Yelverton Inn
Lieutenant Colonels.
Francis M. Cummins, Sept. 10, 1863; Aug. 16, 1862; promoted to Colonel, Oct. 10, 1863.
Charles H. Weygant, Oct. 10, 1863; July 2, 1863; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865 (Brevet Colonel, U. S. V.)
Henry S. Murray, Jan. 11, 1865; Sept. 19, 1864; not mustered.
Majors.
James Cromwell, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; killed in action at Gettysburg, Pa., July 2, 1863.
Charles H. Weygant, Sept. 14, 1863; July 2, 1863; promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, Oct. 10, 1863.
Henry S. Murray, Oct. 10, 1863; July 2, 1863; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
James W. Benedict, Jan. 11, 1865: Sept. 19, 1864; not mustered.
Adjutants.
William Silliman, Sept. 10, 1862; July 16, 1862; promoted to Captain, Oct. 3, 1862.
C. Depeyster Arden, Oct. 3, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; discharged, Jan. 14, 1863.
William Brownson, Feb. 20, 1863; Dec. 31, 1863; resigned, Sept. 17, 1863.
William B. Van Houten, Oct. 10, 1863; Sept. 17, 1863; discharged, Jan. 23, 1865.
Wines E. Weygant, Jan. 31, 1865; Jan. 31, 1865; not mustered.
Quartermasters.
Augustus Denniston, Sept. 10, 1862; July 15, 1862; resigned, Jan. 14, 1863.
Henry F. Travis, Feb. 27, 1863; Jan. 14, 1863; promoted to Captain, Aug. 20, 1863.
Ellis Post, Aug. 20, 1863; April 21, 1863; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
Surgeons.
John H. Thompson, Sept. 10, 1862; July 26, 1862; dismissed Nov. 25, 1864; disability removed by order of the President, Jan. 14, 1865.
John H. Thompson, Feb. 15, 1865; Feb. 15, 1865; failed to muster.
Robert V. K. Montfort, March 22, 1865; March 22, 1865; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
Assistant Surgeons.
Edward G. Marshall, Sept. 10, 1862; Sept. 5, 1862; dismissed, Aug. 7, 1863.
Robert V. K. Montfort, Sept. 10, 1862; Sept. 10, 1862: promoted to surgeon, March 22, 1865.
Edward C. Fox, April 6, 1865; April 7, 1865; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
Chaplain.
Thomas Scott Bradner, Oct. 21, 1862; Aug. 23, 1862; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
Captains.
Charles H. Weygant, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 12, 1862; promoted to major, Sept. 14, 1863.
Charles B. Wood, Oct. 10, 1863; July 2, 1863; discharged, Sept. 21, 1864.
Thomas Taft, Nov. 15, 1864; Sept. 21, 1864; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
Henry S. Murray, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 14, 1862; promoted to major, Oct. 10, 1863.
William E. Mapes, Dec. 17, 1863; July 2, 1863; discharged, Dec. 15, 1864.
Robert J. Malone, Dec. 17, 1864; Sept. is, 1864; mustered out with regiment, June 3. 1865.
James Cromwell, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 15, 1862; promoted to major, Sept. 10, 1862.
William Silliman, Oct. 3, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; promoted to colonel, 26th U. S. C. T., Feb. 1, 1864.
James Finnegan, Feb. 9, 1864; Feb. 1, 1864; died of wounds, Oct. 28, 1864.
James A. Grier, Nov. 15, 1864; Oct. 27, 1864; not mustered.
James W. Benedict, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 16, 1862; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
John C. Wood, Feb. 18, 1865; Jan. 1, 1865; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
William A. McBurney, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 19, 1862; resigned, March 9, 1863.
Daniel Sayer, Dec. 17, 1863; March 6, 1863; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
Isaac Nicoll Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; killed in action at Gettysburg, Pa., July 2, 1863.
James O. Denniston, Aug. 20, 1863; July 2, 1862; not mustered.
Henry P. Ramsdell, Dec. 12, 1863; Oct. 7, 1863; not mustered.
Thomas J. Quick, Dec. 17, 1863; Dec. 10, 1863; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
Ira S. Bush, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; resigned, June 21, 1864.
John W. Houston, July 15, 1864; June 21, 1864; not mustered.
Edward J. Cormick, Nov. 15, 1864; Aug. 10, 1864; killed in action near Petersburg, Va., April 1, 1865.
Lander Clark, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; resigned, May 13, 1863.
Henry F. Travis, Aug. 20, 1863; April 21, 1863; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
William A. Jackson, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 23, 1862; killed in action near Petersburg, Va., June 18, 1864.
Lewis M. Wisner, July 15, 1864; July 14, 1864; not mustered as captain.
Thomas Bradley, Nov. 15, 1864; Aug. 2, 1864; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
David Crist, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 23, 1862; killed in action. May 30, 1864.
Theodore M. Roberson, Feb. 18, 1865; Jan. 1, 1865; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
First Lieutenants.
Charles B. Wood, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 12, 1862; promoted to captain, Oct. 10, 1863.
Charles T. Cressy, April 19, 1864; May 1, 1864; not mustered.
Thomas Taft, Aug. 2, 1864; July 20, 1864; promoted to captain, Nov. 15, 1864.
David U. Quick, Feb. 18, 1865; Jan. 1, 1865; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
Wines E. Weygant, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 14, 1862; resigned, Feb. 8, 1863.
