YALE ALUMNI WEEKLY
YALE MEN IN THE WAR.
The Record in Detail of 300 Yale
Wen who Served in the Army
and Navy of the
United States.
This is the story of Yale men in the
war. The story of what Yale did as a
University has, from time to time, been
told. :
Different numbers of the WEEKLY
gave, at the time of their occurrence,
the eager efforts to form an entire bat-
tery of Yale undergraduates, and how
the students persisted in their struggles
with an unwilling War Department
until they made from their number the
crack platoon of Light Battery A, Ist
Connecticut Artillery, which yearned to
fight but could not, and so spent its
THE LATE T. W. MILLER, 797.
time making of itself and of the whole
organization as fine a battery as was
ever enlisted in the country.
The story has been told and re-told
of Yale and the Cruiser Yale; when so
many of the graduates and undergradu-
ates of the University wanted to give so
much to fit out a fleet scout with guns
and colors, and were only restrained
from giving when they had run their
surplus into thousands. ~
The history has been printed of the
notable gathering of graduates and
undergraduates and official Yale in the
College Street Church on the evening
of May 20, 1898, when Yale spoke to
her country with love and confidence.
President Dwight, Dr. Lines and Pro-
fessor Perrin made speeches then that
have gone into the record of Yale
patriotic literature.
There has been a chapter in the
WEEKLY on the record of the New
York cavalry troop with an unusually
large number of fine Yale men on its
roster, which showed the spirit and the
quality of work of University men at
such a time.
But here are now put together for
the first time the Yale war biographies.
Probably not every Yale man is here
recorded who was in the service of the
United States. After a great many
hundreds of letters had been sent out
and there had been months of waiting
for those concerning whom the facts
seemed almost inaccessible, and appeals
and notices had been used to the ut-
most limit, the time came when it was
impossible to wait longer,—the record
must be given.
The records show a total of 300 men
who entered the Army and Navy of
the United States in response to the
calls of the President for volunteers, or
in fulfillment of their duties as members
of the Army and Navy. Of these men,
as has already been recorded in the
WEEKLY, five lost their lives in the
service of their country. This is the
roll of honor: ,
Rodmond Vernon Beach, ’87.
Loten A. Dinsmoor, ex-’04.
Lazarus Denison Stearns, ’06 S.
Gerard Merrick Ives, ’96,
Theodore Westwood Miller, ’97.
The story of the life and sacrifice of
each of these men has been given in
detail in the WEEKLY, and their records
also briefly appear in the biographical
sketches printed below. |
The Yale men in the service were
divided as follows:
Graduates 215.
Undergraduates 85.
The graduates were divided as fol-
lows: ° :
Academic Department 126.
Scientific School 77.
Professional Schools 12.
The figures opposite Professional
Schools mean those who are not grad-
uates of either Academic or Scientific
Department. As to the positions held
by the men, the records show that the
total number of commissioned officers
was 96. These were divided as fol-
lows:
Brigadier-Generals 2; Colonels 3;
Lieutenant-Colonels 5; Majors 10; Cap-
tains 21; Lieutenants 55. : :
Of a very small number of those in
the service, it was impossible, despite
all efforts to secure anything but a few
facts. These are given in a separate
group at the end of the regular list.
The following record is given by
classes, a sub-head for each class, with
the men entered alphabetically in their
classes. |
Fifty-Four.
W. W. Gordon, 54, was commissioned
Brigadier-General of Volunteers May
27, 1898. Assigned to command Sec-
ond Brigade, First Division, Fourth
Army Corps, Mobile, Ala., June 13,
1898. First Division ordered to Miami,
Fla., June 22; First Division transferred
from Fourth Army Corps to Seventh
Army Corps. First Division ordered to
Jacksonville, Fla., Aug. 2; Aug. 19, re-
lieved from duty with Seventh Army
Corps to arrange for the evacuation of
Porto Rico by the Spanish troops. Sailed
for United States Oct. 21. Nov. 15, as-
signed to command, Second Brigade,
THE LATE G. M. IVES, 796.
First Division, First Army Corps, at
Macon, Ga. Honorably discharged
from United States Volunteer service,
March 24, 1899. |
General Gordon was in active service
in the Confederate Army from May 1,
1861, to April 26, 1865, in the line as
Lieutenant in the Georgia Hussars,
Stuart’s Cavalry, in Virginia; on the
staff as Captain and Inspector of Mer-
cers Infantry Brigade on coast of
Georgia, and served from Dalton to
Lovejioy in the Atlanta campaign, and
from Palmetto to Cheathams Ferry in
the Tennessee Campaign. He was
Captain and Adjutant of Anderson’s
Brigade of Wheeler’s Cavalry in the
campaign through the Carolinas. He
is senior officer of the organized militia
in Georgia, having served continuously
since the restoration of the civil govern-
ment in Georgia. He was Captain of
the Georgia Hussars and afterwards
Colonel of the First Georgia Cavalry.
He has been in command of five State
-encampments.
Sixty-One.
Colonel R. H. Fitzhugh, ’61, was. ap-
pointed in June, 1898, as Commissary
of Subsistence with the rank of Major,
and assigned to duty with General Mer-
ritt at Manila. When the troops were
about to advance upon the city, he of-
fered his services for field duty and was
given a temporary staff appointment.
In the Civil War he served as an offi-
cer of the First New York Light Ar-
tillery, receiving promotions from First
Lieutenant to Captain, Major and Lieu-
tenant-Colonel by Brevet.
Col. Andrew Sheridan Burt, ex-’61,
of the 25th U. S. Regulars entered the
Volunteer service, was early appointed
a Brigadier General, and was placed in
command of the First Brigade, Second
Division, 7th Army Corps, which was
stationed at Jacksonville, Florida. He
was ordered to the War Department,
Nov. 30, to be mustered out of the Vol-
unteer service together with a large
number of other generals. He then re-
sumed his old command in the regular
army as Colonel of the 25th Regulars.
