Civil War Sesquicentennial: Ira Howard & the 50th New York Engineers

Priv. Ira Howard, Co E, 50th NY Eng.

Days away from Ira Howard’s 14th birthday, news of the first shots fired at Fort Sumter flooded the newspapers in the small town of Maine, New York. April 12, 1861 saw the beginnings of war, from what had previously been politically divisive national debate. By December 1861 at least six of Ira’s cousins had enlisted in the military. Two of them would not return home alive. By 1864, the Howard family would supply three more soldiers for the war effort, including Ira, who lied about his age to join.

Maine is a town about the size of Orchard City, a few miles north of Binghamton in New York’s central region and was part of a 230,000 acre land deal, in which a group of 60 investors from Berkshire County, Massachusetts made in 1787, commonly referred to as the “Boston Purchase” or the “Boston Ten Townships.”

It was Ira’s great-uncle, Nathan Howard III, who became the patriarch of the family when Nathan Howard II and his second-wife Sarah died of small pox in the spring of 1777 in New London, Connecticut. At the time, Ira’s grandfather, at age five, was nearly the same age as Nathan III’s children. The following year, the Howards moved to Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Nathan used his inheritance to invest in the “Boston Purchase” and in 1790 the Howards moved to Union, New York. Perhaps the New York move was inspired by war stories of Nathan Howard II’s military service in Capt. Coit’s Co. during the French and Indian War of 1757, or perhaps new opportunities in the expanding “American West.”

On 28 March 1806, Broome County was formed, set-off from Tioga County, and named in honour of then-New York Lt. Gov. John Broome. Initially Broome County contained three towns – Chenango, Lisle, and Union. Other towns were established from a part of the initial towns, such as Maine, which was formed from Union in March 1848.

President-Elect Abraham Lincoln
Photo courtesy Library of Congress

President-Elect Abraham Lincoln’s train stopped in Syracuse and Utica, New York on Monday, February 18, 1861 and it is known that several hundred folks from Broome County made the 70 mile journey to see and hear the soon-to-be president on his way to Washington, DC.

The region in and around Binghamton boasted a population of over 30,000 from the mid-1850s onwards. When the railroad reached Broome County in the spring of 1851, some of the first passengers included President Millard Fillmore and statesman Daniel Webster. By 1837 the Chenango Canal connected Utica and Binghamton, which provided an important link between the Erie Canal and the Susquehanna River. This canal system meant a boat could traverse from the Great Lakes to the Hudson River and New York City.

Quickly ranching and farming became the support industries for manufacturing and processing. By the time the Civil War began, Binghamton was home to the nation’s largest cigar manufacturing facility, a famed tannery and shoe industry, along with a timber industry that supported carriage making and construction. Ira’s fourth cousins, Barzilla and Morgan Howard, owned and operated a sawmill and rake factory in Union during the war. Ira’s uncle, James Howard built stores and homes, including the Pitkin Store which is still standing in Union Center. Three of James’ sons served in the war, the middle son, Asa, died of “lung fever” in an army field hospital at Falmouth, during the 1862 Fredericksburg’s Campaign. Ira’s father, Henry Channing Howard, was a farmer.

At age 16, Ira attempted to enlist in the army. The recruiter told Ira he was too young, and then a superior, who overheard the conversation, said, “You should take him, and then we’d have a whole company of Howards.” On the Declaration of Recruit, Ira’s father placed an “x” under the section entitled “Consent in Case of a Minor.” On February 16th, 1864, Ira had mustered in as a private in Company E of the 50th New York Volunteer Engineer Regiment.

Pontoon wagon 1864. Photo curtsey Library of Congress.

The 50th New York Engineers had already built a distinction during the war as the “bridge builders.” Their fame was enshrined in history when they became the first ever “combat engineers” during the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862.

On the morning of December 11, 1862, as the fog cleared along the Rappahannock River, the 50th NY Engineers were assigned to build a pontoon bridge over to Fredericksburg so the Federal infantry could capture the city. Captain James McDonald was ordered to lead the building of the bridge. Before two-thirds of the bridge was built, Confederate snipers and sharpshooters hiding in the city buildings on the heights above the river began picking off the engineers one-by-one. Like the Army Rangers at Pointe du Hoc during D-Day, as one of the 50th would be killed, another would take his stead to move another segment of the bridge in place.

