May 3, 1861: Second Call to Duty

On May 3, 1861, a call for three-year enlistments went out through New Jersey.  The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Regiments of NJ Volunteer Infantry would make up the First NJ Brigade.  The four NJ Militia Regiments of three months troops would be attached to the First NJ Brigade when it traveled to Washington, D.C. to defend the federal capital.  Both groups of troops would be trained in camps in and around Trenton. 

In May 1861, the following Warren County men enlisted in the 1st NJ Volunteer Infantry Regiment with  Lieutenant Colonel Robert McAllister, of Oxford Furnace: Company D [primarily made up of the Phillipsburg Garibaldi Guards Company]: Robert S. Beckwith, Winchester T. Bennett, Alonzo D. Corby, John Dilts, Philip Hearie, Jeremiah Levers, Henry A. McLaughlin, Charles Wesley Mutchler, Samuel B. Mutchler, John Myers, Peter Myers, Jacob L. Ricker, James Rondaham, John S. Ryan, John Saylor, Charles Seagraves, Charles W. Sitgreaves, Jr., Samuel W. Stebbins, William A. Steward, James Stockman, John Sweeney, Alfred Thompson, James P. Vandergrift [enlisted August 6], Lewis P. Vandergrift [enlisted August 20], Joseph    S. Wesley, and Willard S. Wood, all of Phillipsburg; from Belvidere: Edward Allen, Theodore Allen, Smith G. Blythe, Theodore Carhart, Jr., John Gano, James J. Krom, William T. Neal, Zachariah Nye, Dr. Redford Sharp [Regimental Surgeon], Edward H. Swayze, Edward Willever, and Jethro B. Woodward; Isaiah Nelson Albertson, of Hope; John Schoonover, of Oxford Furnace; Edward Fehr and Ezra J. Hutchings, of Washington; and from undisclosed towns: Joseph Allison, Calvin Calkins, George W. Creveling, Barnet Devlin, James Flood, Paul Gravet, Josiah M. Hollock, Robert Hough, John W. Kirby, Thomas Leonard, Wilber F. Lovel, William S. Merrill, Albert J. Miller, Frank Murray, Wellington Person, David B. S. Prall, Peter Stead, and Peter S. Taylor.

Warren men enlisting in other companies of the 1st NJ Volunteer Infantry were: Adjutant William Henry, Jr., of Oxford Furnace; Regimental Sergeant Major Henry C. Warner, of Oxford Furnace;  Company B: Thomas R. Grover, of Belvidere, and Francis W. Laird [enlisted in June], of Phillipsburg; Company C: Ephraim G. Brewster, of Oxford Furnace, and John W. Morris, of Phillipsburg; Company F: George H. Osman, of Belvidere, and Samuel Cook, of Hope; Company H: Jacob Deagle, of Washington; and Company I: Benjamin W. Higgins, Jr., of Belvidere, and Charles A. Brown, of Phillipsburg.

Copyright 1997-2011: Jay C. Richards