A homegrown patriot DePeyster farmer rises to Civil War hero and statesman

Newton Curtis — who, years later would be a powerful speaker in the political arena — proclaimed, "Patriotism is of no party." Rebuffing a suggestion that political convictions may discourage men from answering President Lincoln's call to bear arms, he exhorted, "The Union must be preserved."

Fifteen men vowed to serve that night, and more added their names at a subsequent gathering. Finally, on May 2, 1861, Curtis, the elected captain, was leading a group of at least 64 volunteers from DePeyster and Macomb in a parade of farm wagons to Ogdensburg, and ultimately to the battlefields of the South.

At the conclusion of the Civil War, the tall gentleman — "with a largeness of body, though not adipose or over fleshy," according to the Canton Commercial Advertiser — would return home a wounded and decorated hero who had risen to the rank of general. In his future was the politics of St. Lawrence County, New York state and the nation. The "hero of Fort Fisher," as he was lauded, was to become "one of the political war horses" of his day, the Canton paper reported.

Newton Curtis was educated in DePeyster schools and at Gouverneur Wesleyan Seminary. He followed his father's trade in farming, but he also studied law.

He was not quite 22 when in 1857 he was commissioned DePeyster's postmaster. Three years later, he sought political office, the first assembly district of St. Lawrence County. Running on the Democratic line, the young man didn't have a chance. His 1,424 votes were dwarfed by Republican Charles Richardson's tally of 3,536. DePeyster gave the hometown gentleman a mere 47 votes. Richardson counted 207.

Some of DePeyster's farmers were in Ogdensburg on an April day when they came upon a rally at Ford and Isabella streets. Ogdensburg Journal Editor Henry R. James was standing on a dry goods box, reading the president's call for volunteers. They brought the battle cry home, organizing a meeting the night of April 15, 1861, in the Methodist Church.

Capt. Benjamin Eastman, old-line Whig and Protectionist and active Republican worker, urged attendees to answer the president's call and was taken aback by an apparent lack of interest. He called upon Curtis to address the gathering.

"I said that patriotism was of no party, and regretted that the question of party politics should be raised when there was nothing to be considered but the preservation of the Union," he wrote 45 years later in a book, "From Bull Run to Chancellorsville."

After the session broke up, discussions continued in Mason's Tavern, where 15 men volunteered to go to battle. After a second meeting April 26 at the town hall, Curtis found himself elected captain of a full complement of noncommissioned officers, musicians and 64 privates.

On May 2, the company of raw recruits gathered at the DePeyster town hall for a 7 a.m. march, destination Ogdensburg, about 11 miles away. Before leaving, they were presented $400, collected by the women of their community.

As their parade reached Heuvelton, they were greeted by a cheering crowd waving flags and handkerchiefs, and a booming cannon. Upon arrival in Ogdensburg, the men were given the first designation of their organization: gingham caps distributed by the district United States attorney. These would do until uniforms were issued.

Then, to the music of two bands, they marched to the Northern Railroad depot, where they boarded a train. Next stop, Albany, where this group was to become Company G of the 16th New York Volunteer Infantry.

The young men of the 16th trained in Virginia, where in July they were brought together with the 18th, 31st and 32nd New York regiments to form the Second Brigade of the Fifth Division, Second United States Infantry. Off they marched to Fairfax, where on the morning of July 17, 1861, they got their first taste of combat, a small skirmish where a sergeant with the 18th fell mortally wounded.

Ahead of them would be defeat at Bull Run, which, Curtis wrote, was a show of unskilled leadership on both sides. The soldiers from the North pulled back to reorganize for their next encounter.

They marched onward in 1862 into a number of battles. In an exchange between North and South on May 7 at West Point, Va., Curtis was wounded. The scene was described by Maj. Joel J. Seaver in his dispatch to the Malone Palladium, where he was editor.

"Captain Curtis, while urging on his men, was struck by a ball in his left breast, directly over his heart. The ball struck a rib, glanced around and came out of his back. Twice he rallied his men after the shot, and, by his presence of mind and bravery, doubtless saved many a valuable life."

In March 1863, Curtis, having been promoted to lieutenant colonel five months after he was wounded, took advantage of his leave of absence to marry Emeline Clark of Springfield, Ill. He shared no revelations in his book about that episode of his life.

It also is unclear how long he permitted injury and wedding bells to keep him away from the battlefield.

The 16th, meanwhile, fought on. There was Gaines's Mill, Malvern Hill and Crampton's Pass, Md. There, of 270 men who went into battle, 209 came out unscathed. Eighteen were killed and 43 wounded, according to Curtis's book. Then came Antietam and Fredericksburg, followed in the spring of 1863 by Chancellorsville.

"Never was the Sixteenth put into a hotter fight, and never did it show more valor and fortitude than in the battle of Salem Heights (also called Salem Church, the final assault at Chancellorsville), where it contended against overwhelming numbers," wrote Curtis.

In defeat on May 3 and 4, the 16th suffered 20 more deaths and 87 wounded. Forty-nine were listed as missing.

