A table of military statistics compiled just before the close of the war showed that Goshen had furnished men as follows at the Government's call: 30 men in 1861; 113 men in 1862; 104 men in 1863; 51 men in 1864.
On Thursday, September 5, 1907, there was dedicated at Goshen a monument to the service dead of the 124th Regiment. The monument, which weighs nineteen tons, is a bronze figure, "The Standard Bearer," designed by Theo. Alice Ruggles Kitson, a noted sculptress. The figure, eighteen feet in height, stands upon a pedestal of Stony Creek granite, fourteen feet high. The monument was presented to the people of Orange County by Hon. Thomas W. Bradley, of Walden, N. Y., Member of Congress from the Twentieth New York District, in memory of his comrades who died in the service of their country. Mr. Bradley enlisted as a private in the "Orange Blossoms," was promoted to captain, and brevetted major for meritorious service, and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for gallantry at Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863, when he volunteered in response to a call, and alone, in the face of a heavy fire of musketry and canister, went across the field of battle and procured ammunition for his comrades.
The presentation was made by Colonel Charles H. Weygant, who commanded the regiment after the commander, Colonel F. M. Cummins, fell wounded. It was accepted for the people by Mr. John J. E. Harrison, chairman of the board of supervisors, a veteran of Co. B, 56th Regiment, U. S. V., who was wounded at Devon's Neck, S. C., December 7, 1864, and who rendered before and after that time valiant service in the Union's cause. It was accepted also by Captain Robert B. Hock, who was the village president, and was then serving his eighteenth consecutive term in that office. He also had been a soldier with a long and honorable record. He enlisted in the regular army as a bugler, some years before the war, and was assigned to the Tenth U. S. Infantry, and sent to Fort Snelling, Minn. He took part in many expeditions against the Mormons, under General Albert Sidney Johnson, afterwards the confederate general killed at Shiloh. Mr. Hock was later sent to the scene of the Mount Meadow massacre and fought in the battle of Ash Hollow under General Hardy. In 1860 he was a pony express rider when Denver was only a tented village. After Fort Sumter was fired on, his old commander General Tracy, asked him to drill recruits at Staten Island. He did this and later performed the same service at Washington. In 1861 he was commissioned lieutenant of Co. E, 12th New York Cavalry, and in 1863 was made captain of Co. F. He was on the Burnside expedition, at Ball's Bluff and in the second battle of Bull Run. On April 17, 1864, he was taken prisoner at Plymouth, N. C., and confined for three weeks in Andersonville, four months at Macon, one month at Savannah, and one month at Charleston. With six brother officers he escaped from prison at Columbia, S. C, and was tracked by bloodhounds. All the others were recaptured, but he, after suffering terribly by privation and exposure, reached the Union lines and was cared for by the Third Tennessee, until able to report to General Dix in New York. In 1865 in a skirmish with General Bragg's troops his horse was shot from under him, and he was caught by Bragg's men and sent to Danville, Va. He made a break for liberty and escaped to the brush, rejoining the Union forces just before Lee's surrender. At Bentonville, in a cavalry charge, his horse was killed and he was thrown among the rebel infantry and captured. The same night he escaped, covering himself with dead leaves, and reporting at his company headquarters in the morning. His comrade in rebel prisons, Lieutenant A. Cooper, dedicated a book of his experiences to Captain Hock.
[CHAPTER XVII.]
TOWN OF GREENVILLE.
By Charles E. Stickney.
The number of acres of land in the town assessed in 1865, was 18,287, at a valuation of $385,600. Personal property $49,850. The number of acres assessed in 1907 is 17,829 at a valuation of $269,485. Personal property, $19,850. A loss in 42 years of 458 acres of land, $116,115 in assessed valuation of real estate, and of $30,000 assessed personal property. The town expenses (town audits) were $619.37, besides $807 for roads and bridges.
In 1855 the town had a population of 1,218. Ten years later it had a population of 1,147; while in 1905 it had only 672 inhabitants, a loss of nearly half compared with its first-named census.