The gold leaf., 1910-03-17

Newton M. CurtiS-BraVe ana t1ai-
liant Soldier of the Union Army
Whose Recent Death was Greatly
Lamented by Confederate Veterans
ard Others Who Knew Him.
General Newton Martin Curtis, the
hero of Fort Fisher and author of
From Bull Run to Chancellorsville,'
who recently died in New York city,
was born in st. Lawrence county, n.
Y, May 21, 1885, where he still had,
at Ogdensburg, a home. He attended
the Governeur Wesleyan seminary.
The day after Fort Sumter surren-
dered to the Confederates it was sug-
gested in the town Of De Peyster, N.
Y, where he was living, that it send
fourteen men to Ogdensburg to form
part OF a company that should join
the Union forces. Curtis, then twenty
six years old, was for organizing a
company and taking it to Ogdens-
burg to join a regiment there.
He started in to raise a company
before President Lincoln called for
volunteers and in April was in Albany
with eighty men, whose services,
along with his own, he wanted to
offer. The little company was made
a part of the Sixteenth New York,
and young Curtis was its captain.
He was at the first battle of Bull
Run and served with the Army of the
Potomac until the battle of Antie-
TAM He was wounded during the
peninsular campaign, after which he
was promoted to be lieutenant colo
mel Of the One Hundred any Forty
second regiment. He was soon made
it's colonel, and it was with that
command he saw his hardest fight
ing.
The exploit oftenest connected
with his name was the assault and
capture of Fort Fisher, which was a
strong spacoast fOrtification in
North Carolina between Cape Fear
river and the Atlantic ocean. 1t re-
sisted all attacks until the winter OF
1865. His regiment was part OF a
!. force under the command of General
Butler which was landed near the
fort.
Colonel Curtis led his men close up
to the fort while the feet bOmbarded
it. General Butler gave up the fight
and ordered Colonel Curtis to retire.
The colonel and his men remained
near the wall of the fort. He kept
sending back word that he could
take it if his superior would let him.
He finally retired after the fourth or
!. der directing him to do so.
Upon the return of the expedition
to Fort Monroe General Grant, hear
ing of the colonels exploit, sent for
; him and asked a lot of information
about the seacoast fortifcation, and
the colonel was brevetted brigadier
general General Grant ordered that
2 another attempt be made on the
' fort, replacing General Butler with
: General Terry. Another brigade was
] added to the force.
: General Curtis brigade advanced
e by degrees, lying down fat and then
r running toward ten or fifteen yards
t The enemy got in one vOllpy at them
= which was Ineffective, and by that
: time the attackers were just under the
: walls of the fort and below the plane
q of fire. The attackers scaled the walls
Il and took the bastion nearest the
a Cape Fear river, and then began a
t stubborn fight toward the seacoast
: end, driving the garrison from one
V traverse to another.
# Though wounded four times dur
ing the day, General Curtis kept hi:
S command until sunset, when an ex
: ploding shell sent a piece of meta
II against his head. knocking hin
0 senseless and robbing him OF his lei
d eve. He remained unconscious tivt
It house, and it was thought that h
t was dead. His obituary was writer
q By the New York newspaper CORES
l. pondents. He was commissioned
o brigadier general after that exploi
5, aud some years later received t
|. medal of honor for his services here