Part 1

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COMPANY G.

A Record of the Services of One Company of the 157th N. Y. Vols. in the War of the Rebellion.

From Sept. 19, 1862, to July 10, 1865.

Including the Roster of the Company.

by

A. R. BARLOW.

A. W. Hall, Publisher, Syracuse, N.Y. 1899.

PREFATORY.

The production of this little work has long been contemplated. It has seemed right that the records of some of the volunteer organizations sent from Canastota and vicinity, during the War of the Rebellion, should be recorded in such a form as would preserve to the families of those boys, their deeds in marching, in fighting, in suffering for the old flag. In an effort to accomplish such an undertaking as this, the patronage of the general public is not considered. The book, if requiting for the expense of publication, will be considered a success financially.

As a literary effort, no claim is filed, unless one is admissible for general accuracy in the matter of events and dates. Some critics may take exception to the attempt herein made, to individualize a collective noun and yet retain plurality; and in the same measure, pervert mood and tense. It is admitted that the license is unique. Quite likely other departures from good old grammatical paths will be noted. Let it be remembered, however, that the experiences of Co. G were, as a whole, unique, and to harmonize the literal with the actual, the record should be drawn uniquely.

No apology is offered for trivial treatment of some of the subjects; in truth, they are deserving of severe handling. If lack of respect for commanding officers is shown, the explanation given is, that they have been removed from the high pedestals of war-gods and are considered only as men.

It is in no bitter sense the men who fought Co. G are termed rebels. They were in rebellion and were known to the boys as rebels, or johnny rebs. A false delicacy only would prompt the writer to deprive those Southern men of a title which, apparently, they bore with pride.

As stated, this is not a work for the public eye. It is an offering to comrades, from a comrade who marched with them, and experienced with them the fortunes and misfortunes of war. And in performing this work, care has been taken to omit such occurrences as might not be understood by others than the actors; and while thus avoiding over-coloring by a faithful portraiture of events, and suppressing nothing worthy of record Co. G go into history.

In performing this duty, individual names have been used, illustrative of passing events. Should any person feel aggrieved over such freedom, let it be known, it was, indeed, born of familiarity with the subjects, and is indulged in a spirit of good comradeship, without thought of disparagement.

No man who marched with those boys can think of them unkindly. If there were ever differences of a serious nature, the writer is unmindful of them.

To travel over the old roads, to hunger and to thirst again; to sleep where night found them; in sunshine, in storm out on the picket-line; to toss upon a bed of suffering and weaken, day by day, for lack of tender care;--in brief, to march away to the wars and enjoy the rich compensation of an honorable return, all this and more, has been lived again while preparing this record. And so with the old boys, as long as they live, will they by this effort be enabled to travel Virginia roads in all kinds of weather, without danger of sticking fast in the mud, or of being stifled amid clouds of gray dust.

Why Co. G did not cut a broader swath along the pathway of glorious attainment, they cannot understand. They were a willing body of men, and were of a regiment of noble hearts. Misfortunes of war, simply, were not the only elements at work defeating their best endeavors. The true causes can be learned, only, in a huge compendium of tragical, whimsical and amusing facts, concealed within the folios of that unwritten or mythical history of the war, which never will be published, a history that would tumble war-idols to the ground, and elevate men who have passed into obscurity.

But Co. G have never permitted their escutcheon to lie prone in the dust, that they might more readily engage in wrangling over such small matters as position and preference. They do not grumble, they do not boast. They learned, thirty-five years ago, to accept the inevitable, which has been awarded to them in large quantities.

Co. G were boys of Lenox, who served in the name of Lenox. They belonged, then to Lenox, as her offering in the war, and their record is a part of the history of the town. Divested of verbiage, their deeds will still be found honorable and manly. For, as once said the lamented Capt. Frank, Co. G did "as well as any of them."

A few words should be given in memory of the dead, who, in life, stood shoulder to shoulder with the boys of Co. G Dead?--a word applied to express a religious belief; but how inexpressive of a new-birth.

"Death is but another name for change. The weary shuffle off their mortal coil, And think to slumber in eternal night. But, lo! the man, tho' dead is living still; Unclothed, is clothed upon, and his Mortality Is swallowed up of Life."

