The Putnam Sportsman

School is out for the summer, and a history lesson is the last thing on students' minds. But for Putnam residents, particularly those in and around Cold Spring, where the "River People" live—the following history lessons should be read with interest. We all know that the U.S. Military Academy at West Point is responsible for producing a vast number of officers in the Army. We will talk about three of them who not only played a significant role in American history, but also left an indelible mark on Cold Spring.

In July 1862, seven days after the Seven Days' Battles at Harrison's Landing near Richmond Virginia, General Daniel Butterfield, the wounded Commander of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, V Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, made a lasting contribution to military service recognition that continues today. Reworking with his bugler, Oliver Wilcox Norton, another bugle call at the time, "Scott's Tattoo," he created "Taps." He thought the regular call for "Lights Out" was too formal. "Taps" was adopted throughout the Army of the Potomac, and even adopted by a few Confederate units who used it, as well. Gen. Butterfield is buried in the Cold Spring Cemetery; the Butterfield Hospital there is not named by happenstance.

When I was a boy, Memorial Day parades in the hamlet of Carmel always stopped at the cemeteries up Gleneida Avenue where the rifle carrying Honor Guard would give a three-shot salute, followed by a bugler's playing of "Taps," and another "echo" rendition from the top of Nichols Mountain. It gave me chills then, as a Boy Scout at Camp Read in the Adirondacks, when the flag was lowered each night, and still does today whenever and wherever it is played.

Robert Parker Parrott was born on October 5, 1804, and died December 24, 1877, at Cold Spring. He graduated third in his class at West Point in 1824. He achieved the rank of captain, served out west in the never-ending Indian Wars, and was later assigned to the Chief of Ordinance at the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring. He resigned his rank as captain and became Superintendent of the Foundry on Oct. 3, 1836, and served it well for the next 41 years. His popular 10-pound Parrott Rifle, followed by 20- and 30-pound cannons, saw heavy service by both sides in the Civil War. His guns were cast with iron smelted at the foundry after being mined at sites across Putnam. With more concern for the welfare of his country than with becoming rich, the guns were sold at reasonable prices in government contracts. In 1867 he turned the foundry over to other parties, but he continued to experiment in projectiles and fuses until his death in 1877.

In May 1876, two Cold Spring boys—pony soldiers with hopes of touring the Wild West—left with the Seventh Cavalry while the band played "The Girl I Left Behind Me," led by Gen. George Armstrong Custer with his wife, Libby, riding next to him. They were followed by the entire Seventh Cavalry, consisting of 700 men, and a wagon train consisting of 114 six-mule teams, 37 two-mule teams, and 35 pack mules, all necessary to transport an immense and expensive amount of forage and rations, giving employment to 179 men, the entire expedition to seek out and destroy Native Americans camping at the mouth of the Little Bighorn River.

General Custer led 207 troops, split into three forces, and a total of 264 souls, into an overwhelming force of 2,000 Sioux, Cheyenne, and Lakota braves, under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, Rain-In-The- Face, and others intent on saving their wives and children at their camp on the Little Bighorn River. It was June 26, 1876. A brave rode off wearing Custer's uniform jacket. No one survived, and a burial party returned many days later to haphazardly bury the remains of the Seventh Cavalry under Custer's direct command, including the two boys from Cold Spring, NY.

Looking forward to riding with the PCN&R crew in the parade on the Fourth of July. I'll be wearing a fisher hat and a wolverine coat, no matter how hot the day, plus a few feathers in my pony tail to honor my Wappinger heritage, filtered down from my Great Grandmother Etta Smalley Wixon, whose daily doses of cod liver oil when I was just a kid may have something to do with why I'm still here to celebrate another July 4th birthday!