The Lock 52 Historical Society hosted a walk about the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery on October 23, 2021. The focus of the walk were a few of the 237 men who volunteered to fight in the Civil War from the town and village.
After a brief history of the Grand Army of the Republic monument, we learned about Edward Turner and John Thomas, two men who had no family connections to the area, but lived out their lives on Howland Island. Edward lost a leg while fighting and had a dog named Shep who was trained to fetch the mail for him. John was one of the eight African-Americans who fought in the United States Colored Troops (USCT) and are buried in Mt. Pleasant. John was at Appomattox to witness the surrender of General Lee. These men are some of the many buried in the GAR plot.
We then headed over to see Smith Taylor, who when he died in 1927, was the last remaining member of the 111th Regiment from the town. The 111th were called the Harper’s Ferry cowards after their surrender and capture there. After serving 11 months in a war prison, the men were paroled and returned to their regiment to fight again at Gettysburg, where they became the heroes for their gallantry in holding their line, albeit with extremely high casualties. Next to Smith is Richard Warren who was another member of the 111th. It seems kind of fitting that these men who fought together in battle, in prison, and then in battle, are buried next to each other. Next to Richard is R.R. Stilwell who fought in the 3rd Wisconsin. His battle experiences were different from our local guys and you need to wonder if they ever argued about who had it worse.
Of course we had to visit the memorial marker of John Lockwood, who died when trying to escape from a train during a prison transfer. John was another man who was in the 111th and suffered the same hardships of battle and prison. After Gettysburg, he was captured at Ream’s Station and sent to the infamous Libby prison. He was killed when he jumped from the train and tried to escape during a prison transfer. Nathan and Adeline Marble were next on the list. Nathan was too old to go off and fight, but the couple had been fighting against slavery for years prior to the war and had hosted Frederick Douglas in their home. We stopped by James White, who was another man who settled in Port Byron after fighting in the war with the 3rd NY Light Artillery out of Cayuta.
Thomas McChesney is another of the eight African-Americans who fought in the USCT. His brother Sylvester is also buried in Mt. Pleasant and both men fought in the all black regiment 26th NY. Next to Thomas is John Stewart and his wife Jane Ann. John was born a slave in Virginia and after his escape he settled in Port Byron. When the war broke out and African-American’s were allowed to serve, he joined the fight and returned to his homeland. He survived and lived a long life, dying in 1904.
William Root served in the 75th NY Infantry. He and his daughter would tell the story about how the school principal at the time of the start of the war, a Mr Fuller, called William into his office and told him that should take over as principal and teacher as Mr. Fuller was going to enlist. William declined, and with a lump in his throat, he said that he was enlisting also. In 1945, his daughter wrote; “To the end of his long life my father could never tell this story without that lump coming back to his throat, nor yet without the light of patriotism burning in his face.” William was captured at the battle of Sabine Pass and served a year in prison. His second wife, Minnie wrote a book titled the Permanent War Record for Mentz, and presented it to the town and legion. The book, as the paper noted, was so well crafted that it would last for centuries. To this date, we have no idea where the book might be.
We never got to see Augustus Sweet, who when he died in 1935 he was the last surviving veteran from the town. He would tell how he was in the hospital when Lincoln would come to visit. These are only some of the stories to be found in the cemetery.