Did Pelham Residents Die Fighting for the Union During the Civil War?

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For more than a decade I have been saddened by a gaping hole in the available records regarding the history of the Town of Pelham regarding service by Pelham residents during the American Civil War.  What Pelham residents served the Union during the war?  Did any lose their lives in service to our country? In what units did they serve?

The answers to these and related questions have never been documented authoritatively despite Pelham's notable support of the Union cause in many other ways.  At the end of today's article I have included a bibliography with links to previous articles that deal with Pelham and the Civil War.

More than ten years ago I published a tentative list taken from records of early Memorial Day celebrations providing the names of thirteen Pelham residents said to have lost their lives during the Civil War.  Thus, imagine my shock when I recently ran across a very brief newspaper reference stating that of the sixty Pelham volunteers who fought for the Union during the Civil War, only eleven returned.  More specifically, the item stated:

"County Items. . . . 

Pelham sent sixty volunteers to the front during the Civil War.  Eleven of them returned.  The little town is anxious to erect a soldier's monument to commemorate her sons. . . ."

Source:  County Items, The Item [Chappaqua, NY], Aug. 5, 1897, Vol. II, No. 38, p. 1, col. 2. 

If the report is true, it is particularly sad that the names of so many Pelhamites who sacrificed everything for their country have been lost to history, at least for now.  If true, that must be remedied.

In an effort to begin a more systematic inquiry into the matter, I have extracted from the Ancestry.com database reflecting United States Draft Registrations from 1863 until 1865 the names of all men reflected in that database as registered for the draft from within the "New Rochelle / Pelham" region of the 10th Congressional District that covered Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam Counties at the time.  The list appears immediately below.  It is merely a first step.  Although some names on the list are immediately recognizable as Pelham residents at the time, the list needs to be matched against the 1860 U.S. Census for Pelham to identify Pelham residents (an admittedly rough way to do it) and the subset of Pelham residents thus determined will need to be matched against the Database of U.S. Civil War Soldiers and Sailors to determine who, among the Pelham residents drafted, actually served rather than, for example, hiring a substitute.  (Again, this is an admittedly rough way to do it.)  Here is the list of those drafted from New Rochelle / Pelham in 1863-1865 (190 names).

