CHAPTER XXXIV.Departure for Home.—Orations at Geneva and Canandaigua.
Departure for Home.—Orations at Geneva and Canandaigua.
Tuesday, May 12th, Colonel Taylor brought the welcome intelligence to the Regiment, that they were to go home on the coming Friday. The order for their departure was accompanied by the following addresses from the Corps, Division, and Brigade Generals.
Headquarters Sixth Army Corps, May 13, 1863.Special Order No. 120.5. The term of service of the Thirty-third New York Volunteers having expired, they will proceed at once to Elmira, New York, the place of enrolment, where they will be mustered out of the service. Upon their arrival there, their arms, equipments and public property will be turned in to the proper officers. The Quartermaster’s Department will furnish transportation from Falmouth.The General commanding the Corps congratulates the officers and men of the Thirty-third New York Volunteers upon their honorable return to civil life. They have enjoyed the respect and confidence of their companions and commanders; they have illustrated their term of service by gallant deeds,and have won for themselves a reputation not surpassed in the Army of the Potomac, and have nobly earned the gratitude of the Republic.By Command ofMAJOR GENERAL SEDGWICK.(Signed,)M. T. McMahon,Assistant Adjutant General.
Headquarters Sixth Army Corps, May 13, 1863.
Special Order No. 120.
5. The term of service of the Thirty-third New York Volunteers having expired, they will proceed at once to Elmira, New York, the place of enrolment, where they will be mustered out of the service. Upon their arrival there, their arms, equipments and public property will be turned in to the proper officers. The Quartermaster’s Department will furnish transportation from Falmouth.
The General commanding the Corps congratulates the officers and men of the Thirty-third New York Volunteers upon their honorable return to civil life. They have enjoyed the respect and confidence of their companions and commanders; they have illustrated their term of service by gallant deeds,and have won for themselves a reputation not surpassed in the Army of the Potomac, and have nobly earned the gratitude of the Republic.
By Command of
MAJOR GENERAL SEDGWICK.
(Signed,)M. T. McMahon,Assistant Adjutant General.
Headquarters Second Division, Sixth Corps, May 14th, 1863.General Orders No. 26.By the rules of enlistment, the term of service of the Thirty-third Regiment New York Volunteers expires to-day, and they are entitled to an honorable discharge from the service of the United States. Yet the General Commanding the Division cannot let this Regiment depart without expressing his regret at their leaving, and hopes that they will speedily re-organize and join this command, to serve their country once more and to the end of this war, with the same spirit as they have served for the last two years. To say that this Regiment, in camp, on the march, and in all the many hard battles in which they were engaged, have done their duty and behaved gallantly, is but a weak expression of the acknowledgment of their good services. They have earned for themselves the approbation and confidence oftheir Commanders, and fully deserve the gratitude of their country. By order ofBRIGADIER-GENERAL HOWE.Charles Mundee,Major and A. A. G.
Headquarters Second Division, Sixth Corps, May 14th, 1863.
General Orders No. 26.
By the rules of enlistment, the term of service of the Thirty-third Regiment New York Volunteers expires to-day, and they are entitled to an honorable discharge from the service of the United States. Yet the General Commanding the Division cannot let this Regiment depart without expressing his regret at their leaving, and hopes that they will speedily re-organize and join this command, to serve their country once more and to the end of this war, with the same spirit as they have served for the last two years. To say that this Regiment, in camp, on the march, and in all the many hard battles in which they were engaged, have done their duty and behaved gallantly, is but a weak expression of the acknowledgment of their good services. They have earned for themselves the approbation and confidence oftheir Commanders, and fully deserve the gratitude of their country. By order of
BRIGADIER-GENERAL HOWE.
Charles Mundee,Major and A. A. G.
Headquarters Third Brigade, Second Division, Sixth Army Corps, May 14th, 1863.The Brigadier General Commanding the Third Brigade, cannot part with the Thirty-third New York Volunteers, without expressing to the officers and men of that gallant Regiment, who have fought under his eye and command with so much honor and distinction, his regret at our separation, his well wishes for your future.No words can express what you all must feel—the sense of having fought nobly for our country, and suffered bravely for the cause. The memory of those who have fallen is tenderly cherished, and your Brigade Commander bids you “God Speed” in anything you may undertake in the future.Sincerely,BRIG. GEN. THOMAS H. NEILL,Commanding Third Brigade.
Headquarters Third Brigade, Second Division, Sixth Army Corps, May 14th, 1863.
