North Hempstead Veterans of the U.S. Civil War

“A Divine Courage That Defies a World of Arms”

Historical Context

Queens County

Political Factions in Queens County Democrats

Hard

•Stridently supported upholding slavery & southern interests

•Strong immigrant base (Irish Catholics)

•Accepted succession ; anti-war

•NYC should be “free city”

•Fernando Wood

•Long Island Democrat

Republicans

Moderate

• Minimized anti-slavery position; wanted to contain, not abolish

• Looked for compromise to maintain Union, not war

• Strong central government

• Nativist

• Pro-Union

• Abraham Lincoln

• The Flushing Journal; The Hemptead Inquirer

Soft

•Supported southern interests but still anti-slavery

•Strong commercial ties to South

•Could not accept succession: “War Democrats”

•Long Island Times

Radical

• Abolitionists

• Believed in Africa-American freedom & equality

• Believed Lincoln was too patient

• Welcomed armed conflict as moral crusade

• Thaddeus Stevens

• Samuel Chase

• Horace Greeley & New York Tribune

Port Washington

Great Neck

Flower Hill

Manhasset

Lakeville

Roslyn

Searingtown

Old Westbury

New Cassel

Mineola

North Hempstead v. Queens County

Western Queens (Flushing, Jamaica, Newtown)

• More connected to New York

• Large immigrant populations

• Supported Democrat Fusion ticket (Breckinridge, Douglass, Bell)

Eastern Queens (North Hempstead, Hempstead)

• Supported Lincoln in 1860

• Important Republic figures: John A. King (Kings Point), William C. Bryant (Roslyn)

• Strong abolitionist movement – Westbury Quakers

• Free African-American communities & schools

• More nativism / small immigrant population

Abolitionism in North Hempstead

Elias Hicks (1748 – 1830)

James & Lucretia Mott

Slavery on Long Island: Very Brief History

• Early Dutch settlers requested slaves as house servants & farm

laborers in Hempstead, Gravesend & New Amsterdam

• Dutch allowed some Africans to buy their freedom

• Slave auctions at Wall Street slip

• 1732: 1,064 African slaves out of total 7,995 population of

Queens County.

• Slave population in Queens peaked in 1790 (2,039); dwindled

to 559 in 1820. In 1790, one in three blacks were free.

• 1799: NY legislation begins to gradually free all slaves.

• July 4th 1827: Complete NY emancipation celebrated with

parade in NYC.

North Hempstead & Abolition: A Long Tradition

• Strong Quaker roots (Mott, Dodge, Willetts, Pearsall, Hicks)

– “Phebe Frees Rachel”: Phebe Willets Mott Dodge

• Inherited “the Negro girl, Rachel” from Tristram Dodge

• First of the Westbury/Jericho Quakers to free her slave girl Rachel, in March, 1776 (All Westbury/Jericho Quakers freed their slaves in 1776 through efforts of Elias Hicks.

• Elias Hicks: Powerful early abolitionist voice

– Led Westbury Quakers to free all their slaves by 1799.

– Began “free produce” movement, which forbid purchase or use of any product made by or through slave labor.

• James (1788 – 1868) & Lucretia Coffin Mott (1793 – 1880)

– James followed Hicksite & Free Produce movements

– Lucretia was influenced by Mott Family’s abolitionism: formed Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (1839)

Queens/Long Island Underground Railroad

- The Underground Railroad Teaching Partnership of Long Island (http://urrteachingpartnership.com)

Predominantly Pro-Union, not necessarily Anti-Slavery

"War is inevitable... . Well, if fighting is necessary to

sustain the supremacy of the government, let if come,

but woe to them by whom such an offence cometh. If

the question be whether anarchy or order shall be the

rule, no patriot, we think, will hesitate which to choose.

Questions of slavery or freedom sink onto

insignificance when those of national

existence are concerned."

North Hempstead Civil War Soldiers: The List

North Hempstead Civil War Soldiers: Sources

• 1860 U.S. Census (Ancestry.com) $ • 1890 Special Census for Veterans (Ancestry.com) $ • Civilwardata.com (Military records, searchable) $ • Findagrave.com • Local libraries (Bryant, Port Washington, Queens, LISI)

– GAR Records – Letters & other documents – Historical newspapers (Hempstead Inquirer, LI Farmer, etc.) – “Hidden History”

• Frederick Phisterer, “New York in the War of Rebellion (1861-1865)”

• Various secondary sources • Civil War Web sites

North Hempstead Veterans: What Happened?

8% 1%

7%

70%

11%

2% 1%

Deserted

Died of Disease

Disabled

Discharged

KIA

POW

Resigned

North Hempstead Veterans by Town

2%

12%

2%

26%

1%

16%

32%

1%

8%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

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Grea

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La

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Ma

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asset

No

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Hem

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Po

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Ro

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Sea

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Westb

ury

North Hempstead Veterans by Regiment

2nd (NY) Cavalry, 14

15th (NY Engineers), 14

5th (NY) Heavy Artillery, 32

74th (NY) Infantry, 5

Company H, 119th (NY)

Infantry, 19

2nd (NY) Cavalry

15th (NY Engineers)

2nd (NY) Heavy Artillery

5th (NY) Heavy Artillery

11th (UC) Heavy Artillery

74th (NY) Infantry

119th (NY) Infantry

139th (NY) Infantry

145th (NY) Infantry

155th (NY) Infantry

34th (NY) Light Artillery

Occupations (From the 1860 Federal Census)

6

10

17 16

12 11

9

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Answering the Call for Union

North Hempstead Veterans by Enlistment Dates

1861, 20%

August 1862, 53%

September 1862, 16%

1863, 6%

1864, 2% 1865, 3%

Answering the Call - 1861

• Lincoln calls for 75,000 (April 15, 1861), then for 40 volunteer regiments (May)

• Call in July for 500,000 men

• Some Early Enlistees: – Hiram Duryea (April) – 5th (NY) Infantry

– Edward Stuart (April) – 9th (NY) Infantry

– William Gibson (April) – 70th (NY) Infantry

– Thomas Cook (May) – 74th (N) Infantry

– Henry Hendrickson (May) – 38th (NY) Infantry

– Patrick Farrell (June) – 42nd (NY) Infantry

– Benjamin Onderdonck (July) 1st Mounted Rifles

– John Shanahan (July) 36th (NY) Infantry

• In total, 20% of North Hempstead Vets enlisted in 1861

Answering the Call - 1862

• Lincoln calls for 300,000 men on 8/4/1862 – Driven by individual state quotas

– If not filled, then first draft of the War

• “Shall We Lag Behind?” – local pressure

• "Queens County Awake:” (8/19/1862) – “This county seems at last to have awakened to the necessity of

making an effort to fill up her quota in the army by volunteers instead of resorting to a draft. Meetings have been held in nearly every town in the county and large sums raised as bounties for those who are willing to enlist in the service of their country.....”

– Meeting held on 8/8/62 in Roslyn for fundraising & recruitment

• 53% of our vets enlisted in 8/62, 25% in 9/62

– “Willis Brigade” & 5th (NY) Heavy Artillery

Answering the Call (1862 – 1865)

• Calls continued throughout the War

– “Is there not patriotism enough? …” - Benjamin Willis

(2/2/1863)

– Only 20 North Hempstead vets after 9/1862

• Draft of 1863

– Unknown if any North Hempstead vets were drafted

– Let to Draft Riots in New York, Brooklyn & Flushing

– Total soldiers drafted made up approximately 2% 0f Union army

Answering the Call - Bounties

• Prior to March 1863, all volunteer, no federal bounties

– Local efforts to raise money for recruits & their families

– 8/8/1862 meeting in Roslyn raised $8,000 for volunteers’ families

(Patriotic Fund of North Hempstead)

– Bryant Local History Room of Roslyn’s Bryant Library : document of

donors (William C. Bryant; Udall; Woolley; Mott; Hicks; Schenck;

Albertson; Willetts; Allen; Skidmore; Rapelyea; many others)

• From 6/63 – 3/64, bounty of $400 for re-enlisters in 3-year

service

• 7/1864 – end of War, new recruits received $100 for 1-year;

$200 for 2-year; $300 for 3-year enlistment

Desertions

• 13 (6%) of our North Hempstead Vets deserted

• Theodore Coles (Promoted, Demoted, then Deserted)

• Edward T. Seaman (Deserted at Hilton Head, SC; later re-enlisted with 10th (NJ) Infantry, then back with 47th (NY).

• “Great Neck Deserters”: 42nd Regiment

• “Bounty Jumpers”

Biographies

Benjamin Albertson Willis (1840 – 1886) Major, 119th (NY) Infantry

• Born in Roslyn, Willis graduated from Union College in 1861. Commenced practice in New York City in 1862.

• In August 1862, Willis recruited and enlisted men from North Hempstead and Hempstead into the 119th (NY) Infantry.

• The 119th’s leader was Colonel Elias Peissner, a former instructor of Willis’ at Union College. Captain Willis raised over one-hundred men into Company H. (“The Willis Brigade”)

• After the war, Willis returned to law, and was elected to the State assembly in 1872. He won a Congressional seat to the Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses. (March 4, 1875-March 3, 1879)

• Died in 1886; buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.

