Faces of the Civil War: An Album of Union Soldiers and Their Stories

“He Was Determined to Die”

208 Capt. George H. Decker, Company H, 143rd New York Infantry Carte de visite by Mathew B. Brady (b. ca. 1823, d. 1896) of New York City and Washington, D.C., about 1862–1864 209 “He Was Determined to Die” Celia Decker felt the cold muzzle of a revolver press against the back of her head, and, before she could react, a single bullet was fired, which entered just behind the left ear and lodged in her neck. She stumbled from her house and staggered to a neighbor’s home, leaving behind a trail of bloody footprints in the December snow. In a bedroom of her Liberty, New York, home stood Celia’s husband, George. He turned the pistol to his own head and pulled the trigger. George Decker, an intelligent, enterprising and industrious young businessman, had moved from his home in Orange County, New York, to Liberty and entered the booming tanning business as a partner in the firm of Dutcher and Decker. Through hard work and savvy dealings, he became popular and prosperous. When the war started, he left his tannery in the care of his partner and raised Company H of the state’s 143rd Infantry. He earned the universal esteem of his men for his gallant conduct and served them “with great credit.”317 He led his command in fourteen engagements , including the battles for Atlanta and Bentonville, North Carolina, where, according to a sergeant in his company, “Capt. Decker opened cartridges for me while I loaded and fired.”318 The war brought out the best in him—and also the worst. He began to drink during his enlistment, and while it did not appear to affect his duties, it destroyed his life and family. After the war, Decker returned to New York and formed a new and lucrative business partnership with his brother Demmon, a veteran who had served with the Fifty-sixth Infantry. In 1866, he married Celia Wells, the daughter of the town sheriff, and started a family that grew to include two sons. His life began to unravel after financial reverses ruined his business, and he turned to rum for 210 comfort. He became trapped in a cycle of drunkenness and despondency followed by sobriety and bitter regret. His wife and sons were caught in the crossfire, and they suffered repeated abuses. In early 1874, the Deckers separated, but they reunited after he convinced her with a solemn pledge to reform his alcoholic ways. He broke his word soon after, however, and Celia Decker insisted on another separation. He regretted the action, “but acquiesced in it as for the best.”319 On Tuesday afternoon, December 21, 1875, she packed and prepared to leave the house with the help of her brother and sister-in-law. George Decker called his wife into a bedroom as she and her children were on the way out. He closed the door, began to talk, and raised his pistol to her head. She begged for her life, and he lowered the weapon. He lifted the gun to her head two more times between her pleas for mercy—the last time, he pulled the trigger. After she fled, he attempted to shoot himself; “three caps were snapped without discharging the pistol,” according to a news report.320 Then he picked up a razor and slit his throat from ear-to-ear, severing the windpipe. Stunned neighbors crowded around and tried to help. Decker “could speak a little with great difficulty; and protested against having any surgical aid. He was determined to die”321 and suffocated three hours later. Celia Decker ’s injury was at first believed fatal, but she survived the shooting and lived until 1928. ...