Mamaroneck Civil War Veterans Rediscovered

MAMARONECK, NY — Civil War veterans from Mamaroneck will be honored at a presentation Sunday, April 23. Rediscovered documents in the Town of Mamaroneck and recently digitized military records available on the internet have allowed information to be gleaned about the local Civil War soldiers.

The presentation will take place at 3:30 p.m. in the Larchmont Village Center, 121 Larchmont Ave.

For decades, records of Mamaroneck’s Civil War veterans were presumed lost — no one remembered the men or their sacrifices. John Jay Professor Ned Benton will present newly recovered information that begins filling some important gaps in our local history.

Professor Benton began his own research by wondering why there were no memorials to Civil War veterans in Larchmont or Mamaroneck.

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While the Town of Mamaroneck was thriving community in the 1860s, the villages had not been incorporated yet, organizers said.

J. Thomas Scharf explained in an 1886 history that “I regret much that there is no reliable official record accessible of the names of men, bona fide residents of the different towns in the count, who enlisted therefrom and died in the service.”

“That is not the case anymore,” says Professor Benton, a Larchmont Historical Society member.

He credits Mamaroneck Town Clerk Christina Battalia and her staff for their assistance in finding important old files. They found the town’s original record of the 1862 draft that listed all eligible young men, including those who had already enlisted.

Benton’s presentation will focus on three infantry regiments of “Fire Zouaves” (the NY 5th, 11th and 73rd) consisting mostly of volunteer firefighters from New York City and the surrounding area, including Mamaroneck.

The 11th was led by Colonel Charles Loeser, who years after the war lived in the Larchmont Manor House. The 5th included Private Lucius B. Watson, who is buried in the Gedney Cemetery in Mamaroneck, and Corporal Nicholas Hoyt, a Mamaroneck fisherman.

The program will honor these and others whose contributions can now be appreciated.

Photo credit: Google Maps.