The life of John Lafayette Riker

by John Tierney

John Lafayette Riker was born August 15, 1824 into a famous New York family, the second son of James Riker a merchant and landowner and Elizabeth Van Arsdale. The Riker family home appears to have been at 134 Delancey Street, Manhattan in an area which today is known as the Lower East Side. The head of the household during Riker’s childhood was his maternal grandfather the famous Captain John Van Arsdale who tore down the British Flag from the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan and hoisted the Stars and Stripes on Evacuation Day, November 25, 1883. The Riker family was, without a doubt, connected with New York's wealthy and influential elite, with Riker's father, James, having once been a member of the City's Common Council. His elder brother, James, was to become the foremost genealogist of his day.

John L. Riker is said to have been given his second name, "Lafayette", by his grandfather, John Van Arsdale, in honor of Gen. Lafayette who had arrived at Staten Island on the day that Riker was born. Van Arsdale had served with Lafayette during the Revolutionary War and had met with him on August 16, 1824, the day after Riker's birth. Van Arsdale and the Veteran Corp of Artillery, of which he was a member, had received Gen. Lafayette at the Battery, on that day. Despite a lapse of forty-four years Van Arsdale was recognized by Gen. Lafayette which so pleased him, that later that day when he visited his new-born grandson, he named him "John Lafayette".

Tragedy seems to have dogged the young John Lafayette and would seem follow him throughout his relatively short life. The most tragic event in his early life must have been the loss of his mother, Elizabeth, who died at the age of 43 on October 10, 1834 when John Lafayette was only 10 years old. Elizabeth left her husband James with six children the eldest of which was 18 and the youngest no older than 6 or 7. On the day before Riker’s twelth birthday, August 14, 1836, the man who had given him  his name “John Lafayette”, his maternal grandfather and family patriarch, died at the home on Delancey Street after a short illness.

Outside of these few facts Riker's early years are not well known and it is not until the 1840's that he emerges, with his marriage to his first cousin, Anna E. Elder. Anna was the eldest daughter of John Lafayette's Aunt, Hannah E. Riker, the younger sister of his father, James. Some time in 1848 James Riker Snr, moved his whole family out of their Delancey Street home and into a new residence in Harlem on 125th Street near to the corner of 5th Avenue. At about the same time Riker's wife, Anna, gave birth to her first child, a girl, which, according to what appears to have been a Riker custom, was dutifully named after her mother and so became Anna Elizabeth Riker. A year or two later she gave birth to her second child, this time a boy, who, following the same tradition, was named John L. Riker Jr.

Life at this point must have seemed good for John Lafayette. Now in his mid twenties he had a wife and two children. It is possible that it was at this time that he considered a career as a lawyer, law being one of the natural habitats of the Riker family. However, in 1851 the life of the young John Lafayette Riker started to fall apart. Two days before Christmas 1851 Riker's wife, Anna, died of the mysterious malady of hysteria. In the following year his father died as well. Perhaps it was due to the death of his wife and that of his father that Riker's young son was with his maternal grandparents, the Elders, in Stamford Connecticut, when, in November 1854, John L. Jnr., died of congestion of the brain. The funeral for Riker's son was held at the Riker family home on 125th Street on November 15, 1854. Given these events it is understandable that when Riker left New York in August 1861, for Washington and the seat of war, he took his 13 year old daughter, Anna Elizabeth, with him.

After his son's death Riker continued to live with his daughter Anna, his brother James and his other siblings under the one roof in Harlem for the next five years or so. It is possible, that Riker may have joined the local Mechanics Hook & Ladder Company No 7, which had its headquarters on the corner of Third Ave and 126th Street only a few blocks from the family home. The fire company had representatives attend Riker's funeral in 1862 and it was said in a newspaper report at the time that Riker was an honorary member of the company.

The volunteer fire fighters were a strong political faction associated with the Democratic Party and so, like other members of the Riker family, John Lafayette was a Democrat, anti-Lincoln and politically opposed to the state legislature, which was dominated by the Republican Party. It is most likely this political affiliation that led to Riker establishing his regimental headquarters in 1861 at the Everett House on Union Square, which had long been associated with the Democrats. It may also have been this Democratic allegiance that led to the difficulties Riker had getting approval from Governor Morgan, a Republican, for his regiment to be accepted by the War Department.  

In the late 1850's Riker studied law at the University of the City of New York and in 1860 he was admitted to the bar. Soon after Riker had passed his bar exam the firing by the Confederates on Fort Sumter plunged the nation and Riker into new turmoil. If Riker was a member of the volunteer fire service, as suggested above, then it was only natural that he would enlist, and so on April 19, only three days after the state legislature authorised the governor to put New York's 30,000 troops at the disposal of the President, John Lafayette Riker enlisted as a Colonel in the volunteer forces of New York. It is no surprise that members of the volunteer fire service were some of the first to enlist for the war. They were fiercely patriotic and there was great competition amongst the various volunteer companies; each racing the others to fires when they erupted, in pursuit of civic glory. There must have been a certain expectation that Riker, as a firefighter, even if only in an honorary capacity, and a gentleman with a famous name and a patriotic heritage, would do something out of the ordinary as a volunteer for the war. And so it was, that in late April 1861 the New York dailies announced the organisation of the Anderson Zouaves.

The status of the Anderson Zouaves was made clear when on August 18 three days before the regiment left Riker's Island for the seat of war, Company A, in its colourful new uniform, under the command of Lieutenant Knight, escorted General Wool through New York City on his way to Fort Monroe. Upon arriving in Washington the "pet regiment of New York" was brigaded with three regiments, two of which had been important pre-war militias and given the task of guarding the strategically important northern approaches to Washington and the famous Chain Bridge.

