Enlistment:

May God save the Union! God grant it to stand,

The pride of our people, the boast of our land,

On April 12, 1861 at 4:30 a.m., soldiers from Charleston, South Carolina fired upon Fort Sumter, a United States fort sitting in Charleston Bay. This was the opening salvo fired in a war that was to divide a nation North and South for four long years. Young men and old, brothers, husbands or fathers not already serving in state militia units rushed with patriotic fervor and offered themselves to their respective states. The South to gain independence and the North to put down the rebellion.

On Tuesday April 23, 1861 just eleven days after the firing upon Ft. Sumter, Charles Nelson walked into the recruiting station in Brockport, New York and enlisted in Company K of the Thirteenth New York Infantry. Captain Thomas, his company commander, swore in Charles for two years of state service. The "Rochester Rifles" was then being formed in Rochester approximately twenty miles to the east. Out of ten companies, only one other company of one hundred officers and men were provided outside the city limits of Rochester and that was Company B from Danville.

Born in 1842, Charles had not quite reached his nineteenth birthday and stood somewhat short at 5 feet 6 inches tall (the average man being 5 ft. 8 in. tall). According to the 1855 New York state census, Charles Nelson lived on a farm near the town of Sweden with his widowed mother Mary, sister Mary and brother Justus. His muster-in roll states he had blue eyes, dark hair and was of fair complexion. His occupation was listed as being a baker, a skill that would serve him well in the ensuing months to come. At the time of his enlistment, Brockport had been a town since 1829 and had a population of approximately 2,143 people. The town itself is located in the western part of Monroe County, sat on the Erie Canal and had a railroad station. Six churches, four foundries, a planning mill, bank, two newspaper offices and three factories manufacturing rotary pumps, mowers, reapers and carriages were its chief employers.

Rochester had a population of 43,877 or so and was a major transportation hub for manufactured goods with the Erie Canal, Genesee River, rail lines and access to Lake Ontario through Irondequoit Bay. The chief product exported by Rochester at this time was flour. Twenty-four mills were in operation grinding 800,000 barrels of flour annually. The wheat crop was beginning to fail as the country went to war and the city turned its waterpower towards manufacturing other goods.

Still 'mid the storm may our banner float free,

Un rent and unriven o'er earth and o'er sea.

All ten companies of the Thirteenth camped outside Rochester until early May when Colonel Issac F. Quinby was ordered to move his regiment to Elmira, New York by rail. Before departure, city dignitaries and Regimental Officers made patriotic speeches and the men were treated to a bountiful feast before marching to the trains. Around May 4 the regiment arrived in Elmira where on the 14^th they were mustered into three months Federal service. The regiment camped near Elmira waiting for orders.

Company officers and non-com staff of unknown company, 13th New York Volunteer Infantry. Photo courtesy of the US Army Military History Institute

On May 30, they were ordered to Washington, DC. Arriving by rail in early June and assigned to Colonel William Tecumseh Sherman's Brigade (yes, this is the Sherman who marched through Georgia to the sea fame) consisting of the Sixty-Ninth New York Militia, Second Wisconsin (later of Iron Brigade fame), Seventy-Ninth New York and Battery E of the Second U.S. Artillery. First assigned to a camp on Meridian Hill defending Washington until June 3 when they were moved to Fort Corcoran on Arlington Heights until July 16. Here they acclimated to camp life and became proficient in the school of the soldier. First the men were taught company drills and once that was mastered they progressed into battalion drills (more than one company working as one unit is called a battalion). From battalion drills they were taught regimental and brigade drills under the ever-watchful eyes of that old army regular, Colonel Sherman. Mid July found Sherman's Brigade of Tyler's Division, McDowell's Army of Northeast Virginia moving towards Manassas Junction.

On July 17 the regiment occupied Fairfax Court House, on the 18^th Blackburn's Ford. On the 21^st, the Thirteenth New York and its sister regiments engaged the Confederate Army at the first large battle of the war. Named for a creek that ran nearby, Bull Run(1) was where Charles Nelson "saw the elephant"(2). Sherman's Brigade suffered heavy losses: 107 Killed, 205 wounded and 293 missing for a total of 605. Nelson's regiment suffered 2 enlisted men killed and 27 enlisted men wounded, 20 enlisted men missing or captured. It then retreated back to Camp Corcoran to guard Washington from possible Confederate attack. Colonel Sherman states that on July 26, President Abraham Lincoln arrived at his camp with the purpose of visiting each of his regiments.  The President spoke to each regiment, thanking them for their part in the recent hard fought engagement at Bull Run and generally boosted their morale along with his own.  Colonel Sherman was highly complimented by the President for the order, cleanliness and discipline exhibited by his regiments.  On August 2, 1861 the regiment was ordered to serve the balance of its 2 years state term of enlistment under United States service. According to regimental muster rolls, Pvt. Charles Nelson was transferred from Company K to Company E by Order No. 18, on October 29. The Thirteenth New York stayed at Camp Corcoran until March, 1862 where it was attached to Martindale's Brigade, Porter's Division, and Army of the Potomac.

That first winter away from home for the soldiers was rough. Lets let Robert Pierce a member of Company G tell how rough it was. "Our tents were what they called "A" tents. They were seven feet long, and about six feet wide, and shaped like the roof of a house. They were not high enough for a man to stand up in, and if you touched them on the inside when it was raining, the water would pour through that place the same as if you had punched a hole in it. Two men occupied one tent. We dug ditches around our tents to keep the water from running under us. They gave each of us a small woolen blanket. We lived that way until into December and toward the last we suffered with cold every day and night. One day a man came running into camp and shouted, "Turn out, boys, turn out, General McClellan is coming!" Of course we all turned out to see the General. Many of us never having seen him. He and his staff came cantering by, and we cheered him, and he asked how we were getting along. Some of the boys said "bully", but the most of us could not see anything bully about our condition at that time."

May God save the Union! We trust in its might,

In time of the tempest, in fear and in flight,

"After we left our tents, we moved camp about 40 rods and moved into Sibley tents, shaped like pyramid, or an Indian wigwam. I do not know their exact dimensions, but there were eighteen men in the tent I was in. We laid our feet towards the center of the tent. There was just room enough to be comfortable with a two-foot space for an entrance. About the time we moved into our new tents the black measles broke out in the regiment. Nine of Company G died with it in a short time. They set up a hospital tent a short distance from the camp, and all who were taken sick were sent there. Some of them recovered, but not many."

Robert Pierce continues, "Every man had to do his share of guard duty, regardless of what the weather was. There was a sentinel placed at each magazine in the fort (Fort Corcoran), one at the gate of the fort, one to guard the cannon, one at the Colonel's headquarters, besides the camp guard. I think it required about fifteen sentinels to be on guard all of the time, day and night, that would be a detachment of forty-five men to be on guard duty each day. Fifteen would go on guard for two hours, then the third fifteen would take their places, then the last fifteen would have to go on guard again. That would give each man two hours on guard and four hours off, or eight hours on guard out of the twenty-four. Those who were off guard had to go to the guard tent and stay there for four hours, until they went on guard again. After those forty-five men had been on guard twenty-four hours, they would not have to go on guard again until the whole regiment had their turn at guard duty. There was generally a good fire in the guard tent, so we did not suffer with cold while off of guard post. Nearly every man in the company had a bad cold and to go out and stand guard two hours, with a north wind sweeping over Arlington Heights with six inches of snow on the ground, sometimes it seemed as though we would chill to death before the relief guard would come around. As for myself, I never suffered so much with cold in any one winter in my life as I did at Fort Corcoran."

We'll fail not, we'll faint not if still in the sky

We see all the stars in the azure field fly.

Sometime in early March 1862 the regiment was designated as belonging to the First Brigade, First Division, Third Corps, Army of the Potomac. On March 16, the "Rochester Rifles" along with the rest of the army were loaded onto transports, destination Fortress Monroe. This was the opening of the Peninsula Campaign. April 5 found the regiment camped at a place named Warwick Road. They then participated in the Siege of Yorktown April 5 - May 4. April 11-13 found the regiment in reconnaissance probing the rebel lines. In May the regiment was once more re-designated for the final time. They were now the First Brigade, First Division, of the Fifth Army Corps Commanded by Brig. General Fitz John Porter. Once again the Army was on the move with the Thirteenth New York seeing action at New Bridge May 24 and the Battle of Hanover Court House May 27. Operations were conducted in and around Hanover Court House until the 29^th.