Colonel Henry Ludington: A Memoir

by Willis Fletcher Johnson

Old store at Kent, built by Frederick and Lewis Ludington about 1808

Sibyl Ludington, Colonel Ludington’s oldest daughter, who married Henry Ogden, a lawyer of Catskill, N. Y., (elsewhere called Edward and Edmund,) went to live at Unadilla, N. Y., and bore four sons and two daughters. The distinguished career of one of these sons may well be told in a quotation from the “New York Observer” of October 18, 1855, as follows:

Major Edmund A. Ogden, of the United States army, who recently died of cholera at Fort Riley, Kansas Territory, was born at Catskill, N. Y., Feb. 20th, 1810. Soon after, he removed to Unadilla, N. Y., where he remained until he entered the United States Military Academy. On graduating, he was attached as brevet Second Lieutenant to the First Regiment of Infantry, then stationed at Prairie du Chien. He was subsequently appointed a First Lieutenant in the Eighth Infantry, where he served until appointed a Captain in the Quartermaster’s Department, in which corps he remained until his death. He served with credit and distinction through the Black Hawk, Florida and Mexican wars, and was created a Major by brevet, for meritorious conduct in the last named of these wars.

His services, ever faithfully performed, have been arduous and responsible. He has disbursed for the government millions of the public money; he has labored hard, and always to the purpose, and after giving to his country five and twenty years of hard and useful service, he has died poor.

For the last six years previous to last spring, Major Ogden was stationed at Fort Leavenworth, where he has rendered important service to the army in his capacity of Quartermaster. From this post he was ordered to California, and he removed with his family to New York with the expectation of embarking on the 20th of April last, when his orders were suddenly suspended, and he was sent back to assist in outfitting the expedition against the Sioux Indians. He was afterwards charged with the arduous duty of erecting, within three months, barracks, quarters and stables for a regiment of troops at Fort Riley—a point about 150 miles west of Leavenworth, and which he had himself selected as a suitable place for a government post, when stationed at Fort Leavenworth. This place was not settled, and was an almost perfect wilderness. He took with him about five hundred mechanics and laborers, with tools and provisions, and commenced his labors. In a new and unsettled country, so destitute of resources, many obstacles were encountered, but just as they were being overcome, and the buildings were progressing, cholera in its most fatal and frightful form made its appearance among the men, from two to four of them dying every day. Far removed from homes and kindred, and accustomed to depend upon Major Ogden for the supply of their daily wants, they turned to him in despair for relief from the pestilence. He labored among them night and day, nursing the sick and offering consolation to the dying. At last the heavy hand of death was laid upon him, and worn out with care, watching and untiring labors, he fell a victim to the disease whose ravages he had in vain attempted to stay.

In the death of this officer the army has lost one who was an ornament to its list; his own corps has lost one of its most efficient members—one whom they appreciated, and whom they delighted to praise. Among his associates in the army there is but one sentiment—that of regret for his loss and admiration for his professional and private character, and love for his estimable qualities. His associates in the army are not the only sufferers; but many and many in various parts of the land have lost a warm and true friend, and the country has lost an honest man and a Christian soldier.…

In the hour of death, far from all he most loved on earth, he was cheered by his Christian hope. His faith was unshaken and enduring, and proved capable of supporting him in that last sad hour. Although weak and exhausted, he repeated the Lord’s Prayer audibly, and said to his friend the chaplain, who was by his side, “Tell my dear wife and children to try and meet me in heaven,” and then sank sweetly and quietly to rest.

So died the Christian soldier, in the vigor of manhood, and at the post of duty. Bound as he was by so many tender ties to this earth, not a murmur escaped his lips, but he met his summons with a cheerful resignation to that Providence whose dealings he had recognized through life, and in whom he trusted in death.…

It is interesting to note the evidences of the estimation in which Major Ogden was held at Fort Riley by the residents and the men in his employ. The following is an extract from The Kansas Herald of the 10th:

“The death of Major Ogden left a deep gloom upon the spirits of all the men, which time does not obliterate. His tender solicitude for the spiritual and bodily welfare of those under him; his unceasing labors with the sick, and his forgetfulness of self in attendance upon others, until he was laid low, have endeared his memory to every one there. And, as a token of affection, they are now engaged in erecting a fine monument which shall mark their appreciation of the departed. The monument, which will be of the native stone of the locality, is to be placed on one of the high promontories at Fort Riley, and can be seen from many a distant point by those approaching the place. It will bear the following inscription: