Soldier from Orleans County was at Ford’s Theater when Lincoln was shot
By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian
“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 5, No. 15
Corporal John H. Stevens of Knowlesville, a member of the 151st Regiment, had the distinction of several interactions with President Lincoln.
While we were busy celebrating the Bicentennial of Orleans County on April 15, we overlooked April 14, 1865, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, 160 years eariler. Remarkably, one young man from Orleans County was among the audience of approximately 1,700 in attendance that night at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C.
John H. Stevens was born in Knowlesville on Sept. 23, 1839, the son of Andrew Stevens and Sophronia Harding. Andrew Stevens had moved to the area in 1816 and was one of the earliest settlers in what was then a wilderness. A farmer, he benefitted greatly from the opening of the Erie Canal.
In the summer of 1862, additional recruits were needed for the Union cause. Captain Hezekiah Bowen of Medina received authority to recruit a company of riflemen. John Stevens was one of the one hundred who quickly enlisted, mostly sons of well-to-do farmers. They were nicknamed the “Top Buggy Company,” since many of them could afford to take their young ladies out in top-buggies, then considered an item of luxury.
They bought their own guns, Sharp’s Rifles, each paying over forty dollars apiece for them. The ladies of Ridgeway presented them with a silk flag embroidered “Bowen’s Ind. Rifles.”
Stevens was mustered in as a Corporal of Company A, 151st N.Y. Volunteer Infantry on October 22, 1862. He was wounded at the Battle of Mine Run, Va. on November 27, 1863, receiving a bullet wound to his right thigh. Following his recovery, he was placed on duty at the Medical Purveyor’s store in Baltimore on March 4, 1864.
In June of that year, Stevens received a ticket to attend the Republican National Convention from Senator E.D. Morgan of New York. Stevens was present when Lincoln was nominated for the second time.
Stevens voted for Lincoln twice, on Nov. 6, 1860, and Nov. 8, 1864.
He was transferred to work at the Medical Bureau of the Provost Marshal General’s Office in September 1864. He attended church on Thanksgiving Day, 1864, sat in Senator Morgan’s pew and at the end of the service, walked down the aisle alongside President Lincon.
On January 1, 1865, Stevens attended the Annual Meeting of the Christian Commission, listened to a speech given by Lincoln and afterwards, shook his hand.
John H. Stevens in later years
On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Stevens was seated in the front center seat of the dress circle at Ford’s Theater. He saw Booth leap from the box after he shot the President. Stevens was unable to see Lincoln’s remains lying-in-state because of the crowds, but he did witness the funeral procession.
Stevens was discharged on May 11, 1865. He returned to Knowlesville, and married Alice Andrews in 1866. They had two children, George and Avery. Alice died in 1875. Avery died in 1881, aged 11. Stevens married Mary D. Clapp in 1876, they had two daughters, Florence and Mary.
Stevens was an active member of the G.A.R. and a member of the S.J. Hood Post 91 for many years. He attended reunions of the 151st Regiment and liked to recount his encounters with Lincoln.
Stevens died on February 15, 1919, at the age of 80, in the home in which he had been born, having fulfilled his wish of living to mark the centenary of that home which had been built by his father in 1816. He is buried in Tanner Cemetery in the Town of Ridgeway, NY.