William E. Mapes, Feb. 27, 1863; Feb. 8, 1863; promoted to captain, Feb. 27, 1863.
Edward J. Cormick, March 23, 1864; March 17, 1864; promoted to captain, Nov. 15, 1864.
Abram P. Francisco, Feb. 18, 1865; Jan. 1, 1865; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
William Brownson, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 15, 1862; promoted to adjutant, Feb. 20, 1863.
Henry P. Ramsdell, Feb. 20, 1863; Dec. 31, 1862; discharged, Dec. 13, 1863.
Daniel Sayer, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 16, 1862; promoted to captain, Dec. 17, 1863.
John W. Houston, Dec. 17, 1862; March 6, 1863; discharged, Dec. 13, 1863.
Ebenezer Holbert, July 15, 1864; June 21, 1864; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
Wm. A. Verplanck, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 10, 1862; discharged, Sept. 23, 1863.
Theodore M. Roberson, Dec. 17, 1863; Sept. 25, 1863; promoted to captain, Feb. 18, 1865.
Woodward T. Ogden, Feb. 18, 1865; Jan. 1, 1865; not mustered.
James O. Denniston, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; discharged, Oct. 17, 1863.
William H. Benjamin, Feb. 18, 1865; Jan. 1, 1865; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
Thomas J. Quick, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; promoted to captain, Dec. 17, 1863.
James A. Grier, Dec. 24, 1863; Dec. 10, 1863; not mustered.
John B. Stanbrough, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; resigned, Nov. 12, 1862.
Isaac M. Martin, Dec. 30, 1862; Nov. 12, 1862; dismissed, May 15, 1863.
Wm. B. Van Houten, Aug. 20, 1863; May 15, 1863; promoted to adjutant, Oct. 10, 1863.
Charles Stuart, Oct. 10, 1863; Sept. 17, 1863; discharged, May 15, 1865.
James H. Roosa, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 23, 1862; resigned, March 7, 1863.
James Finnegan, May 26, 1863; March 7, 1863; promoted to captain, Feb. 9, 1864.
Lewis M. Wisner, Feb. 23, 1864: Feb. 1, 1864; discharged, Aug. 5, 1864.
John C. Wood, Nov. 15, 1864; Aug. 1, 1864; promoted to captain, Feb. 18, 1865.
Thomas Hart, Feb. 18, 1865; Jan. 1, 1865; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
Henry Gowdy, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 22, 1863; died, May 11, 1864, of wounds.
John R. Hayes, Dec. 17, 1863; May 10, 1863; not mustered.
Thomas Bradley, Sept. 27, 1864; Aug. 1, 1864; promoted to captain, Nov. 15, 1864.
John S. King, Dec. 17, 1864; Sept. 15, 1864; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
Second Lieutenants.
Charles T. Cressy, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 12, 1862; promoted to first lieutenant, April 19, 1864.
Jonathan Birdsall, Aug. 2, 1864; July 20, 1864; killed in action near Petersburg, Va., Oct. 22, 1864.
Gabriel Tuthill, Feb. 27, 1863; Feb. 8, 1863; discharged, Feb. 23, 1864.
Henry P. Ramsdell, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 15, 1862: promoted to first lieutenant, Feb. 27, 1863.
James A. Grier, Feb. 20, 1863; Dec. 31, 1862; promoted to first lieutenant, Dec. 24, 1863.
Thomas Hart, Nov. 15, 1864; July 21, 1864; promoted to first lieutenant, Feb. 18, 1865.
John W. Houston, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 16, 1862; promoted to first lieutenant, Dec. 17, 1863.
Ebenezer Holbert, April 2, 1864; July 20, 1864: promoted to first lieutenant, July 15, 1864.
Thomas G. Mabie, Nov. 15, 1864; July 26, 1864; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
Adolphus Wittenbeecher, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 19, 1862; dismissed, March 19, 1863.
Theodore M. Roberson, May 26, 1863; March 6, 1863; promoted to first lieutenant, Dec. 17, 1863.
Woodward T. Ogden, Nov. 15, 1864; July 21, 1864; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
Sylvester Lawson, March 14, 1865; March 3, 1865; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
David Gibbs, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; resigned, Feb. 25, 1863.
Wm. H. Benjamin, May 26, 1863; Feb. 25. 1863; promoted to first lieutenant, Feb. 18, 1865.
Joshua V. Cole, Feb. 18. 1865; Jan. 1, 1865; not mustered.
Samuel W. Hotchkiss, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; resigned, April 2, 1864.
David U. Quick, Nov. 15, 1864; July 21, 1864; promoted to first lieutenant, Feb. 18, 1865.
Lewis T. Schultz, Feb. 18, 1865; Jan. 1, 1865; mustered out with regiment, June 3, 1865.
Isaac M. Martin, Sept. 10. 1862; Aug. 20, 1862; promoted to first lieutenant, Dec. 20, 1862.
Milnor Brown, Dec. 30, 1862; Dec. 30, 1862; killed in action at Gettysburg, Pa., July 2, 1863.
Charles Stuart, Aug. 20, 1863; July 2, 1863; promoted to first lieutenant, Oct. 10, 1863.
William W. Smith, April 19, 1864; Sept. 17, 1863; not mustered.
James Finnegan, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 23, 1862; promoted to first lieutenant, May 26, 1863.