Thus sang an inspired woman, and thus shall it be said of the boys who gave their lives for the flag, and for their comrades who shall follow them. And some day, upon the great plain of Light, the hosts will once more marshal for a grand review.

ROSTER OF CO. G, 157TH N.Y. VOLS.

CAPTAINS.

Abraham Tuttle. [1]Harrison Frank. [2]Lafayette McWilliams.

LIEUTENANTS.

Maurice D. Bailey. Harrison Frank. Marshall Hemstreet. [2]Frank E. Gates. [2]Robert E. Grant. [2]Jerome Forbes. Clark Pierce.

ORDERLY SERGEANTS.

Israel P. Moore. Marshall Hemstreet. Frank E. Gates. [2]John H. Roe. Jerome Forbes. Hubbard Suits.

SERGEANTS.

Marshall Hemstreet. Frank E. Gates. Henry C. Jarvis. John H. Roe. James B. Hooper. [2]Nicholas Binges. John H. Fancher. Wm. H. Barlow. [2]Harvey Lindsley.

CORPORALS.

Jerome Forbes. [2]Irwin A. Sayles. [2]James B. Hooper. Clarence L. Spencer. [2]Asa E. New. Wm. J. Peck. Wm. H. Barlow. Nicholas Binges. Hubbard Suits. [2]Charles A. Near. Daniel A. Betsinger. [2]Albert R. Barlow. [2]Jerry Murphy. [2]William Miller. Wm. H. Kimball.

MUSICIAN.

W. H. Perry.

TEAMSTER.

Wm. G. Johnson.

COOKS.

William Mallows. Ziba Cloyes. Patrick Matthews.

PRIVATES.

[2]Amos Avery. [2]Peter Agan. Daniel A. Betsinger. Wm. W. Baldwin. [1]Albert D. Bridge. Daniel Brockway. Albert R. Barlow. Ziba Cloyes. Alfred J. Cole. Peter Cummings. Francis H. Carey. John H. Dunham. Nicholas Ecker. [1]John W. Foltz. Conrad Foltz. [2]Robert Farrington. John H. Fancher. Francis M. Gault. Daniel D. Grovestein. Stephen D. Harrington. Joseph H. Hart. [1]John A. Hart. Jacob Hallicus. [3]James M. Hainsworth. [2]James Johnson. [1]Luzerne E. Johnson. Henry Kellogg. Harvey Lindsley. [1]Asa C. Lawrence. Luther Loucks. Wm. Mallows. Myron A. Menzie. Henry Mason. Patrick Matthews. James Matthews. Jerry Murphy. [1]Durell Moore. Jeremiah McLane. [2]John J. McMaster. [2]William Miller. [2]John Miller. [2]Michael Miller. [2]Chas. A. Near. [2]Simon Nestler. [2]Hugh O'Brien. [1]Francis C. Pratt. [2]William Pease. [2]John Pfleiger. Mason Phelps. Chas. O. Ricker. Wm. E. Rinn. [3]Henry W. Richardson. Nicholas J. Snyder. Eusebius Sweet. Hubbard Suits. [2]James L. Travis. John Torrey. Elmer A. Wise. [1]Alfred Wilder. [2]Henry Whaling. Calvin White.

DRAFTED RECRUITS.

Geo. S. Orr. Scott D. Whitney.

SUBSTITUTES FOR DRAFTED MEN.

James Leonard. John Wise.

ENLISTED AS RECRUITS.

[1]Abram Thornton. Sylvanus D. Alexander. Peter Delong. Chas. Hoxie. Nelson Kimball. Henry Nobles. Sylvanus S. Ostrander. Samuel N. Jacquay. [1]Russell Stroup. Paul Stowell. Wm. H. Schuyler. Levi Schuyler. Chas. O. Hinman. [2]Wm. L. Johnson. Wm. H. Kimball. Patrick Kinney. Alfred J. Leird. William Rudd. John Terry. Daniel Winchell. John Brown. George Plank. Arthur Campbell. Rufus C. Baldwin.

[1] Killed in Action.

[2] Wounded.

