Portal:American Civil War/Selected biography/37

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Johnston Livingston de Peyster (June 14, 1846 – May 27, 1903) was a soldier in the Union Army during the American Civil War and later a member of the New York State Assembly from Dutchess County, New York. The son of a wealthy old Dutchess County family, de Peyster joined the Union Army at the age of eighteen as a lieutenant. He saw service in the eastern theater, and is best remembered for raising the first Union flag over the Confederate capitol of Richmond, Virginia after its fall in 1865.

The Richmond diarist Sallie Putnam wrote of de Peyster's exploits, that "Lieutenant John Livingston de Peyster, riding with General Weitzel's staff proceeded directly to the Capitol, and planted once more the "Stars and Stripes" - the ensign of our subjugation - on that ancient edifice. As its folds were given to the breeze, while still we heard the roaring, hissing, crackling flames, the explosions of an old, familiar tune floated upon the air - a tune that, in days gone by, was wont to awaken a thrill of patriotism. But now only the most bitter and crushing recollections awoke within us, as upon our quickened hearing fell the strains of "The Star Spangled Banner." For us it was a requiem for buried hopes."