"The ominous booming of distant cannon admonished me to hasten on:" The Melancholy Mission of Bowen B. Moon to the West Woods, Part 2

This is the second of a multi part post on the journey from Herkimer County, New York of Bowen B. Moon to retrieve his brother-in-law William A. Salisbury, Company C, 34th New York who fell in the West Woods on September 17, 1862.[1]

In due time I arrived at Harpers Ferry and by the assistance of Col. Loflin I found the location of the 34th on Bolivar Heights, a high hill overlooking the Ferry with an extended view up the Shenandoah Valley.[2] I soon found the tent of Captain Corcoran of Co. C. 34th Regt. N.Y. Vol. [3] The captain gave me a hearty welcome and insisted that I should occupy his tent that night.

Col. James A. Suiter
New York State Military Museum

It was late in the afternoon when I got there, but I saw the regiment drawn up in line and heard Colonel Suiter give them his orders for the night. Capt. Corcoran gave me an introduction to Col. Suiter and each gave me "Godspeed you" in your journey. Col. Suiter drew an offhand map of the battlefield and showed the position that Company C. occupied and indicated where I would probably find the body of William. All of the boys killed had been buried and headboards erected, and so what Chas. Willoughby had told me at Norway was substantiated by the Col. of the Regt.

I rested very well that night in Capt. Corcoran's tent though I must confess that I was a little nervous in the evening as on the Capt.'s cot I heard strange sounds and thought of the terrible results of grim war. I was awake and up at an early hour and from Bolivar Heights saw the sun's rosy fingers of light as they rolled up the curtains of the night. I saw the dread paraphernalia of war; Parks of artillery, piles of cannon balls - guns stacked ready for use, and indelibly stamped on the tablets of my memory is the picture of the landscape - the white tents of the soldiers - men rolled in their blankets sleeping in the open air - the distant haze of the morning as it veiled the fields of the valley of the Shenandoah - the smoke that curled upward from a thousand fires, built for the preparation of the morning meals. And there from Bolivar Heights I saw the Jefferson rocks at the base of which the waters of the historic Potomac mingle with those of the Shenandoah. I heard there, on that beautiful morning of Oct. 1, 1862 the bugle call, to the soldiers -reveille - the sharp commands of officers as they inspected the serried ranks - the neighing of horses - the rattle of side arms and the trampling of a company of cavalry - and more than all the ominous booming of distant cannon admonished me to hasten on.

Captain Emerson Northrup of Co. K. of the 23d,[4] with whom it was my good fortune to be acquainted, kindly assisted me in getting out of the lines of the army at Harpers Ferry. I took a look at the old Armory in which John Brown defied the slaveholders of the South and afterwards was hung as an enemy of his country. "But his soul goes marching on." What impressed me most as I was looking around the building was to see a German soldier in the U.S. service eating a luncheon of moldy bread and a piece of meat the worse for age. He could speak but a few words of English but there he was a stranger in a distant land trusted and deputed to guard one of the most important strategical points in the zone of contention.

The pontoon bridge at Harpers Ferry is under construction
in this 1862 photo from the Matthew Brady collection,
Historic Photo Collection, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.

At Harpers Ferry I first saw a pontoon bridge consisting of many large sized row-boats anchored side by side facing upstream and held together by string-pieces upon which planks were placed forming the bridge. I crossed the Potomac on this bridge and took a towpath of a canal and started for Sharpsburg. There was no water in this canal at that time. In going I deemed it best to avoid the main highways as I was liable to be challenged by sentinals posted along these main roads. I inquired from time to time of citizens as to the route to the town. The day (Oct. 1st) was very warm, the roads were dusty, indeed all vegetation, grass and trees and shrubs, were covered by a coat of dust. As I passed along this towpath I saw soldiers filling their canteens from a little stream that trickled from the side of a very high hill. I was not long in getting to that place of genuine refreshment. I rested for a while, chatted with some of the soldiers, took a bite of luncheon and pushed on.

