Gloversville – Page 7 – Griffis Family

July 11, 2023February 25, 2024

A German Influence

The families of both Harold Griffis and Evelyn Dutcher have a German influence. It is an influence that reflects a distinctive characteristic of the families of the Mohawk valley in New York state. German immigrants and their descendants made an indelible imprint on the Mohawk valley in New York since Colonial times.

“The Rhine and the Hudson ! The historic river of Europe and the historic river of America! How closely associated are they in the minds of those who dwell in the lovely valley in which we are met today !” [1]

The first European influence arrived in the early 1600’s with the arrival of the Dutch who promptly named all of the area to the north “New Netherlands”. They soon spread their influence up the Hudson River and west along the Mohawk River until 1664 when the British took over the Dutch lands and renamed them New York after the Duke of York.

In the early 1700’s, the Germans started to arrive and actually became the first permanent European settlers of today’s Mohawk valley. They and their Dutch neighbors tilled the rich soil of the region. This was literally a frontier area in flux between the Mohawk and European settlers.

Many of the initial settlements in the early 1700’s were created by German immigrants. While the Dutch, French and English occupied various colonial settlements on the fringe boundaries of the young colonies at various time periods, it was the German immigrants who created unique relationships with the Iroquois, particularly the Mohawk tribe, in establishing permanent settlements in the western territory of the New York colony. It was also the German immigrants who incurred substantial losses of property and life prior to and during the Revolutionary War while they lived in these settlements in the fringes of colonial controlled territory. [2]

In the late 1600s and early 1700s, the Germans took a different approach to dealing with the New York Indians than had the Dutch and English before them.

“The Dutch brought from Holland a traders sense of the world and viewed Indian villages as nodes on the paths of commerce. Because the Dutch wanted to control trade, not land, they did not need to occupy Indian villages. … The English, on the other hand, carried to America visions of extending the king’s dominion. They viewed New York as a battleground, a place to fight the French for domination of North America. The English could not possess New York without controlling the land.

“Just as the Dutch and English attitudes had been shaped by their European roots, the Germans’ attitude toward the Mohawks and the chaotic conditions of the Schoharie Valley may have been shaped by their experiences in the German southwest. Perhaps the Germans, coming from an area subject to continual invasion and to ever-changing rulers, had replaced a worldview consisting of conqueror and conquered with one of constantly changing allies and enemies, in which power was never absolute and always short-lived. Since conquest was an illusion, one sought allies who might help secure short-term gains. The Indians could be enemies or allies; the Germans needed the latter.” [3]

Harold and Evelyn’s German Family Ties

The relationships among European settlers and the Indians in the early colonial and post Revolutionary War period in the upper New York area is reflected in the ethnic background of the family ties found in the respective family trees of Harold Griffis and Evelyn Dutcher.

Some of the earliest emigrants to America came from the state of Württemberg, Germany. It is the area of Germany from which the number of emigrants surpassed any other German state. It is also the area where Harold and Evelyn’s German ancestors started their journey to America. [4]

Family Tree Branches with a Germanic Influence

Click here to see the family trees for Griffis family branches that are from German areas of Europe. Each family tree provides a context of their place in the general family tree for Harold Griffis and Evelyn Dutcher Griffis. Only grandparents and direct siblings are shown in the family trees.

On Harold’s side of the family, the Sperber family and the Fliegel Family were immediate branches of the family that emigrated in the mid 1800’s from the Baden Würtemberg area [5] to the United States. While we do not know much about the Sperber family prior to their arrival in America, the Fliegel family can be traced back many generations to the Ittlingen, Germany area. Both families are maternal family branches of the Griffis family. Harold Griffis’ mother was Ida May Sperber. Ida Sperber was youngest child of John Wolfgang Sperber and Sophia Fliegels’ children. The immediate paternal side of Harold’s family reflect a Welsh (Griffis surname), English (Carpenter), and Scots-Irish background (Gillespie).

The German Side of the Griffis Family [6]

Similar to Harold’s family, Evelyn Dutcher’s family tree reflects the interaction of various ethnic backgrounds representing the mix of early European settlers in the New York colony. Her family represents Dutch, French, German and English ancestry.

In fact, there is family lore that one of Evelyn’s female ancestors was from the Mohawk tribe. My father often mentioned the existence of this relative but had no specific documented knowledge about this relative. Based on conversations between Nancy Griffis and one of Evelyn’s cousins, Gertrude Platts Perry, it was indicated that Gertrude had old photographs that depicted the female family member that was from the Mohawk tribe. [7] If her recollections were true, then the individual possibly married a Platts family member. A review of available documentation on the Platts family offers no clue of an individual who had Mohawk descent. But, if there was a Mohawk member of the family, her name probably would have been an anglicized name in any documented records.

Evelyn’s surname, Dutcher, can be traced back to Dutch colonists in the 1600’s. The name is found with many spellings in the 1600’s: Duyster, Duyscher, Duchier, De Duyster. The family was likely one of the persecuted French Huguenots who fled from France to Holland. The names De Dutchier and De Duyster are found throughout sixteenth century French records. [8]

The Hartom family was a branch of Evelyn Dutcher’s family that emigrated from Germany earlier in 1775 to the American colonies. Evelyn’s father was Squire Dutcher. Squire’s father, Ruleff Dutcher, married Maria Hartom. Casper Hartom was Maria’s father. Casper’s father, Michael Hartom, is the family member that emigrated to the colonies in 1775. It is not known what part of the Germanic area of Europe his family is from.

The German Side of the Dutcher Family

There are two other family branches of Evelyn Dutcher’s family that may be German. However, I do not have definitive proof of their Germanic origin in terms of ship manifest lists of family members that originally came to the American colonies to confirm their point of origin. In addition, the origin of the surnames for these two family branches are not unique to one specific country or European region.

One of the family branches is the Demelt family. There is a good chance that the Demelt family is from Germanic origins. The family name, Demelt, was first found in Bavaria, where this surname surfaced in mediaeval times. [9]

The second family branch is the Platts family. Evelyn’s maternal side of the family included the Platts. It was originally presumed the Platts are of English origin. However, given where they settled and the name may have been an anglicized version of the German “Platz”, it is possible they were German. [10] There is no documentation to determine the ethnic origin of the Platts side of the family.

German Emigration to the Colonies & the United States

The reasons for emigrating to the new world for each of these families or individuals is perhaps unique but their respective decisions to leave their homeland were influenced by a larger economic and political landscape which provided a number of push and pull factors that influenced their decision. In addition, where they landed in the new world and where they subsequently traveled to put a stake in their new homeland were influenced by the paths of previous German immigrants.

At each successive wave, newcomers joined established settlers. This phenomenon of “chain migration” strengthened the already existing German regions in the American colonies and, later, the United States. Large sections of Pennsylvania, upstate New York, and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia attracted multiple generations and successive waves of German emigration. [11]

Michael Hartom emigrated to the American Colonies in 1775. He was not part of the first wave of Germans to immigrate to the colonies but he closely followed the migratory path of the Palantines that represented the first major wave of Germanic immigration.

John Sperber and the Fliegel family emigrated in the mid 1850’s to a young new nation. Both were part of a major second wave of German immigration.

Germany in the 1600’s through the 1800’s

There was no unified “Germany” in the time period when the Hartom, Sperber, and Fliegel families emigrated to the Colonies and later to the United States. The European region that is currently Germany was divided into principalities and remnants of the Holy Roman Empire. Between the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) and the French Revolution (1789-1799), German geography was largely reflected by the histories of dozens of small political units, each enjoying virtually full rights of sovereignty. Political power increasingly fell to small regional governments controlled by aristocratic overlords, ecclesiastical dignitaries, or municipal oligarchs. [12]

Among the most powerful of these principalities was Prussia, led beginning in 1740 by King Frederick II, known as “Frederick the Great.” Under Frederick, Prussia expanded its territory to include parts of modern-day Austria and Poland. It would be almost a century before Germany was unified into the country we know today. Germany, or more exactly the old Holy Roman Empire, in the 18th century entered a period of decline that would finally lead to the dissolution of the Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. [13]

The following map reflects the political contours of the German states around the time that Michael Harton immigrated to the American Colonies in 1775.

Map of German States 1789 [14]

About 75 years later when the Sperber and Fliegel families emigrated to the United States, the German States had a similar yet different configuration. The Sperber and Fliegel families were from the Baden area of the map, an area located in the southwestern area of the empire next to the Kingdom of France along the Rhine River..

Map of German States 1815 – 1865 [15]

The immigrants from these geographic areas were referred to as German. However, ‘within’ the Germanic umbrella of ethnic identity as viewed by the English, Dutch, French, or Indians, they were Palatines, Badeners and Hessians. The Germans included many quite distinct subgroups with differing religious and cultural values. The making of a German and American identity was one of immigrants not just defining themselves in contrast to a British, French, Dutch, or Iroquois “other” group but also first defining themselves in contrast to many German “others”. [16]

Various Waves of German Immigration

German immigration to North America began in the 17th century and continued into the late 19th century at a rate exceeding that of any other country.

The Germans migrated to America for a variety of reasons depending on the specific historical time period. Push factors involved the effects of the continuous wars and conflicts, worsening opportunities for farm ownership in central Europe, persecution of some religious groups, and military conscription. Pull factors were better economic conditions, the opportunity to own land or earn a better wage, and religious freedom.

Germany also experienced unfavorable weather conditions in the 1800’s that brought about food crises. Lack of food brought about elevation of prices. With a continually increasing population, some areas experienced devastation. When sons were not able to inherit the ancestral farm to support themselves and their families, emigration was one way out.

German emigration to the American colonies began at the end of the 17th century when Germany was suffering from the after-effects of the bloody religious conflicts of the Thirty Years’ War and Christian minorities were being persecuted. Many farmers lived in poverty, their very existence threatened by failed harvests and land shortages.

German immigrants in the initial wave came from the states of Pfalz, Baden, Wuerttemberg, Hesse, and the bishoprics of Cologne, Osnabruck, Muenster, and Mainz. Working with William Penn, Franz Daniel Pastorius established “Germantown” near Philadelphia in 1683. A group of Mennonites, Pietists, and Quakers in Frankfurt, including Abraham op den Graeff , a cousin of William Penn, approached Pastorius about acting as their agent to purchase land in Pennsylvania for a settlement. Pastorius arrived in Philadelphia on August 20th, 1683. In Philadelphia, he negotiated the purchase of 15,000 acres from William Penn, the proprietor of the colony, and laid out the settlement of Germantown. [17]

European Migration to Britain in the 1700s

The initial wave of Germans to the colonies is often referenced as ‘the story of the Palantines” [18]. The Germans that eventually settled the Mohawk Valley came from the Rhine Valley River region known as the “Palatinate.” The name arose from the Roman word “Palatine,” the title given to the ruling family of the area when it was part of the Holy Roman Empire. With the outbreak of the Thirty Years War in 1618, came 96 years of sporadic fighting and wars that would leave the Palatinate destroyed. This forced thousands of Germans to flee their homeland, many who made the American colonies (before the revolution) and the United States (after the revolution) their new home.

The movement of the initial wave of German immigrants, the so-called Palantines, was the result of the British government sending roughly 3,000 German immigrants in the early 1700’s to the colonies after they initially immigrated to England on rumors that Britain would provide passage to the American Colonies. In a quandry as to what to do with these German immigrants, the immigrants were sent by the English to the colonies on the proviso that they would be indentured laborers for the production of ‘naval stores’ (the production of tar and pitch in the pine forests of the Hudson valley). Once they got to the colonies, they refused to such an agreement and the English did not enforce their original contract. As a result the German immigrants settled on the Hudson River, some moved to New York City and New Jersey and others settled to scarcely settled areas of the New York frontier. [19] Many of these ‘scarcely settled’ areas would be areas that Griffis family branches would settle in the Mohawk valley.

