A New Face of the Forty-Eighth: Private James Dempsey, Co. F, 48th PA Infantry

June 15, 2017, 2:34 am

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It doesn't happen as often as one might think, considering all the many thousands of Civil War photographs that were taken, but I always, always enjoy seeing a "new" face of the Forty-Eighth, a photograph of a soldier I have never seen before. Studying the regiment for the past, oh, I don't know. . .maybe twenty-five years. . .I have only seen photographs of about 200 or so soldiers of the 48th. That out of the more than 1,800 men who served in the regiment at one time or another, so just over 10%. I keep imagining that maybe someday a trove will be discovered; an album or a shoe box filled with them found. Until then, the faces pop up only occasionally, here and there, every now and then. . .

Just last week a friend of mine, Stu Richards, forwarded a photograph one of his friends posted to his facebook wall, a photograph of his Civil War ancestor, James Dempsey, who served in Company F, 48th Pennsylvania, and thus a new face of the regiment was revealed to me. . . 

Private James Dempsey Co. F, 48th PA Infantry [Courtesy of Mr. Thomas Dempsey]

It is a compelling image; of a young man, standing proudly with his rifle--bayonet fixed--in front of a camp-scene backdrop. It shows James Dempsey, who entered the regiment in January 1865, enlisting in Pottsville. He was born in Ireland and one must wonder how recently he had arrived in the United States before donning the uniform of his adopted country. He was twenty-one years of age at the time of his enlistment, stood 5'7" in height, with a Light Complexion, Gray Eyes, and Sandy colored hair. By occupation, he was a laborer. Less than two-and-a-half months after joining the regiment, Dempsey was among the 90 casualties the 48th sustained charging Fort Mahone on that fateful April 2, 1865, at Petersburg. He was wounded in the right thigh, and injury described as "severe." He would recover, however, and on June 7, 1865, by order of the War Department, he was discharged from the service. Dempsey passed away on December 19, 1905, at age 65. 

I wish I knew more about Dempsey in order to paint a more complete portrait of this soldier, but I am happy that I have now become acquainted with another face of the 48th. 

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"Dear Ma. . ." The Civil War Letters of Lieutenant Curtis C. Pollock To Be Published. . .

July 28, 2017, 3:37 am

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Lieutenant Curtis C. Pollock Company G, 48th Pennsylvania Infantry {Hoptak Collection}

As I have noted many, many times before in posts about the discovery of letters or documents or photographs or what-have-you pertaining to the 48^th Pennsylvania Infantry as well as to the oftentimes peculiar timing of such discoveries, sometimes strange things things; very strange things; things so strange that it is difficult to attribute them to pure and simple coincidence. And very early this year, another of those strange things happened, something that pertained to a young lieutenant who served in the 48^th Pennsylvania and to the letters he wrote home while in uniform. . .

. . .his name was Curtis Clay Pollock and he just happened to be born on this date—July 28—175 years ago today, in 1842.

He was the first child born to William and Emily Pollock and he grew up in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, the seat of government for Schuylkill County. He came from a rather well-to-do family—his father owned and operated a lumber yard—and a rather large family, too, as his mother would give birth to six more children over the course of the eighteen years following Curtis's birth. Curtis was a young man with seemingly high ambitions but whatever hopes or dreams he may have held for his future were interrupted with the outbreak of civil war in April 1861. By then eighteen years of age, Curtis Pollock was among the very first to respond to Abraham Lincoln’s call-to-arms, coming in response to the firing upon Fort Sumter and the commencement of war. He volunteered to serve as a private in the Washington Artillery, a Pottsville militia company of long-standing, which, on the evening of April 18, arrived in the nation’s capital along with four other companies of Pennsylvania volunteers, some 475 men in all. These were the very first northern volunteers to reach Washington following the outbreak of war and for this, these soldiers would earn the proud distinction of being First Defenders.

Pollock and his fellow First Defenders would spend much of the entirety of their ninety-day term of service stationed at various posts around the capital, performing various duties. They would see no combat, however, yet, upon their discharge in late July 1861, nearly all of them would enlist to serve in any number of new regiments being recruited and organized, regiments that were being raised to serve for “three years or the course of the war,” whichever would come first. In early September 1861, Curtis Pollock, now nineteen, would sign up to serve in what became Company G, 48^th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and with this regiment he would serve until his death in late June 1864.

An early war image of Pollock, likely taken in the spring of 1861 {Courtesy of Ronn Palm and the Museum of Civil War Images]

Entering Company G, 48^th PA, as a corporal, Pollock would pine and lobby for an officer’s commission. His efforts eventually paid off, for in the Spring of 1862, Governor Andrew Curtin of Pennsylvania commissioned him a lieutenant. His promotion over the heads of so many other non-commissioned officers, however, set off a great controversy within the regiment; one that nearly resulted in Pollock resigning. Yet he persisted and stubbornly clung to his new rank. Despite the controversy over his promotion, the men would come to respect Pollock—and he would prove, as Captain Oliver Bosbyshell later wrote, “absolutely fearless” in battle. With the 48th, Pollock campaigned and saw action in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Emerging unscathed from such sanguinary fights as 2^nd Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor, Pollock was mortally wounded on June 17, 1864, during the regiment’s successful attack on Battery 15, a Confederate stronghold east of Petersburg. He passed away six days later, on June 23, and his remains were buried in Pottsville’s Charles Baber Cemetery.

The Officers of Company G, Spring 1863 Captain Bosybshell (seated) Lt. Pollock (standing left); Lt. Henry C. Jackson {Hoptak Collection}

Curtis Pollock spent more than 1,100 days of his short life in the uniform of the United States, and during his time in service, he wrote many letters home--indeed, over 150 of them. Fortunately, these letters were later transcribed and copies were given to both the Historical Society of Schuylkill County in Pottsville and to the United States Army’s Military History and Education Center in Carlisle. For more than two decades, and with such an interest in the First Defenders and especially the 48^th Pennsylvania, I have repeatedly used the Pollock letters to help better understand the wartime histories of both of these units.   Pollock’s letters home—most of them written to his “Dear Ma,” Emily—represent one of the largest known collections of letters written by any single member of either of these units and the idea of "one day" editing and annotating his letters for publication was a thought that never strayed too far from my mind. And, in fact, over the past fifteen or so years, I had been chipping away at such an undertaking…editing and annotating the letters, here and there.

            And now, today, on the 175^th Anniversary of Curtis Pollock’s birthday, I am happy to say that his letters home will soon be published. Sunbury Press, a local company, will be publishing it.

            So. . .what, then, is so strange about all of this you might ask?

Well, this book almost never happened. As noted, this work was a long time in the making. When I first happened upon and read through copies of Pollock's letters many, many years ago, I thought that they should "one day" be edited and annotated for publication. And so I worked on it, here and there, for quite a long time. I would work on the Pollock letters' project even while completing other books, such as my history of the First Defenders in 2004 or my histories of the Battles of South Mountain and Gettysburg, published by the History Press, respectively, in 2011 and 2012. After completing those projects, I would return periodically to the Pollock letters and, finally, in early 2014 (yes, three years ago), I wrapped things up, finishing this many years' long endeavor.  Yet when I submitted the manuscript to a number of publishing companies, it was repeatedly turned down. The market is already saturated with such works, I was told, and the interest in traditional soldier accounts and letters' collections is just not there anymore. It was picked up for publication as part of the “Voices of The Civil War Series,” published by the University of Tennessee Press, only to have it later pulled. Indeed, I had received so many rejections that I decided on New Year's Day, 2017, that I would simply put this manuscript to rest. . .and that I would move on to a new project.

But that was when that strange—and rather remarkable thing happened. . .

            It happened on January 2, 2017, the day after I decided to put the Pollock project to rest. When I checked my email that Monday morning, I discovered a message from a friend of mine named Nick Picerno. Nick is a fellow student of the Civil War and a collector of items pertaining to the 10th and 29th Maine Infantry Regiments. Knowing of my interest in the 48th Pennsylvania, Nick sent along a link to an auction listing he had happened upon, which included a portrait of and the Civil War sword belonging to an officer in the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry. Nick's message was brief--simply, "This sword and image may be of interest"--but when I clicked on the link, I could hardly believe what I was seeing.

            The sword up for auction was the sword carried by none other than Lieutenant Curtis Clay Pollock, and the portrait, beautifully framed, was of him as well. I sat there, shaking my head in utter disbelief. Of all the more than two million soldiers who fought for the Union during the Civil War, I thought, and of all of those who had served in the 48th Pennsylvania, here before me was a portrait of Pollock, previously unknown to me and the one pictured above, as well as the sword once held and wielded by the young lieutenant. Of course, I could interpret this in no way other than that of a sign that I needed to try, at least one more time, to get Pollock's letters published. How can I not? I also felt that, somehow, I needed to win that auction and am happy to report that I did. As I write, the sword and portrait adorn a wall in my home. I later came to discover that they had been passed down through the generations of Pollock family descendants and that the consignor of the items is a great-grandnephew of Curtis who was looking he said to "downsize." The portrait and sword, I assured him, had found a good new home. Incidentally, and as I found out, not only were the sword and portrait passed down through the Pollock descendants, but so was the name. The gentleman's name who consigned the items was Curtis.

And, so, I am now happy to say that the Pollock letters' project have found a publisher and that the book will (hopefully) hit the shelves within the next 6-12 months. Considering the sword and portrait that just so happened to come up for auction the day after I decided not to move forward with the manuscript, well, I would like to think that Lieutenant Pollock would be happy with this.

I hope so at least.

I will post updates about the manuscript as they develop.

A Portrait of Pollock and his service sword at his grave in Pottville

A Stone For Captain Fisher. . .

November 1, 2017, 2:57 am

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When last in Pottsville, I took a quick drive through the Odd Fellows' Cemetery, where the remains of many 48th Pennsylvania soldiers were laid to rest. Near the plot of those who died or were killed in the Civil War, I was happy to see a new headstone, one for Peter Fisher, a First Defender and a Captain of Company D, 48th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Born in Germany in 1839, Fisher died at the much too young age of 25 in December 1864. His remains were buried in the Odd Fellows' Cemetery but it seems he was never given a headstone. Enter Mr. Charles Achenbach, a descendant of Fisher's, who determined to get him one. Mr. Achenbach contacted me last year and provided me with much great information on Captain Fisher. He made it known then that he wished to place a headstone at or near Fisher's final resting place. . .and I am very happy to see that it has been placed. Thank you Mr. Achenbach for your efforts and your fine tribute. 

Click here or more on the life and death of Captain Peter Fisher. 

Captain Peter Fisher Co. D 48th PA (Courtesy of US Army Heritage and Education Center)

'"Dear Ma:" The Civil War Letters of Curtis Clay Pollock' Now Available

November 8, 2017, 2:51 am

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I am very happy to announce that "Dear Ma:" The Civil War Letters of Curtis Clay Pollock, First Defender and First Lieutenant, 48th Pennsylvania Infantry is now available.

This book was a long time in the making and a project that very nearly never came to fruition. The story of how it all came about can be found here.

You can order your copy either directly through the Sunbury Press website here or at amazon.com or through Barnes and Noble 

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Description: 

Curtis Clay Pollock served bravely with the 48th Pennsylvania, one of the Civil War's most famous fighting regiments, from the regiment’s organization in September 1861 until his mortal wounding at the Battle of Petersburg in June 1864, participating in the regiment’s many campaigns in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Tennessee and seeing action at some of the war’s most sanguinary battles, including 2nd Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Knoxville. Prior to his service in the 48th, Pollock also served as a member of the Washington Artillery, a Pottsville-based militia company that marched off to war in response to President Lincoln’s first call-to-arms in April 1861 and a company that would have the distinction of being among the very first Northern volunteer units to arrive in Washington following the outbreak of war, reaching the capital on the evening of April 18, 1861, after coming under attack in the streets of Baltimore. In recognition of their timely response and prompt arrival in the capital, Pollock and the other members of the Washington Artillery, would be among those who earned the proud title of First Defender. 

All throughout his time in uniform—from the day after he first arrived in Washington with the First Defenders until a few days before receiving his fatal wound at Petersburg—Curtis Pollock wrote letters home. Many of these letters were written to his younger siblings, some were addressed to his father. Most, however, were written to his mother, Emily, whom he affectionately referred to as his “Dear Ma.” Fortunately, many of these letters survive and are held today in the archives of the Historical Society of Schuylkill County in Pottsville. The letters of Curtis Pollock provide us with a window to view the history and experiences of one of the war’s most famous and most well-traveled regiments—the 48thPennsylvania—a regiment that served in many theaters of the war, under many different commanders, and in many of the war’s largest and bloodiest battles; a regiment that endured many battlefield defeats as well as many battlefield triumphs. More than this, though, Pollock’s letters home enable us to gain a further glimpse of the war from the inside. They chronicle and document the actions, the experiences, and the thoughts of a brave young man, who like so many others, volunteered his services and ultimately gave his life fighting in defense of his nation.

Can You Help Identify This Unidentified 48th PA Image?

January 25, 2018, 4:55 am

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Our Unidentified Officer Company I  48th Pennsylvania Infantry

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Of the more than 1,800 soldiers who served in the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry, whether for a few months or for all four years of the regiment's existence, and over the course of my twenty+ years of studying the regiment, I have only been able to locate images of approximately 200 of them, or just about 11%. And of this number, a good many of these images are unidentified by name, which is the source of so much frustration. Some of the unidentified CDV's simply have something to the effect of "48th PVI" or "48th PA" scribbled on the back; in others, we can see "48" written in the hat brass, including in a remarkable collection of tintypes that once belonged to a noted and respected collector which went up for auction a number of years ago and which were featured in a 2003 edition of Military Images magazine (see below). None of the forty-two soldiers in this collection are identified but all are seated next to a kepi with "G""48" on the chinstrap. Similar images of a soldier--taken at the same time/setting and so seated--have also appeared over the years and one of them, owned by a private collector, I am happy to say I have been able to positively identify as a member of Company G. 

November/December Edition of Military Images

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I will be writing more about this collection of Company G tintypes sometime in the near future but, for now, I wanted to focus on an image of an unidentified officer who, presumably, served in Company I, 48th Pennsylvania Infantry. 

Here is the image--and the officer--in question: 

This image is part of the collection of the Historical Society of Schuylkill County. It was taken by A.M. Allen, a noted Pottsville photographer and, clearly, one can see the "I" and the "48" and the infantry bugle on his kepi. The shoulder boards reveal that he was a commissioned officer and although difficult to make out with 100% certainty, it appears he was a lieutenant. There is no date when the image was taken. Throughout the course of the war, there were seven men who served at one time or the other as a lieutenant in Company I--two of them being ultimately promoted to the rank of captain.

Fortunately, I do have images of five of these seven and they are as follows:

Benjamin B. Schuck (Courtesy of Patriotic Order Sons of America)

Oliver A.J. Davis (Hoptak Collection)

Francis D. Koch  (Courtesy of Ronn Palm and the Museum of Civil War Images)

Joseph Edwards (Hoptak Collection)

Francis Allebach (Courtesy of Ronn Palm and the Museum of Civil War Images)

At first glance, then, I think we can eliminate Schuck, Davis, Edwards, and even Koch. The officer in question does, somewhat, resemble Allebach--and perhaps he is our man. On the other hand, the eyes look different. . .

If it is not any of these five officers, that leaves two other possibilities. And while I do not have photographs of them, I do have their physical description as provided in the regimental muster and descriptive rolls.

They are:

George H. Gressang: 1st Lt.; Date of Enlistment: 8/23/1861; Age at Enlistment: 24; Height: 5'8; Complexion: Light; Eyes: Blue; Hair: Dark; Occupation: Machinist; Residence: Pottsville; Notes: Drowned 8/12/1862 by the sinking of the steamer West Point

Michael M. Kistler: 1st Lt.; Date of Enlistment: 8/15/1861; Age at Enlistment: 32; Height: 5'11; Complexion: Light; Eyes: Blue; Hair: Dark; Occupation: Farmer; Residence: Ringtown; Date of Discharge: 10/21/1862; Notes: Wounded severely at Antietam, 9/17/1862; Promoted from 2nd Lt. 10/20/62; Discharged due to wounds; 10/21/62; Transferred to Veterans Res. Corps.

