Isadore Bushnoe and the Civil War

With 2011 being the 150th annivesary of the beginning of the Civil War, I am doing research on my great, great grandfather who enlisted in the 14th New York Heavy Artillery.  This is the first entry regarding his military experience.  Part two will follow shortly.

           Isadore  Bushnoe (Buscaire) and the Civil War

This is the first draft of my account of Isadore's service in the Civil War.  It will be revised and amended as I gather more material.

He was born 27 May 1835 in Norton Creek, Quebec (then called "Canada East") and died 21 December 1901 in Chateaugay, New York. He enlisted in Parishville, St. Lawrence County, New York on 21 December 1863 for a period of 3 years.  He received a new recruit State Bounty of $75, $10 paid in advance and the balance of $65 paid when the unit was organized.  In addition, he received a $100 United States Bounty, of which $25 will be paid on the organization of the Regiment, and the balance when discharged from the Army. He also received one month's pay, $13 in advance. Rations, lodging and clothing were provided, and his pay started at the date of enlistment.  

He is listed in all official military records as “Isadore Buscaire” rather than “Isadore Bushnoe”.  He went by the latter name in his daily life.  I can only think he might have approached the enlistment officer and attempted to use the French version of his surname; “Bousquet” (which would have been pronounced “boose-kay” and the way the officer heard it or attempted to spell it became the official Army spelling…..just a supposition on my part

The immediate amount he received for enlistment was $10 on 21 December along with $13 for his first month's pay and another $90 upon unit formation and muster in on 29 December.  So, he was able to leave his family $113 (worth about $2000 in 2011) when he shipped out at the end of December.  He was also scheduled to be paid $75.00 (the rest of his federal enlistment bounty) upon his discharge in 1866.  That would equal approximately $1050 in today's funds.  For a farmer with a family, those amounts undoubtedly represented an impressive return for a three year enlistment.  The recruiters, no doubt, played up the money and played down the difficult conditions and hard fighting to follow as the unit was shipped south.  In addition, of course, he would be paid another $13 a month for the remaining 35 months of his hitch. (about $3000 today). Considering that the annual average income in 1863 was around $600, and his family’s was most likely well under that, these were considerable amounts of money.      

Isadore enlisted on 21 Dec, 1863 and, eight days later, was mustered in as a Private in Company M, 14th New York Heavy Artillery.  The Muster Roll Abstract lists him as a "farmer".  He had dark eyes, dark hair, light complexion and stood 5' 1 & 3/4" tall.  He gave his age as 22 (which would have made his birth year 1841) when enlisting but it appears that he was actually 28 years old (all other records seem to indicate he was born in 1835).  I have been unable to find a satisfactory explanation for this discrepancy.

I have been unable to determine why Isadore enlisted.  President Lincoln had signed the Enrollment Act into law in March of 1863.  Also called the Conscription Act, it required all male citizens ages twenty to forty five to be enrolled in the Army.  It also included any immigrants who had filed for citizenship but had not yet been granted it.

I have found no record showing that he had filed for citizenship as of 1863.  He may not have even been eligible for the draft but may have simply enlisted for the bounties that were being offered.  I am unable to determine which at this point.

The 14th filled out its muster rolls on 4 January 1864 and the unit was immediately shipped to New York City.  It had been assigned to garrison the forts at New York Harbor.  After nearly five months in New York, the 14th was ordered to the southern front in Virginia and all the troops were shipped to Warrenton, VA where they remained encamped until 2 May when they were ordered to March for the Rapidan River, a distance of some 30 miles.  The unit was in line formation during the Battle of the Wilderness (5-7 May) but only lightly involved.  They suffered only eight casualties, including two dead.

The Battle of the Wilderness was bloody and intense.  Union General Ulysses S. Grant threw all of his offensive weapons at General Robert E. Lee's forces.  Grant suffered over 17,500 casualties.  No doubt, although Isadore's unit was not heavily involved, the sounds of the intense fighting and the reports reaching the rear lines must have made the blood run cold for the soldiers of the 14th.

Throughout the rest of May, the 14th New York, now fighting as infantry, not as an artillery unit, saw heavier action throughout Virginia.  The week after the battle of the Wilderness, they were ordered on a fourteen mile march to Spotsylvania where they fought for from the 8th to the 21st of May.  Casualties rose (5 dead and 49 wounded) and this proved to be only a hint of things to come.

At this point, Isadore had been in the Army about six months and had only seen battle for about three weeks.  The Battle of Cold Harbor proved to literally be, "baptism by fire" for the 14^th New York.  Fought from 1 June until 12 June, this battle was a full frontal assault by Grant on Lee's forces.  The Union suffered a total of 12,737 casualties; the 14th suffered 119 killed, wounded or missing.  This battle was true trench warfare and conditions were deplorable.  Union troops caught between the lines were pinned down in their trenches often without food, water or medical care as the Confederate howitzers lobbed 24 pound shells into Union positions and sharpshooters on both sides picked off soldiers constantly.

A particularly graphic account came from Union artillery officer, Frank Wilkeson:  "Every corpse I saw was as black as coal. It was not possible to remove them. They were buried where they fell. ... I saw no live man lying on this ground. The wounded must have suffered horribly before death relieved them, lying there exposed to the blazing southern sun o' days, and being eaten alive by beetles o' nights."  (Grimsley, Mark. And Keep Moving On: The Virginia Campaign, May–June 1864. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002).

The Seige of Petersburg followed the fighting at Cold Harbor and proved to be both costly to the unit and painful for Isadore.