Lewis Locke was attached to the First New Jersey Cavalry which was one of the regiments from New Jersey that fought in the Civil War. It was a Union army regiment organized at Trenton under the authority of the US Department of War on Aug. 4, 1861, by William Halstead, a former congressman. Congressman Halstead also served as first Colonel of the regiment.
The Cavalry mustered out at Cloud’s Hills, Virginia, on July 24, 1865. During its service it lost 12 Officers and 116 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and another four Officers and 185 enlisted men by disease; for a total of 317 lost to death or disease.
It also had more than its share of heroes, with no fewer than twelve men from the Unit receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor. Among these was Lewis Locke, also known as Louis Tacy.
Locke was born in Clintonville, in Essex County, and apparently the family moved to Jersey City at some point before he entered service.
It was on April 5, 1865, at Paine’s Crossroads in Virginia when Pvt. Locke’s regiment was heading to Sailor’s Creek near Farmville, Virginia, part of the Appomattox Campaign. It was to be the last major engagement between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia commanded General Robert E. Lee and the Army of the Potomac under Lt. General Ulysses Grant.
The Confederate Army suffered a crushing defeat at Petersburg and were hoping to get supplies at Lynchburg when they met up with a strong Union force and the New Jersey Cavalry. Two small bridges over Saylor’s Creek delayed the Confederates on their escape route when they were met by the New Jersey regiment.
The inscription on Locke’s Medal of Honor says simply “Capture of a Confederate Flag.” He was one of a dozen men who received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions at the battle. Of that number Jersey City is credited with the enlisting location of no fewer than eight of the Cavalry members who participated at this battle and the following day at Saylor’s Creek.
Private Lewis Locke received his Medal of Honor on May 3, 1865. He died Jan. 4, 1920 in South Hadley Falls, MA, and is buried as Louis Tacy at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Northampton, Mass.
The regiment is honored with a monument at Gettysburg National Cemetery. The 102nd Cavalry Regiment, part of the NJ Army National Guard, was originally designated the 1st New Jersey Cavalry Regiment and was composed of troops from across the state when it was established in 1913. Informally it was considered to be a successor of the original First NJ Cavalry; however, since there was an almost 50-year lapse in regimental structure, it is not formally the successor of the Civil War unit.
Other New Jersey Recipients of the Medal of Honor
