cr ft m sonry - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic District Historical ...

At the close of the war he received the brevetted rank of Major
Obituary of Moses Summers
from The N.Y. Times, June 16, 1882, p. 5
http://web.cortland.edu/woosterk/genweb/summers_obit.html
Col. Moses Summers, of No. 21 Delancey Street, New York, the Port Warden, while walking on the
beams fell into the hold of the bark Prince Albert, at the foot of Amity street, Brooklyn, on Saturday,
June 3, died at the Long Island College Hospital last evening.
His spine was both dislocated and fractured by the fall. Col. Summers was born in Wexford County,
Ireland, on the 1st of January, 1819, and was brought to this country by his parents when only 1 year
old. They settled in Oswego, and here young Summers learned the trade of printer. In 1841 he went to
Syracuse, and was employed as journeyman printer on the Syracuse Standard. That year, when Jerry,
the escaped negro slave from Missouri, was arrested and brought into court in Syracuse, Col.
Summers was one of the party that rescued the fugitive. He was indicted for the offense, but his trial
never came off. He worked as a printer on the Standard until 1848, when he purchased a half interest
in that paper and assumed editorial management. He was a great friend of Gen. Henry A. Barnum, and
when that gentleman took the One Hundred and Forty-ninth Regiment into the field he appointed Col.
Summers Quartermaster. Col. Summers at once left his position, abandoned his property and marched
out to defend the Union.
This was in 1862. He served with the regiment in the Army of the Potomac until after the battles of
Gettysburg, when the command was transferred to the Department of the Cumberland in the West. In
the early part of 1864, upon the recommendation of the Hon. Thomas T. Davis, then member of
Congress from Onondaga District, President Lincoln appointed Summers Captain and Assistant
Quartermaster in the Army, and he was assigned to duty in the brigade commanded by Gen. Barnum
in the Twentieth Army Corps. He served in this position until the close of the war, being present at the
battles of Wauhatchie, Lookout Mountain, and Chattanooga, and making the campaigns with Sherman
of Atlanta, Savannah, and the Carolinas, and his large property accounts with the Government were
found to be absolutely correct, and were promptly settled. For his efficient services in the field he was
brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel of Volunteers.
After the war he was appointed Quartermaster on the staff of the Major-General commanding the Sixth Division of the National
Guard of this State, and held this position until his death. He resumed editorial charge of the Syracuse Standard in 1865. Two years
ago he was appointed Port Warden in the City, and one year ago he resigned the editorial management of his paper. He was an
enthusiastic Republican, and was regarded as a man of keen judgment and great foresight in political affairs, and his advice was
often sought by the leaders of the party.
http://home.earthlink.net/~dahoude/from_the_archives.htm
4TH REGIMENT. - Quartermaster Summers arrived home from New York on Sunday morning. The supplies of clothing, &c., were
very scarce, owing to the rapidity which regiments are coming in. He succeeded in procuring the blankets, and it is expected the
uniforms will be shipped before many days. (Syracuse Daily Courier and Union 2 Sep 1862)
CLOTHING FOR THE NEW REGIMENT. We learn that a full supply of army blankets, of good quality, has been received by
Quartermaster Summers, for the Fourth Onondaga Regiment, and they will be served out to the men as fast as they are ready to
take up quarters in Camp. It is impossible at the present time to obtain uniforms and other necessary articles of clothing, but they
will be forthcoming at an early day. Since the appointment of our “local” friend Moses, of the Standard, to the position of Quarter-
Master of the new, or Fourth Onondaga Regiment, he has been very active in seeing to the wants of the men, and has displayed the
same agility and untiring perseverance which has at all times characterized his connection with the press, as an able and
industrious local editor. We are not apprised as to who will be his successor in the local Chair, but whoever he may be, with all due
deference to whatever talent he may bring to his aid, we are quite sure that the readers of the Standard will miss the pungent pen of
our former cotemporary, while we shall be relieved from many a sharp poke in the ribs. But notwithstanding all this, which to his
readere, like the fable of the boy and the frogs was “fun to them but death to us,” we, too, shall miss his genial, every day
association, and the frank, generous and courteous manner in which he has always treated us, personally. Ever willing to impart any
information to us within his knowledge, which might be of service to us, we found him accommodating and communicative to an
extent that perhaps we had no right to expect. But what his former readers will loose through his absence as local editor, they will
gain it in the service of interesting letters that he will be able to send his paper from time to time, from the seat of war. As Quarter-
Master of the regiment, the gallant boys will find in our old friend Moses, one ever alive to their best interests, and who will be
constantly on the alert to supply their every want in time of need. In taking leave of him as one of our most genial and clever city
cotemporaries, our regards shall follow him upon the tented field, coupled with hopes for his personal safety and future prosperity
and when, at the end of the war he shall return home, conscious of having performed his whole duty to our common country, none
will be more rejoiced at the opportunity of extending to him a warm greeting and the right hand of editorial fellowship than his
humble servant the “local” of the Courier and Union. (Syracuse Daily Courier and Union 3 Sep 1862)
CONSOLIDATION OF THE FOURTH ONONDAGA REGIMENT. This regiment was consolidated on Wednesday under the
designation of the One Hundred and Forty-ninth (149th) Regiment, when all the Captains and most of the Lieutenants were
appointed. We like the number designating the regiment. It sounds strong, and looks invincible. Quarter-Master Summers furnishes
his paper with some items of interest in regard to camp matters, which we subjoin :
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