John Lafayette Riker John Lafayette Riker ( August 15 , 1822 – May 31 , 1862 ) was an American attorney and an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War . He was killed in action at the Battle of Fair Oaks during the Peninsula Campaign . Early life . John L . Riker was born in Manhattan in New York City . His father , James Riker ( Sr . ) was a merchant , landowner and , at one stage , a New York City alderman . His mother , Elizabeth Van Arsdale , was the daughter of Captain John Van Arsdale of Revolutionary War and Evacuation Day fame . John Lafayette was the younger brother of James Riker , the New York genealogist who wrote " A Brief History of the Riker Family , from Their First Emigration to This Country in the Year 1638 , to the Present Time " ( 1851 ) , " History of Harlem " ( 1881 ) and " Evacuation Day , 1783 , with Recollections of Capt . John Van Arsdale , of the Veteran Corps of Artillery " ( 1883 ) . John L . Riker is said to have been given his second name , " Lafayette " , by his grandfather , John Van Arsdale , in honor of Gen . Lafayette , who had arrived at Staten Island on the day that Riker was born . Van Arsdale had served with Lafayette during the Revolutionary War and had met with him on August 16 , 1824 , the day after Riker ' s birth . Van Arsdale and the Veteran Corp of Artillery , of which he was a member , had received Gen . Lafayette at the Battery , on that day . Despite a lapse of forty - four years , Van Arsdale was recognized by Gen . Lafayette , which so pleased him that later that day when he visited his newborn grandson , he named him " John Lafayette " . Sometime in the 1840s Riker married his first cousin Anna E . Elder . Anna was the eldest daughter of Hannah E . Riker , who was the younger sister of his father , James . About 1848 Anna gave birth to Riker ' s first child , Anna E . Riker . A year or two later she gave birth to a son , John L . Riker Jr . In 1851 Riker ' s wife , Anna , died of " hysteria " . The following year his father James Riker Sr . died and in 1854 his young son , John L . Riker Jr . died of congestion on the brain . John L . Riker studied law and passed the New York state bar exam in 1860 . He began the practice of law , but stopped shortly after the Civil War erupted and he answered President Abraham Lincoln ' s call to arms to put down the rebellion . Civil War . Riker enlisted in the Union Army April 19 , 1861 , at Saltersville , New Jersey , where his regiment was soon to be encamped . He was appointed the colonel of a volunteer regiment , initially known as the Anderson Zouaves , that he had raised in New York under the auspices of Major Robert Anderson " the hero of Fort Sumter . " Riker and his regiment left " Camp Astor , " on his namesake Riker ' s Island , for Washington on August 21 , 1861 , for service in what became the Army of the Potomac . In early 1862 Riker was courtmartialled for creating a false roster , for extorting money from sutlers and for keeping a woman in his headquarters . However , he was found innocent of the charges , this despite the court having established that a woman , posing as soldier of the regiment , had in fact been with the regiment since it started recruiting in Union Square in 1861 and had spent time with Riker ' s daughter , Annie , in his headquarters at Tennallytown , DC . Due to his court martial , Riker was unable to lead his regiment during the advance on Manassas in early March 1862 , but was able to lead his men later that same month to Fortress Monroe , with the rest of the Army of the Potomac , as part of McClellan ' s Peninsula Campaign . Riker led his regiment into action at the Battle of Williamsburg and the Battle of Fair Oaks in May 1862 . Riker was killed in action at the head of his regiment on the right wing of the Federal line at the Battle of Fair Oaks on May 31 , 1862 . His last words were " Boys , we ' re surrounded — give them the cold steel ! " Several officers of the regiment including Lieutenant James H . Bradley , Riker ' s Aide - de - camp , and , it is assumed , the regimental chaplain , John Harvey , accompanied the body back to New York City . At a meeting of the friends of Colonel Riker held on June 7 , 1862 at the Everett House , New York , which was attended by , amongst others , George W . Morton , Ex - recorder Frederick A . Tallmadge , Mr . E . B . Wood of Kings County and several officers of the Anderson Zouaves , arrangements were made for his funeral . At the meeting Lieut . Bradley gave a long and interesting account of the part played by the regiment in the battle of Fair Oaks from which Riker ' s coolness under the most trying situations was evident . Bradley incidentally remarked that the Colonel was not struck while waving his sword , as he never drew his sword at all , but spent most of the time quietly smoking his cigar . With Riker ' s death David John Nevin , Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment , was promoted to Colonel , on the field , a position which became effective on June 20 and which he held until he was mustered out on June 29 , 1864 . The regiment ' s Major Oscar Veniah Dayton , was in turn , promoted to Lieutenant Colonel . Riker ' s body lay in state at the Governor ' s Room of New York ' s City Hall and on June 10 his body , along with that of Colonel James Miller of the 81st Pennsylvania who had been killed in the same battle , was escorted by the New York State Militia ( specifically the Fifth Regiment , a battalion of the Fifty - fifth Regiment , a troop of horse , a troop of Lancers and the Harlem Chasseurs ) , to Green - wood Cemetery , Brooklyn , where Riker ' s body was placed in a temporary vault while it awaited permanent interment . While it is not certain , it is possible that prior to the war Riker was a fire fighter and a member of the Mechanics Hook & Ladder Company No 7 , which had its headquarters on Third Ave and 126th Street , close to the Riker family home near the corner of Fifth Ave and 125th street , Harlem . It is known that a number of the recruits of the Anderson Zouaves were members of New York fire companies and representatives of the Mechanics Hook & Ladder Company No 7 attended his funeral in June 1862 . A newspaper report says that Riker was an honorary member of the company while another report says that when Riker left New York for the seat of war he wore a scarlet shirt under his Zouave jacket . Honors . New York ’ s Grand Army of the Republic Post # 62 was chartered in May 1873 in his name .