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Praetorium Honoris

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Family History

(Source)
As Memorial Day approaches, I think back...

That opening photo shows Company A of the 22nd New York Volunteer Militia, my great-grandfather's regiment in which he served for two years during the Civil War. He was, according to the muster rolls at the New York State Department of Military and Naval affairs, mustered into Company K of this regiment as follows -
MUSTER ROLL of Captain Miles P.S. Cadwell's Company (K), in the 22d REGIMENT of the New York Volunteer Militia (Foot), commanded by Colonel Walter Phelps, Jr., organized under a law of the State of New York, entitled, "An Act to authorize the embodying and equipment of a Volunteer Militia, and to provide for the Public Defense," passed April 16, 1861 and called into the service of the United States by the President, under the act of Congress approved February 28, 1795, from the 6th day of June, 1861, (date of this muster) for the term of two years, unless sooner discharged.
There, at number 28 is my great-grandfather, 18 years old (supposedly, my records indicate he was 20), enlisted as a private, Goodrich, Joseph.

This source has this to say about his regiment -
22nd Infantry Regiment
Civil War
Second Northern New York Regiment; Second Troy Regiment; Second Northern Tier Regiment 
History
Mustered in: June 6, 1861
Mustered out: June 19, 1863
The following is taken from New York in the War of the Rebellion, 3rd ed. Frederick Phisterer. Albany: J. B. Lyon Company, 1912. 
This regiment, Col. Walter Phelps, Jr., was accepted by the State and numerically designated May 14, 1861; organized at Troy and there mustered in the service of the United States, for two years, June 6, 1861. The three years' men of the regiment, but a few, were in June, 1863, transferred to the 76th and 93d N. Y. Volunteers. The companies were organized: A at Waterford and Cohoes; B and I at Fort Edward; C at Keeseville; D at Cambridge; E and F at Glens Falls. The first Company G was organized May 7 and disbanded June 1, 1861; the second Company G, originally The Whitehall Light Guards, was organized at Whitehall; Company H at Sandy Hill, and Company K at Port Henry. The men were recruited principally in the counties of Albany, Clinton, Essex, Saratoga, Warren and Washington.

The regiment left the State June 28, 1861; passing through Baltimore, Md., it had one man killed by a mob; it served at and near Washington, D. C, from July 1, 1861; in Keyes' Brigade, Division of Potomac, from August 4, 1861; in same brigade, McDowell's Division, Army of the Potomac, from October 15, 1861; in Augur's Brigade, from January, 1862; in 2d Brigade, 3d Division, 1st Corps, Army of the Potomac, from March 13, 1862; in 1st Brigade, King's Division, Department of Rappahannock, from May, 1862; in 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 3d Corps, Army of Virginia, from June 26, 1862; in same brigade and division, 1st Corps, Army of the Potomac, from September 12, 1862; and it was honorably discharged and mustered out, under Colonel Phelps, June 19, 1863, at Albany.

