Photos: Town historian’s book tells the story of local Civil War soldiers

Riverhead Town Historian Georgette Case held a book reading and signing of ‘We Will Not Forget: Riverhead’s Civil War Soldiers and Sailors’ at the American Legion Hall in Riverhead Saturday afternoon.

The book chronicles the lives of more than 100 Civil War soldiers who were born here, lived here, died here and are buried here. The 91 page book took her four months and 500 hours to research through town records, the Suffolk County Historical Society and online looking at obituaries from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, New York Times and New York State military records.

After the reading the 14th New York Civil War Infantry of Brooklyn and the 88th Regiment New York State Volunteers (The Irish Brigade) re-enactors held a ceremony and marked overlooked gravesites of Civil War soldiers Moses and Joseph Overton and John Augustus Brown in Riverhead Cemetery.

Moses Overton died of disease in 1862 in a hospital in Pennsylvania and Joseph Overton died in action in the Navy in May 1865 in Florida.

John Augustus Brown died in action 1861 in the First Battle of Bull Run in Virginia at age 22, just 21 days after he joined Company C 14th Brooklyn Regiment.

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