RARE 1903 Photo GAR Civil War Monument Dedicatn 1st NY Dragoons Letchworth Park

  

GAR - Civil War Monument Dedication. First New York Dragoons - Volunteers. Letchworth Park - New York. For offer, an interesting old photo!

Fresh from a prominent estate in Upstate NY. Never offered on the market until now. Vintage, Old, Original, Antique, NOT a Reproduction - Guaranteed!! Clear photo of the monument, with history of the unit in matte margin.

On back in manuscript handwriting: Letchworth Park, Aug. Photographer advertising imprint of Bliss Bros. With back matte, measures 7 x 11 inches. In good to very good condition.

If you collect 19th / 20th century military, Victorian era Americana history, American heroes, etc. This is a treasure you will not see again! Add this to your image or paper / ephemera collection. Perhaps genealogy research importance too.

The 1st New York Dragoons was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Originally mustered into service as the 130th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment it was converted to cavalry on July 28, 1863 and designated as the 19th Regiment New York Volunteer Cavalry. The men were recruited from Allegany, Livingston, and Wyoming counties. The 19th Cavalry was officially re-designated as the 1st Regiment of Dragoons on September 10, 1863.

[1] The term dragoon generally refers to mounted infantry or light cavalry. Originally assigned to the Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac the Dragoons moved to the Army of the Shenandoah with General Philip Sheridan. During its service, the 1st New York Dragoons fought in 64 battles, captured 19 pieces of artillery and four Confederate battle flags. [2] After marching in the Grand Review at Washington D. At the close of the Civil War, the Dragoons were mustered out of service at Clouds Mills, Virginia on June 30, 1865. Two enlisted men and one officer of the 1st New York Dragoons were awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantry during the Civil War. Total strength and casualties[edit]. The regiment suffered 4 officers and 127 enlisted men who were killed in action or mortally wounded and 1 officer and 142 enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of 274 fatalities; of whom 36 enlisted men died in Confederate prisons. The 130th New York Volunteer Infantry was mustered into service at Portage, New York, by Lt.

Consisting of ten companies, the men were recruited from Allegany, Livingston, and Wyoming counties and placed under the command of Col. The regiment left New York on August 6, 1862, and arrived in Suffolk, Virginia, on August 13 where it was assigned to the 1st Division, VII Corps of the Army of the Potomac. The 1st Division was commanded by Gen. The 130th New York was engaged at the Battle of Deserted House and took part in the Siege of Suffolk in April and May 1863.

The regiment was converted to cavalry on July 28, 1863, and designated as the 19th Regiment New York Volunteer Cavalry. The 19th Cavalry was officially re-designated as the 1st Regiment New York Dragoons on September 10, 1863. The 130th New York had the distinction of being the only Union army volunteer regiment which was converted entirely from infantry to cavalry during the Civil War. Letchworth State Park is a 14,427-acre (58.4 km2) state park located in Livingston and Wyoming counties, New York. [1][5] The park is roughly 17 miles (27 km) long, following the course of the Genesee River as it flows north through a deep gorge and over several large waterfalls. [6] It is located 35 miles (56 km) southwest of Rochester and 60 miles (97 km) southeast of Buffalo, ands portions of the Livingston County towns of Leicester, Mount Morris, and Portage, as well as the Wyoming County towns of Castile and Genesee Falls. In 1906 he bequeathed the 1,000-acre (4 km2) estate to New York, which soon after became the core of the newly created Letchworth State Park. The park prominently features three large waterfalls the Upper, Middle, and Lower Falls on the Genesee River, which flows within a deep gorge that winds through the park. The rock walls of the gorge, which rise up to 550 feet (170 m) in places, prompted the area's reputation as the "Grand Canyon of the East". Map of Letchworth State Park and surrounding area. Park entrances are located near Mount Morris, Perry, Castile and Portageville. A paved two- or three-lane road follows the west side of the gorge, allowing many scenic viewpoints for the geologic features. The park includes pavilions, picnic tables, a playground, 66 miles (106 km) of hiking trails, two large swimming pools, cabins, campsites for tents, trailer sites with dumping stations, and horse-riding trails. Activities within the park include hiking, biking, fishing, whitewater rafting and kayaking, geocaching, and hunting (wild turkey and deer when in season).

During the winter, the park facilitates snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, snow tubing, and horse-drawn sleighs. Hot air ballooning is available at the park, weather permitting.

