

13. 1863

(Major) 2d Cavalry,

June

2(, 1863

Edward P. Chapin,

ii6th Regiment Infantry,

June

27, 1863

Kenner Garrard,

146th Regiment Infantry,

July

23, 1863

James C. Rice,
Henry E. Davies,

44th Regiment Infantry,

August

17, 1863

2d Regiment Cavalry,

Sept.

16, 1863

Regis De Trobriand,

3Bth Regiment Infantry,

Jan.

5, 1864

Nelson A. Miles,

6ist Regiment Infantry,

May

12, 1864

Emory tJpton,

i2ist Regiment Infantry,

July

4, 1864

Daniel D. Bidwell,

4gth Regiment Infantry.

August

II, 1864

Thomas W. Egan.
Wm. H. Seward, Jr.

40th Regiment Infantry,

Sept.

2, 1864

qth Regiment Artillery,

Oct.

4, 1864

Alfred Gibbs,

ist Regiment Dragoons,

Dec.

8, 1864

N. Martin Curtis,

i42d Regiment Infantry,

Jan.

24, 1865

Thomas C. Devin,

6th Regiment Cavalry,

March

13, '86s

John H. Ketcham,

isoth Regiment Infantry,

AprilW^y

I, 1865

Patrick H. Tones,
Joseph E. Hamblin,

154th Regiment Infantry,

9, 1865

65th Regiment Infantry,

May

19, 1865

Henry A. Barnum,

149th Regiment Infantry,

May

31, >865

Charles H. Van Wyck,

56th Regiment Infantry,

Sept.

27, i86s

William B. Tibbitts,

2ist Regiment Cavalry,

Oct.

28, 1865

Morgan H. Chrysler,

2d Veteran Cavalry, ' .

Nov.

II, 186s

r^a.»*i>,.^ /3 tA^^/ut.t.'i

u

 i 

Notes. — Many of these brigadier-generals were subsequently
appointed major-generals of volunteers and some entered the Reg
ular Army. Three generals were appointed from the Second Cav
alry and the Sixty-fifth Infantry, and two from each of the following
War of the Rebellion Series. 163
regiments: Fifth, Eighth, Twenty-seventh, Fifty-first, Sixty-first
and Seventieth Infantry.
General Slocum, a West Pointer, participated in all the battles of
the East up to the fight at Gettysburg, where he commanded the
right wing of the Army of the Potomac. Subsequently was trans
ferred to the western army, where he commanded the twentieth
corps ; the army of Georgia and the left wing of Sherman's army on
its march to the sea through Carolina. For a detailed sketch of
General Slocum and General Sickles see Second Annual Report of
^ the State Historian, pages 29-34. General Slocum died nth of
April, 1894.
General Thomas A. Davies was a graduate of West Point of the
class of 1S29J was assigned to the First Infantry, but resigned in
: 1831 to practice civil engineering in the city of New York. At the
\ outbreak of the war he was in business in that city and was assigned
: to the Sixteenth New York Volunteers as colonel. He was made
: brigadier-general March 7, 1862, and participated in the Mississippi
\ campaign; from 1862 to June, 1865, was in comraand of departments
in the West and Northwest. He died near Ogdensburg 19th of
•• August, 1S99.
General John Cochrane was descended from revolutionary stock,
his grandfather being surgeon-general of the Continental Army.
"John Cochrane was surveyor of the port of New York, 1853. He
; was a member of Congress, 1857-61, brigadier-general, 1864-65, and
; : died the 7th of February, 1S98.
'¦' \ General Carr attained high distinction during the war for his mili-
;; .tary ability. He was Secretary of State, 1880-86, and died at Troy,
N. Y., the 24th of February, 1S95.
General Bartlett was regarded as one of the best dressed officers
in the Army of the Potomac; was minister to Sweden in 1867; sub-

164 Annual Report of the State Historian.
sequently commissioner of pensions; died at Baltimore the 14th of
January, 1893.
General Pratt was another officer very highly regarded in the vol
unteer service; he occupied a seat on the Supreme Court bench in
Kings county from 1870 to his death, August 3, 1898.
General Barlow, one of the youngest generals in the army, and
severely wounded in the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg, was
Secretary of State, 1866-67, ^"d Attorney-General, 1872-73; died
nth of January, 1896.
General Warren, a West Point graduate, held important com
mands during the war ; for a detailed sketch of General Warren see
Second Annual Report of the State Historian, pages 3S-45.
General Ward was State commissary-general, 1856-60.
General Dodge was a son of William E. Dodge, the weU known
merchant and philanthropist of New York city; after the war prac
ticed his profession of the law in the western part of New York and
was promoted to the bench and established a reputation of a great , ,
jurist. General UUman was the nominee of the " Know-Nothing " party
for Governor in 1854.
General Vinton was a graduate of West Point and raember of a
well known miUtary family, his father having been kiUed in the Mex
ican war.
General Potter was a son of Bishop Alonzo Potter of Pennsylvania
and brother of Bishop Henry C. Potter of New York.
General Graham was surveyor of the port of New York, 1878-83,
and naval officer of same, 1SS3-85; died the 15th of April, 1889.
General Morris was a West Point graduate and son of George P.
Morris, a writer of some repute and author of " Woodman, Spare
that Tree ", etc. See page 104 for biography.