Jacob Denton, May 26, 1863; March 7, 1863; not mustered; killed in action, May 3, 1863.
Lewis M. Wisner, Aug. 20, 1863; May 3, 1863; promoted to first lieutenant, Feb. 23, 1864.
John R. Hayes, Sept. 10, 1862; Aug. 22, 1862; discharged, April 8, 1864.
Henry Wisner
OTHER MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS.
Company I, 71st Regiment, N. G. S. N. Y., was recruited in Newburgh, mostly from Co. L, 19th Regiment, N. G. S. N. Y., between May 20 and 31, 1861, by Captain A. Van Horne Ellis. Governor Morgan refused to permit the company to leave the State, and thereupon Captain Ellis took it to New York on his own responsibility. It was furnished with transportation to Washington, was accepted through the influence of Secretary Seward, and mustered in for three months. It was stationed at the Washington Navy Yard, sent to Chapel Point and Point Tobacco, June 28, returned, and on July 16 was brigaded with Rhode Island and New Hampshire regiments under Colonel Burnside. It went to the Bull Run battlefield dragging two twelve-pound boat howitzers on July 4th, and returned with them. Soon it went back, arriving on the Bull Run battlefield July 21st, and in the battle fired 232 shots of shrapnel and canister. It drew out of the conflict by order at 3 P. M. with the loss of one killed and two wounded, and returned to Washington. It was soon back in Newburgh, where it was mustered out July 30th. The officers during this service were:
A. Van Horne Ellis, captain; George W. Hawkins, second lieutenant; Wm. H. Garrison, second sergeant; John McMeekin, third sergeant; James D. Hamilton, fourth sergeant; Charles Decker, first corporal; Marshal M. Van Zile, second corporal; Henry T. Travis, third sergeant; Thomas Riley, fourth sergeant.
May 28th, 1862, within seven hours, the company was again recruited for three months, and during that period was on guard duty in and around Washington. The officers were:
A. Van Horne Ellis, captain; Wm. H. Garrison, first lieutenant; James C. Taggart, second lieutenant; John W. Forsyth, first sergeant; Henry F. Travis, second sergeant; John McMeekin, third sergeant; James B. Montgomery, fourth sergeant; Thomas Riley, fifth sergeant; Robert Acheson, David M. De Witt, Wm. M. Verplanck and Edward J. Hall, corporals.
Captain Ellis afterward became colonel of the 124th, and several other members of the company became captains and lieutenants in the 124th, 56th and other regiments.
In May, 1862, the 19th regiment of militia, commanded by Colonel Wm. R. Brown, was ordered to Washington, and after recruiting its ranks, which had been depleted by volunteer enlistments, left Newburgh June 4. Arriving in Baltimore, it was ordered to Stuart Hill, and remained there until July 2nd, when two of its companies were ordered to Fort McHenrv and the rest of the regiment to Fort Marshall. On July 14 four companies were ordered to Fort Delaware, and remained there until August 10th, when they were sent to Havre de Grace to guard the railroad between there and Baltimore. The whole regiment went back to Newburgh the last of August, and was mustered out of the U. S. service September 6.
Officers during this expedition were: William J. Brown, colonel; James Low, lieutenant colonel; David Jagger, major; George Weller, quartermaster; William J. Hathaway, adjutant.
In August Colonel Brown twice offered the services of the regiment for nine months, but the offers were refused by Governor Morgan. He offered them again September 17, when they were accepted. Recruiting for it was complicated by the efforts of Colonel Isaac Wood to raise an authorized regiment of three years' men in the county at the same time, but he stopped after enlisting 272 men, who were consolidated with the 176th N. Y. V. and mustered in November 20th.
Colonel Brown continued to enroll volunteers until February 2nd, when his regiment, known as the 168th, left Newburgh with 750 men, and New York City eleven days later with 835 men. It went to Yorktown, and remained there on garrison duty during nearly its whole term of service. Once a detachment of 140 men under Captain Daniel Torbush was sent with detachments from other regiments up York and Mattapony Rivers, and the Torbush detachment was placed to guard the Richmond road. Here it was attacked by a force of Confederate cavalry, and repulsed them, killing fourteen, and losing one killed, five wounded and two captured. September 16th the regiment was sent to Bridgeport, Ala., and remained there on guard duty until October 14th, when it went back to Newburgh, and was mustered out October 31st. During its nine months of service it lost one killed, eighteen died, thirteen captured and 184 deserters. Its commissioned officers were:
J. N. Weed
The 176th regiment, with which Colonel Wood's 272 recruits were consolidated, was sent to the Department of the Gulf as a part of the Nineteenth Corps, and was in the Red River campaign in 1864, in General Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley campaign the same year, and in Georgia and North Carolina in the early months of 1865. In the Red River campaign it did some fighting and lost many men in killed, wounded and prisoners. Of its Orange County officers, T. Henry Edsall was adjutant, Sprague K. Wood rose from sergeant to captain, and Joseph Goodsell from second lieutenant to captain.
The company of cavalry recruited in the fall of 1861 by Morris I. McCormal as a part of Colonel Van Wyck's "Tenth Legion," when it was detached from this regiment was mustered in as Co. C, First Mounted Rifles, and had ninety-five men. The company served three years. Officers were: Morris I. McCormal, captain; Charles F. Allen, first lieutenant; Arthur Hagen, second lieutenant; Ardice Robbins, orderly sergeant; C. R. Smith, quartermaster sergeant. Captain McCormal resigned in 1862, but re-entered the service in the Fifteenth Cavalry in 1863. Quartermaster Smith and Sergeants James Eaton, Frank Mills and Fred Penney were promoted to lieutenants.
