Cornwall-on-Hudson is a small river village with just over three thousand people in Orange County below Newburgh. It is an affluent community with many buildings constructed more than a hundred years ago.
The monument is located at the intersection of Main Street and Veterans Way in Cornwall.
Abram Haring is a Civil War veteran who was awarded the Medal of Honor. Haring was born in 1840 and he was just twenty years old when the war started. By 1864 he was a first lieutenant in the 132nd New York Volunteer Infantry. The unit was raised in New York City, but some of its companies recruited in Buffalo, Kingston, Lewiston, and in the Tuscarora Indian Reservation in Western New York. Haring served in Company G.
On June 28, 1890 he received the Medal of Honor for his actions on February 1, 1864 at Bachelor’s Creek in North Carolina. The citation said:
“The President of the United States, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to First Lieutenant (Infantry) Abram Pye Haring, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 1 February 1864, while serving with Company G, 132d New York Infantry, in action at Bachelor’s Creek, North Carolina. With a command of 11 men, on picket, First Lieutenant Haring resisted the attack of an overwhelming force of the enemy.”
The unit was mustered into service in October 4, 1862. From May of 1863 until the end of the war, it was in North Carolina. It campaigned actively in the Carolinas Campaign and Haring was honored for his actions near New Bern at Bachelor’s Creek.
The monument is across from a local park and a school. While far from the center of local businesses, there were a fair number of passers bye. In front of the monument is a Civil War cannon.
Between the monument and the cannon are permanently stacked cannon balls. On the front, the monument says it was erected “IN MEMORY OF THE MEN WHO DIED FOR THEIR COUNTRY 1861-1865.”
The monument has inscribed on it “WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE WITH CHARITY FOR ALL” from Abraham Lincoln.
The monument was put up on July 4, 1904, forty years after the war.
One side recalls Ulysses S. Grant’s famous admonition, “LET US HAVE PEACE.” Now, this was Grant’s 1868 campaign slogan, so I am sure it was to recall Grant as a president as much as his generalship.
The attractive triangle where the monument lies is toped by an American flag.
A sign notes that there are living reminders of the veterans who put up this monument. It says that when it was put up there were thirteen living veterans of the war and that a sapling was planted to commemorate those veterans.
All color photos taken by Pat Young.
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