History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

"On the :id of December, ISfd, Andrew Knox, of Danbury, rec^^-ive I authority from Governor Buckingham to raise recruits for the service. He immediately began the work, and in a very short time had secure I forty-five volunteers. With these be reported at Hartford for duty. They were assigui-d to f'ompany B of the First Heavy Artillery, whidi had then emerged from the Fourth Infantry. Neljon L, White was the lieutenant-colonel of this admiiable regiment. Knox \va> made secoinl lieiiti-nant of the company, and was jtromoted shortly after to be first lieutenant. When I have occasio:i to write his idiitiiary I will spirak more paiticularly of him. *' Danbury is not considered to be specially connected with tliis regi- ment, and yet there were fifty-five residents of our town in Li-ut. Knox's company, or more than there were in any company organized here with the single exception of Company K, Twenty-third Ue;;imeut. I do not incluiie in the count those who belongeil to the (pH>ta ol the town and enlisted here, but simply thuse who had residence in Danbury. " I cannot close this record of the yeai's wm k without a word fir tlie newspapers of the day. Theie is a mournful pleasure in looking over them and pondeii.ig on their magnificent opportunities for snubbing 252 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. tnitli. Tliey contain full accounts of nil the battles, and one in reading the flgnres iu the Ii.st of ciutiialties cnnuot help udniiiing tlio resources of the Sontli, whatever he may think of itn jH.Iicy. I dare Boy there were na niniiy Southerners killed in that flrbt year of the war «8 we Imd men fi^^hting in nil the years. I recall one case whoro It stated that a Union man killed //urryyitf 8cceseiunl»td at uno shut. It led me to be- lieve that the rebels foUKht In bales like yuu wmietimes see codfiuh in a gnicery. and 1 couldn't help Hhiidileiin^; when I thought how tltin their bodies mu^t bo. At the eanie time I wished thut I owne*i that guu. Jleally, our government did not need one-tontli the troops it raised. *' The second year of the war, 18C2, pit-wed half away without witness- ing any orgiuiizing action in l>aiibury. That winter will ever bo known OS having oiiginuted the balmy condtlit>ii of afTairs along the course of the Potomac. All that time the announcement of 'All quiet along the Potomac' was new and fresh, and gave quite u charm to current litera- ture. " Occatlonolly there was a de«;ent uiwn the village of some recruiting- agent with his dazzling proMpcctus. People were getting used to the war and all that pertained tu it potwible fur thein to know, and even the Dan- bury horue patiently faubniJtteif to banneiD and drums. " In the summer of 18G:i there was a cull for three bundre<l thousand moio troops, to servo for three years, and Danbury again bestiired herself to gather lier sons and send them foith to the flght. There was a public meeting in Concert Hull one July evening. It was a notable gathering in tliut it had a live Governor to address it, and a live lieutenant-gover- nor to preside over it. Governor Buckingham, the noble hero, was here that night, and Lieut.-Gov. Averill was called tn tlie chair. Both of them nuide addrcssoa which were a])pc»ls that sliired the ardor vt Dan- bury us it had not been stirred since the Bull Bun disaster. "It was a tremendous meeting,— the biggest yet held. A largo num- ber could not gain admittance to the hall. The building was full. It is said there were ovur a thousand perwiins in there that night. You who remember the old hall will agree with nio that tlie ushers must have had years of expel icnce in iMtxing sardines. When the speaking woe over there wiw a call for volunteers. A tall man went forward. He had the typical military figure,— tall, slim, stmight. Ho wrote his name on the |wper presented. It was the first name, and was read to the audience. It was that of James E. Moore. The announcement of this name was received with a storm of applause. Little did he who wn>te it, or those who clieered it, anlici|ttte the tragedy that a year later was to <)uench bis life. Other mimed rapidly followed, auil the fiist stej) for the formation of the Wildnian Guanis was taken. The name was adopted in honor of our fidlowHitizen. Fredetick S. Wihlman. The iiunmand thus started soon liecome a full company, and took the designation of '(" in the S4;venteenlh Begimentof Lonnectkut Volunteeis, then being raised by this county, and the only distinctively Fairfield Otunty regiment re- cruited. Its headquartera were ot Bridgeiwrt. On the 28tli of August it was mustered into the United States service, nnd on the 3il of Sep- tember it left the State for the front. "Cupt. James K. Moore was the commauiler of this company. The first lieuteimnt was Wilton II. Daidels. The second lieutenant was Hour}' tjulen. The company numlwretl one hundred and two on leaving tlio State. During its term of service it received seven recruits, nuxking its