On GETTYSBURG -- The Turner Movie

The four-hour+ Turner classic movie GETTYSBURG was viewed again two days ago.  In the late afternoon that day July 2, 1863, Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain's 20th Maine Regiment made their successful downhill bayonet charge off Little Roundtop just outside Gettysburg, PA.  The 20th Maine's exploits that day crushed a nearly successful left flank attack by rebel army units on the Union line.  And it was on this day July 4, 1863, that Union Commanding General George Meade allowed the rebel troops under Confederated States of America (CSA) General Robert E. Lee to complete their escape across the Potomac River back into the safety of their home ground in Virginia.  A supermajority of folks who study the American Civil War perhaps agree that General U.S. Grant would have followed the retreating rebel forces to re-engage them -- and perhaps ending that bloodiest of all American wars then in that hot summer of 1863.  How many thousands of casualties would General Grant's leadership have saved?         

General Robert E. Lee in no way accepted the premise that the Confederate Rebellion was lost following those bloody first three days in July 1863 at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania -- one hundred and sixty years past.  More Civil War causalities occurred following the Battle of Gettysburg than were suffered before this American Civil War fight.  General Lee does not appear to be a broken man as he writes this August 1863 letter from Richmond to his second-in-command top general and his most trusted  right-hand man Lieutenant General James Longstreet:

"GENERAL, I have wished for several days past to return to the army, but have been detained by the President. He will not listen to my proposition to leave to-morrow. I hope you will use every exertion to prepare the army for offensive operations, and improve the condition of our men and animals. I can see nothing better to be done than to endeavor to bring General Meade out and use our efforts to crush his army while in its present condition."

Very respectfully and truly yours,

R. E. LEE
General.

Our Distant Cousin Private Jay Cady Stanton --RIP

 

Remembering our distant cousin and the American Civil War Veteran, Private Jay Cady Stanton, late of Middleburgh, Schoharie County, New York. On 15 Oct 1861, aged 33 Jay Stanton enlisted as a private soldier in the union military with the New York State Volunteers, Captain Swan's Company H, 76th Infantry Regiment. As a direct-combat infantry union soldier (not serving "in-the-rear-with-the-gear"), Jay was mortally wounded in action (MWIA) as his unit engaged against rebel forces during the Battle of Gainsville, Virginia, on 28 August 1862.  Private Jay Cady Stanton is interred at his hometown's Middleburgh Cemetery.  RIP, your gallant services should long be remembered. 

 

“Killer Angels” and “Gettysburg” Fiction and Myths

Southern Ridge of Little Round Top
The novel “Killer Angels” and the related movie “Gettysburg” offer several heroic acts intended to demonstrate typical examples of warrior action during the Rebellion. The acts cited in these works are at times embellished historical fiction meant to suggest how it may have been across the general American Civil War combatant population. The movie "Gettysburg" selects one significant combat event as a representative action on each of three days July 1-3, 1863 during The Battle of Gettysburg:

· Day One, July 1st, 1863 - Union General John Buford’s courageous action to stand-and-fight a greatly superior Confederate Force with his dismounted cavalry,
· Day Two, July 2nd, 1863 - The Union defense of Little Round Top by the 20th Maine Infantry Regiment, and,
· Day Three, July 3rd, 1863 - Confederate General George Pickett’s Charge against the center of Union position on Cemetery Ridge.

One of the distressing late Twentieth Century revisions in American Civil War history is the extraordinary recognition now bestowed on Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain and the honorable 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment regarding the Union defense of Little Round Top. This recent revisionist history is in no small part rooted in Michael Shaara’s novel and in Ted Turner’s movie production, perhaps an unintended consequence of using singular exploits to represent typical action over the combatant general population. Some historians suggest that the pivotal Battle of Gettysburg might have been won by the Confederacy if the Rebels had taken Little Round Top in the late afternoon of July 2nd. Other historians have expressed a certain amount of skepticism concerning Colonel Chamberlain’s extraordinary contribution to the defense of Little Round Top – and to the larger question regarding the far-reaching importance of Little Round Top to the outcome at Gettysburg and to the Civil War. This analysis is not intended to diminish the heroic action of the valiant 20th Maine or their fascinating commander Joshua L. Chamberlain. Rather, the goal here is to cite and exalt the heroism of other military officers and men who are now nearly forgotten and did not survive their July 2, 1863 struggle on that rocky hill.

Had Confederate troops of the gallant Texas 4th and Texas 5th Infantry Regiments (i.e., General John Hood’s famed Texas Brigade) broken-through to the summit of Little Round Top on the Union left – as they almost did in the afternoon of the second day – Little Round Top would near certainly have been captured by the Rebel troops.
It was West Point graduate Colonel Patrick Henry O'Rorke and his 500 courageous Monroe County soldiers of the noble 140th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment who joined to the right of the nearly beaten 16th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment, filling weakened gaps in a near broken Union line and to eventually turn-back that bold assault on Little Round Top by the Texas Brigade. It is important to note that this later afternoon struggle between the Union 140thNY & 16thMI Regiments and the Texas Brigade took place some amount of time (perhaps more than a half-hour) before General Hood’s 15th Alabama Regiment engaged Colonel Chamberlain’s 20th Maine Regiment. A successful Texas Brigade would have held the high ground atop Little Round Top and to the right of Harvard graduate Colonel Strong Vincent’s undermanned 3rd Brigade - the brigade that included the 20th Maine troops. Coupled with General Hood’s 15th Alabama uphill attack on the Union extreme left flank – the small Union 3rd Brigade, the 20th Maine and Colonel Chamberlain likely would have been crushed – sandwiched between Confederate Forces from both high right and low left by General Hood’s Rebels. No amount of 20th Maine heroics would make much difference had the gallant Texas Brigade secured the high ground summit of Little Round Top. This critical afternoon engagement, but a subset of July 2nd fighting, is not reported in the book “Killer Angels” or presented in the movie “Gettysburg.”  So why do these works of historical fiction overlook the heroism of these two young Colonels O'Rorke and Vincent? No doubt this is because Commander of 140th New York Colonel Patrick Henry O’Rorke was killed in action in the afternoon struggle against the Texas Brigade. And after issuing battle orders to Colonel Chamberlain, the Union 3rd Brigade Commander Colonel Strong Vincent was mortally-wounded-in-action just moments before Colonel O’Rorke’s combat death – Colonel Vincent then departing this life five days later. Both of these articulate Union officers were aged but 26-years when killed at Gettysburg. Whereas, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain survived for more than a half-century following the Battle of Gettysburg to write, speak, and promote his personal wartime endeavors – and those courageous acts of his 20th Maine Regiment. In fact, the many post-war writings of General Joshua L. Chamberlain and those of Confederate Corps Commander General James Longstreet significantly influenced Shaara’s book and Turner’s movie. Click here to review my July 2009 posting relating to the life and times of Patrick Henry O’Rorke.

