On this day in 1865, Syracuse welcomed home members of the 185th New York Volunteers regiment, which was the last mustered in Onondaga County during the Civil War and was one of two regiments making up the Union’s Fifth Corps. The regiment played a role in a number of critical battles, including Petersburg, Virginia, which led to the retreat of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia and eventually the evacuation the Confederate Capitol of Richmond, VA. Less than a week later, the 185th was involved in the last battle of the Civil War, and subsequent Confederate Army surrender, in the village of Appomattox Court House, VA.However, before fully laying down their arms, a Confederate battery fired their last shot of defiance, hitting Cortland’s Hiram Clark.