Four Severance brothers from Russell, St Lawrence County, NY served in the Civil War.

Two of them survived.

Two – Gersham, age 19 (60th New York Infantry) and William, 26 (23rd Ohio Infantry)  – were killed in Maryland in September 1862.

I would like to hear more about this family. Anyone?

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The image here is a c. 1900 postcard in the collection of the St. Lawrence County Historical Association.

Private John M Disbrow, Company D, 111th New York Infantry was barely 16 years old when he was killed by a gunshot in action on Bolivar Heights above Harpers Ferry sometime after 9 o’clock on the night of 14 September 1862 – probably by “friendly” fire from his own regiment, who fired at noises in the dark.

One of his messmates argued that he’d been killed by enemy cavalry:

You ask me about Disbro, I guess I can tell you as much as any one, about him, as I stood near him when he fell, and helped bury him. It is a mistake, his being shot by one of his own Company, as after he was dead, one of our Balls were tried to put into the hole in his head, & would not go. It was a Pistol Shot from a horse Pistol, in all probability by some of the Rebel Cavaraly, as we have no such arms. It is almost positive that he was shot by one of the Rebel Cavalry which attacked us in our Rear. It would be dreadful to think of his being Shot by one of his own comrades. It is universaly acknowledged that he was shot by some of the Rebel Cavalry.

This marker in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park talks about that night and the rookies of the 111th New York; photographed by Craig Swain.

Sad Story Sunday …

Private John Disbrow, 111th New York Infantry had been in the Army about a month when he was killed on Bolivar Heights above Harpers Ferry on the night of 14 September 1862.

The saddest parts are three: he had turned 16 years old shortly before he enlisted, he was among the very first of his regiment killed in the war, and he may have been shot by his own men.

The picture here (from 2007, thanks Craig Swain!) is of a marker at the Park about that action. It might have indeed been “enemy cavalry”, or maybe just frightened rookies of the 111th NY firing at noises in the dark.

Colonel Jesse Segoine commanded the brand-new 111th New York Infantry in Maryland, seeing action for the first time in a skirmish at Harpers Ferry on 14 September 1862.

His photograph is in the Alberti/Lowe Collection and was published in Martin W. Husk’s The 111th New York Volunteer Infantry (2010).

Captain William Henderson Baird had been at First Bull Run with the 38th New York Infantry in July 1861 and was commissioned Major of the 126th New York when they were organized in August 1862. He commanded the regiment after Colonel Sherrill was wounded on 14 September at Harpers Ferry, and was surrendered with the rest of garrison there.

He was dismissed from the service on 8 November 1862 as a scapegoat for Harpers Ferry, but the “disability” was “removed” by Secretary of War on 26 June 1863 and he was mustered back into the regiment, soon after appointed Lieutenant Colonel. He was their Colonel when he was killed not quite a year later in action at Petersburg, VA on 16 June 1864.

In the background here is that 1863 letter from the War Department (online from New York Heritage). His picture is an engraving from a photograph, in the collection of the NY Sate Military Museum.