When Fred Von Borgen was 10 years old, there was a parade and public celebration at Bayview New York Bay Cemetery on Garfield Avenue every Memorial Day. That was 66 years ago, but Von Borgen, who takes care of flowers at cemetery, remembers the parades clearly.
“My mom would take me out here and watch the parade being led by a veteran of the Spanish-American War,” Von Borgen said. “I don’t remember much about him, except his name was Van Pelt. The parade would stop at every veterans’ grave in the cemetery.”
One of the stops on the now-extinct Memorial Day parade at Bayview-New York Bay Cemetery was the resting place of 44 members of the G. Van Houten Grand Army of Republic Post 3, a Civil War veterans’ group which existed in Jersey City from 1867 to 1941. The plot, which includes 14 of the soldiers’ wives buried with their spouses, is the subject of a restoration effort by Jersey City resident John Hallanan.
“I have always been interested in history,” Hallanan said, adding his son, a senior at St. Peter’s College, is part of a history club in school. Seeing his son’s enthusiasm for the past inspired Hallanan to take up the cause of the Civil War veterans’ grave sites.
“I knew they were there for years,” Hallanan stated. “I believe it was time to do something about the condition.”
According to Bayview-New York Cemetery archivist Pat Mirabella, the G. Van Houten G.A.R. Post 3 gravesite is located near the Decauter Avenue entrance to the cemetery and consists of four lots.
“Two of the lots were donated were donated to G.A.R. Post 3 by the cemetery on May 5, 1887,” Mirabella said. “Two additional lots were purchased by the Post itself on March 15, 1902.”
Mirabella said a cemetery lot at the turn of the last century usually contained 10 plots, with space allowed for two occupants, one buried on top of the other.
“Right now, a single plot in a cemetery will cost you $1,400 on average,” said William Jackson, the cemetery’s executive director. “Back then, a plot for two would have cost between $5 to $10.”
Hallanan said he has only just started both his restoration for the G.A.R. Post’s plot and research into the past of the soldiers who were members.
“After 1941, the G. Van Houten Post stopped operating, and the deed to the plot was turned over to the county,” Hallanan said.
Along with local politicians and historical organizations, Hallanan said he contacted both Freeholder William O’Dea and Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise in order to get the restoration efforts started. Jim Cannelli, spokesman for the County Executive, said the county legal department had looked into the matter and would generate a letter allowing the restoration efforts to move forward.
“The letter should be out in a very short time,” said Cannelli on Thursday.
Small graves
Hallanan said the plot was in fairly good shape, with a few exceptions. The remaining headstones, small grave markers which identify the name, rank and vital dates of the veterans, have shifted, and a few seemed to be tilted. At the center of the G.A.R. grave site is an obelisk commemorating the post and the commander it was named after, George Van Houten.
So far, Hallanan has been able to find out little about the men buried in the plot. The interred Civil War veterans in the G.A.R. plot were members of the 21st New Jersey Volunteers, which was organized in Trenton in September of 1862 and comprised of many men from Hudson County. Serving in the 6th Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac, the 21st New Jersey Volunteers fought at Antietam and Fredericksburg before participating in the fighting at Chancellorsville.
“Van Houten was the commander at Chancellorsville and he was wounded,” said Hallanan, adding that Van Houten later died of his wounds.
Hallanan noted the 21st New Jersey was an infantry group which had only signed up for a nine-month enlistment and, as their enlistments were due to expire, the regiment was thrown into the battle of Chancellorsville. During the battle, 200 members of the regiment were captured by the Confederate forces and held prisoner until they were exchanged for Southern prisoners of war.
“They were released by the Confederate Army after their enlistments were expired,” said Hallanan.
According to historical records, the 21st New Jersey Volunteers also helped build pontoon bridges across the river near Fredericksburg, Va. when Union troops stormed the city.
The only other member of the 21st New Jersey Volunteers Hallanan has information on is the English-born William Winterbottom.
“Winterbottom received the Congressional Medal of Honor for gallantry in action during the Indian Wars in 1870,” said Hallanan. “He fought with the 6th U.S. Calvary at the Wichita Falls in Texas.” The Battle of the Little Wichita River, fought near Wichita Falls, was part of two-day effort by the U.S. Calvary to subdue an uprising by 100 members of the Kiowa Indian tribe. The Kiowas, dissatisfied with their miserable lives on the reservation, attacked nearby white settlements. The calvary fought a two-day battle with Kiowas, lead by Chief Kicking Bird, who fought the U.S. soldiers until the Americans soldiers retreated. The veterans buried at the G. Van Houten G.A.R. plot are reflective of many of the other people buried at Bay View-New York Bay Cemetery after 1900s.
“The country of birth for the deceased included the United States, Ireland and Germany,” said Mirabella. “The ages of those interred in this gravesite vary from the youngest, age 45, to then oldest, 79.”
Judging by cemetery records, the majority of the veterans died between the 1920s and 1930s, with the last recorded burial being 1934.
Also buried at the G.A.R. plot are 14 wives of the veterans. According to Hallanan, some of these women were destitute when they died, and the Post paid for the burials.
“They stopped having the parade in the late 1950s,” said Von Borgen
Von Borgen noted that the veterans are not forgotten, however.
“Every Memorial Day, the veterans’ organizations and the Boy Scouts come in here and put wreaths on every veteran’s grave,” said Von Borgen. “They’re all over the place, you should see them. It’s good someone cares.”