The Brigadier General Commanding the Third Brigade, cannot part with the Thirty-third New York Volunteers, without expressing to the officers and men of that gallant Regiment, who have fought under his eye and command with so much honor and distinction, his regret at our separation, his well wishes for your future.
No words can express what you all must feel—the sense of having fought nobly for our country, and suffered bravely for the cause. The memory of those who have fallen is tenderly cherished, and your Brigade Commander bids you “God Speed” in anything you may undertake in the future.
Sincerely,
BRIG. GEN. THOMAS H. NEILL,Commanding Third Brigade.
On the evening before departure, Colonel Taylor assembled the recruits, numbering one hundred and sixty-three, who having enlisted for three years,were to be left, and addressed them a few words of parting; expressing his regret that they were not to accompany the Regiment home; urging them to conduct themselves in the future, gallantly, as they had done in the past; and informing them that their officers and comrades, though absent in body, would be present with them in spirit. Lieutenant-Colonel Corning followed with a brief address. They were formed into one Company, and attached, under Captain Gifford, to the Forty-ninth New York.
Early Friday morning, the Regiment proceeded to Brooks’ Station. Just before leaving the camp, the Seventh Maine, which had been intimately associated with the Thirty-third during its entire campaign, appeared in a body, and presented their adieus.
Leaving Brook’s Station at 9 o’clock, they reached Acquia Landing, and embarking on board a small steamer, an hour later, arrived at Washington about 4 o’clock P. M. The men were quartered in barracks until the following day, when they left at noon on a special train for Elmira, reaching that city at 4 o’clock on Sunday afternoon.
The Regiment remained here until the following Saturday, when it departed for Geneva, to receive a magnificent welcome, tendered by the citizens of that village. As the little steamer conveying the men hove in sight, they were greeted with the thunder of artillery, mingled with the chimes of the various church bells, and, on disembarking at the wharf,were met by the village authorities, and a large deputation of citizens. After a few moments spent in congratulation, the Regiment formed in procession, and marched through the principal streets to the park, where the following address was listened to from Hon.Charles J. Folger:
Colonel Taylor, and Officers and Men of the Thirty-third Regiment:There has fallen to me the pleasant duty of tendering to you a welcome home again. In behalf of the community from which you went forth, I offer you a hearty and an overflowing welcome back from your service as soldiers.But it does not seem to us that you are the same men from whom we parted. It is now two years since we saw you, some of you, leave this shore, young volunteers, familiar only with the ways of happy homes and a peaceful community, and now you return to us bronzed and scarred veterans, conversant with all the rude alarms of war, having looked death steadily in the face in many a well-contested field of strife, and having won for yourselves an ample soldierly reputation.Two years ago, I said! It seems, as we look back, but a little space, yet how full that time has been crowded with stirring incidents and exciting events. And to none more than to you have come those events and those incidents. Of what we have only read or heard with but a dull ear, of that you have been a great part, and have lookedupon with courageous eyes. We can scarcely name a battle in the long catalogue which tells of the acts and achievements of the Army of the Potomac, in which the Thirty-third Regiment has not borne a part, and borne it valiantly and well.Raised, as you for the most part were, in that district of country which once fell within the limits of old Ontario County, you went forth with the name of the Ontario Regiment, and that fact has always endeared you to us in this immediate region. You were christened after our County. It is a proud old name, for Ontario is the mother of Counties not only, but the Mother ofMenas well. And we felt proud of you, for we were, and are, proud of the name: and we were jealous of it, too; jealous that it should take no tarnish in your hands. But as report after report came back to us of your good behavior; of your courage and steadiness; of your fiery valor; our jealousy was gone, lost, merged in a sense of swelling pride, that the noble old name of Ontario had been so well bestowed, and that not only it took no stain, but that it received an additional and higher lustre and great glory from the soldiers of the Thirty-third.And you may be sure that when the news came of battles fought, and the papers told us of our troops in action, there was a speedy search here for the name and exploits of the Thirty-third, and an eager community was interested in its sufferings and in its achievements, and never, never pained by its defaults, or by its individual disasters.And so as time went on, though you may not have noticed it, the Regiment which went out as the Ontario Regiment, came to be called the Thirty-third, or Ontario Regiment. And then, and not long after, naught else but the Thirty-third, and that was a sufficient and an individual designation, for you had made the “two threes” famous throughout the army and the country; and you needed no appellation of distinction, save your own name, the gallant Thirty-third—“Taylor’s Fighting D——s.” And all