That was the unit's last fray. On May 22, 1863, the 16th was mustered out of service. Its final campaign tally was 130 killed in action or mortally wounded, and 84 deaths by various other causes.

As he looked back years later to his war experience, Curtis was philosophical about the fear of death as he went into battle.

"The fear of death is at best but momentary, and is only felt when it appears imminent; as soon as the crisis is past it is the first thing forgotten."

He continued, "I had no fear of death in battle, for before I was mustered into service, I had a presentiment that I should not be killed in the army, but would have my eyesight injured."

And so it came to pass, on Jan. 15, 1865, as he and comrades of the former 16th served under the banner of the 121st New York Volunteer Infantry.

Fort Fisher, at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, below Wilmington, N.C., was "the largest and best equipped fortification constructed by the Confederates," he said in an address in 1899 to the Massachusetts Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States in Boston.

The fort's heavy defensive barriers extended out some 12 feet and were 12 feet high or more, he said.

He described the attack as "a hand-to-hand contest with swords and bayonets."

"We gained possession of the seventh traverse at 4:45 p.m. ... and shortly after 5:15 p.m. ... when the sun was just disappearing ... while the volunteers were assembling, I went further into the fort and had ascended a magazine or sand dune for the purpose of looking into the angle of the bastion I intended to attack, when I was struck and disabled by two fragments of a shell, one destroying the left eye and the other carrying away a portion of the bone at the base of the brain."

Brig. Gen. Adelbert Ames, Second Division commander, wrote, "Bvt. Brig. Gen. N.M. Curtis, commanding First Brigade, was prominent throughout the day for his bravery, coolness and judgement. His services cannot be over-estimated. He fell a short time before dark seriously wounded in the head by a canister shot."

He was presented the Medal of Honor "for extraordinary heroism" in the battle. "The first man to pass though the stockade, Brigadier General Curtis personally led each assault on the traverses and was four times wounded," his citation read.

Fort Fisher fell that night to Union land and naval forces. Confederate Gen. William H.C. Whiting was mortally wounded in the battle, and Col. William Lamb, commander of the fort, was seriously wounded. Lamb survived, later to write "Fort Fisher commanded the last gateway between the Confederate states and the outside world. Its capture, with the resulting loss of the Cape Fear River defenses and of Wilmington, the great importing depot of the south, effectually ended all blockade-running."

In 1899, two old soldiers, Gen. Curtis and Col. Lamb, came face to face on a stage in Canton's old town hall. There to help institute a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, "Both spoke, paying one another splendid compliments," the Canton Commercial Advertiser reported, describing Lamb as "a polished southern gentleman with well trimmed moustache."

Curtis was not a brigadier general at the time of the Fort Fisher assault, but his "gallant services" there prompted Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to elevate him to that rank.

Following the surrender at Appomatox, Curtis was appointed chief of staff of the department of Virginia and was later named commander of southwestern Virginia. He ended his military career Jan. 15, 1866.

About a month later, on Feb. 25, Emeline gave birth to the first of the couple's four daughters, Phoebe.

An appreciative government awarded him a string of political appointments over the next 18 years, beginning in 1866 as collector of customs for the district of Oswegatchie. A year later, he became a special agent with the Treasury Department. The family continued to grow, with Mary born in February 1868, Florence in 1873 and Elizabeth in 1878.

A career in the political arena for the one-eyed gifted orator, recognized for his commanding stature and soldierly bearing, began in 1884, when he headed into seven successive terms as state assemblyman. Among his accomplishments in Albany was the bill he sponsored that placed the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center in Ogdensburg.

He was elected to Congress in 1890 and served until 1897. His departure from the legislative branch brought another political appointment — inspector of soldiers' homes.

The retired general and statesman maintained homes at 417 Elizabeth St. in Ogdensburg and at Irving Place, New York City. While walking there the afternoon of Jan. 8, 1910, he collapsed and died. He was 75.

A statue bearing the general's image, created by Roland Hinton Perry, still stands in Ogdensburg. His daughters and 150 Civil War veterans attended the unveiling ceremony on Oct. 2, 1913, in a downpour.

Florence Curtis, a librarian and educator, lived in Richmond, Ind. She died in October 1944 at the age of 71.

The oldest of the sisters was the only one to marry. When Phoebe Vilas died at 87 in March 1953 in the Elizabeth Street family home, she left three sons: Curtis M. Vilas of Michigan City, Ind.; George C. Vilas of Miami, and Joseph W. Vilas of Madison, Wis.

Mary, who was 83 when she died in October 1951, and Elizabeth, a retired teacher who died 11 months later at age 74, lived most of their lives in the family's Ogdensburg home.

Newton Curtis's brother, Gates, who was 12 years older, gained some notoriety of his own. He wrote a history of St. Lawrence County, "Our County and Its People," published in 1894, and was an inventor, patenting several models of the Curtis Plow, which he manufactured in his foundry. He also invented a turbine water wheel and a shingle machine.

Gates Curtis died Jan. 13, 1905, in Ogdensburg.