A GALLANT SOLDIER AND ABLE
LAWYER GONE.
GEN. JOHN H. MARTINDALE, OF ROCHESTER
DEAD--HIS SERVICES TO HIS COUNTRY
IN TWO WARS--THE BATTLES IN WHICH
HE FOUGHT.
A dispatch from Nice, France, yesterday
announced the death of Gen. John H. Martindale,
of Rochester, a gallant soldier of the Union and a
lawyer whose abilities have long commanded the
admiration of the people of this State. John
Henry Martindale was born at Sandy Hill, Wash-
ington County, N.Y., March 20, 1815, his father be-
ing Henry C. Martindale, who represented the
Washington district for 10 years in Congress, serv-
ing as a member during the Administration of
Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Jackson. In
1831 he entered the United States Military Academy
at West Point, from which he was graduated July
1, 1835, third in the class with Gen. George W.
Morrell, Gen. Joseph Roberts, Gen. Horace Brooks,
Gen. H.L. Kendrick, Gen. James H. Stokes, Mont-
gomery Blair, Gen. George G. Meade, Gen. Henry
M. Naglee, Gen. Henry Prince, Gen. M.R. Patrick,
Gen. Benjamin S. Roberts, Gen. William N. Grier,
and others who gained distinction in the Mexi-
can war and the war of the rebellion. He was
promoted Brevet Second Lieutenant of the First
Dragoons, but not desiring to stay in the Army, re-
signed in March, 1836. For a time he was assistant
engineer of the Saratoga and Washington Railroad,
but having taken up the study of law, he was in
1838 admitted to practice, and began business in
Batavia, N.Y. Four years later he was appointed
by the Court of Common Pleas to be District Attor-
ney of Genesee County, and held the office until
1847, when, at the first election under the Constitu-
tion of 1846, he was chosen to the same office, hold-
ing it until 1851. He removed from Batavia to
Rochest in 1851, where he continued the practice
of his profession with great success.
When the war of the rebellion broke out, he
promptly tendered his services to the Government.
On Aug. 9 he was commissioned Brigadier-General
of Volunteers, and was assigned to the command
of the First Brigade of Gen. Fitz John Porter's di-
vision. His brothers, Col. Edward Martindale and
Brevet Major F.E. Martindale, and his son, Lieut.
Edward H. Martindale--including every adult
member of the family--entered the service at the
same time. Until March of 1862 Gen. Martindale
was engaged in the defenses of Washington. Mov-
ing to the front with the advance upon Richmond
by way of Yorktown, he participated in the dis-
astrous Peninsula campaign, bearing an espe-
cially active part in the actions at Yorktown, Han-
over Court-house, Gaines's Mill, Mechanicsville,
and Malvern. At the battle of Han-
over Court-house, contrary to the or-
ders of his superior officer, he assumed the
responsibility of placing his troops in a perilous
position. While in actual fight Gen. Porter
ordered him to retire. It was manifest to Gen.
Martindale that Fitz John Porter was mistaken in
the situation of the rebels, and that obedience
would expose the whole left flank and rear of the
Union force to assault. With the Second Maine
Regiment he confronted the whole force of the
enemy until joined by the Forty-fourth New-York
and a fragment of the Twenty-fifth New-York
and two pieces of artillery. With this
body of 1,000 men he held the enemy
at bay until Gen. Porter's command joined him,
when the preponderance of force was so much in
favor of the Union troops that resistence was use-
less. Major-Gen. Griffin afterward said that if the
advice of Gen. Martindale at Yorktown, Hanover,
and Gaines's Mill had been heeded by his command-
ing officers the result of all those battles would
have been different. On the retreat from Malvern
to Harrison's Bar, the army having won a victory
at Malvern, the troops were aroused at midnight
with an order to retreat. In obeying the or-
der the wounded and dying were left on the
field, and many commands utterly scattered. For
two hours Gen. Martindale halted at the head of
his command, endeavoring to preserve order. By
the order of a superior officer a part of his com-
mand had started without his knowledge, and
were well in retreat when he found himself in the
midst of a body of disordered men. Indignant
at the promiscuous rout and the desertion of the
wounded, he declared to some of his officers: "Let
us stay with the men and surrender rather than
abandon them."
