open all that day and the following night, and he and Mr. Bost-
wick took turns in watching the news that passed over the
wires. The telegraph and railroad lines beween Baltimore and
PERSONAL EXPEniENCES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 407
Washington had been cut off by the rebels, so the news from
there was received through couriers to Annapolis. I went to
Mrs. Seward, and we concluded to pack our trunks, and be
ready to start for Washington as soon as railroad communica-
tions were reopened. All night my two brothers-in-law waited
and watched until 2 oVlock, when a despatch came, saying,
"Colonel Seward wounded, but not a prisoner." Major Taft
was shot and lost his leg. Surgeon Chamberlain stayed with
him. and both were taken prisoners.
My husband's horse was shot under him, and falling upon
him, broke his ankle. He also received a slight wound in the
arm. He escaped being taken prisoner from the fact of his
having on a private's uniform, as he had lost his own at the
Battle of Cold Harbor. After the rebel line had passed over
him, he crawled on the ground to a piece of woods, where he
found a mule, which, with the help of a straggler, he mounted,
using his red silk pocket handkerchief for a bit and bridle, and
rode about fifteen miles during the night to Ellicott's Mills, and
overtook his retreating regiment. He was taken to Washing-
ton, and after five days he came home to us. I shall never
forget how shocked his sister Fanny and I were, when we met
him at the depot, to see how thin and worn he looked; but how
happy we were to have him with us, and to nurse him back to
health. It was a singular coincidence, that this mule was one
of my husband's own pack mules. Having two, his orderly,
Henry Rooker, had ridden away on one. leaving this one to her
fate. They were brought home, and Mrs. Chesebro, my hus-
band's cousin, kept them both on her farm on Canandaigua lake
until they died, taking especial care of "Jenny," as she called
her, for bringing her master safely away from the rebels.
His horse lay on the field with a wound in the neck, appar-
ently dead, but shortly after recovering from the shock, fol-
lowed the troops, overtook the retreating orderly on the mule,
who, seeing the blood streaming from the poor animal's neck,
staunched its flow with the contents of his tobacco pouch, and
took him to Washington, where his wound was properly cared
for. He continued in my husband's service. The following
winter, in Martinsburgh, when he was harnessed to an ambu-
lance in order to take General Custer and his bride to Win-
chester, he resented the indignity, and kicked the vehicle to
pieces.
408 NINTH NEW YORK HEAVY AETILLERT.
In September, my husband received a commission as briga-
dier general, conferred upon him for his service at the Battle of
Monocacy.
Early in October, he was ordered to take command of a bri-
gade in the Shenandoah valley, with headquarters at Martins-
burgh; and although there were constant raids and skirmishes
with the rebels, there was not the continual, terrible anxiety
for us women at home that there was before.
On the 10th of November, our son William was born. His
father had a fifteen days' leave of absence to come home and
make his son's acquaintance. This occurrence ended my per-
sonal army life, as it was a little too much for me to go into^
army quarters with two babies.
Soon after my husband returned to Martinsburgh, where he
remained during the winter of 1864 and "Go. I had two severe J
trials. My nurse was taken sick and died; and the night thatj
her remains lay in the room opposite to mine, I received
letter from Captain Knowles, telling me that my husband was'
very sick. I felt that I was indeed deserted and everything was
going wrong.
In April, 1865, my husband and my brother, George Watson,^
who was an aide-de-camp, rank lieutenant, on General Seward's
staff, were at home on a short leave of absence. They started!
for Martinsburgh on the night of April 13th. In the morningl
of April 14th, my mother, who was keeping me company for thoj
night, and I were awakened early by a servant coming to tellj
us that the man had heard that the president had been killed,J
Mr. Seward and Mr. Frederick were killed, and Colonel Au-
gustus nearly killed, and all the rest of the family wounded.
Of course, we were in great excitement.
About 7..30 the side door-bell rang furiously. Eliza went to the|
door, and we heard a woman's voice, very loudly and excitedlj
saying, "T want to see Mrs. Seward. I must see Mrs. Seward."!
Eliza said, "Well, you can't see her." Mother went to the doorj
and asked what she wanted. She only said, "I must see MraJ
Seward." I started to go to the door, but Eliza pushed mei
back, putting her arms around me, saying, "Uon't go, don't go,1
she wants to kill you too, I know she does, she looks so crazy."