total nunil>er one hundred and nine. Its battles were not many, but Its record shows that it made the most of itsopiMtitunities. The regiment was assigned lo the Army of the Potomac, where It Bor*ed until after the battle of Gettysburg, when it was transferred to tho Department of the South and did duty U'foro Charleston and in Floiido. The Daubury company first canu' under lire at Clnincellorsville, where it hud one niem- Iwr fatidly wounded and two less seil-msly. Its second engagement was Gettvsbuig. Here its exiM^rienco wiut mottt Utter, its loss in that fight was the mt*t serious Huntaiued by any Danbury company in any one en- gagement fought. If I recoiled aright, the comiHiny went into the but- tle with forty-four members. Of these eleven wore kille^I outright or died shortly from tho offects of wounds. Elereu wor« otherwise woundml and eleven were captured, leavlitg eleven survivors. On that tleld tho bmvo captain gave up his lifi*. and three of his sergeants i>uii»hed with him. The com|niny"s nvsualties duiliig Its thive years of siTvico were twelve killwl outright or fatally wounded, twelve otherwiso wounded, and s«'ven <11im1 of diiMMUic. There were but few promotions. Both l|t«u- tenftuts, Ihinlfls and Qulen, l>ecunif (ajitnin of thi> coutiNiny, the formur rvnlgning in March, l»t'4. Sergt. William I.. Daniels was made fli«t Ib'Ulenant. " The ailjulant-genenil of the State, in his report of tho Mrrlce* of tho Conn«H:tlcut troopA, si^caks 1% the fulluwlug dhillnctive Icniit of thu Seventeenth : "'Tims ended Uie honoral Ic scnice of ■ regiment the supeilor of which in Intelligence, moroJe, courage, and endurance was not found in tho army. Tlie commonwealth of Connecticut will ever cherish tho memory of its dead ami honor Its living.* "Tho Fifteenth Regiment went into the scrvlco at the same time with tbe Seventeenth. <riie late Dr. E. F. Hendrlck was an nsbistant surgL-ou in this regiment, whitdi bad fifteen of (*ur clti/Arns. One of these was Charles S. Gray, who entered the service as a sergeant and was promoted to be second lieutenant. " In September, D<i;2, Dauburj' completed her last organizations for the war. These were two companies enlisted for a term of nine months. Both companies were recniited for the Twenty-third Kegiinent. Each contained eighty-three members. The first was Company B. Its cajv tain was James U. Jenkins. Tho first lieutenant was the lamented Frederick Starr, who was fatally woundetl in the battle of I.a Fourche, La. Tho second lieutenant was William II. lU-tts, who was promoted to I be first lieutenant on the death of Starr. Sergt. Henry I. Smith became ! second lieutenant. Tho company's less iu the service were two from wounds and three from disease. "The second company was mustered in as Company K. It was com- j manded by Capt. Samuel G. Bailey. The fiist lieutenant was Edwin H. I Neaiing, and the second George Quien. Tho Quleiis may be calleil a family of ofllcei's. All its available force, three sons, went into the ser- vice, and all were otficers. Tho casualties of Company K were the cap- I ture of Capt. Bailey and the deaths from di.-tease of four members. "The regiment served in I^onisianaand faithfully discharged tho dutlcfl ussignetl to it. Snniuel Gregory was the adjutant and Eli Ferry tho ser- geant-mioor of the regiment. j " I have here prepared a tiible which shows tho strength and the loss I of Daubury in the war for the Union. Although our village bad organi- zations ill but seven of the thirty regiments from the State, it had repre- sentatives in nearly all of them. In this table is given tho strength of the Danbury companies and the nunibt;r of Danbuiians in other com- panies of the same regiments: Regiment. Danbur}- Cu. Other Cos. Total. Wounded. Killed. 1st 78 I 70 :id 77 •! 7U 1 :Jd I. L. Bat 2 ... 1 1st CttV 38 1st H. Artilleiy «» ... 2 lid ** " 12 ... 1 2 r.tli 1G6 8 17a VJ G r.ih 47 ... <l 4 7th ItW aO 204 2-* I'J Mil IH •Mh 12 Itith* a nth 207 21 228 22 10 i 12th 21 i:nh fi 14th 4 loth 15 ITth IVJ I'J 128 12 12 I 20th ^^\ ZUi DJO li 181 ... 2 24tl.1 1 29th Colored 2^ 3Uth " 1 Total. 97U 300 I'-HM 01 5« "Tills shows that Danbury had six companira Iu the army whoso total membership was OTlt. In other companies were 300 of her citizens. I making a grand total of l:jfit), or ntvir/»/ oin>»irlh of her jutpuUttioH. Of these 5(J were killed, 01 were wounded, and KO died of disease, the total of casualties l>eing one-sixth of the contribution. ''This is thu record over which Panbur>- exults while It mourns. Iti all the towns of this suffering, enduiing, biuve little State there is none that presents a grander reconl than this. Fiom tlie hour when Uie shame put on Sumter thrilletl her loyal heart, she never fallenil in tho way once set l>eforo her. Then.- can no one now or in the future yet to come, however distant it may grow, loy the finger of repp>a<--h u|»on our dear old mother, or cay that in aught (HTtaining to the welfare of iier own or of the land she so dearly lovi-s her loyalty had lackfng.