Biography of Captain James Reuben Barnett 35th NY Infantry, who knowingly gave his life at the battle of Antietam 17 Sep. 1862
James Barnett was born August 29, 1838, in the village of Peterboro, town of Smithfield, Madison County, N.Y. He was unmarried. His mother died when he was nine years old. “For several years previous to his enlistment he was clerk, and afterward partner with his father in mercantile business.”1 Peterboro, NY was an important town on the underground railroad. Captain Barnett’s father, James Barnett was an abolitionist. He was elected to the Legislature in 1859 and to the State Senate in 1865.2 In a speech he gave in assembly March 14, 1860 he declared, “If a fugitive, in his distress… from his southern prison house in America, comes to me in his flight, and is in need of food, and clothing, and shelter, and rest, and comfort, and protection, and means of further flight, so help me God, in my extremest peril, he shall have them all.”3
“He (Captain Barnett) was suffering with temporary illness at the time of the fall of Sumpter. When the news of that event came, he seemed to forget his illness and steadily and firmly turned his thoughts to the defense of his outraged country. He was almost the first from his own town to put his name upon the volunteer list.” He enlisted in the Thirty-Fifth regiment New York Volunteer Infantry May 10, 1861 for two years and was chosen first lieutenant of Company H.1
The night previous to his departure a farewell meeting was held for the his Company. An abolitionist, Gerrit Smith addressed them. A poem by George W. Putnam was read. One stanza “demanded that the slave’s redemption would follow the struggle then beginning. And so the “Peterboro Company went out from that abolition Mecca with ‘Freedom for the slave’ ringing in their ears.”4 This is interesting to note that in May of 1861 an entire community believed that the Civil War could free the slaves. This was not the reason the majority of Americans began fighting in the Civil War. Most historians believe that the Civil War had nothing to do with freeing the slaves until the Emancipation Proclamation was issued more than a year later.
Captain Barnett served for 16 months. He was promoted to Captain August 3, 1861.5 His service ended with his death at the Battle of Antietam. Excerpts from his frequent letters to his father help describe the last months of his life.
In a letter dated February 28, 1862 James wrote, “I know with what anxiety you will all await the result of another battle at Manassas, or wherever we may be called upon to act. Some of us may, nay must, fall! We cannot all return to our friends, but those of you who are called to mourn will mourn for us who died an honorable death. As the time draws near for us to meet the foe face to face, we often talk of these things. We are well aware that we shall not all return. If death is our lot, we are determined to meet it as true soldiers and loyal men. My men say they gave me the new sword to use, consequently, I shall carry it upon the field with me. You will please put up the old one where I can see it on my return.”1
In a letter dated September 4, 1862 written in great haste and fatigue, from Upton Hill James wrote, “Dear Father... We are completely exhausted and worn out. We have marched every day for four weeks and have been in six battles, but, thank God, we are comparatively safe. Company H behaved splendidly in action, and our loss was comparatively light. You can imagine something of our fatigue when I tell you that I have not had my boots or coat off for two weeks. I am too much fatigued to write further, but well.”1
On the road near Silver Springs, Maryland, September 8, 1862 James wrote, “We halted in camp long enough to distribute a few shoes to our barefooted men, and at two A.M. resumed our march. Passed through Washington about sunrise, on, on, through the heat and dust we came. At four o’clock we rested for the night, having marched seventeen miles; but we made a poor show for a regiment, being less than a hundred men, the balance being worn out by the roadside. It is now eight o’clock in the morning, and most of our men have come up, but no order has yet come to move. Can it be possible we are to have a whole day of rest? Last night was the fifth whole night’s rest we have had for just forty days.”1
Near Lisbon, September 12, 1862 James wrote, “Dear Father — Another Friday finds us on the road as usual, but not in as much danger as two weeks ago on the plains of Manassas, although we have got the enemy in front of us and hope soon to get at him, as we are perfectly confident of giving him a severe whipping here in Maryland. There is a quiet determination in the army to work with a will and drive the invaders from our soil. Our division is pretty well worn out with heavy marches, short rations and hard fighting, and are longing for a season of rest.”1
