Andrew Grover was born in West Dryden, New York, near Cortland County. He served in the army for the Mexican American War and then returned to Central New York in the 1850s to work as a minister and raise a family.
According to Jon Tracey:
At the coming of the war, Grover raised Company A of the 76th New York in Fall 1861 and was commissioned its Captain. A testament to his popularity in his community, his company filled in under a month. Grover’s motivations to yet again join the army and serve his country were clear; in 1862 he wrote a letter to the local paper in which he declared “we are adverse to the slaveholder’s peculiar interests; we will not deliver up the man who escapes from his unrighteous bonds. As we look at it, our enemy is not the southern men, but slavery; and we shall never be wanting when a direct blow can be given to it.” Grover had left home and his ministry in order to strike his own blow against slavery.
Grover died on the field of battle in 1863.
A guidon is a flag that military units carry.
This newsletter was created and circulated by Civil War historians and enthusiasts in the Cortland area.