Col. Burt entered the service as a
sergeant in the 6th Ohio Volunteers,
April 12, 1861. In the same year he
was appointed a First Lieutenant in the
18th U. S. Infantry and was promoted
to a Captaincy in 1863. During the
Civil war he was twice brevetted, Cap-
tain and Major, for gallant and meri-
torious services and was wounded at the
battle of Mill Spring, Ky. Since the
Civil war he has been in continuous
service, for the most part on the western
plains. In 1883, he was made Major
of the 8th Infantry; in 1888, Lieuten-
ant-Colonel of the 7th, and in 1892,
Colonel of the 25th.
Sixty-Three.
Major Geo. W. Baird, ’63, was on duty
during the Spanish-American War in of-
fice of Paymaster-General of the Army,
Washington, D. C., and, under the or-
ders of the Secretary of War, member
of a Commission on State Claims, con-
sisting of himself, as Chairman, and a
representative of the Treasury Depart-
ment.
George W. Baird left Yale College
and enlisted as private in First Connec-
ticut Light Battery, Aug. 25, 1862.
Served in Department of the South.
Was promoted Colonel Thirty-second
U. S.C. T- March t8 1864, after an
examination by General Casey’s Board.
His examination was reported the best
on record and he was recommended as
“Colonel of First Class.” Served in
Department of the South in command of
a Regiment or of a Brigade until close
of hostilities. Mustered out in Septem-
ber, 1865, pursuant to order of August
22. Appointed in Regular Army, May
11, 1866, before the reorganization of
July 28, and so, necessarily, in the low-
est grade. Served on the frontier and
against hostile Indians in Kansas, In-
dian Territory, Colorado,- Texas and
Montana. Was twice wounded, twice
recommended for brevet by Generals
Sherman, Sheridan, Pope and Miles,
and received a Medal of Honor “for
most distinguished gallantry in action
against hostile Nez Perce Indians at
Bear Paw. Mountain, Montana, Sept.
30, 1877, where he was -twice severely
wounded.” Appointed Major and Pay-
master June 23, 1879. Served as Pay-
master at Helena, Montana; Sante Fé,
New Mexico; Boston, Mass., and vari-
ous intermediate stations.
THE LATE L. D. STEARNS, 06S.
Seventy.
Charles McC. Reeve, 70, was com-
missioned Colonel of the Thirteenth
Regiment, Minnesota Volunteers, May
5, 1808. Mustered into the service of
the United States May 7, at Camp
Ramsey, Minn. Proceeded to Camp
Merritt, San Francisco, Cal. Sailed on
the City of Para for Manila, stopping
at Honolulu, arriving at Manila Bay
July 31. Went into camp at Camp
Dewey; served in the trenches before
Manila and took part in the capture of
the city Aug. 13. Promoted Brigadier-
General United States Volunteers, Aug.
13. Deputy Provost Marshal General
and Chief of Military Police for the
city of Manila. ie
tHE GATE R. -Vi BEACH, “87.
Previous to the war enlisted as pri-
vate First Regiment National Guard,
State of Minnesota; elected Captain,
Major, Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel.
Seventy-T wo.
Rev. C. O. Day, ’72, was mustered in-
to the United States service May 16,
1898, as Chaplain of the First Regiment,
Vermont Volunteers. Went to Camp
Olympia, Essex, Vt., May 6, 1898, and
to Camp Thomas, Chickamauga Park,
May 21, arriving there May 24. As-
signed to Third Brigade, First Division,
Third Corps. Chaplain Day’s duties
were the conducting of religious ser-
vices, post office work and work for
regimental and division hospitals. Was
Chairman of a committee from the six
regiments composing Division, for col-
lecting and expending funds for Divi-
sion Hospital. The First Vermont was
ordered back to Vermont, arriving there
Aug. 21. Furloughed for thirty days
beginning Sept. 4. Mustering out be-
gan Oct. 1, and was carried out at the
towns of the various companies. Offi-
cers, including the Chaplain, were mus-
tered out Nov. 7, 1898, at Burlington.
His commission as Chaplain of the First
Regiment Vermont National Guard,
dates from February, 1895. Still holds
the chaplaincy in this organization,
which resumed its status on the muster-
ing out of the volunteers.
Seventy-Three.
Leonard B. Almy, ’73,
missioned by the President, United
States Major and Chief Surgeon,
United States Volunteers, May 20, 1808.
He was assigned to duty as Chief Sur-
geon, Second Division, Second Army
Corps, May 30. Encamped at Falls
Church, Va., until Aug. 3. Marched
across Virginia with Second Division,
Second Army Corps, 10,000 men, camp-
ing at Burke’s Station, Bull Run, Bris-
tow, Clinton, Thoroughfare, reaching
Thoroughfare Gap Aug. 10. Relieved
from duty with Second Division, Second
Army Corps by telegraphic orders from
War Department to report at Montauk,
where he was placed in charge as Super-
intendent Wards, U. S. General Hospi-
tal, Aug. 14. Made Chief Surgeon in
charge Annex, U. S. General Hospital,
Camp Wikoff, Aug. 20, where he was on
duty until it was discontinued Sept. 24.
He was sent home on sick leave Sept.
26, and honorably discharged from the
service on Oct. 5, 1808.
Previous to the war, served as Major
and Surgeon, Third Regiment, C. N. G.,
1886-1891; Lieutenant-Colonel and Med-
ical Director, C. N. G., 1892-1897. Re-
tired Jan. 7, 18097.
was com-