Walter Wolcott?s grandfather arrived in Penn Yan in 1803, on a day
when the local militia company was practicing maneuvers during its
weekly get-together. Years later he remembered their solemn demeanor
while bearing arms no more deadly than broom-handles and wooden swords.
Western New York was still the frontier in those days; many of those
awkward Sunday soldiers had seen service during the Revolution, or their
fathers, uncles and older brothers had. The old enemy still held forts
on the Niagara, and rumors of renewed Indian uprisings flew constantly.
The local settlements sent far more soldiers to fight the British a
second time in 1812 than their proportion of the state's population
would suggest.
In Walter Wolcott?s own lifetime the cataclysm most Northerners of
his generation called the War of the Rebellion broke out and profoundly
changed American life. His youngest son and namesake was at Vicksburg,
Mississippi when the war began, volunteered on the Confederate side
and was killed during the second day?s battle at Gettysburg. The boy
was buried in the family plot in the new cemetery at Dundee.
In 1895 Wolcott decided to write about the soldiers who went to war
from Yates County, and compiled a little book called The Military
History of Yates County, NY. Its table of contents is duplicated
below, and it will immediately be noticed that by far the larger part is
devoted to the Civil War, the most recent combat at the time of
Wolcott?s writing. However, he made also made a determined effort to
list the names and service of soldiers in the country?s earlier wars.
Wolcott?s Military History has been scanned and posted on line at
Cornell University?s Making of America site. The book is short, 158
pages and a few more for introduction at the beginning. The table of
contents is reproduced here, and a name index to the entire book may be
accessed through the links below. To see the actual page, you will need
to go to http://moa.cit.cornell.edu/MOA/MOA-Journals2/WOLC.html
which will allow you to enter a page number and see its image.
PART FIRST
Chapter I
The Senecas, a war-like tribe of the Six Nations? Red Jacket? Sir
William Johnson? Massacres at Wyoming and at Cherry Valley? Invasion
by the American Forces under General John Sullivan? The Battle of
Newtown? Destruction of an Indian Village within the present limits of
the town of Benton? Effects of the Invasion on the Indians? Jemima
Wilkinson, the ?Universal Friend?? The Friend?s House in the town of
Jerusalem used at the close of the Civil War as a Soldiers? Home?
James Parker and General William Wall? Soldiers of the Revolution who
settled in Yates County....1
Chapter II
Close of the Revolution? The Phelps and Gorham Purchase? Captain
Charles Williamson? The Genesee Country One Hundred Years Ago? British
Insolence? The War of 1812? Citizens of Yates County Who Fought in
this War? Organization of Yates County? The War with Mexico? Soldiers
of the War from Yates County? Results of the Mexican War .... 9
PART SECOND
Chapter I
Sentiment in Yates County before and during the War for the Union
.... 16
Chapter II
The Thirty-third Regiment of Infantry .... 35
Chapter III
The First Regiment United States Sharpshooters? The Third,
Twenty-third, and Thirty-fourth Regiments, Infantry .... 47
Chapter IV
The Fourty-fourth Regiment of Infantry .... 51
Chapter V
The Seventy-sixth, Eighty-fifth, Ninety-seventh, One Hundred and
Second, and One Hundred and Fifth Regiments, Infantry .... 57
Chapter VI
The One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Regiment of Infantry .... 63
Chapter VII
The Eighth, Twentieth, and Twenty-second Regiments, Cavalry? The
Norfolk Brigade Band? The Fifteenth and Fiftieth Regiments, Engineers
.... 78
Chapter VIII
The One Hundred and Forty-eighth Regiment of Infantry .... 88
Chapter IX
The First Independent Battery? Battery B (Third Light Artillery)?
The Fourteenth and Sixteenth Heavy Artillery .... 97
Chapter X
The One Hundred and Seventy-ninth Regiment of Infantry .... 105
Chapter XI
The One Hundred and Eighty-eighth and One Hundred and Ninety-fourth
Regiments, Infantry? Grand Review at Washington at the end of the War
.... 114
Chapter XII
Citizens of Yates County in Other Commands? Colored Soldiers? The
Confederate Service? The United States Navy .... 121
Chapter XIII
Post of the Grand Army of the Republic in Yates County? J. Barnet
Sloan Post, No. 93, at Penn Yan? Decoration Day Observances at Penn
Yan in 1869 and 1870? Memorial Volume Presentation? William H. Long
Post, No. 486, at Penn Yan? Edwin and Foster P. Cook Post, No. 71, at
Dundee? Hayes Post, No. 115, at Potter? Scott Post, No. 319, at
Rushville? The Woman?s Relief Corps? The Ladies of the Grand Army of
the Republic .... 126
Chapter XIV
Militia Organizations? The First Separate Company, N. G. S. N. Y.
.... 142
INDEX
This is apparently the first full-scale index created for the
Military History. It was submitted on disk by Jim Beardsley and
converted to a format suitable for posting on line by Fran Dumas.
Wolcott's book has long since passed into the public domain, but the
index has not. It is copyrighted and may only be copied in part for
genealogical or other personal use. It must not be copied in full for
commercial use or indiscriminate distribution. Credit the source if
either the book or the index is quoted, either in private or in
public.