this has been due to, and resultant from, the good qualities and spirit of the men, encouraged and trained, and brought up by the labors and example of the officers.We owe you many thanks; we offer them to you, now that you have so well, so eminently, glorified this community, whose geographical name you have borne.I just said that we traced the papers after a battle, and looked for mention of the Thirty-third and its deeds; and then the days after, when came the long and sorrowful list of casualties, with what tremor and apprehension we looked again for the beloved number, 33. For well we knew, that where all were so brave in battle, some must have met Death and yielded to his power. And we cannot now look upon your thinned ranks and diminished numbers without missing from them some well-remembered faces, very dear to many among us. Nor without feeling that a great and awful sacrifice had been made for a great and righteous cause. And more especially wasthis the case, when the report came of the last conflict upon the Rappahannock, so glorious and yet so fatal to your Regiment. When here at home all was buoyant expectation of your soon return, even then announced, it was sad and sorrowful indeed, to read and know that there was no return for, alas! too many.Yet it is a consolation that the sacrifice so costly has been made for a cause, precious above price, for the defence of constitutional and legitimate Government, against the assaults of a hateful and hated rebellion in arms. And there is the further consolation, that no one who has been taken from your ranks has died the death of a traitor or of a deserter, or as a coward running from the fate which overtook him; but that loyally, manfully, gallantly, all have stood with their comrades, and have met their destiny as a true soldier loves to meet it, with his face toward the foe.And you have brought back with you your colors, the last thing which a brave Regiment surrenders. These colors have never been surrendered, have never been repulsed, have never been driven back, have never retreated save at the order of the General Commanding, and when a whole army or the whole force fell back with them. The Thirty-third has never, as a Regiment, fallen back upon compulsion, but has often stopped the current of the enemy’s advance, and has turned the tide of many an unpromising conflict, and saved from the chronicle the record of a loyal defeat. Torn by shot and shell, dim withthe stain of the elements, spotted with the blood of its brave defenders, and faded from the bright hues which were first unfurled to the sunlight, these colors yet bear upon them one word, which is a sunbeam of itself—“WILLIAMSBURG,”inscribed there for gallant conduct and persistent, obdurate bravery in that field, by an order delivered to you from the mouth of your Commander-in-Chief, George B. McClellan.That one word written there is a lustre and a glory which no warp and woof of the artificer, though shot with silk of richest dye, and with thread of purest gold, can equal or imitate.It is worn and tattered. But the perils it has shared with you, the hardships you have borne under it, make it beautiful and sacred to us, men of inaction, who now look upon it, the mute yet eloquent witnesses of all your noble deeds. It will soon take its place in the treasured archives of this noble State, among its kindred flags, second to none, equal to any in interest.But I weary your patience with a theme which grows upon my mind, and I must come to a close.I hope we all, whose spokesman I now am, hope and pray that, escaped from the hardships of your service, you may live long to enjoy the blessings of a Government and a Union, as we trust, saved and restored, in no small part, by your devotion. And it will add no canker to your enjoyment to reflect,that you turned your back upon home and its comforts and endearments, and perilled all for the preservation of this Nationality, and all there is so priceless, bound up in its perpetuity.And let me say, in conclusion, that I know in this generation of American men, no one who has a right to bear himself with a prouder, loftier self-respect, than he who two years ago, when the country of his birth, or of his adoption, was in the dark hour of its extremest danger, and seemed ready for extinction, stepped forth from the mass of community as a volunteer soldier for its defence; and who, through two years of varying fortune, has kept right on in the path of duty, and ready at every call; has braved danger, has endured hardships, has met deadly peril face to face, and never flinched; and who, now his term of service is over, returns to the society he has protected, to pursue the ordinary avocations of life, the pursuit of which would have been ended and lost in political chaos but for his sacrifices and his daring. I am not able to express the emotions which swell my soul when I look upon the men who have done all this. Let him who can survey them unmoved, go ally himself to the iceberg, or confess himself the spawn of that Devil, who, all self and selfish emotion, is the only legitimate progenitor of such a cold and heartless wretch.Again and again, Colonel and Officers and Men of our own gallant Thirty-third, I return you the public thanks, and give you the public hearty welcome home.
Colonel Taylor, and Officers and Men of the Thirty-third Regiment:
There has fallen to me the pleasant duty of tendering to you a welcome home again. In behalf of the community from which you went forth, I offer you a hearty and an overflowing welcome back from your service as soldiers.