War of the Rebellion Series. 165
General Kilpatrick becarae one of the leading cavalry generals of
the war and subsequently minister resident to Chili; died at Val
paraiso the 4th of December, 1881.
General George S. Greene was bom in Rhode Island, graduated
No. 2 in the West Point class of 1823. He was a distinguished
officer during the War of the Rebellion. For several years before
his death he was the oldest surviving graduate of the West Point
academy. He died at Morristown, N. J., January 28, 1899. For a
detailed sketch of General Greene's life, see Second Annual Report
of the State Historian, pages 53-56.
General Charles H. Van Wyck, a native of Poughkeepsie, entered
the Union Army as colonel of the Tenth Legion of the Fifty-sixth
N. Y. Volunteers and coraraanded it throughout the war. He was
elected to the Thirty-sixth, Thirty-seventh, Fortieth and Forty-first
Congress frora the Orange county district; reraoved to Nebraska
and subsequently served that State in the United States Senate.
General H. E. Davies, son of Judge H. E. Davies, Court of
Appeals. General Miles has gradually risen to his present position of lieu
tenant-general U. S. A.
General Upton was a graduate of West Point and published imme
diately after the war a treatise on military tactics which took the
place of the previous " Hardee Tactics " ; while in command of the
PresidiO' at San Francisco his mind became affected, and during a
temporary aberration he took his life on March 4th, 1881.
General Seward is son of the great New York statesman, WUUam
H. Seward, and is a prorainent banker of Auburn, N. Y.
General N. Martin Curtis, member of Congress for several terms;
member of Assembly several terms ; resident of Ogdensburg, N. Y.
General Jones, postmaster New York city, 1869-73; register of
New York city, 1868-69, 1874-77.

i66 Annual Report of the State Historian.
General Barnum, inspector of prisons, 1866-69; member of
Assembly, 18S5; died in New York city 29th January, 1892.
General John Henry Ketcham was bom at Dover, N. Y., Decem
ber 21, 1832; member of Assembly in 1S56, 1S57; State Senator,
1S60, 1861 ; member of the war committee for his senatorial district;
resigned from the army March, 1S65, to take a seat in Congress;
was elected to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, Forty-first, Forty-second,
Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, Forty-seventh, Forty-eighth, Forty-ninth,
Fiftieth, Fifty-first, Fifty-second, Fifty-fifth, Fifty-sixth and Fifty-
seventh Congresses; received the title of major general by brevet.
The general officers from this State who were killed in action or
died while in the service were :
General Isaac I. Stevens, killed in action at ChantiUy Septem
ber I, 1862;
General Edwin V. Sumner, died at Syracuse March 21, 1863;
General Chapin, killed in action at Port Hudson May 27, 1863;
General Samuel K. Zook, killed in action at Gettysburg July 2,
1863; General Michael Corcoran, died December 22, 1863;
General James C. Rice, killed in action in the Wilderness May 10,
1864; General James S. Wadsworth, died of wounds received in the bat
tle of the Wilderness May 8, 1864;
General David A. Russell, killed in action at the battle of Opequon
Septeraber 19, 1864;
General Bidwell, killed at the battle of Cedar Creek October
19, 1864.

APPENDIX C*

THE DEFENSES OF NEW YORK.

THE war with Spain, which was officially declared April 21,1898,
threwthis country forward ten years in the matterof strength
ening coast defenses. Up to the time of the sinking of the Maine,
Congress had displayed not only a raost parsimonious but a most in
different policy regarding our national defenses. The importance of
providing suitable armament and of adequate forces for the protec
tion of our great seaport towns was overlooked and disregarded to
a degree that was next door to criminal. Army and naval experts
for years had declared in interviews, in the public press, in maga
zines and in official reports that the next war would fall upon us
suddenly and would be decided before we were in a state of pre
paredness. Predictions were frequently heard frora coolheaded and
able generals that a declaration of war would be followed immedi
ately by the appearance of a hostile fleet in the harbors of New York,
Boston, Washington or San Francisco. Military students and
observers were keenly alive to the appalling dangers that threatened
our country, for it was a recognized fact that, unlike all previous
wars where troops could be precipitately thrown together and mobil
ized while their equipment, guns and ammunition were being manu
factured for them, years of preparation were necessary in the con-
* See page 88.

i68 Annual Report of the State Historian.
struction of modern ammunition, modern ordnance and the
instruction necessary for the soldier to handle the implements of
warfare as conducted to-day.
As has been usual at every crisis in the history of this country,
Congress displayed its hysterical spasm of patriotism and promptly
voted an emergency fund of fifty million of dollars to be used by the
President in pitching the country into a state of defense by land and
sea. Under the distribution of this fund, the different departments of
the army and navy entrusted with the severe responsibilities so sud
denly, thrust upon thera worked with an energy and accorapUshed
results in a short space of tirae that aroused the adrairation of the
entire country. Not only was New York harbor speedily converted
into a fortress that was almost impregnable, but the work of develop
ment' has progressed until to-day it could successfully withstand
an assault frora any one of the great European powers. The works
at Sandy Hook, now called Fort Hancock, at the Narrows, at the
eastern extremity of Long Island, at Throgs Neck and WiUets
Point, are mounted with the heaviest and most effective siege guns
manufactured, together with batteries of 12-inch mortars and sec
ondary batteries of rapid-fire guns. Tlie heaviest caliber guns are
mounted on disappearing gup carriages, and are invisible, except
for the few seconds' exposure in firing, from a vessel approaching
the coast. To-day New York city is in better shape to meet an
armed host from the sea or by land than at any tirae in the history
of the country. The work is still progressing.
STATE HISTORIAN.

INDEX.

