Mott Monument
This memorial to the two brothers who died in 1864 originally stood in the Freeport Cemetery. After the cemetery closed, the American Legion moved this memorial to Station Park and than moved to Village Hall Park. Years later, it was moved across the street to the corner of Ocean Avenue and Brooklyn Avenue. In the 1990s, this memorial was
moved to the grounds of the Freeport Historical Society. The names and war records of Dandridge and Joseph Mott appear on opposite sided of the gravestone-like monument. They were the sons of Willet and Sarah Mott of Freeport. According to a widow’s pension application filed in 1881, the soldiers sent money for the support of their mother and two younger brothers.The Reverend J. A. Morgan, pastor of Hempstead Presbyterian Church, eulogized the brothers on April 2, 1865, in a memorial sermon at the Freeport First Presbyterian Church. He said that they made “the supreme sacrifice” four months apart after “hurrying away to the field of conflict and bloodshed in obedience to one of the noblest sentiments that ever thrilled the heart of man.”
Dandridge enlisted at the age of 15 to Company H, 119th Regiment, New York Volunteers, 20th Army Corps. He fought in 23 battles. The day before he died in June 1864, his regiment had held out against rebel forces near Marietta, GA and continued to do so half of the next day. A sharpshooter’s bullet killed him instantly while he was under the command of General Hooker, fighting his way towards Atlanta. His other battles included Chancelorville, VA, Gettysburg, PA, and Lookout Valley, TN. At the time of his death, Dandridge was 17 years old.
His brother Joseph Mott was a member of Company H, Fourth Regiment, Heavy Artillery, New York, Volunteers. In March 1864, his regiment joined General Ulysses S. Grant’s advance upon James River in VA and his famous charge against Petersburg where a large number of Joseph’s companions fell. On August 19, 1864, he was captured with some 40 other Union soldiers at Ream’s Station, VA. Joseph died in October of starvation and exposure at the Confederate war prison in Salisbury, NC. He was 19 years old.
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