Civil War documents related to the compensation of a Union officer who returned home to raise two companies for the 2nd New York Mounted Rifles (also known as the "Governor's Guard") after being discharged for wounds suffered at the Battle of Cedar Mountain in Virginia by William P. Warren and others - 1864

Niagara County, New York, 1864. Unbound. Very good. Two documents containing a total of six hand-written pages. A four-page statement by Warren describes his efforts and expenses in organizing two companies for the 2nd New York Mounted Rifles; his statement is followed by fourteen short endorsements by others attesting to its veracity. A seconded attached 'cover' document prepared by Warren transfers his reimbursement to a creditor in repayment of a debt. The cover document is franked with a 5-cent express revenue stamp (Scott R25). Both documents are clean and in nice shape; the four-page document has short splits along two marginal folds. Transcripts are included. Warren's four-page petition recounts his "extra exertion & great expense" in raising "the two finest Companies" of 160 men each to serve in the regiment. He further notes that he accomplished this before the county's Board of Supervisors had authorized any recruiting bounties: "I was obliged to travel from point to point & defray my own expenses, and with other disbursements which I was daily called upon to make my pay which I was to receive from Government was exceeded every month. . .. I believe I expended over $300 of my own money." He additionally informs the board that "in consequence of my entering the Service a Second time I lost my Pension to which I was entitled on account of Wounds received at Cedar Mountain Aug 9th 1862. My health failing me in the Last Campaign, I was obliged to resign to return to my home to find it desolate and myself destitute." The Board approved Warren's petition and awarded him compensation of $400 which he promptly transferred to a creditor via the cover document. Captain Warren entered Army service in May of 1861 as an officer in the 28th New York Mounted Rifles (also known as the "Nagara Rifles" and the "Scott Life Guard") and between the following December and June of 1862 was stationed near Fredericksburg, Virginia. The regiment later moved to Winchester and fought in the engagement at Columbia Furnace and relocated several times to Front Royal, Middletown, Newton, Winchester, Bunker Hill, Williamsport, Culpeper Court House, and finally Cedar Run, where General Stonewall Jackson's famous rallying of his troops (using a sabre which had rusted tight into its scabbard) turned a near certain Confederate retreat into a victory. During the battle, the 28th New York suffered 213 casualties out of 339 engaged soldiers. Warren was on of them. His wounds were significant enough to result in a medical discharge after which he returned to Lockport to recuperate. He received a small pension for his disabling wounds, however when Warren accepted a second commission to raise company's for the 2nd New York Mounted Infantry, his pension payments ceased. The companies raised by Warren fought at the Siege of Petersburg where, following the mine explosion, they advanced, captured, and occupied many Confederate rifle pits. They later participated in the Appomattox Campaign, and official records indicate they were probably present at the Court House when General Robert E. Lee surrendered.