But it does not seem to us that you are the same men from whom we parted. It is now two years since we saw you, some of you, leave this shore, young volunteers, familiar only with the ways of happy homes and a peaceful community, and now you return to us bronzed and scarred veterans, conversant with all the rude alarms of war, having looked death steadily in the face in many a well-contested field of strife, and having won for yourselves an ample soldierly reputation.
Two years ago, I said! It seems, as we look back, but a little space, yet how full that time has been crowded with stirring incidents and exciting events. And to none more than to you have come those events and those incidents. Of what we have only read or heard with but a dull ear, of that you have been a great part, and have lookedupon with courageous eyes. We can scarcely name a battle in the long catalogue which tells of the acts and achievements of the Army of the Potomac, in which the Thirty-third Regiment has not borne a part, and borne it valiantly and well.
Raised, as you for the most part were, in that district of country which once fell within the limits of old Ontario County, you went forth with the name of the Ontario Regiment, and that fact has always endeared you to us in this immediate region. You were christened after our County. It is a proud old name, for Ontario is the mother of Counties not only, but the Mother ofMenas well. And we felt proud of you, for we were, and are, proud of the name: and we were jealous of it, too; jealous that it should take no tarnish in your hands. But as report after report came back to us of your good behavior; of your courage and steadiness; of your fiery valor; our jealousy was gone, lost, merged in a sense of swelling pride, that the noble old name of Ontario had been so well bestowed, and that not only it took no stain, but that it received an additional and higher lustre and great glory from the soldiers of the Thirty-third.
And you may be sure that when the news came of battles fought, and the papers told us of our troops in action, there was a speedy search here for the name and exploits of the Thirty-third, and an eager community was interested in its sufferings and in its achievements, and never, never pained by its defaults, or by its individual disasters.
And so as time went on, though you may not have noticed it, the Regiment which went out as the Ontario Regiment, came to be called the Thirty-third, or Ontario Regiment. And then, and not long after, naught else but the Thirty-third, and that was a sufficient and an individual designation, for you had made the “two threes” famous throughout the army and the country; and you needed no appellation of distinction, save your own name, the gallant Thirty-third—“Taylor’s Fighting D——s.” And all this has been due to, and resultant from, the good qualities and spirit of the men, encouraged and trained, and brought up by the labors and example of the officers.
We owe you many thanks; we offer them to you, now that you have so well, so eminently, glorified this community, whose geographical name you have borne.
I just said that we traced the papers after a battle, and looked for mention of the Thirty-third and its deeds; and then the days after, when came the long and sorrowful list of casualties, with what tremor and apprehension we looked again for the beloved number, 33. For well we knew, that where all were so brave in battle, some must have met Death and yielded to his power. And we cannot now look upon your thinned ranks and diminished numbers without missing from them some well-remembered faces, very dear to many among us. Nor without feeling that a great and awful sacrifice had been made for a great and righteous cause. And more especially wasthis the case, when the report came of the last conflict upon the Rappahannock, so glorious and yet so fatal to your Regiment. When here at home all was buoyant expectation of your soon return, even then announced, it was sad and sorrowful indeed, to read and know that there was no return for, alas! too many.
Yet it is a consolation that the sacrifice so costly has been made for a cause, precious above price, for the defence of constitutional and legitimate Government, against the assaults of a hateful and hated rebellion in arms. And there is the further consolation, that no one who has been taken from your ranks has died the death of a traitor or of a deserter, or as a coward running from the fate which overtook him; but that loyally, manfully, gallantly, all have stood with their comrades, and have met their destiny as a true soldier loves to meet it, with his face toward the foe.
And you have brought back with you your colors, the last thing which a brave Regiment surrenders. These colors have never been surrendered, have never been repulsed, have never been driven back, have never retreated save at the order of the General Commanding, and when a whole army or the whole force fell back with them. The Thirty-third has never, as a Regiment, fallen back upon compulsion, but has often stopped the current of the enemy’s advance, and has turned the tide of many an unpromising conflict, and saved from the chronicle the record of a loyal defeat. Torn by shot and shell, dim withthe stain of the elements, spotted with the blood of its brave defenders, and faded from the bright hues which were first unfurled to the sunlight, these colors yet bear upon them one word, which is a sunbeam of itself—
“WILLIAMSBURG,”
inscribed there for gallant conduct and persistent, obdurate bravery in that field, by an order delivered to you from the mouth of your Commander-in-Chief, George B. McClellan.
That one word written there is a lustre and a glory which no warp and woof of the artificer, though shot with silk of richest dye, and with thread of purest gold, can equal or imitate.