“The Willis Brigade”

• 19 North Hempstead soldiers served in Co. H, 119th (NY) Infantry.

• The 119th joined the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division of the 11th Corp of the Army of the Potomac in October 1862, where it served through April 1864.

• After initial deployment to the defenses of Washington D.C., the 119th participated in the infamous “Mud March” in Virginia; an unsuccessful three-day slog through Virginia swamps to attack a Confederate army.

• Its first taste of battle was at Chancellorsville in May 1863, where the regiment reported fought admirably despite the 11th Corp’s disastrous retreat and the Union’s eventual defeat there.

Maps of Chancellorsville, Virginia (1863) JACKSON'S FLANK ATTACK - 7PM TO 9PM

(Location of 119th NY Infantry Regiment)

“The Willis Brigade”

• In July 1863, the Willis Company fought at Gettysburg. The 119th fought valiantly defending Cemetery Ridge throughout the three days. Willis was promoted to Major at Gettysburg. With the Army of the Potomac, the 119th also fought in Tennessee at Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge.

• In April 1864, the 119th joined the Army of the Cumberland and traveled throughout the Southern theater, fighting in the Atlanta campaign, including battles around Atlanta, Kennesaw Mountain, Pine Mountain, and Golgotha.

• After General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, the 119th participated in the Grand Review in Washington, DC of May 24th, 1865. The remaining fifty-seven men of the Willis Company mustered out of service at Bladensburg, MD, and discharged at Harts Island, NY on June 21st, and returned to Long Island that night.

“The Willis Brigade” at Gettysburg (July 1st)

• 11th Corp (MG Howard); 3rd Division (MG Schurz); 2nd Brigade (Col Krzyzanowski ); 119th Regiment (Col Lockman); Co. H (Willis)

• During the early afternoon, battled Jubal Early’s Corp north/northeast of Gettysburg town. Helped keep Early and rest of Confederate army from “high ground” of Cemetery Ridge.

• Under heavy pressure & casualties, the XI Corp retreated back through the town to Cemetery Ridge.

“The Willis Brigade” at Gettysburg (July 2nd)

“The Willis Brigade”

at Gettysburg (July 3rd )

119th

Henry Bloomfield McIlvaine Major, 5th (NY) Heavy Artillery

• In 1862 Major McIlvaine led companies A and F of the 5th Heavy Artillery (NY) at the federal garrison at Harper’s Ferry, VA. As part of the Confederate’s 1862 invasion into Maryland, Major General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson attacked Harper’s Ferry between September 12th and 15th.

• The “Battle of Harper’s Ferry” led to the mortal wounding of its commanding officer and the eventual surrender of the garrison by McIlvaine, who was the ranking officer. On September 16th, McIlvaine and companies A and F were paroled and rejoined the 5th in Baltimore.

• In 1860, McIlvaine’s northern Great Neck neighbors included William H. Onderdonk, R. G. Mitchell, and Thomas Messenger. According to the 1860 Federal Census, McIlvaine owned “real estate” in Great Neck valued at $30,000 and a “personal estate” valued at $5,000.

Dr. John Ordronaux (L.L.D.) Surgeon, 15th Infantry (NY)

• In 1861 Roslyn’s Ordronaux wrote "Hints on the Health of Armies:" the inclusion of a regimental surgeon is not sufficient to "protect troops against preventable disease," and so "officers and men need an insight into the general principles of hygiene in order to be able to assist, themselves, in furthering prophylactic measures.“

• He wrote the pamphlet without medical jargon, for military officers and soldiers, rather than surgeons, to promote "greater watchfulness over preventable disease...”

• After the War, Ordronaux wrote medical treatises, translated Latin texts into English, biographies, and other texts. He died at his home in Glen Head in January 1908.

• Upon his death, he had an estate worth $2,757,000 in railroad stocks and bonds, and bequeathed tens of thousands to a number of colleges, universities, and hospitals.

North Hempstead’s African-American Soldiers

• Six African-American soldiers from North Hempstead – Out of 179,000 Union “Colored” troops in 175

regiments, approximately 5,900 were from New York

– NY Governor Horatio Seymour stood ardently against “colored” regiments

– Only three “home-grown” New York “Colored” regiments: 20th; 26th and 31st

26th (USCT) Infantry mustered on Riker’s Island, NY

26th (USCT) Infantry

• Also founded by Union League Club of NYC (1/64)

• Trained on Riker’s Island through 3/64

• Served in the District of Beaufort, Department of the South, to April, 1865

• Alonzo W. Jerome (Roslyn) – Rose to 2nd Lieutenant

– Renown chess player

(NOT Lieutenant Jerome)

Captain Samuel E. Day “Great Neck’s Robert Shaw” 37th (USCT) Infantry

• Served as a private in Co. A. 1st (MA) Infantry.