Orange County was represented in the Seventh, afterward Second, regiment of Cavalry, its volunteers being mostly in Co. B, under Captain Charles E. Morton of New Windsor. Alanson Randall, U. S. A., a native of Newburgh, was colonel of the regiment from November, 1864, to the muster out, June 5, 1865. The regiment was also known as the Harris Light Cavalry.
Recruits were obtained in Orange County for the Fifteenth Cavalry in the winter of 1863-4 by Captain Morris I. McCormal of Middletown, and Lieutenant Charles H. Lyon of Newburgh.
The Fifteenth Heavy Artillery's Co. M was mostly recruited in Orange County in the winter of 1863-4. The regiment was mustered in at Fort Lyon, Va., February 3, 1864, remained there until March 27th, when it went to Beverly Station and was assigned to duty in the Artillery Reserve of the Army of the Potomac, and did creditable service in several bloody battles. When Co. M was organized its officers were: Wm. D. Dickey of Newburgh, captain; Alfred Newbatt and Julius Niebergall, first lieutenants; John Ritchie and Robert B. Keeler, second lieutenants. August 15th Captain Dickey was placed in command of the Third Battalion and Lieutenant Ritchie took command of the company, leading it through the engagements in the struggle for the Weldon railroad, in one of which it lost in killed and wounded a third of its men. For the regiment's good work here and in a previous fight at Haines' Tavern it was complimented in the general orders of Meade. Co. M was mustered out in July, 1865. It lost during its year of service three officers and ninety-five privates. The promotions were: Captain Dickey to major, Second Lieutenants Keeler and Ritchie to first lieutenants, and Sergeants Joseph M. Dickey and Riemann to second lieutenants.
This Seventeenth Independent Battery was recruited in Orange to be a part of Colonel Van Wyck's "Tenth Legion" or 56th Regiment. It arrived in Washington November 11, 1861, and was organized as an independent battery January 10, 1862. It was first assigned to Casey's, afterwards Peek's division. It also served in the Seventh Corps, then in the Second division of the Eighteenth Corps, at Bermuda Hundred a short time in the Tenth Corps, and when mustered out formed a part of the artillery brigade of the Twenty-fourth Corps. It was in the siege of Yorktown, the battles of Williamsburg, Savage's Station, Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, the siege of Suffolk, and was in action at Petersburg, Dutch Gap, Fort Harrison, Hatcher's Run and Port Walthal. It was in the investment of Petersburg and Richmond. It suffered most severely at Fair Oaks. Its record was good throughout. Its commissioned officers were:
The First Regiment of Engineers, known as Serrell's, had in its ranks, it was said, 300 or 400 men from Orange County. Its detachments were mustered in between September 10, 1861, and February 12, 1862. The regiment retained its organization until June 30, 1865, when it was mustered out, but there were various changes in its composition. It was an important regiment in the engineering part of the service.
Company C of the 98th N. Y. S. V., was mostly recruited in Newburgh in the winter of 1863-4 by Captain James H. Anderson and Lieutenant J. K. R. Oakley, who had been in the 168th Regiment. They went to Riker's Island in February, 1864, and here consolidation requirements caused Co. C to consist of ninety-five Orange County men under Captain Anderson and Lieutenants Oakley and Sneed, and twenty-four were assigned to Co. I under Captain E. M. Allen. The record of the regiment was one of the best. It fought at Drury's Bluff, Cold Harbor and Petersburg. At Drury's Bluff it saved General Buller's army from a flank attack: at Cold Harbor it lost in killed and wounded 100 men; at Petersburg it charged the outer line of the enemy's works and was almost constantly under fire. Its colors were the first to be planted at Fort Harrison on September 29, 1864, and it was the first regiment to enter Richmond after the evacuation. After the surrender of Lee it was on post and garrison duty in several places, and was mustered out at Richmond August 31, 1865. Of the men who went out with Captain Anderson, thirteen were killed or died of wounds, twenty-three wounded, and five died of disease.
MONEY RAISED FOR THE WAR.
The following totals were raised by official action from town taxes, loans, state cash and bonds, for the towns named for war purposes:
Blooming Grove, $60,900; Chester, $54,192.67; Cornwall, $69,200; Crawford, $84,187.12; Deer Park, $242,981.83; Goshen, $83,233.05; Greenville, $54,016.45; Hamptonburgh, $21,000; Minisink, $57,271.62; Monroe, $160,968.65; Montgomery, $57,250; Mount Hope, $62,888.24; Newburgh, $455,637; New Windsor, $48,715,55; Wallkill, $95,100; Warwick, $201,070; Wawayanda, $51,750.
By the County: From taxes, 1864, $1,800; 1865, $90,649.50; from loans, 1864, $421,000; total, $513,449.50.
Towns and County: From taxes, 1862, $31,931; 1863, $2,000; 1864, $350,434.95; 1865, $257,581.82; from loans, 1862, $31,950; 1863, $35,318.70; 1864, $1,113,761.82; 1865, $229,278.41.
From State: Cash, $76,000; bonds, $252,000.53; interest on bonds, $3,473.51; other sources, $105.