Mother would not lot the woman in through the door, and
finally shut it. I said, "Mother, let me see what the woman
wants." Mother replied, "She will not tell what she wants,
PERSONAL SKETCHES. 409
and she looks so wild, I do not think it safe for you to see her."
The servants insisted that the woman intended to kill Mrs.
Seward. I always regretted that I could not have gotten to
her, as she might have had some valuable information to give
me. She came and went in a hack, evidently just arrived on the
train.
Soon telegrams began to arrive, telling of the dreadful assas-
sination. My husband heard the awful news, upon his arrival
in Baltimore, early in the morning. All the trains to Wash-
ington were stopped. He telegraphed to the secretary of war,
who at once ordered an especial engine, which took him, with
my brother, immediately to Washington, where they found the
house, of course, in the greatest confusion. My husband re-
mained at the bedside of his wounded father and brothers, and
cared for his mother until her death, on June 21st, I860. The
war having ended, he resigned his commission on June 1st.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Personal Sketches.
Asahel M. Abbey. — Lieutenant Abbey was one of the 22d
Independent Battery boys; starting as a sergeant^ he left the
service as 1st lieutenant.
He was born in Genesee county June 24, 1837; was prepared
for college in the Gary Collegiate Institute of Oakfield, N. Y.,
and entered Hobart College in Geneva, remaining till his junior
year. When the war came it found him a medical student.
For a number of years his home has been in Richland, Kala-
mazoo county, Mich.
Edwin A. Bishop. — A native of Guilford, Conn., 1834; came
to Ontario in 18.58, and went thence, with Company B, to the
war. Returning, he moved to Rochester in 1868, following his
trade of house-painting.
He has been the commander of C. J. Powers Post, G. A. R.,
and in 1890 was one of the department delegates to the National
Encampment in Boston.
He takes an active interest in company and regiment, and
several years since read a very entertaining paper on the same
before a reunion of Company B.
410 NINTH NEW XOEK HEAVY ARTILLERY.
Alonzo Bowen. — In war-times Comrade Bowen found all the
fun that ever came his way. Two pictures in this volume faint-
ly portray some of the nonsense in which he indulged and which
was of the utmost good to his associates, since it kept their
spirits up.
Since the war he has found a home in Monroe, Mich., where as
a maker and dispenser of a specific for human ills he is achiev-
ing fame and success.
George W. Brinkerhoff. — A Wolcott boy, he came from that
part of the town known as Red Creek. Born October 23d. 1838,
he had just got a good start in his majority when the call to
arms, in 1862, drew him into the ranks of Company A, and with
Captain Snyder he marched away to perils, duty, and the proud
consciousness of serving his country.
His youth had the educational advantages that his town
afforded, while his early manhood was devoted to a broader
and more exacting school, viz., that of the soldier. Leaving his
young wife behind him, he became one of the best soldiers in
the company, and went to Washington as a sergeant. By well
earned and regular promotion he came home as brevet major.
No ofiBcer was ever more thoroughly respected than the third
and last captain of A Company.
When the war was over, he returned to his home and again
became one of those who constitute the true back-bone of every
nation, a farmer. While thus laboring at the very foundation
of prosperity, his fellow citizens have recognized his merits re-
peatedly in electing him to town office, and in 1891 sending him
to the Legislature as Assemblyman for eastern Wayne. In
Albany he was the same painstaking legislator that those who
knew him as a soldier expected him to be. While interested in
all the legislation of the session, perliaj)s his most conspicuous
service was the securing of the abolition of fees for county
clerks and sheriffs. At the present time, 1899, he is supervisor
of the town of Wolcott.
To him and his wife, who was Maria Frost, sister of a fellow
Company A man, have been born four children, Lester, Ernest,
Eliza and Delia. Entrenched ui)on his 2()0-acre farm, with hia
family and the proud recollection of duty done, what more could
he ask? In foreign lands such services and such possessions
would suggest knighthood, but our country does better, since
in his quiet life, though alert and alive to the needs of the day,
REV. REUlifc:N m'KTON.
Company H.
PERSONAL SKETCHES. 411
we dub him that proudest of all titles worn by any man on the
earth to-day, viz.. an honest American citizen.
Aldace W. Brower. — Comrade Brower is one of the promi-
nent citizens of Sodus, having charge of the railroad-station at
the Center; for twenty years he was postmaster.
Albert H. Bull. — A Huron boy, Comrade Bull did not see
quite enough of army service in the Ninth, so after the war he
enlisted in the U. S. A., and was a sergeant in Company B, 42d,
and Company F, (ith Infantry. After years of arduous duty,
he now resides in Warren, O.
Reuben Burton. — He has been so long and so favorably
known as the Rev. Reuben Burton of Syracuse that his plain
uuhandled name may hardly be recognized. Born in Clyde, the
son of Hiram Burton, a thrifty and respected farmer, he had the
advantages of the local schools and then began a college pre-
paratory course in the Red Creek Academy, from which he was
summoned by the call to arms in 1862. He easily gained the
grade of sergeant to begin with, and in that capacity served
for more than a year, dividing his time among drill, clerical
work at regimental headquarters and teaching in the school
organized at Fort Jlausfield. Later he received a commission as
2d lieutenant, and was assigned to I and then to B. While serv-
ing with B at Monocacy and through the burning of the bridge,
he fell into the hands of the enemy and endured a long imprison-
ment, lasting into the following spring.
He was at first confined in the Richland county (S. C.) jail,
and afterwards in the "Asylum Camp" of Columbia, S. C. Soon
after his return to duty, he was assigned to staff service, and in
this capacity reached the time of muster-out for the regiment.
Meantime he had been commissioned 1st lieutenant, and urged
by Major Lamoreaux, who was to command the 9th Battalion
in the 2d Heavy, he consented to remain, and was again placed
on staff-duty. Tlie generals with whom he served regarded his
work as most satisfactory, and General Whistler, commanding
the brigade, wrote across the lieutenant's parchment, "A brave
and competent officer." The duty given to Lieutenant Burton
to perfdrm was of the most arduous and exacting nature, and
had before his assignment been performed by a major.
Coming home from the army, our lieutenant gave up his
ministerial aspirations that had been his through his earlier
years, and went into business, but the call that he had received
412 NINTH NEW TOHK HEAVY ARTILLERY.
was of a character that he could not ignore, and though he was
married, having in 1867 been united to Miss Janette Waldruff
of Galen, he determined to begin over again the work dropped
when he enlisted. Accordingly he went to Rochester and pur-
sued five years' course in the University and Theological School
of that city, and was ordained in 1876.
Having been baptized in the Baptist Church of Clyde, in
which his father had long been a deacon, he very naturally
entered upon the ministry of that denomination, and his voice
for more than twenty years has been one of the most popular
in western New York. All his church-work has been in his
native state, and for the most part in the western portion there-
of.
In 1889 he began the organization of a wholly new enterprise
in the city of Syracuse. He began his labors in a hired hall,
but now the church numbers 525 members, and the Sunday-
school has a membership of over 700. A new edifice has been
erected with a seating capacity of more than a thousand; but
there are victories yet to be won, and our reverend lieutenant
is still pressing on just as manfully as in the days of his mili-
tant career. It ought to be stated that no man in his vicinity
is heard on patriotic and kindred themes more eagerly than
Comrade Burton.
To Lieutenant Burton and wife have been born two children,
Lena C. and H. Grace; the former is the wife of the Rev. How-
ard I. Andrews.
Joseph B. Casterline. — He was born in Clj'de, N. Y., June 21,
1839, and was married to Miss Mary E. Bassett of Wolcott Aug.
5, 1862. Then came his enlistment, or more ])roperly his de-
parture, for the scenes of hostilities; was wounded at Cold Har-
bor, and did not return to the regiment till September following.
He was mustered out as a sergeant of Company A.
In 1881 he moved from North Wolcott to Wautoma, Wis.,
where he now resides. His people have appreciated his abilities,
for they have made him town clerk four years; justice of the
peace five years, and supervisor two years; also he has been
clerk of courts two terms of two years each.
This is a good illustration of the way veterans of the Ninth
serve their country when the people recognize their good quali-
ties.
T. J. Chaddock. — Lieutenant Chaddock is another of the vet-
PERSONAL SKETCHES. 413
erans who quickly exchanged the garb of a soldier for that of
a farmer, and resumed the occupation he left when he enlisted.
His family has long been resident in the town of Rose, and as
long prominent in the affairs of the Baptist Church, in which
our lieutenant has been for several years a deacon. Indeed, in
his immediate neighborhood, he is more frequently addressed
by his church title than by that won in war-time.
Dwight S. Chamberlain. — This gentleman, who early joined
the regiment as assistant surgeon and who succeeded Dr. Sabiu
when the latter resigned, is one of the best-known citizens of
Wayne county. He was born in Litchfield county, Conn., Feb-
ruary 22d, 1839, having ancestors who had borne their part in
the War of the Revolution. His education was received at the
Genesee Seminary and College of Lima, N. Y., and at the
University of the City of New York, from whose medical depart-
ment he was graduated in 1862. Then followed a professional
trip to England, from which, in 1862, he came into the 1.38th as
assistant to Surgeon Sabin. After the resignation of the latter,
Dr. Chamberlain was promoted major and surgeon, and so con-
tinued to the end.
Coming as he did, it was his fortune to see all the active
service of the Ninth, and to impress himself on the men as a
most vigorous and efficient officer. Following the war, he was
for a time in charge of the Soldiers' Home and Hospital in Syra-
cuse, but in September, 1865, he came to Lyons and formed a
partnership with Dr. E. W. Bottume, at that time one of the
oldest and most successful practitioners in Wayne county.
In 1868 he began the study of law, and was admitted to its
practice in 1874, since which time he has largely devoted himself
to that profession. His wife, to whom he was married in 1868,
was Katharine M., daughter of the late D. W. Parshall, and
they have long been prominent features in the social life of
Lyons.
In all that pertains to the welfare and upbuilding of his
adopted village, our ex-surgeon has been active and successful.
The Parshall Memorial Building, erected by him, is an elegant
edifice, containing one of the best-appointed opera houses in
the state outside of the larger cities. Many of the finest busi-
ness structures in the village are the property of him.self and
wife. They also possess other extensive real-estate and farming
lands in the town and county. Major Chamberlain is, moreover,
414 NINTH NEW YORK HEAVY ARTILLERY.
heavily interested in banliing, and perhaps no one man did more
than himself in a critical moment in retaining for Lyons the
buildings of the county seat, then in imminent peril of going
elsewhere. Then as at many other times he demonstrated his
possession of leadership.
Much of the development of Sodus Point as a summer resort
is owing to our ex-surgeon's care and foresight, and frequenters
of that interior watering-place will acknowledge the justice of
this statement.
After all, the survivors of the Ninth like best to think of him
as the one whom they confronted when they responded to the
doctor's call, and though these memories are, somehow, mixed
up with quinine and castor-oil, yet they recall him as one who
would have made them whole and thus keep them up to the
requirements of a healthy soldier's standard.
Alton E. Cobb.— Of all the boys who took in the winter in
Danville, perhaps no one was better known than Cobb. All of
us felt particularly thankful for the blow he dealt the Confed-
eracy when the rebel officer came in to trade breeches during
the giving out of clothing, in the month of February. The
Johnny threatened to keep us there all the spring, but his forci-
ble remarks did not bring back his Confederate scrip.
It was pleasant to note the luxuries that onr comrade's party
enjoyed on their way to Richmond. Again the adage, ''All's
fair in war."
Alton's address for some time has been Scranton, Penn.
William H. Coombs.— Comrade Coombs of Company H is one
of the veterans who have found homes in the great Southwest.
He is living now in San Angelo, Texas, but he has resided in
other parts of the state as well as in Colorado. Though remote
from his comrades of old. he keeps pretty well posted on our
whereabouts.
John L. Crane. — Captain Crane was born in Butler, Wayne
county, June 2'M, 1836; fitted for college in Red Creek Academy
and entered I'nion College, though he did not graduate; studied
law in Port Byron, and was admitted to practice in 1859, locat-
ing in Clyde. After his return from the army he went West,
and died in Sauk Center, Minn.. Dec. 8, 1874, from lung disease
contracted in his army life.
John E. Dean.— Tlie last sergeant major of the regiment re-
sides in Newark, O. Of Scotch-Irish parentage, he was born in
PERSONAL SKETCHES. 415
Locke, Cayuga county, Aug. 1st, 1S44; was graduated from
Aubuin Public School No. 5, and remained in or near the city
till his enlistment under Lieutenant Howard in Company I.
He began as private, and with the exception of a short fur-
lough was on duty all the time to the end; was one of the 250
when in the valley the regiment was reduced to that number.
Being detailed at headquarters for special duty, he followed
Guy Brown as sergeant major when the latter was promoted
lieutenant. The comrade acknowledges straggling once when
we were making that rapid march to Danville, and the regi-
ment covered 125 miles in four days and five hours. The ser-
geant major writes most pleasantly of his memories of all the
ofScers of the Ninth, particularly of Welling, Seward, Snyder,
Comstock, Brown and Howard.