So, there we have it. I would love to get your thoughts. Do you believe this to be another image of Allebach? Or of either Gressang or Kistler? And, if so, which would you say was more likely based off their physical description?

Or is there something I am missing entirely here?

Finding Michael Kistler. . .

January 29, 2018, 6:26 am

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Thanks to my friend Brian Downey--the owner/administrator of the Antietam On The Web website, a great and vast trove of information on that incredibly important battle and its participants--I got to see yet another face of the 48th Pennsylvania for the very first time, that of Michael Kistler, a lieutenant in Company I. 

Lt. Michael Kistler and wife Catherine [Unknown Attribution, ancestry.com]

For me, the discovery began just this past Friday, when I published a post seeking help in identifying the image of an unidentified lieutenant in Company I, 48th Pennsylvania. As noted in that post, there were seven officers who served at different times throughout the war in that rank and capacity in Company I. I have images of five of those seven, leaving only two--George Gressang and Michael Kistler--neither of whom I had ever before seen a photograph of. Gressang drowned in August 1862, with the sinking of the West Point. Kistler was badly wounded one month later, during the battle of Antietam. Because of this Antietam connection, Brian Downey, in his research for his website, had already done some prior work researching Kistler. Along the way, Downey happened upon a wartime image of Michael Kistler and his wife, Catherine, posted at ancestry.com. There were other, post-war images of Kistler posted there as well. Unfortunately, that particular page had last been updated in 2012 and is no longer active, meaning Downey could not get the name nor the contact information of the individual who posted the images. But he did discover am engraving of Kistler, later in life, in the 1886 book History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe Counties, Pennsylvania by Alfred Mathews. That engraving matches the images of Kistler that were posted on ancestry, thus verifying the identity. And now, because of Downey's research I finally got to see, or discover, another fact of the 48th. Also, because these images of Kistler have been located, by process of elimination and because the unidentified officer in the image I posted about last Friday more closely matches the physical description of George Gressang in the regimental muster rolls, there is a very good chance that that officer is, indeed, Gressang...though I still cannot state with 100% certainty.  At least one other respondent to that post thinks the unidentified officer is Francis Koch, another image of whom can be found in that same post. 

One thing that is for certain, however, is that, finally, after all these years of studying the regiment, I at last have seen an image of Lieutenant Kistler. Much more important than this though is that I have been to discover so much more about his life. I had known Kistler primarily because of the savage, grievous nature of the wound he received at Antietam. The wound was so serious that his recovery seemed impossible; it was quite remarkable that he did survive. So remarkable, in fact, that a story about it was published in a number of newspapers, including the Boston Herald, which, on March 16, 1864, told the story of Kistler's injury and his recovery in an article entitled Remarkable Tenacity of Life.

That story, is posted here in its entirety: 

Remarkable Tenacity of Life: Lieut. M.M. Kistler, formerly of the 48th Pennsylvania Volunteers, who still survives, and is commanding a company in the Invalid Corps, was pronounced by the surgeons who examined him after the battle [of Antietam], as he lay among the dead--himself almost as dead apparently as they--mortally wounded, and he was passed by at the time, and the attention of the surgeons was devoted to others, for whom it was thought there might be a chance of recovery. The fortunes of the day seemed to vacillate in the balance as the massive columns surged back and forth, and for a time the field was in possession of the rebels; again our brave fellows drove back the rebel columns, and took the ground where our wounded were lying, weltering in their gore, and in the evening the brave and undaunted Lieutenant was carried from the field by our own men, and laid down in an old barn without blanket or overcoat. His clothes on his right side, from his shoulder down to his boot, being saturated with blood from his wound, were cold and stiff. It was at Antietam he was wounded, by a ball entering his right shoulder in a way to carry his epaulatte into the wound, and part of it with the ball entered the right lobe of the lungs. The wound was probed by no less than eight or nine surgeons, three or four at a time. They exceeded in extracting from the wound the wire, four or five inches in length, belonging to the shoulder strap, and all agreed there were fractured pieces of bone necessary to be extracted, but they neither removed them nor dressed the wound, considering the case a hopeless one. The Lieutenant alone believed his recovery a possible case. Thus he laid suffering in his gore until the sixth day when he received a change of clothing, and on the seventh day, with the assistance of his servant, he started, both feeble and faint, and reached his home. On the thirteenth day after receiving the wound, it was for the first time thoroughly dressed, by Dr. J.C. Schirner, of Tamaqua, Penn. Suppuration had by this time taken place, and he spit up a portion of the shoulder strap with the body matter. The ball still remains in the lungs too heavy to be raised by the efforts made in coughing, where an abscess is formed by the wound in the lung, and suppuration takes place, as it frequently does. He now usually enjoys a reasonable degree of health, with the exception of a few days each time that these inward gatherings take place.

This we regard as one of the most remarkable cases of recovery, from what would be regarded by all surgeons as a hopeless case, on record. When we contemplate a man with such a wound, lying for thirteen days without any efficient surgical or medical aid, and without any change of clothing for six days, and in the main cold and damp, without food or attention, we cannot but be struck with amazement at the wonderful recuperative powers of the system, in the case of the indomitable Lieut. Kistler. We would naturally suppose he must have suffered untold misery during those thirteen days, but he says he suffered but little, comparatively speaking. His sensibilities must have been instantly stunned. He is a living miracle to all who know his case. While a slight wound hurries many a strong man to an untimely grave, a strong constitution, a determined and indomitable spirit, and, may we not add, a kind Providence had lengthened out his days for further service in the cause of his country."

A strong constitution and a determined, indomitable spirit, indeed. 

I knew Kistler survived this horrific wound and that he later served in the Veterans Reserve Corps, or the so-called Invalid Corps. But that was it. I did not know anything further. I had assumed, quite naturally, that his life might have ended early, as a result of the Antietam wound but, as I just discovered, it turns out Kistler still had many, many years remaining after the Civil War. 

According to Mathews's History, Michael Kistler was born on April 14, 1833, though the year of his birth may be incorrectly stated here, since the regimental records note that he was 32 years of age when he enlisted in the summer of 1861, which would put the year of his birth at 1829. Year of birth aside, Kistler was born and raised in Lynn Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, and was the son of Michael and Magdalena Brobst Kistler. He removed to Ringtown, Schuylkill County, in 1848 and at age 15 in order to learn the tanner's trade with his older brother, Joel. While at Ringtown, he met and fell in love with Catherine Rumbel and the two were later married. The couple had a number of children. By the outset of the Civil War, Michael was operating his own small tannery business in Ringtown, though left that life behind with the opening salvos at Fort Sumter. He enlisted on August 15, 1861, and at the time of his enlistment was 32 years of age. He stood among the tallest soldiers in the regiment at 5'11" and was described as having a light complexion, blue eyes, and dark hair. Although a tanner, he recorded that he was also a farmer by occupation. Kistler served well as a lieutenant in Company I, 48th, accompanying the regiment in its journeys first from Harrisburg, PA, to Fortress Monroe, VA, and from there to Hatteras and New Bern, North Carolina, before returning to Virginia in the summer of 1862. At 2nd Bull Run, a bullet tore through Kistler's coat collar while another round struck his scabbard. He emerged from this fight unscathed, though was not nearly as fortunate three weeks later at Antietam. Of course, it was there where he was so severely wounded by that bullet which tore through his shoulder, through his right lung, before lodging in his back that he was essentially given up for dead. As related above, however, through his indomitable spirit, he survived. After a four month convalescence, Kistler returned to the 48th Pennsylvania, which, by that time was recovering from its assaults against Lee's position at Fredericksburg. Kistler traveled westward with the regiment to Lexington, Kentucky, in the spring of 1863. It was there and it was then, however, that Kistler resigned from the regiment upon the advice of the superintendent of hospitals in the Department of the Ohio. But Kistler would continue to serve his country. He became the commanding officer of the First Company, Second Battalion, in the Ohio Department of the Veteran Reserve Corps and remained in this position performing various administrative and military duties until June 1866, when he was mustered out of service.

Kistler returned home to his wife Catherine and his loving family. He later relocated to Monroe County, entering into various business ventures with his brother Stephen, first in Bartonsville and then in Tannersville. The Kistler Brothers manufactured shoe-pegs, clothes-pins, and chair stock for more than ten years before Stephen Kistler's death in 1880. At that time, Michael retired from active business pursuits to focus on his farm in Tunkhannock Township. It does appear, though, that he served for a time during his "retirement" as postmaster of East Stroudsburg. "Lieutenant Kistler's life has been an active one," noted Alfred Mathews in his History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe Counties, Pennsylvania, "and withal his integrity of purpose in life's work, and his accumulation of a competency, his pride still lingers in the great honor of fighting for the preservation of the Union, and in his sacrifice for his country when in its greatest peril."

Michael Kistler passed away on July 6, 1907, at either age 74 or 78, and presumably with that bullet received at Antietam still lodged somewhere beneath his shoulder blade. His remains were laid to rest in the Stroudsburg Cemetery and there they continue their silent repose, next to the remains of his wife Catherine, who passed away in 1915 at age 83. 

In all my years studying and researching the 48th Pennsylvania, there are few times more satisfying than discovering not only a new face but in learning more about the life of one of its soldiers. 

My thanks go out to Brian Downey for all his work in finding Michael Kistler. 

Michael Kistler as Postmaster, Stroudsburg, PA [Unknown attribution, ancestry.com]

Michael Kistler, with son Stephen and Grandson Kirstel, ca. 1902 [Unknown attribution, ancestry.com]

Michael Kistler and Granddaughter Lillian Irene Kistler, ca. 1905 [Unknown attribution, ancestry.com]

[Biographical information from Mathews, Alfred. History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe Counties, Pennsylvania.  Philadelphia: R.T. Peck & Company, 1886. Pgs. 1028-1030]

A New Face of the 48th? Help Identify Who This May Be!

March 21, 2018, 4:35 am

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Last week, Buck Zaidel, an acquaintance of mine who is a Civil War image collector and co-author of Heroes for All Time: Connecticut Civil War Soldiers Tell Their Stories, shared with me an image from his collection, purportedly of a 48th Pennsylvania soldier, or at least, as he said, that is how it was sold to him. Although there is no concrete identification of the soldier's identity either on or that came with the quarter plate image, I told Buck that "at first glance," this fella certainly "has the look" of a 48th PA soldier.

I think you will agree that it is a rather striking, somewhat unusual image. It shows a young soldier with a sturdy build who has the look of a fun-loving prankster, posing for a photographer, holding up a piece of hardtack, his camp cup, and a spoon with some kind of food (rice?), while his rifle and knapsack lie nearby, making it clear what he believed better depicted or illustrated a Civil War soldier's life.

But if this is, indeed, a 48th Pennsylvania soldier, then who can it be? 

Unidentified Soldier [Courtesy of Mr. Buck Zaidel]

There are, of course, a good number of clues. Someone, at some point, tinted the image a bit, and used what appears to be a gold paint to highlight the soldier's hat brass, buckle, and initials on his knapsack. The '48' is clearly visible on his knapsack, as are the initials "W.M." We can also see a company; it looks at first glimpse like "Co. C," although, on closer inspection, it could very well be "Co. E," especially since the "C" in "Co." looks much different than the letter next to it. Another clue, perhaps, is on his right arm; there may be chevrons there, indicating the rank of corporal, or it may just be a fold in his uniform. But let's just go with the initials upon the knapsack. 

Examining the roster of the 48th, we find only one--just one--soldier in all of Company C who had the initials, "W.M." and that was Private William Miles who joined the regiment on January 25, 1865, at age 35, who stood 5'7" in height and who, promptly, deserted two months later, on March 28, 1865. It does not seem likely that the soldier in the photograph is Miles, since Miles was with the regiment for only two months and since the soldier in the image appears younger than 35, or at least that's how he appears to me.

So perhaps it does say "Co. E" on his knapsack. Let's look at who had the initials "W.M." within the ranks of Company E, 48th PA. . .

There were seven members of that company with these initials, and they were:

1. William McKay/Mackey: Date of Enlistment: 8/20/1861; Age at Enlistment: 30; Height: 5'4; Complexion: Dark; Eyes: Blue; Hair: Sandy; Occupation: Engineer; Residence: Schuylkill Co.; Notes: Killed in Action 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862.

2. William J. Morgan: Date of Enlistment: 8/20/1861; Age at Enlistment: 23; Height: 5'9; Complexion: Light; Eyes: Brown; Hair: Sandy; Occupation: Coal Miner; Residence: Schuylkill Co. ; Date of Discharge: 7/17/1865; Notes: Wounded at Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864; Wounded Petersburg, 4/2/1865; Veteran

3.William McElrath: Date of Enlistment: 2/7/1864; Age at Enlistment: 17; Height: 5'5; Complexion: Light; Eyes: Hazel; Hair: Light; Occupation: Laborer; Enlisted in Pottsville; Born: Schuylkill Co.; Date of Discharge: 2/6/1865; Notes: Wounded Petersburg, 9/11/1864; Arm Amputated; Discharged on Surgeon's Certificate. 

4. William Matthews: Date of Enlistment: 3/22/1864; Age at Enlistment: 23; Height: 5'7 ¾; Complexion: Light; Eyes: Grey; Hair: Sandy; Occupation: Waterman; Enlisted in Philadelphia; Born: Ireland; Notes: Deserted, 3/24/1864 in Philadelphia

5. William Moose: Date of Enlistment: 11/24/1861; Age at Enlistment: 26; Height: 5'6 ¾; Complexion: Light; Eyes: Brown; Hair: Chestnut; Occupation: Boatman; Residence: Schuylkill Co. ; Notes: Wounded 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862; Died in Pottsville

6.William Mullen (Sr.): Date of Enlistment: 2/25/1864; Age at Enlistment: 45; Enlisted in Pottsville; Born: Ireland; Date of Discharge: 2/15/1865; Notes: Discharged on Surgeon's Certificate

7. William Mullen (Jr.): Date of Enlistment: 3/26/1865; Age at Enlistment: 19; Height: 5'2 ½; Complexion: Light; Eyes: Grey; Hair: Dark; Occupation: Laborer; Enlisted in Pottsville; Born: Ireland; Date of Discharge: 7/17/1865; Born: 1847; Died: 3/13/1919; Philadelphia, PA; buried as William M. Crossen; buried Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon, Delaware County, PA 

From these seven possibilities, I feel confident we can strike at least two immediately from the list. William Matthews (who was with the regiment only two days and likely did not have the time nor the opportunity to pose for a photograph!), and William Mullen, Sr., who was 45 years of age at the time of his enlistment. 

This, then, leaves us with William McKay, William Morgan, William McElrath, William Moose, and William Mullen, Jr. But perhaps we can also strike Morgan from the list since the roster shows him as standing at 5'9" in height; taller, it would seem, than the soldier in the photograph. If we do eliminate Wm. Morgan from the list of possibilities, then we are left with four: McKay, McElrath, Moose, and Mullen, Jr. And this, of course, is predicated on the thought that the soldier in the photograph served in Company E. . .and in the 48th Pennsylvania. 

I would love to get your thoughts on this. . .Based on the descriptions alone, does the soldier in the photograph match any of the four? 

Personally, I cannot reach any definitive conclusion, only that it might be McKay, or that it might be McElrath, or Moose, or Mullen, Jr. And that is, of course, if this does show a Co. E, 48th PA soldier.

But please do let me know your thoughts; Buck and I would greatly appreciate any insight here! 

