Martial Deeds of Pennsylvania, Samuel P. Bates, 1876 - Part 2, Chapter 11, 773-
809

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                         MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA
                                       by
                                SAMUEL P. BATES.

                     PHILADELPHIA: T. H. DAVIS & CO., 1876.

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 773

                              Part II.  BIOGRAPHY.

                                   CHAPTER XI.

SAMUEL P. HEINTZELMAN, Major-General of volunteers, and Brevet Major-General in 
the regular army, was born on the 30th of September, 1805, in Manheim, Lancaster 
county, Pennsylvania.  He was the son of Peter and Elizabeth (Grubb) 
Heintzelman.  Of a family of seven children, himself and a younger sister alone 
survive.  His paternal grandfather Huronimus, a native of Augsburg, Germany, 
came to this country about the time of Braddock's campaign in the French and 
Indian war, and was the first white settler in Manheim.  He was educated in his 
native place and at Marietta, and the Military Academy at West Point, to which 
he was appointed upon the recommendation of James Buchanan, and graduated in 
1826, seventeenth in a class of forty-two.  He entered the service in the Third 
infantry as Brevet Second Lieutenant, and was on duty at various frontier posts 
in the west and northwest until 1832, when he was detached for special duty in 
surveying for the improvement of the navigation of the Tennessee River.  At the 
end of two years he was ordered south, and was engaged against the Cherokee and 
Seminole Indians in Georgia and Florida, eventually being transferred to the 
Quartermaster's Department, displaying superior executive ability, and having, 
in the meantime, risen to the rank of Captain.  In 1843 he was ordered to 
Buffalo, where, on the 5th of December, 1844, he was married to Miss Margaret 
Stuard, of Albany, New York.  He went with the army to Mexico in 1847, and was 
engaged in the arduous duty of convoying the trains from Vera Cruz.  In the 
actions of Paso las Ovijas, Atlixo, and Huamantla, he was conspicuous, receiving 
the brevet rank of Major for gallant and meritorious conduct in the latter.  
After a brief period of duty

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 774

at Fort Hamilton, New York harbor, he was ordered in command of troops to 
California, sailing thither by Cape Horn.  On his arrival he was placed over the 
Southern District, with headquarters at San Diego.  He was here involved in 
arduous campaigning, and in 1850-'51 headed an expedition against the Coyote and 
Yuma Indians, subduing them and ending hostilities.  At the junction of the Gila 
and Colorado rivers he established Fort Yuma, a most important post, capable of 
being reached by steamer with supplies, and forming a secure base for future 
operations.  He was commended by General Hitchcock in command of the department, 
for his skill and daring in this campaign, and brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel.
  On his return from California in 1854, he was ordered to recruiting service, 
and in 1857 was granted leave of absence, devoting himself to mining 
enterprises, being President of a company formed in 1856, and in 1858-'59 
director of the company's mines in Arizona.  In 1859 he was again put upon 
active duty in Texas, where he distinguished himself by an expedition against 
Cortinas, a Mexican marauder, whom he severely punished.  He was also engaged 
near Fort Brown, and again near Ringgold Barracks.  Premonitions of rebellion 
now became rife, and discovering that his superior, Twiggs, meditated treason, 
Heintzelman procured leave of absence and returned north.
  He was cordially welcomed by his old army friends, outside of whom being then 
little known, though he had given twenty-five years of faithful service to his 
country.  General Scott found in him a powerful ally, and at the inauguration of 
Mr. Lincoln he assisted in guarding the city against a threatened outbreak.  A 
month later he was made general superintendent of recruiting at New York.  But 
as complications thickened, his executive talent and ability were demanded on a 
broader arena, and on the 1st of May, he was recalled and made Acting Inspector-
General of the Department of Washington.  He was shortly afterwards made 
Brigadier-General of volunteers, and Colonel of the Seventeenth infantry.  In 
the advance into Virginia he led the column, commanding the centre of 
Mansfield's force, and by the action at Fairfax Court House on the 17th of July, 
inaugurated McDowell's campaign.  In the battle of Bull Run, a few days 
thereafter, he

SAMUEL P. HEINTZELMAN - 775

won for himself a national reputation.  He was severely wounded in the right 
arm.  He refused to leave the field or even to dismount; but Surgeon William S. 
King, of the regular army, riding to his side, cut out the bullet and dressed 
the mangled limb, when Heintzelman put spurs to his horse, and was soon in the 
midst of his heroic division, leading it to the last with unabated courage, 
verifying the aptness of the sobriquet by which he was known at West Point and 
in the army, of "Grim Old Heintzelman."  "When," says his biographer, "on that 
gloomiest of rainy Mondays, he dismounted at his door at Washington, he had been 
twenty-seven hours on the back of his horse, wounded, worn, and wet."  His arm 
was permanently crippled.  On his return to duty at the beginning of August, he 
was given a division in the Grand Army under McClellan, and occupied the left of 
the defences at Washington, with head-quarters at Fort Lyon, near Alexandria, 
where he remained till the opening of the Peninsula campaign.
  Here Heintzelman had command of the Third corps, with Kearny, Hooker, and 
Porter as division officers.  He was in advance at Yorktown, and was about to 
storm the works, when arrested, and siege operations were resorted to.  With his 
corps he moved upon Williamsburg, where he promptly attacked, and after a bloody 
battle gained a complete victory, though leading raw troops against an enemy 
fortified.  His commission of Major-General of volunteers dated from this 
battle.  A division of the Fourth corps, Keyes', under General Casey, was 
assailed by superior numbers at Fair Oaks.  Heintzelman, in command of the Third 
and Fourth corps, went to his assistance, and by hard fighting saved Casey from 
destruction.  On the following day at Seven Pines he renewed the battle, and 
with the aid of other troops brought to his assistance was driving the foe, 
having arrived within four miles of Richmond, and aided by the consternation 
which prevailed was hopeful of carrying the rebel capital, when he was again 
arrested and ordered back.  For this action he was made a Brevet Brigadier-
General in the regular service.  A month later came the Seven Days' battle, in 
which Heintzelman fought at Peach Orchard, Savage Station, and Charles City 
Cross Roads where he came to the assistance of the Pennsylvania Reserves

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 776

at a critical moment in the battle, and where he received a severe contusion.  
He also participated in the battle of Malvern Hill.
  After leaving the Peninsula he hastened to the assistance of Pope, and was 
engaged at the Second Bull Run, and Chantilly.  The Union cause knew no more 
gloomy period during the struggle than that immediately succeeding this 
campaign.  Fears were entertained lest Washington itself would have to succumb.  
In looking about for some tried soldier to take command upon the exposed side, 
the choice fell upon "grim Heintzelman," and from the 9th of September, 1862, to 
February 2d, 1863, he was entrusted with the defences south of the Potomac.  At 
the end of that time, so vigilantly had he executed the trust assigned him, that 
he was placed at the head of the Twenty-second corps and given the Department of 
Washington, which he retained until the 13th of October, 1863, having in 
addition charge of the vast throng of recruits and convalescents continually 
passing through.  The battle of Gettysburg had been fought and won, and the 
Capital was regarded secure.  But now a greater peril threatened.  It came from 
disaffected persons throughout the Northwest who had organized a society known 
as the "Sons of Liberty," in the interest of the insurgent cause.  To thwart 
their evil designs without an outbreak required nerve and discretion.  Again was 
Heintzelman selected for the difficult duty, and given command of the Northern 
Department, consisting of the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, 
with head-quarters at Columbus.  His firm hand was soon felt and anticipated 
trouble was averted.  It was during his duty here that the militia of Ohio were 
called out for a brief period.  In an incredibly short time 40,000 men were put 
in the field; and to accomplish it he lent his powerful aid.  At the conclusion 
of his service here, in October, 1864, he was for some time on court-martial 
duty and awaiting orders.  He was mustered out of the volunteer service on the 
24th of August, 1865, but still held his commission in the regular army.  Early 
in the year 1866 he was sent to Texas, where a lawless population could only be 
restrained by the exercise of power, and given first the middle district, and 
finally the entire State.  He subsequently had command of the Port of Galveston, 
and of the Fifth military district, with head-quarters

ISAAC J. WISTAR - 777

at New Orleans.  In 1867 he sat in a Board to examine candidates for admission 
to the army, and one to retire disabled officers.  In 1869 Congress passed a 
joint resolution retiring him from active service with the full rank of Major-
General.  Says the authority above quoted:  "He never shirked a hardship 
himself, and never inflicted one, except when the exigencies of the service 
demanded it.  Happy in his refined social and domestic relations, his moral 
influence was always pure, as his charity for the faults of others was broad.  
Impatient of inaction, hot and impetuous when the battle was on, yet never 
reckless nor careless of the lives of his men, he had at once the coolness, the 
determined bravery, the unselfishness, and the esprit which go to make the true 
soldier, and his career must be regarded as one of the most distinguished and 
successful in the army of the Union.  Let his record speak.  Eulogy is idle."

