LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - JULY 7, 2019 by Lynne Belluscio A few days ago, someone asked me if I knew anything about Herbert Hascall whose grave marker is at the Myrtle Street Cemetery. He was born in LeRoy in 1835 and was one of seven children. His father was Porter Hascall, who was a surveyor and politician and was elected to Congress on the Whig ticket, serving from 1851 to 1853. Herbert’s mother, Eliz- abeth Hinsdale, died when Her- bert was eight. Herbert’s father remarried two years later, and three more children were born to the family. Herbert was educated in LeRoy – probably at the Round House, since the LeRoy Ac- ademic Institute hadn’t been founded yet. He was accepted in the Military Academy at West Point when he was seventeen and more than likely, his father facilitated his admission. He graduated with honors on July 1, 1856 and was assigned to the Fourth Regiment of Artillery, stationed at Fort Independence, Boston Harbor. From 1856 to 1857 he served in Florida and was engaged in the hostilities of the Seminole Indians. In 1858, he was at duty at Fort Leaven- worth, “quelling the Kansas dis- turbances.” The next year, he was stationed at Fort Laramie and was part of the expedition against the Mormons. To escape persecution, the Mormons had settled in the Utah Territory, but they feared for an attack by the U.S. Army. There were no military battles, but the Mor- mons interrupted supply wag- ons and impeded the army’s movements. Horace Greeley, supposedly stayed with Hascall while he was reporting on the Mormon War, and interviewed Brigham Young, the governor of Utah. Herbert Hascall re- turned to West Point and taught mathematics, but when the Civil War broke out, he requested to be assigned to serve on the staff of General Keyes, and partici- pated in the First Battle of Bull Run. He wrote to his father, and the letter was published in the LeRoy Gazette: ”Dear Father, Here we are again in Fall’s Church after a disastrous de- feat. I left my horse in charge of a Private and put toward the farm house, expecting to be shot to a dead certainty, but I found on reaching the house that the battery enemy’s infantry had retired to the battery and our troops of some other Brigade were moving up on the right. I went back to report and found that the Brigade had moved out without me, but had not left my horse . . . We could rally only one regiment of our Brigade. Our batteries were charged by their cavalry, horses shot and riders sabered, and those not too fright, cut their horses loose from the guns and caissons, and rushed off. We marched all night and finally reached this place completely exhausted. I had been in the saddle, twen- ty-seven hours consecutively. I must end this abruptly as the only chance for sending it for many hours is offered now. Af- fectionately, Herbert.” Hascall was promoted to First Lieutenant and Bre- vet-Captain for conspicuous bravery at Bull Run (Manas- sas). He was in command of a battery in the defense of Wash- ington and guarding of the Up- per Potomac until September 1861 and then was assigned to the staff of General T.W. Sher- man as Assistant Quartermas- ter where he participated in the Dupont-Sheridan Expedition against Hilton Head and Bay Point, South Carolina. During this time, he contracted malar- ia and returned to West Point to continue teaching mathematics. At this point, Herbert began to show evidence of mental illness. His records indicate that he was suffering from “melancholia” and he was sent to Brigham Hall Asylum in Canandaigua, where he remained until a board of in- quiry determined that he was fit for duty and he resumed his post at West Point and was promoted to Captain in the 5th Artillery. With letters of support from General Keyes and Sherman, followed by a letter from Gen- eral Ulysses S. Grant, he was commissioned brevet Major and brevet Lieutenant-Colonel. In 1866, he married Mary Browne from Oswego. They had no children. Hascall was promoted to brevet Colonel and returned to duty at Fort Adams, Rhode Island. But his mental illness re- turned and he was forced to take sick leave and began teaching at the Stevens School of Technolo- gy in Hoboken, New Jersey. In February 1873, he was diagnosed with acute mania and was transferred to McLen’s asy- lum in Summerville, Massachu- setts, and then was transferred to the State Asylum in Utica, suffering from depression. In 1874, he retired from the army due to his disabilities, and re- turned to the Canandaigua Asy- lum. He later moved to Chica- go where he died on October 14, 1890 from kidney failure. The LeRoy Gazette wrote, “Colonel Hascall possessed a warm and loving nature, an exceptionally brilliant intellect, a character as robust as honest, and a presence that attracted all. He was a true friend, the loving husband, the considerate commander, and ever loyal to all; in short, he was the true soldier. His genial ways, his ready smile, his anxiety for the good of others, brought to his side real friends wherever he was known, and among his cir- cle of acquaintances were num- bered the best and most noted of the land.” His gravestone in French: “Separated but together.” “Separated But Together”