Today in History:

244 Series I Volume XI-III Serial 14 - Peninsular Campaign Part III

Page 244 THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN, VA. Chapter XXIII.

At battle of West Point: First Lieutenant Paul Babcock, jr., Seventh New Jersey Volunteers; First Lieutenant D. E. Castle, Nineteenth Indiana Volunteers; First Lieutenant Ernst Kurlbaum, Fifty-eighth New York Volunteers; Second Lieutenant John W. De Ford, Eleventh Pennsylvania Reserve Corps; Second Lieutenant Frederick W. Owen, Thirty-eighth New York Volunteers.

At skirmish at Mechanicsville: First Lieutenant George H. McNary, Tenth Pennsylvania Reserve Corps; First Lieutenant D. E. Castle, Nineteenth Indiana Volunteers; First Lieutenant Charles S. Kendall, First Massachusetts Volunteers; Second Lieutenant Isaac Beckett, Fifty-sixth New York Volunteers.

At battle of Hanover Court-Hourse:First Lieutenant L. B. Norton, Tenth Pennsylvania Reserve Corps; Fist Lieutenant George H. McNary, Tenth Pennsylvania Reserve Corps; Fist Lieutenant Joseph Gloskosky, Twenty-ninth New York Volunteers; Second Lieutenant Frederick Horner, Sixth New Jersey Volunteers; Second Lieutenant F. W. Maston, Fortieth Pennsylvania Volunteers.

At signal station near New Bridge: Second Lieutenant J. C. Wiggins, Third New Jersey Volunteers; Second Lieutenant N. Henry Camp, Fourth New Jersey Volunteers.

At signal station with General Burns' pickets near Golding's house: Second Lieutenant E. A. Denicke, Cameron Rifle Regiment New York Volunteers.

In each case the officers above mentioned have performed their parts with commendable coolness and alacrity.

The services rendered entitle the following officers to especial mention.

For important duty faithfully performed in keeping up communication day and night between the General Headquarters Army of the Potomac and the naval squadron in York River during the siege of Yorktown, for a period of twenty-eight days, the following-named officers: First Lieutenant William B. Roe, Sixteenth Michigan Volunteers, in charge of signal station at headquarters, under fire April 30 at Battery No. 1; Second Lieutenant John V. De Ford, Eleventh Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, in charge of squadron detail and on flag-ship Wachusett, since captured on James River and now a prisoner of war at Salisbury, N. C.; Second Lieutenant John F. Robbins, Ninety-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers, at signal station at headquarters; First Lieutenant Henry R. Clum, Fifth Wisconsin Volunteers, on flag-ship Wachusett.

For service in engagement at Lee's Mill, maintaining communication across a field swept by the enemy's fire: First Lieutenant George H. McNary, Tenth Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, station near battery; Second Lieutenant Isaac Beckett, Fifty-sixth New York Volunteers, stationed with the advance; Second Lieutenant Frederick Horner, Sixth New Jersey Volunteers, with the commanding general; Second Lieutenant N. Herny Camp, Fourth New Jersey Volunteers, with the commanding general; Second Lieutenant Charles T. Dwight, First Excelsior Regiment New York Volunteers.

No record of messages was kept, and I have no data by which to judge as to the importance of above service. Messages were transmitted for General McClellan and General Smith.

For important service skillfully rendered at the battle of Williamsburg in opening, by the order of Major-General McClellan, communication, at night and in the rain, between the gunboats lying in York River and the army bivouacked upon the field of battle, and also maintaining this communication so long as was necessary: First Lieutenant B. F. Fisher,


Page 244 THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN, VA. Chapter XXIII.