Jeremiah "Jerry" Hopper Post (1842-1902)

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   Jeremiah "Jerry" Hopper Post was born on December 3, 1842 in New York City to Peter and Jane Post. He had two older half-brothers, Elisha and Beverly, and eventually many younger full and half-siblings too. Soon after he was born, the family moved to West Milford, New Jersey, where he initially found work as a blacksmith and ultimately lived for most of his life.

    Several events would be influential in Jerry's life. The first was that his mother died when he was only 13 years old. The next occurred just five years later when the Civil War began. He enlisted in the Union army soon after the war began, in October 1861, when he was just 18 years old. He joined as a private in Company H of the 61st New York Volunteers. He kept a diary of his time in the army, though most of it was documenting the boredom that comprised most days. Unfortunately, a large part of his diary was erased to be used as scrap paper, but what remains is a true historical treasure.

    Known as the “Clinton Guard”, the 61st NY ranks among the most gallant regiments of the Union Army. The regiment became part of the Army of the Potomac, moved into Virginia and participated in the Peninsula campaign and the siege of Yorktown, suffering heavy losses. After recuperating for several months, the 61st and the Army of the Potomac were in the thick of it, blocking General Lee’s invasion of the North at Sharpsburg, Maryland. There (at the Battle of Antietam), the 61st flanked a Rebel fortified position in a sunken road (later named Bloody Lane), capturing nearly 300 prisoners. A plaque now sits there to commemorate their sacrifice.

     After fights at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, the regiment was ordered to stem another invasion of the North by General Lee’s army. This time they met in Gettysburg, Pa. (July 1-3, 1863). The regiment, now only numbering 93 men, fought in the wheat field on the 2nd day of the battle, losing 62 killed and wounded. Jerry himself suffered only a slight head wound due to a "spent shot." They fought many more battles until the spring of 1864, when the regiment reunited and served with honor through the severe fighting which led up to Cold Harbor and Petersburg. During this period, Jerry sustained a minor thigh wound and recovered. The regiment suffered most severely in the 'bloody angle' at Spotsylvania, and unfortunately Jerry was again one of those injured, this time much more severely. On May 12, 1864, in a driving rain storm, he was shot and gravely wounded by a bullet which "entered near the left groin and made its exit at the right hip". 

    Considering the lack of proper sanitation and poor state of battlefield medical care, it is somewhat remarkable that Jerry survived his wounds at all. He did however, and spent over a year in hospitals, first in Philadelphia, then in Washington DC, before being mustered out of the Army in April, 1865. He made it to Newark, NJ on crutches and lived with his half-brother Elisha for months while recuperating. Jerry would live the rest of his life having to catheterize himself in order to urinate. Jerry would eventually work for a living as a steward for the Soldier's Home for veterans until he died of septicemia on January 5, 1902 in Irvington, NJ.

1862 "Peninsula Campaign"   

   Siege of Yorktown - April-May    

   Promoted to Corporal - May   

   Fair Oaks - May 31-June 1 (110 of 432 men killed/wounded/missing)   

   Peach Orchard - June 29   

   Savage station - June 29   

   White Oak Swamp - June 30   

   Charles City Crossroads - June 30   

   Malvern Hill - July 1 (27 men K/W/M)

"Maryland and Virginia Campaign"   

   Antietam - September 17 (41 men K/W/M). Directly involved in the Bloody Lane.

   Promoted to Sergeant - October 1   

   Snickers Gap - November 2   

   Fredericksburg - December 13 (36 men K/W/M)1863 

"Chancellorsville Campaign"  

   Promoted to 1st Sergeant - April 1   

   Mayre's Heights - May 3   

   Salem Heights - May 3-4   

   Gettysburg - July 2 (wounded) (62 of 93 remaining men K/W/M).  Participated in the II Corps' advance in the 'Wheatfield', where the regiment was exposed to heavy enemy fire, losing more than half its strength. 

   2nd Battle of Auburn - October 14   

   Briscoe station - October 14   

   Mine Run - November 28-301864 

Battle of the Wilderness    

   Battle of Spotsylvania - May 8-10, 12 (wounded) (53 men K/W/M)"On May 12, Grant ordered the 15,000 men of Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock's corps to assault the Mule Shoe. Hancock was initially successful, but the Confederate leadership rallied and repulsed his incursion. Attacks by Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright on the western edge of the Mule Shoe, which became known as the "Bloody Angle", involved almost 24 hours of desperate hand-to-hand fighting, some of the most intense of the Civil War."   

   Prisoner of War - May 15, Re-captured - May 16  

The NY 61st' record is a long and glorious one and it bravely earned its right to rank among the most gallant organizations of the Union army.