taking tracks to Auburn
In compliance with the 1863 Conscription Act men in Seneca County have been enrolled and drafted. The next step is for the drafted men to appear before the Board of Enrollment to be examined for their fitness to serve. Here the Provost Marshal is making sure the draftees can get to the examination by boat and/or train.
From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1863:
Transportation for Drafted Men.
The Provost Marshal of this district has designated the following places where drafted men of the several towns of this county can report for transportation to Auburn, on the day designated:
From Waterloo and Junius – at the Waterloo Depot, Aug. 12th, 7 A.M.
From Seneca Falls and Tyre – at the Seneca Falls Depot, Aug. 14th, 7 [1/2] A.M.
From East Varick and East Fayette – at the Seneca Falls Depot, Aug. 29th 10 [1/2] A.M.
From West Varick and West Fayette – at the Waterloo, Aug. 29th 10 [1/4] A.M.
From Romulus – at Sheldrake Landing, Aug. 29th, in time for the morning boat.
From Ovid – at same place and time Aug. 15.
From Covert and Lodi – at Kidders’s Ferry, Aug. 15, in time for morning boat.
The top photo is current and looking in an Auburnly direction. The building on the right originally served as the passenger depot. It currently houses town offices. The freight depot was a bit to the west of the passenger depot. It now provides professional office space. Evidence that the depot has pretty much been in the same place since the railroad came to Seneca Falls can be found at the Seneca County Historian’s page – the village maps from 1850 and 1874. The track is currently used by Finger Lakes Railway.
Sheldrake and Kidder’s Ferry on western shore of Cayuga Lake
renovated Seneca Falls freight depot
