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May 25, 2013
Vermont Eagle - 25
Crown Point veteran sacrificed for freedom By David Bruce
CROWN POINT — On June 3, 1864, the Confederate fire came in regularly, forcing Union troops to take cover. Corpses were still around from the fighting of June 1 and the soldiers from the Adirondack Regiment stacked the bodies and covered them with earth for protection. ñ The dirt would sometimes sift down exposing a hand or a foot or the blacken face of the dead,î said one New YorkerÍ s account of the Battle at Cold Harbor, cited in the book, ñ Three years with the Adirondack Regiment, 118th N.Y.î by John L. Cunningham. Pvt. Ashley Woods, Company F of the 118th, from Crown Point was there. While historical reports are mixed, solid documents do confirm that May 26-June 3, 1864, 12,788 casualties occurred. Woods was one, with a shot to the hip, causing him to nearly die due to battle conditions that left him handicapped for the rest of his life. Tragedy was no stranger to Woods. In 1859, he had a small farm on what is now the Cold Springs Road, off the White Church Road in Crown Point, married to a beautiful woman named Leafy Winters with two children, Warren and Minerva. Death came knocking and claimed the life of his baby daughter and short after that, Leafy died on Feb. 8, 1861. He buried them both at the BeersÍ Cemetery near the top of ñ Big Hollow.î The headstone is still there. Woods must have been in great mourning, unsure and with a lot of questions. President Abraham Lincoln was calling for 300,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion in the South. Each senatorial district was charged with raising their quota of volunteers. The North Country district was comprised of Clinton, Essex and Warren counties. Senator R. M. Little of Glens Falls was the elected official. Each county was to have three companies.
Essex was assigned C, F and E and be part of the new 118th N.Y. Volunteers, known as the ñ Adirondack Regiment.î Woods was 27, black hair, blue eyes, rugged and stood 5-feet10. He enlisted and went to Plattsburgh where he was joined by others from the respective communities of Essex and the other two counties. The young men were mustered in on Aug. 29, 1862, and got their orders on Sept. 1. They had no uniforms and were wearing what was referenced to as ñ citizenÍ s dress.î They boarded a steamer going down Lake Champlain, to Whitehall and then they were put on a troop train to Albany. In that city, it was reported that some of the boys got pieces of firewood and put it on the train in the box cars. After they pulled out of Albany heading to NYC, they proceeded to knock out the sides of the cars so they could ñ see the country.î They went to NYC, Philadelphia and ended up outside of Baltimore, not far from Washington, where they got their Enfield rifles, accompaniment, tents and camp equipment. Woods was now part of the 18th Army Corp. commanded by Maj. Gen. Wm. F. Smith. The 18th Corp. spent most of its first year protecting sites around Washington but the second and third years they were in heavy fighting in the Richmond, Petersburg, Newport News and Portsmouth region. Two of the conflicts that took their greatest toll on this regiment were the Battle at DruryÍ s (DrewryÍ s) Bluff located just south of Richmond on May 16, 1864, and Cold Harbor, north east of that city from May 26 through June 3, 1864. Woods had survived two years of war, disease, worse weather the south could produce, going through snake infested swamps and battle living conditions that are almost indescribable. Nearly 13,000 war casualties happened at Cold Harbor, Woods was one of them. He took a shot in the hip and would spend the next year in various hospitals ending up in Washington. He was muster out with his
Pvt. Ashley Woods
Phoebe Meachem Woods
company on June 15, 1865, and finally arrived home. While away, a 17-year-old girl named Phoebe Meachem assumed the role of care giver and mother to Warren Woods. Upon return, Ashley and Phoebe married and had three children of their own, Carrie, King and Keefe. Throughout the rest of his life, he tried to receive some form of compensation for his wounds and the disadvantage he faced. He died on July 10, 1918, and he and Phoebe are buried together in the White Church cemetery. EditorÍ s note: WoodsÍ son King married Hattie Laing. Their daughter Carrie married Ray Meachem were grandparents of the author. ñ This Memorial Day take the time to recognize those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom and our opportunity to make choices as a free people,î Bruce said. ñ We can do more to reduce the conflict in our own neighborhoods and our communities, which might help set an example. War often is not the real answer and should always be the last resort.î
PUZZLE PAGE • PUZZLE PAGE • PUZZLE PAGE • PUZZLE PAGE • PUZZLE PAGE • PUZZLE PAGE • PUZZLE PAGE • PUZZLE PAGE BUSINESS MEETINGS By Matt Skoczen
1 6 12 20 21 22 23 25 26 27 29 30 31 34 36 39 44 45 47 48 49 50 52 54 56 58 62 63 66 67 68 70 74 77 79 80 82
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Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9
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Trivia Answers! ••••••••••••••••
ANs. 1 HALLMARK 1915 MAIDENFORM 1922 LINCOLN 1924 ANs. 2 BUTTERFLY
SOLUTIONS TO LAST WEEK ’ S PUZZLES !
42553
(Answers Next Week)