I made no effort to dodge a soldier if in my course, and so, at one time, as I was going toward a park of artillery the sentinal motioned me to go around. Of course I was more than willing to obey as the last thing I wanted was to be examined by the military. I had not gone many miles before I left the towpath of the canal but I kept close to the river Potomac until I came to the lower bridge that crossed the Antietam creek below Sharpsburg. It was at this bridge that Gen. Burnside was ordered to cross and did so after defeating Gen. Tombs in a sharp engagement. The bridge was guarded by a small detachment and there was only a sentinel on the bridge as I attempted to cross. Being ordered to halt by this sentinel I took from my pocket those valuable letters. The guard took a hasty glance at them and ordered me to cross the bridge and report to the commandant, pointing me to a certain house. I so reported and the officer looked at the papers and at me, asked a few questions and pointing up a quite steep hill, said, "Get up that hill just as far as you can." I did not stand long after this order to go.
As soon as I had got to the top of the hill, I found that I was on the direct road from Harpers Ferry to Sharpsburg and so I ceased going crosslots and in by-ways and traveled on. I was soon overtaken by a peddler licensed to sell goods to soldiers. I asked him to ride to Sharpsburg, two or three miles away. He gave me a good seat and much information about roads to the battlefield etc.

The location of the 34th New York in
the West Woods just north of the
Dunkard Church. The time is
approximately 9:15 a.m.
Cope/Carman Map (1908), Library of
Congress.

I arrived at Sharpsburg, a town then about the size of Poland or Newport. The point I wished to find on the battlefield was perhaps a mile or little more on or near the main road leading from Sharpsburg to Hagerstown and near what is called Dunkards Church. Sharpsburg was literally filled with soldiers; infantry, cavalry and artillery. After thinking the matter over I concluded to visit the battlefield that evening before dark. I did so and by means of Col. Suiter's map I found the grave of Wm. A. Salisbury, as located by Willoughby and Col. Suiter.

Visiting a cooper's shop I found several carpenters making coffins. These coffins were solid and substantial, but I was told that to get an elegant coffin I would have to send to the town of Frederick or Baltimore and it would be several days before it would arrive. Of course duty required me to take one of the substantial coffins that many were using there. It was now nearly dark and I asked permission of the cooper to make my bed on a pile of shavings. He consented but said that they would be working most of the night and if I could stand the noise I would be welcome to stay there.

Partaking of a luncheon and a cup of tea at a restaurant nearby, I returned to the shop and soon was reclining on a bed of shavings, vainly trying to go to sleep. The workmen left the shop about midnight after which I slept more or less until daylight. Perhaps I should relate how I was startled a little towards morning. I heard an unusual racket near or under the shop. Of course I was anticipating that perhaps a part of Lee's army was on my track or that some person judging that I must have money while off on such an errand was arranging to give me a call - so 1 made plans for self-defense. I worked myself to quite a pitch of excitement in anticipation of a personal encounter. I soon found myself convulsed with uncontrollable laughter as I discovered that the noise proceeded from a nest of pigs under the shop.


to be continued...


Notes

1. In 1987 the Herkimer County Historical Society New York published an account of one man's journey to the West Woods to recover a family member lost there on September 17. Bowen B. Moon's "In the Wake of the Battle: an account of a journey to the field at Antietam on a most melancholy mission." (LEGACY - Historical Magazine Published By The Herkimer County Historical Society 2:1 pp. 7-10) featured a letter written on September 3, 1907 by Bowen B. Moon to his niece Clara Spencer recounting his journey to recover the body of his brother-in-law William A. Salisbury of the 34th New York. I would like to thank the Herkimer County Historical Society for their permission to republish this remarkable letter and acknowledge the work of Arthur Moon and his son Joseph Moon  who assisted the Society in the preparation for publication of Bowen Moon's account. I have added annotations to the original letter.
2. The 34th left Sharpsburg early on September 22 and arrived at Bolivar Heights at 3 p.m. that afternoon. The regiment remained at Bolivar until October 30th. Louis N. Chapin, A brief history of the Thirty-fourth regiment, N.Y.S.V.: embracing a complete roster of all officers and men and a full account of the dedication of the monument on the battlefield of Antietam, September 17, 1902 (New York:1903), pp. 71-72.
3. Thomas Corcoran, Captain, Company C, 34th New York. Corcoran as well as most in Company C was from Herkimer County. New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center, 34th Regiment New York Volunteers, Civil War Newspaper Clippings at http://dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/34thInf/34thInfCWN.htm
4. This appears to be a typo in the printed manuscript. Captain Emerson S. Northrup commanded Company K of the 34th New York not the 23rd New York. Twenty year old Captain Northrup was from Salisbury, Herkimer County, New York. New York, Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts, 1861-1900 record for Emerson S. Northrup; New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center, 34th Regiment New York Volunteers, Civil War Newspaper Clippings at http://dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/23rdInf/23rdInfMain.htm; 1860 United States Federal Census.