Full total: $2,384,801.74.
The donations, cash subscriptions and draft exemption moneys, amounting to a very large sum, are not included in the foregoing figures.
This is one of the older towns of Orange County, lying somewhat northwest of the geographical center. The towns of Hamptonburgh and New Windsor are on the north, Cornwall on the east, Monroe and Woodbury on the south and Goshen and Chester on the west. It covers an area of 21,759 acres.
The title to all the territory of this town conveyed by the various original patents, upon which rests the deed of every property-holder to-day has been carefully preserved. The names and dates of the first settlers are also pretty fully recorded.
The oldest grant of land seems to be the Mompesson Patent, which is dated March 4, 1709, and confirmed May 31, 1712. This covered 1,000 acres. The next grant in order of time is that known as the Rip Van Dam patent, which is dated March 23, 1907 {sic} and covered some 3,000 acres. This was granted to Rip Van Dam, Adolph Phillips, David Provost, Jr., Lancaster Symes and Thomas Jones, each having an equal share in the tract. This is described as "beginning at a station bearing west 24 degrees north, and 85 chains from the wigwam of the Indian Maringamus," which was on the southwest bank of Murderer's Creek just across the railroad track from the Catholic Church of St. Mary. The present village of Salisbury Mills is on the east end of this patent so far as the village lies in the town. In the northeast corner of the town on the old county line is the 1,000 acre tract of Roger Van Dam which is dated June 30, 1720, although a portion of this tract extends over into the present town of New Windsor. The next patent was granted to Ann Hoagland, May 24, 1723, and it contained 2,000 acres in the western part of the town. In the southeastern part of the town, adjoining the Rip Van Dam patent, and west of the Schunnemunk Mountains was the 2,000 acre grant of Edward Blagg and Johannes Hey, dated March 28, 1726. This valley has been known ever since as Blagg's Clove. West of this was the irregular tract of 2,440 acres granted to Nathaniel Hazzard January 11, 1727. This was south of Washingtonville. Still further west was the Joseph Sackett 2,000-acre tract, to which 222 acres were afterward added on the south. This patent was dated July 7, 1736, and the tract adjoins the present village of Oxford. Sackett got another grant of 149 acres September 1, 1737, on the west.
On August 10, 1723 a patent covering 2,600 acres was granted to Richard Gerard and William Bull.
Benjamin C. Sears
PHYSICAL FEATURES.
The surface of this town is varied by the long range of Schunnemunk Mountains, forming the eastern boundary, with its level ridges reaching to the height of about 1,600 feet, and the beautiful foothills of Woodcock, Round Hill, Mosquito, Raynor and Peddler. The last two have deposits of magnetic iron ore, which mixed with the ores from other parts of the county was used in making the Parott guns during the War of the Rebellion. The cultivated land is also broken and rolling, some upon quite high hills, whose sides were not cultivated, and are covered with luxuriant blue grass pastures, and along the streams and the lower lands are beautiful natural meadows, which bring their annual tribute of hay into the barns, and add very much to the beauty of the scenery.
The Greycourt or Cromeline Creek runs from Walton Lake by the base of Goose Pond Mountain, through the Greycourt meadows and the picturesque falls at Craigville, through Farmingdale and Hulsetown, and is joined near the Hamptonburgh line by the Otterkill; near Washingtonville by the Tappan or Schunnemunk Creek, flowing from Sattterly's Mills; also by the Silver stream draining a portion of Blagg's Clove, and furnishing at the old Coleman Mills, the excellent water supply of Washingtonville. The united stream is called Murdner's or Murderer's Creek, to which N. P. Willis gave the more poetical name of "Moodna," where it entered the Hudson near Idlewild. These streams have along their bank beautiful natural meadows dotted with fine old trees, and the hill-tops are covered in places with sugar maple and chestnut trees, making in the early spring time a beautiful picture of varied green, and in the autumn a glorious variety of colors, which, together with the fine apple orchards crowning the hillsides, justifies the name of Blooming Grove.
EARLY SETTLERS.
Vincent Mathews seems to have been the first settler according to the record. He bought the Rip Van Dam Patent, August 22, 1721, and built a grist mill at the place since known as Salisbury. He named this estate "Mathewsfield." Thomas Goldsmith came next, about ten years later, and he took the Mompesson Patent. He built a house on the north bank of the Otterkill, now known as the "Walnut Grove Farm," near the present Washingtonville. Edward Blagg also settled upon this tract, known as "Blagg's Clove" about this time. Mathews sold his mill to John J. Carpenter, which was turned into a powder mill under a State contract in 1776, when under the kindling fires of patriotism the demand for powder became very active.
In 1753 Jesse Woodhull settled in Blagg's Clove, although he seems to have purchased the Richard Van Dam Patent upon which the Moffatt family afterward settled. Mr. Mathews, the original settler, was an attorney, and took an active part in the early history of the town. He sold 1,500 of his acres to Louis Du Bois, of New Paltz, who built a tavern upon it which was kept by Zachariah Du Bois in Revolutionary times.