Furthermore, if the Confederate rebels had captured Little Round Top, they would likely have had a clear shot to Union supply lines and to the rear of many Union forces – together with a more direct road to Washington. At a minimum, Confederate Forces would have been better positioned on July 3rd to assist with General George Pickett’s Charge and with General J.E.B. Stewart’s unsuccessful cavalry attack on the Union rear and to those important Union supplies. Many significant historians speculate that another Union defeat at Gettysburg might have won the Rebellion for the Confederacy. This logic follows that a Union loss on Little Round Top would directly lead to a Union loss at the Battle of Gettysburg – and the Union defeat at Gettysburg would lead to Federal capitulation in the American Civil War and victory for the Confederate States. For me, it seems there are too many "ifs" presented by this argument – but plausibly – it just might have happened. I'm not at all sure that a victorious Confederacy in the War of the Rebellion would have been all that bad for the Greater North American population, particularly in view of the direction America presently tends. Many northern-region residents of North America might perhaps find life more fit for human habitation somewhere in the Confederate States Of America - perhaps bathing in far less federalism.

A closing observation follows: CSA Commanding General Robert E. Lee in no way accepted the premise that the Confederate Rebellion was lost following those three days in early July 1863 at Gettysburg. More Civil War causalities occurred following the Battle of Gettysburg than were suffered before the Gettysburg battle. General Lee does not appear to be a broken man as he writes this August 1863 letter from Richmond to his second-in-command & right-hand man Lieutenant-General James Longstreet:

GENERAL, I have wished for several days past to return to the army, but have been detained by the President. He will not listen to my proposition to leave to-morrow. I hope you will use every exertion to prepare the army for offensive operations, and improve the condition of our men and animals. I can see nothing better to be done than to endeavor to bring General Meade out and use our efforts to crush his army while in its present condition.

Very respectfully and truly yours,

R. E. LEE
General.

References cited:

Michael Shaara, “The Killer Angels” , Random House Inc., New York. 1975.

Ronald F. Maxwell, screenwriter & director of movie “Gettysburg”, Turner Pitchers Inc., Atlanta. 1993. Included on this DVD are valuable comments by the noted Civil War historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author James M. McPherson and beneficial comments by Craig L. Symonds, professor emeritus at the U.S. Naval Academy and noted military historian.

An example of numerous website references:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gettysburg

A Stanton Family Combat Death 158 Years Past

   

Remembering today the loss of a military hero and gallant American Civil War Veteran, our distant cousin Private Jay Cady Stanton. Jay was born March 23, 1828, in Middleburgh, Schoharie County, New York, the third son of eleven children to the prominent Middleburgh farm family of Mr. Freeman and Mrs. Maria (Lawyer) Stanton. Jay apparently never found the right lady to marry.

On October 15, 1861, Jay was moved to answer President Lincoln's call for Civil War federal military volunteers to help suppress the expanding southern state's rebellion. The aged 31 Jay Stanton enlisted in the U.S. Army, with Captain A.L. Swan's Company H, 76th Infantry Regiment of the New York State Volunteers. The 76^th New York is also remembered as the Otsego County Regiment, the Cherry Valley Regiment, or the Cortland Regiment, and was officially mustered into federal service on January 16, 1862. The regiment was first commanded by Colonel Nelson W. Green of Cortland, New York.

As a union combat infantryman, Private Jay Stanton was mortally-wounded-in-action (MWIA) on August 28, 1862, when his unit engaged rebel forces during the Battle of Gainsville, Virginia. The 76^th New York Regiment was then assigned to the 2^nd Brigade, 1^st Division, 1^st Corps, Army of the Potomac. The Gainsville fighting is the leading-edge action of the poor union generalship (General Pope's Campaign) and significant rebel victory during the larger Second Battle of Bull Run fiasco.

Jay died shortly after that August 28^th day in a Union field hospital. It was not uncommon for MWIA or KIA Civil War soldiers to be buried in shallow graves near locations where they fell. Dealing with deceased soldiers after one of these Civil War battles had to be tragically overwhelming -- and national cemeteries were only an afterthought early in that war. But Jay's remains were brought home by his loving family and interred in September 1862 at his hometown Middleburgh Cemetery, Middleburgh, New York, USA.

Rest In Peace Private Jay Cady Stanton,

New York State Volunteers.

**** The Biggest Disingenuous Statement ****

OPEN LETTER TO BRET BAIER OF FOX NEWS,  FAKE NEWS OPINION:
The "new" ununited people of the United States.

Watching you (et al) on FOX NEWS, I'm wondering what's up with the frequent drum beat concerning our presently divided country – the nebulous, near constant hand-wringing? Historically, we "Americans" – whether as British colonial subjects, or as USA citizen-residents before the American Civil War, and certainly our post American Civil War brothers and sisters who guided us to present days are a divided people. We are now and always have been a right-center-left politically divided people, and some folks have been and are ready to fight.