ISAAC JONES WISTAR, Colonel of the Seventy-first regiment, and Brigadier-
General, was born on the 14th of November, 1827, in the city of Philadelphia.  
His father, Caspar Wistar, M. D., born in Philadelphia in 1801, was a lineal 
descendant of Caspar Wistar, of Heidelberg, Hesse Cassel, who came to this 
country in 1696, and bought large tracts of land in Philadelphia county and 
throughout the province of Pennsylvania.  His mother was Lydia Jones, a native 
of Philadelphia. He was educated at the Westtown boarding-school, Chester 
county, and at Haverford College.  From early youth he was fond of manly sports, 
especially of hunting, shooting, and fishing, and at the age of sixteen went to 
the Pacific coast, where he remained until near the breaking out of the 
Rebellion.  During part of this period he was a trapper in the territory of the 
Hudson's Bay Company, in the Arctic regions, and in the Rocky Mountains.  In 
1850-'51 he commanded a body of Indian rangers, and fought the hostile tribes 
during the period of the early settlement of the far western country.
  Soon after the fall of Sumter, he was called to the staff of General 
Cadwalader in Philadelphia, and for two weeks was busily employed in organizing 
troops for the three months' campaign.  Colonel Edward D. Baker, having received 
authority to

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 778

raise a regiment, called about him a number of men of daring and enterprise, who 
had been with him on the Pacific, to assist in recruiting.  Wistar was among 
these, and to him he gave the first place, that of Lieutenant-Colonel, and for 
the most part the duty of acting Colonel.  Though called the California 
regiment, it was, with the exception of Company C, exclusively recruited in the 
city of Philadelphia and its immediate vicinity.
  At Fortress Monroe and at Munson's Hill, Virginia, the regiment was engaged in 
field service; but at Ball's Bluff, on Monday, the 21st of October, it had its 
first baptism of blood.  At midnight of the 20th, Colonel Wistar was ordered to 
have a battalion of his regiment, consisting of eight companies, at a point on 
the Maryland side of the Potomac, opposite the scene of the battle, by daylight 
of the following morning, Colonel Baker, who was then in command of the brigade, 
having been ordered across to assume command of all the troops on the Virginia 
shore, and to conduct the operations.  There were parts of the Fifteenth and 
Twentieth Massachusetts, Forty-second New York, three pieces of artillery, and 
this battalion of the Seventy-first Pennsylvania, sixteen hundred and five men, 
engaged.  At a little past two o'clock in the afternoon, Colonel Baker, who had 
drawn up his men in the open ground upon the bluff, found himself attacked by a 
superior force concealed from view by a forest extending from river bank above 
to river bank below.  Colonel Wistar was posted on the left of the line, where 
the attacks of the enemy were the most determined, and where the heroic Baker 
himself finally fell.  The first fighting on Colonel Wistar's front was 
precipitated by the advance of two companies under Captain Markoe, accompanied 
by Wistar in person, as skirmishers; for they had no sooner reached the wood and 
advanced a little in it than they were confronted by a whole regiment, the 
Eighth Virginia, which was lying concealed upon the ground, and the fighting at 
once became desperate along the whole front.  With determined valor the 
skirmishers held their ground, and inflicted great slaughter; but they were too 
few to cope with such vast odds, and were finally forced to fall back, after 
having lost all their officers, and two-thirds of their whole force.  For four 
long hours the battle raged with unabated fury, the enemy

ISAAC J. WISTAR - 779

coming on in great numbers - since ascertained to have been full five thousand 
men.  Early in the fight, rebel sharpshooters had climbed into the tree tops and 
taking deliberate aim were endeavoring to pick off the officers.  By skilful 
manoeuvres Colonel Wistar managed with his small force to hold the enemy at bay, 
repelling whole regiments as they advanced.  In the progress of the battle he 
received two wounds; but refused to leave the field, and continued to direct the 
fight, sweeping the enemy with terrible effect.  Finally, just at dark, and as 
the enemy was making his final, decisive charge, he received a third wound which 
completely disabled him, and he was borne insensible from the field.  In his 
testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the War Colonel Wistar said:  
"Just as I stepped out I got my third wound, which disabled me entirely, and I 
was carried off.  But the moment after I received the wound, and while I was 
still sensible, I staggered against Colonel Baker.  He asked me where I was hit, 
and I told him.  I said, 'There is not an instant to lose; there is a heavy 
column deployed behind that hill; you must see if you can repel the attack, for 
it is serious.'"  Almost immediately after, it came on in full force.  Colonel 
Baker was killed, and the Union line, weakened by severe losses, was forced down 
the bluff.  Sharp fighting in the twilight continued, but the day was 
irretrievably lost.
  For many weeks Colonel Wistar was in a precarious situation, his life having 
been despaired of.  Upon his recovery he was promoted to the full rank of 
Colonel, and when McClellan advanced to the Peninsula, Wistar led his regiment 
in the operations before Yorktown and Williamsburg.  At Antietam he was brought 
into action at about ten o'clock on the morning of the 17th of September, on the 
right of the line, in the neighborhood of the Dunkard Church, where the harvest 
of death was most plentiful.  While leading a charge upon heavy masses of the 
foe he was severely wounded and left helpless upon the field.  For hours the 
battle raged with varying fortune, Colonel Wistar being at three different times 
in the enemy's hands; but he was finally rescued, as the Union forces advanced, 
and was carried off.  The wound proved very severe, permanently crippling both 
arms.  For his gallantry in this battle he was promoted to the rank of 

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 780

Brigadier-General.  In the operations before Petersburg he led a brigade, and in 
the bloody battle at Drury's Bluff his brigade was the only part of Butler's 
line, consisting of the Tenth and Eighteenth corps, which held its ground 
against Beauregard's sorties, and when finally it retired, it did so under 
orders, and leisurely, with all its guns and colors.  In all the operations of 
his corps, down to and including the capture of the capital of the Confederacy, 
General Wistar was at the post of duty.  Few officers during the war showed more 
skill and determined bravery, and few suffered more by wounds.  But they were 
wounds received with his face to the foe.
  On the 9th of July, 1862, he was married to Miss Sarah Tolland, of 
Philadelphia.  Since the close of the war he has been in the employ of the 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company as General Manager of the canal and coal mining 
interests of that great corporation, refusing all propositions to engage in 
political life.

ROBERT BRUCE RICKETTS, Captain of Battery F, First Pennsylvania Light Artillery, 
and Colonel, was born on the 29th of April, 1839, in Orangeville, Columbia 
county, Pennsylvania, of English and Scotch extraction.  He was educated at the 
Wyoming seminary near Wilkesbarre, and was engaged in the study of the law at 
the opening of the Rebellion.  He entered the service on the 1st of May, 1861, 
as Acting Adjutant to Colonel Seiler, then in command of Camp Curtin.  He 
assisted in recruiting Battery F, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant and 
shortly afterwards First Lieutenant.  He went to the upper Potomac, where, in 
command of a section, he did excellent service under General Lander in opposing 
Stonewall Jackson, and subsequently participated in the operations in the 
Shenandoah Valley under General Banks.  The battery was finally joined to 
McDowell's corps, and in Pope's campaign was efficient at Rappahannock bridge 
with Hartsuff's brigade, holding the enemy in check until the Union troops had 
all safely retired, and in the battle of Bull Run rendered the most eminent aid 
at critical periods of the fight.  At Antietam it opened the battle, being 
posted near the Cornfield in front of the little church which marked the most 
sanguinary struggles of the field.  After

ROBERT B. RICKETTS - 781

this battle Captain Matthews retired on account of sickness, and Ricketts 
succeeded to the permanent command.  At Fredericksburg the guns were posted 
close in upon the river on the Falmouth side, where they were exposed to the 
fire of the enemy; but maintained their ground, and covered the retirement of 
the infantry.  On the evening of Sunday, May 3d, it went into position o n the 
front at Chancellorsville at close quarters.  Ricketts was ordered to hold the 
ground at all hazards.  Horses were sent to the rear, and grape and canister 
were piled at the muzzles of the guns.  Late in the evening a violent attack was 
made upon them, but rapid discharges swept back the assailants.  Attacks were 
repeated at intervals during the night, but their fire was too terrible to 
withstand, and the attempt to capture them was abandoned.
  Captain Ricketts arrived on the Gettysburg field on the afternoon of the 2d of 
July, and wheeled his guns at once into position, opposite the Cemetery gate, 
relieving Cooper's battery.  He was almost immediately engaged with the enemy's 
artillery on Benner's Hill, which was completely silenced in an incredibly short 
space of time.  Cemetery Hill, where it stood, is a bold eminence, open to fire 
on all sides; but Ricketts held it against every attack of the enemy's guns.  
Just as the shadows of evening were shutting in, the Louisiana Tigers - a 
powerful body of infantry, in perfect formation - shot forth from under a hill 
in the direction of the town, where they had been screened, and made a desperate 
rush for this position.  The instant they came to view Ricketts turned his 
double-shotted guns upon them.  Stevens, on the opposite knoll, likewise opened 
and the infantry along the entire line, so that the whole hill was ablaze.  The 
rebel ranks were sensibly depleted; but stimulated with drink and the hope of 
victory they rushed on; they crossed the stone walls at the base of the hill; 
they broke the lines of the infantry, and had fairly reached the guns of 
Ricketts.  Utter destruction for the instant seemed imminent.  But never for one 
moment did heart or hope fail his men, and with handspikes, rammers, and even 
stones they fought hand to hand over the pieces.  Finally the brigade of Carroll 
from the Second corps came to his assistance, and the foe, broken and almost 
annihilated, was

