Battery L, 1st Artillery Regiment (Light) - George Breck Columns: Chapter 32: Breck’s Life After The War

The Rochester members of Battery L arrived in the city at noon on June 20, “having been paid off and mustered out of the service,” the Union and Advertiser reported. Breck, however, was not expected to arrive until the next day. (1) Four days later the newspaper praised Breck. “That he was highly esteemed and beloved by the men, all testify who have returned. No officer can enjoy, in a larger degree, the respect and confidence of his command than did Major Breck from first to last.”

We have only sketchy details of Breck’s post-war career. It is not at all surprising that he was active in politics – as a Democrat, of course – winning election as Rochester’s Tenth Ward supervisor in 1867. (2) One year later he married Elizabeth Ogden McKnight of Pittsburgh, Pa. They had two children, George born in 1870 and Mary in 1874.

In 1870 he was appointed deputy clerk of the state Senate in Albany, and resided there for two years. He returned to Rochester in 1872 to accept the position of superintendent of the Rochester City Hospital. (3)

His tenure at the financially troubled institution lasted only two years, though apparently through no fault of his own. The hospital simply couldn’t make ends meet, earning enough to pay only about half of its expenses. When Breck resigned, a “highly complimentary” resolution was adopted by the board of trustees praising his service, according to the Union and Advertiser. The newspaper noted that “a more faithful, able gentleman for the position could not be found, and only the pecuniary embarrassment of the institution could induce them to consent to his retirement.” (4)

The following year Breck was elected clerk of the board of supervisors. (5)

With his relocation to New York City in 1879, the trail grows even dimmer. From his pension application files, we learn that a medical examination conducted in that city in 1896, when Breck was 63, found no sign of disability. “Claimant’s gait elastic, positive, unusually quick and active, whole temperament the same.”

Those files list his occupation as “clerk” in 1897. In 1904, at age 71, he was working as an inspector in the New York City Department of Street Cleaning. His wife died four years later.

Breck returned to Rochester at least once, in 1911, when the Grand Army of the Republic – the veterans’ organization for Civil War soldiers – held a national encampment in the city. “A handful of gray-headed boys” – surviving members of Battery L – held a reunion the night of Aug. 23, in a small banquet room at the Eggleston, where Breck called the roll. (6)

Old age eventually took its toll. In 1920, Breck moved to Hubbardston, Mass., to be cared for by his daughter. On Armistice Day, 1921, he suffered “an attack which necessitated his being brought home in an ambulance,” Mary recounted. (7) The following year a stroke affected his throat and motor powers, requiring him to receive constant care. The old veteran died Oct. 5, 1925. He was 92.

Transcribed And Donated By Bob MarcotteTranscribed And Donated By Bob Marcotte
Robert E. Marcotte
Rochester, N.Y.
February 2005