Those 1770-era rebels (George Washington, Paul Revere, Daniel Morgan and the bands of insurgents they influenced and commanded) likely represented less than a 30% minority of then North American British colonial general population; whereas, more than 20% of these British colonists – the loyalists and Tories – remained supportive of King George, desiring continued allegiance to their roots and the British Crown. And the loyalist and Tories were treated so well by resident rebels during and following the American Revolution by life, liberty, and personal property seizures.  I guess drawn-quartered-and-hung or tar-and-feathers on loyalist humans is not cruel. Indeed, perhaps a majority of people living on present USA lands had no strong opinion on rebellion or British loyalty. These folks simply wanted to be left alone – to proceed with happiness, liberty, and a better life – concerned more in making an acceptable living and protecting their family and property.

In the immediate post Revolutionary War period, thousands of new rebels called “Shaysites” participated in an armed revolt called Shays' Rebellion, with intentions to overthrow unacceptable government, unfair taxation, and general bad conduct of a fledgling United States federal government. General Washington and other prominent New Englanders were called up to assist in putting down Daniel Shays' Rebellion.  Look it up.

Do this: Execute a Google search on “Whiskey Rebellion” – a significant 1791 armed taxation revolt eventually put down under the leadership of President George Washington.

Why was the first-term presidency of Thomas Jefferson decided in the U.S. House of Representatives? Seems there was a tiny bit of political division between Americans in that year 1800.

And in 1804, the Alexander Hamilton-Aaron Burr political factions were vastly united, were they not? An ongoing “civil conversation” decided by a single pistol shot in an illegal duel – where is this incorrect? A sitting Vice President of the United States Burr accused of murder – nothing to see, not a bit of political division discovered here.

The General Andrew Jackson presidency was certainly a period that marshaled USA political calm and unity. Ha! Native Americans might disagree.

Those years a decade or two before the American Civil War period presented citizens with strongly united leadership – vast unity – right! Then the election of President Lincoln and those many good and happy years in a “united USA” following 1860.  Move on, nothing to see here either.

Correct me:  We the USA people were uniformly united in the several years before and during the two world wars, Korea, Vietnam – and even the seemingly endless conflicts underway today. Please start telling the truth as it really is, and generally has been throughout colonial and U.S. American history. Perhaps the most remarkable USA general population characteristic is rather constant and strong division among our peoples. For crying out loud, confront untrue positions by such whining commentator opinion, the pseudo experts on FOX NEWS (and the unwatchable dishonest major media) who claim present USA political division is somehow an unknown anomaly. Bret, perhaps you would be so kind to pass these truths to some of your more vocal, untruthful, irresponsible, and demonstrably misleading colleagues (that teller of liberal tales Shepard Smith to name just one).

Best regards,

Dave Paul

German Flatts, Herkimer County, NY  

Just how much of a donkey's behind can Chucky Schumer be anyway?

Charles E. "Chuck" Schumer, 

the liberal Democrat U.S. Senator from New York.

Chuck Schumer's rambling words could make any self-respecting donkey regurgitate.  Wondering if anyone else noted the grand irony exposed in Schumer's bit part at President Trump's First Inauguration Ceremony by invoking words in the private letter of Major Sullivan Ballou, late of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of Rhode Island Volunteers, as Major Ballou wrote his beloved wife Sarah. The hero Major Ballou was mortally-wounded-in-action on July 21, 1861 a few days after penning his heartfelt and patriotic personal letter, a casualty during the American Civil War First Battle of Bull Run (a/k/a the Battle of First Manassas).

Like many liberal Democrats during the American Civil War years, those period low-life seditious war-resistor northern Democrats forever properly labeled "Copperheads" wanted the union restored to pre-war status under historic slavery rights.  Seems liberalism and slavery comport as well then as now.  Charles Schumer's liberal political bent agrees well with Civil War era liberal Democrats -- The Copperheads.

Leftist Copperheads encouraged Union soldier desertions, formed conspiracies, took blood money from southern loyalist sympathizers, and openly resisted the draft -- collectively, these acts should have led to sedition convictions.  Mr. Schumer's liberal political views would almost certainly be rejected by the war hero Major Sullivan Ballou. This leftist New York senator is now and most certainly would have been unfit to wipe the sweat from the patriot Major Sullivan Ballou's brow.

Reference:

Click Copperheads to better understand Civil War liberal Democrat ideas and purpose.

Click Major Ballou  to learn more of the Civil War hero Major Sullivan Ballou.

           

Civil War Veteran Private Edwin H. Sheldon

Edwin H. Sheldon is a distant second or third cousin. His parents are most likely our first cousin Ephraim Sheldon (1783-1868) and his second wife Lydia Mills Sheldon (d. 1871). Alternatively, Edwin's parents are our second cousin Joseph D. Sheldon and his wife Harriet Jane Draper Sheldon (Joseph D. Sheldon is son of the aforementioned Ephraim Sheldon). In any case, Edwin H. Sheldon, who died at age 26 years in August 1867, is either the son or grandson of our first cousin Ephraim Sheldon (1783-1868). Regardless of the truth in this matter, it is a fact that nearly forty-percent of Edwin's young adult life was spent in wartime military uniformed service to his county. Our two year investigation thus far yields insufficient primary documents found to certify Edwin H. Sheldon's lineage.