During its service the regiment lost by death, killed in action, 7 officers, 42 enlisted men; of wounds received in action, 4 officers, 19 enlisted men; of disease and other causes, 1 officer, 27 enlisted men; total, 12 officers, 88 enlisted men; aggregate, 100; of whom 1 enlisted man died in the hands of the enemy.
The following is taken from The Union army: a history of military affairs in the loyal states, 1861-65 -- records of the regiments in the Union army -- cyclopedia of battles -- memoirs of commanders and soldiers. Madison, WI: Federal Pub. Co., 1908.Twenty-second Infantry.—Col., Walter Phelps, Jr.; Lieut.-Cols., Gorton F. Thomas, John McKee, Jr., Thomas J. Strong; Majs., Johrr McKee, Jr., George Clendon, Jr., Thomas J. Strong, Lyman Ormsby. The 22nd, known as the 2nd Northern New York regiment, was composed of four companies from Washington county, three from Essex, two from Warren and one from Saratoga county and was mustered into the U. S. service at Camp Rathbone, Troy, on June 6, 1861, for two years. A fortnight later it moved to Albany, where it remained until June 28, when it left for Washington. It encamped on Meridian hill until July 24, when it moved to Arlington heights, where it was assigned to Gen. Keyes' brigade, which in March, 1862, became the 3d brigade, 3d division, 1st corps. Winter quarters were occupied at Upton's hill until March 10, 1862, when the regiment joined in the movement to Centerville, but returned to Upton's hill immediately afterward, and proceeded to Falmouth in April. In June the regiment became a part of the 1st brigade, 1st division, 3d corps, Army of Virginia, and in Sept., 1862, the same brigade and division, was made part of the 1st corps, Army of the Potomac. This brigade was known as the Iron Brigade before the Iron Brigade of the West was formed. At Manassas the loss of the regiment was 180 killed, wounded or missing, out of, 379 engaged, of whom 46 were killed or mortally wounded, or over 12 per cent. of 24 officers present, 19 were killed or wounded, 9 mortally, among them Lieut.-Col. Thomas. The first week of September was spent in camp at Upton's hill and it next advanced to South mountain, where it was closely engaged, then to Antietam, where again the loss was heavy. About the middle of November,; the command arrived at Falmouth and participated in the battle of Fredericksburg, being stationed on the extreme left of the army. It then returned to camp at Falmouth and joined in the "Mud March," after which it went into winter quarters at Belle Plain, On April 28, 1863, camp was broken for the Chancellorsville movement, during which the regiment was held in reserve and met its only loss at Pollock's Mill creek, where 10 men were wounded while acting as rear-guard. The regiment was mustered out at Albany, June 19, 1863, having lost 72 men by death from wounds and 28 by death from other causes.
I noted that the regiment had marched through Baltimore on their way to Washington where it was caught up in the riots which occurred in that city in 1861. There were many southern sympathizers in Maryland. One man of the regiment was killed by the mob. I had read of those riots when I was a young boy, little realizing at the time that my great-grandfather was an eyewitness to that.

The regiment lost heavily at both Second Bull Run and at Antietam. Again, I read of those battles when I was young, now I marvel that my great-grandfather was there to participate in that carnage. I wonder that he survived when so many others fell.

From an old regimental roster -

GOODRICH, JOSEPH . — Age, 18 years (sic). Enlisted , May 25, 1861, at Port Henry, to serve two years; mustered in as private, Co. K , June 6, 1861; mustered out with company, June 19, 1863, at Albany, N. Y.

Family tradition has him staying in or rejoining the Army after leaving this regiment. I haven't found evidence to support that yet, but I'm still looking. Fascinating what you can find on the Internet. Most of what I found about my great-grandfather tracks closely to what I heard growing up.

There's a bit of family tradition surrounding great-grandpa Joseph's family...

My grandfather, Louis Goodrich, United States Army
My father, Robert Goodrich , United States Army
Then of course, there's my kids and I, United States Air Force and United States Navy -


Both of my Dad's brothers served in World War II, Uncle Louis in the Army Air Forces in the Pacific Theater and Uncle Charlie in the Army, an infantryman in Europe. Uncle Louis' son, my cousin Bobby, served in the Air Force in Vietnam, and my cousin Joe, Uncle Charlie's son, was also in the Air Force. Interestingly enough, cousin Joe's son Kyle is currently in the Air Force.

The tradition continues, I wonder what my great-grandfather would make of what his descendants have done?

There's a military tradition on my Mom's side of the family as well, Civil War and World War II, I'll talk about them in my next post.



40 comments:

  1. Daresay your great-grandfather would have been proud of the service done by his descendants, lots for you to ruminate over this Memorial Day.

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  2. Interesting family history. The best documentation for my family is one John Mc Liamans II, who enlisted Sept 1862 in Company H, 7th Regiment, Wisconsin Voulenteers, and served until the war's end. There were many others but the documentation is scanty. I have some 50+ first cousins. Of the males, only a handful didn't serve. Great great Grandfather, Indian Scout 4th Infantry. Great uncle WWI. Father WWII CBI, myself Army Cold War era, and youngest son, 4th Infantry Afghanistan.

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    1. Ah, the 4th Infantry, my Uncle John's outfit in WWII. Which you'll see tomorrow. (If all goes as planned.)

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  3. A proud history and a good looking family. Good on you. Thank you for making known to me all of these fine Americans.