In Captain Barnett's last letter dated 15th September, 1862, he wrote, “We have had another battle (South Mountain), but not a defeat — on the contrary, a decided victory... Men were willing and anxious to fight, as the result of the day showed. McClellan is with us, and this adds not a little to the enthusiasm of the troops. Our regiment was, with two others, deployed as skirmishers and sent ahead. We found the enemy in the woods on the mountain-top, when the fighting commenced. It was now about five in the afternoon. The battle had been going on to the left, some two or three hours. Now it raged on the right with us. The terrific roar of artillery and musketry among the mountains, together with the cheers and yells of the men, cannot be imagined. It was awful. Our regiment, being deployed, was, of course, somewhat mixed up. My company was the only one that went into the fight together. I formed them in the woods and got permission of the General to ‘go in.’ Our loss was light... Yesterday we marched 17 miles. When I say we are worn out, it hardly tells the story; but we are in good spirits. Dear father, you must not be much concerned about me. I shall be careful of myself, but shall lead my men and not drive them.”1
On September 16, 1862, the evening before the battle of Antietam, “the brigade had taken its position for the next day’s battle, under cover of a skirt of timber. It had taken it under a terrific fire of artillery from the enemy, which killed several of the regiment. Here they lay down in line of battle, after a day of great fatigue and uncertainty, ready to spring to their feet at a moment’s warning. Captain Barnett and his second sergeant Frink, now next to him in command, lay in front of the company, their heads pillowed upon the same blanket. A little after midnight the captain awoke the sergeant, saying he had something he wished to communicate to him. ‘To-morrow,’ said he, ‘we shall have a fearful battle, and I do not expect to survive it. For a long time I have felt that I should not survive the war, but I am determined to die like a man. I have tried to do my duty on every occasion.’ The sergeant tried in vain to dispel these forebodings. When assured of the love and confidence of his men and their willingness to die for him, he said, ‘I know it, but you cannot save me.’ He then preferred this request, ‘When I fall,’ said he, ‘it may not be possible to recover my body, but I want you to save my sword and have it sent to my friends; you will find it in my hand.’”1In the next days battle, “Amid its terrible swayings to and fro, between victory and defeat, our brave captain, just as he had repeated the order of his colonel, fell, sword in hand, at the head of his company, his forehead pierced with a mini-ball from some rebel sharp-shooter... At first he was supposed to be dead, but consciousness partially returned, so that he could at times recognize his friends and speak their names. A stupor then succeeded, and in about 38 hours from the time of his fall, he breathed his last breath, and his noble spirit, we trust, took its flight to that world ‘Where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.’”1
The members of company H sent their condolences to Captain Barnett’s father. “We deeply feel the sad calamity which deprived us at one stroke, of the best of officers, the bravest of soldiers and the truest of men. We, who have been with him during the toils and dangers of the campaign, have learned to love him as few officers have been loved by their commands. Slighting no duty — shrinking from no danger — uniform in his kind treatment and care for his men, he had so entwined himself about our hearts that our grief can scarcely be second to your own in this great loss.”1
In a letter to captain Barnett’s father, Lieutenant Beckwith, of Company H, wrote, “James died a noble death, the death of a soldier in defense of his country. I saw him but a moment before he fell, and could not have been far from him. The bullets flew like hail, and he was nobly cheering on his men and keeping them in line.”1On September 28, 1863, George C. Smythe of the 35th Regiment wrote the following in a letter to the newspaper The Cazenovia (NY) Republican: “Captain Barnett, during the thirteen or fourteen months in which he has commanded our company, has made himself the friend of every member of it. While maintaining a discipline not excelled and rarely equaled, his government has been so tempered with kindness, and real sympathy with his men, that he had won the unqualified love and confidence of every one of them. After passing unharmed and with honor through eight battles, Capt. Barnett was mortally wounded at Antietam, Sept. 17, by a bullet in the forehead, and died on the 19th... the Captain had, on the night before the battle, expressed to one of his sergeants the sure conviction that he would be killed in battle on the following day, and requested that his sword be sent to his parents. Said he, ‘You will find it in my hand;’ and there it was found, grasped with all the energy of purpose with which he had discharged every duty. The sword lay upon the coffin with the national colors during the funeral service.”7
Gravestone of Captain Barnett
Poem written by George W. Putnam, Read by Gerrit Smith at the Funeral Sep 28, 1862
Each soul, today, a burden bears; Each face a look of sadness wears; We dwell 'mid sorrow's night. You shrouded banner, darkening heaven, Tells of another brave life given In battle for the right.
