05/25/2026
Col. Dudley Donnelly was born in Homer, NY in 1824 and came to Lockport when he was 17. He had begun studying law under his father in Homer and later continued his studies in Lockport. He married Cecelia Baright of Lockport in the early 1850s and their only child, Julia, was born in 1853. In 1860 he was listed as “magistrate” and living on Niagara Street near North Transit Street. He held the rank of Colonel in the 66th Regiment of the Niagara County Militia and retained that rank when he enlisted in the 28th Regiment of the New York State Volunteer Infantry. This unit was made up mostly of men from Niagara County, particularly Lockport. They were mustered in on May 21, 1861 and were sent to Washington. The regiment saw action the battles of Wi******er, Cedar Mountain, Chancellorsville and Second Manassas. It was on August 9, 1862, at Cedar Mountain, Virginia, that Col. Donnelly was mortally wounded and died the next day. His body was returned to Lockport for a funeral on August 20th in which the commercial/business section of the city shutdown and was draped in heavy black mourning cloth. His body laid in state at the Judson House the day before and thousands passed through to see the fallen soldier. On the day of the funeral, a procession was made from the Judson House to Grace Episcopal Church at Cottage and Genesee Streets. Following the service at the church, a procession, which included the hearse, soldiers, firemen, a cornet band playing the “Dead March,” a riderless horse, carriages carrying Donnelly’s relatives and friends, and “citizens generally in carriages” and some on foot, made their way to Cold Spring Cemetery where Donnelly was laid to rest. Tributes poured in from all quarters attesting to Donnelly’s fine character as a man and his leadership and bravery as a soldier. The men of the 28th who still remained, mourned him deeply but continued on until the regiment was mustered out on June 4, 1863.
