Private John Codman Pollitz, 44th Massachusetts
On Sunday, June 2, 2019, eight members of the Moses A. Baldwin Camp #544, Hempstead, New York participated in a ceremony rededicating the grave of Private John Codman Pollitz. John was born in Brooklyn and was a resident of Roslyn, Long Island, New York who left college in Boston to enlist in Company F of the 44th Massachusetts Infantry on August 29, 1862. He died of disease at the Regiment’s hospital at New Bern, North Carolina on January 7, 1863 at the age of 19.
In 1863, John's body was brought home and interred in the floor of Roslyn’s then brand new Trinity Episcopal Church, an honor given as, in addition to his supreme sacrifice to preserve the Union, he had served as superintendent of the parish’s Sunday School and had donated his soldier's pay to the church to purchase a bell for its belfry, the finishing touch for the new church. The bell that John bought was tolled for the first time at his own funeral. In 1906, a new church designed by McKim Mead & White was constructed on the site of the old including a raised floor which concealed John's grave and memorial stone which was laid flat on the ground to accommodate the new floor above.
That 110 year old floor was recently removed as part of necessary repairs thus revealing the stone. Parish officials decided to install a bronze plaque in the replacement floor over the grave and to rededicate it to honor John. The ceremony included a Mass at which the Battle Hymn of the Republic was sung by the choir and congregation followed by a dedication according to the ritual of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW). Finally, John’s name and final resting place have now been added to the 700,000 names already in the SUVCW database of graves of Union Veterans.
John’ father, a merchant and importer, immigrated from Hamburg, Germany in 1834 and married his mother, Mary Margaret Codman of Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1842. In addition to his parents, John was mourned by his older sister Emma and five younger brothers and sisters.
John had attended high school at Brooklyn Polytechnic when it was both a preparatory school and a college and he had moved on to college in Boston. John did not have to go to war. There was no draft at the time and, when the draft would come six months after John's death, his family, living on a 75 acre farm, could have afforded to pay a substitute under the rules then in effect.
Commander Fred Kuntz, led the contingent. Brother Don Mc Mahon presided at the rededication and brothers John Shaud, PCC, Scott McKendrick, PCC, William Kempner, David Kempner, Kevin Duffy, and Dennis Duffy participated.
Brother William Kempner is an associate member of Trinity parish. His mother was buried from the church and he is co-trustee of the Josephonis Trust established by a bequest for the benefit of Trinity Parish. When, as trustee, he approved the funds for the new floor little did he know what would be found!
Dennis J. Duffy, Secretary-Treasurer, Moses A. Baldwin Camp #544, &
Graves Registration Officer, Department of New York, SUVCW