Show ti DEFENDS H3 CLAIM Dr Rand Insists He Was First tl Volunteer In War of 61 Submitting a copy of an affidavit which states that ho volunteered asa as-a soldier In the civil war at Batavia N Y within ten minutes after the receipt of tho telegram announcing President Lincolns call for volunteers April 15 1861 Dr Charles F Hand recently rondo reply to tho statement of Mr J T Ford which appeared In the Sunday Star Mr Ford claimed that tho honor of being tho first volunteers vol-unteers in tho civil war belongs to tho National UIHes of tho District of Columbia and not to Dr Hand as claimed by him In reply Dr Hand Buys BuysMr J T Ford has given accurately accurate-ly 1 my record except In two facts which I fuel It Is necessary to explain Mr Ford says I was enrolled May 1 1861 and mustered In May 13 at Elmira which la true as far as mustering in goes Batavia Is a small village anil vo did not raise a company in ono tiny May 1 02 men wero mustered and wo wore two weeks In raising tho oUipnny Wo could not bo recognized as soldiers until wo wore mustered In which was on that date Wo had at that time no place In the service and had no assignment Wo waited to see If there was a vacancy In omo regiment that wanted a com uiny to till out At last news crone hat the Twelfth New York vnlun cors at Syracuse needed UB and wo were mustered Into that regiment May 13 as Company K My claim as tho first volunteer In ho war of tho rebellion has never been disproved and nover can be unless un-less some one can give better evidence ban I can show When that Is done I will gladly yield tho palm Men a number of them claimed to havp i volunteered Immediately after Sumter was fired upon which no doubt Is true In which case they were three days ahead of me They enlisted In the militia There were 10 volunteers at that time I did not volunteer until war was declared and volunteers called for by President Lincoln the 15th of April 1801 Tho mllltla was called Into service before I volunteered The Third battalion of the National Rifles which was called Into service April 9 was six days ahead of me This claim Is good1 acknowledge the tact but It does not In any way interfere inter-fere with my claim They were already al-ready In the service before tho war opened I hope this explanation will convince con-vince Mr Ford that I was the first volunteer vol-unteer In the war of the rebellion I think tho war department records show no volunteer whose medal was I dated previous to April 18 1861 tile date of my medal I will also yield that point If better evidence la produced pro-duced than that here presented |