    Thanks for the post.
    Paul L. Quandt

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  4. Thanks to your family for serving our country. Can't say as much for my roots. I did whatever possible to stay out of Viet Nam (I did try for Air Force pilot training, they said I was too heavy for my height...pretty sure I failed the math portion of the tests) My Grandfather on Mom's side was an Army Captain and fought in the Philippians before WW1 he died early from disease contracted while in that war. My father, a chemical engineer, served on a special government project during WWII, he would not discuss what that was about, and my brother was a Navy Captain. He contributed much in the way of sonar sub tracking technology and over-the-horizon radar systems.

    We owe much to families such as yours.

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    1. Sounds like your lot did their part as well Joe.

      We stand on the shoulders of giants.

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    2. Philippians? Really? I thought that was, like, ancient history, man? Yeah, I f***in' hate auto-correct, too! And yet it usually makes my text messages more comprehensible than when I turn it off (AND funnier!). So...

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  5. The 22nd fought at both Antietam and Fredericksburg, both especially hard battles with heavy casualties. Unlike most military units of the 19th century, more of their casualties were battle related than from disease.

    Looks like Joseph's only military service was with Co. K., 22nd New York Infantry.
    Based on his pension application which lists only that service. His invalid pension application was filed July 8, 1886 and presumably approved with certificate 684065. A widow's pension application for Orilla Goodrich was filed from Vermont on May 8, 1905 and presumably approved with certificate number 620576.
    Source:
    U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 for Joseph Goodrich

    John Blackshoe

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    1. Dang, I completely read that wrong. I thought "Why would an in VAL' id application be presumably approved?" instead of "IN' vul id"

      Ain't English Grand?

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    2. John - wow! Thanks for digging into that. Based on his tombstone I thought it odd that he might have served in another unit, then had Co K 22 NY on his headstone.

      Being filed from Vermont makes sense, that's where they lived when great-grandpa Joseph died.

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    3. Juvat - that was my first thought as well.

      "Your invalid pension is invalid..."

      "What?"

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    4. The pension building was built by General Meigs, same guy that buried the fallen soldiers in Robert E. Lee's mansion's front yard and then the side yard and the back yard. It's called the Building Museum and is hard by the Smithsonian Art Gallery up at the end of the Mall. If you go there you can see the worn steps where the wounded soldiers from the war had to go up and down the stairs to see about their pensions. The steps are very worn. It is wear the words "Red Tape" entered the lexicon since the clerks used to move documents between floors in buckets suspended from red tape. It's a very interesting building and if you ever tarry in Washington DC, well worth a visit. They also have great expositions using the largest open space indoors in DC (at the time it was built).

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    5. I will have to check that out next time I'm down there.

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  6. Lots of stuff on Ancestry.com. If you don't have membership, I think they offer free 14 day trial. If you don;t want to do that, I would be happy to dig into Joseph some more when I have time and send some stuff off line by email or snail mail.
    John Blackshoe

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  7. Joseph was a Canadian citizen when he enlisted, not naturalized until 3 Sep 1870, at Fairhaven[?], Rutland County, Vermont.
    Birth date lists year only 1842.
    John Blackshoe

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    1. Yup, he was born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. I had grand-aunts who only spoke French. (Not sure how the name of the town was spelled back then, these days it's Fair Haven.)

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  8. Quite the family tree, Sarge. Explains where you got you "bark"!

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  9. The white Navy dress uniform is nicknamed, choker whites.
    As I matured, (cough, cough put on weight) I found they certainly lived up to their nickname.
    According to family oral history, we had a member on both the Union and Confederate sides of the conflict.
    For those of us of a certain age, not only did the flag have forty eight stars when we were born, but there were still living Civil War veterans.
    Good post.


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    1. Yup, Alaska and Hawaii were admitted when I was in the 1st grade.

      As to Civil War vets still alive when I was born? Albert Woolson, 1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery Regiment, died in 1956, he was 106 years old when he passed and was the last undisputed veteran of the Civil War still alive by that date. He was a drummer in Company C, signed up in 1864. He never saw action, though his father did, he died of wounds received at Shiloh before Albert enlisted.

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    2. I think the last Civil War widow died in 1969.

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    3. Well, if you believe BBC America, the last one died in 2004. She was 21 when she married an 81 year old Confederate veteran.

