Kendrick Brown was born July 4, 1842 in the Town of Orleans, Jefferson County NY to the Reverend Parley and Submit Farwell Brown. The Browns were a religious and for that time, well educated, family, producing teachers and preachers. They were also ardent abolitionists. Mr. Brown received a common school and an academic education.
On May 1, 1861 [May 20, 1861] in Redwood, [Plessis] NY at the age of 19 he enlisted in Co. I, 35th New York Infantry, for a period of two years.
He was mustered in as private June 11, 1861, promoted corporal. At the close of his time of enlistment, June 5, 1863 at Elmira, New York he was discharged with the rank of corporal and with meritorious marks. He then opened a recruiting office and assisted in raising a battery of artillery. In October 1863 he was made lieutenant in the 13th Volunteers and the following year promoted to the rank of Captain in the 186th New York Infantry in which capacity he served until the close of the war.
On the morning of April 16, 1865, the 186th New York Infantry led the charge against Ft. Malone [Mahone?] (otherwise known as Ft. Hell), one of the Petersburg, Virginia defenses. At 9:30 AM Col. Winslow, the commanding officer was severely wounded in the side. Capt. Brown helped carry him from the field to a place of safety. Returning to his company, Capt. Brown found that the major had been wounded and was off the field. The Lieut. Col. was on detached service. The regiment was thus without a field officer. The color bearer also had fallen. Capt. Brown, at the head of his company, led a terrific charge, carrying the colors in his own hands, and was the first man to enter Ft. Hell, where he planted the flag and for a brief time defended it alone in the midst of a shower of bullets, five of which hit and wounded him. The flag was torn, and twice the staff was broken but the colors never fell to the ground nor fell back during the entire charge.
Capt. Brown was affiliated with the Republican party up to the year 1892, when he became a Prohibitionist. For more than 30 years, Capt. Brown was a commercial traveler [salesman] for a New York firm, but later he went on the Chautauqua lecture platform, some of his subjects being "Modern Civic Righteousness," "Systematic Benevolence," "Thirty-eight Years in a Grip," "Four Years at the Front," "The Brotherhood Movement," and "Men and Religion Forward Movement." Capt. Brown's deep religions feeling, his energy and his earnestness made him an interesting and effective speaker. He died April 30, 1926 at Ames, IA.
Sources: The Brown Family of New England Heritage, 1659-1984, by Farwell T. Brown.