Early German Settlements in the New York Colony

Source: Sanford H. Cobb, The Story of the Palatines: An Episode in Colonial History, New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1897, The Palatine Settlements of the Hudson, Mohawk, and Schoharie, Page 148 https://ia800906.us.archive.org/3/items/storyofpalatines01cobb/storyofpalatines01cobb.pdf

By the middle of the 18th century, German immigrants occupied a central place in American life. Germans accounted for one-third of the population of the American colonies, and were second in number only to the English. [20] Wars in Europe and America had slowed the arrival of immigrants for several decades starting in the 1770’s. By the year 1800, 100,000 Germans had migrated to the United States, and over eight percent of the American population was of German descent. The trend started to reverse and German immigration increased tenfold by 1830. [21]

“From that year until World War I, almost 90 percent of all German emigrants chose the United States as their destination. Once established in their new home, these settlers wrote to family and friends in Europe describing the opportunities available in the U.S. These letters were circulated in German newspapers and books, prompting “chain migrations.” By 1832, more than 10,000 immigrants arrived in the U.S. from Germany. By 1854, that number had jumped to nearly 200,000 immigrants.” [22]

For the typical working people in Germany, who were forced to endure land seizures, unemployment, increased competition from British goods, and the repercussions of the failed German Revolution of 1848, the economic and political prospects in the United States seemed bright. It also soon became easier to leave Germany, as restrictions on emigration were eased.

Nearly one million German immigrants entered the United States in the 1850s; this included thousands of refugees from the 1848 revolutions in Europe. As reflected in the table below, there were to major peaks in German immigration between 1820 and 1920. The 1850’s and the 1880’s witnessed the latest influx of immigrants from Germanic areas in Europe.

It was during the first of the two major waves in the 1800’s that John Sperber and the Fliegel family migrated to the United States. Nearly one million German immigrants entered the United States in the 1850’s. The German immigrants arriving in the 1850’s represented almost 18 percent of the total number of German immigrants arriving to the United States between this one hundred year period. In the 1850’s German immigrants represented a little over a third of all immigrants coming to the United States. [23]

Table One: German Immigration to the United States (1820-1920) [24]

Immigration Period	Number of Immigrants	% of Total German Migration	% of U.S. Total Migration By decade
1820-1830	5,753	0.1%	4.5%
1831-1840	124,726	2.3	23.2
1841-1850	353,434	7.0	27.0
1851-1860	976,072	17.8	34.7
1861-1870	72,734	13.2	34.8
1871-1880	751,769	13.6	27.4
1881-1890	1,445,181	26.4	27.5
1891-1900	579,072	10.5	15.7
1901-1910	328,722	5.9	4.0
1911-1920	174,227	3.2	2.8
Total	5,494,690	100.00

Note: From 1899 to 1919, data from part of Poland included in Germany

The graph below depicts the two major waves of German immigrants within this one hundred year period.

The area that John Sperber and the Fliegel family left the German territories were particularly affected by the mass exodus to the United States.

Censuses have been taken in Germany at regular intervals since 1816. In most of the German states, including Prussia, they were taken every three years. Within the territory of pre-war Germany between 1840 and – 1910, the German population doubled in size. The increase however was due mainly to higher fertility rates and was not attributable to people moving into the German territory. In fact, there was an appreciable exodus of German’s moving out of the area which mitigated population growth in Germany. Germany lost about 5 million due to people moving out of the German territories. [25]

“The net loss through emigration was especially large between 1847 and 1855, when crop failure and famine impaired living conditions among a population still mainly agricultural. Political discontent and ferment also quickened the migratory impulse. in the three years, 1853-55, almost half a million people…left Germany annually. These losses through migration had the more harmful effect on the growth of population, since the mortality also increased, so that periods with the greatest losses through migration were also periods with the smallest excess of births.

“Between 1853-55, almost three quarters of the natural population increase was lost through migration. … In some parts of German (Württemberg, Baden and the Palatinate) noted for their large emigration it became so heavy that the population decreased. In 1849-52, Wüttenberg suffered an annual loss of 11,000 people (2.2 per 1000) and in 1852-55, suffered an annual loss of 64,000 persons or 12.2 per 1000.

“In Baden, (an area where the Sperber and Fliegel families lived – my note) despite a large excess of births between 1847 and 1855, emigration caused a continuous decline in population. … . “ [26]

Getting to America: the German Experience in the 1700’s

In the 1700’s, the emigrants from the Baden Wüteenberg area usually gathered in a town close to the River Rhine and then took passage on the Rhine north to The Netherlands. From there they sailed to a colonial port. It took several weeks to reach an Atlantic seaport, and another eight to 10 weeks of demanding ocean travel before they reached the shores of North America. [27] This migration path resembles the path of Michael Hartom, Evelyn’s great great grandfather.

The handwritten note below appears to be a torn page from a small calendar notebook. Evelyn was interested in the genealogy of the Dutcher family and this was found in her notes. The note depicts an immigration path of the ‘second wave of Palatines‘ to the colonies.

“Michael Hartom Squire Dutcher’s great grandfather set sail from Hamburg, Germany in 1775. Six months journey in a sail vessel. Settled in New York and then in Stone Arabia.”.

I have researched a wide range of ship passenger lists from Europe between 1770 and 1800 but have yet to find Michael Hartom’s name on a ship manifest list. Discovering a passenger list with a name of a relative is often the result of chance and luck. Many ship manifests were not saved or documented. In addition, there is the inherent issue of what was written on paper.

Generally speaking the captains’ lists have the least value, as far as the spelling of the names is concerned. They were in most cases written by men who had no knowledge of German and to whom German surnames were a mystery they could not fathom. They wrote down the names as they were pronounced to them, spelling them as they would spell English names. As a result there are hundreds of names that have such fantastic forms that they are unrecognizable. [28]

The note written by Evelyn Dutcher Griffis indicates that it took Michael Hartom six months to reach America. This statement perhaps was overstated in terms of the actual length of the voyage. His entire journey from ‘home’ to New York City may have been six months.

In the days of sailing ships, crossing the Atlantic Ocean was certainly slow compared with modern times and frequently a dangerous experience. The overcrowded boats were at the mercy of the ocean and the weather, dependent upon the wind belts for propulsion. On a calm sea with little wind, the sails would hang useless and a trip across the ocean could take on average from one to three months. Disease was rampant in these crowded circumstances, with the ill and the healthy immigrant packed tightly together. Fatalities from disease and ships lost at sea were estimated to range from 10% to 15%. [29]

Prior to 1848, not only would immigrants have to load their own belongings, but families would be required to bring along food for the voyage. There was no one to advise the immigrants as to whether or not these rations would be adequate for the trip..

Poor immigrants often travelled to America on ships that were making their return voyage after having carried tobacco or cotton to Europe. The voyage took up to 90 days, oftentimes much longer, depending on the wind and weather. In steerage, ships were crowded, each passenger having about two square feet of space. The conditions were not sanitary, lice and rats were prevalent. Passengers were required to bring their food or were forced to procure food from the ship’s captain. The ventilation was poor. Between 10-20% of those who left Europe died on board. [30]

After the long and gruelling ocean voyage, most immigrants to the United States in the late 18th and early part of the 19th century made their way to rural areas to farm. Most immigrants in the mid-19th century remained in the ports where they had arrived except for those with the financial means for further travel.

Gottlieb Mittelberger, an organ master and schoolmaster, who left one of the small German states in May 1750 , documented his experiences of sailing from the German territory to the colonies. Mittelberger had lost his job in the Duchy of Wurttemberg in the Holy Roman Empire. He sailed to Philadelphia and lived in colonial America for four years. Upon his return home he wrote a book, with the purpose to warn Germans of the hardships of emigration. [31]

Mittelberger indicates that the passage to America was long and treacherous. Due to delays in travel along the Rhine River and European ports, many of the immigrants would run out of funds and by the time they arrived in the American colonies, they were too poor to pay for the journey and therefore indentured themselves to wealthier colonialists, selling their services for a period of years in return for the price of the passage.

I have provided a number passages from his personal account:

“This journey lasts from the beginning of May to the end of October, fully half a year, amid such hardships as no one is able to describe adequately with their misery. The cause is because the Rhine boats from Heilbronn to Holland have to pass by 36 custom-houses, at all of which the ships are examined, which is done when it suits the convenience of the custom-house officials. In the meantime the ships with the people are detained long, so that the passengers have to spend much money. The trip down the Rhine alone lasts therefore 4, 5 and even 6 weeks. When the ships with the people come to Holland, they are detained there likewise 5 or 6 weeks. Because things are very dear there, the poor people have to spend nearly all they have during that time.” [32]

“Both in Rotterdam and in Amsterdam the people are packed densely, like herrings so to say, in the large sea-vessels. One person receives a place of scarcely 2 feet width and 6 feet length in the bedstead. “ [33]

“But during the voyage there is on board these ships terrible misery, stench, fumes, horror, vomiting, many kinds of sea-sickness, fever, dysentery, headache, heat, constipation, boils, scurvy, cancer, mouth-rot, and the like, all of which come from old and sharply salted food and meat, also from very bad and foul water, so that many die miserably. Add to this want of provisions, hunger, thirst, frost, heat, dampness, anxiety, want, afflictions and lamentations, together with other trouble, as c. v. the lice abound so frightfully, especially on sick people, that they can be scraped off the body. The misery reaches the climax when a gale rages for 2 or 3 nights and days, so that every one believes that the ship will go to the bottom with all human beings on board. In such a visitation the people cry and pray most piteously.” [34]

“Children from 1 to 7 years rarely survive the voyage; and many a time parents are compelled to see their children miserably suffer and die from hunger, thirst and sickness, and then to see them cast into the water. I witnessed such misery in no less than 32 children in our ship, all of whom were thrown into the sea.” [35]

“When the ships have landed at Philadelphia after their long voyage, no one is permitted to leave them except those who pay for their passage or can give good security ; the others, who cannot pay, must remain on board the ships till they are purchased, and are released from the ships by their purchasers. The sick always fare the worst, for the healthy are naturally preferred and purchased first; and so the sick and wretched must often remain on board in front of the city for 2 or 3 weeks, and frequently die, whereas many a one, if he could pay his debt and were permitted to leave the ship immediately, might recover and remain alive.” [36]

“The sale of human beings in the market on board the ship is carried on thus: Every day Englishmen, Dutchmen and High-German people come from the city of Philadelphia and other places, in part from a great distance, say 20, 30, or 40 hours away, and go on board the newly arrived ship that has brought and offers for sale passengers from Europe.” [37]

“When a husband or wife has died at sea, when the ship has made more than half of her trip, the survivor must pay or serve not only for himself or herself, but also for the deceased. When both parents have died over half-way at sea, their children, especially when they are young and have nothing to pawn or to pay, must stand for their own and their parents’ passage, and serve till they are 21 years old.” [38]

Mittelberger perhaps provides a description of what Michael Hartom may have experienced sailing to the colonies in 1775. However, each personal experience may have unique experiences that are not common for similar voyages at the time and possibly do not represent the experiences of the majority of voyages.. While it does not diminish the general portrayal of hardships that were faced crossing the Atlantic, recent studies on German emigration during this time period suggest that mortality rates on voyages were a bit lower than what Mittelberger states.

For example, mortality rates for German immigrants traveling to American in two time periods, 1727 to 1754 and 1785 to 1805, were much lower. One study was based on a sample of fourteen German immigrant vessels which enumerated passenger deaths directly in the ship records, taken from the Strassburger collection of German ship lists for the port of Philadelphia. This sample had over 1,566 passengers and appeared to be relatively representative of the typical immigrant voyage: voluntary, white, civilian immigrants transported by the private shipping market on the North Atlantic route. Six of the ships had mortality enumerated for the separate categories of adult men, adult women, and children. The overall passage mortality for these 1,566 Germans was 3. 8 percent. The voyage mortality for the the 1,153 adult men was slightly above that for the 237 adult women, 3.5 versus 2.5 percent, respectively, although this difference was not statistically significant. The 382 children fared far worse with a passage mortality of over 9 percent or almost three times the adult rate. [39]

Mittelberger’s journey took over 100 days at sea, whereas the average crossing during this time period was onJy about two months. Michael Hartom’s voyage was purportedly six months, as documented by Evelyn Dutcher Griffis. However, we do not know if Evelyn’s “six month” statement includes his travel to the departing port. We also do not know when Michael Hartom started his journey.

