Private Melville B. Apgar

APGAR, MELVILLE B.-Age, 18 years. Enlisted, October 27, 1861, at Ithaca, to serve three years; mustered in as private, Co. C, October 29, 1861; discharged for disability, December 19, 1862, at Washington, D. C. 

There appears to be some question as to whether Apgar was in company A or company C (as listed in the AG Report). According to a Personal communication from: Mike and Carol Apgar <apgars@dmv.com> -

Melville B. Apgar was enrolled at Ithaca NY as a private in Co A  on Oct 27, 1861. He is shown on the Co A muster roll as present through Sept-Oct, 1862. On the Nov-Dec Company Muster Roll there is a notation "Discharged Dec 19th 1862 by order of Gen'l Franklin." This contains no hint of the problem. Melville was listed as 18 at the time of his enlistment according to the New York (State) AGO Annual Report of 1901, Series No. 29. (However, the AGO also incorrectly listed both John and Melville Apgar as members of Co C.) Melville claimed in an affidavit which was part of his Pension File that he enlisted in the 76th NY when he was only 15. His date of birth is said to be Oct 20th 1846. Thus Mel may have been discharged from the 76th upon discovery that he was underage, although forms indicate that he was discharged for disability. Melville re-enlisted as a private in Co G of the 15th NY Cavalry on July 30, 1863. He was 18, although the AGO Report later listed his age as 20. Melville rose to corporal and then sergeant. He suffered a double hernia during a cavalry charge at Five Forks, VA on April 1, 1865 when his horse fell and rolled over him.

Melville Apgar was John Apgar's nephew, by private communication from Apgar's great-grandson Don MacMurray - dmacmurr@optonline.net - who adds  "He was 88 when he died and he was born in 1846.  So he was 15 when he first enlisted.  The family story says that his mother wrote letters to Washington, DC, trying to get him sent home.  Ultimately she was successful but he re-enlisted as soon as he could and wound up in the 15th Cavalry.  There is a letter in the family from an official in DC regarding his under-aged status.  I have never seen it.  Rumors are it is from Lincoln.  Other accounts say it was from the Secretary of War but it may have even been an under-secretary, if they had them back then.  The letter was in the possession of Melville's only daughter, my great Aunt Helen who gave it to her son.  He has also died and one of his children probably has it." 

Melville Apgar's tombstone
Courtesy Don MacMurray, who says:

Here is a picture of Melville B.'s grave site at the Cemetery of the Holy Rood in Westbury, NY.  This is formerly called St. Brigid's Cemetery and it is a family plot with 10 or 11 relatives buried there...his wife Mary, some of his sons, including my grandfather Lester and his wife Olga.

Melville Apgar's discharge certificate
Courtesy Don MacMurray, with note:
First Discharge.  When they found out he was underage...interesting thing is the guy who signed the papers still said he was 18 years old but he could only have been 16 in 1862.

Discharge reads:

Know ye, that Melville B. Apgar, a Private of Captain G. S. Crittenden's Company (C) 76th Regiment of New York Volunteers who was enrolled on the twenty-seventh day of October one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one to serve three years is hereby Discharged from the service of the United States, this twenty ninth day of December, 1862, at Washington D.C. by reason of Special Orders No. 27 dated Head Quarters Left Grand Division Army of the Potomac December 19 1862 (No objection to his being re-enlisted is known to exist *) 

Said Melville B. Apgar was born in New York City in the State of New York, is eighteen years of age, five feet seven inches high, light complexion, blue eyes, light brown hair, and by occupation when enrolled, a Laborer. 

Given at Washington, D.C. this twenty-ninth day of December 1862. Discharge to date from December (1)9th, 1862.  (tear in paper makes first digit of date unclear)

By command of Brig. Genl Martindale
JMagruder A.A.A.G.

Article and Photo from article in 
Veteran's Newspaper National Tribune
c. 1933

Was Captured But Mistake of Enemy Turned the Tables

Comrade Melville B. Apgar, 138 Roosevelt Ave., Valley Stream, L.I., N.Y., when he was a private in Co. B, 15th NY Cav. The photograph was taken on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. Comrade Apgar enlisted on July 30, 1863, before he was 17, served throughout the war with his regiment, participating in about 30 engagements and was at Lee's surrender. At Lacy Springs, Va., on Dec. 21, 1864, Comrade Apgar and his colonel, A.I. Root, were surprised by the enemy and taken prisoner. The Confederates, however, got mixed up in their directions and led their prisoners right into the Union lines where the captors became the prisoners. Co. Root was killed April 8, 1865, the day before Lee surrendered. Comrade Apgar is now 87. 

Another Article from the National Tribune
Dated Thursday, July 28, 1932

VETERAN WRITES OF EXPERIENCES AS A YOUNG BOY IN THE CIVIL WAR

Was Learning Trade of Wood Twining at Ithaca , N.Y. , in 1861 at The Age of 14, When His Uncle Enlisted for Service, Wanted to Go but His Mother Objected. Objections finally overcome

At the age of 14 in 1861, I was learning the trade of wood twining with a Mr. Hollister in Ithaca , N.Y. ; it was at the time when all was excitement, nothing but war talk wherever you were and everyone of the right age was enlisting. I came home one night from work, and my mother told me that my uncle John had enlisted in a regiment that was organizing in Cortland , a town 22 miles from Ithaca , and he was a lieutenant. He was my father’s brother; that set me going.

I thought and thought all day long every day. Finally I said to myself, “I am going”, and when I came home I sounded out my mother to see what she would say. She put her foot right down and said, “no”. I told her I could go with Uncle John and he could look after me. I was very large for my age, so I kept harping about it all the time I was in the house. One day my uncle called to see us before his regiment was to go away. I had threatened to run away and go in some other regiment and she knew I would, so she saw my uncle and talked to him about it and they decided it would be better for me to go in his regiment than in another one among strangers, so they decided to let me go.