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 782

driven back.  The battle scene, set as frontispiece to this volume, represents 
the struggle at the culminating point, the combatants face to face among the 
guns, darkness already brooding over them, and the troops of Carroll arriving.
  Again, at Bristoe Station, on the 14th of October, 1863, was Ricketts brought 
into the place of peril, and by his steadiness and well-directed, rapid fire 
gained a signal advantage, contributing largely to the victory there won, of 
which five guns and many prisoners were the fruits.  In the spring campaign of 
1864, Ricketts moved with the Second corps, and in the Wilderness did effective 
service, boldly pushing out to the extreme front, and in the shifting phases of 
the fight being left without support.  One gun and a caisson fell into the 
enemy's hands; but they were shortly afterwards recovered.  In all the 
subsequent operations of the army until it reached Petersburg, and in the siege 
of that stronghold down to the final surrender, his battery was unremittingly 
engaged, proving itself among the most reliable and skilful.
  On the 28th of June, 1864, he was promoted to Major, and to Colonel on the 
15th of March, 1865.  He was also brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel by 
the President.  In the fall of 1864 Colonel Ricketts was advanced to the 
position of Acting Chief of Artillery of the Ninth army corps, and subsequently 
to that of Inspector of Artillery.  After Lee's surrender he was Inspector of 
Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac.  Since the war he has been largely 
engaged in the purchase and sale of mineral and timber lands.

WILLIAM WATTS HART DAVIS, Colonel of the One Hundred and Fourth regiment, and 
Brevet Brigadier-General, was born in Southampton, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
on the 27th of July, 1820.  He was the only son of John and Amy Davis.  A 
maternal ancestor, John Hart, was a distinguished Quaker minister of Whitney, 
Oxfordshire, England, who settled in Byberry, Philadelphia county, in 1682.  A 
paternal ancestor emigrated from Wales about 1725, and settled in Soleburg, 
Bucks county.  His paternal grandfather, John Davis, served five years in the 
Revolutionary army as an officer; and in the battle of Brandy- 

WILLIAM W. H. DAVIS - 783

wine, with the assistance of a soldier, bore General Lafayette off the field 
when wounded.  His father, John Davis, was an officer in the War of 1812.  His 
own tastes were martial, and as soon as he had completed the ordinary course of 
school instruction he entered the Military University at Norwich, Vermont, and 
graduated in 1842, receiving the degrees of Master of Arts and Master of 
Military Science.  Immediately afterwards he was appointed Professor of 
Mathematics and Drawing in the Military Academy at Portsmouth, Virginia.  He 
resigned his position here in 1844, and having entered upon the study of law in 
the office of the late John Fox, was admitted to the bar in September, 1846.  In 
the same month he entered the Law School of Harvard University, and while there 
enlisted as a private in the Massachusetts regiment for the Mexican War.  He 
became First Lieutenant and afterwards Adjutant, and served to the end of the 
contest.  The position of Major was offered him in the field, but he accepted 
instead the appointment of Aide-de-camp and Acting Assistant Adjutant-General on 
the staff of General Cushing, and was promoted to the rank of Captain.
  Upon his return from Mexico, in 1848, he entered upon the practice of the law 
at Doylestown, the seat of his native county.  In the fall of 1853 he was 
appointed, by President Pierce, United States District Attorney for New Mexico.  
He commenced the journey across the plains in November, reaching Santa Fe early 
in December.  In July, 1854, he was appointed Secretary of the Territory, and 
afterwards filled the offices of Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs.  
In the fall of 1857 he resigned, and returning to Pennsylvania purchased the 
Doylestown Democrat, in May, 1858, which he still owns and edits.
  In April, 1861, he recruited the Doylestown Guards, which became a part of the 
Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania regiment, and which he commanded in Patterson's 
campaign.  On returning home in August he recruited the One Hundred and Fourth, 
of which he was commissioned Colonel, and served for a period of three years, 
one year in the Army of the Potomac, covering the campaign upon the Peninsula, 
and afterwards in the south, commanding at various times brigades in the Fourth, 
Tenth, and

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 784

Eighteenth corps.  During the winter of 1864 he commanded all the United States 
forces on Morris Island, South Carolina, operating against Charleston.  He was 
shot in the left elbow by a rifle ball and struck by a spent musket ball in the 
left breast at Fair Oaks, and had his right hand torn to pieces at the last 
attack on Charleston in July, 1864.  He was brevetted Brigadier-General for 
"meritorious services" during the siege of Charleston.  On being mustered out on 
the 1st of October, 1864, he returned to Doylestown, where he now resides.  In 
1865, General Davis was the Democratic candidate for Auditor-General of 
Pennsylvania.  He was married in 1856 to Miss Anna Carpenter, of Brooklyn, New 
York, and made a bridal tour across the great plains, a thousand miles, to Santa 
Fe.  In stature he is above the medium height, and capable of great physical 
endurance.

CHARLES MALLET PREVOST, Colonel of the One Hundred and Eighteenth regiment, 
Brevet Brigadier-General of volunteers, and Major-General of the National Guard 
of Pennsylvania, was born in Baltimore on the 19th of September, 1818.  His 
mother was the daughter of one of the most eminent physicians of that city.  His 
paternal descent is from an old Huguenot family which was compelled to leave 
France upon the revocation of the edict of Nantes.  One branch chose England as 
an asylum, and from that descended the Sir George Prevost who commanded the 
British forces in Canada and South Carolina during the Revolutionary war.  
Another went to Geneva, Switzerland, and from this was the American branch 
descended, in which were many distinguished literary and military men.  Charles 
M. from youth manifested a deep interest in everything pertaining to military 
life.  For several years he was on the staff of his father, General A. M. 
Prevost, of Philadelphia.
  Upon the breaking out of the Rebellion, he assisted in the formation of the 
First regiment, Grey Reserves, taking the position of Captain of Company C.  He 
was subsequently appointed Assistant Adjutant-General of volunteers on the staff 
of General F. E. Patterson, and went through the Peninsula campaign, 
participating in the battles of Yorktown, Williamsburg, and the Seven Days' 
battle, down to Harrison's Landing, whence, entirely 

CHARLES M. PREVOST - 785

prostrated by the fever then prevailing, he was ordered home.  During his 
convalescence he was selected by the Corn Exchange Association to command the 
One Hundred and Eighteenth regiment, which had been recruited under its 
auspices.  He led it to the field and was present in the battle of Antietam, and 
two days after was ordered to cross the Potomac to feel the enemy.  He was 
scarcely over when the rebels from an ambuscade came out in large numbers, and a 
severe engagement ensued.  Left without supports, this single regiment was 
subjected to a withering fire.  The position which it occupied was all exposed, 
and it was nearly surrounded by a greatly superior force.  Colonel Prevost had 
ordered a company on the right to change front to meet an attack upon his flank, 
when the remaining companies, understanding that an order to retreat had been 
given, commenced to fall back.  Seeing that the colors were being borne away, 
Colonel Prevost instantly seized them and ran to the front to rally his men.  He 
succeeded in stopping their flight, and saving the honor of his command; but 
made himself a conspicuous mark for the enemy's bullets.  With the colors still 
in his hand, while encouraging his men, and by his personal heroism inspiring 
them with his spirit, he was struck in the shoulder by a Minie ball which 
inflicted a severe and painful wound.  The regiment effected a recrossing with 
much difficulty, and nothing but the coolness and courage of its officers saved 
it from annihilation.  Out of a total number of l700 men, 280 were either 
killed, wounded or missing.  The brevet rank of Brigadier-General was conferred 
upon him after this action.  For many months he was confined to his bed, 
enduring intense suffering.  He, however, returned to the field in time to 
assume command of his regiment in the Chancellorsville campaign, after which he 
was placed in charge of the camp established at Harrisburg, for the organization 
of the Veteran Reserve corps.  Finding that the state of his health would not 
permit of active service in the field, he entered that corps as Colonel of the 
Sixteenth regiment, in October, 1863, where he served till the close of the war.  
He was mustered out in June, 1865, with a reputation for bravery and military 
skill equaled only by the high character he had previously acquired, and has 
since maintained, as a citizen.

