Monroe County, New York in the Civil War

The following is taken from Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Military Statistics of the State of New York, Albany: [The Bureau], (C. Wendell), 1866.

Monroe county and the city of Rochester responded to the Nation's call with promptness and ardor. The newspapers of Monday, the 15th of April, announced the fall of Fort Sumter, and the Presidents call for seventy-five thousand men. Within a week from that day, full a thousand volunteers had offered them¬selves in that county. The City Council unanimously pledged their entire support to the Nation's cause. They appropriated ten thousand dollars to defray immediate incidental expenses, and they also fitted up and set apart a building for barracks. A pub¬lic meeting was held, and the utmost enthusiasm manifested. Spirited addresses were made, patriotic resolutions adopted, and a committee appointed to raise a fund for the relief of the fami¬lies of volunteers. In a few days private subscriptions for this purpose were received, to the amount of forty thousand dollars and upwards. Prof. Isaac P. Quinby of the Rochester University (afterwards Brigadier-General), a graduate of West Point, entered at once upon the work of organizing a regiment. The several uniformed militia companies proffered themselves for immediate service, but were not accepted. The work of forming new com¬panies of volunteers, went forward as rapidly as the various details would permit. The necessary delays at the head-quarters, at Albany and Washington, prevented the complete organization of the regiment for several weeks, before the end of the month of April, intelligence was received that the Government could not receive any more companies from the county, than were already enrolled, and large numbers sought service elsewhere, or were disbanded. On the 3d of May, nine companies from Monroe county, left for the Elmira rendezvous, with every public demon¬stration of enthusiasm. A company from Livingston county was added at Elmira, and on the 8th of May, the organization of the regiment was officially completed, under the name of the Thir¬teenth New York Volunteers, with I. F. Quinby as Colonel. A beautiful and costly stand of colors was presented to it, by the ladies of the county—the work of their own hands—and on the 29th of May, in company with the Twelfth New York from Onon-daga county, they departed for Washington. The regiment dis¬tinguished itself for gallantry in the first battle of Bull Run, and brought all their colors safely off from that disastrous field. The county of Monroe, throughout the war, promptly furnished all its quotas, under the several calls.

 

See also: Units recruited in Monroe County during the Civil War