G.A.R. Posts
in Niagara County
- # 67 - Lockport - post active in 1872
Colonel Dudley Donnelly, 28th NYSV. born 1827; mustered as Colonel 5/22/61;
wounded at Cedar Mountain 8/9/62; died of his wounds 8/15/62 at Culpepper Court
House, VA. Buried in Cold Spring Cemetery, Lockport; gravestone erected
in 1867 by 28th NYSV veterans. Wife remarried assistant Surgeon of 28th, Robert T.
Paine; they are buried in Donnelly plot.
- # 76 - Lockport - chartered 8/30/76
Adjutant Charles P. Sprout, 28th NYSV. Enrolled May 19, 1861 as Adjutant in Albany,
NY; KIA Aug. 9, 1862 at Cedar Mountain, VA.
- # 108 - Olcott.
Sgt. Samuel B. Kemp, Co. F, 3d NY Cavalry. Enlisted at Medina in July, 1861 as
Sgt., age 21; MW March 15, 1863 at Swan's Quarters, NC.
- # 125 - Sanborn - chartered 8/30/76.
Sgt. Alex B. Mabon, Jr., Co. B, 8th NY Heavy Artillery. Enlisted July 29, 1862
at Lockport, age 20; mustered as a private in Co. B; MW June 3, 1864 at Cold
Harbor, VA, died June 8, 1864; buried in Mount View Cemetery, Pekin, NY.
- # 126 - Wilson - 1/1/71 to 1925.
Colonel Peter Augustus Porter, 8th NY Heavy Artillery. Born July 14, 1827 in Black
Rock, NY; grandson of CT physician Joshua Porter who led a regiment at Saratoga
and then tended his wounded after the battle; only son of Yale lawyer Peter Buel
Porter who was a military leader in the War of 1812 and was appointed Sec. of War
in 1828; Peter A. Porter graduated from Harvard, 1845, studied at Heidelberg and
Berlin, 1846-19, graduated from Harvard Law School in 1857; married into the
Breckenridge family of Kentucky; authored plays, poems, essays; a member of the NYS
Assembly, 1861-62; appointed colonel of the 129th NYSV on July 7, 1862; declined
Republican nomination for NY Secretary of State on Sept. 5, 1863; the 129th NYSV was
converted into the 8th NYHA and called up for Grant's 1864 campaign. Porter was
killed on June 3, 1864 leading a charge at Cold Harbor, VA - six bullets were found
in his body; during a rain storm on the night of Cold Harbor's second day, five men
of the 8th NYHA brought Porter's body into the US lines (Sgt. Leroy Williams, Galen
S. Hicks, John Duff, Walter Harwood, Samuel Traviss and Porter's body servant, John
Heany); Chaplain De La Matyr accompanied Porter's body back to Niagara Falls;
buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Niagara Falls.
- # 133 - Niagara Falls - chartered 11/13/79.
Colonel Dudley Donnelly, 28th NYSV. See Post #67.
- # 178 - Middleport - chartered 8/20/80.
Henry L. Smith.
- # 178 - Middleport - chartered 4/30/94.
Corporal James Compton, Co. D, 8th NY Heavy Artillery. Enlisted Aug. 4, 1862 at
Lockport, NY, age 18; mustered Aug. 9, 1862; promoted to corporal in Feb. 1, 1864;
wounded at Cold Harbor, VA, on June 3, 1864; discharged for disability Feb. 27,
1865.
- # 178 - Middleport - 5/10/84 to 1919.
Corporal Willis S. Hinman, Co. E, 8th NY Cavalry. Joined at Hartland as a private,
age 27; reenlisted in Dec. of 1863; promoted to corporal in Oct. of 1864; KIA
April 1, 1865 at Five Forks, VA.
- # 228 - Ransomville - chartered 9/17/80.
Private Melville C. McCollum, Co. F, 8th NYHA. Enlisted Dec. 22, 1863 at Porter,
NY; mustered Dec. 28, 1863; captured Aug. 25, 1864 at Reams Station, VA; died as
a prisoner at Salisbury, NC.
- # 258 - Barker - chartered 3/17/82.
Private Sidney Hayes, Co. A, 151st NYSV. Enlisted Sept. 3, 1862, age 25, at
Somerset, NY; mustered as private in Co. K on Oct. 22, 1862; transferred to Co. A
Dec. 21, 1864; KIA April 6, 1865 at Sailor's Creek, VA; buried in Somerset
Cemetery, Town of Barker.
