Horace Denton Paret (1825-1880)
H.D. Paret served in company K of the famous NY 124th regiment in the civil war. Known commonly as the “Orange Blossoms” they fought in many important battles including Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Petersburg as well as being during the confederate surrender at Appomattox. H.D. Paret was an ambulance driver and drove a team of horses with carriage to pick up the dead and wounded. He saved hundreds of lives during his years toiling in the gruesome task. He often wrote home to family and to the publisher of the Whig Press, Moses Stivers so his observations and notices of dead and wounded could be printed for the public. His sorrows and faithful service can be surmised by the lines of the following letter (April 8th 1863) in which he could not make it across the river with his wagon to retrieve wounded comrades who he loved since boyhood: ” Jacob Denton was shot dead and Alanson Miller, these two were shot dead. We don’t hear of Gordon Cox, he was wounded and I saw him at the brick house over the river and I tried to get him and George Vansciver and Will Wood. They were there wounded and I tried to get them in my ambulance but could not.” In subsequent letters he mentions his anxieties regarding his dear friend Gordon Cox and fearing the worst. Gordon Cox was later reported killed in action.
H.D. Paret served in company K of the famous NY 124th regiment in the civil war. Known commonly as the “Orange Blossoms” they fought in many important battles including Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Petersburg as well as being during the confederate surrender at Appomattox. H.D. Paret was an ambulance driver and drove a team of horses with carriage to pick up the dead and wounded. He saved hundreds of lives during his years toiling in the gruesome task. He often wrote home to family and to the publisher of the Whig Press, Moses Stivers so his observations and notices of dead and wounded could be printed for the public. His sorrows and faithful service can be surmised by the lines of the following letter (April 8th 1863) in which he could not make it across the river with his wagon to retrieve wounded comrades who he loved since boyhood: ” Jacob Denton was shot dead and Alanson Miller, these two were shot dead. We don’t hear of Gordon Cox, he was wounded and I saw him at the brick house over the river and I tried to get him and George Vansciver and Will Wood. They were there wounded and I tried to get them in my ambulance but could not.” In subsequent letters he mentions his anxieties regarding his dear friend Gordon Cox and fearing the worst. Gordon Cox was later reported killed in action.