A "New" Face of the 48th: William Wainwright Potts, Captain, Company D

March 25, 2018, 6:13 am

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Sometimes many months will pass, sometimes even a year or more, before I happen upon, discover, stumble over, locate, or be sent or directed to a "new" image of a 48th Pennsylvania soldier--or at least one I have never seen before--but lately, well, a number have been revealed; indeed, a relatively good number over the past year or so. Some have been identified, such as Lt. Michael Kistler, Private James Dempsey, and Private Henry Jenkins. Others, unidentified. It is always a great thrill for me, having studied this regiment for so long--having pored over the rosters and muster rolls so many, many times--to see a "new" face from the regiment, to go along with name. As I have written many times before, this is not a very common thing, or at least not as common as one may suppose or assume. Indeed, after more than twenty years of actively seeking images of 48th Pennsylvania soldiers, I have located approximately 200. That's 200 out of the 1,860 men who served in the unit, or just 11%. Well, just a few days ago, Mr. Bill Clark very kindly shared with me via this blog his ancestral/family genealogy page, which includes biographical data and even an image of his 48th PA ancestor, Captain W.W. Potts, of Company D. 

Captain William W. Potts Company D, 48th PA  [Courtesy of Mr. Bill Clark]

William Wainwright Potts was born on June 10, 1831, in Columbus, Burlington County, New Jersey, the second child and first son born to Aaron and Rebecca Potts. Sometime when William, presumably, was still young, the family relocated to Schuylkill County, settling in Pottsville, where Aaron and Rebecca would continue to raise their family, which will grow to include three more children, two girls and another boy, Charles Potts, who, like his older brother William would serve in the Civil War.

On May 5, 1853, William Wainwright Potts, not quite twenty-two years of age, married Mary Jane Welch who, over the next 18 years would deliver eight children, though, sadly, four of them would not survive infancy or childhood. Mary Jane passed away at the young age of 37 in the spring of 1871, perhaps from complications from childbirth. Her remains were laid to rest in Pottsville's Presbyterian Cemetery. 

Although his occupation is recorded as a 'moulder,' or mold maker, in the regimental records of the 48th, his obituary noted that he was a well-known hotel keeper in the city, and an 1857 article in the Mining Record and Pottsville Emporium recorded a rather interesting tid-bit or anecdote relating to William Potts. Potts, as the article stated, was the proprietor of the White Horse Restaurant. Apparently in June of that year quite a remarkable thing happened--worthy of headlines in the local paper. "On last Wednesday evening about 10 minutes after 10 o'clock," the article recorded, "Mr. William Potts, proprietor of the White Horse Restaurant, opened an immense Absecum salt Oyster, containing forty-seven pearls, varying in size from a pin's head to a very large pea--also a miniature goose of gold, on which was inscribed, 'Buy your clothing at the store of Mr. David A. Smith, on Centre Street, Pottsville, Pa." 

With the outbreak of civil war in 1861, thirty-year-old William W. Potts offered his services and that summer was mustered in as 1st Lieutenant, Company D, 48th Pennsylvania Infantry. He stood rather tall, at 5'11" in height, had a "light" complexion, and dark eyes. Upon Daniel Nagle's elevation from captain of Company D to regimental major in November 1861, Potts was promoted to captain and served in that capacity until his discharge in January 1863. Potts was discharged due to a disability and it would seem he was not with the company for the final few months of 1862, since Lt. Curtis Pollock of Company G, would temporarily command Company D at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Potts was likely in poor health. 

Charles Potts, William's younger brother, served as a lieutenant in the nine-month 151st Pennsylvania Infantry--the "school teacher's regiment." On July 1, 1863, at the Battle of Gettysburg, during whitch the 151st suffered tremendously high casualties, Lt. Potts was captured. He spent the next fourteen months in captivity but survived the ordeal and returned home.  

Lieutenant Charles Potts, 151st Pennsylvania [Courtesy of Mr. Bill Clark]

After William's discharge from the 48th in January 1863, he returned to Pottsville. In 1873, two years after the death of Mary Jane, he remarried.  His second wife, Eliza Noble, gave birth to six more children, three of whom would die in childhood. Thus, of William Potts's fourteen children, seven would not live to maturity. With this and with the death of Mary Jane, tragedy certainly seemed to have shadowed William Wainwright Potts. 

William remained active in the community and in veteran's affairs, taking a leading role with the Grand Army of the Republic. He would die rather young, due to complications from diabetes, passing away at age 62 in January 1894. His remains were interred in Pottsville's Charles Baber Cemetery. 

My thanks go out to Mr. Bill Clark for so generously sharing your family ancestry with me, and for giving me the opportunity to see yet another face of the 48th. 

Full-Size Image of Captain Potts [Courtesy of Mr. Bill Clark]

William Pott's Grave Charles Baber Cemetery, Pottsville, PA  [www.findagrave.com]

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Eight from the Forty-Eighth. . .

May 20, 2018, 8:44 am

≫ Next: Remembering the 48th Pennsylvania's Civil War Dead. . .

≪ Previous: A "New" Face of the 48th: William Wainwright Potts, Captain, Company D

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I remember well when I first read about it; it was quite some time ago, back when I was in high school during one of my many trips to the Pottsville Free Public Library. I would head up there often to read the regimental history of the 48th Pennsylvania--the one compiled by Joseph Gould. I would also take up a few yellow legal pads of paper and a few sharpened pencils to take notes on the regiment's actions, campaigns, and so on, but mainly to transcribed the company rosters. With each name I wrote, with each notation about their date of enlistment, or date of promotion, or where they were wounded or killed or captured, or even just what their age was when they enlisted, it somehow felt as though I was becoming personally acquainted with those who served in the 48th. Yet nothing would make me feel more acquainted with these long gone soldiers then when I would see one of their photographs. At that time, though, aside from just the handful of mainly officers' images in Gould's regimental history and a few other images at the Historical Society of Schuylkill County, I had not seen all that many photographs of the more 1,800 soldiers who served in 48th PA. That is why a very brief passage on page 58 of Gould's regimental history has always stuck out to me, from the very first time I read it, all those many years ago. 

On Page 58 there is a photograph of Captain Philip Nagle, who in the summer of 1861 helped to organize and later commanded Company G, 48th Pennsylvania, a company recruited primarily from Pottsville and nearby St. Clair. Philip was one of the five "Fighting Nagle" brothers in the 48th; his oldest brother James organized the regiment, while brother Daniel served as captain, Company D, and later regimental major, while brothers Levi and Abraham were musicians who served in the regimental band. Above the photograph is the heading: "Captain Nagle Resigns" but it was the text that followed was what really grabbed my attention. "When in consequence of ill health, Captain Philip Nagle, of Company G, 48th Regiment P.V. resigned in 1862, the members of his company presented at Newbern, N.C. June 9th, their portraits, numbering ninety-one, to him, handsomely framed." [emphasis added] 

Ninety-one images of the soldiers of Company G, 48th PA.

Ninety-one. . . .

Ninety-one!

That was, essentially, the entire company. I wondered how amazing it would be to one day see those images. When the soldiers of Company G sat for these images as a goodbye gift to their captain in the spring of 1862, the 48th had been in the service about nine months and, except for some minor action along the shores of North Carolina, the regiment had yet to be engaged in any serious, major combat. There was something innocent, then, if you will, in those images. . .in knowing that at the time these photographs were taken, none in the company--none, in fact, in the entire regiment--could have possibly known the horrors and hardships that lay ahead, at 2nd Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and on so many other sanguinary fields. Indeed, when the soldiers of Company G sat for these photographs in early June 1862, the rumors then circulating through their camp in Newbern was that McClellan would soon capture Richmond, that the war would end soon after that, and that they would likely all be home by the Fourth of July. 

I wondered whatever had become of the images; where were they? I actually knew a descendant of Captain Philip Nagle and I asked her if she ever recalled seeing the images and she said no. So, all I could do was wonder whatever had become of all those portraits, "handsomely framed." 

Years went by until, finally, in late 2003 my question was partially answered when I happened upon Volume XXV,  Number 3 of Military Images magazine. Amazingly, on the cover were forty-two framed tin-type images and the caption read, "The Men of Company G." I turned quickly to the cover story and noticed it was authored by renowned collector Norm Flayderman. Forty-two tin-type images, all framed, had been a part of his collection he wrote, "for many years." All the images show the soldiers seated at the same marble table, upon which is a kepi and the letter "G" and number "48" on the chin strap of that kepi (likely the same kepi used in all the photographs). Mr. Flayderman wrote that there was nothing on the tintypes that identified these soldiers as Pennsylvanians but that he had acquired them "from a credible source" who had told him they were all Company G, 48th Pennsylvania images. I could verify that, since I was able to positively identify one of the corporals as Curtis Clay Pollock of the 48th PA So here were 42 of those 91 portraits, about half of all those presented to Captain Philip Nagle in 1862. It was an incredible 'discovery' for me, if you will...having waited so long to see these portraits.  I wrote to Mr. Flayderman and he very kindly and quickly wrote back, enclosing a number of photocopies of the images. In early 2006, he wrote to let me know that he was selling these tintypes and that they would be auctioned. That auction took place and I certainly kept my eye on it....but the price they went for was well-above anything I could have bid. 

These 42 images of Company G, 48th PA soldiers from the collection of the now late Norm Flayderman were not the only ones to have surfaced. A gentleman named Jim Jezorski had also read Flayderman's short article in Military Images and he was genuinely surprised by what he read since, in his own collection of Civil War images, he had eight of the same type of image, with soldiers seated next to that marble table, with the kepi with the "G" and "48" on its chinstrap. He wrote a follow-up article for Military Images and explained that he had acquired the eight in his collection from "an old collector" who had told him that he had originally purchased them at a gun show in central Pennsylvania. "There were dozens of them," said the old collector, but he could only afford those eight. The "old collector" had also told Jezorski that he individual who sold them to him "had personally took them off the wall of a G.A.R. hall in small town near Hershey, Pennsylvania." 

Just this past week, I had the great pleasure of meeting Jim Jezorski, who told me about the history of these eight tintype images (how that "old collector" purchased them many decades ago and they were--get this--just a dollar a piece; turns out that that 'old collector' only had eight dollars that day, which was why he could only afford those eight!) Jezorski had previously asked if I would be interested in acquiring from him, those eight images. . . 

Interested?? 

Absolutely, I said.  

Those eight images follow, all depicting soldiers of Company G, 48th Pennsylvania, all taken at the same time, in early June 1862. . . .where all of the other ones are, including those 42 that went up for auction in 2006, I do not know and thus cannot say. Though it would be an amazing thing if someday, somehow, all 91 can be brought back together again.

And it would be great, too, if, somehow these--and all the others from this collection--could one day all be positively identified. Who were these men? Did they make it through the war? What were their stories?

Maybe one day we will find out. . . 

Unidentified Corporal, Company G, 48th PA

Unidentified Private, Company G, 48th PA

Unidentified Sergeant, Company G, 48th PA

Unidentified Private, Company G 48th PA

Unidentified Private, Company G 48th PA

Unidentified Private, Company G 48th PA

Unidentified Private, Company G 48th PA

Unidentified Private, Company G 48th PA

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Military Images  Vol. XXV, Number 3, November/December 2003 Featuring 42 Tintype Images of  Company G, 48th PA Soldiers

Remembering the 48th Pennsylvania's Civil War Dead. . .

May 28, 2018, 3:59 am

≫ Next: "Wasn't That A Splendid Charge?:" 154 Years Ago, The 48th's "Most Brilliant Engagement" Came At A Heavy Price: Petersburg, Virginia, June 17, 1864.

≪ Previous: Eight from the Forty-Eighth. . .

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Organized in the late summer of 1861 and officially disbanded when the regiment was mustered out of service on July 17, 1865, the 48th Pennsylvania was in its existence for almost the entirety of the Civil War. During its nearly four years of service, the 48th campaigned in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Tennessee, covering thousands of miles on foot, on rail, or by water. The regiment also participated in some of the war's most sanguinary battles, suffering especially heavy losses at 2nd Bull Run, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. Hundreds of its soldiers were wounded during the course of the conflict, while at least 329 of its members lost their lives, whether on the battlefield or in hospitals or in prisoner of war camps. And how many other of its soldiers whose lives were cut short, passing away prematurely after the war from injuries or illnesses sustained in service, I cannot say. The wartime dead of the 48th Pennsylvania lay at rest in no fewer than seven states as well as in the District of Columbia. 

On this Memorial Day it is only fitting and proper to take a moment to remember those of the 48th Pennsylvania who, during the course of America's Civil War, gave their last full measure of devotion. Their names and dates of death are listed below, in chronological order of their death, as are some of their images. I have told the stories of many of those listed below including many of those pictured; click their names to discover more about who they were. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Henry Clay Jackson

Lieutenant~Company G

[Courtesy of Mr. Ronn Palm and the Museum of Civil War Images] 

Daniel Barnett

Company E 

[Hoptak Collection]

George Betz Company A [Hoptak Collection]

David Brown

Lieutenant~Company H

[Unknown] 

Michael Condron

Company C

[Hoptak Collection] 

William Cullen

Lieutenant~Company E

[Courtesy of Catherine Siegel and Family] 

George Dentzer

Company K

[Courtesy of the Dentzer Family] 

John Dentzer

Company K

[Courtesy of the Dentzer Family] 

James Allison

Company G

[The Historical Society of Schuylkill County] 

Benjamin B. Schuck

Captain~Company I

[Courtesy of Mr. Ronn Palm and the Museum of Civil War Images] 

Joseph Edwards

Lieutenant~Company I

[Hoptak Collection] 

Henry J. Ege

Company I

[Courtesy of Mr. Ronn Palm and the Museum of Civil War Images]

(War In Human Form)

Joseph Gilmour

Major~48th Pennsylvania

[Hoptak Collection] 

(Totopotomy Creek)

Alexander Govan

Company G

[From Gould, The Forty Eighth]

George Gowen

Colonel~48th Pennsylvania

[From Bosbyshell, The Story of the Forty-Eighth]

William B. Hume

Lieutenant~Company B

[Hoptak Collection] 

Richard Jenkins 

Company F

[Courtesy of Mr. Richard Hammons and Mr. Richard Jenkins] 

Samuel Laubenstein

Lieutenant~Company I

[Courtesy of schulkillhavenhistory.com] 

Thomas Major

Company E

[Courtesy of Mr. Brett Adams] 

Charles Norrigan

Corporal~Company H

[Courtesy of Mr. Ronn Palm and the Museum of Civil War Images] 

Curtis Clay Pollock

Lieutenant~Company G

[Courtesy of Mr. Ronn Palm and the Museum of Civil War Images] 

Charles Abel T. St. Clair

Company A

[Hoptak Collection] 

Francis Stidham

Company A

[Hoptak Collection] 

George Hartz

Company D

[Patriotic Order Sons of America] 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

48^th Pennsylvania Civil War Deaths

1861 (8)

William Millet: Co. H: Died: 9/7/1861; Accidentally Killed on the Railroad in Harrisburg

Daniel Reighard: Co. C: 11/11/1861; Died at Camp Hamilton, VA

William Miller: Co. A: Died: 11/21/1861 at Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina.

Sergeant William T. Garrett, Co. H: Died 11/23/1861 at Fortress Monroe

Thomas Davidson, Co. B: Died 11/28/1861 at Hatteras, North Carolina

Lieutenant Alexander Fox, Co. D: Died: 12/1/1861 on steamer Spaulding near Fortress Monroe, VA

William Brerton, Co. F: Died at Ft. Clark, Hatteras Inlet, NC, 12/11/1861

Philip L. Diehl, Co. G: Died 12/23/1861, Hatteras, N.C.         

1862 (98)

Thomas McAvoy, Co. C: 1/14/1862; Died at Camp Winfield, NC

John Spreese, Co. A: Died: 1/21/1862 at New Bern, North Carolina

Surgeon David Minis: Died at Roanoke, North Carolina, N.C., 2/14/1862, of over-exerting himself attending to the wounded

George F. Mains, Co. K: Died 3/30/1862 at Hatteras, NC

Andrew Spear, Co. D: Died 4/15/1862 at Newbern, NC

Bernard West, Co. A: Died: 5/12/1862 in New Bern, North Carolina.

