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Names of Men Drafted in the County of Rensselaer.
[…]
John Daley, Patrick O’Brien, E. Vander Robbins, Wm. Cassidy, Andrew J. Mitchell, James H. Weaver, Jules Prescott, John Kennedy, Richard Barron, Frederick Barrett, Thomas J. Brower, (conductor horse railroad,) William Tallon, John A. Oliver, Wm. H. Ham, C. N. Neher, Richard Green, John H. Carter, Chas. A. St. John, Patrick McLaughlin, Frederick A. Yates, John Dougrey, (driver horse railroad,) Julius W. Perham, John G. Neal, jr., Richard Mackey, Anson G. Gardner, Norman F. Taylor, Richard Wallace, John McKeown, jr., Fred Vandercook, Levi C. Hanford, Walter Buckley, (colored), Charles Bleibtroy, Fred G. Ackam, John Farrell, James C. Howland, David H. Wolf, Jacob L. Ward, Thos. Barrett, J. Fisher, Edward O’Donnell, Matthew Halligan, Henry J. Northup, Andrew Whinnery, James H. Burnham, Rynaldo R. Prescott, Eugene Hyatt, Hugh Bennett, Henry C. Badeau, Thomas Benedict, (colored,) Henry Van Antwerp, (driver, horse railroad,) J. E. Davenport, Alonzo W. Aldrich, Wm. E. Baxter, James H. Sickler, Geo. A. Scott, George H. Allen, John Kelleher, Hiram Allendorph, Edward Seaman, John Sullivan, (Conductor, horse-railroad,) Judson Chase, John C. Pushee, Robert Comisky, Timothy Marshal, T. W. Sands, Chas. Vandercook, Francis McCabe, Jas. Lintern, Morris Fitzgeralds, Wm. P. Kellogg, Edward P. Sully, Alexander C. Tracey, James B. McGuire, Patrick O’Neil, John Ryan, Garret Welch, George N. Fitch, Crumby Bolton, Braine Walsh, Samuel Clark, Daniel F. Timmerson, Andrew McNealy, Samuel Kirkpatrick, David H. Pierce, Clark A. Snyder, Francis McFarland, George W. Stiles, John W. Strait, Wilbur F. Corliss, Peter R. Ferbeck, John Wells, Wm. H. Humphrey, William M. Lee, John Riley, Jas. O’Neal, Nicholas Vandecar, Benj. Mitzger, Alexander Kirkpatrick, (maltster,) Martin Herrick, Joseph Diegman, Thomas Duckett, Wm. H. Clark, James Cleary, Thomas McDonough, John Marsh, John Montgomery, Leander G. Groat, (conductor horse railroad), Geo. W. McMurray, Helmith Beternitz, Gardner S. Cutting, Friend W. Esmond, William O’Brien, Bartholomew McCarty, James B. Wood, John A. Stover, Archibald Darrow, Jas. H. Ronalds, (late conductor h. r. r.,) Henry W. Mosher, William Gohlka, Jas. Slatcher, Joseph C. Franklin, Rev. E. A. Blanchard, Jerome L. Mott, (col’d,) Edward Ward, Henry Miller, Albertus R. Robinson, Daniel Whinnery, Patrick Nolan, Issac G. Flack, Edward Lansing, John G. Morrison, Edward J. Pluckrose, Thos. Pierd, Chas. C. Perry, John E. Haner (Professor of Music), Wm. E. Devlin, Hugh Reilly, James Carrigan, Cornelius L. Twing, George Craig, Wm. H. Cipperly, Chas. Alderdice, Ed. R. Osborne, Benj. Mitzger, Homer Weaver, Abram V. Knickerbocker, Jas. Wallace, Edwin S. Keep, (telegrapher,) Geo. S. Fox, Richard Jordan, Henry M. Smith, John Hawkins, Jas. O. Hara, W. H. Brown, (col’d,) Chas. Lansing, Chas. H. Corliss, John Hickey, Mitchell Blair, Felix Fountain, John J. Filkin, Thos. Kelly, jr., Thomas J. O’Connell, Richard Powers, James Leary, John E. Hawkins, Frederick Colby, John Comiskey, Edward McMurray, John Brooks.
