History of the 26Th New York Volunteers

History of the 26th New York Volunteers

Synopsis taken from Glory Was Not Their Companion, by Paul Taylor

On May 17th, 1861 men from Oneida County in central New York, enlisted for 90 days of service in response to President Lincolns call for volunteers. Six of the 10 companies came from Oneida County, thus they were nicknames the Second Oneida (the 14th New York Volunteers also being from Oneida County were given the moniker of the First Oneida). William H. Christian was confirmed colonel of the regiment. Richard H. Richardson was named lieutenant colonel, and Gilbert S. Jennings was named as major of the regiment. After the regiment was formed and it officers named, they were sent off to the camps at Elmira, New York for their training, and on May 21st the men of the 26th were mustered into Federal service.

The 26th spent the month of June in Elmira learning to solider. While at Elmira the boys from Oneida received their regimental colors, a flag described as being 10 feet by six feet, and made of the silk, it contained 34 silver stars set against a dark blue background, and heavily fringed with twisted gold silk. The staff was made of highly polished rosewood, with a glittering brass eagle adorning the top. June also saw the 26th receive their uniform and weapons. To the dismay of the men, the clothes were that of the New York State Militia, a dingy grey, and their weapons were not the Enfields they expected, but rather 1842 Springfields.

June 21st saw the men board a 20-car train. The train was taking them from their life as army recruits to the seat of war in Washington D.C. The train headed out to Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The journey took them 20 hours to get from Elmira to Williamsport. Upon reaching Williamsport the men disembarked the trains and marched to Baltimore, Maryland. The men were ordered to load their weapons prior to reaching Baltimore, as fear was running high in ranks as the thoughts of the mob attack on the 6th Massachusetts by the citizens of Baltimore was still in the forefront of everyone’s minds. The 26th arrived in Baltimore around 2:00 P.M. While being verbally harassed by the people of Baltimore, the 26th passed through without any act of violence occurring.

Late in the afternoon of the 22nd, the men boarded another train and headed to Washington D.C. arriving late in the afternoon. The men soon left their cramped quarters of the train and made for north of the capital building at Meridian Heights, the camp was called Camp Van Valkenburgh in honor of Gen. Robert Van Valkenburgh, who was a friend of the 26th in Elmira.

The 26th was to spend the first summer of the war in Washington D.C. at Meridian Heights. The summer was long and hot. The men of the 26th were taking to the life of a solider well as many of the men were to be arrested for drunkenness and brawling. There was a storm rising in the ranks, as rumors buzzed around that their soon to be completed term of enlistment (90 days) was to be extended into a two year enlistment. On the 21st of July word came of impending battle to occur at Bull Run. The men of the 26th quickly drew rations and boarded steamers to cross the Potomac into Virginia. Leaving around noon they boarded, but their number was too great, forcing one-fourth of the regiment to wait in Washington D.C. for the steamer to make the return trip. Once the 26th was in Alexandria, Virginia they were to take trains to Manassas where the battle was taking place. It was not until early in the evening that the 26th finally boarded the trains to make their way west. Not far from Alexandria, the trains stopped at Springfield Station. What they thought may be the advancing battle was, in fact the fleeing Union army from the battlefield at Bull Run. The 26th was ordered immediately back to Alexandria where they were to make camp at Ft. Ellsworth atop Shuter’s Hill.

July 27th saw the boys from Oneida leaving camp at Ft. Ellsworth and moving out to Camp Maxwell. While at Camp Maxwell on the 29th, the boys of the 26th finally received their new clothes. Gone were the days of wearing the rags of the old New York Militia, soon they would dawn new dark blue jackets and light blue trousers of the growing Federal army. However some of the New Yorkers felt the new uniforms were of no point, since their term of enlistment was to be over soon, or so they thought.

In August it came to a head. It seemed that while at Elmira, the mustering officer made a mistake, and mustered in the 26th as a 90-day regiment, even though their enlistment was to last for two years, but by the 2nd of August the mistake made at Elmira was corrected. The 26th was ordered to report to the Adjutant General of the United States Army on the 26th of August for the remainder of their two year enlistment. The camp was rife with allegations of who was to blame, and a near munity was on Col. Christians’ hands, yet in the end matters settled down, but not after 14 commissioned officers resigned due to the miscalculation of the mustering official at Elmira.