- # 281 - North Tonawanda - chartered 2/29/99.
Lt. Colonel Lewis S. Payne, 100th NYSV. Born Jan. 21, 1819 in Riga, NY; paternal
grandfather, Aapba, fought in the War of 1812; Lewis came to live with an uncle in
North Tonawanda at age 16; "so good with his money that hemanaged to buy the very
store that employed him by the time he was 21;" married Mary Taber of Ithaca in 1840
and settled in Tonawanda in 1841; had six children; started a lumber business in
1845, operating it for nine years; was the area's first toll collector for the Erie
Canal; in the late 1850s he was a Niagara County farmer and Whig-turned-Democrat;
raised Company D and outfitted the men at his own expense; mustered as its captain
Jan. 8, 1862; as a "scout" in Charleston Harbor operations, he led Truman Seymour's
division in its advance on Folly Island, April 4-5, 1863; piloted and conducted
US forces to point of attack for the July 10, 1863, seizure of Morris Island;
burned the Confederate steamer Manigault in Charleston Harbor; in charge of
ten-mile picket line on Folly and Morris Islands; General Gilmore said he "rendered
important explorations of creeks, channels and shores of the James and smaller
islands, often inside the enemies lines;" acted as a spotter for US artillery, using
rockets as signals to batteries; wounded and captured Aug. 4, 1863, when his picket
post was overrun; kept in a Columbia, SC, jail; returned to Niagara County on July
20, 1864; exchanged on March 1, 1865; promoted to Lt. Col. at suggestion of General
A.H. Terry with rank from June 21, 1863, however, he was never mustered as such;
discharged March 11, 1865; home in Wheatland; was Niagara County Clerk, 1869; State
Assemblyman, 1870; on the Board of the Lockport & Buffalo RR, organized in 1876;
Democratic State Senator, 1866-69; lost bid for US Congress in 1883; died at his
home in 1898; Payne Avenue and Colonel Payne School are his namesakes; buried in
Elmlawn Cemetery, Tonawanda, NY.
- # 349 - Hartland - chartered 3/12/83.
Captain Christopher L. Skeels, Co. A, 28th NYSV. Born Jan. 12, 1823, in Rutland, VT;
mustered at Albany on May 19, 1861 as 1st Lt. and QM; promoted to Captain on Nov.
11, 1862; mustered out with unit June 2, 1863; appointed Major of 2d NY Mounted
Rifles on Jan. 12, 1864 but never served and was not commissioned; later was employed
as an agent for Commerce Insurance Company of Albany; moved to NYC in 1865 and
managed a fire insurance agency until his death on Oct. 6, 1869.
- # 547 - Newfane - chartered 3/14/85.
Private Joseph Branker, 19th Independent Battery, NY Light Artillery. Born June 30,
1840, in Lockport; joined Sept. 2, 1862 at Lockport as a private, age 22; stood 5 feet
four inches tall, blue eyes, brown hair, was a farmer, not married; came home on
furlough to Lockport in March of 1864; KIA May 12, 1864 at Spotsylvania, VA; buried
on the field.
A letter written to the family of Will McCrory of Lockport described the deaths of
Will and Jacob Branker at Spotsylvania on May 12, 1864 when Lane's Brigade made a
frontal assault on the batteries guns. They were on the far left of the Ninth Corps
line which was the extreme left of the Union army at that time. The Battery had
placed two guns in a forward position to shell a house that had snipers in it. A
Union regiment was to have been in the woods in front of the guns but for some
reason they were not there. The 2d Michigan, a small unit, was the only infantry
supporting the 19th Battery. Lan's men came out of the woods, about 50 yards in
front of the section of guns, and immediately shot down almost all the men there.
The other 2 sections of the 19th's guns and Twitchell's battery repulsed the attack,
not before heavy losses were incurred. Lane's men received heavy casualties from
the canister fired by the supporting batteries. This engagement was the first in
which the 19th took direct casualties and was their most severe loss in any one
engagement during the war. While at Camp Barry Artillery School, they were chosen
from 17 units to fire the salute when the statue was erected on the Capitol building
in Dec. 1863. They were also chosen to fire the National Salute on July 4, 1863.
Maintained by
Sue Greenhagen.
E-mail:
greenhsh@morrisville.edu