Mittelberger’s ship carried 486 passengers. The average in the German trade was 300 between 1750 and 1754, and almost half that at other times. He also experienced a relatively longer, more crowded passage. [40]

By the 1830s to 1860s, North Atlantic passage mortality had fallen to between 2.4 and 1.0 percent, or as low as 10 per J,000 per month. Since these voyages lasted around one to one and a half months, the annualized crude death rate was as low as 80 to 120 per 1,000. Thus late eighteenth-century passage mortality was only about twice as high as early nineteenth-century passage mortality. [41]

Immigration in the 1800’s: Packet Ships from Havre

The German emigrants in the 1800’s, which included John Sperber and the Fliegel family, came to the United States via Le Havre, France, which was also reached via the Rhine River. Though people from all over Germany migrated to America, the Rhine represented the main highway out of Germany to the New World in the 1800s. They also took ships from other ports, notably Bremen, Germany and a smaller portion of travelers left via Hamburg. In the nineteenth century these ports were reachable by train.

“After the fall of Napoleon, Havre became the chief port of departure for continental Europe, and it retained its supremacy for more than a generation. The Swiss and South Germans arrived there overland or by sail from Cologne; and many came in coasting vessels from North Germany, and even from Norway for transshipment to America. In 1854 the German emigration by way of Havre exceeded that from Bremen by twenty thousand; while Bremen was ahead of Hamburg by twenty-five thousand, and Hamburg in turn led Antwerp by a like number. The completion of the German railway system and the great expansion of steam navigation in the Hanseatic cities eventually deprived Havre of her predominance in the business, but she remained an important port of departure as long as there was a large emigration from the region to which she was an accessible outlet.” [42]

“The development of steam transportation for immigrants, even after the invention of the screw propeller, was not so rapid as might have been expected. It was not till 1865 that more of them came by steam than by sail; and for more than a decade after that date sailing vessels still had a considerable share of the business.” [43]

Beginning in 1820, ship captains were required to file a list of all passengers aboard an arriving ship to the U.S. port authorities. The documentation provided a basis for official estimates of immigration for the nineteenth century. [44] While this increased the chances of being able to document German immigrants arriving in the United States, it is not a certainty that one will find ship manifest lists for all incoming passengers on ships that traveled to the United States in this time period.

Many immigrants sailed to America or back to their homelands in packet ships between 1817 – 1880. The term packet ship was used to describe a vessel that featured regularly scheduled service on a specific point-to-point line. Usually, the individual ship operated exclusively for a specific shipping line. Packet ships were sail vessels that carried mail, cargo, and people.

Most of the immigrants crossed the Atlantic in the steerage area of the packet ships. Conditions varied from ship to ship, but steerage was normally crowded, dark, and damp. [45] While. the trip for immigrants was much shorter than those experienced in the 1700’s, the Atlantic crossing was still fraught with dangers ranging from shipwreck, overcrowded quarters, meager food rations, theft, disease and death.

In the late 1840s, William Smith became one of many immigrants who chose to leave his native home and family to undertake the trip to the United States. His published personal narrative of his experiences aboard the ship India as a steerage passenger traveling from Liverpool, England, to New York City exemplifies the experience of many millions of other immigrants to the United States. The mid-nineteenth-century steerage deck was, at its best, cramped and uncomfortable; ceiling heights could lie as low as five and a half feet, and the overall dimensions of the space were often about seventy-five by twenty-five feet. Travelers shared these tight quarters for an average of forty days. [46]

Disease spread quickly in this crowded environment, Smith’s personal narrative alludes to the prevalence of sickness and death. However, various studies have shown that the mortality rate on ships in the md 1800’s was not as high as what personal narratives have portrayed. Many have thought that immigrant mortality was fairly high during these years, but one study has shown that the mortality rate was 1.4 percent of the passengers, or about 10 per thousand per month, died on a typical voyage. The percent who died was significantly higher for ships arriving in November through February than for the other months. Sailing conditions in the North Atlantic were substantially worse during these months. [47]

The packet ships, unlike the later and more glamorous clippers, or steamers were not designed for speed. They carried cargo and passengers, and for several decades packets were the most efficient way to cross the Atlantic.

“Packet ships, packet liners, or simply packets, were sailing ships of the early 1800s that did something which was novel at the time: they departed from port on a regular schedule.” [48]

The cutaway below reveals how travelers and cargo sailed together on a packet ship. Travelers with enough money purchased “cabin passage” and slept in private or semiprivate rooms. The vast majority of passengers, usually immigrants, bought bunks in steerage, also called the ’tween deck’ for its position between the cabins and the hold.

Cross Section of a Packet Ship [49]

Packet Ships were sturdy vessels designed to sail the rough north Atlantic at the cost of speed. They measured about 200 feet long with three masts and a blunt, broad and flat bow. They could travel about 200 miles per day if the conditions were right. Their trans-Atlantic voyages averaged 23 days to go east, and 40 days to go west. [50]

In the 1830s steamships were introduced, and by the end of the Civil War they were taking over as the mode of transportation, especially for the more affluent. The sailing packet lines ceased operation altogether in 1880.

“By 1847, there were many ads showing that regular service had been established. In 1850, there was a noticeable uptick in the number of advertisements announcing regularly scheduled sailings between Europe and the United Stales. At this point. there were also more ads claiming passage on “fast” sailing ships, presumably trying to compete with the new steamships. Over the 1850s, more and more ads were placed regarding passage on steamships. By 1855, advertisements for fares on sailing ships dropped off and the paper no longer printed a fare table.” [51]

Getting and navigating to European ports was a new challenge for most emigrants, many of whom had never ventured very far from their home village. Ads in German newspapers oftentimes gave information about where where to stay in ports, when the cost of staying in the ports was included in the passage price, and how to survive cheaply before setting sail.

“For an adult traveling in steerage ona sailing ship, the average fare was 33 to 35 (Prussian) Thalers, about 23 dollars. These fares explain why most of the Germans who emigrated were positively self selected, that is, they were not poor farm laborers or servants but were somewhat better off. Around 1850, even a master farm laborer in the Rhine area earned only about 60 Thalers per year in cash in addition lo various in-kind goods, worth probably at least another 20 Thaler.” [52]

The most common destination for German emigrants was New York City, and getting there was expensive for many Germans. Moving to the United States was not a cheap endeavor for Germans during the middle of the nineteenth century. The fares were generally higher fares from Le Havre, Antwerp, and Rotterdam than from Hamburg or Bremen. The reason is that the listings for the fares from these cities included the cost of getting from a city in the interior of Germany to the port city. For example a listing might be “Koeln – Havre – New York”.

Even for individuals with skills that commanded a good wage, such as 70 to 100 Thalers a year, paying for just one transatlantic fare would have cost between one-third and one-half of their yearly income. While individuals could afford to emigrate at these prices, it was near the limit of what was affordable. For those who could come close to raising the necessary funds. paying for the voyage was made more feasible if they had an inheritance or could liquidate all their goods and properly before leaving.

“Most German emigrants had incomes no lower than those earned by the lower middle class, creating an emigrant population from German states that was positively self selected in the 1840s and 1850.” [53]

The Sperber and Fliegel Families: Emigration in the 1850’s

John Sperber and the Fliegel family emigrated to the United States in different years in the 1850’s. John Sperber reportedly arrived around 1853 and the Fliegel family arrived in 1855.

The ‘pater familias’, John Wolfgang Sperber, was born in Baden, Germany around 1828. His bride, Sophia Fliegel, and her family also immigrated to the United States around the same time. Both families were from the Grand Duchy of Baden. It is the German State occupying the southwest corner of Germany. As you can see from the map below, Baden borders on the Alsace region of France, Switzerland, Austria, and the German states of Hessen and Bavaria.

1855 Colton Map of Bavaria, Wurtemberg and Baden, Germany

The Sperber and Fliegel families were originally from Baden and Ettlingen Ittlingen respectively. Both towns are in the Baden Würtemberg area. The Wageneck family is a maternal branch of the Fliegel family. The family can also be traced back a number of generations from the Baden Würtemberg area.

The Baden-Württemberg area comprises the historical territories of Baden, Prussian Hohenzollern, and Württemberg. Baden spans along the flat right bank of the river Rhine from north-west to the south (Lake Constance) of the present state. Württemberg and Hohenzollern lay more inland and are hillier, including areas such as the Swabian Jura mountain range. The Black Forest formed part of the border between Baden and Württemberg. While the area is now formally a German state, it is historically an area that represented a variety of German city states.

John Sperber was the second of the two family members to settle in Gloversville, New York. It is not entirely certain as to when John Sperber arrived in the United States. In a 1900 U.S. Federal Census, John Sperber reported, at the age of 72, that he arrived in the United States in 1853. Ship manifest records indicate a John Sperber arrived in 1852. [54]

Researching ship manifest lists of ships that arrived in the United States around 1853 revealed a few records that may point to our John or Johann Sperber. [55] The most likely record documents the arrival of a Johann Sperber arriving in the port of New York City on June 14, 1852. [56] Johann Sperber traveled on the packet ship named Germania and departed from Havre, France. Based on the ship manifest records, Johann Sperber was 26 years old, his estimated birth date was 1826, his occupation was listed as ‘cultivator‘ and his birth place was listed as ‘Bavaria‘. He stayed in the steerage area of the ship.

The Packet Ship Germania at pier, Le Havre, France [57]

Johann Sperber sailed on the Germania, a packet ship built in 1850 . It was in service by by the Havre Whitlock ship line between 1850 – 1863. Based on the ship’s records, it took an average of 38 days to sail from Havre to New York City. The Germania was one of fourteen ships owned and managed by the Havre Whitlock Line. [58] The ships sailed from New York to Le Havre every month on the 8th, 16th, and 24th, and sailed from Le Havre every month on the 1st, 8th, and 24th. [59]

As reflected in the map below, Johann arrived at pier 14 in New York City on June 14, 1852.

Port of New York 1851

Source: From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. Map of the Port of New York on the south tip of Manhattan Island in 1851. Heavy broken line marks the waterfront below City Hall park in 1784. Area filled in prior to 1820. The original source is unknown. The old illustration was found in Carl C. Cutler, Queens of the Western Ocean, Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute, 1961 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Port_of_New_York_1851.jpg

It is not known how and how long it took for Johann Sperber to travel from New York City to the Johnstown – Gloversville area.

“Gloversville was originally settled by New England Puritans in the 1790’s. In the ensuing decades as the community grew, leather tanning became a prominent local industry due to the purity and abundance of water and the availability of hemlock bark as a source of tannin. As a result, the manufacture of gloves became widespread as a cottage industry. It was in 1828 that the settlement was officially given its current name upon the establishment of the first post office.” [60]

After the Civil War, the glove industry boomed in the Johnstown and Gloversville, New York area, causing large numbers of immigrants from many of Europe’s glove making centers to make their new homes there.

The Fliegel family was actually from Ittlignen which is not listed on the above 1855 map. From 1355, Ittlingen was a possession of the Lordship of Gemmingen. Their rule ended in 1806, when the Gemmingens’ properties were mediatized to the Grand Duchy of Baden. Ittlingen was assigned on 22 June 1807 to Oberamt Gochsheim, the only such district in Baden. On 24 July 1813, Ittlingen was assigned to the district of Eppingen.

As the crow flies, Baden and Eppingen are about 47 miles apart. It would take you 16 and a half hours to walk from one area to the other.

Distance Between Baden and Eppingen Germany

In 1855, Christopher (Christoph) Fliegel and his wife Maria Juliana Wageneck made a major life altering decision to emigrate with their three young adult children to the United States. This must have been a hard decision to make, perhaps due to push factors they experienced in Germany. Christopher was 60 years old and Juliana was in her late fifties.

Similar to Johann Sperper’s experience, the family traveled from their German Rhineland home to Havre, France and took one of the packet ships run by the Havre-Union Line. They, like Johann arrived at pier 14 in New York City.

The manifest list for the ship the Fliegel family traveled on is below. It lists the following information (lines 3 – 7): Christoph Fliegel (age 60), Juliani (59), Phillipp (33), Rosina (28) and Sophie (21) from Baden Germany. [61]. They were among 303 individuals who sailed on the ship ‘Zurich‘ and arrived in New York City on January 26, 1855. [62]

Ship Manifest List for Fliegel Family

The American Ship Zurich was built in New York by W.H. Webb in 1844. [63] It was a class A2 ship of 817 tons with 2 decks. It was made of white Oak and the hull was medalled in September 1854. During its lifetime (1844 – 1863) it sailed from the New York port and principally sailed to Havre, France and it averaged 35 days from Harvre to New York City. [64] It was one of twenty-five packet ships that were part of what was called the Havre Old Line. [65]

Once in New York City, the family traveled west and ultimately established their new home in Johnstown New York. In five years, the U.S. Federal Census captured a shapshot of the family. [66] Chistopher, age 72, is living with this son Philip’s family Philip’s occupation is listed as a “Skin Dresser” , a work activity associated with glove making. Evidently the census enumerator did not capture Juliana’s whereabouts. Christoph Fliegel lived long enough to see his family settled in the United States. He passed away at the reported age of 74 on October 15, 1872. His wife Juliana reportedly died on February 23, 1867.

1860 U.S. Census

Sources

Feature Photograph of this story: This is a portion of a map from Colton, G. W., Colton’s Atlas of the World Illustrating Physical and Political Geography, Vol 2, New York, 1855 (First Edition) Issued as page no. 14 in volume 2 of the first edition of George Washington Colton’s 1855 Atlas of the World. The map covers the 19th century German provinces of Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Baden and Pfalz, as well as numerous smaller regions. The map is divided and color coded according to regional divisions. Various cities, towns, forts, rivers and assortment of additional topographical details are identified.

Highlighted Areas on Map: You can see the proximity of Eppingen (the home of the Fliegel family) and Baden, the home of John Wolfgang Sperber). 1855 Colton Map of Bavaria, Wurtemberg and Baden, Germany – Geographicus Wikipedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1855_Colton_Map_of_Bavaria,Wurtemberg_and_Baden,_Germany–Geographicus-_Germany3-colton-1855.jpg The Fliegel family was actually from Ittlignen which is not listed on the 1855 map. From 1355, Ittlingen was a possession of the Lordship of Gemmingen [de]. Their rule ended in 1806, when the Gemmingens’ properties were mediatized to the Grand Duchy of Baden. Ittlingen was assigned on 22 June 1807 to Oberamt Gochsheim [de], the only such district in Baden. On 24 July 1813, Ittlingen was assigned to the district of Eppingen.

Original digital file of map: 3,500 x 2,810 pixels, in ZoomViewer: https://zoomviewer.toolforge.org/index.php?f=1855%20Colton%20Map%20of%20Bavaria%2C%20Wurtemberg%20and%20Baden%2C%20Germany%20-%20Geographicus%20-%20Germany3-colton-1855.jpg&flash=no

[1] Benjamin Myer Brink, The Palatine Settlements, Proceedings of the New York State Historical Association, 1912, Vol. 11 (1912), pp. 136 https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/42889955.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A962eaf10dd5afe3ff4cdb27ba7b18019&ab_segments=&origin=&initiator=

[2] Cobb, Sanford Hoadley. The Story of the Palatines: An Episode in Colonial History. United Kingdom, G. P. Putnam’s sons, 1897. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Story_of_the_Palatines/eUgjAAAAMAAJ?hl=en

Brink, Benjamin Myer. “THE PALATINE SETTLEMENTS.” Proceedings of the New York State Historical Association, vol. 11, 1912, pp. 136–43. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/42889955. Accessed 27 May 2023.

Ellsworth, Wolcott Webster. “THE PALATINES IN THE MOHAWK VALLEY.” Proceedings of the New York State Historical Association, vol. 14, 1915, pp. 295–311. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/42890044. Accessed 27 May 2023.

Diefendorf, Mary Riggs. The Historic Mohawk. United Kingdom, Putnam, 1910. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Historic_Mohawk/ziIVAAAAYAAJ?hl=en

Walter Allen Knittle, Early Eighteenth Century Palatine Emigration; a British Government Redemptioner Project to Manufacture Naval stores, Philadelphia: Dorrance & Co, 1905, https://archive.org/details/earlyeighteenthc00knit/page/n5/mode/2up

Nelson Greene, History of the Mohhawk Valley, Gateway to the West, 1614 – 1925 Covering the Six Counties of Schenectady, Schoharie, Montgomery, Fulton, Herkimer and Onieda – CVolume 2, S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, https://www.google.com/books/edition/History_of_the_Mohawk_Valley_Gateway_to/aOApAQAAMAAJ?hl=en

The Palatine Germans, National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-palatine-germans.htm

[3] Quote is from Philip Otterness, Becoming German, The 1709 Palatine Migration to New York, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2004, Pages 120-121

Name	Birth Year	Birthplace	Arrival Date	Departure Port	Arrival Port
Johann Sperber	1826	Bavaria	14 Jun 1852	Havre	New York
Joh G. Sperber	1834	Bavaria	09 Jul 1856	Hamburg	New York
J. Sperber	1832	Bavaria	08 May 1855	Bremen	New York
W. Sperber	1828		20 Jun 1853	Bremen	New York

William James Griffis and Daniel Griffis – A Tale of Two Brothers (Part Two of Three)

Off to War: Two Paths Two Different Experiences

Daniel was the first to leave New York state. The 130th infantry regiment of New York headed south to Suffolk, Virgina. Their destination was deep behind enemy lines. Roughly 1,000 men departed on train from Portage, New York on September 6, 1862. The train stopped at Elmira, New York and the troops received their Enfield rifles and other equipment. However, the equipment was not issued until they reached Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. [1]

At Harrisburg, the troops made their first acquaintance with shelter, tents, and ‘army gray-backs’. Army gray-backs’ was another name for body lice. Body lice proliferated wherever armies gathered during the war and were so prevalent that they simply were accepted as a consequence of war. Whenever troops had downtime they deloused as best as they could. Discarding infected clothing became known as ‘giving the vermin a parole’ and turning one’s clothing inside out was a ‘flanking movement’. The insects knew “all the bugle calls”. The first use of the word ‘lousy’ can be traced to the civil war. [2]

They then made their way via train to Baltimore, Maryland. While part of the Union, Maryland was a slave state and public opinion against the Confederacy was not an unilateral position among locals.

“Public sentiment was divided; while some scowled and manifested extreme hatred, we found others intensely outspoken in their loyalty. Some who purchased and drank milk there became sick, leading to the belief that it had been purposely poisoned.” [3]

Proceeding to Washington, DC, the 130th regiment encamped for a few nights. During the war, the nation’s capital city filled with people and at times swelled to 200,000. In May 1861, troops, weapons, horses, and supplies began pouring into Washington. [4] Given its fragile, swampy environment, the military camp conditions quickly became muddied areas, susceptible to sickness. In September 1861, General George McClellan issued standing orders that soldiers in the Army of the Potomac be given hot coffee immediately after roll call as a “preventative of the effects of malaria”. Such orders did not appear to be effective. [5] Troops from the 130th referred to their camp in Washington, DC as being on ‘the border of a dried up goose pond’.

Map is part of a larger 1837 map: John Mcclellan. Map exhibiting the route of communication between Philadelphia & Charleston. [N.P, 1837] Map.

From Washington, the regiment embarked on an Union transport boat and traveled down the Chesapeake Bay to Fort Monroe. Fort Monroe was a military installation located in Hampton Roads, Virginia, on the Peninsula overlooking the Chesapeake Bay. It was the only federal military installation in the Upper South to remain under United States control throughout the Civil War and as such provided a strategic transport and control point for supplies. The regiment then traveled by train to their final destination on September 13, 1862 to Suffolk, Virgina.

“This place is about fifty miles southeast from Peterburg, and eight or ten miles from the North Carolina line. Here was being collected an offensive army to threaten the rebel capital from the south. This proved to be our army home for about nine months, as well as our training school for the severe and trying ordeals we were to pass through later on.” [6]

Meanwhile, Daniel’s brother William and the 153rd regiment left the state of New York on October 18, 1862. They may have had travel experiences similar to the 130th as they made their way southward to the nation’s capital. Unlike the 130th regiment, however, the trip to Washington D.C. was their final destination as Provost Guards in Alexandria, Virginia.

While their respective initial assignments to Suffolk and to Alexandria, Virginia were different, they were similar in terms of their shared experiences as being assigned military duty in cities in occupied Confederate territory. Suffolk was occupied by Union Troops from May, 1862, until the end of the Civil War. Alexandria was occupied the day after Virginia seceded in May, 1861.

“For the first two years of the war, Union commanders advancing into Confederate territory were without a clear understanding of how and when martial law should function and what relationship the army should have toward civilians, slaves, and private property.” [7]

“For most of the soldiers on occupation duty …, this was their first exposure to a real “secesh” (secessionist), to blacks, and to the physical landscape of the South. Most of them felt their surroundings to be alien and unfriendly. For their part, the people of Alexandria looked with disfavor upon the troops in their midst. They bridled at requirements for oath-taking (civilians were required to sign oaths of allegiance to the Republic when requesting to travel in and out of the city) and resented nearly all the laws and regulations imposed by the military. By the end of the war, Unionist sentiment had been nearly eradicated.” [8]

Daniel’s First Half of His Tour of Duty: Engagements & Skirmishes in Virgina and a Transition to the Calvary

Daniel’s infantry regiment was assigned to the 1st Division, VII Corps of the Army of the Potomac. The 1st Division was commanded by Gen. Michael Corcoran. In the ensuing months, the 130th New York regiment ‘cut their teeth’ in battle and were engaged in the major encounters of the Battle of Deserted House and took part in the Siege of Suffolk in April and May 1863. During his first year and a half of service, Private Daniel Griffis witnessed and possibly participated in 10 major engagements in northern Virgina. His regiment was in the thick of the war at the time. After the engagement at Manassas Plains, he possibly was a wagon master and may not have been on the picket lines or the leading edge of skirmishes:

Blackwater, VA December 2, 1862
Near Blackwater, December 28, 1863
Deserted House (or Kelly’s Store), VA January 30, 1863
Siege of Suffolk, April 11 – May 4, 1863
South Quay Road, VA April 17, 1863
South Quay, VA June 12, 1863
Franklin, VA, June 13, 1863
Blackwater, VA, June 16-17, 1863
Baltimore Cross Roads, VA July 4, 1863
Manassas Plains, VA October 17, 1863
Culpepper Courthouse, VA November 20, 1863
Barnett’s Ford, VA December 2, 1863
Barnett’s Ford, VA January 20, 1864
Barnett’s Ford, VA February 6-7, 1864 (This is when Daniel Wrote a letter to his father Joel)

After the battle of Deserted House in January 1863, aside from numerous skirmishes along the picket lines where they may have camped, the regiment was not under fire until the Siege of Suffolk. The two intervening months of February and March were consumed with work on building fortifications around Suffolk and picket line duty under the direction of Major General Peck. The trenches and fortifications that Daniel and his fellow troops built around Suffolk spanned about 15 miles in the shape of a horseshoe with the open end toward Norfolk and the Great Dismal Swamp. The Nansemond River curved like a snake to form the natural north boundary.

Nearly 60,000 men faced off across the Nansemond River beginning April 11, 1863 when Confederate troops under Lt. Gen. James A. Longstreet attacked the heavily fortified Union stronghold in Suffolk. (Drawing on the left: Union Signal Corps tower: “Pine-Tree Station” was one of many Signal Corps towers erected to protect the Union lines in Suffolk.)

Despite Confederate Longstreet’s efforts to surround Suffolk by land and water, he abandoned the takeover attempt of the city based on Union Major General Peck’s preparation of building forts and rifle pits surrounding the city and having gunboats in the Nansemond River. Instead he and the Confederate troops settled down to a regular siege that lasted until May 4, 1863.

“On the afternoon of April 11, our pickets were rapidly driven in or captured, and from Terry’s front, on the west, where our camp was located, we beheld long lines of rebel infantry as they came up and filed off to the right and the left of the South Quay road. At the same time two other columns were marching on other roads to strike us from both the north and south… . The whirl of the long roll was heard in every camp, and in all directions troops were seen scurrying to the forts and rifle pits. Our brigade, under General Terry, immediately took position in the trenches, where we remained under the siege. All through the first night our ears caught the sound of picks and shovels, and what was our surprise in the morning to see before us, just across the river, a long line of rifle pits full of rebel sharpshooters…. The popping up of heads and dodging down when we saw a puff of smoke reminded one of woodchuck hunting.” [9]

Map of Suffolk

This is a pen and ink map, 12.5 x 15.25 in., on two sheets of notebook paper laid on cigar paper. It is an highly detailed map showing the position of each regiment present at Suffolk, as well as the locations of Union sharpshooters, batteries, hospitals, breastworks, garrisons, churches, and cemeteries. The Seaboard & Roanoke and Petersburg & Norfolk Railroads are also identified. The map belonged to George William Gragg, a private with Company K, 6th Massachusetts Infantry, his regiment was stationed in Suffolk, Virginia from September 1862 until June 1863, attached to the 7th Army Corps, Department of Virginia.

Daniel Griffis’ 130th New York Infantry regiment was situated in the upper left hand corner of the map next to the Seaboard and Roanoke RR line. . Click on Map for Larger Image

While there were numerous skirmishes during the siege of the Union encampment in Suffolk, there were interesting incidents that occurred along the front, reflecting the basic essence of what it is to be human even during war, as described below. The trading of goods and swapping of stories were essentially a ‘courtship ritual’ when picket posts were in place and the troops occupied an area for an extended period of time. Within the life situations soldiers were placed, basic trust developed and humans reached out to other humans on the other side and soldiers opened up about the war, their families, and life in general. [10]

**Drawing of Edwin Forbes “Pickets trading between the lines” Library of Congress**

“Sometimes, however, the monotony was broken by an armistice between the two hostile lines, when the men on both sides would swarm out of the entrenchments and enjoy a season of friendly intercourse, telling stories, cracking jokes, or singing for each other’s entertainment. Occasionally they would cross over and exchange hardtack, coffee, salt, and other things for tobacco. It was quite a fashion to exchange coat buttons.” [11]

After the siege, the regiment engaged in a six day reconnoissance on the Blackwater where they participated in a number of skirmishes at South Quay and Franklin “where we had more skirmishing… Comrade A.F. Robinson relates that as we entered the captured pits, one of the regiment found a violin, and while the fight was in progress, commenced playing and dancing.” [12]

After their 20 mile home march back to Suffolk on June 18, they struck up their tents, packed up and left Suffolk on June 19, 1863. “we bade farewell to our camps, and to the tune of “The Girl I left Behind Me”, we marched to the cars.” [13] They took a train to Norfolk, boarded a boat and arrived at Yorktown the following day.

The 130th regiment marched from Yorktown to White House Landing. During their three weeks of ‘masterly inactivity’ they recorded victories with a force of 1,050 calvary within rebel lines to Hanover Courthouse, destroying bridges, capturing or killing 125 of the enemy, securing horses, mules wagons, supplies and “$15,000 of Confederate bonds’. Among their prisoners was the son of General Robert E. Lee, Brigadier General William F. Lee.

Leaving Yorktown July 11, they arrived in Washington the following day; and then to Federick City, Maryland on the 16th when Colonel Gibbs reported to General Meade. The regiment then marched to Warrenton on July 25th.

Daniel Assumes Wagon Master duties

“The strenuous efforts of Colonel Gibbs had at length been rewarded with success, and our regiment was the recipient of honors bestowed upon no other in the history of the war. There were regiments of mounted infantry, but no other instance in which an absolute transference from infantry to calvary occurred. The special orders from the war department touching this transfer, bear date July 28, 1863… .” [14]

Special Orders Number 205, dated August 2, 1863, signed by General Meade, directed the 130th New York Volunteers to proceed to Manassas Junction and form a camp of instruction for the purpose of ‘being recognized and receiving its arms and equipments. … The regiment is attached to the calvary corps, and reports and returns will hereafter be rendered accordingly.’

Daniel’s regiment was converted to a cavalry regiment on July 28, 1863, and designated as the 19th Regiment New York Volunteer Cavalry. The 19th Cavalry was officially re-designated as the 1st Regiment New York Dragoons on September 10, 1863. It was probably during this period that Daniel became a wagon master.

While infantry units had wagon masters and teamsters to manage supplies and ambulance units, Daniel’s military files suggest he did not become a wagon master until the regiment was transformed into a calvary unit. This was a massive transformation for the regiment and for the individual soldiers. Everyone in the regiment was personally impacted and undoubtably given new assignments. His role as wagon master, as documented in pension records, is evident in January and February 1864. [15]

The work required of wagon masters and teamsters was stressful, backbreaking and often dangerous. One infantryman admitted that all the drivers labored in “one of the most wearing departments of the service.” Wagon masters maintained the wagons and the teams of horses or mules, directed the teamsters who drove individual wagons and may as well have driven wagons. Regulations required wagon masters and teamsters to grease the axles or repair the wheels; feed, water, and curry the horses; and possibly to load and unload cargo. [16] Union military orders indicated there should be one wagoner for an infantry or calvary company of approximately 100 soldiers. [17]

Daniel probably managed a six mule wagon along with the others duties associated with a wagon master. The standard wagon utilized during the Civil War was a six mule or horse wagon. The six-mule wagon was the “coin of the realm of Civil War logistics”. [18] The origin of the six mule wagon can be traced to the military demands for a standardized four mule transport wagon in the late 1830’s. Constructed along the same lines as the earlier four mule wagon, the six-mule wagon was built using the same basic specifications with the exceptions of heavier wheels, larger axles and increased dimensions to the lower side rails on the body. The wagons weighed about 2,000 pounds and could carry approximately the same load. However, with the addition of more pairs of draft animals, the loads could be more easily transported over long distances without wearing out the team as quickly. [19]

The first actual contract for the Six-Mule Wagon was on February 9, 1855. [20] By 1858, with all the reports received back on the design, the final Quartermaster specifications were printed. These specifications would remain unchanged until the end of the Civil War. Based upon knowledge gained during the Civil War, a new set of Six-Mule Wagon Specification were prepared in 1865.

A six-mule team “was hitched in three spans. The largest mules, the wheel pair, were hitched closest to the wagon. The swing pair was in the middle. The leaders, probably the smallest and supposedly the smartest, were in front. Wagons were driven by a muleskinner who rode the left-hand mule (i.e., facing forward) nearest to the wagon. This position was occupied by the near-side wheel mule, also called the near-pole mule. The left file of mules … was the near-side and the right file was the off-side. The near-side leader was connected to the off-side leader by an iron pole. The mules were steered by a single rein running back from the near-side lead mule. The team turned to the left when the driver yelled “Haw” and pulled steadily on the rein. A shout of “Gee”, accompanied by quick jerks on the rein, caused the team to turn to the right. Shouting “Yay” sent the team straight ahead.”[21]

Forbers- Drawing of a Mule Team and Driver — Forbes, Edwin, Artist. Study of a Mule Team and Wagon, With Driver, United States Virginia Culpeper Court House, 1863. Sept. 30. Photograph.

As indicated in the above quote and indicated in Earl Hess’ incisive work, this drawing by Edwin Forbes provides an accurate depiction of how mule driven wagon teams were driven in the Civil War. The driver is seated on the left rear mule rather than on the box of the wagon. The driver controlled the other mules by means of using the reins and a whip. [22]

During most of the war, each regiment had, on average, six wagons that were dedicated to its immediate needs. [23] One of the wagons hauled the surgeon’s medical stores. Another carried the tents and the baggage of the field and staff officers. The third wagon carried the baggage of the line officers. The fourth wagon hauled the pans and kettles of the line companies. The fifth and sixth wagons carried rations. Brigades, divisions and army corps were apportioned additional wagons to carry baggage, rations, forage, hospital supplies, ammunition, entrenching tools and quartermaster supplies.

The mobility of the army depended on the carrying capacity of its wagons. Toward the end of the war, the Army of the Potomac carried ten days of rations and ordnance stores for an entire campaign. The number of wagons per regiment varied depending on circumstances and military campaigns and there are a variety of Union military General Orders that qualify the use and deployment of wagons. [24]

As the war progressed, experience varied and fine tuned the army‟s knowledge of the carrying capacity of a six-mule wagon. For example:

“An army wagon will carry conveniently, with what forage is usually added, about 2,500 pounds, making with the forage 3,000 pounds, which is about the greatest capacity over moderately good roads; even this amount will be found very great if the march is continued long each day or requires to be at all rapid.” [25] “…I have found that an army wagon will haul from 700 to 800 complete rations, if well packed, and 1,200 of the ordinary marching ration.” [26] Brigadier General Ingalls, the Chief Quartermaster of the Army of the Potomac, said that “One wagon will carry 1,200 rations hard bread; 2,000 rations coffee (1 barrel); 1,800 rations sugar (1 barrel); 300 rations (two-eights pound) pork (1 barrel, 1 box, 25 pounds); 1,200 rations salt (1 box, 45 pounds); 36 rations (9 pounds to ration) oats (3 sacks); gross weight, 2,674 pounds.” [27]

Wagon masters and teamsters generally worked under the quartermaster. Quartermasters had little patience with incompetence or mistakes, and these hard pressed supply czars often vented their frustration on those driving the teams, who in turn cracked their whips, alternately eased and yanked the leather reins, and made “the air blue with profanity addressed to their mules, individually or collectively, so that the anxiety to get through was felt by all the moving forces in the train,” as one observer put it. [28] Brigadier-General Butterfield said: “The quartermaster should have his train thoroughly disciplined and under his control to move it with as much facility as a battery of artillery can be moved.” [29]

Soldiers may have considered driving wagon as an escape from the front lines. However, teamsters and wagon masters transported all sorts of valuable goods and were under constant danger of capture or worse, even when they had large escorts of armed troops. The ponderous size of wagon trains made them inviting targets and easy to find. [30]

“Among the teamster and wagon man’s many enemies were shoddy, stump-filled roads, sucking mud that threatened to swallow up teams and wagons whole, and lame or otherwise injured animals. Drivers often found themselves down in the dirt, digging out their wagons or helping mechanics with repairs. They were also responsible for the care of their hard-working teams and constantly fed their animals from the sacks of forage they lugged in each 2,500- to 2,800- pound wagonload.“ [31]

Daniel: Manassas to Mitchell’s Station

The regiment moved by rail August 3, 1863 from Warrenton Junction to Union Mills and on August 6, 1863 established their first camp at Manassas Junction to start their training as a calvary unit. They received their horses September 13, 1863 just one month before they were to break camp. For a short period after their transfer, the regiment was known as the 19th New York Calvary. Their quartermaster Abram Lawrence suggested the name “First New York Dragoons” which was adopted and confirmed by the governor of New York. The order announcing the change was read on October 10, 1863 during a dress parade.

“During our two month’s sojourn in camp of instruction at Manassas, we were almost incessantly always annoyed by the notorious guerrilla, Mosby, and his band of thieving cut-throats, who were always prowling about the outskirts of our camp, like a pack of hungry wolves, ready to pounce upon and capture or kill our men and horses. Notwithstanding our strong picket line and the exercise of vigilance, we suffered from his depredations. If suppressed on one side of the camp, he bobbed up serenely on the other. He was the new version of Paddy’s flea – ‘Put yer hand where he is, and he ain’t there.’ “ [32]

After breaking training camp at Manassas, the regiment rejoined the Army of the Potomac and had their first engagements a calvary unit October 13, 1863 at Manassas Plains.

“Since breaking camp have been in our saddles from fifteen to twenty hours every day, not stopping two nights in one place. One night we rode for hours in a terrific storm: in fact, it was a rainstorm and hurricane combined, as we were almost blown off of our horses. For three days we have traveled in our water-soaked clothing, but today, by sun and fire, we have dried off somewhat. Most of the time we have subsisted on hardtack and raw pork, and having opportunity to cook or make coffee.” [33]

The First Dragoons had a major engagement at Culpepper Courthouse November 20, 1863.

“On the 14th and 15th (of December) we had another long and tiresome chase after Mosby, who had run off an infantry wagon and the mules. Starting at sundown we rode rapidly all night, scarcely stopping until we had made nearly forty miles; but nary a Mosby did we get…we followed the trail, the tracks became fresher and more distinct until the prize seemed almost within our grasp, when suddenly, as if the earth had opened and swallowed it up, in some inexplicable and mysterious manner all traces were lost. Even Major Scott, who had the sagacity of an Indian was completely nonplussed.” [34]

At the end of 1863 and the beginning of 1864, notwithstanding the continued demands of outpost duty and scouting expeditions in the Virginia countryside, Daniel and the Dragoons were able have a ‘four month sojourn’ in permanent quarters at Mitchell Station, Virgina. Around December 20, 1863, the regiment was directed to construct winter quarters near Culpepper, Virginia. After a week’s worth of work they were ordered to move their camp five miles nearer the front at Mitchell’s Station which was on the Orange and Alexandria Rail Road line. ” To say that there was no grumbling, or even profanity, indulged in, would be such a stretching of the truth. “ They started making their camp on December 27th, 1863 at their new location.

“After assurances that this would be our permanent camp for the winter, the men went to work with renewed energy, devoting all the time spared from picket duty to the construction of winter habitations where, during our period of hibernation, we could have better protection that that afforded by our little shelter tents. … Though not permitted, woodchuck like, to snugly cuddle down until spring, it was nevertheless no small consolation to have comfortable burrows to crawl into when returning, cold and wet, from our severe turns of picket service on the Rapidan.” [35]

William’s First Year: Guarding Prisoners & the Nation’s Capital and Chronic Sickness

Within the capital itself, President Lincoln initiated a comprehensive program of security measures and government reforms that he dubbed “cleaning the devil out of Washington.” [36] The nation’s capital was in between Maryland, a slave state, and the northern border of the Confederate state of Virgina. The Union army used the city to mobilize and supply the Army of the Potomac, defend the eastern seaboard, and launch military thrusts toward Richmond. Believing that the loss of the Union’s capital would lead to immediate defeat, the Confederacy targeted Washington throughout the war. During the winter of 1861-62, work began on a 37 mile ring of fortifications around the city. This defensive ring eventually had 68 forts connected by twenty miles of trenches and 800 cannons clustered in 93 artillery positions. [37] The government’s fear for the security of the nation’s capital kept thousands of troops, much to the dismay of army leaders in the field, within the capital’s defense for the remainder of 1863, including the 153rd New York Infantry Volunteers.

To enforce martial law and suppress anti-government subversion and dissent, the Union army established an extensive provost guard. Lincoln empowered the provost guard to enforce both military and civil law in Washington and Alexandria and, among other duties, to arrest civilians upon suspicion of disloyalty and subversion. [38] As part of this national strategy, the 153rd New York Volunteers were deployed to the capital to be part of this effort to protect the capital area as provost guards.

“Provost Marshall troops or the Provost Guard, as they were also known, were the military police of the Union Army during the American Civil War. They had a separate chain of command from the regular and volunteer troops answering only to the Provost Marshall of each Division or Corps. While in the field they acted as the security detachment for Division and Corps Headquarters. They protected Headquarters units and provided men to guard captured Confederates on their way to the rear. They provided security against Confederate guerrillas and raiders. They were often the only law enforcement available to civilians after the Union Army arrived. It was vital that the Union Army provide men willing to be fair and honest in their dealings with the soldiers and the local civilian populace.”[39]

The responsibilities of the provost guard were:

“Suppression of marauding and depredations, and of all brawls and disturbances, preservation of good order, and suppression of disturbances beyond the limits of the camps.
Prevention of straggling on the march.
Suppression of gambling-houses, drinking-houses, or bar-rooms, and brothels.
Regulation of hotels, taverns, markets, and places of public amusement.
(Executing) Searches, seizures, and arrests. Execution of sentences of general courts-martial involving imprisonment or capital punishment. Enforcement of orders prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors, whether by tradesmen or sutlers, and of orders respecting passes.
(Guarding) Deserters from the enemy.
(Guarding) Prisoners of war taken from the enemy
Countersigning safeguards.
(Issuing) Passes to citizens within the lines and for purposes of trade.
(Managing) Complaints of citizens as to the conduct of the soldiers.” [40]

From their inception as a regiment and up to October 18, 1862, the 153rd New York Volunteers were under the command of Colonel Duncan McMartin. Between October 1862 and February 1863, the regiment was assigned guard and provost marshal duty in Alexandria, Virginia. They were under command of Colonel Clarence Buell of the 169th New York volunteers who headed the Provisional Brigade, Abercrombie’s division, Defenses of Washington.

The regiment was subsequently transferred on February 2, 1863 to the District of Alexandria, Defense of Washington to continue their provost guard duties in the nation’s capital and were under the command of Brigadier General John Slough. During this detail they were residing in Camp Slough which was west of Alexandria. Specific locations that they performed their duties were: Alexandria City Patrol, Hunting Creek which included guarding a bridge across the Potomac River, General Slough’s office (City Provost Marshal Office – photograph below) [41] , Alexandria Jail [42] , the Contraband Depot [43] , and the Water Battery [44] .

Guard and Provost Marshal Duty Locations of the 153rd New York Volunteers Under General Slough

Hunting Creek

Hunting Creek Bridge, near Alexandria, Va. United States Alexandria Virginia, None. [Photographed between 1861 and 1865, printed between 1880 and 1889] Photograph.

Click on Photograph to larger view.

City Provost Marshals Office

Provost Marshall’s Office, Alexandria, Virginia 1861-1865: Series: Mathew Brady Photographs of Civil War-Era Personalities and Scenes, 1921 – 1940 Record Group 111: Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, 1860 – 1985

Click on Photograph for larger view.

Alexandra Jail

The Old Jail was located at the northeast corner of Princess and North St. Asaph streets. Those housed in the jail included convicted criminals, debtors, and enslaved people. During the Civil War when the Union occupied Alexandria, military prisoners were also held there.

Contraband Depot

Source: Mathew Brady Photographs of Civil War-Era Personalities and Scenes, 1921 – 1940

In February 1863, Military Governor John Slough ordered one part of the building to be turned into a hospital for contrabands. ‘Contrabands’ were slaves who escaped to Union lines during the Civil War

Click photograph for larger view.

Water Battery

Battery Rodgers, Potomac River, near Alexandria. United States Alexandria Virginia, None. [Photographed between 1861 and 1865, printed between 1880 and 1889] Photograph.

Click on Photograph for larger view

Water Battery – Battery Rodgers, Alexandria, VA, Library of Congress

Old City Jail or Alexandria Jail was one of five Union prisons that were used in Alexandria, Virginia during the Civil War. Two were previously used as prisons: the Old City Jail on Saint Asaph Street and the Birch Slave Jail at 1315 Duke Street. The other three prisons were large buildings housing the former Green furniture factory at Prince and South Fairfax Streets, the Odd Fellows Hall at 218 North Columbus Street, and the massive Mount Vernon Cotton Mill at 515 North Washington Street, renamed the Washington Street Military Prison. [45]

William Griffis arrived in Alexandria, Virgina on October 22, 1862. A fellow Company A soldier and Mayfield neighbor, John Dye, recalled on their day of arrival that “…the night was very cold. We had no tents to protect us from the inclemency of the weather. (William) caught a heavy cold and was sent to (the Arlington) Jail to do inside duty not being able to do outside duty.“[46]

Based on available historical records, William Griffis spent most of his time at the end of 1862 and the following four months in 1863 guarding prisoners at the old Jail in Alexandria. In January, 1863 William had contracted a cold that turned into chronic laryngitis. He was diagnosed as having ‘catarrhal laryngitis’. Catarrhal laryngitis in civil war era parlance was ‘inflammation of the mucous membranes’ with no specific cause. He may have also had pneumonia. [47] He was assigned guard duty at the Old City Jail for light duty and reported to the regimental hospital for medicine on a recurrent basis.

William’s sickness was not unique. With a sea of army tents surrounding the Capitol for a radius of three miles, massive numbers of soldiers coming from all Union states, and the absence of modern water and sewage systems, infectious diseases were endemic in Washington, DC. During the war, epidemics of smallpox, typhoid fever, and measles plagued the wartime city. In December 1862, the Colonel of the 153rd ordered the vaccination of the entire command for smallpox. [48] Around this time Sarah Wakeman, who was a soldier of the regiment, wrote home to indicate that two men died in her company and 30 in her regiment also died purportedly due to measles and “there is quite a number sick”. [49] The human toll was heart rending and included the Lincolns’ 11-year-old son Willie, who succumbed to typhoid fever early in 1862. Lincoln himself nearly died from smallpox in the weeks that followed his Gettysburg Address in mid 1863. The likelihood of succumbing to disease was very high when stationed in the nation’s capital.

As indicated in the muster roll documents in William’s military file (below), William was detailed to the Alexandria Jail pursuant to an Order by Brigadier General Slough on February 25 or 26, 1863. William was assigned to the Jail for guard duty from end of February through June of 1863. He was stationed at Camp Slough, Alexandria, Virginia with the regiment but his duties were detached from the regiment’s assigned duties.

William Griffis Muster Roll Documents, National Archives

In anticipation of expected draft riots in Washington City , a special order was issued to transfer the 153rd regiment from Alexandria to Washington City. [50] In July 1863, the 153rd was transferred to Washington City and placed under the commend of Brigadier General John Henry Martindale. The regiment moved into the barracks on Capital Hill as unattached troops in the 22nd Army Corps, Department of Washington. As private Rosetta Wakeman wrote in an undated letter to her father, the regiment’s living quarters were perhaps an improvement from Camp Slough in Alexandria.

“Dear Father,

“I will Write a few lines today and let you know What kind of quarters we have got. We are in Barracks. They are good ones.

“My Co. and Co. C is in one building. The buildings is two story high. The place for sleep is upstairs and down below is a room for to do the Cooking and a place to eat. We can get good Water to drink outside of the guard. It is Well Water. We Can get Water to Wash With inside of the guard. It is Water that comes from the river. The river Water is a little salty, for the tide sit up the river as far as George town.

“I can’t think of any more to write Present so good-by.“ [51]

When the regiment was transferred to Washginton, D.C. on July 21, 1863, William Griffis followed 14 days later and was assigned to the Railroad ‘Washington’ Depot detail. This reassignment of the regiment was undoubtably a swift military reaction to the New York draft riots.