Alvin Adams

Edward Andrews

Lewis Anthony

Edward F Baker

Gev O Bashford

Michael Bau

William F Billard

Benjamin Blizzard

John Blorw

Michael Boorman

Elijah Booth

Daniel C Booth

John R Boulle

William Boya

Thomas Brown

John E Burrell

Patrick Cahill

Edward Campbell

William Carter

William H Carter

William Cochran

Michael Coe

Bemard Collins

Richard Comne

Henry Cownell

T Cox

Michael Darcy

William Dasler

Amos M Davis

James Deveran

John D Devoe

Timothy Dillon

Thoma W Disbrow

Livingston Disbrow

Daniel Doby

Peter Donnelly

Michael Donohoe

James Dought

Daniel Dunn

R W Edgar

Jonathan S Eley

David Field

Joseph Filey

George Fisher

Daniel Flanderan

James Flannegan

John H Fleagle

Jams Fowler

John Fowler Jr

Phillip Godfrey

James M Golden

Edward Graves

George Green

James Grougan

Michael Hackerty

Benjamin Hageman

Charles Harrington

Alfred L Harton

Geo W Harton

William Hays

Lewis Henburgh

Thomas Henis

John Hildebrand

Christophre Hile

Michael Hill

Adam Hillebrand

Charles Hoffmeister

John Holler

Lawrence Holler

Jacob Holways

John C Hopkins

Joseph B Horton

Thomas Huntington

John Hutchinson

Robert Jaffray

Jacob Jewel

John Johnson

Edword Johnson

Joseph Jones

John Kaufman

Patrick Keleen

Michael Kelley

Francis Kelley

Peter Kenerdy

Benniet Kershaw

John Keyer

Herman Killenburgh

John Kine

Adam Kodmer

Godfrey Kraft

Peter Kriger

Phillip Kull

Joseph Laviness

Nathan Laviness

Walter L Lecount

Mose Liverson

John M Lockwood

Charles Lockwood

Henry Macadance

abt 1825

Albert Mahlstidt

John Maloy

David Mannel

Joseph Manner

Patrick Marvel

Henry A Mason

James Mathews

Francis May

Alexander McClure

William McDowel

Martin McGodman

Michael McGuire

William McIntash

Hugh McMichael

Thomas McMinn

Robert Mitchell

Stephen S Molinaux

William H Morgan

Henry Mulford

Leonard P Muller

Wm B Muller

Michael Murphy

John New

Henry Orcus

Charles Orcutt

John Paine

John Paine

James Parrish

Elijah S Patrick

Curtis Peck

Samuel Pell

John Pell

Edgar Pell

Elijah Pell

George J Penfield

William Pinckney

Mackson N Potter

John Price

John W Purdy

James Purtell

John Ready

William H Revere

James Reynolds

Wendelin Rhinbolt

Samuel Ridter

John Ritch

Alexander Rolf

John Ross

Conrad Roth

Eladis Rubiare

Frederick Sawyer

George Schard

George A Scofield

Wm Henry Scofield

John Sculley

Franklin B Seacord

Albut Secor

William Self

Frederick J Sheffield

Jackson B Shrievrs

Anthony Singler

Daniel Smith

Peter Smith

Robert Smith

Nicholas Smith

Henry Sniffen

William H Sparks

Lewis Spindel

Michael Stiner

C H Stringham

Victor Strousick

Henry Sweet

Patrick Teanny

Thomas Teanny

Lewis Thomas

John Tower

Benj F Underhill

William Underhill

Frederick Wall

Patrick Welsh

Morris White

Edward Williams

Wm H Williams

Benj D Williams

Henry Williams

Frederick Wilson

Augustus W Wood

John Wright

Jacob Wright

Late 19th Century "Decoration Day Greetings"

Post Card Entitled "Reconciliation"  NOTE:

Click on Image to Enlarge.

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I previously have written extensively about Pelham's involvement in the Union war effort during the American Civil War.  For examples, see:  

Wed., Feb. 24, 2016:  What is Pelham's Connection to the Civil War Ironclad USS Monitor that Fought in the First Battle of Ironclads?

Mon., Feb. 22, 2016:  Report on Prisoner Deaths at the Confederate POW Camp in Pelham During the Civil War.

Wed., Feb. 03, 2016:  Pelham Women Assisted Union Troops and Confederate Prisoners on David's Island During the Civil War.

Wed., Oct. 21, 2015:  Ministering to Troops on Hart and Davids Islands During and Shortly After the Civil War.

Mon., Jul. 07, 2014:  More About Pelham Residents Who Served Their Nation During the U.S. Civil War.

Thu., Jun. 12, 2014:  Eyewitness Account of Prisoner of War Concentration Camp That Once Stood in Pelham. 

Fri., May 21, 2010:  The Announcement of President Abraham Lincoln's Assassination in Pelham, NY on April 15, 1865. 

Tue., Mar. 30, 2010:  Obituary of William McAllister Who Built Civil War Gunboats in Pelham. 

Mon., Mar. 29, 2010:  Nathaniel H. Bouldin, a Poor Confederate Prisoner of War Who Died in Pelham in 1865. 

Tue., Nov. 03, 2009:  Pelham Students Helped Civil War Soldiers on Davids' Island in 1864. 

Fri., Nov. 18, 2005:  A List of Pelham Residents Who Served the Union During the Civil War. 

Mon., Jul. 11, 2005:  Pelham Cemetery on City Island. 

Fri., Jun. 3, 2005:  Davids' Island Off the Coast of Pelham Manor During the Civil War. 

Tue., Apr. 12, 2005: Pelham and the Civil War Ironclad USS Monitor.

I have tried, over the years, to document some of the Pelhamites who served during the Civil War, but it has been exceedingly difficult to ascertain if they served while Pelham residents or they moved to Pelham after their Civil War services.  

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.

Home Page of the Historic Pelham Blog.
Order a Copy of "Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak."