‘Talk with Generals'

| 29 Sep 2011 | 09:30

History program on two who led the Orange Blossoms Goshen —“Talk with Generals,” a local history presentation, will be offered free to the public from 8 to 9:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 25, at the 1841 Courthouse in Goshen. The discussion will concern Civil War Generals Phillipe Regis de Trobriand and J.H. Hobart Ward, who at one time or another commanded the brigade in which Orange County’s own regiment, the 124th New York — the “Orange Blossoms,” which was raised in Goshen — served. Both generals served as colonels for the 38th New York Volunteers, both commanded brigades in Sickle’s Corps at Gettysburg, and both would serve as brigade commanders for the Orange Blossoms. General de Trobriand was a French aristocrat and the son of a general who served under Napoleon. He was a poet, author, painter, and military man who served his new country during the Civil War, originally commanding the “Lafayette Guard,” which was raised in New York City. After the war he would serve on the Western frontier and in the Reconstruction South. General Ward was a veteran of the Mexican war, in whicfh he was wounded at Monterey, and also the Civil War, in which he was wounded at Gettysburg, After the war he served as clerk of the Superior Court and was killed in an accident in Monroe, where he was buried. General de Trobriand’s great-great grandson, Waldron Post, will be the speaker on his ancestor. Post is commander of the Connecticut Commanders of MOLLUS and a retired teacher. Michael Bemiett, who has served in various Civil War organizations and is current National Secretary of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, will be the speaker on General Ward. The presentation is being sponsored by the Colonel Augustus van Home Ellis Camp 124 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. For more information call the commander, Jeffrey Albanese, at 294-0924.