Rioting on Lexington Avenue in New York City, following the first published draft call, 1863.
Source: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

The New York city draft riots (July 11 – 16, 1863) were the culmination of the sentiment among working class whites and proslavery supporters of the Democratic Party. The enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863 capped two years of increasing support for emancipation in New York City. From the time of Lincoln’s election in 1860, the Democratic Party had warned New York’s Irish and German residents to prepare for the emancipation of slaves and the resultant labor competition when southern blacks would supposedly flee to the north. The Emancipation Proclamation was confirmation of their worst perceived fears. In March 1863, stricter federal draft laws added fuel to the fire. All male citizens between twenty and thirty-five and all unmarried men between thirty-five and forty-five years of age were subject to military duty. The federal government entered all eligible men into a lottery. Those who could afford to hire a substitute or pay the government three hundred dollars could avoid enlistment. Local events came to a head in July.

When recruiting for the army began in July 1863, a mob in New York wrecked the main recruiting station. Then, for three days, crowds of white workers marched through the city, destroying buildings, factories, streetcar lines, and private property. They marched through the streets, forcing factories to close, recruiting more members of the mob. They set the city’s colored orphan asylum on fire. They shot, burned, and hanged African Americans they found in the streets. Many people were thrown into the rivers to drown. On the fourth day, Union troops returning from the Battle of Gettysburg came into the city and stopped the rioting.[52]

Based on the letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman in September 1863, [53] the 153rd Regiment was responsible for guarding five locations in the Washington, D.C. area: the 153rd regimental camp, Carroll prison, the Railroad Depot where William Griffis was assigned, City Hall, and City guard. City Hall was where the military draft operations and physical examinations were conducted.

Washington Depot, with U. S. Capitol in the Distance (1872)

The photograph was taken after the Civil War. [54] On December 2, 1863, the last section of the Statue of Freedom was put in place on top of the dome. The interior of the dome was finished in January 1866 capital dome was not completed until after the war. [55] Click photograph for larger view.

Provost guard duty at the Washington Depot must have provided William Griffis with a wide variety of daily interaction with troops coming from and going to a multitude of places. In a letter to her father, Sarah Wakeman, who was from Company H of the 153rd, wrote,

“Our regiment has to guard Carroll Prison and the Depot and City Hall. When I am down to the Depot and see so many men and women agoing North it makes me homesick”. [56]

From late April 1861, the arrival of Union troops at the Washington Depot was constant.

“During the Civil War, there were scenes which it is to be hoped will never be witnessed again – troops passing through the city by thousands, most of them debarked a few yards north of the New Jersey Avenue Station.” [57]

The federal government erected a ‘Soldier’s Rest’, a precursor of a USO station, near the rail depot to provide temporary accommodations and meals for arriving troops.

“Meals were prepared and served to soldiers, and at one time no less than sixteen regiments and smaller bodies of troops were furnished with meals within twenty-four hours.” [58]

The Washington Depot also witnessed dramatic increases in rail transport of livestock and supplies. Incoming freight increased from an average of eight cars per day in 1860 to more than 400 cars per day between October 1861 to March 1862. In October 1861 a new freight warehouse, measuring 20 by 300 feet, was constructed just north of the depot. To further accommodate the increased traffic, a Y, to turn engines, and additional side tracks were laid in the depot yard in 1864. [59]

Detail of a 1859 Map of Washington, showing the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railway and its termination into the Railroad Depot. [60] Click photograph for larger view.

The Railroad Depot is labeled 107 on the map. By the time of the Civil war, the B&O Railroad controlled 513 miles of track and used 236 locomotives, 128 passenger cars and 3,451 freight cars [61]

Carrol Prison (Old Capital Prison)

John Singleton Mosby the “Gray Ghost“, before leading his Battalion of Mosby Raider’s, was captured as a confederate scout on July 20, 1863 while waiting for a train at the Beaverdam Depot in Hanover County, Virginia.

Mosby was imprisoned in the Old Capitol Prison for ten days before being exchanged as part of the war’s first prisoner exchange. He perhaps was guarded by the 153rd New York volunteers and while William Griffis was assigned to the Washington Depot.

The following year Mosby’s Raiders captured william’s brother Daniel Griffis on a wagon train raid. Source: Library of Congress .

The Old Capitol prison, Washington, D.C.. Photograph by William Redish. (Photographed between 1861 and 1865). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. In 1929, the site was acquired by eminent domain and the brick building was razed to clear the site for the U.S. Supreme Court Building. Click on image for larger view.

Carrol Prison originally was called The Old Capitol (or “old brick Capitol“) and was constructed in 1815 as a temporary meeting space for Congress after the British burned the U.S. Capitol in 1814. During the Civil War, the Old Capitol was repurposed as a prison for Confederate prisoners of war, spies, blockade runners, and Union army officials convicted of insubordination. The warden of the prison was William P. Wood, and during the prison’s service, Wood commented that 30,000 prisoners passed through its gates. Following his service as warden, Wood became the first chief of the Secret Service. [62]

Confederate spy Rose O’Neal Greenhow (1817–1864) and her daughter Rose imprisoned in Old Capitol Prison

Photograph by Mathew Brady- Levin Handy. Photographed 1862. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Click on image for larger view.

In an undated letter to her father, Rosetta Wakeman references Rose O’Neal based on her guard duty: [63]

“I have just thought of something new to Write to you. It is as following.

“Over to Carroll Prison they have got three women that is Confined in their Rooms. One of them was a Major in the union army and she went into battle with her men. When the Rebels bullets was coming like a hail storm she rode her horse and gave orders to the men. Now She is in Prison for not doing aCcording to the regulation of war.

“The other two is rebel Spies and they have Catch them and Put them in Prison. They are Smart looking women and [have] good education.

“I Can’t think of any more to Write at this time. Write soon as you get this letter.”

Rosetta Wakeman

John D. Brownell served with William Griffis in Company A of the 153rd regiment. Brownell mustered in as a private in Gloversville, New York on August 30, 1862 and was made a second lieutenant the following day, August 31, 1862. Within Union volunteer regiments, enlisted men elected many of their officers and governors appointed the rest. The practice of electing officers was reduced to a small scale by 1863. Brownell evidently was well liked or known to be elected as an officer. Brownell was promoted to first lieutenant on July 7, 1863. [64] Brownell indicated in a letter after the war that William Griffis was plagued with recurrent medical issues associated with “disease of the lungs” throughout his military career. He indicated he was present with William in February 1863 in Alexandria when he was sick

“…with disease of the lungs he having contracted the same from exposure while in the line of duty and was on the sick list and absent from the regiment for about five months (he was detailed to the Alexandria Jail ) … he was then sent to do light duty at the Rail Depot at Washington … subsequently he was again taken sick and was sent to (the) regimental hospital on Capital Hill and from there was sent home on sick furlough.”[65]

Brownell’s statement contains a number of historic observations about William and what it was like at that historic time period. “Disease of the lungs” or pneumonia was often a deadly illness in the 1800’s. Sir William Osler, considered by many to be the father of modern medicine, described pneumonia in the late 1800s as “the most fatal of all acute diseases.” [66] During the Civil War, the illness had a mortality rate of 24%, making “inflammation of the lungs and pleura” the third most common cause of death from disease during the cvil war conflict. [67]

It is not known how frequent William’s bout with the ‘lung disease’ prevented him from performing his military duties. We also do not know if William was the exception or the rule when it came to dealing with this and other physical maladies in his regiment. However, the sickness, incapacitation, and reduction of troops capable of performing was significant on an enduring basis.

“(T)he stark reality was that even for the victorious the average soldier was about twice as likely to die of a disease contracted in camp than of a wound acquired in battle. The chief culprits in order of prevalence were diarrhea and dysentery (euphemistically referred to by its victims as “the Tennessee trots” or “Virginia quickstep”), accounting for more than 1.3 million cases and some 35,000 deaths; malaria, typhoid, and assorted camp fevers came next; then respiratory ailments (catarrh, bronchitis, and so-called lung inflammation [pneumonia]); and, finally, assorted digestive disorders.” [68]

The physical impact of environmental, health, and other factors on the well being of and anticipated management of soldiers was encoded in military operations and logistics. Having 1,000 men on the regimental roles, the aggregate strength (also known as the rationing strength), was not the same the same thing as having those men on the battle line, which was referred to as the effective strength of the unit. [69] A Colonel commanding 1,000 men could count on over 35% of his troops being absent at any given time.

“The “absent‟ were not present with the armies at the front, but were generally in rear of the base of supplies; and even of the “present‟ (‘present’ or ‘absent’ was noted on individual muster rolls for soldiers) we had to estimate at least one-third as detached, guarding our long lines of supply, sick in hospital, company cooks, teamsters, escorts to trains, and absent from the ranks by reason of the many causes incident to war.” [70]

William Griffis utilized the services of the ‘regimental hospital’ to assist in his issues with lungs and respiratory system. In theory, every regiment had a hospital (a regiment was 10 companies of 100 men each). Armies on the march typically had field hospitals with supplies carried along in wagons and they set up wherever they could and were organized around ranks of tents. Armies that were encamped had post hospitals created out of tents or wooden barracks. The post hospitals were organized at the regimental or brigade (3 to 6 regiments) level. The Nation’s capital hosted huge camp hospitals for troops moving through the city. [71]

It is not known when William was at the regimental hospital at Capital Hill. He was there for six weeks and then sent home on a medical furlough. The furlough ended February 4, 1864 and he returned to duty in Washington.

William Griffis Furlough Jan 1864 — **William J. Griffis – Company Muster Rolls, National Archives: For larger view click on: One | Two** **| Three**

**William J. Griffis – Company Muster Rolls, National Archives: For larger view click on: One | Two** **| Three**

Looking Ahead

At the beginning of 1864, William Griffis was convalesceing at home in January 1864. His older brother Daniel was adapting to his winter quarters at Mitchell’s Station, Virginia. At the beginning of February, 1864, William arrives back in Washington to resume provost guard duty. His brother is 60 miles to the south west at Mitchell’s station, near the Orange And Alexandria Railroad, five miles from the front where the Army of Virgina is across the Rapidan River, engaged with picket duty and working with his mules and wagon. Only 60 miles separate the brothers but they live and experience two totally different worlds.

Locations of Daniel Griffis (Mitchell’s Station Virgina and William Griffis, Washington City, Map created by W. Vaisz for the Virginia Central Railroad Company, 1852. Digital image from Library of Congress. – From the Library of Congress , Click on image for larger view.

Sources

Featured photograph: E. Sachse & Co., Lithographer. Camps of U.S. troops around Washington City, from S. to W. / Lith. by E. Sachse & Co., Balto. Md. United States Arlington Washington D.C. Virginia, ca. 1861. Washington, D.C.: publ. by C. Bonn. Photograph

[1] James Riley Bowen, Regimental History of the First New York Dragoons, Page 10.

[2] Browning, Judkin and Timothy Silver, An Environmental History of the Civil War, Capel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2020, Page 26

[3] James Riley Bowen, Regimental History of the First New York Dragoons, Page 11.

[4] Winkle, Kenneth, Washington: Capital of the Union, Essential Civil War Curriculum. September, 2016

[5] Browning, Judkin & Silver, Timothy, An Environmental History of the Civil War, Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2020, Page 29

[6] James Riley Bowen, Regimental History of the First New York Dragoons, Page 14.

[7] Berler, Anne Karen, A Most Unpleasant Part of your Duties: Military Occupation in Four Southern Cities, 1861-1865, PhD Dissertation, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2011, Page 3

[8] Ibid, Page 11-12

[9] James Riley Bowen, Regimental History of the First New York Dragoons, Pages 71-72.

[10] Carmichael, Peter S., The War for the Common Soldier: How Men Thought, Fought, and Survived in Civil War Armies, Chapel,Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2018, Page 246

[11] James Riley Bowen, Regimental History of the First New York Dragoons Page 75-76.

[12] Ibid, Page 81

[13] Ibid, Page 81

[14] Ibid, Page 89

[15] February 4, 1878 Correspondence from the Pension Office, Department of Interior to Pension Examiners, Request for Furnish Full Medical History of Daniel Griffis, 1st Reg. NYD. Based on the information from the Office of Adjutant General of the U.S. Army, Daniel was documented as present in January and February 1864 as a wagon master.