It is worn and tattered. But the perils it has shared with you, the hardships you have borne under it, make it beautiful and sacred to us, men of inaction, who now look upon it, the mute yet eloquent witnesses of all your noble deeds. It will soon take its place in the treasured archives of this noble State, among its kindred flags, second to none, equal to any in interest.
But I weary your patience with a theme which grows upon my mind, and I must come to a close.
I hope we all, whose spokesman I now am, hope and pray that, escaped from the hardships of your service, you may live long to enjoy the blessings of a Government and a Union, as we trust, saved and restored, in no small part, by your devotion. And it will add no canker to your enjoyment to reflect,that you turned your back upon home and its comforts and endearments, and perilled all for the preservation of this Nationality, and all there is so priceless, bound up in its perpetuity.
And let me say, in conclusion, that I know in this generation of American men, no one who has a right to bear himself with a prouder, loftier self-respect, than he who two years ago, when the country of his birth, or of his adoption, was in the dark hour of its extremest danger, and seemed ready for extinction, stepped forth from the mass of community as a volunteer soldier for its defence; and who, through two years of varying fortune, has kept right on in the path of duty, and ready at every call; has braved danger, has endured hardships, has met deadly peril face to face, and never flinched; and who, now his term of service is over, returns to the society he has protected, to pursue the ordinary avocations of life, the pursuit of which would have been ended and lost in political chaos but for his sacrifices and his daring. I am not able to express the emotions which swell my soul when I look upon the men who have done all this. Let him who can survey them unmoved, go ally himself to the iceberg, or confess himself the spawn of that Devil, who, all self and selfish emotion, is the only legitimate progenitor of such a cold and heartless wretch.
Again and again, Colonel and Officers and Men of our own gallant Thirty-third, I return you the public thanks, and give you the public hearty welcome home.
Col. Taylor responded as follows:
Friends and Fellow-Citizens:—It gives me unbounded pleasure to meet with you again in Geneva, and I feel grateful to you for the warm hospitality and kind reception you have given to my Regiment. Words can but poorly express the gratitude of our soldier hearts for this unexpected welcome from your hands; and rest assured we shall long cherish the remembrance of this hour as among the happiest of our lives.Friends, I did not come here to address you at length, and you doubtless are all aware that I am not a man of many words, but rather a man of actions, and quite unaccustomed to public speaking. Therefore, you will pardon my brevity, while I assure you that we feel more than we speak. When we left you two years ago, we resolved to do our duty in the field, and can freely say that there’s not a man in the Thirty-third Regiment but has done hiswholeduty on all occasions. What our career has been during this eventful period you need not be told. You are familiar with every engagement, and if our conduct on these occasions but merits your approval, we are content.Again I thank you all kindly in behalf of my Regiment, for the welcome you have extended to us, and should unlooked-for events transpire that would demand their services, my Regiment would be among the first to respond to the call, and I believe every man would be found again in the ranks.
Friends and Fellow-Citizens:—It gives me unbounded pleasure to meet with you again in Geneva, and I feel grateful to you for the warm hospitality and kind reception you have given to my Regiment. Words can but poorly express the gratitude of our soldier hearts for this unexpected welcome from your hands; and rest assured we shall long cherish the remembrance of this hour as among the happiest of our lives.
Friends, I did not come here to address you at length, and you doubtless are all aware that I am not a man of many words, but rather a man of actions, and quite unaccustomed to public speaking. Therefore, you will pardon my brevity, while I assure you that we feel more than we speak. When we left you two years ago, we resolved to do our duty in the field, and can freely say that there’s not a man in the Thirty-third Regiment but has done hiswholeduty on all occasions. What our career has been during this eventful period you need not be told. You are familiar with every engagement, and if our conduct on these occasions but merits your approval, we are content.
Again I thank you all kindly in behalf of my Regiment, for the welcome you have extended to us, and should unlooked-for events transpire that would demand their services, my Regiment would be among the first to respond to the call, and I believe every man would be found again in the ranks.
Three cheers were now given for the citizens of Geneva, and three more for the Union, after which the soldiers repaired to Camp Swift, to partake of a bounteous repast prepared by the ladies of the village. The tables groaned under the profusion of choice delicacies, which were dispensed by fair hands to the war-worn veterans.
The remainder of the day was spent in visiting with friends and recounting incidents connected with the two year’s campaign. During the morning, a number of the Regiment, who had been taken prisoners at Salem Heights, arrived from Annapolis, and participated in the generous hospitalities. Twenty-five of the wounded, who returned with the command, were likewise most of them present.