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Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections LibraryEllen Welch
This collection is open for research.
MSS 9728, Charles Ellery Bradley Civil War diaries, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.
This collection was a gift from Richard B. Pasto to the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library on 4 May 2018.
Charles Ellery Bradley was born 13 November 1842 in Danby, New York to Lyman Bradley (1808-1884) and his wife Mary Ann Hill (1808 -).He served with Co. I, 32nd New York Volunteers. He enlisted 7 May 1861 at Ithaca serving two years. He mustered in as private on 31 May 1861, was promoted to Corporal 17 March 1862, and then promoted again to Sergeant on 7 October 1862. He mustered out on 9 June 1863 as a Sergeant with his company in New York City. He was commissioned a second lieutenant 9 May 1863, but was not mustered with rank from January 6, 1863.
The 32nd New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, also known as the "1st California Regiment," was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Col. Roderick Matheson, was accepted by the State 22 May 1861. He organized the regiment at New York City, and it was mustered in the service of the United States for two years on 31 May 1861, at New Dorp, Staten Island. The Empire City Regiment and the Cerro Gordo Legion, incomplete organizations, were merged into it. On 25 May 1863, the three years' men of the regiment were transferred to the 121st Infantry.
The 32nd Regiment left New York for Washington, D.C. on June 29 1861; was quartered there for a week and then encamped near Alexandria, where it was assigned to the 2nd brigade, 5th division, Army of Northeastern Virginia. The regiment was engaged at Fairfax Court House, Bull Run, and at Munson's hill, and spent the winter at Fort Ward, in Newton's brigade of Franklin's division. In March, 1862, with the 3d brigade, 1st division, 1st corps, Army of the Potomac, the regiment moved to Manassas; then returned to Alexandria and embarked for the Peninsula where it was engaged at West Point (Battle of Eltham's Landing), with a loss of 67 killed, wounded or missing, and soon after was assigned to the 3d brigade, 1st division, 6th corps, with which it engaged in the Seven Days' battles; then went into camp at Harrison's landing until 16 Aug., when it returned to Alexandria. The regiment participated in the battles of Crampton's Gap, Antietam and Fredericksburg. It went into winter quarters at Belle Plain; participated in the "Mud March," and on 28 April 1863, broke camp and joined the light brigade of the 6th corps for the Chancellorsville campaign, in which the 32nd lost 43 members killed, wounded or missing. It returned on May 8 to the camp at Belle Plain and on the 25th the three years' men were transferred to the 121st N. Y. Infantry. The two years men were mustered out at New York City on 9 June 1863.
After the Civil War, Charles E. Bradley was found enumerated in Spencer, New York. He went into business with his father and took it over after his father retired. He is listed a dry goods merchant in the 1875 New York State Census, and as a merchant in the U.S. 1880 Census, in Spencer. Charles died on 24 December 1915 and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Spencer, Tioga Co., New York.
Bradley was married in 1863 to Margaret E. Bush (1842-1904). She was born 10 June 1842; and died 17 September 1904, and was buried in the same plot with her husband. She was the daughter of Richard Platt Bush (1813-1853) and Jerusha Beers. Together Charles E. Bradley and his wife Margaret (Maggie) had at least three children; Kate M. Bradley (1868-1935); Lyman R. Bradley; born 1871; and Madge Bradley, born 1876.
Source: https://chasbradley.home.blog/
Charles Ellery Bradley U.S. Civil War diaries 1861, 1862, and 1863. Bradley, a volunteer in the 32nd Regiment., New York, describes marching, keeping guard, and fighting in key battles including Bull Run, The Battle of Gettysburg, Antietam, and mentions generals such as Ambrose Everett Burside, John Sedgwick, George B. McClellan, and Joseph Hooker.
Earlier addition of Charles Ellery Bradley correspondence MSS 9728 is described in the public services VIRGO catalog. There is also an independent website with description and digital images of this earlier collection at https://chasbradley.home.blog/