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 786

WILLIAM EMILE DOSTER, Colonel of the Fourth cavalry, and Brevet Brigadier-
General, was born on the 8th of January, 1837, at the Moravian town of 
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  His father, Lewis Doster, a native of Swabia, Germany, 
served a campaign against the first Napoleon, and emigrated to America with his 
father, Doctor Daniel Doster, in 1817, when but twenty years of age.  His 
mother, Pauline Louise (Eggert) Doster, was the daughter of Matthew Eggert, at 
one time Vorsteher of the Brethren's House, and granddaughter of Adam Rupert, a 
soldier of the Revolution.  He attended the Moravian school until the age of 
fourteen, and after a careful preparatory training entered the Sophomore class 
of Yale College, graduating in 1857.  In 1859 he graduated as LL.B. at the 
Harvard Law School.  In 1860 he matriculated as student of civil law, in the 
University of Heidelberg, Germany, and heard lectures on the Code Napoleon at 
Paris.  Upon his return home he read with ex-Governor Andrew H. Reeder, at 
Easton, and was admitted to practice at the Northampton county bar.  Aside from 
fencing and riding, taught in the European universities, he had no military 
training.  His youthful tastes were for drawing and painting; but being the 
seventh son, as his grandfather had been before him, he appeared destined to the 
profession of medicine, for which, however, he had no liking.

  When the war broke out he was in the office of S. Van Sant, of Philadelphia; 
but putting aside briefs and black letter-books, he responded to the President's 
call, and recruited a company of cavalry, which, not being wanted for that arm, 
was turned over to Colonel Baker's infantry regiment.  He then raised another 
for Harlan's Light cavalry, of which he was made Captain, his muster bearing 
date of August 15th, 1861.  A few weeks later this company was transferred to 
the Fourth Pennsylvania.  On the 28th of October he was promoted to Major, and a 
little more than a month later was detailed with a squadron to act as bodyguard 
to General Keyes.  Towards the close of February, 1862, he was placed in command 
of the mounted provost guard of Washington City.  At the departure of McClellan 
for the Peninsula, and the appointment of General James S. Wadsworth as Military 
Governor of the District, Colonel Doster was selected for

WILLIAM E DOSTER - 787

Provost Marshal.  This gave him command, by detachment, of four infantry and one 
cavalry regiment, together with the flotilla under Harwood cruising upon the 
Chesapeake.
  In October, 1862, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, but 
continued at his post as Provost Marshal.  Just previous to the opening of the 
spring campaign of 1863, he applied for an order to return to his regiment, 
which was granted, and was coupled with a recommendation from General Wadsworth 
to President Lincoln, for his appointment as Brigadier-General.  On rejoining 
his regiment he assumed command, and led it during the Chancellorsville and 
Gettysburg campaigns.  He had his horse shot under him at Ely's Ford, and in a 
charge which he led at Upperville was taken prisoner, but succeeded in less than 
an hour, by striking down his guard, in freeing himself, and returning to his 
command.  At Gettysburg he was ordered to report with his regiment to General 
Pleasanton, at General Meade's head-quarters, and was posted on the afternoon of 
the second day, during the artillery fire, to support a battery on Cemetery 
Ridge.  In the evening he was ordered to picket duty on the left flank, and 
established a line in front of the infantry at eleven o'clock that night.  On 
the 5th he was ordered to advance through Gettysburg in pursuit of the enemy.  
Tearing aside the barricades which obstructed the way, he pushed on as far as 
Stevens' Furnace, where he engaged the rebel rear guard.  By the evening of the 
6th he had reached Marion, near Green Castle, where he struck Fitz Hugh Lee's 
cavalry.  After a severe action brought on by reconnoitering towards Winchester, 
he led his regiment back to the Rappahannock, where he was prostrated by typhoid 
fever.  The disease appearing to be of a lingering type, he sent in his 
resignation, which was accepted.  He was appointed, soon after, Colonel of the 
Fifth Pennsylvania cavalry, but never joined it.  He was subsequently brevetted 
Brigadier-General.
  For a short time he practiced his profession in the city of Washington, and at 
the trial of the conspirators against the life of the President, he was 
appointed, by Judge-Advocate-Generals Hold and Bingham, to defend Payne and 
Atzerodt, two of the boldest of the number.  Soon after the close of the war he 
re-

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 788

turned to Northampton county and resumed the practice of the law at Easton, 
residing at Bethlehem, and has held the office of Register in Bankruptcy for the 
eleventh Congressional district.  He was married on the 15th of August, 1867, to 
Evelyn A. Depew, daughter of Edward A. Depew, of Easton.

Gideon Clark, Colonel of the One Hundred and Nineteenth regiment, and Brevet 
Brigadier-General, was born on the 19th of June, 1822, at Philadelphia.  He was 
the son of Thomas and Hannah (Walker) Clark.  His father was a native of 
Maryland.  He was educated in the private schools of the city, and in youth was 
employed in the business of engraving.  In the spring of 1843 he joined a 
militia organization, known as the Philadelphia Grays, in which he served for a 
period of eighteen years, and as a member of that body assisted to quell the 
riots of 1844.  He was married on the 1st of September, 1850, to Miss Louisa D. 
Guirey, of Philadelphia.
  At the opening of the Rebellion, he had been for two years First Lieutenant of 
the Grays, and immediately commenced recruiting his company for the First 
regiment of artillery, which became the Seventeenth infantry for three months, 
and of which he was appointed Adjutant.  After having completed his term of 
service, he was, upon the organization of the One Hundred and Nineteenth, 
appointed and commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel.  Few operations in the course of 
the late war were more heroically conducted or more brilliant in their results 
than the battle of Rappahannock Station.  The enemy was well posted and 
sheltered by strong works supplied with artillery, and in ample force.  Against 
this the Union troops, consisting of a part of Russell's division, were led, and 
it was carried at the point of the bayonet, nearly the entire garrison, with 
guns, small arms, and battle flags, being captured.  In this triumphant action 
Lieutenant-Colonel Clark commanded the One Hundred and Nineteenth, which was 
part of the brigade that led the storming force.
  At Locust Grove, Mine Run, and Spottsylvania, he participated and was 
conspicuous for gallantry.  In the action at Cold Harbor he was in command of a 
brigade, and by his skilful management won the warm commendation of that heroic 
but unfortunate 

GIDEON CLARK - SAMUEL M. ZULICK - 789

soldier, General David A. Russell.  He was likewise commended by General Wheaton 
for the successful manner in which he withdrew the division picket-line from the 
face of the enemy, after having been out until half past two on the morning of 
the 7th of February, 1865.  On the 13th of March following he was brevetted 
Colonel by the President, and on the 25th of that month was slightly wounded in 
the right forearm, in the action before Petersburg.  In storming the enemy's 
works on the 2d of April, he was seriously wounded by a musket ball in the right 
leg, losing a considerable portion of the tibia.  An operation was performed for 
its removal in the field hospital, by Dr. Philip Leidy, Surgeon of the regiment.  
He was then transferred to City Point, and afterwards to the general hospital in 
Philadelphia, where he remained until the final muster out of his regiment.  On 
the 19th of June he was promoted to Colonel, and was appointed Brevet Brigadier-
General, by the President, to rank from the 13th of March, for gallant and 
meritorious conduct and services performed in storming the works of the enemy in 
front of Petersburg, on the 2d of April.  General Clark has held the office of 
Master Warden for the Port of Philadelphia.  In the fall of 1873 he was elected 
to the office of Register of Wills for that city.

SAMUEL M. ZULICK, who, from the position of a private soldier, attained to the 
rank of Brevet Brigadier-General, was born at Easton, Northampton county,  
Pennsylvania, on the 1st of March, 1824.  His father, Anthony Zulick, was a 
native of Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany.  His mother, Jane Cummings, was a 
native of Philadelphia.  He was educated at Easton, receiving a classical 
training, and was graduated at the Jefferson Medical College, on the 20th of 
March, 1844.
  On the 15th of May, 1861, scarcely a month from the time the rebels fired the 
first gun upon Fort Sumter, he was mustered into the service of the United 
States, and from that time until Johnston surrendered to Sherman in North 
Carolina he was at the post of duty, ascending through the various grades of 
honor in his regiment, and in every position winning the favor and commendation 
of his superiors.  Upon the organization of troops for