The 26th spent the rest of the summer performing picket duty in and the around the vicinity of Alexandria and as far down at Mount Vernon (George Washington’s estate) along Hunting Creek and the Potomac. While on picket and patrol it became routine for the New Yorkers to run into Confederate Cavalry patrols. While many shots were fired on these patrols, no casualties occurred. In fact, the thing to the New Yorkers feared most, was get lost and possibly captured in the large forests and swamps that surrounded the outskirts of Alexandria. Besides the rigors of picket duty, the men of the 26th were also subject to the daily dull life of a soldier in camp. Col. Christian kept a tight daily orders, which read: “Reveille at sunrise, Squad drill from 5:30-6:30 A.M. – Surgeons call at 6:30 A.M. – Breakfast at 7 A.M. –Guard mounting at 8 A.M. – Police call at 8:30 A.M. at which time every company will clean its grounds about and opposite the tents. – Adjutants call at 9 A.M. – Company and skirmish drill at 9:30 A.M. until 11 A.M. – Dinner at 12M. – Battalion drill at 3:30 P.M. – Dress Parade (call retreat) at sunset – Supper at 7 or 7:30 P.M. – Tattoo at 9 and taps at 9:30 P.M.” As a result, the 26th became the best drilled regiment in their brigade.

The fall of 1861 passed without much of anything of note occurring. In early October there was a failed expedition on a Confederate Cavalry detachment at Pohick Church in Alexandria, Virginia. Gen. Slocum thought there to be a large force encamped at the church, so he tasked the Col. Christian to lead a 300 man battalion made up various companies in the brigade. The raid however was a disaster for Col. Christian. There were no casualties fro Christian, but the men in his detachment got out of control and raided both unionist and secessionist homes along the way. And the as for the large cavalry detachment that was at Pohick Church, it turned out to be a small force, who ran at the first sign of the Federal detachment.

In late fall, the 26th was moved to a new fort, just across the way from Ft. Ellsworth. The new fort was not yet complete, but the ground had been broken on it and it was christened Fort Lyon (after Gen. Nathanial Lyon who was killed at the battle of Wilson’s Creek in August of 1861). The fort was perched high above Hunting Creek on the outskirts of Alexandria (the modern DC Metro Station Stop Huntington Station sits where the fort was stood). The men of the 26th were to chop, build and dig this new fort. Although work had begun in September by the 27th New York, it was the lads of the 26th that really did the work and made the fort what it was. The men received a special ration and pay for their extra work, 25 cents a day and two gills of whiskey. Once Ft. Lyon was completed it stretched 937 yards and covered a full nine acres. The fort also boasted 40 guns, with 32 mounted pieces and over six mortars. Ft. Lyon was a formidable adversary to any foe who dared attacked the nation’s capital. The remainder of 1861 concluded with nothing more than picket duty and fortifications.

1862 was ushered in with joyous celebration at Ft. Lyon. A salute was fired on January 1st and much revelry was had by all, one may a say a little too much. While the 26th was stationed in Alexandria all those long months, they had the same problem they had while in Washington D.C., drinking and fighting. Some 30 odd cases of court-martial for drunkenness came about while stationed in Alexandria. Even though there was a temperance movement starting in the 26th, it was apparently no match of the boredom of camp life. Word of the spring offensive was buzzing around the camp, and the men of the 26th thought for sure they would be with McClellan attacking up the Virginia Peninsular. In May the regiment was officially assigned to Gen. James Ricketts’ newly formed brigade, and would soon be ordered to move out!

On May 2nd the orders to move out were finally given. The men of the 26th being excited quickly and packed their knapsacks and belongs and after turning over Ft. Lyon to the 94th New York Volunteers, they marched to the Alexandria docks. The troops moved out at 1 A.M. on the 3rd and upon reaching the wharfs, they boarded the steamers South America and North America and headed to Aquia Creek landings near Fredericksburg. The cruise took the whole day to move the 42 miles down the Potomac from Alexandria to Aquia. Landing that evening, they made camp three miles inland and then continued on to Brook’s Station (also in Aquia), on the railroad track just north of Fredericksburg . On May 9th they were ordered to report to Gen. McDowell’s headquarters in Fredericksburg some 15 miles away, they arrived later that day and bivouacked at Camp Mary Washington. What they thought was going to be orders to join McClellan for action, was actually an order to stay in the Fredericksburg area to rebuild the parts of Aquia that the rebels had destroyed prior to leaving. Mid-May saw the 26th at Camp James Ricketts opposite Fredericksburg. The camp, which was named for their new brigade commander, was on the 1,300-acre plantation grounds of a well known local secessionist. Needless to say, the New Yorkers were happy to be out of fort life, and even happier to be squatting on the land of a secessionist.

