Civil War Era

Rev. Nicholas Vansant, former pastor of Bethel United Methodist Church, Amboy Rd., candidly wrote about the atmosphere in Tottenville during this period in an excerpt from his book, Sunset Memories:

“The war fever ran high, making it needful for me in that eminently conservative locality to stand up in private and in public for the government, which, of course, evoked some criticism and opposition, not to say threats of violence………..During the reign of the bloody draft riot in New York in July 1863, a sensation amounting to a veritable scare was produced by a rumor that the rioters were on their way to Tottenville.  The appalling message, “The rioters are coming! The rioters are coming!!” passed rapidly from mouth to mouth, till the whole neighborhood was wrought up to a ferment of tremendous excitement.  Our good neighbor, Mr. Taylor, living nearly opposite, rushed over to the parsonage and, repeating the rumor, advised us to come at once to his house, saying that the rioters would be sure to raid the parsonage first. So, taking his advice, we vacated our own home and took shelter in his.  But the rumor, though not an intended hoax, was a totally false alarm, without the least foundation except in the heated imagination of its originators.”

The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a national fraternal organization of Union Army veterans, was founded in 1866 in Decatur, IL.  On May 22, 1980, a GAR post, Lenhart Post No 163, was organized in Tottenville with the following charter members:

William Tysen  *  Jacob Cougle   *  John J. Vaughn, Jr.  *  William DeWaters,  *  D.S. Reckhow  *  David Newberry  *  Joseph Morey  *  H.R. Yetman,  *  Andrew Abrams  *  Wesley Marshall  *  Nathan Reckhow,  *  William Stewart,  *  John W. Corson  *  David J. Johnson,  *  John W. Gibbs  *  David C. Johnson

The post was named for Naval chaplain John L. Lenhart, Tottenville resident, who drowned aboard the Cumberland during the historic battle at Hampton Roads, VA in 1862.  Lenhart was the first naval chaplain to die in service to this country.  The Lenhart Post disbanded in 1924.

A white marble monument, erected in Bethel Cemetery on Decoration Day 1891, is incribed as follows:

Sacred to the / memory of our / Defenders / The Noble and / Gallant Men who / Died in the late / Civil War.

Civil War Soldiers' Monument, Bethel Cemetery, erected 1891

An account of the dedication ceremony can be found in Benjamin Franklin Joline’s typescript, Tottenville in Retrospect, 1951:

“Now the great day of dedication had come, and an elaborate program had been planned, featuring a parade and the unveiling of the monument… ..visitors from all parts of the Island and from New Jersey began to arrive. A large delegation of distinguished guests were met at the railroad station by a special guard and marched from there to the churchyard. The parade started at the foot of Main St. at 10:00 A.M. Tottenville’s “finest” took the lead and were followed directly by the Tottenville Cornet Band. The place of honor fell to the Lenhart Post of the G.A.R., the sponsor of the occasion…..The parade ended at the Bethel Church. There a solemn memorial service took place. The Soldiers’ Monument, a marble shaft, suitably engraved to the memory of the men who died in the late Civil War was unveiled. The band played “America” and the gathering was dismissed with a benediction. So ended a most memorable Memorial Day in Tottenville.”

A poem written by George Hoey, "The 165th New York Volunteer," was read by James F. Ferguson, surgeon of the 165th, at the dedication.  An excerpt of that poem:

Near thirty years have passed away
Since eighteen hundred and sixty-one,
When our sleep of Peace was broken in twain
By the echoing sound of Sumpter's gun.
Like a solemn death knoll tolling slow,
Rumbling, rolling, thundering loud,
And the murky clouds from the cannon's mouth
To some seemed like the Nation's burial shroud...

The soldiers’ names inscribed on the base of the Bethel monument are:

Spanish-American War

Pvt. Joseph S. Decker, Co. I, 71^st Regt., a resident of Tottenville, was the only Staten Islander killed in the war with Spain.   A grand parade in his honor took place in February 1899.  His body lay in state in the former Edgewater Village Hall; interment took place at Bethel Cemetery, Tottenville.  In 1912, a ceremony and monument unveiling was held at Bethel; Staten Island historian Ira K. Morris gave the main address.

Unveiling of Joseph Decker monument, 1912
(from the collection of Staten Island Museum)