      No, I don't count that either.

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  10. Ours goes back to the Revolutionary War. Civil war for the South, WWI (Army), WWII (Army, Navy, Marines), Korea (Army, USAF), Vietnam (USAF, Navy), GW1 (Navy). Daughters didn't qualify medically, grandson is talking about Navy or Air Force

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    1. Now that's a tradition of service! Good on you and yours Cajun.

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  11. How very like the Navy. You are there in your blues. The familly is there in 3 different types of white uniform. Choker, something else and something else. Naturally, the midshipman has ribbons to rival the LTjg. As you can see from my humble place, I had a grand total of 2 ribbons as a full LT and that was with 12 months service in a war zone. I was clearly doing something wrong. :)

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    1. Yup, three different uniforms for the same occasion. Of course, female whites are different from choker whites. The youngest wore the same uniform as her sister a year later.

      In my day the male and female uniforms didn't look that different. Only the hat was different (cover to you nautical types) and of course the cut of the uniform was different. Still and all, we looked, ya know, uniform.

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    2. One day on first ship my chief took me aside after Quarters and said, "sir, we are striving for uniform at quarters in the morning. We want everyone to wear, you know, the uniform. Not green coveralls, blue coveralls, dungarees, etc. Just the one uniform. Maybe you could keep up your end of the uniform and actually wear a uniform to quarters?" I allowed as how he had a point.

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    3. 'Tis a good officer you are, listening to your Chief and all. Which was the first lesson I imparted to the progeny upon their becoming officers in the Naval Service.

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    4. Yeah, I wore the uniform of the day (Norfolk) to my father's retirement parade at Fort Myer. Who knows the military district of Washington DC had a different navy uniform of the day from Norfolk. Well, I knew as I shook hands with the CNO et al......in the wrong uniform of the day ......

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  12. Lots of discrepancies in what military records of ancestors Dad was able to get. Some had been lost in the VA records fire in St. Louis in 1973. My direct ancestor has his height varying +-1 inch and same with age (he joined the 3rd Illinois Cavalry Regiment as a drummer boy at Vicksburg the day before the surrender after trying to enlist twice before, once getting as far as Springfield on the train before his mother's panicked telegraph messages preceded him -- apparently he was soundly beaten by an old sergeant for his troubles :D ). His older brother Oliver was one of two groups of three who filed the original mining claims on the same day (IIRC) at Tombstone, AZ. Ed Schieffelen(? google is SLOOW right now) was the only one who made big. Oliver, who'd dropped off the family's radar years before while prospecting in Colorado, was drunk and shot a man who he said believed was going to kill him because he wouldn't sell his claim. Well, the guy died, and Oliver made it out of town just ahead of a lynch mob. He hid out in Mexico for a while after selling his claim for pennies on the dollar, when he wrote a letter home saying he was having problems with the Mexicans and the Indians. He was captured and carried, sentenced to death for murder, sentence commuted to life in prison, and then after being one of the first prisoners at Yuma Territorial Prison, he was transferred to Joliet Federal Prison in Illinois. That's when his luck returned to him, because the governor of Arizona was the man who'd commanded the 3rd Illinois Cavalry and also remembered him as a good trooper. He was pardoned or sentence commuted, it's not clear, and he ended up in Oklahoma as a successful rancher. Who apparently never touched alcohol again, according to his descendants, whom Dad located. And no one other than one sister (who he'd sworn to secrecy for the same of it all) knew what had happened until Dad, a history buff, happened to notice his name in the Tombstone, Arizona museum and began to piece it together. Kinda cool, but no heroes. Just 6 brothers (all 6) who enlisted as soon as they could (including my ancestor, the very youngest by quite a bit) in the War of Failed Southern Secession in order to preserve the Union.

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    1. Dammit, a few misspellings and accidental deletions. Carried -> carried back north of the border. Same -> shame. Etc.

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    2. Now that is quite a story! History is a fascinating topic, not all records are legitimate, often the clerk writing things down would be drunk, lazy, or just plain semi-illiterate. Makes for fascinating little oddities though.

      Thanks for sharing that Larry.

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    3. I never sweat the typos, misspellings, auto-corrects and the like. My work is in computers and I hate it when the software tries to "help" me.

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