Edwin H. Sheldon is the same Edwin H. Sheldon cited in National Park Service records as the Civil War Veteran of Company I, 2nd Regiment, U.S. Cavalry (Regular Army), who served three years as an enlisted cavalry trooper and private soldier in the many American Civil War union campaigns in and around Virginia and under the aggressive and gallant cavalry leader General Philip H. Sheridan. One-hundred percent confirmation is now unlikely since the U.S. Army did not create Compiled Military Service Records (CMSR) for Civil War Regular Army soldiers, as created for Civil War State Volunteers.  This fact discovered in a letter dated July 14, 2016 from National Archives Records Administration (NARA) in Washington, D.C.  Attempts to secure Edwin's military records from the NARA now seems impossible, since U.S. Army service records on Regular Soldiers were apparently and rather unbelievably never created. From official records “Register of Enlistments – U.S. Army – 1798-1914” – Private Edwin H. Sheldon enlisted for a three year stint on 5 September 1861 in the regular Army Cavalry and was Honorably Discharged at termination of enlistment 5 September 1864 at Summit Point, Virginia. In less than three years from military discharge Edwin was dead, aged 26 years. Unknown is if Edwin's untimely death was related to military service wounds or sickness.  He is interred in the Sheldon Family Plot at the presently inactive Betty Brook Road Cemetery, Town of Kortright, Delaware County, New York. Edwin's federal-furnished Military Veteran gravestone is inscribed as follows:

“EDWIN H. SHELDON,

Served 3 years in the late war

under Gen. Sheridan,

DIED AUG., 22, 1867

AGED

26 YEARS.”

Last year Edwin's monument was discovered dislodged from its base as indicated in the photo below:

  

It was resolved to reset the monument, but events prevented doing this work last year.  Necessary research proved there is an easement in the deed of the local surrounding landowner that sets aside the cemetery as public lands, and that the outer section of the property driveway is declared a public right-of-way for visitor access to the small cemetery.  Earlier this year verbal permission was granted by Kortright Town Supervisor Mr. George Haynes to do monument repairs. The reset task was completed in May 2016.  

Repair materials include: 2 bags of Quikrete ready cement, two new anchor bolts, a tube of construction adhesive, 2 landscape tiles, and a half cu. ft. bag of white marble landscape chips.  A new Grand Army of the Republic (GAR Veteran) grave marker and flag holder was added. A quantity of form and shoring lumber is also necessary providing sufficient monument stability for about 10 days concrete set and cure period.  

A final photo of the monument reset project appears below:

Thank you Private Edwin H. Sheldon for those gallant and courageous U.S. Army Cavalry services rendered in support of that great wartime effort to preserve the union. 

  

   

Corporal William Moegling Awarded A Presidential Memorial Certificate

 

 

General Ulysses S. Grant was then President of the United States when American Civil War Veteran Corporal William Moegling, late of the 97^th Infantry Regiment of New York State Volunteers died, 23 November 1869. An unsolicited Presidential Memorial Certificate was received last Saturday regarding the military service of our Great Great Grandfather William Moegling. Receipt of this Presidential Memorial Certificate is strongly appreciated. Certificate production must be an automatic process initiated by the U.S. Veterans Administration when a federal memorial headstone is processed, approved and presented. The Memorial Certificate is signed by President Barack Obama by facsimile, unstated but probably on behalf of the late American President and Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant. Our family extends very sincere thanks for this very fine gesture and gratefully accept the Presidential Memorial Certificate on behalf of our late Great-Great Grandfather William Moegling.

 

Remembered Among His Comrades At Last

 

 

 

 

Section 42 is the original Civil War Veteran burial ground – Forest Hill Cemetery, Oneida Street, Utica, NY. German emigrant Corporal Wilhelm "William" Moegling had no gravestone. If a gravestone did sometime exist following his untimely 1869 death, it was probably a wooden grave marker as many there were, destroyed or weathered by the ravages of time or perhaps vandalized at his first burial site in Utica's single municipal internment ground at Potter Street Cemetery, then located at Water and Potter Streets in downtown Utica. Potter Street Cemetery was totally exhumed and removed in late 1916 by City of Utica administrators, as permitted under a May 1916 Act of New York State Legislature. We know from local period newspaper reports that many unclaimed grave-markers were removed and likely destroyed by city-contracted cemetery sexton Mr. Henry Hartman in June 1917.  This unclaimed monument removal followed the mass cemetery exhumations at Potter Street Cemetery completed in late December 1916. A large percentage of the skeletons removed Potter Street Cemetery were re-interred in a presently unmarked mass grave at Forest Hill Cemetery, where over eighty percent of these skeletons then classified as unidentified.  The remains of Corporal Moegling are certainly one of these "unknown" persons.  As a U.S. Army Veteran of two U.S. wars, Corporal William Moegling rates a memorial headstone. And in early 2015 this memorial headstone was furnished by the fine people at the Memorial Programs Office of the U.S. Veterans Administration to honor Corporal Moegling's memory.  Perhaps the bones of as many as 10,000 early Utica residents were reinterred in this aforementioned unmarked mass grave at Forest Hill Cemetery.  This mass grave, otherwise known as Section 58B, is located about 250 yards southeast of the site where Corporal Moegling's Memorial Headstone is now installed -- honored here at last among his Civil War comrades at the Forest Hill Cemetery Section 42.    

 

 

 

The bright white headstone just to the right side of Section 42 Flag Pole is the Memorial Headstone of Corporal William Moegling, late of Company H, 97th Infantry Regiment of New York State Volunteers (a/k/a “The Conkling Rifles” or “The Third Oneida”), an American Civil War Union Fighting Unit directly engaged at many Civil War battles including, but not limited to: The Second Battle of Bull Run, The Battle of Antietam and The Battle of First Fredericksburg.

Corporal William Moegling was here with his regiment:  Click The Battle of Antietam 



When Did The Civil War End?

 

In April 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee was Commanding General, Army of Northern Virginia and General-In-Chief of the Armies. General Lee was not supreme military officer of The Confederate States of America, a position equivalent today being Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. President Jefferson Davis was Commander-In-Chief of ALL Confederate military forces, a supreme military command position Davis never relinquished. More simply put, on April 9, 1865, when Rebel General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, that tragic and costly American Civil War was not ended.  The fighting continued.

