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Barton
Lane enlisted as a private in the 4th New Jersey Infantry
Militia Regiment (Also known as the Twentieth New Jersey Infantry)
on April 27,1861, and was subsequently assigned to Company G. He
served alongside his brother, Corporal James M. Lane. The Fourth
Regiment Militia was commanded by Colonel Matthew Miller, Jr.; his
officers were Lieutenant Colonel Simpson R. Stroud and Major
Robert C. Johnson. This regiment was mustered into the U. S.
service at Trenton, April 27, 1861, to serve for three
months, and left the state for Washington, D. C., on May 3,
with 37 commissioned officers and 743 non-commissioned officers
and privates, a total of 777. On the evening of May 5 it
reached the capital, and on the 9th it was ordered to go into
camp at Meridian hill, where, within a few days the entire
brigade was encamped, and where, on the 12th, it was honored
by a visit from the president, who warmly complimented the
appearance of the troops. On the evening of May 23 it joined
the 2nd and 3d regiments and about midnight took up the line
of march in silence for the bridge that spanned the Potomac.
This bridge was crossed at 2 o'clock on the morning of the
24th, the 2nd was posted at Roach's spring, and the 3d and
4th about half a mile beyond on the Alexandria road. On July
16, a guard was detailed from the 4th for a section of the
Orange & Alexandria railroad, which it was important to
hold; one company from the regiment guarded the Long bridge;
still another was on duty at Arlington mills; and the
remainder of the regiment, together with the 2nd, was ordered
to proceed to Alexandria. On July 24, the term of service
having expired, the 4th returned to New Jersey and was mustered
out at Trenton, July 31, 1861. The total strength of the
regiment was 783, and it lost by discharge 6, by promotion 2,
by death 2 and by desertion 7, mustered out, 766.
Barton Lane was among those mustered out on July 31, 1861
at Trenton. Barton Lane returned to Camden, but not for long.
On
August 12, 1862 Barton Lane enlisted for one year's service in the
United States Navy. He served aboard the USS. Princeton and the
USS. Powhatan.
The
USS Princeton, a 1370-ton screw steamer, was built at the
Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, using the engines from the
previous USS Princeton in
a new hull. She was completed for service in November 1852, with
the intention of sending her to the Far East, but problems with
her boilers prevented the deployment. After repairs, Princeton served
along the East Coast and in the Caribbean area until June 1855,
when she was placed in ordinary. She was used as receiving ship at
Philadelphia from 1857 until she was sold in 1866.
The USS
Powhatan was a sidewheel steam frigate, named for Powhatan,
a Native American chief of eastern Virginia. She
was one of the last, and largest, of the United States Navy's
paddle frigates. Powhatan's
keel was laid on August 6 1847 at Norfolk, Virginia. Her
engines were constructed by Mehaffy & Company of Gosport,
Virginia. She cost $785,000. She was launched on February 14, 1850
by the Norfolk Navy Yard and commissioned on September 2, 1852,
Captain William Mervine in command. Powhatan, under
Comdr. William J. McCluney, was next assigned to the East
India Squadron and arrived on station via Cape of Good
Hope on June 15, 1853. Her arrival in Chinese waters
coincided with an important phase of Commodore Matthew C.
Perry's negotiations for commercial relations with the Japanese and
the opening of two ports. She was Perry's flagship during his
November visit to Whampoa. On February 14, 1854 she entered Yedo
(Tokyo) Bay with the rest of the squadron and the Convention
of Kanagawa was signed on March 31, 1854.
During
August 1855 Powhatan accompanied HMS Rattler in
a successful battle against Chinese pirates off Kowloon,
and reached the U.S. on February 14, 1856 with the new treaty.
The US-Japan
Treaty of Amity and Commerce was signed on her deck on July
19, 1858. On February 13, 1860, the Powhatan accompanied by a Japanese capital
ship, Kanrin Maru that departed on February 9, left Yokohama, Japan,
en route to San Francisco as part of the first official
embassy of the Empire of Japan to the United States of
America.
Powhatan remained
active throughout the Civil War. She served as Flag
Officer Garrett J. Pendergrast's flagship at Vera Cruz during
October 1860. In April 1861, while under the command of
Lt. David Dixon Porter, she assisted in the relief
of Fort Pickens, Florida, and in the establishment of
the blockade of Mobile, Alabama on May 26,
capturing schooner Mary Clinton on May 29. During
July and August Powhatan joined the blockade of the
Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River, retaking
schooner Abby Bradford on August 15. From late August to
October she pursued CSS Sumter throughout much of
the West Indies.
Barton
Lane was serving aboard Powhatan when she operated
off Charleston, South Carolina from October 1862 to
August 1863. USS Powhatan captured the schooner Major E. Willis on
April 19 and sloop C. Routereau on May 16, 1863. Barton
Lane completed his term of
service with the Navy and mustered out on September 1, 1863. While
serving aboard the USS Powhatan, one of his shipmates was First
Class Fireman William
P. Marsh. Both men would later serve as members of the Camden
Fire Department.