A. PAGE
Absenteeism  po
Accounts: auditor of  25
adjustment of  50
audited in inspector general's office  61
for supplies, settlement of  i^
Adjutant general's headquarters  16
Agnew, Dr. Cornelius, mentioned  ,  3
Albany, troops iri  24
Allen, William H., colonel  138
Allotment of part of privates' pay  53^ 136, 147-151
Amsberg, George von, colonel  47
Anthon, William Henry, judge advocate general  14
drafts the National Guard law  80
discusses it before legislative committees  81
attempts to enforce compulsory service  119
in charge of draft in New York and Kings counties  123, 124
characteristics  146
mentioned  i43
Antietam, Md., battle of  112, 130
Appropriation of funds for the war  .82, 134
Arden, Thomas B., colonel, succeeds Edmund Schriver as aide-de-camp,
sketch of his life  S'S
assistant paymaster general  107
Arms: difficulty in obtaining  21, 82
purchased  22, 83
Arthur, Chester Alan, engineer-in-chief  14, 18, 20, 55, 72
becomes inspector general  78-90
quartermaster general  96
embarrassed by United States officers to fill requisitions  102

170 Index. PAGE
Arthur, Chester Alan, his overwhelming duties  113
his administrative abilities  14S, 160
mentioned  139, 142, 143, 153, IS4
Artillery: in 1861  II, 45
attempts to raise  23
remanded to State authority  48
in 1862  60, 84
in October, 1862  117, 126
in December, 1862  127
turned over to General Banks  131
infantry regiments converted into  132
raised after December, 1862  133
in 1861 and 1862  133
Auditing board, final report  143
Auditor of accounts  25
Augur, Christopher C, general  ,  28
B.
Bailey, Guilford R,, colonel of the Second Regiment of Artillery, killed
at Fair Oaks, Va  59
Baker, Edward Dickenson, killed at Balls Bluff, Va., sketch of his
life  49, 63, 64
Balls Bluff, Va,, engagement at  49, 63
Banks, Nathaniel P., Union general  89
defeated at Cedar Mountain, Va  106
relieves General Butler at New Orleans  131
Barlow, Francis Channing, brigadier general  162, 164
Barnard, John G., United States engineers  70
Barnum, Henry A., brigadier general  162, 166
Barracks  103, 153-161
Bartlett, Joseph J., brigadier general  162, 163, 164
Beadle, Tracy, member of assembly  77
Beaufort, S. C, capture of  :  68
Beauregard, Pierre G. T., confederate general, massing his forces a few
miles west of Washington, D. C  43

Index.

171

PAGE
Belmont, Mo., battle at  67
Bendi.x, John E,, colonel, his command, the Seventh New York, fires
into the Third New York at Big Bethel, Va  ^
Benedict, Charles L., United States district judge  7j
Benton, Nathaniel S., canal auditor  76
Betge, Robert J,, colonel  48
Bidwell, Daniel D,, brigadier general  162
killed at the battle of Cedar Creek, Va  166
Big Bethel, Va.:
disaster at  36
force engaged at  45
Black Horse Cavalry  59
Blair, Francis Preston, union soldier  48
Blankets: difficulty in obtaining  21
requisition for  96
Blenker, Louis, colonel and brigadier general  57, 65, 162
Bliss, George, assistant adjutant general  64
appointed paymaster general, characteristics  107, 146
his endurance  109
Bouchard, Antoine, mentioned  106
Bounties  54, 97, 107, no, 118, 126, 134, 138
" Bowery Boys "  138
Bradford, Samuel D., aide-de-camp  15
Bradley, John, colonel. State agent at Washington, D. C  98, 99
Bragg, Braxton, confederate general, wins successes in'thfe west..-....'.': i^
Brigadier generals:
depots under command of  18
appointment  32, 39, 46
continued in command  49
assistants  49
list of  162
Bronson, Theodore, mentioned  148, iSi
Brooklyn, riot in  116
Buckingham, Charles, mentioned  20

172 Index. PAGE
Buckner, Simon Bolivar, confederate general, proposes to surrender
Fort Donelson, Tenn., to General Grant  85
Bull Run, Va.:
first battle of  43
force engaged at  45
second battle  no, m
Bullet machine  22
Burnham, Frederick G., assistant paymaster general  107
Burnside, Ambrose E., general, his disaster at Fredericksburg, Va  28
expedition to Roanoke Island, N. C  92
assumes command of the Army of the Potomac  .129, 132
Burt, James, mentioned  153
Burt, Silas W., urges Governor Morgan to prepare history of his second
administration  3
papers lost by fire  3
appointed auditor of military accounts  25
appointed assistant inspector general  81
assigned to inspect regimental camps, his duties  99-110
Busteed, Richard, brigadier general  138-139
Butler, Benjamin F., major general in command at Newport News, Va. 36
captures Forts Hatteras and Clark, N. C  62
expedition to Ship Island, Miss  92
" contraband of war "  116
relieved at New Orleans by General Banks  131
mentioned  ,  138
^f*/i^yii^, -^**»*<^ /C r.
C,
Cameron, James Donald, mentioned  14
Cameron, Simon, secretary of war, sketch of life  13-14
controversy with state authorities  27, 28, 35
requests the states to withdraw their purchasing agent from Europe. 83
Campbell, Duncan, colonel  16, 123
Campbell, Robert, lieutenant governor, mentioned   14
, despatched to Washington  35
Camps  153-161
inspection  98, 106

