From An Old Albany Family

Union Brigadier General Henry Bell Van Rensselaer a New York State Representative and Congressman, died March 23^rd 1864.

Henry Bell Van Rensselaer was born May 14^th 1810 at the family manor in Albany, New York, the son of Stephen and Margaret (Schuyler) Van Rensselaer III.  He received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating in 1831.  He served in the 5^th United States Infantry until January 27^th 1832, when he resigned his commission.  Van Rensselaer then settled near Ogdensburg, New York to be a gentleman farmer and serve as the military aide to New York State Governor William H Seward.  Running as a Whig, he was elected to Congress, serving from 1841 to 1843.

When the Civil War started Van Rensselaer rejoined the military, with the rank of Colonel, he was appointed to Chief of Staff for Union General Winfield Scott.  He served as the Union Inspector General from November 1861 until his death.  Van Rensselaer died March 23^rd 1863 in Cincinnati, Ohio.  He is buried in the Grace Episcopal Churchyard in Jamaica, Queens, New York.

A Long Serving Military Man

Union Captain George Lucas Hartsuff was appointed assistant adjutant general March 22^nd 1861 under the duty of General William S Rosecrans in West Virginia.

George Lucas Hartsuff was born May 28^th1830 in Tyre, New York.  He moved with his family in 1842 to Michigan.  He received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating 19^th in the class of 1852.  Hartsuff served in Texas and Florida and was wounded during the Seminole Indian Wars.  He survived the wreck of the steamer “the Lady Elgin” on Lake Michigan in September 8^th 1860, while serving at Fort Mackinac.

When the Civil War started Hartsuff was sent on an expedition in April 1861 to reinforce Fort Pickens in Pensacola, Florida.  He received an appointment on March 22^nd 1861 to Assistant Adjutant General under Union General William S Rosecrans in West Virginia, even briefly serving as Chief of Staff in the Mountain Department.  He was promoted to Brigadier General April 15^th 1862, serving in the III Corps of the Armies of Virginia and the Potomac, where he would lead men at the Battles of Cedar Mountain and Second Bull Run.  He was wounded in the hip during the Battle of Antietam.  With another promotion to Major General, Hartsuff was back in duty, commanding the XXIII Corps in the Army of the Ohio by May 28^th 1863.  At the end of the Civil War he was commanding the defenses at Bermuda Hundred in the Army of the James.

Hartsuff mustered out of the Union volunteer army and went back to service in the United States Army on August 24^th 1865 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.  Do to disabilities relating to old battle wounds he resigned his command on June 29^th 1871.  Hartsuff left the service with the rank of Major General.  He died of pneumonia May 16^th 1874 in New York City and is buried in the United States Military Academy Post Cemetery at West Point.

The Trade Point To Mexico

Fort Duncan in Texas, also called Camp Eagle Pass was abandoned by Union troops March 20^th 1861.

A temporary post was established at a strategic point on the east bank of the Rio Grande River known as Eagle Pass, at the beginning of the Mexican American War in 1846.  The permanent post was built there and name Fort Duncan after a Mexican American War hero, Colonel James Duncan.  The post was garrisoned on March 27^th 1849 by United States Captain Sidney Burbank with three infantry companies.  The Fort was important because of its location on the California Road, a significant trade crossing into Mexico.  In May 1859 the United States Secretary of War John B Floyd order the Fort abandoned, but United States Lieutenant Colonel Robert E Lee had the Fort reoccupied in March 1860.

With the start of the Civil War the Fort’s Union troops abandoned the post on March 20^th 1861.  It was occupied within a short time by Confederates using Texas Rangers and volunteers, the name changed to Rio Grande Station.  It would serve throughout the war as an important point of trade between the Confederacy and Mexico, with cotton going out and weapons coming in.

The End Of The Carolinia Fighting

The Battle of Bentonville a part of the Carolinians Campaign was fought March 19^th through 21^st 1865 near Four Oaks, North Carolina.

Union General William T Sherman split his army into two wings, with the right wing commanded by Major General Oliver O Howard, and the left wing under Major General Henry W Slocum.  Slocum’s men ran across entrenched troops belonging to Confederate General Joseph E Johnston army at Bentonville, North Carolina.

In the late afternoon of March 19^th 1865 the Confederates attacked the XIV Corps, routing two divisions.  It was only through counterattacks and hard fighting south of the Goldsborough Road that the Confederate offensive was slowed. Parts of the XX Corps entered the fight as they arrived on the field.  The fighting ended with coming darkness, and after the Confederates had made five assaults without dislodging the Union men.  Johnston reformed his line during the night into a “V” placing Mill Creek in his rear.

Sherman sent in reinforcements on March 20^th 1865.  He expected that Johnston would withdraw his troops, but everyone held their position with some minor skirmishing.

Union Major General Joseph A Mower took his Division on March 21^st 1865 down a narrow road into Johnson’s rear and made an attack.  The Confederates were able to drive off Mower’s men, and Mower rejoined the rest of Sherman’s men.  Johnston withdrew from the field during the night.  The casualties reported were 3,092 on the Confederate side and 1,646 for the Union troops.

