Remembering Riverhead’s Civil War soldiers and sailors, 150 years later

On Veterans Day, most ceremonies celebrate the men and women who served in the U.S. military in the 21st and 20th centuries.

Riverhead Town Historian Georgette Lane Case and the American Legion Post 273 in Riverhead reminded local residents yesterday that, without the soliders who fought to preserve the Union in the 19th Century, there would be no United States to serve in the centuries that followed.

The Civil War, fought from 1861 to 1865, claimed the lived of at least 25 Riverhead soldiers, who either died in battle or of wounds sustained in battle. Another 30 were wounded and survived, while eight men were held prisoner, according to a new book written by Case, We Will Not Forget: Riverhead’s Civil War Soldiers and Sailors.

Case shares a quote from a man named Orville B. Ackerly, whose call to action the historian heeded:

“A book should be written to preserve the memory of what Riverhead Town did to aid in the war to preserve the Union. She promptly voted down all disloyal resolutions offered by the few sympathizers that rebellion had here, and supplied all the moneys necessary to do her part, while 122 of her citizens went to the front, of whom 10 never returned. Of those who did return, 16 have answered to the last roll call here and time is reducing the ranks of the remaining.”

In We Will Not Forget, published to mark the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the War Between the States, Case catalogues the names, regiments and dates of service of Riverhead’s sons who answered the call to fight. She also details the names of Riverhead citizens who lent the town money to support its military men — loans evidenced by hand-written slips of paper.

Drawing from original source material at the Suffolk County Historical Society and in the Riverhead Town Historian’s office, Case shares the stories of Riverhead’s Civil War soldiers and sailors, in an effort to answer the question, “Who fought in the Civil War?”

Case presents interesting snippets about some of the soldiers and sailors who answered the Union’s call to defense, including excerpts from their diaries and correspondence from the battlefield. One soldier, who enlisted at age 18 and after the war became a reporter for the The Riverhead News and Brooklyn Daily Eagle — and would later serve as Riverhead Postmaster — served in the Union Army from 1861 to 1865 and wrote 42 memoirs of his experiences in the war, Case writes. Only two of the memoirs of George A. Buckingham survive. The Suffolk County Historical Society has in its collections 150 hand-written pages penned by Buckingham during the war.

Buckingham describes the send-off he and fellow enlistees had by Riverhead townsfolk, which included  “a handsome silk flag” that accompanied the soldiers to the front.

“From Riverhead, we went in wagons to Wading River, then marched to Millers Place, then to Port Jefferson, then to Setauket, then to Stony Brook again, where we took the boat for New York,” Buckingham wrote.

On the battlefield, Buckingham described the distant sound of muskets firing as the “snapping of the kernels while popping corn.” 

The sounds “grew louder and more rapid” as the troops advanced toward the front, he wrote, “and presently we heard the gigantic ‘crack’ of a ten-pounder parrot gun and the shrill whirr of the shell, ending in a distant explosion.

“Batteries passed us at a gallop, and gun after gun unlumbered and lent its voice to the stern remonstrance against treason and rebellion,” wrote Buckingham.

When word of Lee’s surrender at Appomattox reached Riverhead, church bells rang and guns were fired all afternoon, Case writes. She describes the homecoming of about 50 soldiers on July 24, 1865 and the huge celebration held in Riverhead to welcome them, including a lavish dinner, a ball and a concert by the Riverhead Philharmonic.

Yesterday’s presentation and book-signing at the American Legion post on Hubbard Avenue was very well-attended. Among the guests were Civil War living historians and Civil War re-enactors, Company K 88th NYSV, the “Irish Brigade,” whose members took other guests on a tour of the graves of Civil War veterans at the Riverhead Cemetery following the presentation at the American Legion.

The cemetery is home to a tall granite monument, erected in July 1871 by John S. Marcy, to commemorate Riverhead’s Civil War casualties. Each year during Memorial Day ceremonies, the Riverhead Combined Veterans Committee holds a service at the site and lays a wreath at the monument as an expression of remembrance of their sacrifice.

To order a copy of We Will Not Forget: Riverhead’s Civil War Soldiers and Sailors, contact the town historian’s office at 631-369-9717.

Photo captions

Top: Members of Company K 88th NYSV, living historians and Civil War re-enactors, at a service in Riverhead Cemetery yesterday, where they laid a wreath at the grave of a Civil War veteran.

Middle: Riverhead Town historian Georgette Lane Case signs a copy of her book, We Will Not Forget: Riverhead’s Civil War Soldiers and Sailors, for Kathy Berezny at a presentation and book signing at the American Legion Post on Hubbard Avenue yesterday.

Bottom: Members of Company K 88th NYSV, living historians and Civil War re-enactors, at Riverhead Cemetery yesterday

RiverheadLOCAL photos by Peter Blasl
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