 

The Confederacy had other armies with other general officer commanders. And periodic battles and skirmishes continued between Yankees and Rebels. For example, take a quick look at the engagement in Texas at the Battle of Palmito Ranch, May 12-13, 1865, where more than 125 United States citizens became causalities. See reference:  Battle of Palmito Ranch

 

This date might better express the end of the American Civil War. On June 2, 1865 Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, Commander of Confederate Forces west of the Mississippi, signs the surrender agreement offered by Federal negotiators. General Smith’s surrender marks disestablishment of the last recognized Confederate army, thus bringing a formal end to the historical most bloody and destructive four+ years in United States history.  Now the enlisted cannon fodder can finally go home.  But even then, some minor skirmishes continue where men and animals became casualties of this divided conflict of unspeakable horror. If the American Civil War was ended April 9, 1865 with General Lee's surrender, then why was it necessary in early June 1865 for another surrender agreement by Confederate General Smith?

 

A Request For Genealogical Help

Please refer to my "Corporal Wilhelm 'William' Moegling" blog post made yesterday.

Click Here to review this posting.



"BOXES OF BONES"

So here is my thought and request for help this day. Will somebody – anyone at all – please come forward with significant key facts showing that one of these exhumed “Boxes Of Bones” on display for a Utica Sunday Tribune photographer is NOT 2nd Great Granddad Corporal Wilhelm “William” Moegling. These two skeletons are but two of the thousands of persons dug up from their "final-resting-place" at Potter Street Cemetery -- essentially because those great thinkers in Utica, New York let their earliest municipal burial ground fall victim to neglect and probable vandalism.  These great thinkers in Utica now wanted these hallowed cemetery lands for a playground.  Look at these lands today and you find a highway, a parking lot, a plumbing dealer, a drug rehab & counseling house, and a sports bar. Urban renewal... really nice going Utica, New York!

No monument is present today to the memory of this once active municipal cemetery or to honor the dust of those many thousands souls who yet remain spread in the grounds at this former cemetery site.

Corporal Wilhelm "William" Moegling, late of the 97th Infantry Regiment of New York State Volunteers is missing. Please show our family that this wounded and disabled Civil War Soldier who lived, who attended church, who worked, and who died in 1869 in Downtown Utica, Oneida County, New York is not one of these skeletons on unceremonious and disgraceful display in this September 1916 photo.

Thanks very much.

DJ --- out

Reference: A news article as published 1 Oct 1916 in The Utica Sunday Tribune.



Our Grandfather Corporal William Moegling

My four-year search for the remains of Great-Great Grandfather Wilhelm “William” Moegling is continuing. But the discovery of new firm and valid related data relating to Potter Street Cemetery seems unlikely.  This Utica, NY municipal cemetery was unfortunately sometimes called “Potter’s Field,” so named to acknowledge the original Potter Family property owners who conveyed the three plots of land that became this city municipal cemetery.  The cemetery was not a burial ground reserved exclusively for the poor, as the name potter's field usually implies.  Many prominent early citizens of the Utica, NY area were interred at Potter Street Cemetery over the 122 year span of active use.  According to researchers with Saint Agnes Catholic Church in Utica, NY, as many as 10,000 persons were likely interred at Potter Street Cemetery.

It seems highly likely that Potter Street Cemetery was Grandpa Moegling's logical and probable temporary resting place. Further, it is probable his grave marker, if any, was a wooden marker design (as many there were), and by 1916 was lost, decayed and/or vandalized when the 1916 destruction of Utica's Potter Street Cemetery took place. We know from Corporal William Moegling's Compiled Military Service Record (CMSR), as received from National Archives and Records Administration that Grandpa did not receive his earned government-furnished headstone following his untimely 1869 death.  And about 80% of the several thousand late 1916 exhumed souls at Potter Street Cemetery were classified as unidentified persons, several skeletons grouped together in a single small boxes for "cost savings" and taken to Forest Hill Cemetery on Oneida Street, Utica, NY.  Most of Grandpa's remains were likely placed in one or more of these small containers with the remains of other unidentified persons and unceremoniously reburied in a 100' x 100' hollow purchased by the city of Utica as a mass grave site for unidentified Potter Street Cemetery souls. This Forest Hill Cemetery mass grave burial site is now defined as Section 58B (a/k/a: "City of Utica Public Burial Grounds"), a site purchased by the Utica city authorities in 1916. Any bureaucratic suggestion that absolutely none of the unidentified persons exhumed in 1916 from this 122-year old Potter Street Cemetery were U.S. Military Veterans of the Revolutionary War, The War of 1812, The Mexican War, The American Civil War or even the Spanish-American War simply won’t pass a smell test. My Grandpa, Corporal Wilhelm “William” Moegling was a Military Veteran of both The Mexican War and The American Civil War.

Grandpa Moegling and his wife Rosella ("Grandma Rosa") Moegling had three minor kids at Grandpa’s death in late November 1869, they were financially not prosperous (perhaps considered today as working poor), they lived in rented housing on the corner of Varick and Fayette Streets in downtown Utica, NY, they attended the original Zion German Evangelical Lutheran Church at Fay and Cooper Streets in downtown Utica, and Grandpa was working in his lifelong occupation as a "dyer" at Mrs. A. McClean's Scourer and Dyer Shop on 26 Hotel Street in downtown Utica. His home, his Church and his workplace essentially border the 1869 city-owned Potter Street Cemetery (all within a half mile radius). Grandpa had submitted a Military Disability Pension application in July 1863, this following his U.S. Army Civil War Discharge For Disability in early 1863. Official papers from the National Archives in Washington DC document he suffered several war-related disabilities including a gunshot wound received during the Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862. His veteran's invalid pension application also states he has a service-connected double hernia. Strong evidence is that Grandpa's Civil War Army Veteran Disability Pension application had not yet been approved by his death 23 Nov 1869.