Amid the trees, beneath whose shade, In the years past and gone he played — With many a sigh and tear — Speaking his manliness and truth, Come grey-haired age and blooming youth. To stand beside his bier.
And while with tears our eyes are wet, Hark! how the dumb lip speaketh yet! "The battle Must be won! Go! stand where war's cloud shrouds the sky! Where rush the charging legions by! And do as I have done."
Amidst our gloom, with joy we see Unrolled a brighter destiny. Stretched forth Jehovah's hand! The glorious word at last is spoken! The bondmen's heavy chains are broken! Hope lights the stricken land!
Our hearts are bleeding 'neath the blow, But yet, O, friends! tis sweet to know, Around his open grave. That, though he perished ere life's noon, His good sword helped to bring the boon Of freedom to the slave!
Be this our comfort — in the strife He bore his part; and gave his life For God, and for His laws; Hе bravely faced the tyrant's van, At Armageddon stood а MAN! Died in his country's cause
Then bear our brave boy to his rest, His country's banner on his breast. Drenching with tears the sod — We know, while giving dust to dust. That he, so faithful to his trust, Rests ever with his God.
1Fourth Annual Report of Military Statistics. State of New York. Submitted to the Legislature February 11, 1867. Albany: Weed, Parsons and Co., Department Printers 1867. Pages 540-549. <http://books.google.com/books?id=cTIBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA540&dq=%22James+reuben+barnett%22+%22fourth+annual+report%22>
2Harlow, Samuel R. and Boone, H. H., Life Sketches of the State Officers, Senators, and Members of the Assembly of the State of New York, in 1867. Weed, Parsons & co., 1867. Pages 71-73. <http://books.google.com/books?id=LV04AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA71&dq=barnett+%22Life+Sketches%22>
3Barnett, James, “Personal Liberty for all Men: Speech of Hon. James Barnett, o Madison, on the Personal Liberty bill.” Albany: Weed, Parsons and Co. 1860. Cornell University Library, Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection. <http://dlxs.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=mayantislavery;idno=12851215;view=image;seq=1>
4George C Smithe, “Madison County in the Civil War, Her Early Offering-- The Peterboro Company, History of Company H, 35th New York Volunteers,” Cazenovia Republican (New York), September 21, 1905.
5Shaw, Albert D., A Full Report of the First Re-Union and Banquet of the Thirty-Fifth N.Y. Vols. Watertown N.Y.: Times Printing and Publishing House, 1888.
6“Capt. Barnett,” Madison Observer, October 9, 1862.
7Smithe, Geo. C., Glimpses: of Places, and People, and Things: Extracts from Published Correspondence and Other Writings, 1861-1886. Michigan: Ypsilantian Press, 1887. Pages 25-26. <http://books.google.com/books?id=e341AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA25&dq=barnett+%22glimpses+of+places%22>
Please take a minute to look at my other blogs.
35th New York Volunteer Infantry Civil War http://35thnewyorkinfantry.blogspot.com/
Biography of James Barnett (Sr.) -Father of Captain Barnett http://senatorjamesbarnett.blogspot.com/
James Barnett (Sr.) Anti-Slavery, John Brown Meeting Peterboro, NY http://johnbrownmeeting.blogspot.com/
James Barnett (Sr.) Speech -Personal Liberty for all Men http://personallibertyforallmen.blogspot.com/
James Barnett (Sr.) Battles for African American Man's Right to vote 1860 & 1867 http://africanamericansuffrage.blogspot.com/
James Barnett (Sr.) Speech -Prohibition of Alcohol http://prohibitionofalcohol.blogspot.com/
Please e-mail me if you would like original copies of any of my references. Contact me if you have questions, suggestions, or more interest in something that I have posted at jamesbarnett1@hotmail.com