Prior to 1764 the territory of this town was a part of the Goshen precinct. From that time to 1799 it formed a part of the town of Cornwall. The other prominent settlers of the town are believed to be included in the following list:
John Brewster, Edward, Francis, Isaac, Jesse and Nathan Brewster, Daniel Brewster, George Duryea, Richard Goldsmith, Benjamin Gregory, John Hudson, Henry Hudson, William Hudson, Archibald Little, Timothy, James and Solomon Little; James Mapes, and his sons Wines, Jesse, Robert, James, Barney, David, William and Thomas; Elihu Marvin, a member of the Committee of Safety in 1775, also judge of the county in 1778; Seth, Nathan, James, Jesse and John Marvin; Samuel Moffatt; James and Fletcher Mathews, sons of Vincent Mathews, who was a colonel in the Revolution and a leading citizen; Thomas Moffatt, member of the Committee of Safety from 1778 to 1794; Josiah, Samuel, Jacob, Stephen and Peter Reeder; Israel, Thaddeus, John, Jesse, Josiah and Samuel Seely; Bezaliel Seeley; Selah Strong, the first supervisor of the town; Major Samuel and Captain Nathan Strong; Nathaniel Satterly, member of Committee of Safety in 1775, and proprietor of Satterly's Mills in 1765; John and Selah Satterly; James, Nathaniel and John Sayer; Nathaniel Strong, member of Committee of Safety, who was shot at his door by Claudius Smith, October 6, 1778; Captain Jesse Woodhull, delegate to the first Provincial Convention, and member of the State Convention that revised the federal constitution in 1778; Abner Woodhull, George and Benjamin Whittaker; Silas, Reuben and Birdseye Young; Stephen Mathews, Gilbert, Zachariah and John Du Bois; Hezekiah, Isaiah, Stephen, Isaac, Paul, Zepheniah, Charles, Aaron, Silas and Jeremiah Howell; Benjamin and Thomas Goldsmith; David Coleman, Caleb, Joab, Asahel, Micah, Silas, Richard and Jeremiah Coleman; Thomas, John, Francis and Richard Drake; Nathaniel Coleman; Daniel Curtis; John Chandler; Henry and Oliver Davenport.
Among other family names recorded are those of Carpenter, Moffatt, Owens, Gregg and Wooley. It is said of the Woodhull family that its ancestry is distinctly traced to the individual who came to England from Normandy with William the Conqueror in 1066.
CIVIL ORGANIZATIONS.
The town of Blooming Grove was organized March 23, 1799, the territory being taken from the more ancient Cornwall township. The name Blooming Grove had long been in use for this part of Cornwall, being the name of the old village which was given to distinguish it from Hunting Grove, a locality then in New Windsor.
The first town meeting was held at the house of John Chandler, the first Tuesday of April, 1799. Selah Strong was then elected supervisor and Daniel Brewster town clerk. Two hundred dollars were raised for the support of the poor that year, and a $10 bounty was voted for each wolf killed within the town. Mr. Brewster served as town clerk for thirty-seven years without intermission. There was little personal politics in those times, and public office was probably regarded as a public trust.
In April, 1830, a part of the town was taken off in the formation of Hamptonburgh. In March, 1845, another small portion was set off to the town of Chester.
Charles W. Hull has been town clerk since 1874, and has just been reelected, so that his term will be nearly as long as John Brewster's.
The house of John Brewster, at which the town meetings were held, 1765 to 1799, was kept as a hotel and was said to be the homestead of the Cooper family, upon which is now situated the Blooming Grove station and post-office.
When the present town of Blooming Grove was formed, the principal center was at Blooming Grove, where the old church was erected, 1759. The first town meeting was held in the spring of 1759, at the house of John Chandler, who kept a general country store here several years previous to this, also at Edenville, near Warwick, taking in wheat and other grain which was carted to New Windsor, ground at the old mill on Quassaic Creek, and shipped to the West Indies and exchanged for sugar, molasses and other products of the tropics, which were brought back to Orange County by the Hudson River to New Windsor, and exchanged again for grain and other farm products. John Chandler purchased in 1793 a small farm, upon which his great-grandson, B. C. Sears, now resides. He was president of the Newburgh and New Windsor Turnpike Co., and of the Blooming Grove and Greycourt Turnpike Co., built by his son-in-law, Hector Craig. He was an elder in the Blooming Grove Church and a large land owner in this part of the county.
The village of Blooming Grove then consisted of the old church and the old Blooming Grove academy, built about 1810, to which many of the students came from the neighboring towns, boarding with the neighbors about. A part of it was used as a district school until 1857, when the present building was built upon the old academy site. A blacksmith-shop, kept later by Pierson Genung, a drug store, a cooper shop, the old toll-gate, the country store, and the hotel kept by Benjamin Thompson, where were held the town meetings, general trainings, etc., and the public were entertained, were on this the main thoroughfare from Warwick to New Windsor and later Newburgh. This property was conveyed to Samuel Moffatt, Jr., merchant, by the executors of Rev. Benoni Bradner, and by him to Seth Marvin in 1810, who built a store-house on a lot purchased of Charles Howell, 1810. Blooming Grove now consists only of the old church, the parsonage and the schoolhouse, and half a mile away the station, store and post-office, kept by C. C. Gerow, and the creamery owned by the Sheffield, Slawson, Decker Co.
