6 days ago
Legends and patriots of Civil War to be honored Saturday in Theresa
Aug. 11—THERESA — The 160th anniversary of the end of the Civil War will be commemorated at a cemetery here on Saturday, where the spirit of local legends and patriots will arise.
It will include headstone dedications and a talk by a Watertown native and retired attorney about his new book on the three "Patriot" Civil War soldiers in his family who found a new life in America. The legendary "Schule Bell" will make a special guest appearance at the event, making its first road trip since being moved from the old Theresa High School nearly 90 years ago.
The free program at Oakwood Cemetery begins at noon when the Walter H. French Camp No. 17 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War will dedicate a few headstones, including that of Douglas Lucas, a young Black boy who aided Theresa soldiers during the Civil War. Lucas came back to Theresa with some returning soldiers to live after the war ended. He is not recognized as an official Civil War veteran, as he was too young to enlist and 13 when the war ended.
Theresa Historian Timothy S. Minnick said that Indian River Central School Superintendent Troy Decker, a direct descendant of Theresa Civil War veteran August Kissel, will provide a narrative of the "Schule Bell." During the closing days of the Civil War, the bell from a Confederate locomotive was taken by Otis Brooks, a Theresa boy, and shipped home to Theresa in a coffin cleverly marked Schule Bell. Brooks sold the bell to Theresa High School and it hung in the old high school belfry until the new high school was built and the bell was retired.
Minnick, who will offer Theresa history tours at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, teased, "There might be more to the Schule Bell story than we've always been told."
Following the noon headstone dedications, Peter Kissel will discuss his new book, "Three Patriots: The Hopes and Trials of My Immigrant Ancestors in Civil War America."
Kissel is a 1965 graduate of Watertown High School and a graduate of Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and the Washington College of Law. The retired attorney lives in Washington, D.C.
"I was always very interested in the Civil War from my youngest days," Kissel said in a phone interview. "But I didn't know until middle age that I had any relatives who fought in the war."
Those discoveries were eye-opening for him. The research for his book was bolstered by trips to Eastern theater Civil War battlefields where his ancestors fought and their footsteps traced to the National Archives, where they left behind invaluable pension records as to what they did following the war.
The three central figures in the book, who were 18 and 19 years old when they enlisted, were each born in different countries — reflecting the worldwide attraction held for American ideals in the 19th century, Kissel said.
August Kissel, from Germany and Theresa, enlisted in the 94th New York Infantry. His experience in the Civil War is one of the most storied among Northern New York soldiers of the war. The story of how he arrived in Theresa is also an adventure, which is explored by Kissel in his book.
All three patriots profiled by Kissel were volunteers. The Smiths were his wife's ancestors. The Smith family landed at Sackets Harbor when they immigrated from Ireland in 1845. Richard Smith joined the 35th NY Regiment, and brother James Smith, the first of his family born in America, enlisted in the 186th New York. Both would receive eerily similar, and horrific, wounds.
Kissel's book also explores the dynamics of public debate in the north country in the run up to the Civil War, and the uncertainties of life for immigrant families in the face of war, disease, and still-primitive but evolving medical practices. It also provides a compelling assessment of the war's life-altering impact on the soldiers through the end of their lives.
August Kissel, a native of Germany, arrived in Theresa by stage coach in 1857, unable to speak a word of English, and $75 in debt to relatives. When he got off the train in Rome, he and a traveling companion did not have enough money to continue on to his relatives in Theresa. August and Mary Nell Hild obtained a loan in Rome, but had to stay there as a sort of collateral to ensure that the borrowed funds were repaid. "Apparently, family members in Theresa collected the amount and then returned to Rome to pay off the loan and retrieve August and Mary," Kissel said. August went to work to pay back his relatives.
In Theresa, August was first employed by his brother, Peter, learning the trade of a stone mason. August would excel at it. On Memorial Day 1911, August dedicated the monument he built to the men from the north country who served in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and the Civil War. The dedication ceremony on May 30 was a grand occasion in Theresa, which had sent many young men to defend the Union.
All three soldiers fought in key battles of the Civil War. Richard Smith, who enlisted shortly after the attack on Fort Sumter in April of 1861, was wounded at South Mountain, Maryland, in September of 1862.
August was wounded four times and was also captured by Confederate forces. He was able to escape after bribing a guard at Salisbury Prison in North Carolina. In his book, Kissel also documents that adventure.
James Smith was wounded seven months after he enlisted at Petersburg, Virginia, on April 2, 1865. Like his brother, he was shot in the face.
James died in 1873 and Richard died in 1909. They rest together at Glenwood Cemetery in Watertown.
August died March 29, 1923. He was laid to rest at Oakwood Cemetery, Theresa. His gravestone states, "Born in Germany."
Kissel said that he originally planned to write a family history abut August's exploits. "But when I learned about the Smith brothers and started digging into their records, I started thinking larger. Everything kind of took off from there."
As he got deep into writing the book, Kissel said he couldn't help but think about the roots of the "Three Patriots" and comparing that to today's anti-immigrant landscape in the U.S.
"I thought it was reflective of America," he said. "I was educated in Watertown public schools. I remember from my earliest days there that the teachers taught us, with pride, that America is a melting pot. That has stuck with me. When I started writing the book, I wasn't thinking quite so deeply about where they came from. But by the time I got through with the book, it struck me how relevant it is in today's anti-immigrant climate and political debate."
He added, "The whole story now seems more relevant than ever."