Index. 173
PAGE
Camps near Albany  24
Canals, enlargement of  78
Carr, Joseph B., brigadier general  162-163
Carricks Ford, W. Va., engagement at  42
Cavalry :
in 1861  II
attempts to raise  23
remanded to state authority  48
hesitation in accepting  59
nine regiments included in second levy  59
in 1862  84
December, 1862 . . .  127
regiments raised after December 31, 1862  133
in 1861 and 1862  i33
Cawee, George R., adjutant  109
Cedar Mountain, Va., battle of  106
Chapin, Edward P., brigadier general  162
killed in action at Port Hudson, La  166
Chaplains  38
Chartres, due de, mentioned  69
Chickahominy, Va., losses on  9°
Chrysler, Morgan H., brigadier general  162
Church, Walter S., colonel  nS
Clarke, Henry F  28
Cochrane, John, brigadier general  162, 163
Cogswell, Mason F., Dr., examining surgeon  I35
Cogswell, Milton, colonel  ^3
Cold Harbor, Va  132
Cooper, Samuel, adjutant general, C. S. A  I7
Copperheads  ^'33' "5, 116-117
Corcoran, Michael, colonel, captured at Bull Run, Va  I34
brigadier general  ^^
date of death  166
Cornell, Ezra, member of assembly  77
Cornwallis, Lord, mentioned  88
Coster, Charles R., colonel  '  102

174 Index. PAGE
Cowles, David S., colonel  99
killed in action at Port Hudson, La  105
Crandell, Levi, lieutenant colonel  loi
Cromwell, James, major, killed at Gettysburg  103
Curtin, Andrew Gregg, mentioned, governor of Pennsylvania  27
Curtis, N. Martin, brigadier general  162, 164
D.
Danforth, George E., brigadier general, mentioned  102
Davenport, Ira, captain  160
Davies, Henry E., judge of the Court of Appeals, mentioned  164
Davies, Henry E., Jr., brigadier general  162, 164
Davies, Thomas A., brigadier general  162, 163
Davis, Jefferson, president of the confederacy, mentioned  112
Defenses of New York city and state  70-7S1 167-168
Delafield, Richard, United States Engineers  23, 72
supervises the contracts for and the construction of field guns for
the state  83
Dennison, William, governor of Ohio  27
Denniston, Robert, comptlroller, mentioned  6
Dent, Frederick T., general  28
Depew, Chauncey M., member of assembly  77
D'Epineuil, Lionel J., colonel  47~48, 58
Depots  18, 153-161
De Russy, Gustavus A., brigadier general  ¦.  162
Deshon, George, mentioned  28
Devin, Thomas C, brigadier general  162
Dickinson, Daniel S., elected attorney general  67, 76
Diven, Alexander S., colonel  160
Dix, John Adams, appointed major general  32
appointment repudiated by the national government  33, 35
appointed major general of volunteers by the President  38
Dodge, Charles C, brigadier general  162, 164
Dodge, William E., mentioned  164
Dodge, William E., Jr., mentioned  148, 150, 151
Donelson, Fort, Tenn,, mentioned  85, 92

Index. 175
PAGE
Dorsheimer, Philip, state treasurer, mentioned  14, 21
visits New York regiments in the defenses at Washington  42
refuses to surrender his office to his successor  7S~76
Douglas, Stephen A., mentioned  67
Draft, contemplated  1 18-126
Drewrys Bluff, Va,, repulse ot fleet at  89
Duffie, Alfred N., brigadier general  162
Dupont, Samuel Francis, commodore in command of Hilton Head,
S. C, expedition  49, 68
Duryea, Abraham, brigadier general  162
D'Utassy, Frederick George, colonel  47
Dwight, William, Jr., brigadier general  162
E.
Egan, Thomas W., brigadier general  162
Election: of 1861  66-67
of 1862  127
Ellis, A. Van Horn, colonel  99
killed at Gettysburg, Pa  ;  103
Ellsworth, Elmer E., colonel, mentioned  7
in command of Fire Zouaves  29
his death at Alexandria, Va  35-36
the " Ellsworth Avengers "  58
Emancipation proclamation  114
Engineers: regiments of  60
in 1862  84
in 1861 and 1862  133
Enlistment, term of  15, 27, 30
Ensign, use of term  15, 37
Epineuil, Lionel J. d', colonel  47, 48, 58
F.
Fair Oaks, Va,, battle at  89
Farragut, David Glasgow, Union naval officer, expedition to Ship Island 92
Ferrero, Edward, brigadier general  162

176 Index. PAGE
" Fire Zouaves ''  29, 35
Floyd, John B., dismantles northern arsenals while secretary of war. ... ai
Fort Clark, N. C  62
Fort Donelson, Tenn  85, 92
Fort Hatteras, N. C  62
Fort Henry, Tenn  85, 92
Fort Jackson, La  92
Fort St. Philip, La  92
Franchot, Richard, colonel  105
Franklin, William B., major general, sketch of life  28-29
Fredericksburg, Va., battle of  132
Free states, unprepared condition  9
Fremont, John Charles, Union general  89
Fry, James B,, United States provost marshal general  141
G.
Garrard, Kenner, brigadier general  162
General orders:
State —
No, 13, providing for the details of organization for the seven
teen regiments under President Lincoln's proclamation. 11, 12, 15
No. 41, organizing the first division of New York state volun
teers  32, 33
No. 62, providing for inspection of the camps  98
No. 78, for a regimental organization of ten companies each to
conform with United States General Orders No. 15 for the
regular army  4S, 46, 53, 56
United States —
No, IS, for a regimental organization of ten companies  45, 46
United States, No, 31, relative to the organization of volunteers. 92
United States, No, 47, relative to the examination of persons
aspiring for commissions  56
United States, No, 51, disbarring a person from being mustered
in as an officer who has once resigned  56
United States, No, 52, prescribing the details of enlistment  94

