History of the Seventh Regiment, National Guard, State of New York, during the War of the Rebellion : with a preliminary chapter on the origin and early history of the regiment, a summary of its history since the war, and a roll of honor, comprising brief comprising brief sketches of the services rendered by members of the regiment in the Army and Navy of the United States

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Chapter 1 Origin Op The Seventh Regiment

N the southerly corner of Fulton and Nassau Streets, in the city of New York, there stood, half a century ago, the famous Stoneall's " Shakespeare Tavern." To that favorite hostelry, as a birthplace, can be traced more than one of the institutions and societies now flourishing in the New York of our day : and thither we must go back some twoseore years for the origin of the " Seventh Regiment New York State National Guard."

In one view, we should resort to a still earlier period in the history of the Slate and of the Republic to find the fountain-head of the Seventh Regiment. For. since this corps was fashioned, not out of new material, but out of a militia organization already existing, — to wit, the "Eleventh Regiment of Artillery." — it would be neces- 1 sary, in like manner, to trace this " Eleventh " to the year of its creation, namely, the year 1812 ; while, pursuing the pedigree of the " Eleventh " itself, we should, erelong, find ourselves among the military antiquities of the bygone century and the war of the Revolution.

Such genealogic researches are aside .from our present purpose. Suffice it to say that, in the year 1824, there existed a so-called " Eleventh Regiment of New York State Artillery," and that this regiment consisted, as did most of the militia regiments of that day, of two battalions ; whereof one was artillery proper, the other infantry. Of the four infantry companies, the First was commanded by Captain Irad Hawley, the Second by Captain John Telfair, the Third by Captain William B. Curtis, and the Fourth by Captain Howard A. Simons.

Now, on the evening of the 25th of August, 1824, the officers of the four companies of the Infantry Battalion of the old Eleventh Regiment, at a meeting held at the Shakespeare Tavern, adopted a resolution to the effect that the said battalion " be hereafter known and distinguished by the name of National Guards." The origin of this name, for so many years the worthy designation of the Seventh Regiment, and of that organization exclusively, is associated with a historic event of singular interest. A few days previous to the above-mentioned meeting (namely, the 16th of August, 1824), there had occurred a parade of the New York militia for the reception of La Fayette on his last visit to this country. On this occasion the illustrious soldier and patriot reviewed the forces at the Battery. While the troops were awaiting the arrival of La Fayette, a number of the officers of the Eleventh had gathered together, and the conversation chanced to turn on a project which had long engaged their attention, to wit, the independent organization of the Infantry Battalion. It happened that a good deal of difficulty had been experienced regarding the choice of a suitable name. On this occasion reference was made, by some one present, to La Fayette's connection with the Paris National Guard, when immediately Major John D. Wilson asked why " National Guards " would not be a good name for the proposed corps ? This electric utterance at once crystallized their desires in a fixed purpose and on a clear ideal ; and when, therefore, a few days later, the gathering at the Shakespeare occurred, the resolution to adopt the designation of " National Guards " was enthusiastically passed. Its promulgation was received by the members of the corps with general favor.

It remained to secure the permission and co-operation of the governor, ex officio commander of the State militia. The official documents requisite to the perfect organization of the corps, and its recognition as an independent unit in the militia force of the State, did not arrive until the year following the adoption of the name of the National Guards. But, meanwhile, its members were not idle, and the drills were kept up with marked regularity. Moreover, the first great step towards the completion of the battalion was taken in the adoption, on the 30th of August, of the famous gray uniform. Its design was taken from the neatly fitting, single-breasted gray office-coat of Philetus II. Holt (then a private in the Fourth Company), which attracted the attention of Captain Prosper M. Wetmore, Acting Brigade- Major, and Major John D. Wilson, as a suitable model for the new uniform. It was proposed, and a pattern suit complete was exhibited by Major Wilson to the four companies, separately assembled at the Shakespeare, and was agreed to by the members with great unanimity. A coat of arms and motto were designed by Corporal Asher Taylor, of the Fourth Company, who has ever since held honored connection with the regiment, and whose esprit de corps and enthusiasm in all that concerns the Seventh and its welfare five-and-forty years have not been able to quench. The coat of arms and motto were approved by the board of officers and adopted as the heraldic insignia of the corps. It was Asher Baylor, also, who first wore in public the gray uniform.

