Part 3 (1/2)
_Resolved_, That the proceedings be signed by our Captain, and a copy thereof be furnished the relatives of the deceased, and also for publication in the village papers.
P. J. PARTENHEIMER, _Capt, Com'd'g_.
WILLIAM GLENNY, _Sec'y_.
M. E. ELMENDORF, Dentist, enlisted June 30th, 1854. Mr. Elmendorf was a first-cla.s.s soldier and a tip-top fellow generally. Was particularly celebrated as a fine shot, taking a prize at each of the target shoots while a member. Was an active, energetic young man, and very readily became master of his profession, and is now a Dental Surgeon of considerable note in the city of New York.
LOT S. HINDS, Currier, enlisted July 12th, 1854. Was a good, attentive soldier and a faithful member; served some years with the Company; removed from our village to Danby, where he now resides. Has a son in the United States army.
J. S. PUTNAM, Hotel keeper, enlisted July 12th, 1854. Was a resident but a short time.
IRA M. GARDNER, Mason, enlisted September 18th, 1855. Mr. Gardner served faithfully his seven years, and received an honorable discharge. He has always resided in Ithaca, is a good citizen, a respected man, and a first-cla.s.s mechanic.
WILLIAM H. HAMMOND, Gas Plumber, enlisted September 23d, 1855. Served his full time and was honorably discharged. Held the office of Company standard-bearer for some years. Was also armory keeper, keeping the guns and equipage in perfect order. We believe the State honestly indebted to him for services rendered, for which he ought to have his pay.
WILLIAM V. BROWN, Currier, enlisted September 26th, 1855. Mr. Brown was celebrated for the great amount of artistic and thoroughly grand music as produced by himself on the ba.s.s drum. He was Company musician, and remained with them as long as he was a citizen of the place. He is now a resident of Union Springs. ”_Big Bill Brown, the Drummer_” will long be remembered with grat.i.tude by all those connected with the Company during his members.h.i.+p.
K. S. VAN VOORHEES, Master Mechanic, enlisted July ----, 1854. Colonel Van Voorhees entered the militia service of the State in Feb., 1835, joining the first Company New York Cadets, which was attached as a flank Company to the 2d Regiment N. Y. S. Artillery, (doing duty as Infantry,) and known as the Governor's Guard. In the spring of 1839 he was promoted from Orderly Sergeant, and commissioned as Captain of the Company by Gov. W. H. Seward, he having been unanimously elected to that position by the members of the Company. In the spring of 1840 he was presented with an elegant sword bearing the following inscription:
Presented to
CAPT. K. S. VAN VOORHEES,
BY THE FIRST COMPANY NEW YORK CADETS, AS A TOKEN OF ESTEEM AND RESPECT.
New York, April 16th, 1840.
In the Fall of 1840 he visited Ithaca, and having concluded to make this place his permanent residence, he forwarded to New York his resignation in the Spring of 1841. After his removal to this place, he lent his a.s.sistance to the drilling and instruction of the Old Ithaca Guard until they were disbanded.
Upon the most urgent solicitations of both officers and men, he consented to become one of the members of the DeWitt Guard. He, possessing probably the greatest amount of military knowledge of any person in the district, was secured by the Company as instructor, and immediately elected Orderly Sergeant. This he did simply as an accommodation, having gained all the military honors he cared to have bestowed upon him before coming to Ithaca.
For us to bestow any compliments upon him in this sketch is perfectly uncalled for, as we produce the following record in place of further remarks:
At the breaking out of the Rebellion he was prevented from entering the service of his country by a severe bodily injury which he had received a few months before; but in the Fall of 1862 he had so far recovered from his lameness, that he ventured to accept the position of Lieutenant Colonel of a Regiment then organizing at Binghamton, N. Y., and afterwards known as the 137th New York Volunteers, to which position he was chosen by the unanimous vote of the War Committee of the 24th Senatorial District.
He immediately entered upon the duty, in connection with Colonel David Ireland, of organizing and disciplining the Regiment, and getting it ready for active service in the field. The want of any knowledge of military tactics by either officers or men, rendered the labor of instructing and drilling the Regiment very arduous, the most of which was performed by Lt. Col. Van Voorhees, Col. Ireland attending to the administrative affairs of the Regiment. Previous to the Regiment's leaving for the seat of war, Lt. Col. Van Voorhees was presented by his friends at Ithaca with a fine horse and set of horse equipments. The Regiment was mustered into the U. S. service on the 25th September, and left for Was.h.i.+ngton on the 27th, arriving there on the 30th, and were immediately forwarded to Harper's Ferry, Va., by way of Fredericksburgh, Md.; arriving at Harper's Ferry on the 3d October, where they remained until the 10th December, having in the meantime made two important reconnoissances under Gen. Gregg--one to Charlestown and the other to Winchester, Va.
On the 10th December the 12th Army Corps, to which the 137th Regiment had been attached, left Harper's Ferry at the time of Burnside's unsuccessful attack on Fredericksburgh, and having marched to Dumfries, Va., were, in consequence of Burnside's repulse, marched back to Fairfax Station, where they remained until the 17th January, 1863, when they were again ordered forward, Burnside intending to make another attack on Fredericksburgh, but failed on account of the mud.
The 12th Corps having reached Stafford Court House, the Brigade to which the 137th was attached was ordered to Aquia Creek, where they remained until the 26th April, when they commenced their march to Chancellorsville, which they reached on the 29th of April. On the 30th the 12th Corps was ordered forward to feel the enemy's position, and finding them in strong force returned to camp, where they commenced throwing up earthworks, the 137th using bayonets for picks and tin plates for shovels. In the subsequent battles the Regiment maintained its position in the trenches until they were entered by the enemy from the right, (the right flank of the army having been turned by the giving way of the 11th Corps,) when they were ordered to retire, which they did in good order. As this was the first battle in which the Regiment was engaged, some anxiety was felt by the officers as to the mettle of their men; but their conduct on this occasion was such as to give no further uneasiness. After the battle the Regiment returned to Aquia Creek, where it remained until the 13th June, when it commenced its march to Gettysburg, and on the 2d and 3d July was closely and hotly engaged with the invader.