In 2015, Letchworth State Park won USA Today's Reader's Choice competition as the best state park in the United States. [9] It has also been named the best state park in New York for landscape photography. Middle Falls of the Genesee River at Letchworth State Park.

Lower Falls and stone footbridge at Letchworth State Park. Within the park, there are three large waterfalls on the Genesee River and as many as 50 waterfalls found on tributaries that flow into it; the deep gorge formed by the river, with rock walls rising up to 550 feet (170 m) in places and which narrow to 400 feet (120 m) across above the middle of the three falls, prompted the area's reputation as the "Grand Canyon of the East". [8] The three major waterfalls called the Upper, Middle, and Lower Falls are located in Portage Canyon, the southern section of the park. The only trail bridging the Genesee River in the park crosses a stone bridge just below the Lower Falls.

The Middle Falls is the highest, and the Upper Falls has an active railroad trestle crossing immediately above it. The park also contains Inspiration Falls, a ribbon waterfall that is located on a tributary creek a short distance east of the Inspiration Point Overlook, 0.4 miles (640 m) west of the park visitor center. It has a total drop of 350 feet (110 m).

While impressive in its height, it is seasonal and often appears as only a water stain on the cliff. The falls faces to the south-southwest and has a crest that is one foot (300 mm) wide. View of the Genesee River and gorge. The bedrock exposed in the gorge is Devonian in age, mostly shales, with some layers of limestone and sandstone. The rock was laid down in an ancient inland sea, and it holds many marine fossils. The landform of the section of the Genesee River valley represented by the park is geologically very young, caused by a diversion of the river from the old valley by the last continental glacier, which forced the river to cut a new section of valley. Historic sites and museums[edit]. The historic, restored Glen Iris Inn, William Pryor Letchworth's former residence adapted for use as a hotel, is located on the top of a cliff overlooking Middle Falls and offers in-season meals and overnight accommodations. [6] It is open to the public for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The park is the present-day site of the grave of Mary Jemison, a Scots-Irish immigrant pioneer who was captured at the age of 12 from central Pennsylvania by a French and Shawnee raiding party during the French and Indian War. She was soon adopted by a family of Seneca people, and eventually lived in western New York on the Genesee River. She had become thoroughly assimilated and chose to live with the Seneca for the rest of her long life, having a total of seven children by two successive husbands. Her remains were exhumed from the Buffalo Creek Reservation and reinterred on the grounds of a Seneca Council House, relocated to the site by Letchworth and rededicated in 1872. The park also features the William Pryor Letchworth Museum, which was founded with the collections of the park's founder. The exhibits focus on the natural and cultural history of the Genesee Valley, and include archaeological artifacts of the Seneca nation, and displays on Mary Jemison, early pioneers, the Genesee Valley Canal and William Pryor Letchworth. The Eric Humphrey Nature Center opened in 2016. [12] Operated year-round by New York State, the 5,000-square-foot (460 m2) sustainable building features classrooms and meeting rooms, a research lab, a butterfly garden, and connections to various trails. Main article: Mount Morris Dam.

Found at the north end of the park, the construction of the Mount Morris Dam was begun in 1948 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers under the Flood Control Act of 1944. The dam was completed in 1954. [14] The Genesee River became wider and deeper immediately upstream as a result, but areas downstream were spared yearly flooding which destroyed valuable farmland. The Mount Morris Dam is the largest flood control device of its kind (concrete gravity) east of the Mississippi River.

It is 1,028 feet (313 m) in length and rises 230 feet (70 m) from the riverbed. [15] The dam proved its worth during the Flood of 1972, saving thousands of acres of farmland and the city of Rochester from flooding. Upper Falls with a train passing over the Portage Viaduct.

The Portage Viaduct is an iron railroad bridge located upstream and within view of the park's Upper Falls. The bridge is 820 feet (250 m) long and 240 feet (73 m) high. [16] Although walking on the structure is considered trespassing, visitors to the park commonly disregard warning signs in order to view the gorge from the bridge, despite the safety concerns associated with walking on an active railroad bridge. On November 29, 2011, Norfolk Southern Railway announced plans to demolish the Portage Viaduct and build a new bridge approximately 75 feet (23 m) to the south of the current structure.

Norfolk Southern had offered the old bridge to the State of New York, but the offer was declined due to a lack of available funds to convert the bridge into an observation platform. [18] The project is scheduled for completion in early 2018. Popular local rumor contends that the Portage Viaduct was used for a famous scene in the 1986 movie Stand By Me. [citation needed] In reality, the bridge used in the movie is the Lake Britton Bridge in McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park near Redding, California. Genesee Scenery, an 1847 oil painting by Thomas Cole.