Index. 177
General orders— (Continued).
United States— (Continued). page
United States, No, 5S, to establish camps of rendezvous and in
struction for volunteers near New York and Elmira under
regular army officers  49
United States, Nos, 60 and 61, to crush the abuse of absenteeism. 90
United States, No, 92, creating the military department of New
York under the command of Governor Morgan, who was
commissioned major general of volunteers by President Lin
coln  64
United States, No, pp, for the draft of 300,000 nine months
militiamen to be conducted under orders of the governors of
the several states  102, 121, 122
United States, No, pp, McCleUan's congratulatory order  67, 68
United States, No, 105, that no more regiments, batteries or in
dependent companies were to be raised by the states except
upon special requisition  84, in
United States, No, 113, relative to the organization of volun
teers  92
Gibbs, Alfred, brigadier general  162
Gilsa, Leopold von, colonel  47
Goldsborough, Louis M., commodore in command of the naval expedi
tion to Forts Hatteras and Clark, N. C  62
expedition to Roanoke Island  92
Governor's staff  11, 14, 55
Governors, convention of  117
Graham, Charles K., brigadier general  162, 164
Grant, Ulysses Simpson  28, 29
wins battle of Belmont, Mo  67
his reply to General Buckner's proposal to surrender Fort Donelson. 85
losses in the Wilderness  132
Gray, John, mentioned  20
Gray, Thomas S., member of assembly  77
Greble, John T., lieutenant United States Army, killed at Big Bethel,
Va  36
sketch of his life  36-37
Greeley, Horace, mentioned  S

178 Index. page
" Greenbacks "  io8
Greene, George S., brigadier general  162
oldest surviving West Point graduate  165
Griswold, John A., colonel  loi
H.
Halleck, Henry Wager, major general, orders heavy artillery regiments
to the front  132
Hamilton, Charles S., general  28
Hamblin, Joseph E., brigadier general  162
Hardie, James A., general  28
Harrisons Landing, Va., retreat to  93
Haswell, William E., mentioned  24
Head, Edmund Walker, governor general of Canada  22
Headquarters  153
Health, of soldiers  136
Hillhouse, Thomas, adjutant general  So, 61, 102
recommends a militia system similar to that of Germany  119
characteristics  145
Hilton Head, S. C, capture of forts at  49
Hodges, Henry C, colonel, assigned to equip volunteer organizations,
sketch of his life  55
quartermaster on General Governor Morgan's staff  96
Horton, Thomas R,, adjutant  109
Howard, William A., colonel of " Marine Artillery "  57, 58
Howe, Frank, colonel, military representative from Massachusetts  155
Hulburd, Calvin T., member of congress  77
Hunt, Lewis C, brigadier general  162
Hunt, Wilson G., mentioned  20
Hunter, David, Union general, mentioned  149
I.
Iniantry: in 1861  10
first levy  1 1
regiments remanded to state authority  47

Index. 179
Infantry— (Continued). page
in 1S62  84
call for 300,000 additional volunteers  93
regiments in October, 1862  117, 126
regiments in December, 1862  127
turned over to General Banks  131
regiments converted into heavy artillery regiments  131, 132
in 1861 and 1S62  133
regiments raised after December 31, 1862  133
Ingalls, Rufus, general  28
Inspection of camps  98, 106
Inspector general, appointment of assistant  81
J.
Jackson, Claiborne F., governor of Missouri  48
Jackson, James T., shoots and kUls Colonel Ellsworth at the Marshall
House, Alexandria, Va  35-36
Jackson, Thomas Jonathan (Stonewall), confederate general, mentioned. 89
defeats Banks at Cedar Mountain, Va  106
Jackson, William A., inspector general  14
appointed colonel Eighteenth New York Volunteer Infantry  26
Johnson, Andrew, mentioned  67, 139
Jones, David R. Floyd, secretary of state  14
nominated for lieutenant governor  127
elected  ,  128
Jones, Patrick Henry, brigadier general  162, 165
K.
Kearny, " Phil," general, killed at ChantiUy, Va  no
Ketcham, John Henry, brigadier general  162, 166
Kilpatrick, Judson, general of volunteers  60
brigadier general  162, 164
King, John A., governor, mentioned  146
Kitching, J. Howard, lieutenant colonel and colonel, dies of wounds
received in action (at Cedar Creek, Va., October 19, 1864)  104
Knowlton, Thomas, lieutenant colonel, mentioned  48

i8o Index. PAGE
Kozlay, Eugene A., colonel  47
Kryzanowski, Wladimir, colonel  47
brigadier general  162
L.
Ladue, Albert, sheriff  io6
Laws of the state:
equipment of volunteer militia  n, 14
pay of volunteers, bounties  54
army ration  54
new militia law  80, 119
Ledlie, James H., brigadier general  162
Lee, Robert Edward, confederate general, mentioned. .. .64, 85 112, 130, 131
Legislature: of j86i  II
of J862  76
exceptional character  76-77
Lewis, William B., state treasurer, succeeds Philip Dorsheimer  75, 76
Lexington, Mo., surrender of  48, 62
Lincoln, Abraham, President, calls into service 75,000 militia  n
makes an immediate call for volunteers after Bull Run  45
orders a draft of 300,000 militia  102
issues emancipation proclamation  I114
mentioned  14, in, 122, 129, 130, 139, 148
Linsly, John H., military secretary  15
appointed aide-de-camp  64
Lynch, James, captain, elected sheriff of New York  44
Lyon, Nathaniel, his death at the battle of Wilsons Creek, Mo., sketch
of his life  48, 62
M.
McClellan, George Brinton, major general in command of Ohio troops. 27
alleged discussion of his friends  28
successes in Virginia  42
in command of the Army of the Potomac  62
his characteristics  65, 66, 130