• Survived First & Second Bull Run, The Peninsular Campaign, disaster at Chancellorsville, Sickle’s blunder at Gettysburg, and the NYC draft riots.

• In October 1863, mustered out of 1st (MA) to join 37th (USCT) as 2nd Lieutenant. Later promoted to Captain.

• The 37th served in the XXV Corp of the Army of the James, under Benjamin Butler. (All USCT Corp.)

• Most USCT regiments dealt with poor equipment, lower base pay, poor training, mismanagement, and a general lack of purpose.

37th (USCT) Regimental Colors

Private Albert Tint: Jewish Veteran Co. A, 29th (NY) Light Artillery

• Born in Germany; Arrived in the U.S. in 1857; Lived in Port Washington after the war

• Buried in Acacia Cemetery (Ozone Park); founded by Pike Street Synagogue in 1891

• The 29th (NY) L.A. served in the Army of the Potomac: fought in the “Seven Days Battle,” Antietam & Fredericksburg; discharged/disabled 6/20/63

Major Obadiah Downing Co. H, 2nd(NY) Cavalry

• Commended by Roslyn's William C. Bryant, Downing, as "a fine man of merit and excellent capacity" who was "very active in raising recruits for the army, in which service he spent a great deal of time and money, obtaining more than two hundred enlistments.”

• Served in the “Harris Light Brigade” in the Army of the Potomac” until captured at Richmond on May 12th 1864 and held at Columbia (SC) Military Prison – Released on February 2nd 1865.

• He returned to General George Custer’s 3rd Cavalry Division until the end of the War.

• April 10th 1865, Downing was in Washington, D.C. with orders to deposit some flags, and by chance was in Ford's Theater on the night of April 14th, when John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln. Downing, according local history, he attended the President and his party to the boarding house across the street.

POWs

• George C. Carpenter (Died at Salisbury Prison, NC)

• Steven Hultz (Died at Salisbury Prison)

• William Johnson (Died at Salisbury Prison)

• Thomas R. Smith (Died at Andersonville, GA)

• William Wood (Held at Liberty Mill, VA; later released)

• Obadiah Downing (Held at Libby, SC, later released)

• Daniel S. Johnson, Jr. (Held in unnamed location for nearly three years)

Letters

Letters Home • Private Edward T. Seaman (Roslyn)

– Found in Bryant Library local history room archives (transcribed)

– Collection of letters to wife and cousin William H. Seaman (Co. H, 119th (NY)) from the field

– Explains his desertion (and re-enlistment), life in the camp, serving on picket duty, searching for friends from Roslyn, etc. Also mentions how he looks forward to her visit at camp.

• Daniel S. Johnson (Co. L, 2nd (NY) H.A.) to Michael Meissner (Port Washington) – Found in Port Washington Library local history room: from the front is

in excellent condition

– Talks of “all the boys from “Cow Bay”

– Stationed around Washington D.C.; soldiers poisoned by bad pie & tainted well-water

• C.W. Browh to J.H. Terry (12/28/62, Roslyn) – Interesting “picture” of life in Roslyn during the War.

– Mentions some of the “Roslynites” who went off to War.

Letters Home

• Major Benjamin Willis published reports in Hempstead Inquirer (2/4/63; July 1863; 8/11/63) – Military reports to commanding officers

– Very florid language describing movements & activities of 119th at Gettysburg, Chancellorsville, “Mud March”

– Offers his own take on conscription, draft riots, the media, etc.

– Political documents? Propaganda?

– Great description of plight of “Long Islanders”

• Lieutenant William H. Seaman (Co. H, 119th (NY)) – Letter to “Cousin” Edward included in Edward’s letters

– Surprised Edward is in the 10th NJ

– Describes how “a great many recuites in our company they are from Long Island

The Home Front

Pro-Union Sentiment Local Newspapers

• “A Union war meeting was held at Newtown, when a huge coffin mounted on wheels was trundled through the streets, labeled "Newtown Secession died out” – LI Farmer (8/29/1861)

• “Should any citizens seem to connive at treason and to encourage rebellion it would be wrong to disregard it…”

• “Secession in Islip”

• “War is inevitable…”

North Hempstead Reacts • Union rallies throughout Queens County

• April 20th, 1861 – Meeting in Hewlett Hotel (Roslyn) – Promoting volunteers of servicemen & officers