"The ominous booming of distant cannon admonished me to hasten on:" The Melancholy Mission of Bowen B. Moon to the West Woods, Part 1

Bowen B. Moon
Herkimer County
Historical Society

In 1987 the Herkimer County Historical Society New York published an account of one man's journey to the West Woods to recover a family member lost there on September 17. "In the Wake of The Battle: An Account of a Journey to the Field of Antietam on a Most Melancholy Mission," featured a letter written on September 3, 1907 by Bowen B. Moon to his niece Clara Spencer recounting his journey to recover the body of his brother-in-law William A. Salisbury of the 34th New York. Salisbury was one of 33 from the regiment that fell that day in the West Woods just west of the Dunkard Church; another ten went missing.[1]

I would like to thank the Herkimer County Historical Society for their permission to republish this remarkable letter and acknowledge the work of Arthur Moon and his son Joseph Moon  who assisted the Society in the preparation for publication of Bowen Moon's account. I have added annotations to the original letter.[2]

________________________________
Bowen Moon to Clara Spencer,

Russia, N.Y. September 3, 1907

At the Salisbury Reunion of the present year you very kindly requested me to give you an account of my journey to the battlefield of Antietam and the bringing home of the body of William A. Salisbury who was killed on the 17th day of September, 1862 in that sanguinary battle.

Rosena Salisbury Moon
Herkimer County
Historical Society

About the 25th of September of that year, we were living at Russia, we heard or rather read the account of William's death. Rosena, my wife, (and sister of Wm. A. Salisbury) and I hastened to Norway to sympathize and to take counsel as to the future in those dreadful days.[3]

At father Salisbury's request and at the urgent wishes of the family, I consented to attempt the finding and bringing home the body of the soldier boy. I confess that I accepted the task with many forebodings as to the result. But every step I took seemed to encourage me that I would be successful.

The first was on going to the village of Norway from Dairy Hill, I saw Charles Willoughby[4] who had returned from the army wounded. He assured me that the grave of brother William was properly located and that in all probability I might find it. And I might say here that I found the grave as indicated by Mr. Willoughby and having exhumed the remains of the soldier brother, I returned to Norway and the good people of that town in appreciating expressions of gratitude and honor received and reinterred in the Norway Cemetery the one representative of the Salisbury family who in the hour of his Country's peril hastened to offer himself, if need be, a sacrifice for the honor and preservation of his country and its laws. The memories of the incidents of this journey are somewhat veiled in the mists of advancing years, but it gives me a somber pleasure to rehearse, though imperfectly, the narrative.

Starting from my interview with Chas. Willoughby at Norway, I called upon Judge Ezra Graves[5] at Herkimer and he and he very kindly gave me letters to Gov. E. D. Morgan,[6] who in turn gave letters to Gen. Wool[7] who was then commanding the U.S. forces at Baltimore, Md. Arriving at Baltimore, I soon learned that Gen. Wool was absent from town and would not probably return in a week or ten days. Fortified by the letters of Judge Graves and Gov. Morgan, I decided to go ahead and trust to luck for the outcome.

Accordingly I took the cars for Harpers Ferry at which place I had previously learned that the 34th Regt. to which brother William had belonged, was stationed. It was with some misgivings that I began threading my way through crowded cars, and among railroad men, travelers, officers and soldiers all under a high state of excitement, discussing the then recent battle of Antietam and the possible and probable outcome of the great rebellion. But I had decided and go ahead I must and take the consequences.

By a fortuitous event I heard two military officers aboard the cars talking about the then recent battle. I overheard one of them remark that the 34th N.Y. Regt. had distinguished itself in the battle. You need not guess that I kept my eye on that officer until an opportunity presented itself to speak to him, for I certainly did with as much zeal and success as a good detective would ex­ercise in bagging his game. At an opportune moment, I accosted this officer, saying to him that I had overheard his remark about the 34th NY and that I was on my way to that Regt. to get the remains of one of the slain. I soon learned that he was the Lieut. Col. of that Regt. and that he was Lieut. Col. Byron Loflin of Herkimer.[8] I explained my errand, showed him my letters from Gov. Morgan and Judge Graves, and asked him if he would assist me in getting in and out of the lines of the army. He replied that he "certainly could and would." This meeting with Col. Loflin relieved my mind very much for I felt more assured that my mission would be successful.