Late in the afternoon of the 2d July the whole of the 12th Corps, with the exception of Green's Brigade, was sent to support the left of the line, which was closely pressed; they had scarcely gone when Stonewall Jackson's old Corps, seven thousand strong, under Ewell, charged our right, which was defended by only Green's Brigade of New York troops less than two thousand strong; but so obstinate was the defence, that the enemy did not succeed in breaking our lines; heavy firing was kept up nearly all night. About four o'clock of the morning of the 3d, the enemy again advanced to the charge but was again repulsed, and a heavy and constant fire was kept up until half past ten, when the enemy retired. The loss of the 137th was four officers and forty-one men killed, and three officers and sixty-four men wounded. Lt. Col. Van Voorhees was slightly wounded twice during the action.
After the battle and the escape of Lee's army across the Potomac, the army again encamped on the banks of the Rappahannock and afterwards on the banks of the Rappidan, when, on the 23d September, immediately after the battle of Chickamauga, the 11th and 12th Corps under Hooker were ordered to Tennessee, where they arrived in the fore part of October. In the latter part of that month Hooker was ordered by Grant to open communication between Bridgport, Ala., and Chattanooga, Tenn., by the way of White Side, along the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. The army of the c.u.mberland being besieged in Chattanooga and dest.i.tute of provisions, it became necessary to secure a shorter line of communication, or the place would have to be abandoned with the loss of all the artillery and trains, as there were no animals left to draw them away. On the 28th of October the 11th Corps under Gen. Howard, followed by a part of Geary's Division of the 12th Corps, all under the command of Gen. Hooker, debouched into Lookout Valley, and for six miles marched in plain view of the rebels who occupied the summit and sides of the mountain, and who could almost count the men in the ranks. On encamping for the night, the 11th Corps was about two and a half miles in advance of Geary's Division, which, being observed by the enemy, they determined to surprise and capture Geary's Division; and accordingly two Divisions of Longstreet's Corps were ordered to the attack. They came in between the 11th Corps and Geary's Division, and while one Division took up a position to prevent reinforcements from being sent to Gen. Geary, the other advanced to the attack, which came near being a surprise, the attack being made about midnight. Gen. Geary had with him at the time but four Regiments and two sections of a battery. The 111th Pennsylvania succeeded in getting into line, and the 137th New York were but partly in line when the enemy opened fire upon them at less than fifty yards distance. These two Regiments bore the whole brunt of the battle, which lasted over two hours; the other two Regiments were placed in position to protect the right flank and rear, leaving the left flank exposed.
Early in the action Gen. Green, commanding the Brigade, was wounded, and Col. Ireland of the 137 Regiment being senior Colonel, the command of the Brigade devolved upon him, leaving the command of the Regiment to Lt. Col. Van Voorhees. The enemy finding the left unprotected, moved a part of their force to the left, and came down on the left and rear of the 137th, but Col. Van Voorhees immediately placed his three left Companies perpendicular to the rear facing them to the left, and facing the rear rank of four other Companies to the rear, the Regiment kept up such a vigorous and well directed fire to the front, flank and rear, as finally to beat back the enemy and cause his retreat, though not till nearly every cartridge in the Regiment was expended.
The 137th (who lost nearly one-third of their number in killed and wounded) was highly complimented for their coolness and courage in this engagement. Gen. Geary in a speech delivered to the Regiment at the time of its muster-out, used the following language in regard to their conduct on this occasion: ”I have at all times and in all places given you the credit of saving my Division from rout or capture at Wauhatchie.
As I pa.s.sed down your rear and observed the vigorous attack that was made upon you, I exclaimed, 'My G.o.d, if the 137th gives way all is lost.' But thanks to the coolness, skill and courage of your commanding officer, and to your own determined will, you maintained your ground n.o.bly, and the enemy was driven back to his mountain den.”
Gen. Howard, in a speech at Philadelphia, characterized this battle as ”the wonderful night's revel at Wauhatchie;” and the rebel papers and dispatches acknowledged a serious defeat and heavy loss. Col. Van Voorhees was severely wounded during the action, but refused to leave the field to have his wound dressed until the action was over and all danger of its renewal had pa.s.sed.
Col. Van Voorhees being at home recovering from his wound, was not with his Regiment in their ”battle above the clouds,” in which it maintained its reputation, being the first to enter the enemy's works upon Lookout Mountain. Col. Van Voorhees rejoined his Regiment in January, and led it in all the battles of the Atlanta campaign, which commenced on the 2d day of May and ended by the capture of Atlanta on the 2d day of September, being four months of almost continuous fighting. The first battle was that of Mill Creek Gap, May 8th, in which Geary's Division drove the rebels into their works on the summit of Taylor's Ridge. The next was the battle of Resacca, May 15th, in which the Regiment lost several in wounded. The next was the battle of Dallas, or New Hope Church, on the 25th of May; here Hooker's Corps lost heavily. One line of the enemy's works was carried just at night, and they driven about a mile into a second line of works which was not carried owing to the darkness; but a position was taken and a line of works established within a stone's throw of the enemy's line. The Regiment remained here eight days under a constant fire, and without any shelter from the weather. On the 5th June the enemy was found to have evacuated his works, and it was supposed had crossed the Chattahoochie River; the men needing rest the enemy was not followed. The army was moved forward a few miles and put into camp for rest.