The territory of the park was long part of the homeland of the Seneca people, who were largely forced out after the American Revolutionary War, as they had been allies of the defeated British. The Seneca called the land around this canyon Sehgahunda, the "Vale of the three falls";[22] the Middle Falls (Ska-ga-dee) was believed to be so wondrous it made the sun stop at midday. By purchasing the land, Letchworth successfully halted plans to install a hydroelectric dam in the gorge that would have altered the flow of the river and diminished flows over the large waterfalls. [6] He enlisted the services of the famous landscape artist William Webster to design winding paths and roadways, rustic bridges, glistening "lakes" and a sparkling fountain. Letchworth spent the following years expanding his land holdings in the area. In 1906, Letchworth granted the Glen Iris and the surrounding 1,000 acres (4 km2) to the State of New York as a public park, intending to deter commercial businesses from damaging the fragile nature of the gorge and surrounding woodlands. He further required that the land be managed by the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. [2] A plaque near the gorge contains a dedication written by Letchworth's niece in 1910, and reads. God wrought for us this scene beyond compare.

But one man's loving hand protected it. And gave to his fellow man to share.

Kunz, president of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society of New York, was an enthusiastic supporter of the park. Kunz helped with the organization and preservation of the library of William Pryor Letchworth when the Society took over the management of his estate in New York. In 1907, it was stated, The library embraces one of the finest, if not the finest, private collection of book on charities in the country. It contains also a good collection of local histories, books about Indians, and a miscellaneous assortment of standard literature. His mementos - personal gifts and testimonials - are extremely interesting.

It is most desirable that these should be kept together and adequately preserved in a new library building, as part of the monument to the generous donor of Letchworth Park. Kunz helped with the 1910 memorial to Mary Jemison, The White Indian of the Genesee, who is buried at the ancient Indian Council House of the Senecas located on the grounds of the Letchworth park.

Letchworth, having earned "life-residence" at the Glen Iris, died there on December 1, 1910. [27] He was buried in nearby Buffalo at Forest Lawn Cemetery. The park was the beneficiary of numerous enhancements enacted by workers from the Civilian Conservation Corps, who inhabited a large camp at the park during the 1930s. Improvements enacted by the CCC included the construction of cabins, overlooks, bridges and trails. Old Portageville Bridge Fire[edit].

Old Portage Bridge in 1864. Ruins of the Old Portage Bridge, 1875.

The Erie Railroad Company built a wooden trestle bridge over the Genesee River just above the Upper Falls. Construction started on July 1, 1851 and opened August 16, 1852. At the time, it was the longest and tallest wooden bridge in the world. In the early morning hours of Thursday, May 6, 1875, the great wooden railroad bridge was destroyed in a tremendous fire. The bridge was a total loss, leaving only the concrete bridge abutments.

Immediately after the Portage Bridge fire, officials of the Erie Railroad Company moved quickly to replace the wooden bridge with an iron and steel design. Construction began June 8, 1875 and the Portage Viaduct opened for traffic July 31, 1875. [16] It is still in use today.

Morris Dam during the flood of 1972. One of the greatest natural disasters in Genesee Valley history took place in June 1972. Hurricane Agnes came ashore on the Florida Panhandle on June 19, and moved north through Georgia and the Carolinas. The hurricane then went out to sea, recharged its energy and hit the Southern Tier of New York State on June 22.

Although Agnes was only a Category 1 hurricane, it soon stalled over North Central Pennsylvania. Caught up in a slow moving low pressure system, the storm drifted slowly northeastward into New York State. The area, having already been soaked by showers the week before, could not absorb the six to twelve inches (150 to 300 mm) rainfall that fell over Pennsylvania and New York. Known locally as "The Flood of'72", the event would have a tremendous impact on Western New York and Letchworth Park. Although the Genesee River and Letchworth Park was not hit as hard as the Susquehanna Valley and other areas, the impact of the flood would be felt in the park for many years.

The Lower Falls Bridge and trail to Sugar Loaf did not officially reopen for several years. To this day, visitors can still see some of the natural "scars" left by the flood waters over 40 years ago. Video footage of the devastation can be viewed upon request at the William Pryor Letchworth Museum, located near the Glen Iris Inn.