More important still, to the original four companies of the battalion were presently added two more, under Captains Lownds and Stevens. The interest taken by these gentlemen in the new organization began with the inspiring incident of the La Fayette review, already detailed. On that occasion the group of officers was joined by Oliver M. Lownds, Esq., a popular and influential citizen, and it was proposed to him that he should raise a company to add to the others in forming the National Guard. The proposition was made by Linus W Stevens, who then commanded a company in the first or artillery battalion of the Eleventh, and who, " being dissatisfied with the treatment of officials, who had neglected to provide his company with guns for artillery practice," had purposed retiring from the militia service, but was now resolved to accept a commission in the new organization. With the spirit of generous rivalry that characterized the founders of the corps, Captain Stevens agreed to waive the right of his own company to the number " 5 " in the regiment, and to come in as number " 6," leaving " 5 " to the company to be raised by Mr. Lownds.

Such was the personal popularity of the latter gentleman that he soon succeeded in enrolling the required number ; and, on the 25th of December of the same year, he presented his company as a Christmas gift to the National Guards. It was admitted as the Fifth Company, and, being composed of picked men, was a valuable and welcome addition to the corps. Captain Stevens was allowed to select twenty-four of the best men and one officer (Lieutenant J. H. Williams) from his old company of the artillery battalion. Two days after the admission of Captain Lownds's company, they came in as the Sixth Company.

ORIGIN OF THE SEVENTH REGIMENT. O

At length, on the 27th of June, 1825, an order was issued by the Commander-in-Chief, Governor De Witt Clinton, instituting the battalion of the National Guards. This liberated the corps from the heterogeneous association with the artillery battalion, but the change actually made did not prove satisfactory- The order separating the battalion from the Eleventh Eegiment of Artillery directed its consolidation with the infantry companies of the Second Regiment. This arrangement was not a happy one. Difficulties very soon arose, and such ill-feeling was engendered on both sides that the National Guard determined to part company with its associates. Accordingly, representations of so forcible a character were made at head-quarters, that, in the following October (1825), a general order was issued detaching the corps and organizing it into a separate battalion. Having now legal existence as a battalion, it was entitled to a Lieutenant-Colonel and a Major. On the 18th of October a meeting was held for the election of these officers, which resulted in the unanimous choice of Prosper M. Wetmore as Lieutenant-Colonel and Linus W Stevens as Major. To the six companies already mentioned had been added, in October, another, — the Seventh, — under Captain Van Buren. It now required but one more company to raise the battalion to the dignity of a regiment, ■ — • a consummation devoutly wished by all its members. Accordingly, on the 10th of April following, the Commandant detailed the following gentlemen to organize the new company : Lieutenant Andrew Warner, of Seventh Company, to be Captain ; William H. Insley, First Lieutenant; and William P Millard, Second Lieutenant. With such spirit and energy did these officers enter into this duty, that, on the 4th of May, the requisite number was enrolled and the new company admitted to the battalion as the Eighth Company of the National Guard. Being informed of this, Governor De Witt Clinton, two davs

6 EISTOKY OF THE SEVENTH REGIMENT.

later, — namely, the 6th of May, 1826, — issued an order organizing the battalion into a regiment, to be named the " Twenty-Seventh Regiment of Artillery."

So much of mere dry chronology it has been necessary here to group together, that we may the better grasp the successive steps through which the National Guard became a regiment, and laid the broad basis of its historic fame.

If, now, we hold firmly by the noble appellation National Guard, it will prevent our becoming confused in the varying technical designations of the corps. We have seen the memorable circumstances under which the name was chosen. "Well, it was the National Guard while still incorporated with the old Eleventh Artillery ; it was the National Guard while consolidated with the Second Regiment ; and it was still the National Guard now that it became independent, and was dubbed the " Twenty-Seventh Regiment." When, years later, it had become the " Seventh," it still held its proud blazon of National Guard. Nor was it ever till the Legislature, in 1862, filching from the corps its " good name," gave this designation to all the militia of the State, that the Seventh ceased to be the National Guard. Nevertheless, if we shall succeed in at all fitly setting forth the history of this regiment in the late war, it may appear by what new and multiplied titles it has acquired the right of retaining the baptismal name which hallowed its birth twoscore years and more ago.

