Police Seek Info About Uniform Coat
By Kathryn Jorgensen

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — The Plattsburgh Police Department asks readers’ help in locating a 16th New York Volunteers officer’s uniform coat that was sold online last summer. It was stolen from the Clinton County Historical Association in Plattsburgh.

The 16th New York was organized in Albany and mustered into federal service for two years on May 15, 1861. The missing coat belonged to Franklin Palmer of Plattsburgh, captain of Co. C, who wore it when he was wounded at Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863.

Detective Bruce Martin said the coat was taken by Matthew Boire, 25, an association board member. He was charged with misdemeanors last August in the theft of Civil War weapons from the association and again when a regimental flag and additional artifacts were found during a search of his apartment (see earlier CWN News Briefs).

Martin said police later learned Boire had posted the flag on the U.S. Militaria Forum (USMF) Web site along with a photo of the stolen uniform coat.

Boire’s posting referred to documentation with the coat. “When the regimental flag was recovered a small piece of very old paper with writing on it was located in the box with the flag. This small piece of paper is believed to be part of the documentation Matthew Boire is referring to,” said Martin.

It is possible that a note by Captain Palmer is in the coat pocket.

The USMF site in January informed members that Boire’s account was suspended because he was involved in selling a fake Marine Corps hat on the site. The administrator contacted police after reading about the Civil War artifacts thefts, alerting them to the posting about the coat.

According to Detective Martin, Boire told his lawyer he sold the uniform coat out of the local area shortly after his first arrest. He previously told police they had recovered everything he took from the museum.

On March 25 police charged Boire with larceny in the uniform theft, a felony because of the value, about $5,000.

He was sentenced on the earlier charges of larceny and possession of stolen property in January. The judged fined Boire $1,000 and put him on three years’ probation with 300 hours of community service. Boire also paid $965 restitution for an officer’s saber he sold online.

Franklin Palmer’s family donated the coat to the Plattsburgh Public Library, which gave it to the Clinton County Historical Association with the flag and other belongings, including Palmer’s diary, which described his wounding.

Anyone with information about the Palmer coat is asked to contact Detective Martin at (518) 536-7580, (518) 726-0231 or martinb@plattsburghpd.com.