The Youngest Raider

Union Private Jacob Wilson Parrott, a member of Andrews’ Raiders, was exchanged along with other members of the Raiders on March 17^th 1863 for Confederate soldiers at Camp Point, Virginia.

Jacob Wilson Parrott was born July 17^th 1843 in Fairfield County, Ohio, the son of George and Anna (Landfair) Parrett Jr.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Parrott joined the 90 day 20^th Ohio Infantry.  When the term of service was up he went home to Kenton, Ohio where he enlisted in Company K of the 33^rd Ohio Infantry.  His first combat was November 8^th 1861 during the Battle of Ivy Mountain.

In April 1862 when James J Andrews was looking for volunteers to take part in his raid, Parrott joined with 21 other men, becoming known as Andrews’ Raiders.  The Raiders slipped 200 miles south behind Confederate lines and hijacked the train “The General”.  Parrott was among the men who were captured during the raid.  While being held as a prisoner he was beaten numerous times in an attempt to get him to talk.  Parrott even escaped once with fourteen others, but was recaptured.  He was part of a prisoner exchanged March 17^th 1863.

After the exchange Parrott was taken to Washington, DC where he met with President Abraham Lincoln.  Parrott, the youngest surviving member of Andrews’ Raiders, was the first man to receive the Medal of Honor.  He would serve out the rest of the war ending as a First Lieutenant.

When the war ended Parrott returned to his home in Ohio.  He ran a stone quarry and worked as a cabinet maker.  While walking home on December 22^nd 1908, he had a heart attack and died.  Parrott is buried in the Grove Cemetery in Kenton, Ohio.

Parrott’s Medal of Honor citation reads: One of the 19 of 22 men (including 2 civilians) who, by direction of Gen. Mitchell (or Buell) penetrated nearly 200 miles south into enemy territory and captured a railroad train at Big Shanty, Ga., in an attempt to destroy the bridges and tracks between Chattanooga and Atlanta.

If I Had Ten Thousand Lives

Albert Hazlett, one of John Brown’s raiders was executed March 16^th 1860, even though he wasn’t with Brown during the Harper’s Ferry raid.

Albert Hazlett was born September 21^st 1837 in Pennsylvania.  He worked on his brother’s farm in Pennsylvania, before moving to Kansas.  He was described as a good sized and fine looking man.

Hazlett wasn’t with John Brown on the morning of October 18^th 1859 when Robert E Lee and a company of United States Marines brought an end to Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry.  Hazlett and another man; Osborne Anderson left Harpers Ferry the night before undetected.  The two men headed north into Pennsylvania.  Hazlett, who assumed the name William Harrison, was arrested October 22^nd 1859 in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.  He was brought before a judge in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, but was unable to convince the judge that they had the wrong person.  The judge ruled that while “there is no evidence that we have any man in our custody named Albert Hazlett, we are satisfied that a monstrous crime has been committed [and] that the prisoner…participated in it.”  Hazlett was sent back to Charlestown, Virginia for trail.

He was found guilty.  Hazlett was executed March 16^th 1860.  The night before his execution Hazlett wrote to a Mrs. Rebecca Spring, that it gives “me great comfort to know that my body would be taken from this land of chains.... I am willing to die in the cause of liberty, if I had ten thousand lives I would willingly lay them all down for the same cause."

Frantic Mothers And Kindred

The Confederate States Laboratory, which produced ammunition, had an explosion March 13^th 1863 killing 40 and injuring 23 others.

The Confederate States Laboratory was an ordnance factory, which was located on Brown’s Island in the James River near Richmond, Virginia.  The Laboratory was started by Confederate Captain Wesley Smith in 1861.  They made cartridges, caps, fuses, grenades, signal rockets, and primers for the Confederate Army.  Smith started by hiring just few workers, getting them well trained and then hire more as needed.  Most of his workers were female aged 9 to 20.  They turn out on average about 1,200 cartridges in a day.

On March 13^th 1863 sometime before noon the roar of the explosion was heard in Richmond, Virginia, but it wasn’t until dark smoke appeared that people headed to the island.  The Richmond Examiner wrote in its paper, “A tide of human beings, among them the frantic mothers and kindred of the employees in the laboratory, immediately set towards the bridge leading to the island, but the Government authorities, soonest apprised of the disaster, had already taken possession of the bridge, and planting a guard of soldiers, allowed passage to none except the workmen summoned to rescue the dead and wounded from the ruins.”

The building; in which the explosion occurred, was blown to pieces.  Once the flames were put out around 12 bodies were removed from the wreckage.  Out of the rest of the women all were in agony, with their hair and clothes burned away, many blinded, many unrecognizable.  Out of these another 28 would die within days.  Several of the women who were on fire, jumped into the river, where one drowned.  One woman whose clothing was on fire ran toward another building where large amounts of gunpowder were stored, but was luckily stopped by a male employee, saving many more lives.

The explosion is blamed on 18 year old Mary Ryan an Irish immigrant.  Witnesses say she was trying free a primer which was stuck to a varnishing board, by rapping on a table.  The primer went off and blew her to the ceiling; she came down and then was blown up again.  She died at her father’s home later and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.  The Laboratory was back up and running by December 1863.