The regiment having now attained separate identity, it remained to choose its officers. To this end the Commandant, on the 16th of May, 1826, issued the first "Regimental Order," appointing the 23d of the same month for the election. Pursuant to this order the officers met at the Shake speare ; and the result was. the choice of Prosper M. Wetmore as Colonel, Linus W Stevens as Lieutenant-Colonel, and John Telfair as Major.

The selection of these officers gave general satisfaction, and their promotion was designed as a tribute of respect and appreciation on the part of the regiment. Colonel Prosper M. Wetmore had formerly been Captain of the Fourth Company, and at the time our history opens he was Brigade-Major of Brigadier-General Benedict's staff. He had entered very warmly into the project for the organization of the National Guard, and was indefatigable in promoting the growth and welfare of the corps. He retained his position as Colonel for about a year, and resigned in April, 1827 Lieutenant-Colonel Stevens was, as has already appeared, one of the National Guard's early and most steadfast friends ; and we shall presently have occasion to refer to the relations of that able and accomplished officer with the regiment he loved and adorned. Major Telfair is equally entitled to the honor of being one of the founders of the Seventh Regiment. He had passed through all the grades of the service ; was a sergeant during the war of 1812, a lieutenant of the Second Company of the old Eleventh Regiment in 1820, and its captain in 1823. Ho had declined the majority at the previous election in lS2f>, and only accepted it now at the urgent solicitation of Colonel Wetmore. As it was, he did not hold his commission long, for he resigned on the 20th of June following, and Howard A. Simons was elected in his stead. He was greatly beloved by the Second Company, and in 1833 he was induced to resume its captaincy, from which he finally retired in 1S36. Telfair is one of the noblest names in the bead-roll of the regiment, on which he lavished his affections and his fortune.

The National Guard paraded for the first time as a regiment on the 31st of May, 1826, to receive an elegant stand of colors from the Mayor of New York. Asher Taylor, in his interesting " Notes on the Colors of the National Guard," gives the following agreeable account of the origin of these colors : " When the corps was detached as a separate command, the subject of providing suitable colors for it had engaged the early attention of the board of officers ; and Captain John Telfair, Captain James T. Plinn, Lieutenant Charles B. Spicer, Adjutant Andrew- Warner, and Surgeon Edward P Marcellin were appointed a committee to procure a standard which should be the banner of the National Guard. The committee spent some time in bowing around and flirting and coquetting among their fair friends, in the hope of eliciting an offer from some of them to embroider and present a standard ; and Young Moustache will be amazed to learn that all their efforts wrere in vain, as they reported (March 29, 1826) that ' the expectations hitherto entertained on that subject had not been realized] — a humiliating admission that would wellnigh ' burst the kids ' of half the gallant and irresistible fellows of the regiment in the present day. Subscription papers for the requisite funds were circulated through the ranks of the corps, and promptly filled up ; and the committee adopted designs for the colors, devised and prepared by Sergeant Asher Taylor. They consisted of, first, a regimental standard, ' the banner of the National Guard,' of red silk, bearing the arms of the corps on a shield, supported by wreaths of oak and laurel, with the crest, an eagle, and the motto, ' Pro Patria et Gloria' ; second, a State standard of blue silk. The designs were traced on silk by Sergeant Taylor, and embroidered very beautifully, in natural colors, under his supervision, by Mrs. Windsor."

It was upon the occasion of the presentation of the first of these, the regimental standard, that the regiment made its maiden parade. The Hon. Philip Hone, Mayor of the city, in presence of a brilliant assemblage, delivered the standard with an eloquent address. The State standard was presented on the 4th of July following, on which occasion the semi-centennial anniversary of American Independence was celebrated with immense pomp and circumstance. The presentation took place in Castle Garden, where "a large collection of distinguished officers had assembled around the illustrious De Witt Clinton, the Governor of the State," who delivered the standard to Colonel Wetmore, accompanied by a glowing eulogy, to which the Commandant replied in fitting terms. On the conclusion of the military ceremonies, the Governor and Mayor, with their suites, and the officers of the division, repaired to Washington Parade-Ground, where a public feast had been prepared by the city corporation. "Immense awnings," says the annalist, " were erected, beneath which two tables, each four hundred and fifty feet long, groaned under vast quantities of substantial viands " ; and we catch the vision of a quite Homeric banquet, at which were " two oxen, roasted whole, two hundred hams, immense piles of bread, innumerable barrels of beer," and the like hearty provant.