In 1867 he went to the West, and for two years was clerk of
the District Court in Nebraska City, afterwards engaging in
mercantile pursuits. Coming back to Ohio in 1874, he has re-
sided there since, rearing four sons to perpetuate his name and
memory. He is connected with the business house of P. & F.
Corbin of New York, Philadelphia and Chicago.
Walter Deuel. — He was born in Stanford, Dutchess county,
July 14, 1824, and spent his boyhood on a farm, getting the
usual amount of district school. In 1848 he took a westward
trip as far as Frankfort, Herkimer county, where he was mar-
ried to Miss Heziah M. Watson. Thence coming to Wayne
county, he was on a farm till his enlistment in Company D.
After the muster-out of the 2d Heavy, to which he. with so
many others, had been transferred, he came back shattered in
health and finally located in Chittenango, where he managed a
market-garden and greenhouse. There, March 27, 1887, he was
stricken with apoplexy, from which he never rallied.
He left a widow and two sons, one, Dr. W. E. Deuel of Chit-
tenango; the other, Charles S., recently graduated from a dental
college.
John H. De Voe. — He was born Sept. 8, 1846, in Butler; was
living there when the 1.38th was raised, and it would appear
that lie was sixteen years old the day that he was mustered in
as drummer of Company G. With the exception of a ten-days"
furlough, was never absent from the regiment. In the winter of
1862 and '6.3 his company gave him a beautiful brass drum,
which he used all the way through, and now retains, and whose
416 NINTH NEW YORK HEAVY ARTILLERY.
picture is found in this book. It met with a sad mishap at Cold
Harbor, where a cannon-ball mashed it flat, but it was smoothed
out, and now graces Memorial and other parade occasions.
Hardlv more than a boy when the war was over, he went
home to South Butler, and attended school in that village, hav-
ing as principal that excellent scholar, Albert J. Davis. In
1867 the family went to Illinois and settled near Marseilles.
Alternating between teaching and attending school, working
on the farm between whiles, he was graduated from Grand
Prairie Seminary, commercial department, 1869. The following
autumn he entered Michigan University, remaining through
his sophomore year. Then receiving an offer to teach in Bland-
ville College, Ky., he accepted.
Later drifting to Chicago, for two years he was employed in
the wholesale dry-goods house of J. V. Farwell & Co. Then he
served the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company at Washington,
Ills. Here he was married to Miss Emma Smith, a music
teacher of Eureka College, who has in these later years acquired
no little fame as a speaker for the National Woman's Suffrage
Association.
In 1881 Mr. and Mrs. De Voe moved to Huron, South Dakota,
near which they founded the town bearing their name in Faulk
county. He was a very prominent factor in the campaign re-
sulting in the division of the state.
In 1891 he returned to Illinois, locating in Harvey, a suburb
of Chicago, and which is now his home. Soon afterwards he
was elected police magistrate of the place, and in the period of
holding this office studied law, being admitted to the bar in
1894. At present he is in mercantile business in Harvey.
Though long away from New York, Comrade De Voe retains
the liveliest recollections of the former days and of his old
associates in the regiment.
Stephen T. Devoe. — Our second chaplain clearly belongs to
the church militant, for at the age of forty years he enlisted
in Company G, and was its first sergeant, when on the resigna-
tion of Chai)lain Mudge, he was made his successor. Being a
regularly ordained minister of the Free Baptist denomination,
he had repeatedly jireached while doing his duty in the camp.
He fought well at Cedar Creek, and the boys always have a
good word for the chaplain, who with the weight of years upon
him is living in Wolcott. He writes these words: "Among the
•,'u LIEUT. CHAUNCEY FISH.
Company B.
Later. 1st Lieutfiiiint, Captain, and Brevet Major.
PERSONAL SKETCHES. 417
earliest of my recollections are the lessons taught me by my
father and mother concerning my native land, America, and ita
government. I got the impression that this was the best gov-
ernment in the broad world, and it thrilled my whole being to
hear,
'My country, 'tis of thee.'
*'So when the Civil War broke out, it became a serious study to
know just what my duty was, when portending disaster threat-
ened the very life of my country."
We are glad that duty seemed to call for his enlistment and
that the mantle of Chaplain Mudge fell upon such excellent
shoulders. While his sense of hearing is dulling fast and the
shores of the silent sea are nearing, memory recalls the bugle
sounds of other days, and his face lights up at thoughts of the