Colonel George B. Osborn was born March 22, 1836, at Windham, Greene County, N. Y., and was the son of Guernsey and Ann Maria (Hollister) Osborn.
Deacon Nathan Osborn, born July 13, 1763, at Watertown, Conn., the paternal grandfather of the subject of our sketch, was a farmer, and with Rebecca, his wife, born February 8, 1764, at the same place, removed to Greene County, N. Y. in the year 1800. He served in the war of 1812-4, and rose from the ranks to be major of his regiment. He had
thirteen children (eight sons and five daughters), of whom Guernsey Osborn was born at Windham, on January 22, 1806, and married Ann Maria Hollister (born at Rensselaerville, Albany County, N. Y., on March 13, 1809), in the town of Cairo, Greene County, N. Y., on January 22, 1828, who bore him four sons, -- Bennet, Lewis A., George B., and Guernsey,
Jr.. On the maternal side the grandparents of Colonel Osborn were Jessie Hollister, born at Sharon, Conn., and Ann Maria, his wife, born at Salisbury, Conn.. He was a farmer, and moved from Sharon to Rennselaerville, Albany County, N. Y., about the year 1805. They had
four children, -- one son and three daughters, -- of whom Ann Maria married Guernsey Osborn as above stated.
Guernsey Osborn was engaged in the canning business in Greene, Sullivan and Ulster Counties, N. Y. until 1849, when he removed to Starrucca, Wayne County, Pa., where he was connected with E. P. Strong (now Judge Strong) in the tanning interests until 1862, when he sold out and removed to New York, where he now resides. His third son, George
B., received a liberal education at Napanock, Ulster County, N. Y., Kingston Academy, N. Y., and West Bloomfield, N. J., and having attained his fourteenth year, began to learn the tanner's trade, under his father's eyes, succeeding so well (and acquiring the reputation for
energy and thoroughness which has since been so marked a part of his character) as to be made the foreman of the tannery which his father undertook with Major Strong, at Starrucca. In this capacity we find him at the breaking out of the Rebellion and until the defeat of our army at the first battle of Bull Run, upon receipt of news of which disaster he
and his brother-in-law, Oliver Mumford, commenced at once to recruit a company, and entered the service on August 2, 1861, being assigned as Company A, of the Fifty-sixth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers (Colonel S. A. Meredith), then being organized in Camp Curtin, at Harrisburg -- George B. Osborn with the rank of captain, and Oliver Mumford as first lieutenant. Joining the Army of the Potomac the regiment was put in the First Brigade of the First Division of the First Army Corps, which now bears upon its tattered flags in the State Capital at Harrisburg, the record of twenty-eight battles.
George B. Osborn served as captain of Company A over one and a half years, and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of his regiment, the Fifty-sixth; was detailed in 1863 to act as assistant inspector-general of the division in which was his regiment, and in such capacity served on the staff of General Cutler until he was wounded, and then on the
staff of General Wadsworth until the death of that accomplished officer; also on the staff of General G. K. Warren, commanding the Fifth Corps, and on the staff of General S. W. Crawford, commanding the Third Division of the Fifth Corps, where he remained until the expiration of his term of service, December 24, 1864.
He was engaged in twenty-six battles, and was made brevet-colonel United States Volunteers for bravery on the battle-field. We attach a certain interesting letter from his colonel and old commander, General Hofmann, of Philadelphia, in further tribute and excerpt a few lines from other letters written to him. General H. A. Morrow says: "I have
known you for some nearly three years, and know you to be a soldier sans peur et sans reproche, a gentleman of conciliating and engaging manners, and a patriot wholly devoted to the good of the service. You carry into your retirement the respect, confidence and best wishes of every officer in this division, and to those of us who have known you longest and best you are endeared by many associations, the memory of which can perish only with our lives." General S. W. Crawford says: "I desire to assure you of the unqualified satisfaction I have ever had with you as an officer of my staff and a soldier of my
command. Faithful in the office, fearless and devoted in the field, you have served the country and the cause with an unwavering fidelity to the end of your term, and you leave the service with the esteem, the confidence and the respect of your comrades, whose object, I trust, will be to emulate your example." General J. W. Hofmann writes under recent
date as follows: "My Dear Colonel, I take great pleasure in recalling your services in the field during the war for the preservation of the Union, and bear testimony to the courteous and gentlemanly intercourse that existed between you and those serving with you; the satisfactory manner in which you discharged the general duties that devolved upon you
as a line-officer, field-officer and staff-officer, and your gallant conduct on the many fields of battle, conspicuous among this, your cool, self-possessed conduct in the memorable field of Gettysburg, on the morning of July 1st, when we first discovered the enemy in front of
Seminary Ridge. The close, official and pleasant personal relations that existed between Generals Cutler, Wadsworth, Ayres and others, upon whose staff you served, justifies me in saying their verdict coincides with my own."
"I recall your presence in the long, exhausting march from Fredericksburg to Cedar Mountain, in August, 1862; in the actions at Sulphur Spring and Rappahannock; in the battles of Gainesville and Groveton and second Bull Run, August 28th, 29th and 30th; your wounding in the latter battle, and a letter received from your brother under date of September 17th, informing me that you had left home to rejoin the regiment, against the judgment of the surgeon; your arrival a few days thereafter and resuming your duties; your participation in the action at Union, Va., November 2d and 3d; in the battle of Fredericksburg; the battle of Chancellorsville; the decisive battle of Gettysburg; the march into Virginia after the Army of the Potomac had for the second time driven its adversary across the Potomac River; my detail on special duty; your assumption of the duties of commander of the regiment during the subsequent operations to October, and your detail as staff-officer on the staff of the division commander. I recall your presence as much in the action at Mine Run; in the movement on the Rapidan, in the winter of 1863-4; throughout the campaign in the following spring, from the Rapidan down to the James River, with its almost inseparable battles of
the Wilderness, Alsop's farm, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Tolopotomoy and Bethesda Church, unsurpassed for gallantry and heroism, and the sanguinary sacrifices entailed upon the participants. And again in the assault of the enemy's works below Petersburg, June 18th, when Captain Mumford fell while gallantly leading the regiment in the assault, and in the subsequent operations incidental to the siege of Petersburg. I testify to all this with great pleasure. Renewing my acknowledgments to you for the support received from you on all occasions when you were under my command, and for the courteous manner in which you discharged the delicate duties of a staff-officer while serving upon the staff of my division commanders, I am very truly yours, J. W. Hofmann, brevet brigadier general United States Volunteers, (late colonel Fifty-sixth Regiment Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers). To Brevet-Colonel George B. Osborn, United States Volunteers, (late lieutenant-colonel Fifty-sixth
Regiment Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers.)"
Returning home from the war in 1865, Colonel Osborn spent a year in the oil regions near Marietta, Ohio, and another in the manufacture of hoop-skirts with his oldest brother in New York City, following that by selling goods for wholesale jobbing houses. In 1870 he removed from New York to Starrucca, and during the next three years was engaged in the
mercantile business with his brother in law, W. W. Mumford, at the end of which period he became partner with Major E. P. Strong in the lumber and mercantile business, and so continued for twelve years.
In 1886 he erected a steam factory at Starrucca, for the manufacture of umbrella and parasol sticks, chair stuff, etc., in which he employed from twelve to fifteen hands steadily, and is building up a handsome business to the advantage of the county.
Colonel Osborn was married to Miss Matilda E., daughter of the late Hon. James Mumford (a sketch of whom is contained in this volume), on August 2, 1859, and has one daughter and an adopted son (child of Daniel and Hattie Cargill, both deceased).
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