134 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



CHAPTER XXYII. 



MILITARY HISTORY-(Contmued). 

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



THE ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-NINTH REGIMENT. 



This regiment was organized in September, 1864. Four 

 of its companies were raised in Steuben County, viz., Com- 

 panies A, C, G, and H ; the remaining six companies were 

 raised in the counties of Allegany, Oswego, Madison, and 

 Oneida. Of the field and staff officers the following were 

 from this county : Colonel, William W. Hayt, Corning ; 

 Quartermaster, J. L. Brown, Corning ; Captain John 

 Stocum, Company A, Bath ; First Lieutenant B. N. Ben- 

 nett, Company A, ; Second Lieutenant John W. 



Brown, Company A, Wheeler. Captain Burrage Rice, 

 Company C, Bath ; First Lieutenant D wight Warren, 

 Company C, Bath ; Second Lieutenant Mortimer W. 

 Reed, Company C, Urbana. Captain William Washburn, 

 Company G, Cohocton; First Lieutenant Edwin A. Draper, 

 Company G, Cohocton. Captain Nathan Crosby, Company 

 H, Bath ; First Lieutenant Hiram F. Scofield, Company 



H, ; Second Lieutenant L. G. Rutherford, Company 



U, Bath. 



Company A of this regiment was raised in the town of 

 Bath, Steuben Co., by Capt. John Stocum. When this 

 popular and well-tried officer erected his little tent on the 

 Pulteney Square, in the village, volunteers Hocked to him. 

 The result is thus stated in one of the village papers : 

 " Single-handed and alone, in nine days he had a full com- 

 pany raised, equipped, and mustered into the service. A 

 better one it would be hard to find, as the military record 

 shows. At the election of its officers, the company unani- 

 mously chose for first lieutenant Benjamin N. Bennett, 

 and for second lieutenant, John W. Brown." 



Capt. Stocum was born in Pulteney, April 27, 1825, and 

 at an early age came to Bath a poor orphan boy. By his 

 industry and good character he won a position of high 

 respectability among his fellow-citizens. Such was the con- 

 fidence the young men had in him that, in 1861, when it 

 was announced that he was about to raise a battery, in two 

 weeks his company was full. He was appointed captain, 

 and, with his command (Battery E, 1st New York Light 

 Artillery), was ordered to the front. After five months' 

 service Battery E was divided up and put into other bat- 

 teries. 



Returning home in 1862, when there was another call 

 for men, Capt. Stocum commenced recruiting Company F 

 of the 161st Regiment, and was soon with his full command 

 at Elmira. A severe epidemic breaking out among his 

 troops, numbers died, and he was prostrated with fever 

 three months. Meanwhile his regiment having been or- 

 dered to the Department of the Gulf, when he had suffi- 

 ciently recovered he rejoined them, and rendezvoused at 

 Baton Rouge, in time to participate in the campaign against 

 Port Hudson. Feeble health compelled him soon after to 

 resign and return home. 



On the 3d of September, 1864, he commenced raising his 

 third and last company, for the war, with which he served, 

 — often placed in higher commands, — till the final over- 



throw of the Rebellion, when he brought his company back 

 with the loss of only seven, and marched them into the vil- 

 lage square at Bath, where he bade them farewell. 



Company C of the 189th was enlisted in August, 1864, 

 in Wheeler, Bath, Kanona, Avoca, and Urbana, by Capt. 

 Burrage Rice, assisted by Lieuts. Robison and Warren. 

 Mustered and clothed by Sept. 13, it was at first assigned 

 to the 175th New York, but a revocation of that assign- 

 ment was secured by Captain Rice, at Albany, and it was 

 afterwards connected with the 189th Regiment. 



Capt. Rice was born in Bath in 1829, and enlisted under 

 the first calls of the President for volunteers at the breaking 

 out of the war, as a private in the 1st Vermont Regiment. 



He took an active part in the battle of Big Bethel, in 

 which his regiment distinguished itself for bravery, and was 

 mustered out with it at the expiration of its term of service. 

 Another regiment being immediately formed, he was chosen 

 captain of one of its companies, but relinquished the posi- 

 tion at the urgent appeal of his family and friends, and 

 accepted the office of under-sheriff in Bath, the duties of 

 which he discharged for over two years. W^hile captain of 

 the 189th, Nov. 4, 1864, he was promoted to brigade in- 

 spector on the staff of Brig.-Gen. Gregory, of the 2d Bri- 

 gade, to which the 189th belonged, a position he held with 

 great credit till Jan. 11, 1865, when he was shot dead by 

 ambushed guerillas, who attacked a foraging party under 

 his command. His body was embalmed and sent to Bath, 

 and buried with Masonic honors Jan. 19, 1865. 



Capt. Silas W. Robison was born in Hornellsville, where 

 he lived till his seventeenth year, when he went to Ham- 

 mondsport to reside with his sister. He was one of the first 

 volunteers who, in 1861, shouldered the musket in the de- 

 fense of the Union. Entering Company I, 34th New 

 York, as a private, he served two years faithfully, being 

 promoted to sergeant, and then to orderly, and discharged 

 with his regiment July, 1863. He returned to Hammonds- 

 port and followed farming till he entered the service again as 

 first lieutenant of Company C, of the 189th Regiment, and 

 had command of the company after Capt. Rice's promotion, 

 and was commissioned captain in his place upon the death 

 of that accomplished officer. 



Lieut. D wight Warren was born in Bath, March 21, 

 1831. When the war broke out he was engaged in farming. 

 He sold his farm, and Aug. 19, 1862, enlisted as a private 

 in Company F of the 161st New York. He was promoted 

 to orderly-sergeant Oct. 27. On account of an attack of 

 typhoid fever, he was not able to join his regiment, which 

 had sailed with Banks' expedition, till the 20th of February. 

 He served with General Banks in the Louisiana campaigns, 

 and after one year was discharged on account of sickness, 

 and returned home. In the fall of 1864 he assisted Capt. 

 Burrage Rice in raising Company C, of which he was 

 elected second lieutenant, and on the death of the captain 

 was promoted to the first lieutenancy. 



Second Lieutenant Mortimer W. Read was born in Urbana, 

 March 16, 1841, and was brought up a farmer, which oc- 

 cupation he followed till the war broke out, when he vol- 

 unteered for two years in Company A, of the 23d New 

 York, served out his time, and was honorably discharged 

 with his regiuient, May 26, 1863. He enlisted again under 



