Johnny came marching home again recently at the Old Bethpage Village Restoration as Company H 119th New York Volunteer Historical Society hosted a Civil War weekend. The two-day event highlighted the end of the Civil War and return of soldiers to their Long Island homes.
The event was an interactive weekend focused on the final days of service of Willis Company, men from Long Island who enlisted in 1862 and fought the war to its end in 1865. The weekend’s activities presented the history of the 119th New York Infantry along with its link to Long Island history.
Presentations included several scenarios each day, including military drills, mustering out of service, retirement of the regiment’s flags, final payment of the soldiers and the men’s triumphant return to Hempstead in the summer of 1865.
Company H of the 119th New York Volunteer Infantry was an entirely Long Island raised company of infantry during the Civil War. Organized and recruited by Roslyn native Captain Benjamin A. Willis in the summer of 1862, the 100 men from communities in the towns of Hempstead, North Hempstead and Oyster Bay endured the hardships and boredom of camp life and fought in the defense of Washington D.C., at the battles of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Chattanooga through the fall of Atlanta.
As part of General William Tecumseh Sherman’s army, the men of Company H participated in the March to the Sea and the capture of Savannah, GA. Battle worn, the men of the 119th New York were mustered out of service in June of 1865.