Charles R. Bull
VARIOUS RESIDENTS
In 1810, Samuel Moffatt, Jr., having sold his place in Blooming Grove, moved to a new settlement at Washingtonville, building the old corner store, now owned by George A. Owen. Across the highway Moses Ely, the father of the late Dr. Ely, of Newburgh, had a tannery, and John Jaques, then a young man, opened here a shoe-shop. The old corner store, built in the woods almost, there being only two other dwellings, (a log house owned by James Giles and the private school of Jane Sweezey), was carried on by Samuel Moffatt and his son David, either alone or as members of the firm, from 1812 to 1832; then John S. Bull, 1832-1839; Walter Halsey and Apollis Halsey, 1839-1850; and the Warners and Williams Howell, 1850 to 1890, and George A. Owen, 1890, to this date. This store has always been, and is still, a prominent landmark in Washingtonville. In 1813, Jedediah Breed came to Washingtonville from Dutchess County, and built a harness shop adjoining the dwelling house now owned by his grandson, George A. Owen, and which has been occupied as a harness shop for nearly 100 years. Here Henry F. Breed kept the Blooming Grove post-office for forty years, nearly continuously; after his death the post-office was removed to the building of Alexander Moore, where, in 1872, the name was changed from Blooming Grove to Washingtonville.
Alexander Moore and his brother-in-law, Albert G. Owen, the father of George A. Owen, carried on a furniture and paint business here from 1830 to 1850, Moore being the postmaster and Owen, supervisor and justice for many years, and a member of the Assembly, 1849-1850. This village soon grew to be important, and is now one of the finest villages of its size in Orange County, having a beautiful shaded avenue of maples and many handsome residences. There are the Presbyterian and Methodist churches, Catholic Church of St. Mary, and the beautiful Moffatt Library, given to the village by David H. Moffatt, of Denver, and erected under the careful supervision of John Newton Moffatt, having a fine collection of books and a beautiful hall which is the convenient center for much social enjoyment; the large feed mill, originally built by David H. Moffatt, the father of David H., and now carried on by the Thomas Fulton Co., together with a large coal and lumber business; a similar establishment carried on by Hector Moffatt & Son, and the very large wine vaults of the Brotherhood Wine Co., successors to the James brothers' vineyard established in 1838. The Bordens also have here a large creamery, and there is also the Farmers' Creamery, now operated by the Mutual Milk and Cream Co., making this the most important station upon the Newburgh Branch of the Erie Railroad. It is surrounded by beautiful homes and thrifty farms. Within the corporation line are the home and farm of William H. Hallock, who owns several of the old ancestral homes throughout the town, which he has improved, and still runs with great business ability; also the ancestral homes of the Brooks family, descendants of Fletcher Mathews, one of the original settlers, and also the old Nicoll homestead, now occupied by Charles Nicoll.
Northwest of Washingtonville is the old Joseph Moffatt homestead, now held by his grandsons, C. R. Shons and S. L. Moffatt, who have beautiful orchards, which, with that of Jesse Hulse, crown the beautiful hilltop and have made "Blooming Grove apples" famous both at home and abroad; also the Walnut Grove farm, upon which the first Goldsmiths settled, and made famous by Alden Goldsmith and his sons, James and John A., now in the hands of the widow of John A. and her husband, Mr. O. B. Stillman; also the home of the late Captain Thomas N. Hulse, so long and so favorably known years ago to all travelers upon the Hudson River, now the home of his niece, Mrs. James A. Knapp, daughter of Benjamin Moffatt. Two and a half miles east of the village of Washingtonville is the village of Salisbury Mills, the oldest settlement of the town, where, on the falls of Murderer's Creek, Vincent Mathews built his mill, which later was owned by Captain Richard Caldwell, by Peter Van Allen, by Isaac Oakly, and is now the Arlington paper mills, owned and operated on a very large scale by Henry Ramsdell. Here in 1803 came John Caldwell, and with him his three sons, John, Andrew J. and Richard. Richard, then a mere lad, had been at the head of a company in the Emmet Rebellion, and through the clemency of Lord Cornwallis his sentence of death was commuted to banishment for himself and his father's family. He came to Salisbury with his father, and in 1808 married a daughter of John Chandler. He had the mill and a store at Salisbury. When the war with England in 1812 became a certainty, Richard Caldwell raised the 25th Co. Infantry of soldiers, was elected their captain, and led them toward Canada, crossing Lake Champlain in open boats, in a severe storm. He divided his extra clothing with his soldiers, and contracted a severe cold, resulting in pneumonia, and he died December 11, 1812, and is buried at Champlain, near Plattsburgh. His name is perpetuated by the beautiful monument erected in Salisbury Mills by his nephew, Richard Caldwell, to his memory and the memory of those who perished with him in that ill-advised and ill-equipped expedition; also to the memory of Captain Isaac Nicoll and those who died with him, in the War of the Rebellion. Captain Richard Caldwell left two children, John R. Caldwell, long well known as a prominent citizen of New Windsor, and Mary, the wife of Marcus Sears, M.D. The old house erected by John Caldwell in 1803 is still standing, long known as the home of Andrew J. Caldwell and his son, Richard Caldwell, both of whom stood firm for righteousness and temperance. In a part of the same grounds was the home of a sister, Mrs. Chambers, now occupied by the widow of Richard Caldwell, and from which still emanates a powerful influence for good to the whole village. Also the old home of the oldest son, John Caldwell, who was a merchant in New York, and on retiring came to live with his kindred in Salisbury, was the first president of the Orange County Agricultural Society, and was much interested in keeping silk worms and actually produced silk from the mulberry trees growing on his grounds in Salisbury.