There is a spot in Forest Hill Cemetery nearly centered between cemetery Section 58 and 58A roadside signs on the lower southern perimeter road that Forest Hill Cemetery Superintendent Gerard Waterman called Section 58B (but there was no observed 58B signage here). Section 58B (a/k/a: "City of Utica Public Burial Grounds") is directly south from the small roadside gravestone of Mary M. (d. 1937) and Edward R. Stramm Sr. (d. 1926), the Stramm gravestone no more than five feet from the south side of this perimeter road, and has a couple large trees surrounding. Furthermore, Section 58B essentially borders the Forest Hill Cemetery heavy gage wire south perimeter fence. Superintendent Waterman told me his crew was digging a grave near this 1916 city purchased 100'x100' site and several bones were unintentionally dug up, causing him to research and discover that this location is where the bones of unknown souls from Potter Street Cemetery were re-buried in a mass grave. No honorary markers are present to flag Section 58B as the location for mass re-burials of those several thousand "Unknown Souls" exhumed from Potter Street Cemetery. This unmarked mass burial ground for the several thousand Potter Street Cemetery unknown disinterred is a colossal disgrace. Some form of significant memorial monument is required here to formally mark this ground. Section 58B is the same location where the majority of the identifiable disinterred Potter Street Cemetery skeletons were re-buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in a place between two other public burial grounds called “The Tiers."

The contempt we presently hold for our post Civil War federal government -- delay and more delay for those Civil War disability pension applications -- so therefore perhaps the pension applicant will die first as Grandpa Moegloing surely did. A contempt is growing for those period leaders of the City of Utica who allowed the city's first municipal burial ground Potter Street Cemetery at Potter and Water Streets to fall victim to the natural and unnatural ravage of time. 

Attack On Constitution Amendment II

Amendment II: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the People to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

The language seems very clear. What is it that the Obama gun control loving "experts" don't comprehend about those 27 very clearly written words? And "a well regulated Militia" does not have to be "well regulated" under federal or state government control.

The U.S. Constitution and Amendment II do not say that.

Many of the leaders who formed volunteer regiments to fight the American Civil War did so using personal funds and privately owned logistics & supplies. The township's people often supplied necessary seed money & supplies. Many of those early regiments originated from volunteer local militias where soldiers initially trained and used their private weapons. Following the American Revolution, every able-bodied man of about age 18-45 (might be a bit off on those age limits) was also required to own a firearm weapon. The founders never intended all "well-regulated militias" to be under the absolute authority of a federal chief executive. Show me where that is written... you won't find it. And I of course realize what this sounds like... "When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them..." the People... if properly armed... can meet, associate and organize in well-regulated militias and "...it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government..." We can only hope that the coming revolution will be peaceful.

The problem with a little gun control is that old slippery-slop concept, it is so easy thereafter to do a little more & and then a little more. Look around after a bit and you may have given up a natural Human Right. And that's at the real base of NRA's problem with the liberal gun control nuts. Slippery slop governance... it's no way to run a clam shop. The federal government repeatedly does illogical and ethically wrong things. Look a history... Native American treatment, Slavery, the Whiskey Rebellion, the New York City Riots against the Civil War Draft, Wounded Knee, Japanese Internment Camps, the Waco Branch Fire, the Patriot Act, and so much more. Gosh, federal government weapons control isn't exactly that smart either under any political party (e.g., Iran/Contra, or that really dumb cluster-SNAFU over the last couple of years (Operation Fast and Furious) that gave automatic weapons to Mexican Drug Lords, etc., etc.). It may be that gun control acts in the New York State Legislature this week and Cuomo's "NY SAFE Law" is unconstitutional. We will see... the lawyers are now lining up to test this.

Do you think these dangerous leftist zealots might want to re-write the U.S. Constitution? And along the way, throw out the Natural Human Rights that a liberal left doesn't like... only to inject their own "progressive" liberal ideas. "All People (animals) are created equal, but some People (animals) are more equal than others." Stolen words I know... but one can't misread our Constitution Amendment II and simultaneously keep a straight face. And too, there was then and still remains a firm reason why the Right to Bear Arms is Amendment II. This Right was then to the Founders and today stands so strongly important... trumped only by our capstone Natural Rights... Amendment I: the Freedoms of Speech, Press, Association and Religion.

But Would They Fight Now?

Recent personal study of several New York State Volunteer U.S. Army Regiments during the Rebellion has caused some among us to rethink the fundamental validity of that "War to save the Union." Two separate and equal countries––perhaps not a bad idea that arrives 150 years too late. Two countries in what is now called the USA, call them the United Confederation of American States (holding strong state's rights in a pro-business conservative land); and the other––an imperial federal government United Federal Socialist States of America (a strong federalism nanny state and liberal leftist “progressive” land). And slavery would have turned to dust under its own weight––been gone for many decades in both of these two new republics. The abomination of slavery would have soon failed without fighting that terrible War of the Rebellion that may have cost over 800,000 American lives and unknowable American treasure.

Many, perhaps most, union military recruits in 1861 and 1862 did not sign-up to free the slaves––or even to save the union. These Private Soldier Volunteers were mainly farm boys––boys who essentially became mere cannon fodder in the view of so many incompetent union colonels and generals. They went to this fight largely because they were told it was the manly thing to do... coupled with very strong feelings of military rage spewing from pulpits and political stages. And this Rebellion was certain to be a very short anyway. Volunteer recruits received an enlistment "bounty" of perhaps $100-$300, an enlistment bonus supported in Upstate New York by the various townships. The bounty given to some late war recruits was even higher at $500 for enlistments as short as one year. In 2012 dollars, that cash enlistment bounty is in the $2500-$7000 range. And tax-free dollars too! I suspect this tidy sum was very attractive to most of those relatively poor Upstate New York farm boys.