Troy Daily Times. September 5, 1863: 1 col 5. [Bold emphasis added.]
Of the four “colored” men listed above, Thomas Benedict was wounded in the Battle of Olustee in Florida, and reportedly died in a Confederate prison though it would also seem likely he was murdered by Confederate troops as indeed many black soldiers were.
Ancestry.com. U.S., Colored Troops Military Service Records, 1863-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
THE NEGROES CAPTURED AT THE BATTLE OF OLUSTEE.
Dr. H. O. [Henry Orlando] Marcy, surgeon of the Thirty-fifth regiment of United States colored troops, writes to the Boston Journal as follows:
“So frequently have I been asked the question, during my leave of absence home, by the leading citizens of Boston and vicinity, ‘How did the enemy treat the wounded colored troops who fell into their hands at the battle of Olustee, Fla.?’ that I am led to believe that the truth is not generally known.
“Owing to our rapid retreat and lack of transportation, there were left at our field hospital or depot for the wounded, about one hundred colored soldiers, too severely wounded to walk. The succeeding twenty-four hours our forces fell back about forty-five miles. This rapid retreat made many of the less severely wounded unable to keep up with the column, and they were picked up by the enemy’s cavalry, which followed closely upon our rear.
“We received no official report from the enemy of the wounded remaining prisoners in their hands until about six weeks after the battle. Eighteen only of more than seventy of our regiment who were left upon the field were reported, and those suffering from less severe wounds, who had fallen out and were taken on the retreat. The ratio of wounded reported of other colored regiments engaged was about the same. The number of killed could not be known, but it was fair to infer the proportion could not have been so great.
“Later direct and positive information has been received from several parties of prisoners as well as deserters—soldiers in the battle of Olustee and perfectly conversant with the facts—that the morning after the battle a South Carolina regiment and the Second Georgia Regulars took possession of the depot for the wounded, and not as an armed mob seeking plunder and destruction, but under orders from their officers—in cold blood murdered the colored soldiers who, wounded and helpless lay there under the charge of an assistant surgeon, left to attend to their wants.
“It was only after repeated testimony of this character from these different sources that full credence was given to the above statements. My informants in each case were of Florida regiments. They universally lamented the facts, and stated that it was the general impression of those troops now serving in Florida, that if captured by our troops they would be denied the rights of prisoners, and suffer in retaliation for the enormities committed by their soldiers at Olustee. ‘A guilty conscience needs no accuser.’
“A thrill of horror creeps over us as we ‘remember Fort Pillow,’ but even that has no parallel to the murdering in cold blood—for twelve hours and a night’s sleep had intervened since the battle—under command of officers (themselves setting the example,) of a hospital full of wounded and helpless sufferers.
“Major Bogle, of our regiment, formerly from Boston, and well known to many of her citizens, severely wounded and a prisoner, was taken, as I am informed by an eye-witness, the day following the fight, to a house in the rear, and there a guard of soldiers had to be placed about the house to prevent the mob wreaking their vengeance upon a brave and helpless soldier, whose only crime was his being an officer of a colored regiment.
“From the same authority I received information that he was reported to be in close confinement on bread and water, awaiting trial by state law, although the Rebel General [James Patton] Anderson, in command in Florida, reported by flag of truce that he had recovered and been sent to the interior. Awaiting the tardy movements of our Government in affording these brave men protection due them as soldiers of the United States army, shall we wonder and blame if some excesses are committed, and that ‘Remember Fort Pillow and Olustee’ become watchwords and rallying cries with our colored soldiers.”
Albany Morning Express. July 21, 1864: 2 col 2.