Near the village stands a part of the old stone house, the home of Major Du Bois, who was a prominent man in the War of the Revolution, as major in Colonel Woodhull's regiment, who was a prisoner for ten months in the hands of the British, and who lost his extensive lands by the depreciation of the Colonial money and his enforced absence from home; also the beautiful home of the family of Hon. Robert Denniston. The ancestor of the Denniston family was Alexander Denniston, the brother-in-law of Charles Clinton, who with many of his friends and neighbors, all being Scotch Presbyterians, and tired of the exactions and demands of the crown, emigrated from the town of Edgeworth, county of Longford, Ireland, in the early summer of 1729. After a long, tedious voyage of nearly five months, they landed on Cape Cod; thence two years later they came to Little Britain. A family legend is, that these pioneers stood upon a hilltop about two miles northeast of Washingtonville and called the land in sight to the north, Little Britain, and there they settled. Alexander had six sons, James, George, Alexander, William, John, Charles, and four daughters. They were all stern patriots devoted to their country. The father was a member of Colonel Ellison's New Windsor regiment in 1738, and on frontier service in 1755. The six sons were all members of the Third Ulster County regiment, which was called out many times during the dark days of the Revolution. Two were members of the Committee of Safety and one served in the line during the whole war. Of these sons James was the only one that settled in the town of Blooming Grove, the others settling elsewhere, New Windsor, Cornwall, etc. He purchased, in 1790, the farm one mile east of Washingtonville, which still remains in the family. He had three sons, James, Alexander, Abraham, and two daughters. He died in 1805, leaving the homestead to his son James. The latter had one son, Robert, and four daughters. Dying in 1825, the homestead was inherited by his son Robert. The latter served as an officer of the militia, was justice of the peace in his native town, judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Orange County, was elected member of the New York State Assembly in 1835, and again in 1839 and 1840, and was State senator from 1841-1847 and State comptroller in 1860 and 1861. He was very active and energetic in his endeavors to maintain the Union during the War of the Rebellion, and was chairman of the military commission in the Orange and Sullivan Counties district. He had five sons, William Scott, James Otis, Robert, Henry Martyn, Augustus, and six daughters. These sons, like their ancestors, were all interested in the war for the preservation of the Union, and served either in the army or navy. William Scott was a surgeon in the volunteer army and died of fever, July, 1862. James Otis was first lieutenant and captain, Company G, 124th N. Y. State Volunteers, July 2, 1862, to September 3, 1863, when, on account of wounds, he was mustered out. He afterwards studied theology and retired from active church work in 1905. Augustus was first lieutenant and quartermaster in the same regiment from July 15, 1862, to February 3, 1863, resigning on account of physical debility. Henry Martyn entered the pay corps of the U. S. Navy in September, 1861, and after serving over forty years, on reaching the age of sixty-two years was placed on the retired list with the rank of rear admiral. Robert served as his assistant from March, 1863, to October, 1863, resigning on account of ill health, and died August, 1864. Augustus was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1874-1875, and president of Orange County Agricultural Society, 1879, to date; also president of Highland National Bank, and resides on the old homestead, which he owns.
West of Blooming Grove about two miles is located the village of Craigville, upon the falls of the Greycourt Creek, which formerly allowed three dams, all now gone, the combined power of which, together with the fact that the stream may be replenished from Walton Lake, or Long Pond, will at some future date be of value, as it was in the past. On the upper fall was located in the early days a forge, and some of the old slag is still in evidence. In later years a saw-mill and grist-mill were erected by Hector Craig, used afterward as the first manufactory of Hornby's Oats—H. O. The machinery has been removed since to Buffalo. The second fall was utilized by James Craig and his son, Hector Craig, for a paper mill in 1790.
After the death of Hector Craig, Barrett Ames, a son-in-law of Hector Craig, who had been a cotton merchant in Mobile, and his son-in-law, E. Peet, erected here a cotton factory, which was operated successfully for a number of years, but after the death of Mr. Ames, the property passed into other hands, and the cotton factory was burned down. Later the high dam was swept away and nothing remains but the ruins and the old house, which was once surrounded by beautiful gardens and was the scene of much social life when the home of Hector Craig, Barrett Ames and Irving Van Wart, who was a son-in-law of Mr. Ames. At this home Washington Irving, an uncle of Irving Van Wart, made one of his last visits, if not his last visit, far away from Sunnyside. To this old home came James Craig, in 1790, from Paisley, Scotland, bringing with him his family. His son, Hector Craig, born in Scotland, 1775, married a daughter of John Chandler, 1796. He was a member of Congress, 1823-1825 and 1829-1830. He was a strong supporter of Andrew Jackson, is said to have cast the first vote in Congress for Andrew Jackson for President, and was by him appointed surveyor of the port in 1830, and U. S. commissioner of bankruptcy in 1832. Hector Craig carried on the paper mill during his life, and also for a time the manufacture of hemp from the Chester meadows, which had been drained by act of Legislature in 1790. The old storehouse built by him is still carried on by Edwin Duryea, and the old hotel is still standing, a part of the Hornby property. The third fall, much lower, turned the mill of Uncle Silas Seaman and his son, Valentine Seaman, but is now out of use, and the property of H. S. Ramsdell. Just beyond the terminus of the Blooming Grove and Greycourt turnpike is the old Greycourt Cemetery, the burial place of many respected citizens of this and adjoining towns.