To be continued...

============
Notes


[1] The total number of dead from the regiment varies from source to source. The Annual Report of the Adjutant-General of the State of New York: Register of the 34th NY Infantry Regiment (Albany: New York State Adjutant General Office, 1893-1905) shows 40 killed, one missing, and, of the wounded, three who later died. Frederick Phisterer lists in his New York in the War of the Rebellion, 3rd ed. (Albany: J.B. Lyon Company, 1912) one officer and 32 enlisted men killed; an additional 13 wounded who died; and one officer and nine enlisted men as missing.

The 34th's companies were formed from the following towns and counties: Company A recruited at West Troy; B recruited at Little Falls; C at Graysville and Norway; D recruited at Champlain; E drew from Addison; F and G both recruited at Herkimer; H at Crown Point; I at Hammondsport, and K recruited at Salisbury. Frederick Phisterer, New York in the War of the Rebellion, 3rd ed. (Albany: J.B. Lyon Company, 1912); The Union army: a history of military affairs in the loyal states, 1861-65 -- records of the regiments in the Union army -- cyclopedia of battles -- memoirs of commanders and soldiers (Madison, WI: Federal Pub. Co., 1908) and retrieved from New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center, NYS Division of Military and Naval Affairs online at: http://dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/34thInf/34thInfMain.htm.

[2] Moon, Bowen B. "In the Wake of the Battle: an account of a journey to the field at Antietam on a most melancholy mission." LEGACY - Historical Magazine Published By The Herkimer County Historical Society. 2:1 7-10.

[3] In 1857, Bowen Buck Moon (1829-1924) married Rosena Salisbury (b. 1834-1892), the sister of William A. Salisbury. Bowen, a graduate of Fairfield Academy and Union College, served as the local school teacher in Russia, Herkimer County, New York for several years, before turning to dairy farming. He later found time to serve as Russia's School Commissioner and Justice of the Peace.

Rosena and William Salisbury came from a large extended family. Their father, Ackland Salisbury (1803-1865) and mother Mary Ayers (1806-1850), produced a family of six children--five girls and one boy, William A. Salisbury (1841-1862). Rosena Salisbury (1834-1892) was his older sister.

Their father listed himself as a farmer in the 1860 Census of New York. The Census also recorded that William Salisbury, then 19, had attended school within the past year. By that time, his father had remaried and the family grew by another six children. William, at the time of his enlistment in Company C of the 34th New York, was living at home with his stepmother, Maria A. Salisbury (b. 1813) and seven siblings and step-siblings, five girls and two boys. Retrieved from http://www.genealogycenter.info/pdf/jonathanmillington/JonathanMillington2Jonathan.pdf; Ancestry.com entry for Ackland Salisbury; Rosena Salisbury; William Salisbury; New York State Archives, Albany, New York; Town Clerks Registers of Men Who Served in the Civil War, ca 1861-1865; Collection Number: (N-Ar) 13774; Box Number: 27; Roll Number: 16 retrieved from Ancestry.com; U.S. Census, New York, 1860.

[4] The 1860 Census records a 17 year old Charles Willoughby living with his father and mother and three siblings in the town of Norway, New York. His father is listed as a carpenter and Charles a laborer. Charles joined the 34th New York on May 1, 1861. 1860 Census; Annual Report of the Adjutant-General of the State of New York: Register of the 34th NY Infantry Regiment (Albany: New York State Adjutant General Office, 1893-1905) under Charles A. Willoughby.

[5] Ezra Graves (1809-1883) of Herkimer County, New York. Wikipedia under Graves.

[6] Governor Edwin D. Morgan (1811-1883). Mr. Lincoln and New York at http://www.mrlincolnandnewyork.org/inside.asp?ID=62&subjectID=3

[7] General John E. Wool served as military commander of Baltimore from June to October 1862. Baltimore: Its History and Its People, Volume 1, Clayton Coleman Hall, ed. (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1912), pp. 192-193.

[9] This was Lt. Col. Byron Laflin.