FREDERICK F. GOFF
Frederick Fayett Goff was born on May 18th, 1832 in Richland, New York. His mother died while giving birth to him or soon thereafter, and his father noted in a document: "Frederick Fayett Goff, this a gift from your father, your Mother is Dead and I want you should mind your Uncle Orange and live with him until you are 21 years of age and my request is that you would never tell a Lie, signed Ephraim Goff." In 1855 Frederick married Delia Parkhurst at Sandy Creek, New York and their only child, a daughter named Bella, was born two years later.
Frederick enlisted in the Union Army on September 10th, 1861 and was mustered into Battery G, 1st New York Light Artillery as a Quartermaster Sergeant. 54 men enlisted in Battery G that September, all of them, like Fred Goff, from Oswego County. They left New York in late October, arriving in Washington D.C. on the 31st. They spent the winter of ’61 learning the craft of being of being a soldier, and of being artillerymen. The Captain of the battery, a Regular Army officer named John D. Frank, was an extreme and severe disciplinarian. He was rewarded for his methods in the spring of 1862, when every man in the Battery except one signed a petition asking that he be removed due to his "harsh and unjust treatment" of the men under his command. A private conversation between Captain Frank and his Corps commander, Major General Sumner, seems to have fixed the problem as the men had no more complaints of Captain Frank’s behavior from that time forward.
Sgt. Goff and the rest of Battery G saw their first real combat during the 7 Days Battle around Richmond, Virginia in the summer of 1862. During one of these battles Sgt. Goff was captured by the Confederates and sent to a prison in Richmond. At this stage of the war prisoners were still exchanged, meaning after a few weeks the prisoner would be sent back to the Union Army after a captured Confederate had been returned to his army. Sgt Goff was able to rejoin Battery G in early August, and the following month found himself involved in the bloodiest day in American military history, the Battle of Antietam near Sharpsburg, Maryland. Battery G fired over 300 shells that day and was involved in some of the heaviest fighting. The unit was next engaged in the Union disaster at Fredericksburg, Virginia in December of 1862 and shortly thereafter went into winter quarters.
In March of 1863 Sgt. Goff was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and placed in charge of 2 of the battery’s 6 guns. After seeing action at Chancellorsville, Virginia in May of 1863 Battery G was sent into Pennsylvania for the climatic three day battle of Gettysburg in early July. On the second day of the battle, July 2nd, Lt. Goff and Battery G were in the thick of the fighting in and around the Peach Orchard and on July 3rd they took part in the largest artillery duel ever on the North American continent, when over 230 guns blasted away at each other for 90 minutes. The sound of the cannonade was so intense that civilians reported hearing it from as far away as 140 miles. Lt. Goff was mentioned twice in the Battery’s official battle report and complimented for his skill and coolness.
Gettysburg would be the last battle for Lt. Goff. The 2 years of hard campaigning and intense combat had taken a physical toll, and in August of 1863 he was admitted to the hospital in Georgetown suffering from rheumatism, diarrhea, and an infection of the urinary tract. He stayed in the hospital until November and then was sent home to New York to recover. His health still not improving, he resigned his commission in January of 1864 and was granted a discharge for disability.
After the war Fred Goff and his family moved to Walnut Grove, Minnesota, where he lived the quiet life of an office clerk. After his retirement he moved with his wife to Santa Ana in 1912 and lived with his granddaughter on South Sycamore Street. He died in his sleep while visiting friends in Los Angeles on September 28th, 1915 and is buried in Fairhaven Memorial Park. He was 83 years old. His wife Delia lived to age 97, passing away in Santa Ana in 1932.