Local man writes novel despite Parkinson's

By Linda CarmanPrint Story | Email Story
Robert F. Morrow Jr. at his Henderson Road home with his great-great grandfather Pvt. William A. Baker’s medals. (Photo by Linda Carman)
WILLIAMSTOWN — When Robert F. Morrow Jr. of Henderson Road started out to write a book about his great-grandfather’s Civil War experiences, he had just a few mementoes — a case of medals, the Confederate rifle his great-great-grandfather had captured and a photograph taken later in life showing a craggy, bewhiskered face etched with resolve. Morrow also had the patience for extensive research, and, since he had retired from his engineering job on disability after being stricken with Parkinson’s disease, he also had the time. “I looked at my disability as an opportunity to write,” Morrow said, speaking at his home earlier this week. “I was always interested in history. My parents took me to Civil War battlefields,” he said. “But I didn’t know anything about the 77th New York Volunteers except that my great-great grandfather served in that regiment.” Morrow said he worked on the book for 15 years, spending the first seven on research. And he credited the Civil War documentary film aired on public television by Ken Burns with rekindling his interest and launching him on his project. The results of his research and diligence have just been published as “The 77th New York Volunteers: ‘Sojering’ in the VI Corps,” by White Mane Books, available at Water Street Books, Barnes & Noble and on Amazon.com. Morrow may have considered his retirement on disability an opportunity to write, but Parkinson’s limited that opportunity to short intervals when tremors did not interfere. “When I came down with Parkinson’s, my father [Robert Morrow Sr.] became my legs,” Morrow said. “He went around Saratoga and that area looking up material for me.” Morrow’s great-grandfather, William A. Baker, was 36 years old when he enlisted as a private in the Union Army, a farmer and Teamster with a wife and two children — a man who marked an X to sign his name. “I inherited his dog tags,” Morrow said. “I wanted to know who he was.” Baker enlisted in August 1862 as part of the first wave of reinforcements for a regiment that left the Peninsula campaign in Virginia, having lost 100 men to sickness and with twice that number on disability. Some 90 percent of the regiment was from the Saratoga area. In his introduction, Morrow wrote, “The 77th chaplain, Norman Fox, stated, ‘The man who makes the good soldier was not the swaggering swash-buckler, not the street brawler, but the plain respectable man who at home had always done his duty, faithfully, whatever it might be. The man who being set to hoe corn on a hot day would hoe his row without watching, even when the day was hot, was the man who, when assigned a station on the field of battle, would stay there till recalled, even though it was apparent that the recall would be given by the resurrection angel.’” “I would like to assume that my great-great grandfather was this type of a man,” Morrow wrote. “The more information that I collected on the 77th, the more evident it became that the boys from Bemis Heights were arguably one of the better regiments in the Union Army, and that their stories should be told.” The regiment, whose members were recruited from Essex, Fulton and Saratoga counties in New York, left home on Thanksgiving Day, 1861, and until the war’s end in April 1865, the 77th fought in more than 50 grim and bloody battles, from Lee’s Mills during the siege of Yorktown through Antietam, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Bloody Angle and Fredericksburg, to Lee’s surrender at Appomatox. When the regiment got off the boat in Washington, D.C., they were met by President Abraham Lincoln, who greeted them with the pun, “Better not be late, because we’ve got to get Early,” a reference to Confederate Major General Jubal Early. At the battle of Fredericksburg, the regiment captured two Confederate cannons, 100 prisoners and the colors of the 18th Mississippi, as it struggled to capture Marye’s Heights. Of the 1,421 who served in the 77th New York, 600 — less then half — were mustered out after their service. The others were killed in action, died of wounds or disease, were captured or honorably discharged. Morrow’s great-great-grandfather, William A. Baker, known as “Yankee Bill” after the war, was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic war veterans. He died in 1904 at age 82. Morrow said Baker’s photograph, taken probably in his 70s, clinched the publisher’s acceptance of his book project. “The picture helped me get my query accepted,” Morrow said. “I wrote them that ‘he’s been watching as I write the book, now he’s looking over your shoulder,’” he said. For Morrow, the Internet was an invaluable information source. Since his great-great-grandfather could not write, Morrow had no letters home as material. But he scoured the Internet and often hit pay dirt in his contacts with descendents of other members of the regiment in his quest to learn what his ancestor experienced. “In some places there were gaps, but every now and then another door would open for me,” he said. For example, the major of the 77th went to Nebraska as a homesteader after the war. His descendents passed along copies of two of his letters, full of references to the battle of Petersburg. “For people to dig into their possessions and send me copies of letters and pictures was rewarding,” Morrow said. “The project finally came together.” He, in turn, passed along information he unearthed about the regiment and its members to other descendents. For example, he gave the descendent of Col. Windsor French, the regiment’s commanding officer, [the descendant is now himself a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army] all the information about his ancestor. “I always felt the descendents had a right to it,” he said. Morrow rewrote the book three or four times, he said, noting that the first draft was 600 pages, and the finished volume only 200. The cover is a photograph of four officers of the 77th, all of whom died in battle. Morrow, a graduate of Saratoga Springs High School, worked as an industrial engineer at the former General Cable Co. here until he could no longer work. He and his wife, Mary, live on Henderson Road. The publisher, he said, specializes in first books and in the Civil War. Now that he has recounted the story of his great-great grandfather’s regiment, he plans to tackle a novel set during the Civil War and is considering a children’s book as well.
Share
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Senior Golf Series Returns in September

Community submission
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- The Berkshire County Fall Senior Golf series returns in September with events on five consecutive Wednesdays starting Sept. 18.
 
It is the 22nd year of the series, which is a fund-raiser for junior golf in the county, and it is open to players aged 50 and up.
 
The series will feature two divisions for each event based on the combined ages of the playing partners.
 
Golfers play from the white tees (or equivalent) with participants 70 and over or who have a handicap of more than 9 able to play from the forward tees.
 
Gross and net prices will be available in each division.
 
The cost is $55 per event and includes a round of golf, food and prizes. Carts are available for an additional fee.
 
Golfers should call the pro shop at the course for that week's event no sooner than two weeks before the event to register.
 
View Full Story

More Stories

Sports
image description

Big Second Half Lifts Hoosac Girls to Another State Title

Sports
Sports
image description

The Hunt for Red March: Hoosac Valley Girls, Boys Go for State...

Sports
Sports
image description

Kotek, Dupuis Win Individual State Titles

Sports
Sports
image description

Lee Bowlers Win State Championship

Sports
Sports
image description

McGovern Scores 1,000th as Hurricanes Advance

Sports
Sports
image description

Pittsfield's Mullen Takes Two Titles at State Alpine Meet

Sports
Latest Stories
Previous Next

What's Trending?