by David Flint
The former Freihofer’s Building at the Schaghticoke Fairgrounds is now the Veterans Hall. During the Rensselaer County Fair which extended over Labor Day weekend it became one of the more popular sites to visit. “The turnout and the response from veterans and those who know or love them was overwhelming,” said Jody Luskin, one of those who led a small group of dedicated volunteers in refurbishing the hall and putting together the exhibits. “It’s been a huge, huge response,” she said, with a constant stream of people browsing through the exhibits.
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Documents, pictures, newspaper clippings and a great variety of military uniforms and artifacts from the various wars were submitted for display by individuals as well as town clerks, historians and historical societies from throughout the county. Luskin said the smaller towns in eastern Rensselaer County were particularly helpful with submissions. One wall had a pictorial display of all the veterans monuments in the various towns.
Of particular interest to many were the 3-ring binder notebooks, one for each city town and village, with lists of names of veterans and what era or war they served in. The compiling of these lists, which at this point are far from complete, has been more challenging than at first was thought. Some of the lists that do exist, such as from the American Legion, have only the veteran’s name and the town or city he or she lived in. Luskin sees it as a work in progress, noting that WW II data has recently become more accessible since veterans’ personnel records are now being moved to the National Archives and are more obtainable 62 years after the veteran’s death in service, discharge or retirement.
All veterans entering the building were offered a star that was cut from a worn out American flag that had flown over a home somewhere in the USA. This is a token from the Stars for Our Troops program and a reminder that “You are not forgotten.”
Veterans from Rensselaer County and family members were also asked to check for the veteran’s name in the books and, if it was not there, to fill out a form so it can be included in the future.
Luskin said that the Veterans Hall project, a labor of love to honor veterans, grew out of an idea her husband, Ken Luskin, had a few years ago. Gradually a dedicated group formed which has since been working hard to raise funds for the hall and gather information on veterans.
Luskin said that while the exhibits cover all the wars the country has fought, the emphasis to start with has been on the Second World War. “Our concentration has been on those people who are still alive so that we can say thank you,” she said.
Stephentown Historical Society President Marilyn Osgood was impressed not only with the range of memorabilia and pictures but also with the number of visitors to the hall and the number of pleasant volunteers who were ready to help with inquiries. The exhibits, she said, were very tastefully done. She was especially impressed with the wall on which was mounted the pictures of the town monuments honoring the veterans. The replica of Petersburgh’s WW II Civil Air Defense observation shack she also found particularly interesting.
While the emphasis generally this year was on World War II, Stephentown’s contribution focused on the Civil War. Patricia Flint, Historical Society Past President, submitted an eight-volume work in 3-ring binders on Civil War veterans who have been buried in Stephentown cemeteries or were residents of the Town when they enlisted. Flint started out a year and a half ago with 77 veterans listed in Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester’s 1880 History of Stephentown. This was supplemented by information from the Historical Society’s 10,000 record online database on cemeteries, obituaries and individuals’ death records. This database (at Stephentown-historical.org), designed and assembled by Dick Rhindress starting with a card file transcribed and digitized by Flint, includes information from grave markers augmented with obituaries, plus contemporary reports and often some genealogical information. As she researched dozens of other sources, online and otherwise, to find out as much information as she could on each veteran, Flint found other local veterans and the list began to grow. The eight volumes now contain a wealth of information on 152 Stephentown Civil War veterans, and Flint said she is still searching. A typical section on any one veteran includes the grave record information from the SHS database along with a photograph of the gravestone, census data, military records from various sources, widow’s pension claims with associated documentation, historical photographs and historical information on the veteran’s military unit. Letters to and from home are also included if available.
Flint said the project has been a learning experience. Before delving into all of this information she had not realized the extent of the hardships and suffering endured by the soldiers, sailors and their families. Medical treatment was primitive by today’s standards, amputations were brutal and twice as many soldiers died from disease as were killed in battle. Stephen Chapel, for example, served 2½ years on a blockade cruiser, survived several gun battles but died on board his ship in 1863 from dysentery.
Flint was also intrigued to learn about how prisoners of war were handled. In the early days of the war prison camps were basically holding areas where soldiers waited to be exchanged for equal numbers of prisoners of equal rank. New York’s 125th Regiment, for example, in which many of the Stephentown veterans served, surrendered in their first battle at Harpers Ferry, and they were kept for several months in terrible conditions in Chicago before being released to fight again.
Then there was the case of Pvt. John Rollo, buried in Stephentown’s Presbyterian cemetery, and known to be a survivor of the infamous Andersonville Prison in Georgia. With further research Flint found that Rollo was released from that prison because he agreed to fight on the Confederate side. Both sides engaged in this practice of recruiting prisoners, and soldiers who took the offer were known as “galvanized” – the surface color of the metal being altered but the steel under it remaining unchanged. Indeed, shortly after being released, Rollo, along with 250 others in his “galvanized” regiment, surrendered without a fight to the Union Army at Egypt Station, Mississippi, and was sent to a Union prison camp in Illinois. Rollo later re-enlisted in the Union Army and was sent off to the West to fight the Indians.
Much of the work on the Veterans Hall was done by the volunteers. The Fairgrounds helped with the electrical and lighting systems and some financial aid. But more remains to be done. The center of the building has a raised roof area with windows that admit light to the hall. That area needs some restoration and sealing to keep out the rain. The volunteers have pledged to go on with raising funds to continue the restoration and to augment the exhibits. Donations are always welcome.
To donate funds or memorabilia, to help provide information on local veterans or to volunteer, contact Jody Luskin at 663-8156 or Kim Micklas at 663-9970.[/private]