AMENDMENT X to the United States Constitution (part of the Bill Of Rights) should be more prominently cited in a new United Confederation of American States Constitution: “The powers not delegated to the United States, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”  This God given right, and the other nine vital God given rights specified by the Bill of Rights, shall not be infringed. And there would be no such necessary provision set forth in the new national supreme United Federal Socialist States of America Constitution. The corrupt United States liberal federal judiciaries today seem committed to increased Federalism and largely ignore the clear and expressly written Bill of Rights Amendment X. Liberal left progressiveness can take full control with this socialist form of activist judiciary.  And we conservatives will sharply disallow such unelectable judicial activism. 

So my basic thought today is really a couple of simple questions. With complete knowledge of the present state of the union, who among us truly thinks that massive number of farm boys a century and a half ago would volunteer to fight this “War To Save The Union?” If those volunteers could entirely understand and grasp the full impact of how this country has morphed into the liberal socialist society in those future 21st Century days––would they choose to fight and die to preserve this union of increasing liberal progressivism? Perhaps likely not.

Winds Of The Rebellion At Sumter

No formal Declaration of War initiated the American Civil War. The Confederate States of America (CSA) was not recognized internationally. And of course, The United States of America (USA) never recognized the legitimacy of the CSA government. The two belligerents were clearly involved in a nationalistic civil dispute, and a formal Declaration of War was not necessary under international law. The CSA was officially established in mid-February 1861, by the seven seceded Rebel States mentioned by name in Lincoln’s “Call for 75,000 Volunteers.” The Rebel military bombardment and surrender of the federal Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, April 12-13, 1861, became the officially recognized start of military rebellion between the USA and CSA. However, the Confederate States had already seized most of the federal property including U. S. Post Offices, forts, a U. S. Mint, and other U. S. properties located within rebel state borders. Lincoln’s predecessor President James Buchanan sent supply ships to Fort Sumter in January 1861, but those Union cargo ships were turned aside by Confederate Shore Battery Forces and did not resupply Fort Sumter. Winds of the Rebellion had reached gale force as they swirled from the newsrooms and pulpits of this nation.

President Abraham Lincoln’s April 15, 1861 Executive Order, “A Call For 75,000 Volunteers” is summarized as follows---and from the southern prospective was the last aggressive straw that broke the camel’s back.

“WHEREAS the laws of the United States have been, for some time past, and now are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law:

Now, therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed. … I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government; and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event, the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference with, property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the country. And I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to disperse, and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date. …”

Several southern states sat on the secession fence up to mid-April 1861, but when presented with Lincoln’s “Call For Volunteers”, the south’s richly populated Virginia quickly seceded on April 17, 1861. Virginia is followed in secession within the next few weeks by Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The eleven states Confederacy was now set and in place…and both sides felt strongly that they would prevail in this short rebellion. After all, both the United States and Confederate States knew that God was on their side.

Click here to read a short well written article on Fort Sumter published in "American Profile" on April 10, 2011. Publisher: Publishing Group of America, Franklin, TN.

Old 34th New York Remembrance

34th NY Infantry Regiment Monument at
Antietam Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Maryland

Spend some time this month in remembrance of those fallen boys from the “Herkimer Regiment”, those forty-three souls of the Old 34th Infantry Regiment of New York State Volunteers (NYSV) who were killed the morning of September 17, 1862 at the American Civil War Battle of Antietam. Three-Hundred & Eleven men of the 34th NYSV were engaged that day – men who hailed from upstate New York – and most of them Herkimer County residents. The Herkimer boys were engaged in a brutal fight -– perhaps better described as an ambush -- with well hidden Confederate forces for about one-half hour just after 9 o’clock that morning. The majority of these honored dead were fighting in the “West Woods” section of the Antietam Battlefield, slightly northwest of the now famous Dunker Church. An impressive monument was dedicated in 1902 to the valiant officers and men of the 34th New York Infantry Regiment, standing guard on the exact battlefield location where they struggled that truly longest day. This 34th NY Infantry tribute is displayed in the above photo.

I’ve been doing some research on the 34th NYSV for several months now – and can truthfully report that the real story remains unknown (maybe always will due to conflicting reports). But I strongly tend towards very bad leadership at all levels of federal command that day…of course starting right at the top of Union command with the cautious, ineffective, even incompetent leadership of commanding General George McClellan. The carnage inflicted this day by both Blue and Grey, the bloodiest single day battle of the rebellion and in American history, was nearly too awful for words. I’ll relate just one moving report quoted from the notes made during the Antietam Battlefield 34th monument dedication on September 17, 1902:

“The writer at the dedication related the following incident of the battle: Milford N. Bullock, of Company K, was found dead on the field after the battle. The position in which he was lying indicated the painful circumstances of his death. He was lying on his back, his rifle by his side. The ramrod of his gun was in his hand, the lower end against the trigger of the gun, and the muzzle of the gun at his head. It appeared at the time that the wound he had received had not been sufficient to cause instant death; but, being in mortal agony, he had contrived to end his sufferings by taking his own life. He had placed the gun by his side; the muzzle at his head, and by means of the ramrod had succeeded in discharging it. The circumstances were all so painful, that his comrades, at the suggestion of Captain Northup, agreed that they would not mention them in their letters home. But now, after forty years, there is no harm in referring to them. Young Bullock was from Stratford, Herkimer County, and was highly esteemed by all who knew him. His courage, his fidelity to duty were always unquestioned. His grave is not at home among his kindred, but far away, like that of so many others. He sleeps among the many unknown dead, in the great National Cemetery at Antietam; but we have never walked down those beautiful shaded aisles without feeling that we were again very near to our beloved comrade of those far-off days.” --Lt. L. N. Chapin


But today let’s just remember those forty-three men of the gallant 34th Infantry Regiment NYSV who made the supreme sacrifice the morning of September 17, 1862. Twelve of these 34th NYSV soldiers are buried with fellow New Yorkers in marked graves at the Antietam National Cemetery, the grave number is indicated following the soldier's name. Several more unidentifiable 34th NYSV soldiers rest in unknown graves in this hollowed ground. Here are the names of those killed-in-action or mortally-wounded-in-action on this single mid-September day:

