Michael

The Evening Standard, Syracuse, NY, Friday, 14 April 1893 . Resignation of Major Auer. The Record of an Able Soldier - The Loss of the National Guard. It is understood within military circles that Maj. Michael Auer is soon to retire from service in the National Guard, and that his resignation is now in the hands of the Commander-in-Chief. Major Auer's career as a soldier affords material for a historical chapter. It began thirty-seven years ago and has been continuous from that time, and embraced a period in the country's history, during which his service was conspicuous and valuable.

He began his service in the State militia in 1856, when he became a charter member of Company B (Hawley Guards), Fifty-first regiment, Captain Oneth, commanding the company. In the same year he was transferred to the Washington Light artillery, Captain Schnauber, and later, in 1860, was a charger member of Company E Monroe Cadets, Capt. Gustavus Sniper, commanding. April 16 of the the year following, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company B, Captain Brand, Twelfth New York volunteers, Col. E. L. Walrath commander and went with the regiment to do battle for his country. He was promoted to Sergeant one month later, and became Second Lieutenant of Company I in February 1863, but was assigned to duty as instructor of artillery at Fort Tillinghast, Washington Heights. In October of the same year he was promoted in the field to First Lieutenant and in the May following was honorable discharged, his term of service having expired. While with the Fifty-first Major Auer was i! n command of Company I much of the time, and participated in every skirmish and battle in which the regiment was engaged. He was severely wounded, and still suffers from the wound, at Shepardstown Ford during the latter part of the Antietum campaign, and was confined to the field hospital at Sharpsburgh for two months. The wound was the cause of his only absence from his command.

Upon his honorable discharge from service he at once returned to Syracuse to join with (now) Gen. R. M. Richardson in recruiting and organizing the Fifteenth cavalry, in which effort they were successful, although it was at the time when drafts were being made and young men were not so much inclined to enlist as they were earlier in the war. He was mustered in as senior Captain of the regiment in July 1863, and at once went to the front. In August , 1864 he was promoted to Major, which rank he continued to hold until March 6th, 1865 , when at the conclusion of the war, he was discharged, together with the hundreds of thousands of those who had served their country faithfully and well.

While the fifteenth cavalry was awaiting orders at home to go to the front, riots occurred on account of the draft in New York and elsewhere. Six companies of the Fifty-first militia were ordered away on special duty, and to the command of one of the companies, the Munroe Cadets, Major Auer was assigned. The command was not called into active service, however, and was absent from the city but a few days, having gone no further than Binghamton on its way to New York.

Major Auer was three times wounded by gunshots, and once nearly killed by his horse rearing and falling backward upon him after it had been shot. This occurred during a cavalry charge at Upperville, VA, in February 1864. In May following, while yet suffering from his injuries, he was taken prisoner at Front Royal and successively confined at Lynchburgh, Macon, Charleston and Columbia. He was finally exchanged.

Major Auer's military zeal was not cooled by the experiences of the field, and upon his return home he became a special aide-de-camp to Brig. Gen. John A. Green, then commanding the Twenty-fourth Brigade of the National Guard, and continued in the position from 1865 to 1870, leaving it to take command of Troop C, Twenty-first Battalion of Cavalry, April 6th 1870. This organization was also known as the Yates Dragoons, and its fame was as broad as the State. In September 1881, he was assigned to the command of the Fifth Battery, which for years has justly been ranked as the best disciplined and the most efficient Battery in the State, and of which he is now in command.

Since 1884, when Brig.-Gen. D. H. Bruce resigned and relinquished his headquarters at the Armory, Major Auer has been in command of the Armory as senior officer stationed there, and help responsible for the proper keeping of the property.

Major Auer's term of military service to the State is longer than that of any other commissioned officer of the National Guard, and no officer has more faithfully or more zealously served his country and State. In every position to which he has from time to time been assigned, he has discharged his duties both with enthusiasm and soldierly acumen. No officer has done more for the welfare of local military organizations than he has done, and the public spirit which he has always exhibited is a leading characteristic. He showed his superior soldierly qualities in August 1890, when he was placed in command of all the forces in Central New York and ordered to suppress threatening riots. As a disciplinarian he is very exacting, and yet so just that he is always in high favor with his command. Whatever he orders done must be done thoroughly and promptly, and according to the latest and most approved methods.