William A. Olmsted

        BRIG. GEN. OLMSTED,
       SOLDIER-PRIEST, DIES
    Raised the First Company of
      New York Volunteers for
          the Civil War.
      FOUGHT IN MANY BATTLES
At the Close of the War Was Indians' Phy-
    sician--Took Orders Eight Years
      Ago--Dies of Paralysis.
 Brig. Gen. William Adams Olmsted, who
took holy orders some eight years ago,
and who until recently had been Chaplain
of St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Fifty-first
Street, near Ninth Avenue, died of paraly-
sis at St. Vincent's Hospital yesterday, at
the age of 75 years. In January his right
side became paralyzed. He had been in
an almost unconscious state since.
 The funeral will be held from St. Am
brose's Church, Fifty-fourth Street and
Tenth Avenue, on Thursday morning, and
it is expected that the interment will be
in Calvary Cemetery.
 He was born in Albany on Christmas
Day, 1834, and received the degree of M.
D. at Howard University, Washington,
D. C. At the commencement of the civil
war, in 1861, he raised the first com-
pany of volunteers in New York State.
The company had 170 men. He was made
Captain for his services.
 After the battle of Big Bethel, Va., in
which Capt. Olmsted fought, he was pro-
moted to be a Lieutenant Colonel. He
was at the battles of Seven Pines, Fair
Oaks, Oak Grove, Savage Station, and
Glendale. At Malvern Hill in 1862 he was
brevetted for gallant and meritorious
service.
 In 1863 he was ordered to Elmira, N. Y.,
to raise a regiment, which became the
189th New York Volunteers. He was then
transferred to the command of the First
Brigade, Second Division, Second Army
Corps, and retained the command up un-
til the disbandment of the army.
 Eight or nine years ago he took holy
orders at Notre Dame University, Indi-
ana. Before that he was a physician
among Indians.
 The only relative Gen. Olmsted leaves
is a grandnephew, Dr. William H. Has-
kin, of 42 East Forty-first Street.

from The New York Times, March 11, 1909:

To The Editor of the New York Times:
 In your interesting notice of the late Col.
and Brevet Brig. Gen. William A. Olmsted,
whose funeral will take place to-morrow, the
fact is omitted that Gen. Olmsted succeeded
Col. Rugg in command of the Fifty-ninth New
York Volunteers toward the close of the civil
war, but in time to do hard and faithful
service. In conversation about a year ago
Gen. Olmsted also told the writer that after
the war he was for some time in the forts on
the upper Missouri in a medical capacity.
There the General met the friendly Sioux chief,
Two Bear, whom I also knew, and who did
much to counteract the influence of Sitting
Bull; then, in the later sixties, winning his
way to leadership of the hostiles, Gen. Olm-
sted took deep interest in the veterans of the
Fifty-ninth New York. He was a soldier
"without fear and without reproach," and no
doubt equally true as a minister of God.
                             HENRY MANN.
 New York, March 10, 1909.