Meanwhile, amid these festivities, the weightier matters of drill and discipline were not neglected. Hitherto, it is said, too little attention had been devoted to military instruction ; and the want of proficiency in the manual of arms is illustrated by the fact that at a feu de joie in the Park, the previous year, a member of the Second Company discharged the rammer from his musket, to the great terror and consternation of the numerous spectators. During the winter of 1825 - 26, Congress adopted a new system of tactics, known as " Scott's Tactics." The United States Ann\- having been ordered to drill in the new system, it was immediately adopted ny the more intelligent and ambitious militia organizations ; and the National Guard promptly commenced its study and practice. To complete our chronology of the year 1S2G, we may add, that on the lSth of October the annual inspection and review of the National Guard took place at the Battery, — present, 277 ; total, present and absent, 4:'>7. On the 13th of November, there was a brigade field-day at Brooklyn Heights, and the annual parade took place on the 25th of November.

It has already been mentioned that the resignation of Colonel Wetmore took place in 1827 Lieutenant-Colonel Linus W Stevens was then promoted to the colonelcy. In this gentleman the National Guard gained a Commandant of superior merit, and one who infused into it a rare activity and spirit ; but, unfortunately, the regiment, a year later, lost this able officer by his resignation in July, 1828. On the retirement of Colonel Stevens, Lieutenant-Colonel Manning was promoted to the colonelcy, and Captain Levi Hart was elected Lieutenant-Colonel. The regiment never paraded under Colonel Manning, as he resigned his commission in September, 1828. Ex-Colonel Stevens was unanimously elected Colonel, but positively declined the office, and Lieutenant-Colonel Hart was then promoted to the colonelcy. In January, 1830, Colonel Hart resigned his commission, and ex-Colonel Stevens, at the unanimous and urgent request of the line officers of the regiment, accepted the colonelcy- Upon his recommendation, Morgan L. Smith was elected Lieutenant-Colonel, and John M. Catlin, Major. The return of Colonel Stevens to the command of the regiment revived its fortunes at once.

In perusing the annals of the regiment during the year 1830, we note that the usual number of drills and parades took place and were well attended. One of the parades (November 26th) was in honor of the French Revolution of that year, which resulted in the elevation of Louis Philippe to the throne. The annual inspection and review took place on the 26th of October at the Battery. Total present, 360 ; present and absent, 472. The following year, 1831, the regiment was active and prosperous, and performed an unusual amount of military duty.

It was during this latter year that the regiment made its first encampment. This took place at Poughkeepsie, and the camp was named Camp Clinton. The members, to the number of two hundred and fifty-six, were conveyed by boat, under the management of Quartermaster Sniffen, and remained at Poughkeepsie from the 2d to the 5th of July, amid varied duties and festivities. The experiment was so complete a success that it was repeated the following year (Camp Putnam), and often in the subsequent history of the regiment.

In 1831 the regiment was called upon for the first time to quell a riot in the city, — a duty which on many memorable after-occasions fell to its lot. The trouble in this case grew out of the bitter hostilities existing between the Whigs and Democrats at the election in the spring of 1834. The civil authorities attempted to stop the disturbance, but were powerless. Finally the Whigs took possession of the Arsenal, and the Mayor, having learned this fact, ordered out the National Guard. The regiment assembled promptly, and within two hours after the order was issued three hundred of its members were guarding the Arsenal and patrolling the adjoining streets. The regiment continued on duty until the next morning, when, the canvass having been completed and the excitement having subsided, it was dismissed with the thanks of the Mayor. In July of this same year a similar duty devolved upon the National Guard, it being called upon to quell the " Abolition riots," in which a number of buildings, including three churches, were sacked by the mob. The regiment on this trying occasion behaved with an admirable mingling of firmness and forbearance, that won for it the warmest praise from all good citizens. The riots began on the 9th, and culminated on the 11th. On the evening of the latter day, the Twenty-Seventh Regiment was called upon by the Mayor to march to Spring Street, where the churches of Drs. Ludlow and Cox had been sacked by the mob, who were intrenched in great force behind barricades, and had already dispersed a body of cavalry. It lacked but an hour of midnight when the Guard, under Colonel Stevens, took up its march from the City Hall, where it had been stationed by the authorities. A great mob followed it ; and at the corner of Spring and Sullivan Streets it received a galling fire of stones and other missiles, hurled from windows and housetops, which wounded many of the troops._ Clearing a path through the barricades, the regiment moved forward in column by division, at half distance, and drove the rioters to the intersection of Spring and Yarick Streets, where, halting, it formed square, dividing the mob suddenly in all directions, and so ending the affair. " The National Guard was charged," said Mayor Lawrence, in his message to the Common Council, " with the duty of removing the rioters from a section of the city where the most violent outrages had been committed, and, in the performance of this .service, while assailed by the missiles of the mob, evinced a forbearance commendable in the citizen, united with a determination which belongs to the character of the soldier."

In December, 1834, Colonel Stevens resigned his commission. Lieutenant-Colonel Smith was elected Colonel ; Major Catlin, Lieutenant-Colonel ; and Captain Roome, Major. The retirement of that able and accomplished officer was a matter of general regret. Many years later he was familiarly known as " the Father of the National Guard," — a title which he had fairly earned by constant devotion to its best interests. We shall in the sequel see that affection for the corps never ceased to animate the breast of Colonel Stevens, and that even during the war, as a member of the Veterans, he was active in its welfare. This estimable gentleman died in 1863.

The memories of the veteran members will go back to these years in many pleasing recollections. There were target excursions to Ponson's, and competitive drills, and a general spirit of joyous activity In the year 1835 the Order of Merit was established, and -competitive drills for its honors were instituted. In the first drill which took place the contest was chiefly between the Seventh Company, Captain Cairns, and the Eighth Company, under Lieutenant Shumway. The honors were carried off by the former. In the following year the contest was renewed, and again the leading rivals were the Seventh and Eighth Companies. But this time the judges awarded the palm to Shumway's company, — a result which so chagrined Captain Cairns that he withdrew from the regiment, taking with him a large part of his company. This led to such bitterness of feeling, that, finally, the Order of Merit was abolished altogether.

In the summer of 1837, Colonel Smith and Major Roome resigned their commissions. Lieutenant-Colonel Catlin was elected Colonel ; Captain Jones, Lieutenant- Colonel ; and Captain Burt, Major. In March, 1838, a troop of horse was organized and attached to the regiment.

It is worthy of note that at this period a movement was set on foot by the National Guard to obtain drill-rooms from the city corporation. This movement was finally successful in 1839, when the rooms over Centre Market were granted to the militia of New York for military purposes.

In March, 1839, Major Burt resigned his commission, and E. T. Backhouse was elected his successor. In the latter part of the year, Colonel Catlin resigned, and Lieutenant-Colonel Jones was elected Colonel ; Major Backhouse, Lieutenant-Colonel ; and Captain W R. Vermilye, Major. In May, 184:>>, Lieutenant-Colonel Backhouse resigned, and Major Vermilye was elected Lieutenant-Colonel, and Captain George G. Waters, Major. In April, 1844, Lieutenant-Colonel Termilye was elected Colonel; Major Waters, Lieutenant- Colonel ; and Captain Andrew A. Bremner was promoted to the majority. In May, 1845, Lieutenant-Colonel Waters resigned, and, in June, Major Bremner was promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy; In September, Captain Duryee, of the Second Company, was elected Major. Colonel Vermilye resigned in August ; and, in November, Lieutenant-Colonel Bremner was elected Colonel; Major Duryee, Lieutenant- Colonel ; and Adjutant Divver, Major."

And now we come to another great historic epoch in the annals of the regiment. On the 27th of July, 1847, Governor Young ordered the " Twenty-Seventh Regiment of Artillery (National Guard), under the command of Colonel Bremner, to be hereafter called and known as the Seventh Regiment New York State Militia."