Having already lost his wife and his son, it seems Riker could not bear to be parted from his 13 year old daughter, Anna, and so she accompanied him and his regiment to their camp at Tennallytown, north west of Washington. Here fate or perhaps even Riker's own officers, conspired against him and once again Riker's life was thrown into chaos, with Riker having to suffer the indignity of a court martial. Riker was found to be innocent of the charges but a cloud had settled over the Colonel, which he would never shake off despite the support and loyalty of his rank and file. Peck, the brigade commander, thought the Anderson Zouaves, the worst of all New York regiments. Riker was portrayed as a ponce by De Trobriand and was criticised by brigade officers for employing the services of a special drill instructor. However, his foresight in this respect at least was to prove its worth on the field of battle before Fort Magruder in May 1862 with his men benefiting from the light infantry and zouave tactics they learnt at this time.

On May 31st, 1862, at Fair Oaks VA., Riker's regiment was detached from its brigade by the Division Commander, General Couch, to defend the threatened right flank of the Union line, and it was here, to the left of Kirby's battery, which the Anderson Zouaves were supporting, that the gallant Colonel, while coolly leading his regiment into battle, fell to enemy fire. Boldly mounted upon a white horse, Riker made an obvious target for rebel marksmen.

Accounts of Rikers’s last words vary slightly, however all agree in the essentials. When the fatal shot was fired, Riker had just turned around to the Regiment, who were hemmed in, and cried out, "Boys, we are surrounded – give them cold steel now." Suddenly dropping from his horse, Riker was dead. A Confederate musket ball had entered his right side, while he was turned to cheer on his men, and came out his front. The shock of the colonel’s death caused the regiment to recoil about 20 yards but they rallied and turned back to the firing line while comrades took Riker’s body from the field.

It was said that Riker had a presentiment of his own death, for prior to going into action he gave to Lieutenant Bradley, his Aide-de-Camp, tokens of love for his friends at home. Bradley was one of the members of the Anderson Zouaves to escort the body of the Colonel back to New York arriving there on Thursday June 5. On June 7 Lieut. Bradley, along with other officers of the regiment and many New York notables such as Geo. W Morton, Esq., Frederick A. Tallmadge and Mr. Charles L. Frost, attended a meeting at the Everett house, where the Colonel’s adventure had started in the April of the previous year, to celebrate Riker’s life and to make arrangements for his funeral.  Lieut.  Bradley gave an account of the battle to the gathered friends of Colonel Riker and declared he never saw a colonel so beloved by his soldiers than was Riker. He recounted the colonel’s magnificent performance prior to his death and commented on his coolness in the most trying situations. As showing this the lieutennant remarked that the colonel was not struck whilst waving his sword, as he never drew his sword at all, but was quietly smoking a cigar.

On June 9 Riker’s funeral at the Presbyterian Church, One Hundred and Twenty-seventh-street, Harlem, was a crowded affair. The church was not large enough for the crowd that had gathered and the footpath outside the church was impassable. Notable among the congregation were members of the Mechanics Hook and Ladder (Fire) Company. The funeral ceremonies had been planned for 3pm but the congregation had gathered long before.

Rev. Ezra L. Gillet conducted the services, and the Rev. Dr. Edwin F. Hatfield delivered the funeral oration. Hatfield spoke highly of Riker’s many virtues, and eulogised his bravery and gallantry at the battle of Fair Oaks. Riker’s coffin was placed in front of the pulpit, open so that his face was exposed. The coffin was draped with the National Flag and was decked with wreathes of immortelles. After the ceremony the family and friends of the colonel slowly passed by the coffin, to look upon the face of Riker one last time.

From the church Riker’s body was transported to the New York’s City Hall where it lay in state in the Governor’s room, along with the body of Colonel Miller of the 81st Pennsylvania who had fallen in the same battle, from 10am to 4pm on June 10. Many New Yorkers filed past the bodies of the fallen colonels until 3pm when the doors to the room were closed, and none but relatives and millitary men were admitted. Soon after the funeral procession was formed and passed out of the front gate of the Park

The sad procession was led by a troop of cavalry followed by two companies of the Fifty-fifth New York State Militia and one company of dismounted cavalry under the command of Captain Goulet. Behind these came the carriages containing relatives and pall-bearers and then the meloncholy hearse of Colonel Riker. The hearse was drawn by six black horses, covered with palls marked “A.Z.”, and led by four members of the regiment. Behind came the Harlem Chasseurs as guard of honour, three officers of the regiment, the colonel's horse, led by his orderly and carriages containing members of the Everett House Committee and the New York National Union Executive. After this came the procession for Colonel Miller, followed by members of Common Council in carriages. Following these was Major General Sandford and staff, officers of the First Division New York State Militia and other volunteer regiments, Chief Engineer Decker and other officers of the Fire Department, the drum corps, Superintendent of Police Kennedy and Inspector Carpenter, and three hundred policemen, in the charge of drill inspector Turnbull. On leaving the Park, the procession moved up Chatham-street, and the Bowery, to Bond-street; thence to Broadway; down Broadway and eventually to Green-wood Cemetery. Such was the crowd that lined the street that the procession which must have numbered in excess of 500 or 600 people proceeded with the utmost difficulty. At the cemetery a volley was fired over the remains of Riker and Miller before they were interred in the receiving vault awaiting permanent burial.

Today a large memorial marks John Lafayette’s plot (section 164, lot 16159) in the Green-wood cemetery where he lies with his daughter, her husband and their son – Riker’s grandson, 1st Lieut. Samuel Crump Jr who died on another battlefield in France in 1918.