Daniel Flagerty, Co. C: Died 5/28/1862 in Newbern, North Carolina

Andrew Klock, Co. D: Died of typhoid fever 6/30/1862 at Newbern, NC

Charles Treisbach, Co. F: Died 7/1/1862

Addison Seaman, Co. D: Died of Disease,  7/16/1862

Mattis Sheafer, Co. D: Died 8/4/1862; Committed Suicide on board steamer Cossack

Abraham Ferrer, Co. B: Died August 7, 1862

Israel Eiler, Co. B: Died August 7, 1862, in New York

Alexander Boone, Co. I: Died in Fredericksburg, 8/11/1862

Franklin Wetzel, Co. A: Died: 8/12/1862; Drowned in the Potomac River as the result of the sinking of the steamer West Point.

1st Lt. George H. Gressang, Co. I: Drowned 8/12/1862 by the sinking of the steamer West Point

Thomas G. Williams, Co. B: Drowned 8/13/1862 on the Potomac River

John H. Leiser, Co. A: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862.

Louis M. Reece, Co. B: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

John Weiser, Co. C: 8/29/1862; Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run

Barney Gettler, Co. C: 8/29/1862; Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run

Charles Miller, Co. D: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

Corporal Leonard Shrishorn, Co. D: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

Corporal Israel Vancannon, Co. D: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

Mattis Bailey, Co. D: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

Cpl. William Mackey/McKay, Co. E: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

Michael Brennan, Co. E: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

Hugh McFeely, Co. E: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

Samuel Moyer, Co. E: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

John Becker/Baker, Co. E: Missing and Presumed Dead at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

John Haggerty, Co. F: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

Michael Kilrain, Co. F: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

Peter Quinn, Co. F: Supposed to have been Killed at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

Thomas Kelley, Co. H: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

William Nagle, Co. H: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862.

Samuel Petit, Co. H: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

Charles F. Leiser, Co. I: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

Hesgian Link, Co. I: Missing in Action at 2nd Bull Run; Supposed to have died

Captain Henry A.M. Filber, Co. K: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

Sergeant Roland D. Filbert, Co. K: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

David Boyer, Co. K: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

David D. Dress, Co. K: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

W. Fenstermacher, Co. K: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

William Labenberger, Co. K: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

Daniel Shanley/Stanley, Co. K: Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862

James Muldowney, Co. G: Mortally Wounded 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862; Died of Wounds       

William Hopkins, Co. F: Mortally Wounded at 2nd Bull Run; Died: 8/31/1862 of wounds

George Ramer, Co. A: Died in Georgetown, 9/6/1862

Charles Knerr, Co. H: Died 9/7/1862

Corporal George Ramer, Co. D: Mortally Wounded at 2nd Bull Run; Died of Wounds, 9/6/1862

Sergeant William Bambrick, Co. D: Mortally Wounded at 2nd Bull Run; Died of Wounds, 9/12/1862

William Smith, Co. G: Mortally Wounded 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862; Died of Wounds, 9/14/1862        

Henry Jenkins, Co. F: Mortally Wounded at 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862; died in Georgetown, DC, 9/15/1862

Cpl. John Brobst, Co. A: Mortally Wounded at Antietam, 9/17/1862.

John Robinson, Co. B: Killed in Action at Antietam, 9/17/1862

Alexander Prince, Co. B: Killed in Action at Antietam, 9/18/1862

Alva F. Jeffries, Co. D: Killed in Action at Antietam, 9/17/1862

1st Lieutenant William Cullen, Co. E: Killed in Action at Antietam, 9/17/1862

John Broadbent, Co. E: Killed in Action at Antietam, 9/17/1862

Charles Timmons, Co. G: Killed in Action, Antietam 9/17/1862          

Cpl. Lewis V. Focht, Co. I: Killed in Action at Antietam, 9/17/1862

Corporal Daniel Moser, Co. K: Killed in Action at Antietam, 9/17/1862

George Dentzer, Co. L: Killed in Action at Antietam, 9/17/1862

David Stichter, Co. D: Died in Hospital at Sharpsburg, MD, 9/21/1862

James Farrell, Co. E: Mortally Wounded at 2nd Bull Run; Died: 9/25/1862

Benjamin Hoffman, Co. I: Wounded at South Mountain, 9/14/1862; Died of Wounds 9/25/1862;

John Martin/Morton, Co. E: Died 9/25/1862

John Springer, Co. A: Died: 10/9/1862 from Wounds Received in Action.

John Sullivan, Co. D: Mortally Wounded at 2nd Bull Run; Died of Wounds, 10/8/1862

Cpl. Albert T. Frazier, Co. C: Died 10/14/1862 of Consumption in Alexandria, VA

Sgt. Benjamin G. Otto, Co. A: Wounded in Action; Died of Wounds: 10/15/1862

James Winters, Co. K: Died 10/15/1862 at Fortress Monroe, VA

Peter Boyer, Co. K: Died in 10/22/1862 in Cressona, PA

John J. Morrison, Co. F: Mortally Wounded at 2nd Bull Run; Died 10/23/1862

Corporal Patrick Handley, Co. K: Died 10/25/1862 in Washington, D.C.

Joseph Low, Co. C: Died 10/29/1862 in Alexandria of Wounds Received in Action

Thomas Major, Co. E: Mortally Wounded at 2nd Bull Run; Died: 10/31/1862

Edward Daniels, Co. C: Died 11/1/1862 of Chronic Diarrhea in Alexandria

John Farne, Co. G: Mortally Wounded 2nd Bull Run, 8/29/1862; Died of Wounds 11/8/1862              

Edward McCabe, Co. G: Died of Disease, Washington, D.C., 11/12/1862

Peter Burke, Co. K: Died of Typhoid Fever, 11/14/1862

Corporal Charles C. Hinkle, Co. H: Died 11/23/1862, at Hatteras, North Carolina

Corporal Raymond A. Jenkins, Co. H: Died 12/8/1862 in Ascension Hospital, Washington

J.W. Heebner/Heevener, Co. D: Died of chronic diarrhea, 12/9/1862

Elijah Knight, Co. E: Died in Annapolis, 12/12/1862

John Ruff, Co. A: Died in Washington: 12/13/1862

James Williams, Co. A: Killed in Action at Fredericksburg: 12/13/1862

Cpl. Joseph B. Carter, Co. A: Mortally Wounded at Fredericksburg, 12/13/1862.

Michael Divine, Co. B: Killed in Action at Fredericksburg, VA, 12/13/1862

John Williams, Co. B: Killed in Action at Fredericksburg, VA, 12/13/1862

William Hill, Co. B: Killed in Action at Fredericksburg, VA, 12/13/1862

Cpl. Reuben Robinson, Co. B: Killed in Action at Fredericksburg, VA, 12/13/1862

Henry Williamson, Co. D: Killed in Action at Fredericksburg, 12/13/1862

Thomas Kinney, Co. D: Killed in Action at Fredericksburg, 12/13/1862

Thomas Connell, Co. B: Died of Disease, 12/18/1862

Musician Abraham Wadsworth, Co. B: Died: 12/18/1862 in Port Carbon, PA

Henry Burnish, Co. G: Died in Pottsville, 12/20/1862, of chronic diarrhea        

Cpl. Edward F. Schappell, Co. I: Wounded at Fredericksburg, 12/13/1862; Died in hospital of wounds, Date -Unknown

1863 (17)

Corporal John H. Derr, Co. D : Mortally Wounded at Fredericksburg; Died of Wounds in Washington, 1/2/1863

George Briggle, Co. A: Died in Philadelphia: 1/4/1863.

Nicholas Shitehour, Co. B: Died 1/13/1863 in Washington, D.C. of chronic diarrhea

James Bergan, Co. E: Mortally Wounded at 2nd Bull Run; Died: 1/11/1863

Samuel Brooks, Co. B: Died 1/13/1863 near Falmouth, Virginia

Levi Fisher, Co. I: In Hospital at Harpers Ferry, 8/16/1862; Died, 1/21/1863

George Shertle, Co. D: Died of Disease 2/8/1863 in Washington, D.C.

Sgt. Arthur P. Hatch, Co. C: 2/13/1863; Died in Newport News of heart disease

Jacob H. Rumble, Co. I: Died: 4/14/1863

Jacob Smith, Co. C: 5/3/1863; Died of diarrhea in Baltimore, MD

Andrew Scott, Co. C: 6/27/1863; Killed in Lexington, KY

Valentine Raush, Co. G: Drowned 6/11 or 12/1863   

Corporal Joseph Reed, Co. H: Killed 11/16/1863 at Campbell’s Station, TN.

Joseph Weise, Co. H: Died in Knoxville, TN, 11/21/1863

John Sponslor/Sponsler, Co. H: Killed 11/29/1863 at Knoxville, TN

Jonas Haldeman, Co. I: Killed in Action, Knoxville, TN, 11/29/1863

Cpl. Charles Weaver, Co. I: Died 12/5/1863 in Knoxville, TN, of wounds received 12/3/1863

Josiah Kramer, Co. I: Died: December 1863

1864 (157)

Thomas J. Thomas, Co. F: Died of Typhoid Fever, 1/22/1864

Patrick Brown, Co. F: Killed in a railroad accident, 1/24/1864, Paris, Kentucky

George Livingston, Co. A: Captured; Died in Libby Prison, Richmond, VA, 2/4/1864

James Shields, Co. E: Murdered in Silver Creek, 2/26/1864

James W. Evans, Co. F: Died in Hospital, 3/2/1864

John Burnhart, Co. B: Died 3/8/1864; Buried in Knoxville, Tennessee

Isaac Arndt, Co. I: Wounded Severely in hip; left on field at Campbell's Station; and Missing in Action, 11/16/1863; Captured, Held Prisoner of War at Andersonville; Not on Muster Out Roll; PA Civil War Service Cards Lists Him As Having Died 3/16/1863 (1864?) at Canard Station, Tennessee.

John Dietrich, Co. D: Died 3/22/1864

Michael Wilson, Co. F: Died of "nostalgia, or home-sickness," or of chronic diarrhea, 3/24/1864, at Annapolis, MD.

William Phillips, Co. G: Died 3/26/1864 in Pottsville

Reuben Watt, Co. I: Died March 31, 1864, Annapolis, MD

Thomas S. Lewis, Co. H: Died 3/31/1864 at Philadelphia

Charles Clark, Co. G: Died: 4/6/1864 in Annapolis, Maryland

William H. Smith, Co. D: Died in Annapolis, 4/7/1864

Peter Litchfield, Co. F: Died 4/9/1864, Annapolis, Maryland

Peter Zimmerman, Co. A: Died: 4/11/1864 in Annapolis, Maryland.

John Donnelly, Co. H: Died 4/20/1864 at Annapolis, Maryland

Edward Edwards, Co. H: Died of sunstroke, 4/23/1864 at Annapolis, Maryland

Lewis J. Garber, Co. I: Died 4/23/1864, Annapolis, Maryland

Valentine Frantz, Co. E: Committed Suicide, 4/28/1864

Charles DeLong, Co. H: Died 5/4/1864 at Bristoe Station

Jno. Burke, Co. E: Killed in Action at the Wilderness, 5/5/1864

Lawrence Farrell, Co. E: Killed in Action at the Wilderness, 5/6/1864

Jonathan Kauffman, Co. D: Killed in Action at the Wilderness, 5/6/1864

David F. Thiel, Co. F: Killed in Action at the Wilderness, 5/6/1864

Simon Moyer, Co. B: Killed in Action at the Wilderness, 5/7/1864

Israel Manning, Co. F: Wounded at the Wilderness, 5/6/1864; Died of Wounds 5/8/1864

Jno. T. Huntzinger, Co. A: Killed in Action at Spotsylvania: 5/12/1864

Isaac Otto, Co. A: Killed in Action at Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864.

Lewis M. Robinhold, Co. A: Killed in Action at Spotsylvania: 5/12/1864

Charles A.T. St. Clair, Co. A: Killed in Action at Spotsylvania: 5/12/1864

John Deitz, Co. B: Killed in Action at Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864

Frederick Knittle, Co. B: Killed in Action at Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864

Matthew Hume, Co. B: Killed in Action at Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864

Cpl. David J. Davis, Co. B: Killed in Action at Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864

Daniel Wary, Co. B: Killed in Action at Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864

Laurentus C. Moyer, Co. B: Killed in Action at Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864

John Morrissey, Co. F: Killed in Action at Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864

Richard Williams, Co. F: Killed in Action at Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864

Lewis Woods, Co. F: Killed in Action at Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864

Jno. Powell, Co. F: Mortally Wounded at Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864; Died of Wounds

James Brennan, Co. F: Died of wounds received at Spotsylvania; Date Unknown

2nd Lt. Henry C. Jackson, Co. G: Killed in Action Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864      

William Williams, Co. G: Killed in Action Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864      

Henry J. Ege, Co. I: Killed in Action, 5/12/1864, Spotsylvania, Virginia

Jno. W. Henn, Co. K: Killed in Action at Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864

Daniel Brown, Co. C: 5/12/1864; Killed in Action at Spotsylvania

Michael Mohan, Co. C: 5/20/1864; Died in Washington of wounds received at Spotsylvania

Sgt. William Kissinger, Co. B: Wounded at Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864; Died of Wounds, 5/24/1864

Joseph Chester, Co. H: Wounded: 5/15/1864; Died: 5/24/1864 of wounds received in battle

Frederick Henry, Co. I: Wounded in Action, 5/25/1864; Supposed to have died from wounds in ambulance and buried by the wayside

Corporal Charles Norrigan/Norrigang, Co. H: Killed in Action at North Anna Crossing, 5/26/1864

Patrick Doolin, Co. F: Killed in Action at Bethesda Church, 5/30/1864

Henry McCann, Co. F: Killed in Action at Armstrong Farm, 5/31/1864

Lieutenant Samuel B. Laubenstein, Co. H: Killed at Shady Grove Church, 5/31/1864

James Spencer, Co. G: Mortally Wounded Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864; Died of Wounds 5/31/1864

John Cochran, Co. A: Died: 6/1864 near Cold Harbor, VA.

David Williams, Co. E: Killed in Action at Cold Harbor, 6/3/1864

James Bradley, Co. F: Killed in Action at Cold Harbor, 6/3/1864

Edward G. Pugh, Co. F: Killed in Action at Cold Harbor , 6/3/1864

William Smith, Co. F: Killed in Action at Cold Harbor, 6/3/1864

Cpl. Alexander Govan, Co. G: Killed in Action Cold Harbor, 6/3/1864

James Allison, Co. G: Killed in Action Cold Harbor, 6/3/1864

Joseph Alexander, Co. H: Killed in Action at Cold Harbor, 6/3/1864

George Dresh, Co. I: Killed in Action, 6/3/1864, Cold Harbor

William J. Price, Co. I: Killed at Cold Harbor, 6/3/1864

Benjamin B. Kershner, Co. I: Killed in Action at Cold Harbor, 6/3/1864

Jacob Lauby/Landy, Co. K: Killed in Action at Cold Harbor, 6/3/1864

Daniel Reedy, Co. E: Mortally Wounded at Cold Harbor; Died: 6/6/1864

John Clark, Co. I: Wounded Cold Harbor, 6/3/1864; Died of Wounds 6/8/1864

Major Joseph A. Gilmour: Mortally Wounded in Action, 5/31/1864; Died of Wounds 6/9/1864

Anthony Wade, Co. E: Mortally Wounded at Cold Harbor; Died: 6/9/1864

Christian Lauer, Co. B: Died 6/10/1864, of wounds received in action

Samuel Heckman, Co. B: Died 6/12/1864, of wounds received in action

George Airgood, Co. A: Wounded at Petersburg; Died of Wounds

Simon Snyder, Co. A: Died: 6/16/1864 of Wounds Received in Action

Simon Devlin, Co. F: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 6/16/1864

Nathan Rich, Co. K: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 6/16/1864

Andrew Wesner, Co. F: Died 6/17/1864

George Betz, Co. A: Mortally Wounded at Petersburg, 6/17/1864

John Major, Co. E: Killed at Petersburg, 6/17/1864

Isaac Lewis, Co. F: Killed in Action at Petersburg 6/17/1864

Horace Straub, Co. F: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 6/17/1864

Anthony Gallagher, Co. H: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 6/17/1864

Jeff. W. Beyerley, Co. H: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 6/17/1864

George W. Morey, Co. H: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 6/17/1864

James Mulholland, Co. H: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 6/17/1864

Arthur Gray, Co. K: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 6/18/1864

Thomas Davis, Co. H: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 6/18/1864

Ephraim Whetstone, Co. K: Died June 1864 from wounds received in action

Daniel Okum, Co. D: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 6/21/1864

Lewis Hessinger, Co. A: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 6/22/1864

William Evans, Co. E: Died of Chronic Diarrhea, 6/22/1864

Jeremiah Willoner/Willouer, Co. I: Wounded, severely, Cold Harbor, 6/3/1864; Died of Wounds 6/22/1864

James Boner, Co. I: Wounded 5/30/1864; Died of Wounds 6/22/1864

Abraham Gecker, Co. C: 6/23/1864; Killed in Action at Petersburg

John Whitaker, Co. C: 6/23/1864; Killed in Action at Petersburg

1st Lt. Curtis C. Pollock, Co. G: Mortally Wounded Petersburg 6/17/1864; Died of wounds: 6/23/1864

William Reysons/Rasons, Co. E: Mortally Wounded at Petersburg, 6/17/1864; Died: 6/24/1864

William Schwartz, Co. B: Died 6/26/1864

Daniel J. Kehl, Co. I: Died June 26, 1864, City Point, VA

William Simpson, Co. G: Killed in Action Petersburg 6/26/1864

Lt. William H. Hume, Co. B: Mortally Wounded in Action, 5/31/1864 at Totopotomy Creek, VA; Died of -Wounds, 6/30/1864

James Reagan, Co. E: Mortally Wounded at Petersburg, 6/17/1864; Died: 6/30/1864

Jonas Z. Raber, Co. D: Died 7/1/1864 in Washington, D.C.