[3] Died by disease or accident.

COMPANY G.

The date of their captain's commission placed Co. G seventh in rank--beginning with A--and ninth company from the extreme right as the regiment formed on the colors. The company was enrolled and became a part of the 157th regiment of New York Volunteers, enlisted for three years unless sooner discharged--"for three years unless sooner shot," according to Irwin Sayles, who left the company and the service minus a right arm. The regiment was raised in Cortland and Madison Counties, under the call of July 2d, 1862, for 300,000 three years men.

ABRAHAM TUTTLE, the first captain of Co. G, was a farmer living near Clockville. He was about forty years of age, slightly gray, but strong and active. Capt. Tuttle was an old-time California gold-seeker, who took the long route via Cape Horn to the then new Eldorado. In some respects he was well fitted for a soldier, but he had no taste for such a life, as a profession, and resigned after experiencing the discomforts of a winter campaign in Virginia.

MAURICE D. BAILEY, of Wampsville, was first lieutenant of Co. G. He was one of the handsomest men in the regiment--finely made and set-up in good style and in the prime and vigor of life. He was a big-hearted man and popular. At home he was a farmer. After serving with the company for a few months, he was assigned to Co. K, being promoted to a captaincy, and remained with the regiment until the autumn of 1863, when he resigned, at Folly Island, S.C.

HARRISON FRANK, second lieutenant of Co. G, was a speculator in farm produce and lived at Wampsville; he was thirty-two years of age, a rather tall, spare-built man. He came from German stock, and his grandfather, Albert Frank, was a soldier of the Revolution. His maternal grandfather, George Siver, was a soldier of 1812. Andrew Frank married Nancy Siver and Harrison Frank was their son.

So it appears that Harrison was born with a martial spirit in him. Unfortunately his physical powers were too frail for the hardships of camp and field. It would seem that only a strong will power supported the man for weeks at a time. "I will never give up until I am down," was written on every line of his features, while his figure was unsteady and his limbs seemed unfit for carrying his body. But his eye was clear and his voice rang out sharp and authoritative. He possessed a shrill tone of voice, was rapid in speech, his perceptions were clear, his preferences leaning to that which was just and right; was methodical, correct, generous, temperate. Cared little for the glitter of military display and wore on parade the dress coat of a private adorned with shoulder straps. This was not from penuriousness. One day the colonel took him to task for not appearing in a uniform coat.

"Colonel," he replied, "I have a mother and others at home, who need all I can save from my pay. In my baggage I have a new uniform coat. My boys know me in this uniform."

He wore that plain dress coat unmolested. In fact, when he fell at Gettysburg he wore the ordinary blouse of a private soldier, with two bars attached, taken from an old shoulder strap.

When Frank was made captain, the discipline of Co. G was very indifferent, their tactics none of the best. They needed inspiring and the right sort of man took hold of them, who knew there was crude material in his company, of such from which good soldiers were produced; so he applied himself and with immediate results, to make Co. G one of the good companies of the regiment. Frank had been left behind when the regiment went to the front. He was in poor health, but finally reached Washington and lay there in hospital, or under treatment, for weeks, rejoining the boys at Fairfax Court House, Va. He was still weak, but brimful of patriotism, was sanguine of victory for the North and said he expected to march into Richmond. Such sort of grit served him to the last. Gradually, as the winter gave place to balmy spring, his health seemed to improve and with that encouraging condition came his ability to convey to his men the ambition of the soldier; and it was not long before Co. G were looking up handsomely. In April, 1863, President Lincoln reviewed the Army of the Potomac then lying in the vicinity of Falmouth. Co. G were bright under the applications of tripoli polish, blacking and brush-brooming; new uniforms, white gloves, etc. Capt. Frank was proud of his men. As their esprit improved the men grew to liking more and more the man who sought their greatest good.

In this connection it is only just to remember a patriotic act of Mrs. Daniel Crouse, of Canastota, who presented a regulation sword to each of the officers of Co. G. The ceremony occurred in the old Dutch Reformed Church in Canastota. Judge Barlow made the presentation speech, to which the then Lieutenant Frank responded in a modest, but manly style.

