14th BROOKLYN H. L. CRANFORD AAA GENERAL 1st BRIGADE CIVIL WAR SOLDIER SIGND CDV
CRANFORD BREVET MAJOR was born in Newfoundland May 10 1833. He was taken to New York by his parents when a child and educated at the Mechanics Institute in that city.
At the age of fifteen he entered the dry goods house of Grant & Barton and remained two years in their service then went to sea for five years, the first voyage being two years in a whaler. Afterwards he was in the merchant service sailing from the port of New York. At the age of twenty two he gave up going to sea and entered into mercantile pursuits in New York traveling for a house extensively in the West and South. In 1857 he embarked in the wholesale dry goods business with his brother the firm name being JP and HL Cranford whose store was at the corner of Broadway and Duane Street. The business was successfully conducted until the breaking out of the war in 1861.April 18 of the same year he entered the Federal service as first lieutenant of Company G Fourteenth New York State Militia Eighty fourth New York Volunteers generally known in the service as the Brooklyn Fourteenth. He participated with his regiment in the first battle of Bull Run and the next spring in the taking of Falmouth and Fredericksburg. In May 1862 he was detailed by General CC Augur on his staff and shortly afterwards on the staff of General John P Hatch who succeeded General Augur. The command was the First Brigade First Division First Corps. He participated in the engagements August 21 to 30 of Rappahannock Station, Sulphur Springs, Gainesville, Groveton, and Second Bull Run, and on September 14, in the battle of South Mountain.
The brigade carried the heights at the right of the pike and never lost a foot of ground until relieved by General Doubleday's brigade. Major Cranford was honorably mentioned in this battle which appears in the war records of the Rebellion. He served as acting assistant adjutant general through the campaigns and battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. Early in 1863 he was appointed by the President, captain and commissary of subsistence, and continued to serve as such until the close of the war.He served on the staffs of Generals John F Reynolds and Abner Doubleday at the battle of Gettysburg. In the spring of 1864 he was ordered to the cavalry corps and with it went to the Shenandoah Valley and served throughout that campaign on the staff of General Wesley Merritt, and was in the closing campaign from the 26th of February to April 9 1865 when General Lee surrendered his army, serving on the staff of General Sheridan as chief commissary. Shortly after he accepted the position of general manager of the Black Heath Coal Company in Pennsylvania and served as such two years.
In June 1871 he went to Washington DC where he at once engaged as general contractor. The streets of Washington then were unpaved and the dumping ground of refuse of all kinds and full of mud holes and filth always after rain a disgrace to any country, especially as its capitol city.At this time various unscrupulous paving companies came into existence with the sole purpose of making what they could out of the stimulus that Major Cranford gave the street paving business with the result that only pavements laid by him were lasting and this because the honesty integrity skill and perseverance which have characterized his whole life were then dominant. The result was that his advice was sought by the committees of the United States Congress and the Commissioners of the District of Columbia. The principal avenues and streets are paved with asphaltum a large extent of which was laid by Major Cranford Under his guidance the sidewalks throughout the city are being constructed of granolithic and artificial stone he being also the pioneer of that class of work in the District of Columbia.
Major Cranford was married April 28 1861 to Margaret J Munn of Montclair New Jersey grand daughter of Captain Joseph Munn of the War of 1812. He has had born five children of whom two survive Joseph H and H Percy who are both associated with him in his business. Joseph H being the very efficient general manager of his large business interests. THE FOLLOWING ARE QUOTES FROM CIVIL WAR NEWSPAPERS CONCERNING THE BROOKLYN FOURTEENTH.
HEADQUARTERS, ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. The President still remains with us, and seems determined to see all that there is to be seen, and manifests a disposition to remedy evils and correct errors, if, upon a thorough examination of this whole army, there are any to be found.
Yesterday he reviewed a portion of the troops at Belle Plain, and today he will do the same near Stafford Court house.... HOOKER, with the usual cavalcade and escort of lancers, accompanied the President. The troops reviewed made an excellent appearance, and the complimentary remarks in relation to those reviewed on Wednesday, in my letter of yesterday, can be appropriately applied to them. One regiment, however, attracted particularly the attention of not only the President and Gen. HOOKER, but, in fact, all others present. This was the Brooklyn Fourteenth N.Or better known by the soubriquet applied to it by the rebels in the first battle of Bull Run, as "The Red-legged Devils, " because they fought so desperately. As this regiment passed in review, " Splendid, " "That is splendid, " was uttered on all sides and it was a splendid sight....
All in all, no regiment in the service is composed of better material or is under better discipline. The regiment has been engaged in some twenty battles and never has been found wanting... The papers North and South have already acknowledged that the 14th Regiment of Brooklyn has done more hard fighting and punished the enemy more than any other regiment in the army.THE CDV IS TRIMMED, AND SIGNED BY H. PLEASE SEE PICTURES BELOW FOR CONDITION. The item "14th BROOKLYN H. CRANFORD AAA GENERAL 1st BRIGADE CIVIL WAR SOLDIER SIGND CDV" is in sale since Thursday, January 28, 2016. This item is in the category "Collectibles\Photographic Images\Vintage & Antique (Pre-1940)\CDVs".
The seller is "joy*filled*goodys" and is located in Texas. This item can be shipped worldwide.