[16] Butterfield, Brigadier-General Daniel. (1862). Camp and Outpost Duty for Infantry. Originally published in New York NY by Harper & Brothers, Publishers and republished in Mechanicsburg VA by Stackpole books (2003); Velo, James, contributor to the Essential Civil War Curriculum Project , What was the function of a Wagon master in the American Civil War?, Jul 24, 2019 Quora

[17] General Orders 110, Organization of the Volunteer Army of the United States April 29, 1863. The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, III, Series III

[18] Lindmier, Thomas, The Great Blue Army Wagon: The History of Wheeled Transportation in the Frontier Army, Lexington, KY: Carriage Museum of America, 2009; See also History of the Army Wagon, Wheel and Wagon Shop, Page accessed January 4, 2021 ; Hess, Earl J, Civil War Logistics: A Study of Military Transportation, Baton Rouge: Louisiana University Press, 2017

[19] Lackey, Rodney C., Notes on Civil War Logistics: Facts and Stories, United States Army Transportation Corps and Transportation School, Fort Lee, Virginiano date, Accessed December 15, 2020.

[20] Lindmier, Thomas, The Great Blue Army Wagon: The History of Wheeled Transportation in the Frontier Army, Lexington, KY: Carriage Museum of America, 2009

[21] Lackey, Rodney C., Notes on Civil War Logistics: Facts and Stories, United States Army Transportation Corps and Transportation School, Fort Lee, Virginiano date, Accessed December 15, 2020.

[22] Forbes, Edwin, Artist. Study of a Mule Team and Wagon, With Driver. United States Virginia Culpeper Court House, 1863. Sept. 30. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2004661595/. ;

Hess, Earl J, Civil War Logistics: A Study of Military Transportation, Baton Rouge: Louisiana University Press, 2017 Page 221

[23] O.R., Series 1, Volume 11, Part 3, pp. 365-366: General Orders Number 153, dated August 10, 1862.

[24] Lackey, Rodney C., Notes on Civil War Logistics: Facts and Stories, United States Army Transportation Corps and Transportation School, Fort Lee, Virginian, date accessed December 15, 2020.

[25] Captain. N. J. Sapington in How to Feed an Army: Published By Authority of the Secretary of War for use in the Army of the United States, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1901, Page 60.

[26] Carpenter, Lieutenant Colonel C. C. (1901) in How To Feed An Army. United States War Department, Washington DC. Government Printing Office, p. 79.

[27] O.R., Series 1, Volume 29 (Part 2), p.472

[28] Ethier, Eric, Behind the Horsepower of Civil War Armies, Civil War Times May, 2007

[29] Butterfield, Brigadier-General Daniel, Camp and Outpost Duty for Infantry. Originally published in New York NY by Harper & Brothers, Publishers (1862) and republished in Mechanicsburg VA by Stackpole books (2003) Page 47.

[30] Ethier, Eric, Behind the Horsepower of Civil War Armies, Civil War Times May, 2007

[31] Ibid

[32] James Riley Bowen, Regimental History of the First New York Dragoons, Page 99.

[33] Ibid, Page 101

[34] Ipid, Page 108

[35] Ibid, Page 112.

[36] Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, 10 vols. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), 6:226.

[37] Winkle, Kenneth, Washington: Capital of the Union, Essential Civil War Curriculum. September, 2016;

The Fortification System, National Park Service, U.S. Department of Interior, Page updated Aug 27, 2020, page accessed Jan 10, 2021

[38] Winkle, Kenneth, Washington: Capital of the Union, Essential Civil War Curriculum. September, 2016

[39] Steel, Johan, Provost Guard, Civil War Talk, July 31, 2003

[40] The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Prepared under the direction of the Secretary of War, by Bvt. Lieut Col. Robert N. Scott, Third U.S. Artillery and published pursuant to Act of Congress Approved June 16, 1880, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1881, Series I Volume 5, page 30

[41] Amy Bertsch, former Public Information Officer, and Lance Mallamo, Director, on behalf of the Office of Historic Alexandria, How sweet it is: from military HQ to bank to bakery, Alexandria Times July 21, 2011

[42] Amy Bertsch, Amy and Lance Mallamo, Out of the Attic: Alexandria cotton mill that became a Civil War torture chamber, Office of Historic Alexandria City of Alexandria, Virginia, Alexandria Times, May 11, 2017.

[43] As the number of African American former slaves, known as contrabands, grew, health became an issue. In February 1863, Military Governor John Slough ordered one part of the building to be turned into a hospital for contrabands. Contraband Hospital and School, Page updated on Mar 8, 202, page accessed Feb 3, 2021.

[44] Water Battery (40 Pounder), “No. 30” handwritten in pencil in top left corner Alternate title derived from captioned print, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division: LOT 4336, no. 62., 1864, City of Alexandria, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, Huntington Digital Digital Library;

Battery Rodgers, Wikipedia, page was last edited on 24 July 2018Accessed January 30, 2021

Office of Historic Alexandria, Out of the Attic Battery Rodgers Alexandria Times June 3, 2010

[45] History of the Sheriff’s Office, City of Alexandria Website, Page updated on Jan 8, 2019

[46] File 280.194, William J. Griffis Claim for Increase, Bureau of Pensions, letter in reply to a September 11, 1900 Bureau of Pensions request for additional information on facts related to the request for pension increase. This is one example of many affidavits that touch on the chronology of events. The chronology of events is difficult to follow in the letter. In his attempt to be brief and fit his description of William’s physical maladies, John Dye, a fellow soldier and neighbor after the war, strings various events together:

William had a heavy cold in October 1862 and sent to perform light duty at the Jail.
When the regiment was transferred to Washginton, D.C. on July 21, 1863, William followed 14 days later and was assigned to the Railroad Depot detail.
He became sick again was sent to the camp hospital and was there for six weeks and then sent home on medical furlough and returned in February 1864.
William performed light duty in New Orleans ‘not being able to do picket duty to the close of the war’.

[47] RG 94, Regimental Order Book, 153rd New York Infantry, National Archives

[48] Wakeman, Sarah Rosetta and Lauren Cook Burgess. An uncommon soldier : the Civil War letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, alias Private Lyons Wakeman, 153rd Regiment, New York State Volunteers. Pasadena, Md: The Minerva Center, 1994. Page 23

[49] Goellnitz, Jenny, Common Civil War Medical Terms, Civil War Battlefield Medicine, Ohio State University, e-history, Department of History

The most common symptom of chronic laryngitis is hoarseness. For the condition to be truly chronic, this hoarseness persists for at least two weeks. Evidently William Griffis exhibit hoarseness or the loss of his voice on recurrent occasions during and after the Civil War. Correspondence from his neighbors indicated at times he talked in a whisper. Depending on the cause of chronic laryngitis, other symptoms can include:

A low, raspy voice
A voice that tires easily, “breaks” or “cracks”
The sensation of a lump in the throat or a dry throat
A constant urge to clear the throat
Heavy mucus in the throat
Chronic cough or postnasal drip
Discomfort during swallowing

Marion Thrasher, Marion, M.D., Chronic Catarrhal Laryngitis, Read by title in the Section of Laryngology and Otology, at the Forty-second Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association, Washington D.C., May 1891.

[50] RG 94, Regimental Order Book, 153rd New York Infantry, National Archives; Special Order No 139, Judy 20, 1863, National Archives

[51] Wakeman, Sarah Rosetta and Lauren Cook Burgess. An uncommon soldier : the Civil War letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, alias Private Lyons Wakeman, 153rd Regiment, New York State Volunteers. Pasadena, Md: The Minerva Center, 1994. Page 40-41

[52] Kelly, Kate, The Civil War Draft Riots Brought Terror to New York’s Streets, Smithsonian Magazine, September 21, 2017;

Harris, Leslie M., In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004;

New York City draft riots, Wikipedia, This page was last edited on December 27, 2020, Page access January 11, 2021;

Schecter, Barnet (2007). “The Civil War Draft Riots“. North & South. Civil War Society. 10 (1): 72.

Fry, James Barnet (1885). New York and the Conscription of 1863. G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Cook, Adrian (1974). The Armies of the Streets: The New York City Draft Riots of 1863. University Press of Kentucky.

[53] Wakeman, Sarah Rosetta and Lauren Cook Burgess. An uncommon soldier : the Civil War letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, alias Private Lyons Wakeman, 153rd Regiment, New York State Volunteers. Pasadena, Md: The Minerva Center, 1994. Page 46

[54] Washington Depot, with U. S. Capitol in the Distance (1872). From Cushings & Bailey (publisher),Part Of: Photographic views of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road and its branches from the lakes to the sea, Southern Methodist University, Central University Libraries, DeGolyer Library http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/nam/id/317

[55] Architect of the Capital, Capital Dome

[56] Wakeman, Sarah Rosetta and Lauren Cook Burgess. An uncommon soldier : the Civil War letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, alias Private Lyons Wakeman, 153rd Regiment, New York State Volunteers. Pasadena, Md: The Minerva Center, 1994. Page 47

[57] Washington Topham, Washington, First Railroad into Washington and its Three Depots, Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., Vol. 27 (1925), pp. 175-247 (79 pages) Published by: Historical Society of Washington, D.C. Page 232

[58] Ibid, Page 232

[59] Ibid, Page 230

[60] Desilver, Charles.Cushings & Bailey, (1859) Original Map from the Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C. See also: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Detail_of_a_1859_Map_of_Washington,_DC_showing_the_B%26O_Railway.png

[61] Hess, Earl J., Civil War Logistics: A Study of Military Transportation, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 2017, Page 120

[62] Brammer, Robert, Old Capitol Prison and the United States Supreme Court, Library of Congress, Law Library, Jan 24, 2020

[63] Wakeman, Sarah Rosetta and Lauren Cook Burgess. An uncommon soldier : the Civil War letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, alias Private Lyons Wakeman, 153rd Regiment, New York State Volunteers. Pasadena, Md: The Minerva Center, 1994. Page 44

[64] Rosters Of The New York Infantry Regiments During The Civil War. Rosters were compiled by the New York State Adjutant General Office. They were published as a set of 43 volumes between 1893 and 1905. Their official titles are Annual Report of the Adjutant-General of the State of New York for the Year … : Registers of the [units numbers].

Infantry in the American Civil War, Wikipedia, This page was last edited on 22 January 2021, page accessed 12 Feb 2021

[65] File 280.194, William J. Griffis Claim for Increase, Bureau of Pensions, Department of Interior, Sep 3, 1883 letter by John Brownell

Brownell Letter Page One — **For larger view of letter Page One | Page Two**

Brownell Letter Page Two — **For larger view of letter Page One | Page Two**

[66] William Osler, The Principles and Practice of Medicine, 3rd ed. (New York, 1898), 108-137; Smart, Charles, ed. The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (Washington, D.C., 1888), pt. 3, vol. 1, 751-810

[67] Lively, Mathew, “The Most Fatal of All Acute Diseases:” Pneumonia and the Death of Stonewall Jackson May 13, 2013, Civil War Monitor

[68] Michael A. Flannery, Michael A., Civil War Pharmacy: A History. Carbondale, IL: South Illinois Press, 2004, Page 22

[69] Phisterer, CPT. Frederick. (1883 and 2002). Statistical Record of the Armies of the United States. The 2002 edition was published in Edison NJ by Castle books. p. 63.

[70] Sherman, General W. T. , The Grand Strategy of the War of the Rebellion. The Century, Vollume 35, Issue 4, Feb. 1888, p.54.

[71] Lawrence, Susan, Organization of the Hospitals in the Department of Washington, Civil War Washington, directed by Susan C. Lawrence, Elizabeth Lorang, Kenneth M. Price, and Kenneth J. Winkle, is published by the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Lawrence, Susan C., Military Hospitals in the Department of Washington, Civil War Washington, directed by Susan C. Lawrence, Elizabeth Lorang, Kenneth M. Price, and Kenneth J. Winkle, is published by the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln