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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



MILITARY HISTOIiy-(Continued). 



Steuben in the War of the Rebellion — (Continued). 



THE ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH REGIMENT. 



This regiment was organized during the dark hours of 

 1862, when the novelty of military life had ceased, and 

 fierce war with all its horrors stood out in awful vision be- 

 fore the people of this country. The disastrous battles of 

 1861, and the unsuccessful Peninsula campaign of the Array 

 of the Potomac, had cast a gloom over the North, and 

 served to add additional vigor to the already victorious 

 arms of the Confederacy. It was during this hour, when 

 the pall of despondency seemed to be settling down upon 

 the North, that President Lincoln issued a call, July 1, for 

 three hundred thousand more men. 



Gen. A. S. Diven was at that time member of Congress 

 from the Twenty-seventh District. Near midnight, on one 

 sultry summer night in July, he was called upon at his 

 residence in Washington by Gen. Van Yalkenburgh, of 

 Steuben, and Mr. Pomeroy, of Auburn, both members of 

 Congress from New York, with the message that Secretary 

 Seward wished to see him immediately. He immediately 

 answered the summons, and the secretary, addressing him 

 abruptly, said, " Will you go home and raise a regiment in 

 your district? Pomeroy is going. Van Yalkenburgh is 

 going, and you must go. I mean to invite every member 

 of Congress to do so, and thus raise regiments by districts." 

 Gen. Diven was prompt to answer " yes," and on the fol- 

 lowing mofning left Washington for Elmira. Although at 

 first meeting with much discouragement, able men soon 

 rallied to his support. It is said of Rev. Thomas K. 

 Beecher that he laid aside his clerical duties, and with 

 Gen. Diven traversed Schuyler, Chemung, Steuben, and 

 Allegany Counties, holding two meetings every day. 



Recruiting was rapid. The first company was mustered 

 into the United States service in July, and on the evening 

 of August 13 the 107th Regiment N^w York State Vol- 

 unteers left Elmira en route to Washington. 



The regiment was mustered into the service from July 

 31 to August 31, 1862. It was the first regiment organ- 

 ized under the call for the three hundred thousand men, 

 and received a banner from the State in recognition of that 

 fact. 



The following were the field and staff" officers : Colonel, 

 Robert B. Van Yalkenburgh ; Lieutenant-Colonel, Alexan- 

 der S. Diven ; Major, Gabriel L. Smith ; x\djutant, Hull 

 Fanton ; Quartermaster, E. P. Graves ; Quartermaster- 

 Sergeant, L. B. Chidsay ; Chaplain, Ezra F. Crane ; Sur- 

 geon, Patrick H. Flood ; Assistant Surgeon, James D. 

 Hewitt; Sergeant- Major, John R. Lindsay; Commissary- 

 Sergeant, Henry Inscho ; Hospital Steward, John M. Flood. 



Five companies of this regiment were raised in the fol- 

 lowing towns of Steuben County : Company C at Painted 

 Post, Company F at Addison, Company G at Bath, Com- 

 pany I at Corning, and Company K at Hornellsville. The 

 companies of the regiment were organized as follows : 



Company A. — Captain, Ezra F. Crane; First Lieutenant, 

 Melville C. Wilkinson ; Second Lieutenant, John M. Losie. 



Company B. — Captain, Lathrop Baldwin ; First Lieu- 

 tenant, Martin Y. B. Bachman ; Second Lieutenant, George 

 Swain. 



Company C. — Captain, William F. Fox; First Lieu- 

 tenant, Charles J. Fox ; Second Lieutenant, Irving Bron- 

 son. 



Company D. — Captain, Hector M. Stocum ; First Lieu- 

 tenant, Samuel A. Benedict ; Second Lieutenant, Odell D. 

 Reynolds. 



Company E. — Captain, William L. Morgan ; First Lieu- 

 tenant, William L. Morgan, Jr. ; Second Lieutenant, Har- 

 low Atwood. 



Company F. — Captain, James H Miles ; First Lieuten- 

 ant, J. Milton Roe ; Second Lieutenant, John F. Knox. 



Company G. — Captain, John J. Lamon ; First Lieuten- 

 ant, G. H. Brigham ; Second Lieutenant, Ezra Gleason. 



Company H. — Captain, Erastus C. Clark ; First Lieu- 

 tenant, Henry D. Donnelly ; Second Lieutenant, Lewis 0. 

 Sayler. 



Company I. — Captain, Newton T. Colby ; First Lieu- 

 tenant, Benjamin C. Wilson; Second Lieutenant, Nathaniel 

 E. Rutter. 



Company K. — Captain, Allen N. Sill ; First Lieutenant, 

 John M. Goodrich ; Second Lieutenant, Alonzo B. Howard. 



On the 15th the regiment arrived at Washington, and 

 after a review by President Lincoln went into camp on Ar- 

 lington Heights, where, August 19, they were first in bat- 

 talion drill. August 22 marching orders were received, 

 and on the following day the regiment moved to Fort Lyon, 

 near Alexandria, Ya. 



The 107th was brigaded Sept. 1, 1862, with the 35th 

 Massachusetts and two Pennsylvania regiments, forming 

 the 5th Brigade of Whipple's Division, Reserve Corps, 

 Colonel Yan Yalkenburgh commanding. 



Sept. 6 orders were received to join Gen. McClellan's 

 army, moving northward to repel Gen. Lee's invasion of 

 Maryland, and at seven p.m. they were in line of march. 



In speaking of this movement Gen. Diven said, " How 

 glorious the August moon looked down upon us as we broke 

 camp at Arlington, and with songs of triumph crossed the 

 Potomac to join the army for the defense of Washington ! 

 How from our camp at Frederick City we saw the smoke 

 of battle and heard the roar of dread artillery, and marked 

 the strife in which we were soon to mingle ! how after a 

 night of fatiguing march we encamped at daybreak on the 

 scene of an ensanguined battle of a day before ! how all day 

 with cautious march we advanced in the track of the brave 

 victors of South Mountain I how eagerly we burned to be 

 sharers in the strife that was making heroes of our friends 

 in other regiments ! how we envied the glory that sur- 

 rounded the 23d !" Ah ! this gallant regiment had not 

 long to wait. The night of the 17th of September they 

 lay on their arms, and ere the " gray-eyed morn smiled on 

 the frowning night" was heard the rattle of musketry, and 

 the ominous* booming of artillery, reverberated over the 

 army, told only too well that the battle of Antietam had 

 opened. As Gen. Diven remarked in an address delivered 

 at the regimental association in 1873, " Comrades, you re- 

 member the rest of that day." 



Yes, the surviving members of the 107th will not soon 



