History of the 36th NYSV

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO….

The new colonel of the 36th NY, William H. Browne, had been wounded in the leg at Salem Church. When the Draft Riots were over he was mustered out with his regiment, and he re-enlisted as a colonel with the Invalid Corps, 2nd Brigade, VRC Division, Department of Washington. William Browne was breveted as a Brigadier General, Volunteers, for his war service. He died in 1900, and he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

After rallying his troops at the Stone Wall of Marye’s Heights (Battle of Chancellorsville), Lieutenant-Colonel James J. "Paddy" Walsh fully regained his honor and reputation. He was mustered out with the 36th NY in July 1863. But James J. Walsh must have decided that he was best suited for the cannon, because in 1864 he re-enlisted with the 13th NY Heavy Artillery as Lieutenant-Colonel. He served this regiment with distinction, and died in 1868. His widow, who outlived him by about 50 years, tried unsuccessfully for the rest of her life to acquire the appropriate pension from the government.

Captain James Townsend Daniel was restored to command of Company D in time for the Maryland Campaign (Crampton’s Gap) in the fall of 1862, but he was court-martialed for a second unknown offense near the end of his term of enlistment, on April 28th, 1863. He was found guilty and dishonorably dismissed from the service. Then, on May 28th – a month after the Battle of Salem Church (Chancellorsville) -- the charges were inexplicably dropped and he was returned to command again! On June 29th, 1863 he was promoted to the rank of Major, and then he was honorably discharged on July 4th -- eleven days earlier than the rest of his regiment. He therefore saw no action during the NYC Draft Riots.

Daniel promptly re-enlisted as a Major in Coles' 2nd Maryland Cavalry, where he served with distinction in a number of minor skirmishes and won the praise of General Joseph Hooker, and Unionist Maryland Governor Augustus Bradford. Daniel was with the governor when Bradford's house was burned to the ground by Confederate raiders in July, 1864. He later earned a commendation for his capture of an enemy wagon train at the Tye River Gap in Virginia. Daniel was mustered out on June 28th, 1865, and returned to England. Sometime around 1870, he became hopelessly insane, and was confined to the West Riding Lunatic Asylum near his mother's residence in Wakefield, England. His mother, Mary Ann Daniel, spent the next several years making eloquent appeals to the United States Congress and to the Secretary of the Interior, for a correct and appropriate pension. It is not known if she was successful.

After the war, Surgeon Edward B. Dalton was named Chief Executive Officer of New York City's Metropolitan Board of Health for 1866-69. Following this he worked as an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard, and Associate Physician at New York Hospital. His wife and only daughter both died in 1869, and Dalton himself, never really well since the Peninsular Campaign, died in 1871 at the age of 37. His Civil War memoirs were collected and published posthumously by his brother in 1872.

The Diarists

Edward Dalton was the only known member of the 36th NYSV to have his memoirs published. However, other members of the 36th’s Brigade did keep diaries, and they shed much light on the Washington Volunteers. Elisha Hunt Rhodes went on to become the colonel of his regiment, the 2nd Rhode Island. Later he was promoted to Brigadier General. After the war he was one of Rhode Island's most prominent citizens and philanthropists, with a list of accomplishments too long to mention. Every year for the rest of his life, he organized reunions of his regiment. He died at the age of 75 in 1917. His diary was published by a descendant under the title All for the Union; it is available today in most large bookstores.

Captain Joseph Keith Newell of the 10th Massachusetts survived the war, and was mustered out with honors. He became his regiment's chief historian. Captain Newell published his diary, The Annals of the 10th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, in 1875. Private Mark Nickerson of Co. A., 10th Massachusetts survived as well, and he published his memoirs under the title Recollections of the Civil War by a High Private in the Front Ranks in 1891.

At least three other soldiers from the 10th Massachusetts also kept diaries or memoirs; recently all of them were either reprinted or printed for the first time. First, in 1992 editor David W. Blight brought us When This Cruel War is Over: The Civil War Letters of Charles Harvey Brewster. Brewster was with Company C of the 10th Massachusetts Regiment. In one letter written just days after Malvern Hill, Brewster reveals that the 36th NY and the 10th Massachusetts were often singled out for the the most dangerous jobs. "We have received none of the things you have sent since the Battle of Fairoaks," he wrote his mother, "nor do I know that we ever shall. I don’t know why for Adams Express boat runs regularly but it sometimes seems as though this Regt was accursed in every respect….this and the 36th NY have been in all the battles and have been cut off, while the 7th + 2nd RI have escaped almost everything they laid all day during the last battle in a perfectly safe position seperate [sic] from the rest of the Brigade. I don’t know whether there is any management about it or not but it looks like it." He also indicates that at the Battle of Oak Grove many regiments were too afraid to go into the woods to fight, "so they sent for 2 reliable regts from Couchs Division and the 10th Mass + 36 NY were selected" (Blight/Brewster, 1992, pp.137, 165).

Secondly, Alfred S. Roe wrote The Tenth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in 1909 (reprinted in 1995). Third, also in 1995, Jessica DeMay released The Civil War Diary of Berea M. Willsey: The Intimate Observations of a Massachusetts Volunteer in the Union Army. Private Willsey was in Company C of the 10th Massachusetts. He talks a great deal about the 36th’s drunken rowdiness: "Sunday-August 3rd 1862-The 36th NY Reg. are being paid off [by the paymaster] & they are noisy enough, some of them have had a knock down….Monday-October 20th 1862-Some of the 36th NY are pretty drunk & their Col has had them doused in the Canal….Wednesday-June 17th 1863-The 36th N. York Regt. were put under arrest for laying down their arms." However, Private Willsey also says, "Saturday-November 1st, 1862-At Burkettsville [near Berlin, Pooleville, and Crampton’s Gap] we halted, the 36th New York Band playing several fine pieces." And he discusses two baseball matches between the 36th NY and the 10th Massachusetts: "Monday-April 20th 1863-The 36th New York challenged our boys to a game of Ball. Playing commenced at 9 AM. In nine innings each party made 18 tallys [runs] – it rained most of the time and the ground was very slippery….Wednesday-April 22nd 1863- Another game commenced between the 36th N. York and the 10th. The game closed in favor of the 10th. Tallys – 9 for the 10th and & 8 for the 36th. Everything passed off pleasantly" (DeMay/ Willsey, 1995, pp.38,39,45,53,55,83,86,96).

The fourth regiment in the brigade -- the 7th Massachusetts -- is nearly as obscure as the 36th NY. There is very little written about it, save the regiment’s official 320-page history, published in 1890 by Nelson V. Hutchinson. Most of the soldiers in this regiment came from the town of Taunton, Massachusetts. By the end of the war, the 7th Massachusetts had lost 74 men in combat; six others died in the hands of the enemy.

The 37th Massachusetts was added to the four original regiments of the Brigade late in the summer of 1862, after Malvern Hill.

Veterans of the old brigade came together one last time on July 4th, 1906 in Worcester, Massachusetts to see the unveiling of a bronze equestrian statue of General Devens. On and off again, Devens had commanded the brigade throughout most of its existence.

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