After
another stay in Camden, Barton Lane once again went off to war. On
September 19, 1864 Barton Lane enlisted in Company K,
New Jersey 2nd Cavalry Regiment. He joined the regiment in
Memphis, Tennessee and participated in the raid on Egypt Station
on December 18, 1864. As an incident of the expedition sent
out from Memphis to destroy the Mobile & Ohio railroad,
the Union troops, which included the Seventh Indiana, Fourth and
Eleventh Illinois, Fourth and Tenth Missouri, Second Wisconsin,
Second New Jersey, First Mississippi, and Third U.S. Colored
Cavalry attacked the enemy at Egypt Station on the morning of
December 28. The Confederate force was about 1,200 strong and
consisted of
infantry, cavalry and 4 guns mounted on platform cars. Two trains
of Confederate troops under Major General Gardner were in sight
when the attack was made, but a Federal force being thrown
between them and the stockade, which was taken by assault in
2 hours, they were unable to do anything. The entire
garrison, numbering 500, were made prisoners. The
casualties are not given, but it is noted that Confederate Brigadier
General Gholson was killed. The Union force also captured or
destroyed 300 army wagons, 4,000 new carbines, an immense amount
of ammunition, two trains of cars and a large amount of commissary
and quartermaster's stores.
Private
Barton Lane mustered out once and for all with his regiment on
June 29, 1865 at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Returning home from the
war, Barton Lane returned to Camden, married Drucilla Ivins in
1866 and started a family. The 1870 Census shows Barton Lane, wife
Drucilla and their children Joseph and Virginia in Camden's South
Ward, where they lived two doors away from future Chief of the
Camden Fire Department Henry F. Surault and three doors from
future Chief of Department and Mayor Claudius Bradshaw.
It
should be noted that Barton
Lane was related by marriage to three Camden Fire Department
members of the 1870s. In April of 1866, Drucilla Ivins Lane's
brother Alfred Ivins
married Emma Streeper, a sister of John
W. Streeper. William
Gleason had already married Ellen Ivins.
On
December 7, 1869 the Camden Fire Department went into service.
Barton Lane's older brother James
M. Lane was one of the charter
members, serving as an extra man with the Hook & Ladder
Company.
On
October 9, 1872 Barton
Lane was appointed to the Camden Fire Department to serve as a
stoker with Engine Company 2 as a replacement for Henry
Grosscup,
who had resigned. He was dismissed from this position on November
6, 1872 and was replaced by Joseph
Swing, who served for less than
a month before being replaced in turn by Thomas
McLaughlin.
On
April 8, 1877 Barton Lane's older brother Charles M. Lane was
appointed to the Camden Fire Department as an extra man with the Hook & Ladder
Company, taking the place of his brother James
M. Lane, who had been promoted to foreman of the Company, a
position similar to that of modern day Captain. Charles M. Lane
was removed from service on November 24 and was replaced by
Benjamin Cavanaugh.
The
1878-1879 Camden City Directory lists Barton Lane at 650 John
Street,
which was renamed Locust Street in later years. By the time the
1880 Census was taken, Barton Lane and his family, which now included
three more children, James, Ella, and Annie had moved across the
street to 649 John Street. By the end of
1881 the Lanes had moved, and William
Wannan, who would be appointed to the Fire Department the next
year, had moved in. The 1881-1882 City Directory shows Barton Lane
at 230 Line
Street.
The
1882-1883 City Directory lists Barton Lane at 675 Spring Street.
The 1883-1884 and 1884-1885 City Directories show Barton Lane at
701 Spring Street. The 1887 City Directory shows Barton Lane at
648 South
2nd Street. He lived at 655 Locust Street in 1888 and stayed
through at least 1892.
On
November 3, 1892 Barton Lane was granted an invalid's pension for
his Civil War Service.
The
1893-1894 Directory shows the Lane family at 213 Line
Street. By the following year he had moved to 643 Locust
Street, where he stayed into 1895. The 1896 City Directory shows
Barton Lane working as a hostler. He then returned to 701 Spring
Street for a year. City Directories from 1897 through 1906 reveal
that Barton Lane was living at 532 Henry
Street in South Camden. The 1900 Census list him, his wife Drucilla and children James
M., William, and Joseph, and Joseph's wife Jennie.
The
1910 Census shows Barton and Drucilla Lane living at 310
Washington Street. He was by then retired. Also living at that
address were their children James M., Hannah, William, and Joseph;
Joseph's wife Jennie, and their child, Robert. Just around the
corner at 424 South 3rd Street lived long-time Camden fire fighter
Frank Turner.
Barton
Lane died on June 7, 1911. Drucilla Lane was approved for her
Civil War widow's pension on June 24, 1911.
Barton
Lane's nephew, Albion R.
Lane, was well known in Camden in later years operating a
butter and egg business. Albion Lane's grandson, Robert
C. Lane, was killed in action in North Africa in 1943.
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