In May, 1847, Major Divver resigned his commission, to sei've as an officer in the United States Army in Mexico. Captain A. B. Brinckerhoff took his place. In October, 1848, Colonel Bremner, an energetic, accomplished, and popular officer, resigned his commission. Lieutenant- Colonel Duryee was, in January, 1849, elected Colonel ; Major Brinckerhoff, Lieutenant-Colonel ; and Captain Morton, Major. Soon after, an engineer corps was organized, which subsequently formed the nucleus of a howitzer company, and, still later, of the Tenth (K) Company.

With this bald chronology let us take leave of the five-and-twenty years preceding 1849 ; for, though the annals of the regiment contain many interesting records of this period, we must forbear even the briefest mention of them. Dismissing these, therefore, we are brought at length to that important chapter in the history of the National Guard, — the Astor Place riots.

It does not come within the scope of the present work to enter with any fulness of detail into the story of this notable affair ; and, indeed, the general facts are too familiar to render this necessary. It is well known that the trouble originated chiefly with some friends of Mr. Forrest, the American tragedian, whose unfavorable reception in

England was partly attributed by tliem to the intrigue of Mr. Macready. In the winter of 1848-49, Mr. Macready made his farewell visit to the United States, and the friends of Mr. Forrest determined to seize on that occasion to avenge him. Macready's first engagement was tranquil enough ; but on the evening of the 7th of May, his first appearance in his second engagement at the Astor Place Opera House, he was driven from the stage by a mob. On the 10th another attempt was made to secure him a hearing, and it was this that precipitated the famous riot. On the evening in question, fully twenty thousand men and boys, the dregs of the city, gathered, by previous concert, around the theatre, armed with stones, sticks, and pistols. It so chanced that the pavement in Broadway had been raised for the purpose of repairing the sewers, and the round paving-stones furnished to the molt an arsenal of terrible ammunition. Three hundred police were driven back, after a gallant struggle to disperse them ; and at length Colonel Duryee, who had, in pursuance of General Sandford's orders, held the Seventh Regiment ready at Centre Market, was ordered up. At 9 p. m. the regiment arrived at Astor Place, preceded by the National Guard Troop and a company of cavalry. The mounted men, ten abreast, charged through the place from Broadway ; but their hordes, galled by the fire of the mob, became unmanageable, and they reached Third Avenue, having accomplished nothing. The Seventh Regiment then followed, in column of platoons, headed by Colonel Duryee, clearing a way to Third Avenue ; thence, in column of companies, clearing Eighth Street, and, finally, again moving through Broadway into Astor Place, and forming line in front of the theatre. The volleys of stones from the mob there became very severe ; but the regiment j preserved its magnificent discipline under the trying ordeal.

General Sandford, the division commander, gave orders to wheel half the regiment to the right and the other half to the left, in order to divide and drive the mob ; but the attempt was unsuccessful, and many officers and men, including Generals Sandford and Hall, Colonel Duryee, and Captains Shumway and Pond, were wounded. An effort to use the bayonet was also unsuccessful, the mob crowding so as not to allow free formation or use of the pieces. At length the authority to fire, which General Hall had long been unsuccessfully begging of the Mayor, was given by Sheriff Westervelt, after a final warning to the mob by Eecorder Tallmadge. The first volley was purposely aimed high ; the second was point-blank, and was delivered with terrible effect ; and, pressing hard on the flying mob, the troops soon cleared Astor Place of rioters. In La Fayette Place and Eighth Street the leaders rallied the rabble once more, and returned to the attack ; but a third volley scattered them completely, and ended the Astor Place riot.

'The next day the city was very disorderly, but a large military and police force kej:>t down all dangerous disturbance. The Seventh was on duty the three days following, but the lesson it had already given the mob proved effect ual. Twenty of the rioters were thought to be killed or mortally wounded, and fifty or sixty were more or less severely wounded ; of the regiment, over one hundred and fifty officers and men were seriously injured, of whom seventy were carried to their homes. All, however, recovered, and to this day many show the honorable wounds of Astor Place.

From that eventful night dates, perhaps, the civic popularity and national prestige of the Seventh Regiment. Its courage, promptness, discipline, and steadiness were long: the theme of conversation, and no honors of city or citizens were thought too high to be paid to these trustworthy guardians of law and order. The Arsenal riots in 1834 the Abolition riots in the same year, the stevedore riots of