A FEW NOTES OF GENERAL INTEREST.

Co. G was recruited in the middle portion of the Town of Lenox, Madison County. It was known in the regiment as the Canastota Company. A patriotic region was the territory within a radius of four miles of that small village. Before 1856 it was counted a reliably Democratic locality, but the anti-slavery agitation soon found it fertile ground for propagating Free-Soil ideas and it rapidly changed to the Republican side, as soon as the issue was fairly made. So, when the war broke out, the missionary work of such men as Gerrit Smith, Samuel J. May, Beriah Green, and others, became apparent, and patriotism burned bright upon its rural altars. It is estimated that at least five hundred men were recruited within the territory already designated. The Town of Lenox paid $136,030 for town bounties, while Madison County paid a total of $1,338,320 for bounties to recruits. Lenox paid for support of families $3,786, distinct from Poor Fund; both for bounties and for relief thus raised by tax, Lenox shows double that of any other town in the county. And those figures do not by any means represent the thousands of dollars voted at the recruiting meetings and subscribed and donated for local bounties and for relief purposes.

Very pleasant to recall are the kind words spoken and written in those trying times by noble-hearted men and women, as the boys went forth to the war.

In August, 1862, a war fund was raised in Madison County. Hon. Gerrit Smith, with his usual generosity, promptly sent in his check for $5,000, and in his note which enclosed the same, he says--"I would that the fund should not be regarded as a mercenary appeal to our volunteers--but as a gift from loving neighbors toward helping them to arrange their affairs that they can leave their homes more freely and pleasantly. These volunteers and their neighbors constitute a partnership sacred and sublime, and never to be broken."

Canastota was very active and like many other towns at the time, doing unceasingly for the men in the field, for local relief and in support of the good cause generally. It is doubtful if any locality in the State, with the same population and a like assessment, can show a more honorable record.

It should be noted that at least fifty per cent. of the men enlisted in 1862 were at the time beardless youths, the greater portion of whom proved enduring soldiers. Those boys did not enlist for sake of obtaining bounties. Enthusiasm was aroused in various ways--by speeches at war-meetings, by martial music and by the newspapers. Everybody talked war, the girls sang war songs, one boy enlisted and his chums followed him. Very little cared those young fellows for bounties. The county of Madison gave $50, and the State $50, bounties. One month's pay in advance $13 and $2 bonus from the general government and $100 at the expiration of the term of service (increased after the war to $200). In the fall of 1864 the town of Lenox gave for bounties to 3-years men $1,100, the county $500 added to that, besides the State and national bounties, and many of those men never were in a battle.

But the trials of war were not entirely with the boys at the front. Dependent parents, wives and children felt the denials keenly; and when news came that a battle had been fought and some of their boys had fallen, the entire community was interested at once and freely sympathized with sorrowing friends. And the firm belief that they were thus cared for strengthened the boys wonderfully.

Of the eighty-seven men originally enrolled in Co. G, one-half of them were between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one years, and no doubt a number of them several years below the minimum age of eighteen, fearing rejectment, assumed to be older.

The fatalities of war among those volunteers are difficult to estimate. Not a few were reported as "missing," who never returned. Many of the sick and wounded lived to see their homes and soon after died.

During its term of service the company lost one captain and six enlisted men killed in action, and one man accidentally shot, while three died of disease. The man Asa Lawrence, missing at Chancellorsville, is included among the killed, and according to all that has been learned, he has never been heard from. One captain, three lieutenants and twenty-four men, were wounded. Of the original enrollment sixteen were discharged on account of sickness or wounds, five were discharged to accept commissions and five were transferred to the Invalid corps. Nine men deserted. Forty-two enlisted men returned with the regiment, others not present were still borne on the rolls.

The company during its term received accessions of two substitutes, two drafted men and twenty-four recruits. Of those, several were slightly wounded and two died of disease.

The casualties in Co. G were not as many as in some of the companies of the regiment. Co. C lost seven killed and more than forty wounded. Co. I lost one officer and eight men killed and their captain and twenty-nine men wounded.