Index. i8i
page
McClellan, George Brinton, issues a congratulatory order  67
drilling his troops  84
relieved from command  86
reappointed to the command of the Army of the Potomac  1,12
mentioned  68, 85, 88, 106, 129, 131, 133
McCuUoch, Ben., confederate general, mentioned  48
McDougaU, Archibald L., colonel, dies of wounds received in action near
Dallas, Ga  loi
mentioned  107
McDowell, Irvin, major general of volunteers at Bull Run  39
concentrates troops about Washington, D. C  42
disciplining his troops and his defeat at Bull Run  43
an unjust charge exploded  65
mentioned  89
Magruder, John Bankhead, commands confederate forces at Big Bethel. 36
Major generals:
appointed by governor  31
appointment  32, 35. 38
Malvern Hill, Va., battle at  89
Marcy, Randolph B., general of volunteers, mentioned  68
" Marine Artillery "  57
Mason, James M., confederate agent to England  17, 69, 74
Mass meeting in Union Square, New York city  12
Meade, George Gordon, major general, United States Army, mentioned. 17
Merrimac, fears of attack from  i33
Merrimac and Monitor, battle of  87
Miles, Nelson A., brigadier general  162, 164
Military Department of New York, created  64
Military establishment, clashing with  51
Military supplies  20, 38
Militia: first levy  9-40
number in free states in j86i  9
number in New York in 1861  9
inefficient in 1861  9

i82 Index.
Militia — (Continued). page
authority to enroll, muster and discharge troops  14. 4i 45. 95
organization  IS. 23
election of officers  15, 34
term of enlistment  iS, 27, 30
transportation  23
complement of 30,000 troops organized  26
instructed in drill and tactics  27, 50
jurisdiction of general and state governments  28, 33, 47
appointment of officers  31, 46
resignations of officers  31, 56
officers inefficient  32
enlistment of first regiments  35
second levy  41-86
volunteer regiments, after Bull Run disaster  45
organization of additional regiments  45
payment of expenses  SO, 52, 81, 107-109, 134
regiments of foreigners  47, 53, 57
pay of officers  53
pay of orivates  53
allotment of privates' pay  53, 136, 147, 151
stimulating enlistment  54
discharges of enlisted men for disability  ¦. . . . 56
discharge of minors  56
character of second levy  56, 57
number on April i, 1862  61
law of April 25, 1862  80, 119
expenditures controlled by the United States  81
number on March 31, 1862  84
third levy  87, 146
orders for enrollment of all persons liable to militia duty  91
call for 300,000 volunteers  931, 102
new plan of recruitment  93
rapidity of enlistments  98, 102
in service October, 1862  118
contemplated draft  1 18-126

Index. 183
Militia— (Continued). p^qj,
slackness of recruiting in the great cities  137
character of regiments  138-139
total number of men sent to the field  140
protest against injustice to true veteran soldiers  142
consolidating incomplete companies and regiments  143
Morgan, Edwin D., governor of New York, history of second adminis
tration urged  3
his death  3
characteristics  24-25, 144
urges organization of 30,000 troops  26
issues proclamation for 35,000 volunteers  '.  45
requests that the West Point cadets be assigned as military instruc
tors to volunteer regiments  50
issues a, vigorous proclamation  55
appointed major general of volunteers by the President  64
his daily military council  90
nineteen governors of loyal states call upon the President for addi
tional reinforcements  93
his proclamation of July 2, 1862  94
his bounty proclamation  98
declines to attend convocation of governors at Altoona  117
issues a new proclamation abolishing bounties for recruits for regi
ments in the field  118
turns his trust over to Horatio Seymour, declines pay for services as
major general  132
total number of men sent to the front under his administration  140
mentioned. .6, 7, n, 13, 14, IS, 17, 22, 27, 47, 55, 95, 97, 102, 103, 106, 107
140, 144, 145
Morgan, Edwin D., Jr., aide-de-camp  iS. 17
Morris, George P., mentioned  164
Morris, Lewis O., colonel Seventh New York Heavy Artillery, killed
before Cold Harbor, Va  100, 132
Morris, William H., colonel, sketch of his life  104
brigadier general  162
Morton, Oliver P., governor of Indiana  27

184 Index. PAGE
Mulligan, Richard, colonel, mentioned  48, 62
Murfreesboro, Tenn., battle of  132
Myer, Aaron B., major, dies of wounds received in the Wilderness, Va. loi
Myers, Charles G., attorney general, mentioned  14, 21
visits New York regiments in the defenses of Washington, D. C. .. . 42
N.
National Guard  80, 91, 119
National Guard law  80, 119
Nelson, William, general, wins fight at Pikeville, Ky  (>7
New Orleans, La., capture of  92
New York city, regiments from  12
defenses of  70, 75, 167-168
riot in  116
Newspapers, during Civil War  113-114
Norfolk, Va., evacuation by rebels  89
Norton, Franklin, Ueutenant colonel, killed in action at Chancellorsville,
Va  loi
O.
Officers: appointment of  15, 31, 34 46
resignations of  31, 56
inefficiency  32
state examinations  56
Opdyke, George, mentioned  20
P.
Palmerston, Lord, the British premier  22
Pamlico Sound, N. C, occupation on  92
Paris, Compte de, mentioned  69
Parmenter, F. W., accused as a traitor  22, 23
Parrott field pieces  23, 83
Patrick, Marsena, general, mentioned  6, 7, 24, no
characteristics  25
appointed inspector general of state troops  26

