Delhi, N.Y. is a small town that is the county seat in Delaware County. It’s population is currently 4,795, not that much bigger than its 1860 population of 2,900. Today it is primarily known as the site of State University of New York at Delhi which adds another 3,000 students to the population. It is also known as a base of supply for vacationers from New York City and Long Island enjoying the Catskill Mountains.
The monument stands on Courthouse Square in front of the Delaware County Courthouse. The square is at Main Street and Court Street in the old civic center of the town. The surrounding Delaware County has not grown a whole lot since the Civil War, which had a population of 42,465 people in 1860 and today has a population of 44,308. Nearly all of the increase in population over the last 160 years has been in the small town of Delhi.
When I came upon the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ monument I was surprised at how large it was. The monument stands 49 feet high and, at its widest point, it is fifteen feet across. The square on which it rests is perfectly maintained and the foothills of the Catskills can be seen in the distance.
Before we begin, however, I should explain how to pronounce the place. It is named after a city in India, but it is not pronounced that way. I know you want to pronounce it the same way you would the capital of India, but it has a curious New York pronunciation. It is pronounced “Del-High.” There are several explanations for why it has the unusual pronunciation, but the commonly accepted one is that the local Congressperson Erastus Root mispronounced it to insult a political rival. My own feeling is that New Yorkers in the early 19th Century had very little contact with people from India and they invented there own pronunciation.
Why was it named after a city in India? Ebenezer Foote who helped found the town was nicknamed the Moghul and in India Delhi was the city that housed the Moghul.
The monument consists of an iron fence enclosing the memorial, four mortars around the plinth, four figures of combatants from the Union Army, several names of battles on the monument, and, at the top, a goddess representing peace.
As you can see in the above photo, many of the buildings around the monument are over 100 years old.
Before the Civil War, Delaware County had its own civil conflict. During the 1840s there was the Rent War. Large landowners inheriting land from an earlier generation would not sell farms to newcomers. Newly arrived farmers would have to become tenants of the landowners and pay rent. Even after farming for many years, the tenant never acquired equity in the farm, cutting the farmers off from accumulating wealth. During the 1800s, a number of counties along the Hudson and in the Catskills had violent conflicts between the landowners and the renters.
Many of the landowning families had been politically connected colonists who were granted land before the American Revolution. Some land grants were given as early as 1708 by the British or colonial governments. Many grants were over 10,000 acres.
The anti-renters met in disguise, often dressed as stylized “Indians” similar to how Boston men had staged the Tea Party. In the Summer of 1844 the anti-renters threatened landowners and resorted to tar-and-feathering of the landlords. That Fall the anti-renters held an Equal Rights Convention and they nominated candidates for the state legislature.
An “Act to prevent people from appearing disguised” was passed by the legislature and signed into law by the governor. In 1845, the sheriff began arresting those seen in disguise. On March 11, a deputy sheriff was surrounded by men “about one hundred strong,” he wrote to his superiors. A posse set out from Delhi to liberate the deputy sheriff made up of “lawyers, physicians, merchants, [and] tradesmen…all armed with warlike weapons…” When the “Indians” were captured and brought to trial they were sentenced to two years at Sing Sing.
The arrests did not quell the rebellion, but rather added fuel to the flame. In August, one of the pro-rent figures was killed, supposedly by the anti-rent faction. After the sheriff foreclosed on one family’s property, more than a dozen “Indians” surrounded the sheriff and his deputies and, according to one of the sheriff’s men, forty firearms were pointed at them by the “Indians.” Two volleys were fired into the sheriff’s men and one fell mortally wounded with three bullets in him.
Many people in Delaware County did not take sides in the “Rent War” until the killing. The New York State governor declared the county in a state of insurrection. A number of the “Indians” were arrested and tried. Two were condemned to death. The death penalty was later commuted.
By 1860, just fifteen years after the Rent Wars, the voters of Delaware County united to give Abraham Lincoln 60% of their vote. Delhi contributed men to the 8th New York Independent Battery which was nicknamed the “Delaware Battery.” This unit was mustered in by October 30, 1861. Some joined the 3rd New York Cavalry in August, 1861. The men of this regiment were from all over the Catskills and from cities along the Erie Canal. The largest number of Delaware men joined the 144th New York Infantry, which was mustered into service in September of 1862. This regiment was organized by New York after the Union defeat in the Peninsula Campaign and the invasion of Maryland by Lee’s army.
The 144th was used initially for the defenses of Washington. In April, 1863 it was moved to Suffolk, Virginia where it was besieged by Confederate General James Longstreet. It was again returned to Washington on July 10th to help with the pursuit of Lee after his defeat at Gettysburg. By August it was transferred to help with the siege of Charleston, South Carolina. It then spent the rest of the war in the Carolinas.
An artilleryman and an infantry soldier are presented to the viewer at the front of the monument. On the front face are inscribed “Gettysburg” and “Antietam.”
Most of the men joined the infantry from the town, but a number were in the cavalry and artillery.
Above the names of the battles is inscribed “1861-1865.”
On the right side are inscribed “Fredericksburg” and “Petersburg.” Above is “1776.”
On the back side there are figures of a cavalryman and a sailor.
On the back are inscribed “Sumter” and “Honey Hill.” Very few New York monuments reference Honey Hill, a battle in South Carolina that was part of Sherman’s operations, however, the 144th fought in that battle.
Above those battles is inscribed “1812-1845” as though the War of 1812 and the Mexican American War were part of the same overall conflict.
The granite statues are exquisite. We do not know who the sculpture was, but he did expert work in Barre Marble.
The left side of the monument has inscribed “Wilderness” and “Cold Harbor.” The date “1898” is above it, an apparent reference to the Spanish American War.
A bronze plaque dedicates the monument to those “who served their country in the Civil War and who have defended the American flag.”
Around the plinth are four mortars. They all look the same, but an examination of them tells us that they were made in different places at different times. Below is a piece made in Boston in 1862.
The next was made in Fort Pitt in 1864.
The mortars are 8 inches.
As you can see, this small square combines a large monument, Civil War artillery pieces, an historic plaque, and old buildings on a grassy lawn.
The plaque was put up by the local American Legion during the Civil War Centennial.
Next to the monument is a gazebo.
Stores on the square are at least one hundred years old.
Antiquarian houses line the streets.
The courthouse was built in 1909, just three years after the monument was dedicated.
Atop the monument is the Goddess of Peace.
While she is beautiful, her influence was never permanent. The monument was erected just a half a decade after the Spanish American War and a decade before the outbreak of World War I. She did not represent peace. She was just the time between two wars.
Note: All color photos in this post were taken by Patrick Young except as noted.
Sources:
A History of Delaware County and Border Wars of New York by Jay Gould (1856)
New York in the War of the Rebellion, 3rd ed. Frederick Phisterer. Albany: J. B. Lyon Company, 1912
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