John Armstrong, Co. G: Mortally Wounded Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864; Died of Wounds 7/1/1864

1st Lt. Joseph Edwards, Co. I: Wounded at Petersburg, 6/17/1864; Died of Wounds 7/2/1864

Job Hirst, Co. H: Wounded at Cold Harbor, 6/3/1864; Died 7/3/1864 of wounds received in action

David Houser, Co. A: Died: 7/4/1864

Henry Dorward, Co. D: Killed in Action near Petersburg, 7/5/1864

Nelson Simon, Co. A: Died in Minersville: 7/5/1864.

James McElrath, Co. C: 7/7/1864; Died from chronic diarrhea in Andersonville Prison

Sgt. Thomas Tosh, Co. E: Mortally Wounded at Cold Harbor; Died of Wounds: 7/7/1864

Francis M. Stidham, Co. A: Died 7/10/1864 of Wounds Received in Action

J. Howard Jones, Co. G: Mortally Wounded Petersburg, 6/17/1864; Died of Wounds: 7/13/1864

Isaac Bannon/Brannan, Co. H: Killed 7/16/1864 in US General Hospital at Alexandria, VA.

Charles Quinn, Co. E: Mortally Wounded at Petersburg, 6/17/1864; Died: 7/24/1864

Lewis Beableheimer, Co. I : Wounded at Petersburg 7/24/1864; Died of Wounds, 7/26/1864

Captain Benjamin B. Schuck, Co. I: Wounded at Petersburg, 6/25/1864; Died of Wounds, 7/27/1864;

Lieutenant David B. Brown, Co. H: Killed at Petersburg, 8/5/1864

Elias Zimmerman, Co. D: Died in Fairfax Seminary Hospital, 8/5/1864

Isaac K. Beltz, Co. I: Wounded Cold Harbor 6/3/1864; Died of Wounds 8/10/1864

Solomon Eyster, Co. D: Died 8/15/1864 in Philadelphia

Edward Sweeney, Co. C: 8/17/1864; Died in Mount Douglass General Hospital

Frank Boyer, Co. E: Captured at Cold Harbor; Died at Andersonville Prison, 8/17/1864

Frank Queeny, Co. F: Died of Dropsy, 8/21/1864

Richard Lee, Co. A: Died in Pottsville, 8/21/1864

Edward Gallagher, Co. A: Captured; Died in Andersonville Prison, 8/21/1864 from diarrhea

Daniel Neyer, Co. I: Died at City Point, Virginia, 8/22/1864

William Davis, Co. H: Wounded at Cold Harbor, VA, 6/3/1864; Died of Wounds: 9/5/1864 

Henry Reb, Co. H: Died of Paralysis 9/5/1864 on David's Island, New York

Isaac Fetterman/Fetter, Co. H: Captured; Died in Andersonville Prison, 9/8/1864, from diarrhea

George Lawrence, Co. G: Died 9/11/1864 at Port Carbon, PA

William Engle, Co. B: Died at Willet's Point, New York, 9/11 or 12/1864

William Schneider, Co. H: Died 9/12/1864, of wounds received in action

Daniel Root, Co. B: Died in Andersonville Prison, 9/14/1864, from diarrhea

Patrick Farrell, Co. C: 9/21/1864; Died in Washington

John Darragh, Co. E: Killed in Action at Poplar Grove/Peebles’s Farm, 9/30/1864

James Heiser, Co. I: Killed in Action, 9/30/1864, Pegram's Farm/Poplar Springs Church

Lewis W. Kopp, Co. H: Died of Phthsis Pulmonalis 10/1/1864

Joseph Cobus, Co. I: Wounded and Captured Pegram's Farm, 9/30/1864; Died of Wounds, 10/4/1864

Daniel Boyer, Co. E: Killed at Petersburg, 10/5/1864

Daniel M. Bankes, Co. B: Died at Annapolis, MD, 10/6/1864

Jno. Lloyd, Co. H: Wounded 8/9/1864; Died 10/25/1864 at his home in Schuylkill County.

David Miller, Co. F: Wounded at Pegram's Farm; Died in Annapolis, 11/6/1864

Jacob Hammer, Co. B: Died in Salisbury Prison, NC, 11/12/1864

Edward McGinnis, Co. E: Captured at Peebles’s Farm; Died in Salisbury Prison, 11/17/1864

Patrick Crowe, Co. I: Captured Pegram's Farm, 9/30/1864; Died in Salisbury Prison, N.C., 11/19/1864

Lewis Douglass, Co. I: Died: 11/22/1864

Philip Heffron, Co. H: Captured at Pegram's Farm, 9/30/1864; Died of starvation in Salisbury Prison, 11/25/1864

Michael Condron, Co. C: 11/29/1864; Died in Salisbury Prison, NC

Emmanuel Fox, Co. H: Died 12/5/1864 at Baptist Church Hospital, Alexandria, VA.

George Hartz, Co. D: Died of Wounds Received in Action at Petersburg, 12/20/1864

Corporal John F. Dentzer, Co. K: Killed at Petersburg, 12/28/1864

Robert Devine, Co. E: Died of Chronic Diarrhea, 12/28/1864

Elijah DeFrehn, Co. F: Captured at Pegram's Farm, 9/30/1864; Died 12/30/1864 in Salisbury Prison, North Carolina

1865 (41) 

Jacob Wigner/Wagner, Co. B: Died 1/1/1865;

Cpl. William Livingston, Co. C: 1/2/1865; KIA at Fort Sedgwick

Abraham Sigmund, Co. E: Killed at Petersburg, 1/7/1865

William D. Lloyd, Co. H: Died 1/10/1865 at Lincoln Hospital, Washington, D.C.

Andrew Neeley, Co. C: 1/12/1865; Died in Washington of chronic diarrhea 

Samuel Schollenberger, Co. A: Captured; Died in Salisbury Prison, Salisbury, North Carolina: 1/16/1865.

Joseph Finley/Findley, Co. F: Captured at Pegram's Farm, 9/30/1864; Died in Salisbury Prison, 1/22/1865

Michael Welsh, Co. F: Captured 9/30/1864 at Pegram's Farm; Died in Salisbury Prison, 2/6/1865

Charles Aurand, Co. H: Died: 2/9/1865

William Fulton, Co. F: Captured at Pegram's Farm, 9/30/1864; Died in Salisbury Prison, 2/12/1865

Corporal Philip Beckman, Co. D: Died in Baltimore of chronic diarrhea, 2/9/1865

Charles Dintinger, Co. C: 2/11/1865; Died in Salisbury Prison, 11/1864

George T. Eisenhuth, Co. H: Died of Chronic Diarrhea 2/17/1865

Nicholas Delaney, Co. K: Killed at Petersburg, 2/23/1865

Nicholas Gross: Died of Chronic Diarrhea, 3/12/1865, Annapolis, Maryland

Cpl. Patrick Rogers, Co. E: Died of Disease, 3/25/1865

1st Lieutenant Henry Graeff, Co. D: Died in Pottsville, 3/26/1865, of Disease Contracted in Confederate Prisons.

Gilbert Graham, Co. C: 4/1/1865; Died of Wounds

William Jenkins, Co. F: Died: 4/1/1865

Sgt. John Homer, Co. B: Died, 4/2/1865, of wounds received in action on 4/1/1865

Colonel George W. Gowen: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 4/2/1865.

John Coutts, Co. B: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 4/2/1865

Daniel D. Barnett, Co. E: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 4/2/1865

David McElvie, Co. F: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 4/2/1865

William Donnelly, Co. H: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 4/2/1865

James King, Co. H: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 4/2/1865

George Uhl, Co. H: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 4/2/1865

Albert Mack, Co. I: Killed at Petersburg, 4/2/1865

Jacob Reichwein, Co. I :Killed at Petersburg, 4/2/1865

Albert Zimmerman, Co. I: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 4/2/1865

Wesley Boyer, Co. I: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 4/2/1865.

Simon Hoffman, Co. K: Killed in Action at Petersburg, 4/2/1865

Lewis Sterner, Co. A: Died: 4/11/1865; Buried: Odd Fellows’ Cemetery, Tamaqua, PA

Aaron P. Wagner, Co. D: Mortally Wounded at Petersburg, 4/2/1865; Died of Wounds 4/15/1865 in Washington, D.C.

Nicholas C. Stephens, Co. B: Died 4/20/1865, of wounds received at Petersburg 4/2/1865

Cpl. James Nicholson, Co. C: Died: 4/24/1865 of Wounds Received at Petersburg, 4/2/1865

James Mercer, Co. E: Mortally Wounded at Petersburg, 6/17/1864; Died: 5/21/1865

John Frehn, Co. B: Died in Philadelphia, 6/8/1865; Veteran

Jonathan Dress, Co. K: Died 7/5/1865 in Philadelphia, PA

Corporal Walter P. Aims/Amos, Co. D: Died 7/12/1865 from the effects of starvation and brutality while in Confederate prison 

Charles F. Hesser, Co. D: Died 7/25/1865 in Washington, D.C.

Unknown (7) 

William Moose, Co. E: Wounded at 2nd Bull Run; Died at Home, Date Unknown

Henry Simpson, Co. A: Killed in Battle. 

Sgt. Stafford Johnson, Co. E: Died at Home, Date Unknown

William Atkins, Co. B: Died at home, while on furlough; Date Unknown
Cpl. James Brennan, Co. E: Captured at Knoxville, Died at Andersonville Prison, Date Unknown
William H. Kohler, Co. F: Captured at Pegram's Farm, 9/30/1864; Died in Salisbury Prison

Joshua Reed, Co. G: Captured 9/30/1864 at Pegram's Farm; Held in Salisbury Prison; Died at home from effects of prison confinement.             

"Wasn't That A Splendid Charge?:" 154 Years Ago, The 48th's "Most Brilliant Engagement" Came At A Heavy Price: Petersburg, Virginia, June 17, 1864.

June 17, 2018, 4:05 am

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Edwin Forbes Sketch of the 9th Corps's Attack at Petersburg, June 17, 1864

Sometime around 3:00 a.m. on the morning of June 17, in almost total darkness, Lt. Col. Henry Pleasants, commanding the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry, made his way quietly along the prone soldiers of his regiment, informing each of the regiment's company commanders that they would soon be launching an attack. Over the past six weeks, the 48th had suffered appalling casualties as it fought its way across northern Virginia, seeing heavy action at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, the North Anna, and most recently at Cold Harbor. The regiment had crossed the Rapidan on May 4 and the James just a few days earlier. Now, the city of Petersburg lay just ahead, defended by a series of rebel batteries and a labyrinthine maze of earthworks and entrenchments. The 48th would soon be attacking a section of those imposing fortifications.  Stirred awake from a restless night's slumbers, the soldiers readied themselves for the charge. As quietly as possible, though no doubt with their hearts racing during that early morning stillness, they removed all caps from their guns, secured their tin cups to prevent rattling, and fixed bayonets. They soon moved forward, quietly, out of their entrenchments and crossed a small creek just to the front. "After getting the whole regiment over," remembered Sergeant Robert Reid of Company G, "we silently formed line; then, in utter darkness, moved to the right about one hundred yards, when, in a whisper, the command forward was given," and, as regimental historian Oliver Bosbyshell later wrote, "the savage rush began."


The soldiers of the 48th swept across the open ground between the opposing lines; it was still dark and the only noise was that of hundreds of feet tramping down upon the dew-covered grass and dirt. Soon after the charge began, however, off to the right of the 48th's advancing line of battle, musket fire rang out, which drew an immediate response from the Confederate line. The darkness was suddenly illuminated with the flash of the Confederate rifles. Still, the soldiers of the 48th rushed on. "Directly into this fiery ribbon, belching its leaden hail through the ranks of the charging line, swept the Forty-Eighth," wrote Bosbyshell. Reid remembered that "We went at them squarely, right into their firing line. Not one of our regiment returned a shot until we reached their works, when there was a short, sharp contest, and the line was ours. I still remember how my heart beat when starting on the charge, but it was forgotten in the glorious rush of the fight."


Within just a matter of minutes, the 48th rushed up and over a section of the Confederate entrenchments, catching many of the still sleepy gray-clad soldiers unawares. Hundreds of them were very quickly captured. Amid the confusion, Irish-born Sergeant Patrick Monaghan of Company F noticed a few Confederate soldiers attempting to flee. He ran amongst them and demanded their surrender. Their hands went up and it was soon noted that one of these Confederate soldiers was attempting to retreat with the flag of the 7th New York Heavy Artillery, which had been captured the day before. Now the flag was back in Union hands; Monaghan of the 48th having re-captured it and later returned to the New York regiment. For this action, Monaghan would received a Medal of Honor.

Robert Reid of the 48th would also receive a Medal of Honor for his actions during this pre-dawn attack on June 17, 1864. Sweeping forward and rushing up and over the Confederate lines, Reid wrestled away the flag of the 44th Tennessee from its regimental color bearer, capturing those colors.

Wrote Bobsyshell: "How the heart beat, and the pulse throbbed during that onslaught! If fear or dread marked the supreme moment of the attack, it was banished completely in the glorious rush of the fight! What a harvest of prisoners--they were captured by the score, disarmed, and sent to the rear."



Robert Reid

Sergeant Patrick Monaghan



Yet as the skies continued to lighten another Confederate redan about 100 yards further south became visible. Confederate cannons posted there soon erupted into the flank and front of the 48th. Acting fast, Pleasants organized his men for yet another attack and "like a savage torrent" the 48th charged forward. "[T]he regiment fairly tore over those hundred yards and swept through the fort irresistibly. The enemy ran in great disorder by squads and singly to their left and rear." Two Confederate Napoleon cannons fell into the hands of the 48th which were safely hauled, by hand, to the rear.

Two cannons, two flags and two Medals of Honor, hundreds of prisoners and a good section of the Confederate line; it was a glorious victory for the 48th and for the Ninth Army Corps. All along Burnside's front, the morning attack had achieved much success. Even George Meade, commanding the Army of the Potomac, would recognize the success of the Ninth Corps in a note to Burnside, sent on that June 17: "It affords me great satisfaction to congratulate you and your gallant corps on the assault this morning, knowing the wearied condition of your men from the night march over twenty-two miles, and the continual movement this last night; their persistence and success is highly creditable." Coming from Meade to Burnside these words were high praise, indeed.

