John Justice – 22nd New York Cavalry
My great, great, great uncle John Justice served in the 22nd New York Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, Company A as a corporal from the units inception in late 1863 until the unit was mustered out in May 1865. The 22nd was assigned to Custer’s 3rd Cavalry Division and distinguished themselves during Sheridan’s Shenandoah Valley campaign in the fall of 1864. He fought at the Battle of Cedar Creek among other engagements.
John Justice’s record identified him as a “wood carver, hazel eyes, light hair, fair complexion, 5 feet 6 inches high”. So far as I can tell, he did not have any children. He was a Justice of the Peace after the war in Greece, NY.
Memorial Day 2022 – Dexter, MI
In Dexter, there are a number of veterans of Michigan Regiments resting in the little Forest Lawn Cemetery overlooking Mill Creek. The Five Forks video includes a montage of photos of their grave sites.
The most famous Civil War veteran resting in this cemetery is Colonel Harrison Jeffords of the 4th Michigan Infantry, who was killed in battle on day 2 of Gettysburg. He died of a bayonet wound grappling with a rebel soldier for the unit’s flag in the bloody wheat field engagement. He was the highest ranking officer to die in such fashion during the war.
Colonel Jeffords was 28 when he died.
Battle Cry of Freedom
The Battle Cry of Freedom was a popular unionist and abolitionist anthem written by George Root and sung by union troops:
Oh we’ll rally round the flag, boys, we’ll rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
And we’ll rally from the hillside, we’ll gather from the plain,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom.
My arrangement is short and sweet.
Black Hats
My song Black Hats commemorates a famous Civil War unit, the Iron or Black Hat Brigade, which was a unit composed of Wisconsin, Indian and Michigan volunteer regiments. They were known for their distinctive black “hardee” hats and fought in a daunting series of the Army of the Potomac’s bloodiest battles including Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Mine Run, Overland, Petersburg and Appomattox.
Five Forks
Five Forks was a key battle in the eastern theater of the conflict, and was fought on April 1, 1865. Three day later Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse.
Albert O’Connor, an Iron Brigade soldier from the 7th Wisconsin Infantry, received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions at Five Forks/Gravelly Run as part of the Iron Brigade’s 7th Wisconsin unit. He was born in Quebec and immigrated to Wisconsin before the war.
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Sergeant Albert O’Connor, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on March 31 & 1 April 1865, while serving with Company A, 7th Wisconsin Infantry, in action at Gravelly Run, Virginia. On 31 March 1865, with a comrade, Sergeant O’Connor recaptured a Union officer from a detachment of nine Confederates, capturing three of the detachment and dispersing the remainder, and on 1 April 1865, he seized a stand of Confederate colors, killing a Confederate officer in a hand-to-hand contest over the colors and retaining the colors until surrounded by Confederates and compelled to relinquish them.