Stonewall Jackson had been wreaking havoc on the Federal forces in Virginia’s valley. So on May 24th orders were handed down for McDowell to send two of his four divisions to the Shenandoah to reinforce the Federal forces out there. Ricketts’ brigade was assigned to Gen. O. Ord’s division on May 20th. The 24th of May saw the New Yorkers marching back to Aquia Creek to board steamers once again to Alexandria on the 25th. Without stopping they then boarded trains at 11:00 P.M. to Manassas Junction. Their orders were for a forced march from Manassas Junction to Front Royal. They finally moved out of the 28th, marching all night and hugging the Manassas Gap rail line to Delaplane. Upon reaching Delaplane, they were ordered to leave knapsacks and excess baggage and to carry three days rations for a speedy march to Front Royal. They arrived at Front Royal, but too late for any action and the only part of battle they heard was the distant sounds of cannons.

On the 31st Gen. Ord was relieved of his command because of illness. Gen. Ricketts was then given command of the division, and the 26th’s own Col. Christian was given command of Ricketts’ brigade. The marches were long and hard, and the hot weather was making the men sick. Lt. Col. Richardson fell out with severe bouts of diarrhea and was given a furlough of one week on June 10th. It was at this point that the 26th saw a new trend emerging, desertion. Some men just decided that the long marches were just not to their liking and simply left.

The 18th of June saw the New Yorkers marching back to Manassas Junction. They struck their tents and boarded trains back to Manassas. For the next few weeks the 26th went into camp on the plains of Manassas. Moral suffered greatly as the failure of the march to Front Royal to stop Jackson had set in amongst the men, and the routine of picket, drill and inspection did not help any, especially since they all the thought the war was being fought far away in Richmond and without them. The weather was hot and miserable, and the men could not gain an advantage on the heat. Some men even took up the past time of giving guided tours of the previous summer’s battle at Bull Run to civilians visiting the site from Washington. This was to prove too much for some men, and desertion again began to rear its ugly head. In fact June of 1862 proved to be the worse yet, as 25 men permanently left their brothers-in-arms. However bad the weather was, or however low moral got, it seems that the men of the 26th at this point were in good health and the regimental surgeon claimed that there were no more than half a dozen men who could not make the march at once.

In late June, the new Army of Virginia was created. The 26th was to join the ranks of this new army under the command of Gen. John Pope. Pope wasted no time in putting a plan into action. The 4th of July saw the 26th preparing for a new campaign while encamped at Gainesville and Manassas. On the 5th they arrived in Warrenton, where they and their new division under Gen. Zealous B. Tower would stay for over a week, awaiting the next set of orders. The regiment was in good fighting condition, but was beginning to succumb to intestinal problems from their new camp and water supply; even Maj. Gilbert S. Jennings came down with illness. By the 12th it was obvious that a change of location was needed, it became apparent that Tower’s brigade was camped in a low-lying, swampy area a mile outside of Warrenton. After many complaints, by all officers of Tower’s brigade, he granted permission for the brigade to move to higher ground.

The bivouac in Warrenton finally came to a close on the 22nd of July, when orders came to move out. The man packed their tents and knapsacks, and ended up camping at Waterloo Bridge on the Rappahannock River, some eight miles away from Warrenton. It was hear that Gen. Pope personally reviewed Gen. Ricketts’ division on August 1st and complimented the division commander on the discipline and excellent bearing of his soldiers.

On the 5th of August the division broke camp and proceeded to march through Jeffersonville and finally halted outside of Culpepper on the afternoon of the 6th. The terrain was easy going, but the Virginia heat proved to be too much for some of the New Yorkers, and straggling was beginning to take its toll on the men. The boys from the 26th were last in the marching column; they were forced to choke on the dust from the rest of the brigade. Water was becoming scarce, which made the march that much more exhausting. Still the men were upbeat, as they speculated that they would soon see action. The men remained outside of Culpeper on August 7th.

Soon the 26th New York would see action, and some of the hardest marching they had seen since entering the army in Spring of ’61. August would soon prove to be a devastating month for the 26th as they would finally see the elephant.

*This synopsis was taken entirely from Paul Taylor and his book Glory Was Not Their Companion, The Twenty-Sixth New York Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War. They are for the most part his word and his maps, and all of his research. This work is not meant to be presented as the transcribers own work, but a quick glance at the story of the men of the 26th New York Volunteers, so that this may aid us in our interpretation of the 26th at the Return to Manassasreenactment.*

Field & Staff of the 26th New York Volunteer Infantry