It was understood at the time the authorization was issued that the company was to be assigned to a regiment forming of Cortland and Madison County men, with Philip P. Brown, Jr., of Hamilton, as colonel, and to rendezvous at Hamilton. As rapidly as possible the enlistments were pushed along and about two weeks from the time recruiting began, the company was assured of its quota and took its name as Company G.

At Hamilton, the camp was established on the fair grounds north of the village. For a time a large tent afforded shelter to the men, but its capacity being insufficient, five barrack buildings were erected on the west side of the enclosure, two companies in each building. Co. G shared in the shelter of the most northerly barrack and in the west section of the building, with Co. B, their neighbors, in the eastern portion. Two tiers of bunks ranged along each side of the structure and each bunk was occupied by two men; at the entrance was a room for commissioned officers, most of whom preferred the softer beds in the hotels of the village to the hard straw ticks of the camp.

As the recruits arrived in town they were taken to one of the public halls, where surgeons Hendrick, Beebe and Crawe hammered their chests, listened to their heartbeats and respiration, looked into the eyes of the recruits, finally ordering them to jump over the floor on each leg consecutively. During this ordeal the boys appeared in the uniform of Nature only. Few failed to pass the Board, however, and the successful ones then appeared before the adjutant. If a minor, a written consent was required from the parent or guardian.

Accepted recruits were given orders upon the quartermaster and were taken over to a warehouse near the canal and there received an outfit. The dress coat of dark blue, also dark blue flannel blouse and pants, overcoat, coarse gray shirts, canton flannel drawers, woolen socks, shoes and blanket, not to forget the dark blue fatigue cap so heartily disliked by the wearers. The civilian garb was shed at once and the green soldier was revealed in the cut and fit of his new clothing of war, while his back itched under those shirts as though numerous flies and ants were perambulating there, with an occasioned nipping from a stray spider. But how very, very verdant the boys appeared--so harmless-like in their uniforms, and to add to the ludicrous feature of the occasion very many of them hastened to a gallery to have their appearance preserved for all time.

Knapsacks, haversacks and canteens, tin cups and plates, knives and spoons, came to each in time. No guns were issued in Camp Mitchell; guards about the camp carried guns borrowed from a local armory--no cartridges were issued. A high board fence presented the most discouraging barricade to such of the boys as desired a night outside.

It was amusing to observe the schemes for gaining liberty and to see the boys return to duty after a day or two in the narrow quarters of the guard house. They were not accustomed to such discipline; but they were soon to learn that they had entered upon a new career.

Life in barracks was not tedious. During the day there were several marching drills by squad, platoon and company, and in the evening dress parade, and perhaps, a few attempts at battalion evolutions. Officers in nearly every company were as green as the men. A few short-enlistment men who had seen service and returned, and some who had served in home companies, usually were the drill-masters. Col. Brown had been captain of the Hamilton Grays; Major Carmichael for a time served as captain in the 76th N.Y.; a few other officers had been in the service.

Co. G were drilled by Sergeants Hemstreet and Gates, six months' recruits to the 12th N.Y.V.; also by Frank Cooper afterwards a member of the 78th N.Y. During drill hours "hay-foot, straw-foot!"--"heels together, toes on a line, body erect resting on the toes,"--"forward, march!" and "halt,"--the orders from drill-masters, were heard on all sides; and over in one corner of the pen were the ten or more fifers and drummers taking first lessons in martial music. The scene was enough to make an old soldier weep from laughter, and yet it was not an unusual one wherever raw troops were mustered.

The eating house at Camp Mitchell (so named in honor of David J. Mitchell, a lawyer, at one time a resident of Hamilton) stood at the east end of the enclosure, into which the men were marched by their officers, three times daily to their meals. Good, wholesome fare was provided and in abundance and would have been pronounced grand one year later, could those boys have obtained it on Folly Island, in place of wormy hardtack and tough salt-horse.

The sick at Hamilton were quartered in a small church near the grounds, but Co. G were fortunate as to health while at the rendezvous. Many of the boys enjoyed furloughs during those five or six weeks and their friends visited them and were often permitted to pass the night at the barracks. Amusements of various kinds broke the monotony of barrack life--card playing, wrestling, quoits, various games and much rough horse-play, continually in sight.