Allegany County, New York In The Civil War

The following is taken from Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Military Statistics of the State of New York, Albany: [The Bureau], (C. Wendell), 1866.

Upon the fall of Fort Sumter the people of this county were unanimous that the nation should be preserved and its power felt and respected. At this distance of time, one can scarcely realize the deep and earnest feeling then pervading; public meetings were held in all sections of the county—volunteers responded to the call for troops, and money was paid liberally and cheerfully to promote the cause.

Three companies were organized in the county—at Angelica, Cuba and Scio. The first was company I, Twenty-seventh regiment, under Captain C. C. Gardiner, who was efficient in procuring its organization and early departure for the front, and was afterwards Major of the regiment. This regiment participated in the first battle of Bull Run. Eugene Ferrin, a member of company I, a young man of great promise, was killed in this engagement, being the first living sacrifice offered by Allegany in the war. Several from the same company were taken prisoners and confined for a long time in the Libby prison.

The company from Cuba was under Captain Loydon, and entered the Twenty-third regiment, known as "Southern Tier Rifles." These two companies left the county in May, 1861, for Elmira, and soon after went to Washington. The company at Scio was unable to get in the regiments organized by the State authorities, and went into General Sickles' Excelsior brigade, and performed very efficient service. The citizens paid from two to three thousand dollars to organize and send forward these companies.

So fearful were many that they would not succeed in having a chance in the contest, that a special messenger was sent to Albany to get company I of the Twenty-seventh accepted under the State auspices for two years. Though but three companies were organized before the first battle of Bull Run, many enlisted from the county in neighboring counties.

Alleghany Civil War Newspaper Abstracts as compiled by David Moore (spreadsheet)

Civil War Newspaper Clippings
This is also available in PDF format. These are large files; however, they are exact images of the pages.
      Pages 1 - 10
      Pages 11 - 20
      Pages 21 - 30
      Pages 31 - 34

See also: Units recruited in Allegany County during the Civil War