Grove Beginnings, Part 4

The Founder, Tredwell Remsen

By Rose Stauber

Local histories haven't paid much attention to Grove's founder, Tredwell Remsen. The county history notes that he had a store at North Main Street and Remsen Street and gave him the title of captain. At least they got his Civil War unit right, but that is on his gravestone in Olympus Cemetery. A more recent book simply notes that he was a Confederate captain and obtained the first post office which was in his store.

The object here is to tell the reader much more about the founder of Grove. Most of the information comes from his military file, his military pension file, and his Dawes Roll application, all from the National Archives. Various documents will be noted as introduced.

Tredwell Remsen is found on the 1860 census of the town of Hempstead, Queens County, N.Y., in the household of his father, John H. Remsen. His mother is said to be Mary. Tredwell is listed as age 17 and by occupation a farm laborer. "Lived with my father and worked on a farm five years previous to enlistment." The census shows his father's real estate valued at $3,000.

For those who don't know the area, it is Long Island adjoining nearby New York City. Tredwell was born Oct. 16, 1843, in Hempstead. His first name is usually spelled Tredwell in both military and other records and was the way he signed his name although sometimes it is spelled Treadwell. All the military records give his middle initial as W. He signed one statement, "My whole name Tredwell Walter Remsen."

After he came to Indian Territory, the middle initial became S., perhaps for Scott. I am just leaving out a middle initial. The next year, on Aug. 20, 1861, the now 18-year-old enrolled as a private in Co. H, 48th New York Volunteer Infantry, and served in the Union Army the next four years until the end of the of the Civil War. The records describe him as 5' 10", complexion florid, eyes gray, hair dark brown, and occupation farmer. This description varies little into the 20th Century in the numerous physical examinations in the pension file.

The 48th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, formed in August 1861, was ordered to Washington, D.C., Sept. 15 and departed by boat two days later. Next it was ordered to go to Annapolis and then by ship to near Fort Monroe where the unit joined a major expedition to Port Royal, S.C., landing Nov. 10, 1861. (For information on the 48th N.Y. Infantry see the National Park Service Civil War website and the online history of the unit.)

For the next two and a half years, the regiment operated in the rivers and mud and swamp and diseases of the southern coastline. The original three-year enlistments were running out. The regiment was hustling to reenlist the men. Tredwell was discharged and signed up again Jan. 24, 1861.

In April 1864 the 48th was called back north to join Grant's Army in front of Petersburg, Va., on the way to Richmond and the end of the war. Tredwell's war got worse. The 48th was in the Aug. 16 battle of Strawberry Plains, the date that prisoner of war records show that Remsen was captured. He was confined at Richmond, Va., Aug. 17, and sent to Salisbury, N.C., Oct. 9, 1864. A different handwriting wrote, "Joined the Rebel Army while a prisoner of war at Salisbury, N.C., date not given."

Actually, his unit had first carried him as dead, then gotten the report of desertion. There is in the file a "Final Statement of Corp'l Tredwell W. Remsen, 48th Reg't of Infantry N.Y.S. Volunteers Died Aug. 16, '64." The appointment to corporal was on June 6, 1864. The rank seems to have reverted to private after his return. The record goes on to report: "Escaped from Fayetteville, N.C., March 16, 1865; reported at Camp Parole, Md., April 6, 1865." In a later statement, Remsen wrote, "I remained in Libby prison on Belle Island and Salisbury prison, N.C., until February '65 when I made my escape and joined Sherman's Army at Fayetteville, N.C. Was sent to Camp Parole, Annapolis, Md." Remsen was given a 30-day leave, and on return was discharged from the Army on June 13, 1865.

Now he began what became a life-long search for help with his medical problems and payment as a wounded veteran. In a statement made April 6, 1880, Remsen said he "was wounded in the left ankle at Fort Wagner near Charleston, S.C. on the night of July 18, 1863." He continues... "was in 15 regular engagements, was taken prisoner at Strawberry Plains, Va. . . . On the 16th day of August 1864." In several statements, Remsen said, "I contracted acute rheumatism while prisoner of war, and never have been clear of it since." In another statement talking about his time in New York City, he tells of an attack which lasted four months, that he had helped in a grocery store for 3 years, had "lived at No. 326 West 26th St. N.Y. City for 2 yrs. & done nothing. Then removed to the Cherokee Nation where I have lived ever since at Carey's Ferry, C.N. Am following farming for a livelihood and have had several attacks here. . . ."

In yet another statement, Remsen wrote, "On the 9th day of March 1871, I left N.Y. City." A doctor in the Cherokee Nation stated that he did not know Remsen before March 1, 1871, and had been his family physician since. He said he knew of Remsen's problems partly from "His diary that he kept while a prisoner of war."

The next article will cover Tredwell Remsen in the Cherokee Nation.
Copyright © 2007 Rose Stauber