– Raising funds for bounties and supplies

• August 8th, 1862 Meeting in Roslyn (later meetings in September)

• North Hempstead Resolution to raise $15,000 for bounties through property taxes (August 23rd, 1862)

• Camp Winfield Scott in nearby Hempstead – "Hempstead Plains: A camp of instruction, we understand, is to be located on the plains

between Hempstead and Mineola…” (9/3/1861)

– Designated “Camp Winfield Scott” by direct order of W.T. Sherman (9/1/61)

• Willets Point – Construction begins 3/3/1857 (designed partially by Robert E. Lee & supported by Senator

Jefferson Davis)

– After Sumter, became important staging area for New York regiments at the beginning and throughout the War.

– Wooden barracks housed up to 3000 troops and later the Grant General Hospital, a facility that treated over 5000 sick and wounded Northern soldiers. Injured Confederate soldiers were confined to Hart Island across the Sound from Willets Point. (235 dead Confederate moved from Hart Island to Cypress Hills National Cemetery in 1941.)

Women’s Roles

Women’s Roles

• Lack of “women’s words” in North Hempstead

• Abolition – North Hempstead women helped run the Queens/Long island

Underground Railroad

– Women played a major role in the antislavery & emancipation movements

– Evolved in the early 19th century during the sweeping reform movements started during the Second “Great Awakening”

– Many famous suffragists (Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony) learned their organization & speaking skills in antislavery movement.

– “The fight to free slaves propelled women into an equally long, rigorous fight for their own liberation” – Historian Catherine Clinton

Women’s Roles

• Soldiers Aid Societies – Hundreds of local aid

groups started up after Fort Sumter, which provided food, clothing, and other necessities to soldiers’ camps.

– Aggregated into larger organizations, including New York’s Women’s Central Relief Association organized by Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive a medical degree in the U.S.

– Mrs. Edward Seaman

Women’s Roles • U.S. Christian Commission

– Outgrowth of the YMCA, this women-run organization sent bibles & religious literature to the front and funded travels of ministers to army hospitals and the front lines.

• U.S. Sanitation Commission: ran by men, but staffed by women – Created by Federal Government on 6/18/61 to support sick and

wounded soldiers during the War.

– Raised money (estimated at $25 million), collected donations, made uniforms, worked as nurses, ran kitchens in army camps, and administered hospital ships, soldiers' homes, lodges, and rests for traveling or disabled soldiers.

– Louisa May Alcott worked for US Sanitation Commission before Little Women

• Sanitary Fairs: Brooklyn-Long Island Sanitary Fair

Women’s Roles

• Army Nurses – Approximately 6,000 nurses (men & women) served in army

hospitals, field hospital, and directly on the front lines, including approximately 160 African-American women.

– Department of Army Nurses run by Dorothea Dix

– Women doctors (Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell) not wanted

– Women had to deal with sexist doctors and bad reputations gained from being around army camps (along with prostitutes)

• Local Hospitals – Long Island College Hospital (Brooklyn)

– Fort Schuyler (Bronx)

– General Grant Hospital (Willets Point)

The War Ends

• Many mustered out in June, 1865: 5th (NY) H.A.; 119th (NY) Infantry; 2nd (NY) Cavalry.

• Others mustered out later: Samuel E. Day (February 1867)

• Annie Onderdonk reports in her diary: “A day of great rejoicing all over the country”

After the War – G.A.R. Post • Grand Army of the Rublic (GAR) was a

fraternal organization of veteran Union soldiers (first in 1866)

• GAR Post No. 634 formed in Roslyn in 1891; named Elijah J. Ward after a $500 donation by his widow. Most members were from the Willis Brigade.

• Through the years, the Post staged the annual Memorial Day Parade from Main Street to Roslyn Cemetery.

• In 1902, life-sized statue of a Civil War soldier went up in Roslyn Cemetery. (After it was stolen in 1992, a replacement went up in 2005.)

• Lasted through 1934, with death of last surviving member.

• GAR records found at the Bryan Library.

Rest soldier, sweetly rest; Affection's gentle hand shall deck thy tomb

With flowers and chaplets of unfading bloom Be laid upon thy breast.

• Manhasset Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery

• Roslyn Cemetery

• Cypress Hills National Cemetery

• Dodge Family Cemetery

• Carpenter Cemetery

• Green-Wood Cemetery

• Woodlawn Cemetery

• Bath National Cemetery

• Big Creek Cemetery (KS)

• U.S. Sailors & Soldiers National Cemetery (DC)

Conclusion