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 790

the three years' service he was active, and was chosen Captain of Company E of 
the Twenty-ninth regiment.  In this position he participated in the battles of 
Winchester, Edenburg, Front Royal, Second Winchester, Cedar Mountain, and 
Antietam.
  On the 3d of March, 1863, Captain Zulick was promoted to the rank of Major, a 
well-earned advancement.  In the battle of Chancellorsville the regiment did 
excellent service, and when the army recrossed the Rappahannock, the post of 
honor and of danger, that of covering the rear, was assigned to it.  Immediately 
after this battle Major Zulick was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, to date from 
the first day on the bloody field.  At Gettysburg his regiment was subjected to 
a fiery ordeal.  It stood in the forest, on Culp's Hill, where the enemy 
delivered desperate assaults, with a courage and pertinacity inspired by the 
hope of turning the right of the Union army.  General Ewell had staked 
everything on accomplishing this.  But the living valor which he met turned him 
from his purpose, and with dead covering all that dark forest ground, he retired 
before the steady fire of the Twelfth corps, leaving it master of the field, and 
of the key to the whole battle ground.
  With the Twelfth corps the Twenty-ninth regiment was transferred to the 
western army, with which Lieutenant-Colonel Zulick participated in the battles 
of Wauhatchie, Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge, brilliant feats of arms, 
which gave the united army under General Grant command of the avenues to his 
base, now well-nigh cut off.  Colonel Zulick's regiment was the first to 
reenlist, and while he was away upon the veteran furlough given troops who thus 
showed their devotion, he was assigned, by special order of the War Department, 
to duty at Camp Cadwalader, in mustering veteran and drafted troops.  On the 6th 
of July he was relieved from this duty, and immediately rejoined his regiment, 
now with Sherman in his great campaign, and assuming command took part in the 
battles of Chattahoochee River, Peach Tree Creek, and Atlanta, the objective for 
the attainment of which myriads on either side had laid down their lives, and 
which the unscathed veterans were permitted in triumph to enter.
  The March to the Sea followed close upon this long and 

THOMAS A ROWLEY - 791

desperately contested campaign.  At Milledgeville and Savannah, Colonel Zulick 
led his command, in a manner worthy of the highest praise.  The affairs at 
Bentonville, Goldsboro, and Raleigh followed in succession, and after the 
surrender of the Confederate armies, Colonel Zulick marched with the Union 
forces to Washington, where he received his final discharge, but not until a 
grateful country had conferred upon him the commission of Colonel and Brevet 
Brigadier-General.
  In person General Zulick is five feet eight and a half inches in height, and 
robust, with blue eyes, and dark brown hair.  He was married on the 29th of 
July, 1846, to Miss Mary Hart McCalla, of Philadelphia, and has one son, Philip 
S. Zulick, who served in the Forty-fifth regiment.  Of General Zulick's 
gallantry as a soldier, his superior officers bear ample testimony.  "He began 
the war," says General Sherman, "as a Captain, and rose by his merits through 
all the grades to that of a General officer, and served in our Georgia and 
Carolina campaigns.  Of course I desire to see him noticed and appreciated."  
General Geary, in whose division General Zulick was, says:  "He has nobly served 
his country throughout a long and trying contest, with high distinction'" and 
that stern soldier, General A. W. Williams, adds:  "He served under my command 
for over three years, while I was either division or corps commander.  He was a 
very superior officer, capable, faithful, and zealous in the discharge of his 
duties.  He merits the recognition and favor of the Government."

THOMAS A. ROWLEY, Colonel of the One Hundred and Second regiment, and Brigadier-
General, a native of Pittsburg, was the son of John and Mary (Alger) Rowley.  He 
received his education in the schools of that city, and during his early years 
was employed in a store as clerk.  He joined a volunteer militia company in 
1839, in which he continued to serve until the breaking out of the Mexican War, 
in 1847, when he was appointed by President Polk a Second Lieutenant in the 
regular army.  He participated with honor in the battles of Vera Cruz, Jalapa, 
National Bridge, Cerro Gordo, and Mexico, and won the promotion to Captain.
  Upon his return he resigned his commission and resumed

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 792

the practice of his profession.  When hostilities opened in 1861, he again 
abandoned the toga for the trappings of war.  He was active in recruiting first 
the Thirteenth, which he commanded during the ninety days of its service, and at 
its close the One Hundred and Second.  At the battle of Fair Oaks, Colonel 
Rowley led his regiment to the support of Casey, hard pressed by the foe, and 
manfully contended against desperate assaults, holding his ground, and finally, 
when forced, retired in good order, firing as he went.  In this battle he was 
severely wounded in the head.  On the 29th of November, 1862, he was promoted to 
the rank of Brigadier-General, having performed most efficient service in the 
battles of Malvern Hill, Chantilly, and Antietam.  He was in command of a 
brigade at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and the three days at Gettysburg.  
After leaving the army he resumed the practice of his profession.  He at various 
periods held offices of trust, having been an Alderman, Clerk of the Courts of 
Allegheny county, and was Untied States Marshal for the Western district of 
Pennsylvania in 1865.  He still resides in his native city.

 GEORGE W. GILE, Colonel of the Eighty-eighth regiment, and Brevet Brigadier-
General, was born on the 25th of January, 1830, in Littleton, New Hampshire.  
His father, Aaron Gile, was a native of that State, well known for rectitude and 
patriotism, and at various times held offices of responsibility and trust.  His 
mother, Persis (Rix) Gile, was a native of Canada.  At the age of fourteen he 
entered a printing office, where he remained till the breaking out of the 
Mexican War.  Moved by an impulse natural at the inexperienced age of sixteen, 
he enlisted as a private.  Being an only son, the father insisted on his 
discharge, and he returned to his home at Littleton.
  Wearying of inaction, he proceeded to Boston, where he soon found congenial 
employment.  He chose the drama as his profession, and after careful preliminary 
training entered upon and for a season pursued it with great assiduity.  In 1854 
he removed to Philadelphia, and in the following year was united in marriage to 
Miss Emma Virginia Shuster, a native of that city, and a lady of much grace and 
refinement.  Two sons were

GEORGE W. GILE - 793

the issue of this marriage.  In person he is over six feet in height, and in 
appearance is dignified and commanding.
  At the opening of the late war he enlisted as a private in Company I, Twenty-
second regiment, but was soon after commissioned First Lieutenant of Company D.  
This regiment, which was recruited for three months' service, was posted in the 
city of Baltimore, and the duty not being arduous, he applied himself to the 
study of his new profession.  While thus engaged he was offered the position of 
Major of the Eighty-eighth, a three years' regiment, which he accepted.  He was 
for some time busily employed in organizing and equipping the new command, and 
when ordered to the front was posted with a battalion of four companies in 
Alexandria, Virginia, where he was charged with the maintenance of order, and 
the protection of public and private property.  For his fidelity in this 
position he was presented with a richly mounted and valuable sword, bearing the 
following inscription:  "Presented to Major George W. Gile, 88th regiment, P. 
V., by the officers of his command and the loyal merchants of Alexandria, 
Virginia, as a testimonial of their esteem."
  His first experience of field duty was in the campaign of General Pope in 
Virginia, where his regiment manifested great activity, and at the disastrous 
battle of Bull Run he proved himself a steadfast soldier.  In the midst of the 
fight Lieutenant-Colonel McLean, who was in command of the regiment, was 
mortally wounded, leaving it in charge of Major Gile, and though making his 
first campaign, he led it with so much skill and bravery as to attract the 
attention of the General-in-Chief, who said in his report:  "The conduct of 
Tower's brigade," to which the Eighty-eighth belonged, "in plain view of all the 
forces on the left, was especially distinguished, and drew forth hearty cheers.  
The example of this brigade was of great service, and infused new spirit into 
all the troops who witnessed their intrepid conduct."  He was immediately after 
promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and honored with the brevet rank of 
Captain in the regular army.
  On the morning of the 17th of September he led his regiment upon the field of 
Antietam, on the extreme right of the Union

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 794

line, where the ground was being stubbornly contested.  It had no sooner reached 
its position than it was attacked with fiery impetuosity by the rebel forces, 
which outflanked it; but with a courage and steadiness worthy of veterans, for 
two long hours it held its position.  In the heat of the battle Colonel Gile was 
hit by a musket ball and was borne from the field.  The wound was a painful and 
dangerous one in the left thigh.  It was long in healing; but by eminent 
surgical attendance, directed by Dr. Atlee of Philadelphia, the limb was saved, 
though he was left a cripple for life.  He was soon after promoted to Colonel of 
the regiment; and, by brevet, Major and Lieutenant-Colonel in the regular army.  
When it became apparent that he could not soon resume command of his regiment, 
which was without a field officer present for duty, he was compelled reluctantly 
to resign his commission.  Maimed by honorable wounds, this might reasonably 
conclude his military record; but a still more honorable career was opening 
before him.
  Early in the spring of 1863 the General Government determined to form an elite 
corps of the wounded veterans of the volunteer army, to be employed in such 
service as their physical condition would permit.  The first appointment in this 
corps was tendered to colonel Gile, which he accepted.  After laboring for a few 
months in its organization, he was ordered from Philadelphia with a battalion of 
nine companies to Washington.  Here a regimental organization was perfected, and 
three other regiments of the corps were ordered in to form a brigade.  In the 
spring of 1864 three more regiments were added to the garrison of Washington, 
which greatly increased the responsibilities of Colonel Gile.
  In July of this year, when Early, with a large army, moved down the valley for 
the attack and capture of Washington, Colonel Gile marshaled his forces for its 
defence, and throwing them into position upon its front, on the line of the 
outer forts, engaged the enemy with such determination and skill that for two 
whole days and nights the rebel commander was deterred from ordering an assault.  
By the arrival of General Wright with two divisions of the Sixth corps, Colonel 
Gile was relieved at the front, and his command returned to its position in the 
city.  For his gallantry upon this occasion he was brevetted Brigadier-

DAVID M. JONES - 795

General, and his force increased to fourteen regiments of infantry and two of 
cavalry.
  During his term of service in Washington, General Gile enjoyed the friendship 
and confidence of President Lincoln, whose escort at the inauguration of 1864 he 
had the honor to command.  It was also his melancholy duty to assist in the 
final escort of the remains of that great and good man to the train which bore 
them away from the Capital.  Mr. Stanton, likewise, showed him many marks of his 
esteem.
  Shortly after the close of the war, General Gile was detached from his command 
at Washington, and ordered South.  In 1866 he was tendered and accepted an 
appointment in the regular service, and was transferred from duty in South 
Carolina to Florida, where he remained until the closing of the affairs of the 
Freedmen's Bureau, of which he had sole charge in that State.  On the 15th of 
December, 1870, he was retired from active service, with the rank of Colonel.  
During his entire term covering a period of nearly ten years, he was but ninety 
days absent from duty, except when disabled by wounds.

DAVID MATTERN JONES, Lieutenant-colonel of the One Hundred and Tenth regiment, 
was born on the 24th of April, 1838, in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania.  He was 
the son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Mattern) Jones.  He received a good common 
school education and learned the trade of his father, that of a potter.  In the 
three months' service of 1861, he was Corporal of Company D of the Third 
regiment.  On his return from this, he recruited and was commissioned Captain of 
Company A of the One Hundred and Tenth regiment, which was sent to the upper 
Potomac, joining the column of General Lander and participating in engagements 
against Jackson, and subsequently, under Shields, in the hard-fought battle of 
Winchester, in which Jackson was driven.  In a skirmish with a detachment of 
Ashby's cavalry, in one of the passes of the Blue Ridge, in June, 1862, Captain 
Jones manoeuvred his company with so much skill as to attract the attention of 
his superiors, and he was promoted to the rank of Major.  He participated in the 
hard fighting at Cedar Mountain, and in the Second battle of Bull

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 796

Run, receiving in the latter a severe wound in the right wrist from a Minie ball 
which passed quite through, leaving the limb weakened and partially paralyzed.  
Shortly after the battle of Fredericksburg, in which he was engaged, he was 
promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, and at Chancellorsville, when the Colonel was 
killed, the command devolved upon him at a critical moment in the battle.  At 
Gettysburg he was of De Trobriand's brigade, that held, unsupported in the early 
part of the battle, the rocky, wooded ground designed the Whirlpool, or 
Slaughter-pen.  More bold or determined fighting has rarely been witnessed than 
was here displayed.  It was a sad field for Colonel Jones' for while conducting 
the fight with matchless heroism he was shot through the left leg, and so severe 
was the wound as to necessitate amputation.  His heroic conduct called forth 
warm commendation in the orders of General De Trobriand.  Being disabled for 
further field service, he resigned.  He was married in 1864 to Miss Amanda J. 
Palmer, who died in 1867.  In 1865 he was elected Register and Recorder of his 
native county, to which office he has been twice reelected, and which he now 
holds.  He was a true soldier as he is an upright citizen.

JOHN SMITH LITTELL, Colonel of the Seventy-sixth regiment, and Brigadier-
General, was born in Hanover township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, on the 20th 
of October, 1822.  His father, William Littell, was a soldier of the war of 
1812.  His mother was Cynthia Smith.  He received a good English education, 
paying special attention to surveying.  He early joined a militia company, and 
in 1853 was elected Captain, and afterwards Brigade Inspector of the Nineteenth 
division.
  He recruited a company for the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania regiment, of which 
he was Captain.  Soon after its organization it was ordered to the Department of 
the South, where it was engaged with the enemy at the capture of Fort Pulaski, 
and in the battles of Pocotaligo, James Island, Morris Island, and in the first 
and second assaults on Fort Wagner, in all of which he led his company with a 
steadiness and devotion which characterized his entire service.  At Morris 
Island, on the 10th of July, he was slightly wounded, but kept the field.  On 
the

JOHN S. LITTELL - T. ELWOOD ZELL - 797

following morning he was again hit, receiving a flesh wound in the right arm and 
side.
  The assaults upon Fort Wagner proved very disastrous to the regiment, the 
losses being nearly half its entire strength.  In the summer of 1864, it was 
taken to Virginia and attached to the Army of the James.  On the 31st of May, 
Captain Littell was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and on the 
following day, in the action at Cold Harbor, received a severe wound, the 
missile entering the right thigh, tearing quite through and emerging from the 
left.  After lying in the hospital for a time, he was taken to his home; but his 
wound was slow in healing, and his recovery was protracted.  On the 17th of 
August following, he was promoted to Colonel.  In January he sailed with the 
expeditions, first under Generals Butler and Weitzel, and finally under General 
Terry, for the reduction of Fort Fisher, commanding the approaches to 
Wilmington, North Carolina.  Colonel Littell was of Pennypacker's brigade, and 
followed that gallant officer in the desperate assault upon this stronghold.  In 
the midst of the struggle, and while leading on his regiment in the face of a 
destructive fire, he was struck by a Minie ball in the left thigh, which passed 
through, penetrating a pocket-book containing a roll of bank-notes, and finally 
lodging in the body.  It was an ever memorable day for the armies of the Union, 
and though experiencing intense suffering, he still had strength and spirit to 
rejoice over the glorious victory achieved.  He was removed to Fortress Monroe, 
after having the ball extracted, and when sufficiently recovered, to his home.  
As a merited recognition of his valor on this field, upon the recommendation of 
General Terry, he was brevetted Brigadier-General.
  Since the conclusion of the war, General Littell has served a term of three 
years as Sheriff of Beaver county.  He was married in 1845 to Miss Mary Colhoon.

T. ELWOOD ZELL, Colonel of Independent battalion, was born in Philadelphia, of 
Quaker parentage.  His father's family was among the few Germans who embraced 
the Quaker faith, emigrating under the immediate auspices of William Penn, and 
settling in Montgomery county.  His mother's family name was

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 798

Ogden, and her ancestors accompanied Penn in his first voyage in the ship 
Welcome, landing with him at Chester.  His great-grandfather served in the 
Revolutionary struggle and filled the post of Quartermaster in the patriot army.  
His earliest military experience was gained in Texas, where he acted as a 
volunteer in aiding to protect the frontier from the ravages of a general Indian 
war which broke out while he was spending the winter there.  At the breaking out 
of the Rebellion, he assisted in forming a military organization in Philadelphia 
for the purpose of drill.  He was offered the place of Lieutenant in the 
Lancers, Sixth cavalry, and that of Captain in the Fifty-eight, both of which he 
felt it his duty to decline.  He subsequently entered the One Hundred and 
Twenty-first regiment as Captain of Company D, and served with credit until 
compelled - by disabilities caused by the exposures of the service - to resign, 
carrying with him the respect of his brother officers and of his command.  
Subsequently, when the State was about to be invaded by Lee, Captain Zell was 
authorized to raise a regiment of infantry; but before it was filled he was 
mustered as Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the battalion, and was almost 
immediately appointed chief of staff to General W. D. Whipple of the regular 
army, which position he held for several months, and subsequently Inspector-
General of cavalry.  Upon the transfer of General Whipple to the staff of 
General Thomas, Colonel Zell was chief of staff for a short time to General 
Sigel, and was afterwards assigned to duty in Philadelphia as Post Assistant 
Provost-Marshal-General at the military barracks at Fourth and Buttonwood 
streets, where he remained until the expiration of his term of enlistment.

E. MORRISON WOODWARD, of Puritan and Huguenot origin, was the son of James S. 
and Rebecca Anna (De-la-Montaigne) Woodward, and was born in Philadelphia, March 
11th, 1828.  He received a liberal education at a private school.  Influenced by 
the love of adventure, he sailed around Cape Horn to California, and spent 
several years in roaming through that State, Mexico, and South America, 
returning eastward across the continent.  He studied law under John R. Vogdes of 
Philadel-

E. MORRISON WOODWARD - 799

phia, and was admitted to the bar.  Turning his attention to literature soon 
afterwards, he wrote the History of the Citizen Soldiery of Philadelphia from 
1704 to 1845.  He was connected with the Sunday Mercury, and became assistant 
editor.  Upon the breaking out of the Rebellion, he organized a company and was 
commissioned Captain, on the 19th of April, 1861.  The Second Reserve, to which 
he was attached, moved to the front without being mustered into the United 
States service.  On being paraded for the purpose, some dissatisfaction having 
arisen, two-thirds of the men refused to take the oath.  His own company and 
four others having been disbanded, to induce his men to remain true to their 
flag, he exchanged the sword for the musket, promising to stay with them to the 
last.  Subsequently he was promoted to Sergeant-Major, and served as such 
throughout all the hard-fought battles in which the Reserves participated on the 
Peninsula, in Pope's, and the Maryland campaigns.  At Antietam, the Second was 
left with but one commissioned officer, the command of the left wing devolving 
upon Woodward, and the desperate resistance which it made to an assault of the 
enemy gained for him the rank of Adjutant.  In the memorable charge of the 
Reserves at Fredericksburg, the Second turned a rifle-pit, and, swinging round 
upon the heights, cut off the retreat of its occupants.  The Seventh Reserve 
being in front of the pit, and not knowing the position of the Second, fired 
into it continuous volleys, which the Second in the heat of the battle did not 
discover and poured in a terrific fire at short range in return.  The enemy in 
the meantime remained passive, neither giving token of surrender nor attempting 
defence.  Finally Adjutant Woodward, discovering the situation, strove to stop 
the fire, and sheathing his sword, with cap in hand, advancing between the two 
lines, asked if they wished to "fight or surrender."  "We will surrender if you 
will allow us," was the reply.  The entire body with their flag was thereupon 
sent over to the Seventh.  In this encounter Woodward had thirteen bullet holes 
through his clothes, leaving some wounds, but none serious.  For his gallantry 
he was brevetted Major.  He served with his regiment at Gettysburg and in other 
battles.  After the war he settled among the green hills of his native State.  
While in the army he wrote the Picket Letters,  

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 800

which attracted considerable attention, and afterwards Our Campaigns, and the 
History of the Third Reserve and the One Hundred and Ninety-eighth regiments.

RICHARD BUTLER PRICE, Colonel of the Second cavalry, and Brevet Brigadier-
General, was born in the city of Philadelphia, on the 15th of December, 1809.  
His ancestors came to this country in the time of William Penn; his great-
grandfather, John Price, having married May Chandler, daughter of John Chandler, 
a companion of Penn in his voyage to America.  His grandfather, Jonathan Price, 
who was an officer in the Revolutionary war, and died in the service, married 
Anne De Le Plaine, daughter of a French gentleman who escaped from his native 
country during the Huguenot troubles, his father, Count De Le Plaine, having 
been thrown into prison and estates confiscated.  His father, Chandler Price, 
was a prominent shipping merchant of Philadelphia.  His mother, Ellen (Matlake) 
Price, was daughter of White Matlake, who was also an officer in the Revolution.
  His boyhood was passed in his native city.  At the age of fifteen he went to 
France, where he remained several years perfecting his education and receiving 
military instruction.  After his return he served as a volunteer in the First 
Troop.  On the day after the attack on Fort Sumter he tendered his services to 
the Government, and during the three months' campaign served on the staff of 
General Patterson, a part of the time as his Adjutant-General.  At the close of 
this term he returned to Philadelphia, and commenced recruiting a cavalry 
regiment, which became the Second Pennsylvania, Fifty-ninth of the line, of 
which he was commissioned Colonel.  His command was ordered to the Army of the 
Potomac, and formed part of the brigade under General Buford, which remained in 
the column of McDowell, and subsequently of Pope.  The service during the 
campaigns of these officers in the summer of 1862 was very severe, and though 
not resulting in any general battles, the frequent skirmishing and manoeuvring 
in an enemy's country were even more trying than meeting the enemy in a fair 
field in greater masses.
  Upon the promotion of General Buford to the command of the cavalry of the Army 
of the Potomac, Colonel Price was given

R. BUTLER PRICE - JAMES L. SELFRIDGE - 801

the leadership of the brigade, and in November, 1862, was assigned to the 
command of all the cavalry in the Department of Washington south of the Potomac.  
It consisted of eleven regiments, and the field of operations extended from the 
Potomac to the Blue Ridge.  In October orders came for him to detach a thousand 
men and send them for a special object to Winchester.  As it was a delicate and 
hazardous duty, Colonel Price determined to head the expedition in person.  The 
main design was frustrated; but while out, he met a regiment of the enemy's 
cavalry under Colonel Green.  One of the few, open, hand-to-hand cavalry 
engagements of that period ensued, which resulted in a complete victory to the 
Union arms.  Colonel Green with many of his officers and men were wounded and 
taken prisoners, and his command completely routed.  For this brilliant action 
Colonel Price received honorable mention, and was brevetted Brigadier-General.
  He continued to hold command of his brigade until the day before the battle of 
Gettysburg.  In the meantime General Pleasanton had become Chief of cavalry, and 
he recommended several officers to the Government for promotion to Brigadier-
Generals with a view of giving them the command of his brigades.  This was 
accorded, and the advancement of the new men occasioned an entire reorganization 
of the divisions, which threw the old officers out who were in the way of 
promotion.  On this account Colonel Price returned to his regiment, and was 
ordered for duty with the head-quarters of the army.  He remained thus in 
command until the beginning of 1864, when, feeling that an indignity had been 
put upon him, he applied for detached service, and was ordered to Washington, 
where he served on a military commission till the close of the war.  In person 
General Price is six feet in height, and of a muscular frame.  He married 
Elizabeth Hartt, daughter of C. C. Hartt, of the United States Navy.

JAMES LEVAN SELFRIDGE, Colonel of the Forty-sixth regiment, and Brevet 
Brigadier-General, was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, on the 22d of 
September, 1824.  His father was a Scotch-Irishman, and his mother of German and 
French extrac- 

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 802

tion.  He was educated at Lafayette College, on leaving which he studied law 
with Henry King, of Allentown.  He afterwards took charge of the Lehigh 
Transportation Company of Philadelphia, of which his father had been one of the 
projectors.  Having a taste for business, he entered a commission house, and, in 
1850, opened on his own account.  In 1857 he removed to Bethlehem, where he was 
engaged in the coal and real estate business up to the breaking out of the 
Rebellion.  The call for troops found no more prompt or active respondent, and 
so popular was his standard that on the 18th of April, 1861, he reported with 
his company at Harrisburg, and it was on that day mustered into service as 
Company A of the First Pennsylvania regiment, in which he served with Patterson, 
and at whose request it remained ten days beyond the period of its enlistment.
 On returning home he was tendered a commission as Colonel of a regiment which 
he should raise; but impatient of delay, he united with Colonel Joseph F. Knipe 
in recruiting, and was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the Forty-sixth 
regiment.  It left for the field on the 17th of September, 1861, and was 
reported to General Banks at Darnestown, Maryland, participating under him in 
the action at Kernstown, in the two battles at Winchester, and at Cedar 
Mountain.  In the latter engagement the Forty-sixth was led over open and 
exposed ground in assaults upon the enemy's guns.  The slaughter in its ranks 
was fearful, Colonel Selfridge having his horse shot under him and receiving a 
slight wound.  He was also engaged with his regiment on the Rappahannock, and in 
the second battle of Bull Run under Pope; at South Mountain and Antietam under 
McClellan; at Chancellorsville under Hooker; and at Gettysburg under Meade.  
During the progress of the battle of Antietam Selfridge took command of the 
regiment, Colonel Knipe leading the brigade.  When Hooker with the Eleventh and 
Twelfth corps went to the assistance of Rosecrans at Chattanooga, Selfridge was 
of the column, and in the campaign on Atlanta took a prominent part in the 
battles of Resaca, Dallas, Pine Knob, Lost Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain, and Peach 
Tree Creek.  In the latter action Hood attacked the Union right with terrific 
violence.  Nothing like its impetuosity had been witnessed in the whole 
protracted and 

JAMES L. SELFRIDGE - 803

bloody campaign.  On that part of the line where the weight of the blow fell 
stood Colonel Selfridge with his indomitable Forty-sixth.  Its valor with that 
of the rest of the noble division was equal to the emergency, and in the bloody 
repulse which the enemy received none were more conspicuous than Selfridge.  At 
Marietta, Cassville, and the descent upon Atlanta, he was likewise unremittingly 
engaged, and so marked had been his courage, and so constant and unwavering his 
gallantry throughout the entire campaign - covering a hundred days in which the 
noise of battle was scarcely hushed for a single hour - that at its conclusion 
General A. S. Williams, the veteran commander of the First division, commended 
him to the attention of the Government in the following forcible language:  
"This officer has been in service since the beginning of the Rebellion.  For 
over three years he has been constantly in the field, and ever at the post of 
duty.  Few officers have been so steadily with their commands, so prompt, 
intelligent, and capable.  The condition of his regiment bears testimony to the 
superiority of its commander."
  On leaving Atlanta Colonel Selfridge took command of the brigade, and during 
the March to the Sea was chiefly occupied in destroying railroads, though having 
part in the engagement at Monteith Swamp, and the siege of Savannah, soon after 
which he was promoted to Brevet Brigadier-General.  In the movement of the army 
northward through the Carolinas he continued to lead his brigade, and 
participated with it in the actions at Averysboro and Bentonville.  At the 
conclusion of hostilities he was mustered out, having shared the fortunes of his 
command with constancy and fidelity from the first to the last day of the 
service.  In testimony of this General Sherman said of him, "General Selfridge 
was one of my steady, hard-working and fighting brigade commanders, and served 
all the time."
  Since the war General Selfridge has taken an active part in public interests, 
and has been prominently named for the office of Governor.  While yet at the 
front, on Sherman's famous march, he was nominated to represent the eleventh 
district in Congress, and though it was politically hopelessly against him, his 
opponent's majority was reduced nearly 2000 votes.  In 1857 he was nominated for 
Senator, and made an equally strong canvass.  He 

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 804

had been appointed by President Lincoln Assessor of Internal Revenue for the 
eleventh district, but was removed by President Johnson.  In 1868 he was elected 
Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, a position to which 
he was annually reelected until 1873, when he was no longer a candidate.  In 
1872 he removed to Philadelphia, and became proprietor in the business of the 
Lehigh Hydraulic Cement Company.  He was appointed by Governor Geary Major-
General of the Seventh division of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, which 
commission he still holds.