Index. 185

PAGE

Patrick, Marsena, audits accounts  41
applies for duty in the field  :  68
disagreement with Governor Morgan  77
becomes provost marshal general of the armies of the Potomac and
the James  78
Paulding, Edmund E., major, and paymaster  109
Paymasters  38
Peck, John J., Union general  28, 104
Peissner, Elias, professor and colonel, .killed in action at Chancellors
ville, Va  joi
Peninsula campaign  88
Phelps, Royal, member of assembly  yy
Phillips Island, capture of forts at  49
Pickett, George E., confederate general, mentioned  39
Pikeville, Ky., success of General Nelson at  67
Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., battle of  92
Pope, John, major general, in command of the Army of the Potomac. 106
his defeat at Second Bull Run  no
relinquishes command  no, 112
mentioned  133, 146
Port Royal, S. C:
base of operations at  49
reduction of forts at  67
Porter, Peter A., member of assembly  77
colonel of the Eighth New York ArtUlery; killed at Cold Harbor,
Va  132
Porter, Peter B., secretary of war, mentioned  77
Post, A., mentioned  99
Potomac, passage of, by Lee  131
Potter, Alonzo, bishop of Pennsylvania, mentioned  164
Potter, Henry C, bishop of New York, mentioned  164
Potter, Joseph H., general  28
Potter, Robert B., brigadier general  162, 164
Pratt, Calvin E., brigadier general  162, 164
Premium, on certain number of recruits presented and passed  S4

1 86, Index. PAGE
Price, Edward Livingston, colonel  139
Price, Sterling, confederate general  48, 62
Pringle, Benjamin, member of assembly  77
Proclamation, of Governor Morgan, making call for seventeen regi
ments  II
calling for volunteers  45
for stimulating enlistments  55
on need of reinforcing the armies  94
on desirability of a uniform bounty  g8
on state bounties  no
Proclamation, of President Lincoln, calling into service 75, 000 militia. .. 11
for volunteers, after Bull Run disaster  45
calling for 300,000 additional volunteers  93, in
declaring the emancipation of all slaves  114
Pruyn, Charles E., adjutant and major, killed in action before Petersburg
Va. (June 15, 1864)  106
Q.
Quartermaster general, headquarters  18
Quartermaster's department, demeanor of officers  51
Quinby, Isaac F., mentioned  28
brigadier general  162
R.
Rathbone, John F., brigadier general in charge of military depot at
Albany  18, 49, 154
Raymond, Henry J., editor of the New York Times  77
Raynolds, William F., mentioned  28
Read, John Meredith, adjutant general  14
characteristics  16
issues General Order 41  32
resigns  50
Reynolds, Joseph J., general  38
Rice, James C, brigadier general  162
killed in action at the Wilderness  166

Index. 187
PAGE
Richards, Samuel R., colonel  100, 106
Richmond, Van Rensselaer, state engineer, mentioned  14
Riflemen, first levy  iii
Ripley, Roswell S., mentioned  28
Robinson, Lucius, comptroller  67, 7(1, 97
"Rocket battalion "  58
Rodgers, John, United States Navy, at the battle of Drewrys Bluff, Va. 8g
Roosevelt, Theodore, President of the United States, mentioned  148
Roosevelt, Theodore, appointed hy President Lincoln chairman of the
commission for the protection of soldiers' families  148, 150, 151
Rosa, Rudolph, colonel  47
Rosecrans, William Starke, major general of volunteers  55
Rumsey, WiUiam, captain  160
Russell, David A., brigadier general, killed in action at the Opequon. .. . 166
S.
Salm-Salm, Prince Felix  57
Sammons, Simeon, colonel  105
Sandford, Charles W., major general of militia  SS
Schriver, Edmund, general United States Army, sketch of life  16, 17
resigns from governor's staff  SS
Schurz, Carl, major general of volunteers  57
Schuyler, Jacob R., commissioned to purchase arms in Europe. .. .22, 82, 83
Scott, Winfield, lieutenant general, mentioned  63
retired  64
president of the " Protective War Claim Association ''  15,1
Segoine, Jesse, colonel  51, 52
Seward, WiUiam Henry, secretary of state  26, 42, 52, 75, 123, 139, 162
Seward, WUliam H., Jr., brigadier general  162, 164
Seymour, Horatio, nominated for governor  127
elected  128
Governor Morgan surrenders his trust to him  132
Shaler, Alexander, brigadier general  162
Sharpe, George H,, colonel  99. 104

i88 Index.
Sharpshooters: page
in 1861 and 1862  133
in December, 1862  127
Shepard, Elliott F., aide-de-camp  ig
assistant inspector general  99
colonel and in command of the Elmira depot  160
Sheridan, Philip Henry, general, United States Army, mentioned  60
Sherman, Thomas W., general in command of expedition to Hilton
Head, S. C  49, 68
Shields, James, brigadier general, mentioned  49
ShOoh, Tenn., battle of  92
Ship Island, Miss  92
Sickles, Daniel Edgar, colonel and brigadier general  46
contemptuous of state authority  47
promoted brigadier general  162
Sigel, Franz, general of volunteers  57
Sitgreaves, Lorenzo, colonel, sketch of life  :  17
Slavery, institution of  116
Slidell, John, confederate agent to England  17, 6g, 74
Slocum, Henry Warner, brigadier general  162
commands the right wing of the Army of the Potomac and the left
wing of Sherman's in the march to the sea  163
Smith, Charles Emory, assistant adjutant general  154
South Mountain, Md., battle of  112
Spottsylvania Court-House, Va  132
Sprague, John T., major, appointed general superintendent of recruiting
service  in
adjutant general  140
Springsteed, Edward A., major, killed at Reams Station, Va  100
Stahel, Julius, lieutenant colonel and brigadier general  57, 162
Stanton, Edwin M., secretary of war, approves project for special volun
teer medical corps in the field  91
mentioned  122, 130, 139
Starin, John H., contractor, for feeding state troops  105
Steele, Frederick, general  28
Steinwehr, Adolph von, brigadier general  j  162
Stetson, Lemuel, member of assembly  77

