Co-author Martin Husk. Author of The 111th New York Infantry A Civil War History and great great grandson of Colonel Lewis W. Husk 111th NY Regiment

When the War of the Rebellion, or what was commonly called the Civil War, started in April 1861 at Fort Sumpter, South Carolina, the Federal Army had only 16,000 men. This grew to an estimated 550,000 by January 1862. As the war entered the summer of 1862, President Lincoln called for an additional 300,000 men to join the Union Army.

This call to arms prompted the New York 25th Military District to form a war committee which recruited men to meet their quota of 461 for Wayne and 539 for Cayuga counties. Those who signed up would soon become the NY 111th Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

Turns out that over 1,000 men volunteered to serve for three years and were mustered into service at Camp Cayuga in Auburn. The men, and in some cases boys ranging in age from 17 to 61, came from all over the region; farmers, shoe makers, butchers, masons, painters, printers, craftsmen, students, artisans, teachers, doctors and businessmen. There were many accents and languages spoken in the regiment. These men were native born Dutch, Scottish, German, English, Irish, and several were from indigenous Native American tribes. There were often multiple sets of brothers, or fathers and sons who joined and served together. The family members usually served in the same Company because in those days, men from the same area stayed together in their regiments.   

On the afternoon of August 21 in front of their barracks at Camp Cayuga, the appointed Colonel Segoine called the regiment into formation in preparation for their march into war. The men were led by the Auburn Cornet Band as they proceeded through the city, stopping at the Western Exchange Hotel for speeches and presentations.

The men then proceeded to the New York Central Railroad depot at the corner of Garden and State Streets for the first leg of a trip that was originally headed to Washington DC. Diaries from the men of the regiment described their train ride to Albany as being pleasant with much flag waving and cheering as they went through towns and cities such as Syracuse.

Once in Albany, they marched to the Hudson River where they boarded two barges, one of which was the Thaddeus Joy, to be pulled by the steamship Ohio to New York Harbor. Those who rode on the steamer enjoyed their ride while those on the barges did not. The barges had previously been used to haul horses and were not cleaned before the men boarded. Once the men arrived in New York Harbor opposite pier 21, they disembarked and took a different steamer to Amboy, NJ, then on to Camden, NJ where they boarded the Philadelphia & Baltimore Railroad and continued their journey to Baltimore.  

Some of the cars they rode in were described as cattle cars with unclean seating but some men were more fortunate and rode in actual railroad cars with second class seating. Multiple diaries described this ride as rough without much scenery as the tracks were through forest with very few houses along the way. One highlight of this trip was when they crossed a river with all the train cars on a single large ferry.

From Philadelphia to Baltimore, all the railroad crossings were guarded by Federal troops as they neared the war zones. Once in Baltimore, the troops had to change railroads so they marched to the Baltimore & Ohio depot where they were served supper by the Union Relief Association.

The men were nervous as they marched through Baltimore. They were armed with only a few officers’ pistols and swords, and they knew there were many southern sympathizers in that city. When Lincoln had traveled through Baltimore on his way to D.C. for inauguration, there was a lot of concern for his safety from the Pinkertons who were guarding him. The week before the 111th marched through, an angry mob had attacked some Federal troops, so their nervousness was not without warrant. Thankfully they arrived at Camden Street Station without incident.

Colonel Segoine was then advised, there in Baltimore that the regiment was being rerouted to Harpers Ferry and would not continue to Washington. Once on the B & O train, they were fated for the final 80-mile trip to Harpers Ferry. While on this leg of the trip, they went past a place called Point of Rocks where two weeks before, the Rebs had tried to sabotage the track by rolling a two-ton rock onto it. Luckily the rock rolled over the track and down the embankment without doing much damage. However, these New Yorkers were delayed that night anyway, for three hours, as the trainmen repaired the track after an engine had derailed earlier in the night on account of those Rebs.

The 111th arrived in Harpers Ferry at 8 a.m. August 26th just as the regiments they were replacing were leaving to reinforce General Pope near Washington. After crossing the Potomac River on a pontoon bridge, the men were now at the site of John Brown’s 1859 ill-fated raid. They learned that the Federal arsenal had been stripped by southern forces in April 1861 and the town and its bridges had sustained considerable damage in previous battles.

Upon their arrival, they were served bread, meat and cheese by the 12th Militia at 3 p.m. in the afternoon and found it much better than the limited rations they had consumed since leaving Auburn, four days ago.

The regiment was now at Camp Hill which was high above the rivers with a good view of the mountains surrounding the city. (The John Denver Song "Country Roads" sets the scene.) They soon started drilling with the Springfield Muskets they received when they got to Harpers Ferry. Camp life was difficult for the new volunteers who were required to learn quickly the manual of arms, to march and maneuver as a regiment or company, to load and shoot, and to maintain the discipline necessary to be good soldiers.

The 111th’s first night was spent under the stars because their tents had not yet arrived. On Aug 29th, Colonel Segoine issued 16 general orders defining when to get up, eat, wash, march, etc. In the first few days, they were not required to heavily drill so several men in Company D got passes which allowed them to go swimming in the nearby river. The men were just settling in and had not yet "seen the elephant," but they would soon find out what that meant and the consequences to consider. ###

Stay tuned as we continue to repost these articles from 2024 that follow the journey of the 111th from 1862 to 1865. If you have a family member who served in the 111th or have items related to the regiment, please contact us at research@waynehistory.org or 315 946-4943. Members of the Society are working every day to learn more about and honor these valiant men from Wayne County.