Watching 60 engineers die in less than an hour, Gen. Ambrose Burnside decided killing off his entire

battalion of engineers may not be the smartest move. The orders were given to have the artillery batteries of the 89th NY Infantry bombard the area where the Confederate sharpshooters were hiding, then have the engineers run 100 yards over open water to complete the final third of the bridge. This plan failed too, as friendly fire from the cannons killed off more engineers.

The 50th’s arch rivals, the 15th NY Engineers were called up from reserve, as the battalion assigned to Gen. Burnside had now been decimated. The 7th Michigan was called in to help secure the pontoon in what became history’s first ever “bridgehead landing secured under fire.”

On March 24, 1864 Ira joined the roll of Co. E, which already included cousins: Lt. Amos, Priv. Darwin, along with Priv. Edgar, Priv. Edwin, Corp. Jeremiah, and Serg. Joseph, Corp. Orrin, Corp. Charles, and Priv. Levi. It practically was an entire company of Howards in the 50th NY Engineers!

The majority of the engineers died from diseases, rather than enemy bullets. Levi Howard died of Diphtheria in the regiment’s Washington, DC hospital on April 28, 1864. Charles Howard chose not to re-enlist and returned home in September 1864. By the time Ira joined, many of the engineers’ three year contracts were expiring and rampant diseases, poor nutrition, and other realities made re-upping not as romantic as joining in the first place.

Pontoon bridge constructed by the 50th NY Engineers at
Petersburg, Virginia. Photo curtsey Library of Congress.

On April 9, 1864, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant reviewed the troops. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock had the 50th NY Engineers placed to his right, as he was most impressed with the regiment’s training, discipline, and diligence. Gen. Grant reviewed the troops again on April 21st, only on this occasion Ira was sick in the Engineer Brigade Hospital with fever and diarrhea. Being practical, Col. William Pettes, who succeeded Col. Charles Stuart as regiment commander, placed Ira in charge of ambulances. During the 1864 Campaign, Pettes was based out of the Engineer’s Depot at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC. The Brigade Hospital was also located at the Navy Yard.

On May 20th, 1864, Ira re-joined his company at the camp at Dunkirk, Virginia. The 50th had been broken down into four battalions, each with three companies. Each battalion was assigned to a corps of the Army of the Potomac. The battalions each carried a full pontoon train of 50 wagons. The speed and efficiency of the 50th NY Engineers was so good that a bridge could be thrown-up in less than two hours. The Confederates knew the speed in which the Federal Army could travel was directly attributed to the engineers’ ability to build bridges, clear roads and railroads, operate ferries, and keep the telegraph lines open to Washington, DC.  Confederates would often try and target the engineers as a means of slowing down the entire Union Army.

Sometime in late July 1864, Ira was treated in a field hospital near City Point, Virginia. Ira was unconscious with a severe fever, which seemed to be a relapse of the earlier illness. From the field hospital, Ira was sent back to the Regimental Hospital in Washington, DC. During his time in the hospital, Ira was visited by President Abraham Lincoln, who would take time every week to visit the sick and wounded.

Ira & Anna Howard, circa 1890.

Eighteen canvass pontoon boats could bridge 400 feet of river, and required 42 wagons in the train and 252 mules to haul. Two companies of men would have managed such a train. These bridges were the keys to capturing Richmond and moving over 100,000 soldiers and supplies all around Virginia.

In October 1864, Ira recovered from his illness enough to be sent from Washington, back down to Virginia and remained with his company until the entire regiment was discharged at Fort Barry, Virginia on June 13, 1865. Ira would continue to suffer from dyspepsia and disease of the liver, of which a disability and pension was granted by the US Government in 1882.

After the war, Ira returned home to Maine, New York, married Anna Dunham in 1872, then headed west in November 1887, settling in Monte Vista, Colorado. It is not known why the Howards left New York, nor why only a few relations remained in New York, but perhaps it was the same sense of opportunity that brought so many pioneers to Colorado.

In 1911, the Howards moved to Read, and have remained in Delta County ever since. Ira passed away on November 23, 1931 and is interned in the Delta City Cemetery.

Howards at home in Read, Colorado. Ira Howard is on the far left. c. late 1920s.

As this final year of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, it is important to recognize the veterans whose courage not only led them to serve their nation, but to venture West in pursuit of a better life. 

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M. Soper, "One of Delta County's Civil War Connections: Ira Howard." Delta County Historical Society, Quarterly Newsletter. Issue 82 (Apr.-Jun. 2015) p.4-7.