For the actions of the 48th, Oliver Bosbyshell would later write that the attack on June 17, 1864, at Petersburg, "was probably, in all its results, the most brilliant engagement for the Forty-Eighth of any in which it participated. Praise is due to every officer, from Colonel Pleasants down, and to every many who was in this grand assault, for the splendid record the work here accomplished. .  . ."

Throughout the rest of the day on June 17 the Confederates made several attempts to regain their captured works, but each were turned back. A sometimes lively skirmish fire was kept up throughout the day. The next day, Burnside determined to strike once more, this time with his 1st and 3rd Division leading the way while the 2nd Division--which included the 48th--would advance behind in support. The fighting renewed once more in intensity on June 18 as the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac attempted to drive the Confederates from yet another line of earthworks and trenches very close to the city of Petersburg. Along the Ninth Corps front and though designated as a reserve, the soldiers of the 48th were once more brought to the front. They charged down a ravine and across a railroad cut and they made it closer to the Confederate line than any other Union force. Night settled in and off to their front rose Elliott's Salient, held by a brigade of South Carolina soldiers and the gunners of Richard Pegram's Virginia Battery.

One week later, on June 25, the soldiers of the 48th would begin to dig a mine underneath this portion of the Confederate line. . . .

The soldiers of the 48th were justly proud of their actions on the Seventeenth and Eighteenth of June; indeed, Bosbyshell later described the attacks on June 17 as the regiment's most brilliant action of the war. But the regiment paid a very heavy price.

During its attacks on June 17-18, the 48th Pennsylvania lost 19 men killed or mortally wounded, 42 men wounded, and 4 men missing/captured, for a total casualty count of 65.

Among those struck down with a mortal injury on that morning of June 17, 1864 was Lieutenant Curtis C. Pollock of Company G. Sweeping forward with the regiment, Pollock was shot in the shoulder and fell to the ground. Sergeant William Auman, also of Company G, rushed to Pollock's aid and helped the young twenty-two-year lieutenant to his feet. Though in considerable pain, said Auman, Pollock remained in good spirits. His first words to Auman: "Wasn't that a splendid charge?" Though he and others considered the wound non-fatal, Pollock succumbed to his injury one week later.



The others who fell that day--and during the next day's assaults--were. .  .


Killed/Mortally Wounded: (19)
Private Francis M. Stidham, Company A (MW6/18/1864; Died 7/10/1864)
Private Gilbert Graham, Company C (MW 6/18/1864; Died 4/1/1865)
Private John Major, Company E (KIA 6/17/1864)
Private William Rasons/Reysons, Company E (MY 6/17/1864; Died 6/24/1864)
Private James Reagan, Company E (MW 6/17/1864; Died 6/30/1864)
Private James Mercer, Company E (MW 6/17/1864; Died 5/21/1865)
Private Horace Straub, Company F (KIA 6/17/1864)
Private Isaac Lewis, Company F (KIA 6/17/1864)
Private Simon Devlin, Company F (KIA 6/18/1864)
Lieutenant Curtis C. Pollock, Company G (MW 6/17/1864; Died 6/23/1864)
Private Howard Jones, Company G (MW 6/17/1864; Died 7/13/1864)
Private George Morey, Company H (KIA 6/17/1864)
Private Jefferson W. Beyerle, Company H (KIA 6/17/1864)
Private James Mulholland, Company H (KIA 6/17/1864)
Private Anthony Gallagher, Company H  (KIA 6/17/1864)
Private Thomas Davis, Company H (KIA 6/18/1864)
Lieutenant Joseph Edwards, Company I (MW 6/17/1864; Died 7/2/1864)
Private Nathan Rich, Company K (KIA 6/17/1864)
Private Arthur Gray (KIA 6/18/1864)

Lieutenant Joseph Edwards, Co. I Mortally Wounded, June 17 (Hoptak Collection)

Lt. Curtis C. Pollock, Company G Mortally Wounded, June 17, 1864 (Hoptak Collection)

Private Francis M. Stidham Mortally Wounded, June 18, 1864 (Hoptak Collection)

Wounded: (42)
Private Elias Britton, Company A
Private John Holman, Company A
Private John McLean, Company A
Private John Cochran, Company A
Private William Huckey, Company A
Private John Shaffer, Company A
Private Joel Lins, Company A
Private Henry Schreyer, Company A
Private James W. Sterner, Company A
Private William Dreibelbeis, Company A
Private Joseph Dreibelbeis, Company A
Sergeant Robert Campbell, Company B
Corporal James Rider, Company B
Sergeant Henry Weiser, Company C
Lieutenant James K. Helms, Company D
Corporal Jacob Dietrich, Company D
Private Lewis Dietrich, Company D
Private Jacob D. Casper, Company D
Private Joseph Berlinger/Buddinger, Company D
Private Joseph Lindenmuth, Company D
Private Thomas Clemens, Company E
Private R.B. Thompson, Company E
Private Murt Brennan, Company F
Private Patrick Boran, Company F
Corporal Robert Wallace, Company F
Private Edward L. Shissler, Company F
Private Joshua Reed, Company G
Lieutenant David B. Brown, Company H
Private Charles Eberle, Company H
Private Lewis Aurand, Company H
Private Jonathan Dillet, Company H
Private Frank Ringer, Company I
Private William Kramer, Company I
Corporal Benjamin Williams, Company I
Private Christian Seward, Company I
Private Samuel DeFrehn, Company I
Private Jacob Reichwein, Company I
Private Charles Koch, Company I
Sergeant Thomas Irwin, Company K
Private John Gillinger, Company K
Private Oliver Schwartz, Company K
Private David Houser, Company K


Captured/Missing: (4)
Sergeant Andrew Wren, Company B
Private Jacob Wigner, Company B
Private Michael Lavell, Company F
Private William Auchenbach, Company F

Private Elias Britton, Co. A Wounded (Hoptak Collection)

Private John Cochran, Co. A Wounded (Hoptak Collection)

Lieutenant James K. Helms, Co. D Severely Wounded (Courtesy Patriotic Order Sons of America) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Purchase your copy of "Dear Ma:" The Civil War Letters of Curtis Clay Pollock, First Defender and First Lieutenant, 48th Pennsylvania Infantry by clicking here

Help Me Identify This Unidentified Company G, 48th PA, Sergeant

August 24, 2018, 3:00 am

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Several months ago, I happened upon several images of 48th PA soldiers, including this tintype of an unidentified sergeant in Company G, 48th Pennsylvania Infantry. The image was taken in either late May or early June 1862 when the soldiers of Company G sat to have their images taken in a New Bern, NC, photographer's studio. The members of the company then presented their tintype photographs as a gift and measure of respect to Captain Philip Nagle who had resigned due to poor health. 

I wrote at length about this in a post in May of this year. 

Unidentified Sergeant, Company G, 48th PA

The soldier in this image is clearly a sergeant--and having examined the roster of Company G, it would appear that in May/June 1862, there may have been as many as six sergeants within the ranks of the company.  Those six were: Henry Clay Jackson, Richard M. Jones, Robert Smith, Theodore Patterson, Reuben Reeser, and George Farne. 

Of these six, however, I think we can immediately eliminate Jackson, Jones, Patterson, and perhaps Farne, as I have identified images of these soldiers, which are seen below. .  .

Henry C. Jackson (Courtesy of Ronn Palm and the Museum of Civil War Images)

George Farne (From Gould, The Story of the Forty Eighth)

Richard M. Jones (From Bosbyshell, The Forty Eighth in the War)

Theodore Patterson (Unknown)

Eliminating these four from contention, then--and I am not totally convinced Farne should be eliminated since I see a little resemblance--leaves us with only two other possibilities: Robert Smith and Reuben Reeser. 

Here are the physical descriptions of these two men: 

Reuben Reeser: Age at enlistment: 43; 5'11" tall; Light Complexion; Blue Eyes; Dark Hair. 

Robert Smith: Age at enlistment: 23; 5'7" tall; Florid Complexion; Blue Eyes; Dark Hair. 

From the physical description of Reeser and Smith, it would seem that the man in the photograph can be identified as Robert Smith, since he appears closer in age to 23 than to 43. 

But what do you think?  Is this man Sergeant Robert Smith, Company G, 48th PA?  

Or could it be George Farne. . .again, to me at least, there does appear to be a resemblance. 

Is This A New Face of the Forty-Eighth?

November 4, 2018, 3:33 am

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Is this the image of a 48th Pennsylvania soldier?

I don't know how many times I've said it or heard it said over the years in reference to Civil War soldier photographs and particularly CDVs: "If only they would have signed their names," or "If only someone would have written down their names. . ." 

This is the common lament for most who collect Civil War images, and especially for those who collect images of soldiers from just one single regiment, such as the 48th Pennsylvania. But the fact is that for far too many Civil War soldier CDVs, there is no identification, no name...nothing to tell us, really, who they were, what they did, or what became of them during the war or after, if, indeed, there was an after for them. Instead, we have just an image, typically of a young man in a blue uniform, with a look of youthful pride or determination upon their face and more often than not, it seems, an officer. Yet even without a name (and who today writes the names of friends, family, or even oneself on the back of their photographs?), there are sometimes clues we can follow in an unidentified soldier's photograph. What is the photographer's backmark, for example; where was the photograph taken? What kind of uniform is the soldier wearing? Is there anything on that uniform, such as a corps badge or hat brass, to help better narrow down the search? Sometimes, and especially for those who collect from a single regiment or at least for me who has spent twenty+ years searching for 48th PA images, the question is: does he have the look of a 48th Pennsylvania soldier. Not an exact science or question, to be sure. .  .but in many cases, these are the only clues we get.

Have a look at this Civil War soldier CDV, both front and back. . .

Unidentified Soldier Mortimer/Pottsville, PA [Hoptak Collection]

What are your thoughts at first glance?  Is it the youth of this soldier? His rather short stature, perhaps? Maybe his uniform first grabbed your attention; maybe that it appears his uniform is way too big! especially his trousers. The photographer's backmark? That there are letters and numerals on the top of the kepi he is holding? These were the things that immediately caught my attention, along with the thought, at least to me after more than two decades collecting, that this soldier has the look of a the 48th, strange as it sounds. 

But was this soldier actually in the 48th? The 48th Pennsylvania was recruited almost entirely from Schuylkill County and Pottsville, the county seat and largest city, was home to a number of photographers during the Civil War, most notably A.M. Allen and Mortimer. This image, of course, has the Mortimer backmark, as does this image of Major Joseph Gilmour of the 48th. . .

Major Joseph Gilmour, 48th PA  [Hoptak Collection]

As you can see, same carpet, same chair...Were these two images also taken during the same time? The Gilmour image was taken in February-March 1864; was the photograph of the unidentified soldier taken during this time as well, when the regiment was home on furlough and recruiting new members? Was this young man one of those new recruits who joined the regiment in the winter of 1864? Note the absence of veterans' stripes on his uniform and, again, his youthful appearance. . . 

Certainly, though, the 48th Pennsylvania was not the only unit to be recruited from Schuylkill County and Pottsville...not by a long shot. There was the 96th PA, for instance; several companies of the 50th PA, several of the 129th PA, and several from the 7th PA Cavalry, in addition to scores of other regiments who drew recruits from Schuylkill County. And, well, during the labor disturbances in '62-'63 and into '64 there were New York and New Jersey volunteer soldiers brought in to the county to help protect against draft resistance and violence and to help ensure the mines kept pumping out the anthracite to fuel the war effort. Many of these New Yorkers and New Jersyians no doubt went to Allen's or Mortimer's studios to have their 'likeness' taken. 

But what about that hat brass?

It's really, really difficult to see...partially hidden and upside down.


Trying to make sense of those letters and numbers, I scanned the image into my computer at a high resolution, magnified it, clarified it, and turned it right side up. . .




Is any of this now any clearer?

To me, while I cannot make out the top letter, which would have denoted what company this soldier belonged to (A, B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,K---and somehow I 'see' an E there), it does appear to me that the middle two numbers are, indeed, a "48" and the bottom letters "PV" for Pennsylvania Volunteers.

Does anyone else see this as well? 

Take a step back and look at it from a distance?


Again, it does appear to me that this young man was a soldier in the 48th Pennsylvania.

Or am I just 'seeing' 48 PV because I want to see it?  Are the letters and numbers simply too blurry to tell for sure. . .


Your thoughts, insights, etc, are appreciated! 

Soldier Story: Private William Straw, Musician/Fifer, Company K, 48th Pennsylvania Infantry

December 4, 2018, 2:13 am

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I always enjoy seeing a 'new' face of the 48th Pennsylvania, an image, that is, one of its soldiers I had never before seen, and thanks to Norman Gasbarro at Civil War Blog and to the descendants of a 48th soldier who posted photographs of him on a public ancestry.com family tree, I recently got to see a several images of  Private William Straw of Company K, and discover much more about him. 

Private William Straw Company K, 48th Pennsylvania Infantry [ancestry.com]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

According to the information posted by his descendants, William Straw was born on October 12, 1841, in Packington, Leicestershire, England, the son of John and Frances Straw. Sometime either in 1847 or 1849, when William was either six or eight years of age, he and his mother immigrated to the United States, though there is some thought that she died on board the ship on their way to America. If this was the case, then it is likely young William Straw was met by and raised in the home of a relative who had already been residing in the United States. By 1860, he was residing in Llewellyn, in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, and his occupation was that of a blacksmith. On April 22, 1861, ten days following the outbreak of civil war, nineteen-year-old William Straw was mustered into service as a private in Company G, 6th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, a three-month regiment that was mustered out of service on July 27, 1861. After his ninety-day enlistment in the 6th PA, Straw volunteered once more and on October 1, 1861, was once more mustered into service, this time as a private in Company K, 48th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He was mustered in and would serve as a company musician, playing the fife. He was almost twenty years old, stood 5'3 1/4" in height, and was described as having a Light Complexion, Dark Eyes, and Light Hair. Straw served in the regiment for the duration of the conflict, having reenlisted for another "three-year or the course of the war" term in the winter of '64-'64. Mustered out when the regiment was disbanded on July 27, 1865, Straw returned to Schuylkill County and just a few month later, on October 1, married Mary Elizabeth Reed in Pottsville. Together, the couple had ten children over the next nineteen years though, sadly, two--a daughter, Minnie, and a daughter Dollie--would die in early childhood. The Straw family moved first to Tremont, then to Williamstown, and finally, to Philadelphia by 1894. 

William Straw died at age 64 from the effects of a stroke on April 5, 1906, and was buried at the Hillside Cemetery, Montgomery, PA. 

Straw and his Wife, Mary, touring Devil's Den at the Gettysburg Battlefield [ancestry.com]

Post-War Image of Private William Straw [ancestry.com]

The Grave of William Straw Hillside Cemetery, Montgomery, Pennsylvania [findagrave.com]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

My thanks again go to Norman Gasbarro for locating this image of Private/Musician William Straw and posting about it on his website as well as to Straw's descendants who made these photographs and the information about Straw's life public on ancestry.com. 

"They Fell While Gallantly Defending a Just and Holy Cause:" The Dead of the 48th Pennsylvania at Fredericksburg

December 11, 2018, 6:37 am

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Currier and Ives' Depiction of Fredericksburg [Library of Congress]

The attack of Sturgis's division of the 9th Army Corps against Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862, is not as well remembered and not nearly as romanticized on canvas or on film as the attacks of the 2nd and 5th Corps. . .but it did happen and it was equally as futile and equally as deadly. 