· Adle, John H. C. -- Grave #826
· Allen, William G. -- Grave #834
· Armour, David C.
· Ashley, Sergt. Jacob J. C.
· Bailey, Henry C. -- Grave #845
· Beardsley, John G. -- Grave #524
· Bramley, Henry D.
· Buck, Martin A.
· Bullock, Milford N. K.
· Carey, Corp. David A.
· Cool, Stephen B.
· Coon, James E.
· Coonan, Patrick D.
· Crouch, Corp. David F.
· Dickson, John F.
· Donohoe, James A. -- Grave #832
· Easterbrook, Albert G. G.
· Eldridge, William E. G.
· Gadban, Lewis D.
· Gillman, Henry A. -- Grave #831
· Greek, Ezra I.
· Hartley, Robert H. A.
· Hawley, George A. E.
· Hayes, Dennis D.
· Helmer, Sergt. Aaron G.
· Hill, Second Lieut. Clarence E. H.
· Hicks, Lawrence G.
· Hubbell, Henry D.
· Jolly, Peter D. -- Grave #593
· Lewis, William K. -- Grave #844
· Ladew, Warren C. B.
· Lyon, First Sergt. Henry C. I.
· Mead, Sergt. Garland W. G.
· Murphy, John A.
· Mycue, John D.
· Keef, Corp. Arthur B.
· Orcutt, Alvin E. -- Grave #825
· Rhodes, Color Sergt. Chester S. H. -- Grave #828
· Rubbins, William G. -- Grave # 829
· Salisbury, William A. C. -- Grave #827
· Sashagra, Anthony D.
· Walby, Ralph B.
· White, Daniel E.

Note: the letter following the named dead is the Company within the 34th New York Infantry Regiment to which the man was assigned during the Battle of Antietam.


Another seventy-four men of the 34th New York were wounded-in-action on the morning of September 17, 1862 in their bloody engagement during the Battle of Antietam. Nine troops remain missing-in-action (MIA). Many of the MIA are no doubt buried in unknown graves at Antietam.

Preservation of The Wilderness Battlefield

Today I’ve joined with the non-profit Civil War Preservation Trust to help save one of America’s most important Civil War battlefields. The Virginia lands where the Battle of The Wilderness was fought--May 5 and 6, 1864--are currently under a commercial development attack. The mega-retailer Walmart has launched a plan to build another 141,000-square-foot SuperCenter on a large plot of land located less than 2500 feet from the historic The Wilderness Battlefield. This when there are presently four existing Walmart stores all within twenty miles and an easy commute of The Wilderness Battlefield. Great success of Walmart SuperCenters in any location is a matter of record and fact. And the presence of this business historically generates additional business that feeds off the shopping appeal of Walmart. The Herkimer, New York Walmart SuperCenter was constructed on an abandoned factory site, and Walmart’s business operations have yielded additional business activity that currently surround Walmart including such stores as Agway, The Dollar Store, Taco Bell-KFC, Applebee's, Rite-Aid, McDonald’s, et al. Indeed, all of this new business activity is good for Herkimer County. But business activity that a new Walmart generates is unwelcome and will potentially destroy the rural beauty of the historic The Wilderness Battlefield.

The Battle of The Wilderness was the first time General Grant faced General Lee as opposing commanding Generals-of-the-Army. This battle was a horribly blind and vicious fight where the surrounding heavy woodlands blazed with many fires ignited by the explosive discharge of weaponry from opposing forces. Many of the wounded soldiers were burned alive where they lay by the wildfires. Battle causalities totaling 29,000 men killed, wounded, or missing-in-action resulted from the ensuing forty-eight hours of fierce and brutal combat. Those incredible 1861-1865 military services and sacrifices offered by the War of the Rebellion combatants must be forever respected and fittingly honored.

My reading on the activities of several regiments of New York State Volunteers (NYSV) during the “War Of The Rebellion” has recently focused on the gallant 121st Infantry Regiment of NYSV. The 121st NY was formed in July 1862 by orders from New York Governor Morgan to a committee representing New York State's Twentieth Senatorial District. The Honorable Richard Franchot, U.S. Congressman from Otsego County, chaired this State Committee of local activist from district townships. Committee members were empowered to immediately provision and form the new regiment. Regimental enlisted volunteers were residents mainly from the various townships of Herkimer and Otsego Counties. Representative Franchot was named colonel of the new regiment, and resigned and honorable discharged in late September 1862 to resume his congressional duties.

During the Battle Of The Wilderness, with Lieutenant Colonel Olcott commanding, the ten combat-hardened companies of the 121st NY Infantry fought this confusing and disorganized battle in a heavily wooded setting. The two-day battle found the regiment in frequent close contact and often hand-to-hand-combat with those "Johnnie-Rebs". Action was capably described by fellow Second Brigade soldier Isaac O. Best in his written account, “History of the 121st New York State Infantry.” It is not my purpose here to disclose the many heroic exploits of the 121st NY Regiment, except to report that commanding Colonel Olcott was shot in the head and taken prisoner by Rebels, the captains of both Company A and C were captured and taken prisoner, that following the battle about 100 men from the 121st NY were missing-in-action (some perhaps later found as burned corpses), and that about half of the regiment was either killed, wounded, or missing during the fog of combat. Several soldiers of the 121st NY were captured sent to the southern hell-hole Andersonville. So the lands surrounding this sacred The Wilderness Battlefield is soaked with the blood of many Herkimer and Otsego County residents who answered President Lincoln’s call to defend the Union. These brave and principled men voluntarily enlisted with the noble 121st Infantry Regiment of New York State Volunteers. This is why the lands around The Wilderness Battlefield must be preserved and forever honored as hallowed ground.