Index. 189
PAGE
Stevens, Isaac I., brigadier general  162
killed in action at ChantiUy, Va  166
Stevens, John, his proposed iron clad batteries  79
Stevens, Robert L., his floating iron clad battery  79, 80
Stone, Charles P., brigadier general of volunteers, sketch of his life  63
Storehouses  153
Sumner, Edwin V., major general, died Syracuse, N. Y  166
Supervisor of disbursements  25
Supplies: expenditures for  61
contracts for  61
settlement of accounts for  144
Surgeons, volunteer  91
Surgeon's mate, use of term  15. 37
T.
Tammany regiment  63
Taylor, Nelson, brigadier general  162
Taylor, WiUiam B., state engineer proposes to convert canals of the
state into ship canals  78, 79
Thomson, WiUiam H., Dr., examining surgeon  135
Tibbits, William B., brigadier general  162
Todleben, Francois Edward, mentioned  130
Tompkins, Daniel D., assistant quartermaster general  51, 52
Totten, Joseph G., brigadier general of engineers  72
Townsend, Frederick, colonel, his command, the Seventh New York,
fired into by the Third New York at Big Bethel, Va  36
Tracy, Benjamin F., member of assembly  11
in command of confederate prisoners at Elmira  I59
Tremain, Lyman, nominated for lieutenant governor  127
his defeat  ^^^
'/Trent affair"  ^' 74
Trobriand, P. Regis de, colonel.  47
brigadier general  :  59, 162
TuthiU, Selah O., adjutant  i°4
Twiggs, David E., general, mentioned  9, 5°, 96

190 Index. U.
Uniforms : page
proposals to furnish  19
difficulty in procuring  20
poor materials  .'  20
certificates of inspection  20
predilection for gaudy and unusual styles  30
responsibility for inferior quality  41
Zouave uniform  58
lost or destroyed, reimbursement for  81
requisitions for  96
audit of claims for  I44
Union defense committee:
organization  12
expenses  12
Ullman, Daniel, brigadier general  162, 164
Upton, Emory, lieutenant and colonel  105
brigadier general  162, 165
Utassy, Frederick George, d', colonel  47
V.
Van Alen, James H., brigadier general  162
Van Benthuysen, Charles, mentioned  no
Van Buren, John, believes the President should declare an armistice. . . . 129
Van Buren, Thomas B., paymaster general  15, 38
Vanderpoel, Isaac, colonel, mihtary storekeeper  159
Vander Poel, Samuel Oakley, surgeon general  14
high administrative qualities displayed  37, 62
organizes special medical corps.  91, 135, 146
mentioned  153
Van Valkenburgh, Robert B., brigadier general in charge of military
depot at Elmira  18, 49, 159
colonel of volunteers  ',. 160
Van Vechten, Cuyler, quartermaster general  14
inspector general  96, 99, 143, 146
Van Wyck, Charles H., brigadier general  162, 164
Vinton, David H,, lieutenant colonel and deputy quartermaster general. 96

Index. 191
PAGE
Vinton, Francis L,, brigadier general  162, 164
Volunteers: considered a part of the militia  31^ 3^
first division organized  „
See also Militia.
Von Gilsa, Leopold, colonel  47
W.
Wadsworth, James Samuel, appointment as major general by Governor
Morgan repudiated by national authorities  35
appointed brigadier general by the President  38
sketch of his life  38-39
nominated for governor  127
his defeat and the causes for it  128
his death in the Wilderness  166
Walker, Charles C. B., captain  18
colonel and military storekeeper  159
Wallace, George W., appointed commissary of subsistence on General
(Governor) Morgan's staff, sketch of his life  96
War committee  94
War department, controversy with  27
Ward, J. H. Hobart, brigadier general  16.2, 164
Warren, Gouverneur Kemble, brigadier general  162, 164
Washington: prevention of capture at outset of rebellion  13
concentration of troops about  42
Weber, Max, brigadier general  162
Webster, Daniel, mentioned  39
Weed, Thurlow, his hostility to recruits from the old Democratic party. . 128
Welch, Benjamin, Jr., chief of ordnance  143, 146
West Point, Va., success at  89
Westbrook, Simon S., captain  104
Wey, WUliam C, Dr., examining surgeon  135
Wheaton, Frank, major general. United States Army, sketch of life. .. .17-18
Whitney, Thomas R., member of Congress, mentioned  5

192 Index. PAGE
Wilkes, John, captain. United States Navy, captures British stearaer
Trent  17, 69, 75
WiUard, George L., colonel, kiUed in action at Gettysburg, Pa  lai
Wilsons Creek, Mo., battle at  48, , 62
Winthrop, Theodore, major, killed at Big Bethel, Va  36
sketch of his life  36
Wood, Fernando, his reference to Governor Seymour's election  128-129
Y.
Yates, Charles, brigadier general in charge of the military depot at New
York  18, 49, 154
Yates, Richard, governor of Illinois  27
Z.
Zook, Samuel K., brigadier general  162
killed at Gettysburg  166
Zouaves, proposed regiment of  S8

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