The 48th Pennsylvania Infantry, which formed part of Nagle's brigade in Sturgis's division, took part in this forlorn assault. It was sometime around 1:00 p.m., reported the 48th's commanding officer, Colonel Joshua Sigfried, when Nagle's brigade moved to the attack. The 48th was initially held in reserve, on "an open field to the rear of town." Before them, the other regiments of Nagle's brigade--units from Maryland, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island--advanced directly toward the Confederate position, at the base of the heights. A heavy, incessant infantry and artillery fire tore into the surging blue lines, which were further disrupted by a creek, a rail line, and a railroad embankment. Even the 48th, although held in reserve, was not immune to the shot and shell and a number of men were wounded and one was killed. Around 2:30, the 48th received orders to move forward, to relieve the units on the front line, who had by now been pinned down by the murderous fire. "We started and went at double-quick (a distance of half a mile) under a most terrific fire of shell, grape and cannister from the enemy's batteries," reported Sigfried. Oliver Bosbyshell of Company G recorded that "The Forty-eighth marched by the flank toward the right a short distance until some obstruction had been passed when the command, 'Left face, double quick time,' came and running over the clear space down into a hollow, and up a slight rise of ground, the regiment became hotly engaged with the enemy."The soldiers of the 48th moved to front, exposed to the deadly fire, and arrived at a slight rise where they relieved the 21st Massachusetts Infantry, whose soldiers had exhausted their ammunition. And there the 48th remained until dusk when they, too, ran out of bullets. 

In a letter home, Lieutenant Curtis Pollock rather matter-of-factly summarized the regiment's actions that day: 

"After a run of about a quarter of a mile we reached the place where the infantry was firing. they were posted behind a small hill and were firing over the hill at the Rebs who were behind a stone wall at the bottom of the hill, on the top of which they had their breast works, and near the stone fence ran a small creek between them and us. We were lying down behind the hill for a few minutes waiting for a Regiment to fire all their ammunition before we relieved them. When they were through we went up to the brow and commenced well, we fired away, but could not tell whether we did any damage or not. We were relieved by other troops who had come up while we were firing, and we went back out of the road."

But perhaps it was Joseph Gould of Company F who best captured the confusion, the chaos, and the ghastly consequences of the regiment's efforts at Fredericksburg. Said Gould in his regimental history, published forty-six years after the battle: 

"It has been truly said that only those who participated in the contest know how much and how little they heard. We remember how the smoke, the woods, and the inequalities of the ground limited our vision when we had the leisure to look about us, and how every faculty was absorbed in our work; how the deafening noise made it impossible to hear orders; what ghastly sights we saw, as men fell near us, and how peacefully they sank to rest when a bullet reached a vital spot. [Sergeant August] Farrow and [Private David] Griffiths of Company F stood in the ranks to deliver their fire, though repeatedly commanded to lie down, until Griffiths was shot through the left lung and carried to the rear. Wounded men shrieked and others lay quiet; the singing and whistling of the balls from the muskets was incessant; and we knew very little of what was going on a hundred yards to the right or left. Participants in real fighting know how limited and confused are their recollections of the work, after it has become hot. All efforts to dislodge the enemy were unsuccessful, and the losses very heavy. Night put an end to the contest, and, having exhausted our ammunition, we were relieved by the 12th Rhode Island regiment and marched back to town. Cannon and musketry fire ceased their roar, and in a few moments the silence of death succeeded the stormy fury of the ten hours' battle. We were soon fast asleep in the streets of the town, tired out."

The cost was, indeed, heavy with seven men killed, forty-three wounded, and one missing. In a letter to the Miners' Journal written on December 16, Colonel Sigfried spoke to the families of those lost: "I deeply sympathize with the families and friends of those who have fallen, but," he said, "it is a source of great gratification to know that they fell while gallantly defending a just and holy cause."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

On this anniversary of the battle,a little about the lives of those of the 48th Pennsylvania who died at Fredericksburg 156 years ago while "defending a just and holy cause," follows. . . 

James Williams was twenty years of age when, in September 1861, he was mustered into service as a private in Company A, 48th Pennsylvania Infantry. He stood 5'6" in height, had dark eyes, dark hair, but a light complexion. By trade, he was a boatman who called Berks County, Pennsylvania, home. In his regimental history, Oliver Bosbyshell noted that it was a "man in Company A" who had been killed while the regiment was lying in reserve on the afternoon of December 13, waiting to go in. That man was Williams whose remains now lie at rest in the Fredericksburg National Cemetery.

The Grave of James Williams, 48th PA Fredericksburg National Cemetery [findagrave.com]

Like Williams, thirty-three-year-old Corporal Reuben Robinson of Company B, was a boatman who also called Berks County home, his residence in Reading. Unlike Williams, though, he was married, having wed Anna Weidner in June 1856 at the First German Reformed Church in Reading. He was also a father. It appears that, upon their marriage, Anna had a child--a son named James Franklin--though it is not quite clear (and probably unlikely) if Reuben was the child's father or if young James was the biological son of another man. Anna's application for a pension included testimonials from neighbors, however, that acknowledged that as long as they knew Reuben, that he always referred to James Franklin as his own and treated him as such. "He frequently declared in the presence of each of us," testified a few of Robinson's neighbors in Reading, "that it was his child." Sadly, on the 13th of December 1862, for James Franklin, the man who raised him as his father, Reuben Robinson, was killed in action before Marye's Heights. He and his mother would receive $8.00 a month from the government for their loss. Robinson, too, is interred in the Fredericksburg National Cemetery. 

The Grave of Reuben RobinsonFredericksburg National Cemetery [findagrave.com]

Michael Divine (Devine) also served in Company B. He hailed from Branchdale, in the heart of Schuylkill County's anthracite coal lands, and he was, like many others in the regiment, a miner. His father, William Devine, who was born in Scotland, was also a coal miner and, like so many miners, gave his life to coal, dying of asthma and dropsy in Branchdale on January 7, 1857, when his son, Michael, was only fourteen years old. William Devine's death forced Michael into the coal mines at an early age and the young man worked to support his now widowed mother, Catherine. Michael gave the entirety of his seven-dollar-a-week pay to his mother and, when in the army, sent home $10.00 a month to support her. Catherine Divine, who lost a husband in 1857, lost her son Michael five years later, on December 13, 1862, when he was killed at age nineteen by a shell while attacking Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg. 

Sergeant Henry Williamson's death was sudden and it was shocking; his head was blown off by a shell as he and his comrades in Company D, 48th Pennsylvania, charged toward that stone wall at Fredericksburg 156 years ago. He was dead in an instant and, just like that, his three children lost their father and his wife a husband. He was wed at age 19, marrying Elizabeth DeCoursey, on November 2, 1856. Over the next five years, Elizabeth gave birth to three children: a son, Charles Edward Williamson, on April 10, 1857 (and only six months after his parents were married); a daughter Arabella, in February 1859, and another son, William Henry, on the couple's fifth wedding anniversary: November 2, 1861. But Henry was not home to celebrate his anniversary nor to witness the birth of his second son; he was, instead, at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, with the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry, having volunteered in early September to fight for his country. 

James, Margaret, and Thomas Kinney, Jr., also lost their father to Fredericksburg's slaughter on December 13, 1862. Their dad, Thomas Kinney, was among the older soldiers in the regiment, enlisting in September 1861, into Company D at age 40. He was a laborer who stood 5'10" in height, had a dark complexion, dark hair, and blue eyes. He was born in Ireland but had immigrated to the United States sometime before 1844, for it was in that year that he married his wife, Charity Kinney, in Eaton, New Hampshire. Sometime before 1860, however, the Kinney's settled in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. Like so many others in Union blue, Thomas Kinney fought for and died for his adopted country when he fell at Fredericksburg, 156 years ago. 

These were the men who lost their lives on December 13, 1862, while assaulting the Confederate position along the foot of Marye's Heights. Yet there were two other members of the 48th who died at Fredericksburg: Privates John Williams and William Hill, both of Company B, who both died very late on the night preceding the battle--December 12--while in town; killed, of all things, by the collapse of a chimney. The town of Fredericksburg had been bombarded, looted, sacked and in some places burned; it was a dangerous place to be, especially where the 48th was stationed. As Lieutenant Pollock of Company G related in a letter home: "About four o’clock [on December 12] we were marched down the street nearest the river to about the middle of the town and halted just in front of where a whole block of houses had been burned to the ground, nothing was left of them but the tall chimneys and the smouldering embers. Here we had orders to bivouac for the night and as we could not light any fires the men made their coffee and cooked their evening meal on the burning ruins. Soon after dark one of the chimneys fell down with a loud crash and as the men were lying all around under them at every little there was we all supposed two or three must be badly injured, if not killed, but by good fortune all the men got out but one, who was not seriously injured, he being near the bottom." Yet Pollock's information was incorrect; tragically, two men were, indeed, killed. William Hill was a coal miner from Pottsville, who was thirty-three years of age when he enlisted into the ranks of Company B, 48th, in September 1861.  John Williams was also a coal miner, though he was from Ashland, and but twenty-one years of age.

Fredericksburg, Virginia [Library of Congress]

In addition to those who were killed, the 48th Pennsylvania also sustained 43 additional casualties in the number of men who were wounded, and we know that for some, their wounds proved mortal. Such was the case for Corporal Joseph Carter of Company A, Corporal John H. Derr of Company D, and Corporal Edward F. Shappell of Company I.  Carter was an overseer from Tamaqua, likely a supervisor at a mine, though only twenty-two years of age when he enlisted in September 1861 into the ranks of Company A, 48th PA. He stood 5'10" in height, had a light complexion, grey eyes, and dark hair. Carter succumbed to his wounds soon after sustaining them in combat at Fredericksburg. John H. Derr lived for three weeks following his Fredericksburg wound, spending Christmas and New Year's Day in the hospital, and passing away on January 2, 1863. He was a blacksmith by profession and twenty-one years of age when he traded in his blacksmith's tools for the musket of a soldier in September 1861. His remains were laid to rest at the U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Edward Shappell hailed from Orwigsburg in the rich farmlands of southern Schuylkill County and was a teamster by trade. He enlisted late in August 1861 at age twenty-seven. He stood 5'10", had sandy colored hair, grey eyes, and a light complexion. The date of his death remains unknown though it followed his wounding at Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862. 

The Grave of John H. DerrU.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's National Cemetery Washington, D.C. [findagrave.com]

That is just part of the stories of these ten men of the 48th Pennsylvania who were killed or mortally injured by bullets, by shells, by chimneys at Fredericksburg in December 1862. 

More than just numbers and more than just soldiers, they were devoted husbands, loving fathers, devoted sons who all "fell while gallantly defending a just and holy cause." 

---

At Long Last. . .A Regimental History of the 96th Pennsylvania!

January 10, 2019, 4:00 am

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The 96th Pennsylvania Volunteers in the Civil War [Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Publishing Co., 2018]

The 48th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, although perhaps the best known, was certainly not the only unit raised primarily in Schuylkill County during the American Civil War. Companies A and C of the 50th Pennsylvania, several companies of the nine-month 129th Pennsylvania, and several companies of the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry, for example, were also recruited principally from the county's coal towns and agricultural districts. And then there was Schuylkill County's "other" regiment--the 96th Pennsylvania Volunteers, a hard-fighting, tough as nails infantry regiment which was organized during the late summer of 1861 and which served for the next three years in the famed Sixth Corps of the Army of the Potomac, participating in some of the war's most sanguinary fights and in some of its most storied campaigns. I say "other" regiment simply because, for far too long, the history and the memory of the 96th Pennsylvania remained little told and often sadly overlooked, particularly compared to other Schuylkill County units, such as the 48th. But now, at long last, we have a regimental history of the 96th Pennsylvania Infantry. 

Written by David Ward, a native of Schuylkill County and a long-time student of the 96th who wrote about the regiment for his master's thesis, The 96th Pennsylvania Volunteers in the Civil War provides an excellent history of this long overlooked regiment. Lively and well-paced, Ward's examination of the 96th takes us from the regiment's origins in Schuylkill County and then follows the actions of the regiment during its three-years of service as part of the Sixth Corps, Army of the Potomac, documenting well its transition from a green, untested unit to a hard-fighting, seasoned regiment that came to be relied upon for its steadfastness and its intrepidity upon the field of battle; a regiment that departed Schuylkill County late in 1861 with 1,200 men and which returned, three years later, with only 120 left. Ward tells of the marches and the battlefield maneuverings, chronicles the successes as well as the failures of the regiment on their many fields of battle, and provides a dramatic look at the regiment's most famous battlefield actions--at Gaines Mill, Crampton's Gap, Salem Church, and at Spotsylvania, each where the 96th suffered fearful losses. Along the way, Ward offers keen analysis of the leadership demonstrated by the regiment's high ranking officers upon these fields of battle, with a focus on the 96th's two commanding officers, Col. Henry Cake and Lt. Col. William Lessig. But perhaps even more interesting, or at least more fascinating, is the examination Ward provides on all the political in-fighting and controversies that seemingly plagued the high levels of command in the 96th; of Cake's and then Lessig's maneuverings to bypass the seniority system when it came to promotion and, instead, to nominate and commission their friends to fill vacancies. We also learn of how these two men, although brave and competent battlefield leaders, actively worked to ruin the military careers of those they either did not personally like or who stood in the way of their cronies' promotions. This was something not unique to the 96th; indeed, it occurred far too often in volunteer Civil War regiments. Yet, in the case of the 96th, it seemed a pronounced and persistent reality. 

While Ward does a fine job in telling the regiment's military history--its actions on their fields of battle--one of the strengths of this book is that he also nicely weaves into the narrative a social history of the regiment as well. For example, Ward examines the social and ethnic backgrounds of the 96th's soldiers, which essentially mirrored the social structure of Schuylkill County at this time. We discover, also, the motivations of these men--why they enlisted and how the endured both the monotony of camp life and the sheer horror and hell of the battle--as well as their thoughts on the war itself as well as the war's leaders. Ward also does an excellent job in documenting how the soldiers in the regiment felt about race, slavery, and emancipation, and how these thoughts changed over time. 

To tell the story of the 96th Pennsylvania--of the regiment's many trials and triumphs--Ward relies most heavily on the soldiers themselves, utilizing their letters, diaries, newspaper accounts, and memoirs and in so doing presents an authentic history using the soldiers own words. The firsthand accounts of those who fought either alongside or against the 96th on the battlefield are also plentifully used throughout. Ward also presents the history of the regiment objectively, telling the good as well as the bad, where the regiment succeeded and where it fell short or failed. 

I know David Ward personally and knew for some time he was writing a history of the 96th. I am so very pleased to see his dedicated efforts come to fruition. At long last, we have a regimental history of this long overlooked regiment. This is an excellent book and for anyone with an interest in the Civil War soldier; for anyone who has an interest in the Civil War's Eastern Theater and in the famed Sixth Corps; and especially for anyone who is interested in Pennsylvania's and particularly Schuylkill County's Civil War history, it is highly recommended. 

For more and to order your copy, click here.

The 96th PA at Camp Northumberland, 1862  [Library of Congress]

Officers of the 96th PA, 1862 [Library of Congress]

Here is what some others have said about The 96th Pennsylvania in the Civil War: 

“David Ward’s The 96th Pennsylvania Volunteers in the Civil War is a fine history of the Infantry. A regiment in the Army of the Potomac’s Sixth Corps, the 96th Pennsylvania served with distinction in the campaigns in the East. Ward’s book has all the elements of a model regimental history from its moving narrative to its research in many unpublished manuscripts and newspapers. The book is filled with accounts by its members and all the intrigues that plagued volunteer units. It is a most welcome work.”— Jeffry D. Wert, author of The Sword of Lincoln: The Army of the Potomac

“A History of the Ninety-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers is one of the best Civil War regimental histories to be published in years. In a style reminiscent of Bruce Catton, author David Ward utilizes hundreds of first hand soldiers accounts to weave a narrative that puts the reader in the picture from the units genesis in the coal fields of eastern Pennsylvania through its baptism of fire at Gaines Mill and the bloodbaths of Crampton’s Gap and the Overland Campaign. Ward utilizes the ‘new history,’ blending both military and social history to tell the complete story the men of the 96th”—Ted Alexander, Historian (retired), Antietam National Battlefield, author of The Battle of Antietam: The Bloodiest Day

“The 96th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment was one of the great combat units of the Civil War. Yet, amazingly, this hard-hitting outfit has enjoyed no regimental history—until now. This book fills that gap. It covers the 96th Pennsylvania in the chaos of battle, on the march and in camp. Generous quotations from officers’ and soldiers’ letters, diaries, and memoirs, which were uncovered through prodigious research in dozens of manuscript repositories, give the narrative a human touch. The 96th Pennsylvania Volunteers in the Civil War belongs in every Civil War library.”—Richard J. Sommers, author of Richmond Redeemed: The Siege at Petersburg

"Distressing Occurrence:" The Tragic, Untimely Death of Sergeant Samuel Clemens, Co. E, 48th Pennsylvania Infantry

January 17, 2019, 3:49 am

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Samuel Clemens survived the very worst of the American Civil War, making it through all the trying campaigns and hellish fights in which the 48th Pennsylvania was engaged, though certainly not unscathed. Records indicate that was wounded no fewer than three times in battle: at Fredericksburg in December 1862, at the Wilderness in May 1864, and at Petersburg on August 16, 1864. 

