James C. Mayne

James C. Mayne was born on 6 February 1843 in Ridgefield, Connecticut.^1,2

On 11 August 1862, at age 19, James C. Mayne enlisted as a private in the Seventeenth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry.³ He joined over one thousand Fairfield County men and boys at Camp Aiken (now Seaside Park), Bridgeport, Connecticut.⁴ He was mustered into G Company on 28 August 1862, and at the same time was promoted to corporal.³ The regiment fought at the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg in the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division of the XI Corps.⁴ The XI Corps was commanded by Major General Oliver O. Howard, and at the Battle of Gettysburg the First Division of the XI Corps was commanded by Brigadier General Francis C. Barlow.

The regiment saw its first fighting at the battle of Chancellorsville in the spring of 1863, and this was a very traumatic battle for the men. By dark on April 30th, the Seventeenth was in camp near the Talley farm (also called the Hatch house.)⁵ The Talley Farm was located on a low ridge on the south side of the Orange Turnpike, now Virginia Route 3. The house was torn down in 1926, and a 25-acre parcel of the farm west of the house site was purchased by the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust in 1999.⁶

At about 10 a.m. on 1 May, the regiment broke camp and began an advance to the east, where the 5th and 12th Corps were becoming hotly engaged with Confederate troops. After marching for a short while, the order was countermanded and the regiment returned to its old camp on the high ground near the Talley farm. In the late afternoon, the regiment was again ordered into line of battle along the turnpike, and then placed into position supporting 4 guns of Captain Julius Dieckman's 13th New York Independent Light Artillery.⁵ The 17th Connecticut occupied a trench behind the Talley farm, facing an open field and a treeline south of the house.⁷

The next day, 2 May 1863, Company G and another company were on picket duty in dense woods to the west of the Talley farm clearing, on the border of the wilderness.⁸ Late in the afternoon, Stonewall Jackson launched his spectacular surprise flank attack from the west, with the Talley Farm ridge as its first objective. The entire 11th Corps fled east along the Orange Turnpike with many casualties. It was a great victory for the Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee, marred by the accidental wounding later that evening of Stonewall Jackson which resulted in his death on 10 May.

Some information about the route taken by the Eleventh Corps to Gettysburg is found in a book by John W. Schildt.⁹ Following the battle of Chancellorsville, the Corps crossed the Potomac into Maryland at Edwards Ferry on 25 June, 1863. On 28 June it came from the Middletown, Maryland area to bivouac at Worman's Mill just north of Frederick, next to what is now Route 355. The next day, a cold and rainy Monday, the men marched north through Harmony Grove and Hansonville, then branched off to the right on Old Frederick Road through Utica and Creagerstown. They reached Emmitsburg about 7 p.m., and spent that night and the next in camp east of the town. Wednesday, 1 July, was the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. That morning about 8:30 a.m. the Corps began the ten-mile march to Gettysburg along two parallel routes; Barlow's division used the present Route 15 and Business 15.

On the first day of the battle of Gettysburg, 1 July 1863, the regiment fought at Barlow Knoll. Here James C. Mayne was credited with rescuing the state flag after the color bearer was killed.¹⁰ The color bearer, Henry Burns, was a corporal in Company B; Cyrus Raymond, a private in Company H, claimed to have first picked up the colors.¹¹ The regiment had entered Gettysburg with 17 officers and 369 men, and lost 145 of them this day: 17 killed, 73 wounded, and 55 captured or missing.¹² Company G of the regiment had entered the battle with about 60 men, and lost all but 7.¹³

The next day, 2 July 1863, the regiment fought a fierce battle at East Cemetery Hill. On this day the regiment lost another 53 men.¹⁴

From another book by John Schildt comes the following information about the departure of the Corps from Gettysburg.¹⁵ On Monday, 6 July, three days after the end of the battle, the Corps left Gettysburg and marched to Emmitsburg, Maryland. The next day the men broke camp at 3:30 a.m., marched through Frederick and out along Fourth Street, and crossed Catoctin Mountain at Shookstown Pass, spending the night in the Middletown area. On 8 July they crossed South Mountain at Turner's Gap. The First Division was placed next to the National Pike on the western slope along with artillery. On 10 July the Corps was near Funkstown; on 14 July at Williamsport; on 15 July at Middletown again; and on 16 July at Berlin (now Brunswick.)

