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Description: Albert Husted http://home.nycap.rr.com/civilwar/husted.htm ****************** Albert Nathaniel Husted To the Executive Committee of the State Normal School: Gentlemen, Having assisted in raising the Normal School Company, and having accepted a Lieutenancy therein, I hereby resign my situation as teacher in the institution of which you have charge. Respectfully, Albert N. Husted \l "N_1_" Just as with Professor Kimball, the Executive Committee approved the resignation of Albert N. Husted, an Instructor of Mathematics. Husted was twenty-eight years old when he mustered into Company E on September 6, 1862 as a 2nd Lieutenant. With Kimball, he had helped organize the Normal School Company, and felt it was his duty to serve as well. ? Albert Husted was born October 10, 1833 in Washington, Dutchess County, New York. The eldest of six sons, Husted was born to Nathaniel and Elmira Husted, and was the grandson of Thaddeus Husted, an officer during the American Revolution. Albert graduated from the Gates Academy, Orleans County at age eighteen. He taught for one year at a common school and then attended the State Normal School, from which he graduated in 1855. \l "N_2_" Immediately after his graduation, he was appointed as an Instructor of Mathematics at the Normal School. Unlike Kimball, Husted's military service was lengthy and noble. He participated in all battles with the Army of the Potomac between October 1862 and October 1864. Slightly wounded at Chancellorsville in May of 1863, but not hospitalized, he credited the testament and diary carried in his side pocket with saving his life. \l "N_3_" Husted was promoted to 1st Lieutenant on January 28, 1863 and Captain on September 20, 1863. During the Wilderness campaign, he again escaped death at Saunder's Field as his hat and his bootleg were both pierced by bullets and he narrowly avoided capture. \l "N_4_" Captain Husted was mustered out of service with an honorable discharge on October 14, 1864, when the 44th was consolidated with the 140th and 146th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiments, and the old regiment's officers were no longer needed. \l "N_5_" James Woodworth refers to Lieutenant Husted in his letters to his wife. Initially, he considered Husted to be an "insipid, little coward." \l "N_6_" But his continued service and bravery in battle changed his perception in the eyes of his men. When Woodworth fell ill in October 1863, he saw Husted a bit differently, and recognized the kindness that the officer gave him: "The Lieutenant is going to get me some potatoes tomorrow. He thinks a good deal of me and I probably owe a part of my good treatment to him. He is very solicitous in my behalf and calls everyday." \l "N_7_" On November 9, 1864 the Executive Committee of the State Normal School entertained the request of "Captain Albert N. Husted, a former teacher, whose term of service in the Army had lately expired," for reappointment to a Professorship. The committee approved his reappointment and granted a salary of $1000 per annum, and at the next meeting, the committee chairman finalized his return to teaching. \l "N_8_" Husted resumed his position as Instructor of Mathematics, and remained at the Normal School until his death in 1912, earning a full professorship upon the Professor Kimball's resignation in 1869. Professor Husted earned an A.M from Hamilton College in 1866, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1896. \l "N_9_" Aside from his teaching duties at the Normal School, Professor Husted also served as the school's interim President upon the death of President Edward Waterbury in 1889. For his services as interim president between September 13 - October 29, 1889 Husted was compensated an additional $147 for the difference in pay for Professor and President. \l "N_10_" In 1867, Professor Husted married a Normal School undergraduate, Miss Jane E. Ingersoll. They had two daughters, and remained married until his wife's death in 1891. Husted married Elizabeth Neemes Gladding in 1903. Husted and his wife Elizabeth received visitors to their home at 314 Hamilton St., Albany, on Wednesday evenings, and the family summered in Spencertown, Columbia County, New York. \l "N_11_" During his 57 years of teaching at the Normal School, Professor Husted became involved in several social and charitable societies of Albany. His involvement included: Commander of Post 63, New York Grand Army of the Republic; Trustee and Treasurer of the Albany Institute and Historical Society; Treasurer and a member of the Executive Committee of the New York Sabbath Association; President of the Albany City Mission for 3 years; Superintendent of the Rensselaer Street Henion Mission Sunday School; Elder at the Reformed (Dutch) Church; member and Historian for 4 years in the Sons of the Revolution; member of the Military Order of Loyal Legion; and Treasurer of the Home for Christian Workers. \l "N_12_" ?? Husted was described as "tall, erect, keen of eye and firm of step." \l "N_13_" In the classroom he was noted for his "patient, logical mode of procedure." \l "N_14_" When he completed fifty years of teaching at the State Normal School, a reception was given by the President and faculty and the Dr. A. N. Husted Fellowship was established. \l "N_15_" Professor Husted died on October 12, 1912. His funeral, described by the local newspapers as one of the largest in many years, was held at the Normal School. It was only the second time in the school's history that such an event had occurred. "A profusion of floral tokens were in evidence" as the pall bearers, all deans and professors at the school, escorted Dr. Husted to his site of interment at Spencertown. \l "N_16_" On October 23, 1912 the students and faculty gathered to honor the memory of Professor Husted. Resolutions by the faculty and a committee of students were read and unanimously endorsed by the student body. Dr. Milne, President of the Normal School, described Dr. Husted as "a splendid character, so filled with kindliness for his fellow creatures and reverence for his God." The service ended with Husted's favorite songs: "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground," and "America." \l "N_17_" 1. Executive Committee Minutes of the State Normal School at Albany, Volume 1. Transcription, 285. 2. Newspaper article, unknown. Special Collections, State University of New York, Albany. 3. Nash, 145. 4. Ibid. 5. Ibid., 261. 6. James Woodworth Papers, Lawrence Hotchkiss Collection, William Clements Library, University of Michigan. 7. Ibid. 8. Executive Committee, 298. 9. Obituary, unknown source. Special Collections, State University of New York, Albany. 10. Executive Committee Minutes of the State Normal School at Albany, Volume 2. Transcription, 547-554. 11. The Albany and Troy Blue Book, 1906 (New York: Dow Publishing Co. 1906). Elizabeth Neemes Gladding was an 1860 graduate of the Normal School, and was the widow of John Ostrom, a member of the Normal School Company. 12. The Echo. Monthly Student Publication (State Normal College: Albany, New York), June 1905. 13. Ibid., November 1912, 125. 14. Ibid., 127. 15. Ibid., 126. 16. Newspaper article, unknown. Special Collections, State University of New York, Albany. 17. Ibid.