Still, though, in late July 1865, he made it back home. 

After serving as a private in the three-month 16th Pennsylvania Infantry (April-July 1861), Clemens, along with three of his brothers, enlisted into the ranks of Company E, 48th PA, in the summer of 1861. At the time of his enlistment, he was 25 years of age, stood 5'6" in height, had a Light Complexion, Grey Eyes, and Sandy Hair. His occupation was given as Laborer, employed, no doubt, at one of Schuylkill County's many coal mines. And it was back to the mines he went following his discharge from the army. Sadly--tragically--it was there--and not on any of the Civil War's many sanguinary fields of battle on which he fought--where he lost his life; on the night of October 31, 1865, just three months after Clemens and the surviving veterans of the 48th Pennsylvania returned home from the conflict. And it was quite sudden, too. An article that appeared in the Miners' Journal a week following his death, reported that Clemens had lost his footing at work and fell down the Windy Harbor coal slope, plummeting some ninety feet to the bottom and was instantly killed. The article, entitled a "Distressing Occurrence," noted that Clemens was an "honorable, patriotic young man," who served his country "from the commencement of the Rebellion to its close," and who "was distinguished for bravery and good conduct." It further noted that Clemens had just recently been married and now left "a young wife and a large circle of friends to deplore their sad bereavement." The remains of Samuel Clemens were laid to rest in the Presbyterian Cemetery, Pottsville, Pennsylvania. 

The Grave of Samuel Clemens Presbyterian Cemetery, Pottsville, Pa [findagrave.com]

A sad story, for sure (and one cannot help but feel sorry for Clemens, who made it home from the war only to be killed three months later) though his was certainly not the only occurrence of this. George Beaumont from St. Clair, for example, who served in the 88th Pennsylvania and who lost two brothers in battle--William at Gettysburg and John at Petersburg--made it back home and after the war returned to work in the coal mines. And there he was killed, in November 1868, at age 35.

These and other such tragedies only serve to reinforce Captain John Porter's assertions that, in many ways, army life was much safer than work in the coal mines. A native of Middleport in Schuylkill County, Porter commanded Company I, 48th PA. Many of Porter's volunteers were farmers, students, clerks. . .but there was, of course, a good number of coal miners. During his time in uniform, Porter wrote often to his wife and several times expressed his opinion that soldiering in the Civil War was far easier than laboring in the coal mines. From Pleasant Valley, Maryland, on October 14, 1862, for example, Porter wrote that while he would never "persuade" anyone to enlist, still he was "satisfied that the soldier has an easier life than the man who has to work from early dawn til late at night in the Coal of Schuylkill County."

"A Good Man Gone:" The Story of Private John C. Cole, of Pottsville: Husband, Father, Soldier, 43rd United States Colored Troops

February 2, 2019, 4:58 am

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John Cole was forty-four years old in the spring of 1864; a shoemaker from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, who was able to comfortably provide for his family. He had been married already for seventeen years--he and his wife, Caroline, having wed on March 25, 1847, in Philadelphia--and he was the father of four sons: the oldest, Charles, being then sixteen years of age, followed by John Oliver Cole (age 15), Joseph Cole (11), and Alexander Cole (5). Tragically, John and Caroline Cole had lost a child, William Douglas Cole, in the 1850s, but, in that spring of 1864, Caroline was pregnant once more, this time, as it turned out, with a baby girl who would be born in early May and who would be named Estilena. But when Estilena was born, her father was many miles away from their home in Pottsville, serving in the uniform of the United States as a soldier in the 43rd United States Colored Troops (U.S.C.T.).

We can only speculate as to what it was that motivated forty-four-year-old John C. Cole to volunteer as a soldier and fight for a country in which, as African-Americans, he and his family were denied full citizenship and treated as inferior; to leave behind the comforts of his home in Pottsville--his family and his pregnant wife--to don the Union blue. Perhaps it was a strong patriotic impulse; a desire to fight for all the United States stood for and all it represented--the ideals and promises, at least, of the nation's founding. Or perhaps it was a determination to fight for the literal freedom and liberation of four million persons from the brutal bonds of slavery. Or perhaps it was a combination of such aspirations that compelled him to enlist. He became a soldier on March 30, 1864--a private in Company E, 43rd United States Colored Troops, which was a part of the First Brigade, Fourth Division, of the Ninth Army Corps. Commanding that brigade was one of Cole's fellow-townsmen: Joshua K. Sigfried of Pottsville.

Three summers earlier, Sigfried had helped to raise the 48th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, a regiment recruited almost entirely from Schuylkill County and in whose ranks were a good number of coal miners. He had led the 48th from 1862 until the spring of 1864 when he was asked by General Burnside to take command of one of the two brigades of black soldiers that composed the newly-created Fourth Division of Burnside's Ninth Corps. Sigfried's elevation to brigade command allowed for Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Pleasants to assume command of the now veteran 48th Pennsylvania Infantry and in the summer of 1864 it would be Pleasants who would mastermind the engineering and tunneling of the Petersburg Mine, work carried out by his soldiers in the 48th Pennsylvania.

The mine was detonated early on a scorching hot Saturday morning--July 30, 1864. Pleasants's plan had succeeded brilliantly but the follow up assault would prove one of the worst disasters of the war for the Union army. Pleasants and his soldiers, who had labored so hard, in the excavation and tunneling of the mine were exempted from participating in the attack and so, caked with mud and dirt, they watched the terrible ordeal unfold, stunned--and angered, no doubt--that their efforts were so infamously squandered. They would watch as line after line of Union blue--primarily from the 9th Corps--rushed forward, only to have their attack stalled and then stopped in the Crater or just beyond. Lines were enveloped in the smoke and in the dust; soldiers crowded, unable to move, stuck in the blasted Confederate trenches and even in the Crater itself. Efforts were made to break the stalemate at the front, including a determined attack made by the black soldiers of the Fourth Division.

Around 7:30 that hot morning, Col. Joshua Sigfried led his brigade forward. Charging forward within the ranks of the 43rd U.S.C.T. was forty-four-year-old John C. Cole, the shoemaker from Pottsville. As he formed in line prior to the attack--forlorn, as it would turn out--we can only now wonder what he was thinking as he prepared for his first fight. No doubt he thought of his family, 300 quiet miles away in Pottsville; of his wife Caroline, his four boys, and his baby girl whom, sadly, he would never get to see, never get to hold. . .

At some point during the fierce struggle, Private John Cole was wounded. He somehow made it back to Union lines, either on his own or with some assistance. After five painful days in a makeshift field hospital behind the lines at Petersburg, Cole later placed in an ambulance headed toward another hospital, this one at City Point. It was in that ambulance, on August 4, 1864, and during the painful journey to City Point, that John Cole died. His remains were laid to rest hundred of miles away from his home and family in Hopewell, Virginia, at what became City Point National Cemetery, though his stone misidentifies his remains as "B. Cole."


Meanwhile, in Pottsville, in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, all the talk about town was on Pleasants and the men of the 48th Pennsylvania--after all, it was these men--their sons, brothers, neighbors--who, despite the failure of the follow-up assault at the Crater, had nevertheless earned great fame and great plaudits as the soldiers who tunneled under the Confederate lines, whose efforts in that endeavor, at least, proved so successful. Throughout the month of August, many columns of the Miners' Journal newspaper were devoted to Pleasants and the work of the 48th Pennsylvania but in the September 3, 1864, edition appeared this notice of the death of Private John C. Cole:

"An industrious and respected resident of Pottsville;""an excellent workman;""an exemplary man;" and "one who gave his life freely in defence of the great principle of human freedom and happiness;""A good man gone."


A fitting tribute, indeed, to John Cole.

Although identified as "B. Cole" this may very well be the gravestone of John Cole in the City Point National Cemetery, Hopewell, Virginia  [findagrave.com]

Faithful to Every Duty: The Life and Death of Lieutenant Henry Clay Jackson, Company G, 48th Pennsylvania

May 11, 2019, 3:13 am

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Lieutenant Henry Clay Jackson (Courtesy of Ronn Palm; Museum of Civil War Images)

Spring 1861. Twenty-four-year-old Henry Clay Jackson, from St. Clair, in the coal region of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, was looking forward to a career in the classroom. He was enrolled at the Millersville Normal School, studying to become a school teacher. But then civil war came and Jackson--"From a sense of duty and not impulse"--decided to answer his country's call. He left his studies behind and entered the ranks of the Lafayette Rifles, a company recruited largely from St. Clair which soon became Company B, 14th Pennsylvania. Attached to General Robert Patterson's command, Jackson and the 14th saw no action during its three-month term of service. When his term of service with the 14th expired in late July, 1861, Jackson enlisted once more, this time to term a three-year term in the ranks of Company G, 48th Pennsylvania. 

It was not long before Jackson proved himself a brave soldier and a natural leader. Upon his enlistment with the 48th, he was appointed as Company G's Orderly Sergeant and in June 1862, was promoted once more, this time to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. On August 29, 1862, at Second Bull Run, Jackson was among the scores of soldiers of the 48th to fall into enemy hands, having been cut off in an unfinished railroad embankment and caught up in a devastating Confederate counterattack. As a prisoner of war, Jackson was sent south and soon found himself confined in Richmond's Libby Prison where he remained but a short time before being exchanged.  Returning to the regiment, Jackson narrowly survived the struggle at Fredericksburg when a shell burst directly in front of him, so close that it covered his face and neck with powder. He was more badly wounded in combat the following year, at Knoxville, Tennessee, in late November 1863, when a shell fragment tore into his thigh while he was in command of the regimental picket line. 

The Officers Of Company G in 1863 Captain Bobsyshell (seated),  Lt. Curtis Pollock (standing, left), and Jackson (Hoptak Collection)

Having been captured and briefly confined in Libby, having survived a close call at Fredericksburg and a more serious wound at Knoxville, Jackson's luck ultimately ran out during the slaughter that was Spotsylvania on May 12, 1864. While lying prone in the line of battle, Jackson was struck with a ball through the neck, just above the collar bone, with the bullet coming to a stop in his chest. A number of his fellow soldiers carried the stricken lieutenant from the field, among them Sgt. William Auman--who would one day ride with Teddy Roosevelt during the Spanish-American War." Auman remembered that Jackson was lying next to him when he was hit. "When he was struck he fell against me," related Auman, "I asked him where he was hit; he whispered 'I don't know,' and then his head fell to one side and I saw that he was dying." Indeed, Jackson took his last breath while being carried to the rear. Auman wrote that Private William Atkinson of Company G buried Jackson's remains near where he had fallen, and that he hoped that they would be able to send his remains back home to Schuylkill County for reburial, but this never came about. Instead, the remains of Lieutenant Henry Clay Jackson were reinterred after the war and laid to rest at the National Cemetery in Fredericksburg, Virginia. 

The loss of Jackson was deeply felt in the regiment. In his regimental history, Joseph Gould wrote that Jackson was "a noble fellow," who was "idolized by his men."  Oliver Bosbyshell, who had commanded Company G for much of the war, related that Lieutenant Jackson was "an able and fearless officer," while after the war, Francis Wallace bestowed further praise upon on Jackson in his work, Memorial to the Patriotism of Schuylkill County:

"Thus fell Lieutenant Jackson, faithful to every duty, and though sensible to danger and peril, yet braving them with heroic disregard of self. He had determined if his life was spared to remain in the army till the last organized force of rebellion was overthrown. Gifted with a vigorous physical organization, considerable energy, a clear and active mind, ready utterance, strict integrity, and withal modest and affectionate, his friends had high hopes of his success in a civil profession, but he was reserved by Providence to be one of the numerous martyrs in behalf of the Union, and the honor and free institutions of our country."

[Notes: Auman letter printed in Miners' Journal, May 21, 1864; Francis Wallace. Memorial to the Patriotism of Schuylkill County (Pottsville, Pennsylvania: Benjamin Bannan Publisher, 1865): pg. 529; Joseph Gould. The Story of the Forty Eighth (Philadelphia: Alfred M. Slocum, Publisher, 1908), pg. 180; Oliver Bosbyshell. The 48th in the War (Philadelphia: Avil Printing Company, 1895), pgs. 97, 150.  

A Sad End to the Life of Private William Fitzpatrick, Company C, 48th Pennsylvania

June 12, 2019, 3:32 am

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By mid-January 1871, newspapers across Pennsylvania were running Mary Fitzpatrick's desperate plea.

She needed help finding her son, William, who, on December 5, 1870, vanished from her home in Greenbury, in Schuylkill County's Heckscherville Valley. William Fitzpatrick was a veteran of the 48th Pennsylvania who suffered from mental illness and his mother now feared greatly for his safety. 

In her call for help, printed in newspapers in Pottsville, Harrisburg, Lancaster, and Pittsburgh, we can feel her pain and her desperation: 

From the Pittsburgh Daily Commercial, January 21, 1871: 

"Four weeks since Wm. Fitzpatrick left his mother's residence, while suffering from mental illness, and has not since been heard from. It is feared that he may have encountered some mishap, and information in regard to him can be sent either to Mary Fitzpatrick, New Castle, P.O., Schuylkill County, or to the Miners' Journal. He is about forty years of age, slender, light hair, and is about five feet six inches high. He was a member of the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania Regiment in the late war." 

Fitzpatrick, a coal miner, served throughout the entirety of the Civil War, enlisting on September 11, 1861, as a private in Company C, 48th Pennsylvania Infantry, and being mustered out of service when the regiment was disbanded in July 1865, as a reenlisted veteran volunteer. Remarkably, it appears that Fitzpatrick emerged unscathed, at least physically, from the conflict, suffering no wound or bodily injury during his four years in uniform and the many battles in which he was engaged. There are no pension records for a William Fitzpatrick of Company C, 48th Pennsylvania. But perhaps the war left upon him an indelible mental scar. 

Sadly, by the time the newspapers in Harrisburg and Lancaster and Pittsburgh picked up on Mary Fitzpatrick's desperate plea in mid-to-late January 1871, it was already too late. As it turned out, William Fitzpatrick did not wander too far from home. Instead, he had made his way to an abandoned coal drift in the Wolf Creek Colliery, near his mother's home in the Heckscherville Valley. He walked some two hundred yards into the drift where he must have decided to get some sleep. He removed one boot and one sock, and also his coat, which he folded and placed behind his head as a pillow. 

His body was discovered on Monday, January 8, 1871, by several men who explored the drift that morning; to them, at least initially, it must have appeared that Fitzpatrick was merely asleep, as he was discovered in a reclining position, his head laying upon his folded coat. It was soon revealed that he was, in fact, dead. The coroner determined that William Fitzpatrick, just forty years of age, froze to death. 

From the Harrisburg Telegraph, January 11, 1871

William Fitzpatrick's remains lay at rest in Minersville, in what is now Saint Vincent de Paul Cemetery #1 along Sunbury Street, nearby those of his mother, Mary, who outlived her son by more than thirty years, passing away in October 1901.

The Grave of William Fitzpatrick, Company C, 48th Pennsylvania [www.findagrave.com]