Item #4921 List of casualties of the 1st Regt. U.S. V[olunteer]s of N[ew].Y[ork]. Since its departure from the harbor of New York in the month of January 1847.
List of casualties of the 1st Regt. U.S. V[olunteer]s of N[ew].Y[ork]. Since its departure from the harbor of New York in the month of January 1847.
List of casualties of the 1st Regt. U.S. V[olunteer]s of N[ew].Y[ork]. Since its departure from the harbor of New York in the month of January 1847.

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List of casualties of the 1st Regt. U.S. V[olunteer]s of N[ew].Y[ork]. Since its departure from the harbor of New York in the month of January 1847.

[N.p.], 30 June 1847. 4to (32.5 x 20 cm). 1 p. Docketed on verso in red ink, “Copy,” “No 3,” and initialed, “F.A.S.”.

An evocative list of casualties suffered by companies A–K of the 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers during the Mexican-American War in the first half of 1847, one of two New York regiments to fight in the war.

The deaths here recorded took place at Vera Cruz, “Cerro Gordo,” Jalapa, Lobos Island, Amozuque, on various vessels, in a hospital, and en route to different destinations. Most deaths took place “at Puebla.” The list is divided into three sections, listing the names of the soldiers, the company to which they belonged, and the place and occasion of death. Some of the causes of death read as follows:

“Killed by Rancheros near Amozuque”; “Killed by the enemy near “Cerro Gordo”; “Killed by the enemy on a scouting party near V. Cruz”; “Drowned from on board Brig Empire”; “Died at Vera Cruz in general hospital”; “Died by stroke of the sun on the day of landing in V. Cruz”; “Killed by the enemy on the march from V. Cruz”; “died on board the Bark Montezuma”; “Killed by the enemy between Puente nacional + Vera Cruz,” and so on.

The 33 dead include 28 privates, 2 Corporals, 1 Sergeant, 1 Quartermaster, and 1 Lieutenant. Red checks appear beside the numbers accorded to the soldiers and again following the place and occasion of death, evidently indicating that the list was checked by an official who received it.

The 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers was formed by NY Legislator Jonathan D. Stevenson in 1846 upon the request of President James K. Polk. Secretary of War William Marcy advised Stevenson that “the regiment should be composed of unmarried men, of good habits and varied pursuits, and such as would be likely to remain in California or adjoining territory at the close of the war.” Company D is considered the last group of American troops to depart from Mexican territory following the war’s close. Between August–October 1848, the last remnants of the regiment disbanded in California. With the 1848 discovery of gold, many of the remaining members would venture to the gold fields and numbered among California’s pioneers.

CONDITION: Very good, old folds.

REFERENCES: Balance, Capt. Jim. Stevenson’s Regiment: First Regiment of New York Volunteers at militarymuseum.org; Clark, Francis D. Stevenson’s Regiment In California. 1847–8 (New York: Geo. S. Evans & Co., 1882), 10–32 pp.

Item #4921

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