A map showing the routes of the Seventeenth Regiment in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania was printed in 1896 by William H. Warren, a soldier in Company C of the regiment.¹⁶

The regiment moved to Folly Island, South Carolina in August 1863.⁴ James C. Mayne was stationed at Fort Marion (Castillo de San Marcos), St. Augustine, Florida when the war closed in April 1865.² On 29 June 1865, he was promoted to second lieutenant and on 19 July 1865 he was mustered out from the 17th Infantry at Hilton Head, South Carolina.³

James C. Mayne married Josephine Burnett, daughter of Durrant Burnett and Mary Charlotte Smith, on 30 March 1870 at Bedford Station, Westchester County, New York; they were married by the Rev. De Loas Lorill.^1,2 James and Josephine spent a few years in Connecticut after their marriage.¹⁷

James C. Mayne appeared on the census of 7 June 1880 at Woodbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut, where his occupation was given as tinsmith.¹⁸

He moved to Mount Kisco, New York, about 1882.² An interesting article appeared in the New York Times on 30 January 1884, describing the arrest of four men charged with stealing James Mayne's horse during an evening service at the Methodist Church in Mount Kisco.¹⁹

James C. Mayne attended a reunion of the 17th Regiment of the Connecticut State Volunteers held at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on 1-3 July 1884. On 30 June over two hundred veterans of the regiment and family members left Jersey City, New Jersey on a special train of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which took them to Gettysburg via Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Carlisle. On 1 July 1884, a very hot day, there were over 700 people at exercises at Barlow Knoll, in what is now the Gettysburg National Military Park, to dedicate a new monument dedicated to those in the regiment who were killed there in the battle 21 years earlier to the day. Those present included some New York and Pennsylvania veterans. Following several long speeches and the benediction, according to the souvenir pamphlet: Lieut. J. C. Mayne of Company "G," was called to the stand and in a few well chosen words was introduced by Chaplain Hall, as "the young hero who brought the State colors off of the battle-field after color Corporal Henry Burns was killed." He was greeted with the hearty cheers of his comrades.^10,20

James C. Mayne moved about 1890 to Old Katonah, Westchester County, New York, to enter the employment of Henry W. Kellogg as a plumber.²¹ By one account, he was working as a plumber at the hardware business in Old Katonah at the time in 1887 that Henry Kellogg purchased it from C. W. Avery.²²

James C. Mayne resided in 1891 at Main Street, Old Katonah, Westchester County, New York, according to a directory; he was described as a plumber.²³

James C. Mayne as early as 1901 was superintendent of the Sunday School of the Katonah Methodist Church.²⁴

James C. Mayne appeared on the census of 20 April 1910 at Edgemont Road, Katonah, Westchester County, New York, where his house was shown as owned and mortgage free.²⁵ He was a plumber at a hardware store according to the April 1910 census.²⁵

His house at 4 Valley Edge Road, Katonah, (at the corner of Edgemont Road) was originally on Palmer Avenue in Old Katonah; he bought it at auction, and it was the first house to land on its new foundation in Katonah in about 1897.²⁶ In Old Katonah the house had belonged to Lewis Miller.²⁷

James C. Mayne appeared on the census of 1 June 1915 at Edgemont Road, Katonah, Westchester County, New York, where he was described as a plumber.²⁸

A photograph taken in Katonah, New York may show James C. Mayne and Josephine Burnett.

James C. Mayne was ill in 1915 and 1916.^29,30 He died on 2 January 1917 in Katonah, Westchester County, New York, at age 73.² He was buried on 4 January 1917 in the Cox Mausoleum, Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, Westchester County, New York.^31,32,33 A eulogy appeared in the Katonah paper.³⁴