When you are driving in Upstate New York you will often find Civil War monuments in the smallest of towns. This one is in Bainbridge, New York in the Central district. We used to call it the Leatherstocking District, but now we reject literary names for things being East, West, or Central. The monument is in an attractive square at the corner of Church Street and E. Main Street. The village has a population of 1,251.
Bainbridge is set on the Susquehanna River, which gave it an advantage in the 19th Century for trade. The village was settled in 1788 by Vermonters. These were the Vermont Sufferers. They had settled in what is now Vermont when it had been claimed as part of New York. When the state lost the fight it made land in Central New York available to those who stayed loyal to the Empire State.
When the Civil War broke out, there were 320 people living in Bainbridge, although another thousand lived in farms outside the village. The men formed Company H of the 168 New York Infantry Regiment. The unit became known as the Bainbridge Company.