Nearby towns in Livingston, Allegany, and Wyoming County. The "Grand Army of the Republic" (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy U. Navy, Marines and the U. Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War for the Northern/Federal forces. Founded in 1866 in Decatur, Illinois, and growing to include hundreds of posts (local community units) across the nation, (predominately in the North, but also a few in the South and West), it was dissolved in 1956 when its last member, Albert Woolson (18501956) of Duluth, Minnesota, died. Linking men through their experience of the war, the G. Became among the first organized advocacy groups in American politics, supporting voting rights for black veterans, promoting patriotic education, helping to make Memorial Day a national holiday, lobbying the United States Congress to establish regular veterans' pensions, and supporting Republican political candidates.

Its peak membership, at more than 490,000, was in 1890, a high point of various Civil War commemorative and monument dedication ceremonies. It was succeeded by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), composed of male descendants of Union Army and Union Navy veterans.

After the end of American Civil War, various state and local organizations were formed for veterans to network and maintain connections with each other. Many of the veterans used their shared experiences as a basis for fellowship. Groups of men began joining together, first for camaraderie and later for political power. Emerging as most influential among the various organizations during the first post-war years, was the Grand Army of the Republic, founded on April 6, 1866, on the principles of "Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty, " in Decatur, Illinois, by Dr. Uniform Hat Badge from Post No 146, aka'RG Shaw Post', established by surviving members of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment in 1871.

In the R Andre Stevens Civil War Collection. The GAR initially grew and prospered as a de facto political arm of the Republican Party during the heated political contests of the Reconstruction era.

The commemoration of Union Army and Navy veterans, black and white, immediately became entwined with partisan politics. The GAR promoted voting rights for then called "Negro"/"Colored" black veterans, as many white veterans recognized their demonstrated patriotism and sacrifices, providing one of the first racially integrated social/fraternal organizations in America.

Black veterans, who enthusiastically embraced the message of equality, shunned black veterans' organizations in preference for racially inclusive/integrated groups. But when the Republican Party's commitment to reform in the South gradually decreased, the GAR's mission became ill-defined and the organization floundered. The GAR almost disappeared in the early 1870s, and many state-centered divisions - named "departments" and local posts ceased to exist. In his General Order No.

11, dated May 5, 1868, first GAR Commander-in-Chief, General John A. Logan declared May 30 to be Memorial Day (also referred to for many years as "Decoration Day"), calling upon the GAR membership to make the May 30 observance an annual occurrence. Although not the first time war graves had been decorated, Logan's order effectively established "Memorial Day" as the day upon which Americans now pay tribute to all their war casualties, missing-in-action, and deceased veterans. As decades passed, similarly-inspired commemorations also spread across the South as "Confederate Memorial Day" or "Confederate Decoration Day", usually in April, led by organizations of Southern soldiers in the parallel United Confederate Veterans. In the 1880s, the Union veterans organization revived under new leadership that provided a platform for renewed growth, by advocating Federal pensions for veterans. As the organization revived, black veterans joined in significant numbers and organized local posts. The national organization, however, failed to press the case for similar pensions for black soldiers. Most black troops never received any pension or remuneration for wounds incurred during their Civil War service. The GAR was organized into "Departments" at the state level and "Posts" at the community level, and military-style uniforms were worn by its members. There were posts in every state in the U. The pattern of establishing departments and local posts was later used by other American military veterans' organizations, such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (organized originally for veterans of theishAmerican War and the Philippine Insurrection) and the later American Legion (for the First World War and later expanded to include subsequent World War II, Korean, Vietnam and Middle Eastern wars). S political power grew during the latter part of the 19th century, and it helped elect several United States presidents, beginning with the 18th, Ulysses S.

Grant, and ending with the 25th, William McKinley. Five Civil War veterans and members Grant, Rutherford B.

Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, and McKinley were elected President of the United States; all were Republicans. The sole post-war Democratic president was Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th chief executive. For a time, candidates could not get Republican presidential or congressional nominations without the endorsement of the GAR veterans voting bloc. Reverse of the Grand Army of the Republic Badge. With membership strictly limited to "veterans of the late unpleasantness, " the GAR encouraged the formation of Allied Orders to aid them in various works.

Numerous male organizations jousted for the backing of the GAR, and the political battles became quite severe until the GAR finally endorsed the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War as its heir. The item "RARE 1903 Photo GAR Civil War Monument Dedicatn 1st NY Dragoons Letchworth Park" is in sale since Wednesday, March 22, 2017. This item is in the category "Collectibles\Militaria\Civil War (1861-65)\Civil War Veterans' Items". The seller is "dalebooks" and is located in Rochester, New York. This item can be shipped worldwide.

• Country/Region of Manufacture: United States