The retreat was continued to Harrion's Bar,
where Gen. Martindale was prostrated with typhoid
fever. He was taken to Washington and hovered
between life and death until late in August. While
thus prostrated and helpless Gen. Fitz John Porter
preferred the charge against him that on the re-
treat from Malvern he had proposed to surrender
his brigade to the enemy. Whether founded in
malice or not, these charges absolutely perverted
the expression which Gen. Martindale had
uttered in his humane desire to shield his
sick and wounded comrades from the rebels.
As soon as he had sufficiently recovered, Gen.
Martindale demanded a court of inquiry. This
court, composed of three General officers of the
highest standing, met in Washington, and entirely
and promptly exonerated Gen. MArtindale from
the charges against him, and reported that they
were disproved by Gen. Fitz John Porter's own
evidence. It was a mark of confidence that the
Administration immediately made him Military
Governor of Washington, a position of critical
responsibility, requiring both civic and mili-
tary ability, and it was further in the line
of approval that he was brevetted Major-
General for gallant services at Malvern Hill. He
was Military Governor from November, 1862, until
May, 1864, when at his own request, he was re-
lieved and ordered to join the Army of the James
at Fortress Monroe, under command of Gen.
Butler. Gen. Martindale commanded a division in
the movement toward Petersburg, particularly in
the battle of Swift Creek, and in the movement
toward Richmond took part in the battle of Drury's
Bluff. Joining the Army of the Potomac on June
1, 1864, at Cold Harbor, he took part in an
engagement on that day, and in others from
day to day until June 12. In the severe assault of
June 3 he was in the thickest of the fight, and one-
third of his command were killed or wounded in an
hour. He was present at the assault on Petersburg
on June 15, when the outer defenses on the north-
east of the city were carried by the Eighteenth
Corps. When Gen. W.F. Smith retired, Gen. Mar-
tindale took command of the Eighteenth Army
Corps, and retained it until, on Aug. 9, sickness
compelled him to resign his commission, to the ex-
pressed regret of Gen. Butler.
The xposures of the war undoubtedly hastened
Gen. Martindale's death. Since he left the Army
he had always been a sufferer from rheumatism,
which developed disease of the bladder. For
months he had been in feeble health, and several
weeks ago, in company with his wife, he left
Rochester for the South of France, in hopes that
he might find helath in the mild climate. He had
reached his destination when the news was re-
ceived that he had been seriously ill on the jour-
ney from Marseilles and was completely prostrated
at Nice.
In the Fall of 1865 he was nominated by the Re-
publicans for Attorney-General, and was elected.
He filled the position with great ability. Since the
expiration of his term of office he has continued
to practice law at Rochester. He was well known
to the Bar of this State, highly respected for his
attainments, and personally was one of the most
popular, as he was one of the most attractive and
genial of men. In appearance he was of me-
dium height, strongly built, erect, with a carriage
betraying his military training, and with
a fine head well set upon good shoulders.
A vigorous growth of steel-gray hair and a well-
trimmed gray moustache gave character to a face
that instantly attracted attention, and the 66 years of
active life had not dimmed the brilliancy of his
eyes. Politically he was orginally a Whig, but
afterward a Republican, taking part in the con-
vention which organized the Republican Party.
Gen. Martindale has within the past two years
gradually withdrawn from his law practice. He
was connected with various local enterprises, and
up to two years ago was Vice-President of the Na-
tional Board of Managers of the United States Sol-
diers' Home. Gen. Martindale was married, in
1840, at Batavia, to Emeline M. Holden, daughter
of Hinman Holden. His wife was with him at the
time of his death, and he leaves one son, Henry
Martindale, of Iowa, and two daughters--Mrs.
James Breck Perkins, of Rochester, and Mrs. Wil-
liam Kind, of Albany.
Maintained by
Sue Greenhagen.
E-mail:
greenhsh@morrisville.edu