Enlists Oct. 26, 1861

After a couple of days I went over and enlisted. This was on Oct. 26, 1861, and I was only 15 years old on the 29th, but made an affidavit that I was 18 and had no trouble. I became a full-fledged soldier and for some reason or other my uncle resigned. We never found out why he resigned to become a private. My mother was wild but it was not long before the regiment left for the front.

It was the 76th N.Y. We went to Albany and were in the barracks there for a couple of months drilling and then went down to New York City for four days and nights, then up to Rikers Island . From there to Fort Slocum near Washington , and after about three months to the front.

We got over to “Old Virginny” and the trouble commenced. We went down to Fredericksburg and were there for a while. The Confederates had burned th4e railroad bridge and between the fire and the flood in the river there was not much bridge left. We left there and went to Culpepper, and from there to Upton Hills , Va. , where we saw our first fighting. Just before dark we were marching along the road when we got a volley from a piece of woods. This was at Gainesville , Va. The next day we had another fight at Bull Run and were at it two days. The Confederates were too much for us. They drove us back to where we started from. I don’t know what became of Uncle John. I never saw him again, but got a letter from Washington saying he was in a hospital there.

On to Sharpsburg Md.

We crossed the Potomac at Harpers Ferry and went to Sharpsburg , Md. , Oct. 14, 1862. We had a good stiff fight there and at South Mountain . We had 19 killed and a great many wounded in our regiment. Our colonel and adjutant were wounded pretty badly. Our color bearer was killed. We had only 196 men in our regiment by that time. A captain was in command. I went over the battle field and such a sight I never saw and do not want to see again. The southerners lay in rows where our men mowed them down. In one place there were over 600 bodies in one pile waiting to be buried. I was in Hooker’s Corps, King’s Division, Doubleday’s Brigade, and still at Sharpsburg .

Changes to Present Tense

We are leaving there now and on the march again. They say we are bound for Fredericksburg. We are about half way between Aquia Creek and Fredericksburg , Nov. 29, 1862. Have been here now about eight days and are going to Fredericksburg now, Dec. 18, 1862. We got shelled good and plenty. We were right in the open fields and took it all. The Confederates were on the hills and in the woods behind their entrenchments. Some of the regiment got cut up pretty badly. We were on the extreme left and only had about 10 killed and 30 or 40 wounded in our regiment. We laid only 1,500 yards from the enemy’s line. We could see everything they did. They could see us in the same way. We could heare them hollering to one another and giving their orders. We could see them around their fires. Some of their pickets came half way to our lines and our fellows went half way to their lines and they were talking together and some of them shook hands and they traded their tobacco for some of our coffee. They talked for over a half hour. It beat anything I ever saw.

Didn’t Care for Shelling

We laid behind a brush fence two days and two nights, right in sight of them and all the shooting around us was by the pickets. We could see them shooting at each other. While we were behind the fence there came a shell thru the fence and killed two of our men and wounded three. We had one lieutenant killed. Every time I saw a shell come over I thought it would be for me. I would rather be in a gun fight than be around where they were shelling, for it is either your leg or arm or your head. One of our boys was almost cut in two by one of their shells. It was awful to look at. We fell back across the river about 10 o’clock at night. There was never such a movement made. We built fires all along the front to make them think we were still there.

We went to Bells Plains, eight miles from Fredericksburg and encamped there, Dec. 25, 1862. I was on guard in front of the colonel’s tent when I saw the sergeant major coming toward me and a soldier with him. When he got nearer me he said, “Apgar, here is your discharge. This man will relieve you and you can get ready and go to Washington and get your pay and discharge papers and go home. This is a fine Christmas present. It was ordered by Maj. Gen. Franklin.”

From the time I enlisted my mother started to try to get me out of the army. She wrote to President Lincoln, Mrs. Lincoln, and Secretary of War Stanton. I have his letter to my mother now. She wrote to all of the big generals, Burnside, Hooker, McDonald, Doubleday and Franklin. I knew she was writing to the officers and I did not like it and that she could not get me out, as I heard of it some times in the regiment and it made me furious. Some general, she wrote, told her that I was one of his best soldiers and he could not let me go. I forget what general it was.

Arrives Back Home

I got home Jan. 1, 1863, and talk about a happy woman, she was one. I thought she would never get thru hugging and kissing me. I saw all my friends in Ithaca and they were asking me about some of their people back in my company. I went back to work and lived with Mr. Hollister. Ithaca was all excitement as there were lots of men home on furloughs and news from the front arrived daily. All the young fellows had enlisted and I was lonesome. I used to go down town nights and hang around to see and hear what I could. I said nothing until along in July a recruiting officer came to town to enlist for a cavalry regiment. This regiment was organized in Syracuse , and every day I brooded over it. Lots of fellows were putting their names down. I had thought and thought about riding a horse many a time while in the infantry. How I would wish I had a horse to ride when I saw a cavalry regiment. So I made up my mind to enlist.

I went to the office one evening and there were some fellows I know had signed up, and down went my name on the dotted line. That ended it. The next thing was to break the news to my mother and father. When I got them together and told them what I had done I thought my poor mother would go into a convulsion. She cried and cried and wrung her hands. I thought her heart would break. I stayed around the house a few days and then went away. It was heartbreaking to see her and hear her cry. I was ashamed of myself. I went away and she did not see me again until the war ended in 1865. I was discharged at Elmira , N.Y. , Sept. 1, 1865.

- provided by Don MacMurray

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