JOHN DEVEREUX, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Sixty-ninth regiment, was born on the 
26th of March, 1830, in the city of Philadelphia, of which place his parents 
were natives.  He was educated at St. John's College, in the city of New York, 
where he graduated in 1849.  He entered the military service as Adjutant of the 
Twenty-fourth regiment, which served with Stone and Patterson before Washington 
and in the Shenandoah Valley.  At the end of its term of three months, he 
assisted Colonel Owen in recruiting the Sixty-ninth, a veteran regiment, of 
which he was commissioned Major, and had command of the camp of instruction at 
Chestnut Hill.  He was at Ball's Bluff in the fall of 1861, and in 1862 made the 
campaign of the Peninsula, having an active part in all the operations from 
Yorktown to Malvern Hill.  At the Second Fair Oaks, and at Charles City Cross 
Roads, his regiment received much credit for its gallant bearing from General 
Burns, and also from General Hooker, who could never brook mediocrity.  He was 
also conspicuous under Pope at Bull Run, and under McClellan at South Mountain.  
At Antietam a great misfortune befell him. He was with his command in the 
hottest of the fight, leading on as became his heroic nature, when he was shot 
through the body, the missile passing close to the spine, inflicting a severe 
and well-nigh fatal injury.  For seven months he was confined to his bed, and 
while in this situation was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel.  Believing that he 
would never be able to render further active service, he resigned in March, 
1863.  But in November following, having partially recovered, he was appointed 
by the President Major in the Veteran Reserve corps, and served

JOHN DEVEREAUX - JOSHUA T. OWEN - 805

constantly on such duty as he was able to perform until the 1st of September, 
1866, acting in the capacity of Inspector, member and president of general 
court-martial, examiner for entrance to the army, Assistant Provost-Marshal-
General, commandant of rendezvous for the muster out of troops, and in charge of 
a district in South Carolina.  He was tendered a commission as Major in the 
regular army, but was compelled to decline it for physical disability.  "His 
services," says General Burns, "should always entitle him to the commendation of 
a grateful country, and to any reward open to a brave, intelligent, and capable 
officer."  By General Sedgwick he was characterized as "a gallant and excellent 
officer, who always performed his duty whilst under my command with zeal and 
fidelity."

JOSHUA THOMAS OWEN, Colonel of the Sixty-ninth regiment, and Brigadier-General, 
was born on the 29th of March, 1825, in Wales.  His father, David Owen, a native 
Welshman, was a woolen manufacturer of Caermarthenshire, whence with his family 
he emigrated to this country in 1830.  His mother was Jane (Thomas) Owen.  The 
boy was early put to learn the trade of a printer, but pursued a liberal course 
of study, and graduated at Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, in the class of 1845.  
He was fond of adventure, and by mental endowment and culture given to 
argumentation.  Naturally, therefore, in choosing a profession, he adopted that 
of the law.  During the period in which he was pursuing his legal studies, he 
was principal of a male academy at Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, which had become 
his residence.  He knew nothing of military service previous to the Rebellion, 
but when its mutterings were heard he was quick in enlisting in the First City 
Troop.  Upon the organization in May, 1861, of the Twenty-fourth regiment, for 
the three months' service, he was commissioned Colonel.  At the expiration of 
its term Colonel Owen recruited one for three years.  It was composed of good 
fighting material, and Colonel Owen took a soldier's pride in drilling and 
disciplining it to a high state of proficiency, and led it in the battles of 
Fair Oaks, Savage Station, Charles City Cross Roads, and Malvern Hill.  At 
Charles City Cross Roads, Colonel Owen particularly distinguished himself, his 

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 806

gallant conduct attracting the attention and complimentary notice of General 
Hooker.  "About three o'clock," says Hooker, "the enemy commenced a vigorous 
attack on McCall, and in such force that General Sumner voluntarily tendered me 
the services of a regiment which was posted in the open field on my extreme 
right, and under shelter from the enemy's artillery.  This was the Sixty-ninth 
regiment, Pennsylvania volunteers, under Colonel Owen."  Hooker saw from the 
outset that the weight of the attack was likely to prove too powerful for McCall 
to withstand, and in anticipation of his giving way he had said to Colonel Owen, 
when designating the ground he was to occupy, "Hold this position, and keep the 
enemy in check at all hazards."  This he said with glowing cheek and a flash of 
the eye unusual to him, even in battle.  As had been anticipated McCall's left 
did give way, and then the enemy came on in masses, flushed with victory.  Owen 
ordered his men to kneel, and when the foe came rushing forward he gave the 
signal to fire.  A sheet of flame blazed out which sent the line staggering 
back.  But they were in heavy force, and soon recovering, again advanced, 
overlapping this single regiment on either flank.  Seeing that he must be 
overwhelmed if he remained longer in his position, he boldly ordered his 
regiment to fix bayonets and charge.  Springing to their feet, they dashed 
forward with a shout and quickly routed the foe.  "The Sixty-ninth 
Pennsylvania," says Hooker, "heroically led by Owen, advanced in the open field 
on their flank (First Massachusetts) with almost reckless daring."
  The rank of Brigadier-General, on the recommendation of Generals Hooker, 
Howard, and Hancock, was bestowed upon him, and he was assigned to the command 
of the brigade to which his old regiment belonged.  In the advance upon 
Fredericksburg, in December, 1862, Owen's brigade was the first to cross the 
pontoons and march upon the city.  It was on the 11th that he crossed, and all 
that night he was engaged in street fighting, and in clearing the town of 
sharpshooters, who had taken refuge in the buildings, and who from their 
sheltered position were maintaining a destructive, desultory fire.  It was 
dangerous and harassing labor; but it was thoroughly accomplished, and on the 
12th he was sent to take a position on the outskirts

WILLIAM H. LESSIG - 807

of the town, from which a whole division had been previously driven, which he 
gained and manfully held during the entire day.  For his services here he was 
especially commended by Generals Howard and Couch.  In the battle of the 
Wilderness he led his brigade in a seemingly hopeless charge from the right of 
the Second corps, which was successfully pushed, checking the enemy, and 
protecting that wing from being turned.  The gallantry of this act won the 
hearty commendation of General Birney.  At Cold Harbor General Owen received 
warm encomiums for the heroic manner in which he led his brigade and gained a 
position far in advance of the main line.  In all the battles of the Army of the 
Potomac he participated, never from any cause being absent when important 
movements were about to be undertaken.  For one so much exposed in the fearless 
discharge of his duty, few escaped with so little of bodily harm.  He had two 
horses shot under him, and the one which he rode in most of the active campaigns 
was several times wounded.  Previous to the war General Owen represented 
Philadelphia in the Legislature, and was Recorder of Deeds for the city.  He was 
married, in 1852, to Miss Annie J. Sheridan, daughter of Owen Sheridan, of 
Chestnut Hill.  In person he is above the medium height, and inclined in later 
years to corpulency.

WILLIAM H. LESSIG entered the service of the United States as Captain in the 
Ninety-sixth regiment in September, 1861.  While upon the Peninsula he was 
prevented by sickness from taking part in more than the opening operations.  In 
September, 1862, he was promoted to Major, and participated in the actions of 
South Mountain and Antietam, soon after which he was advanced to Lieutenant-
Colonel, and commanded his regiment in the battles of Fredericksburg, 
Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg.  He was commissioned Colonel in March, 1863, 
and led at Rappahannock Station, through the campaign of 1864, from the Rapidan 
to the James, and Sheridan's brilliant career in the Shenandoah Valley.  At the 
conclusion of his term, in October, 1864, he was mustered out of service, having 
won an enviable reputation for gallantry and valor.

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 808

EDMUND LOVELL DANA, Colonel of the One Hundred and Forty-third regiment, and 
Brevet Brigadier-General, was born on the 29th of January, 1817, at Wilkesbarre, 
Pennsylvania.  He was the son of Asa S. and Nancy (Pruner) Dana.  He was 
educated at Yale College, graduating with honor in the class of 1838.  For a 
year after completing his academic studies he was employed as a civil engineer; 
but applied himself to the law and was admitted to practice in 1841.  Having 
attached himself to the Wyoming Artillerists, he held the rank of Lieutenant and 
Captain in that company in the years 1844-'45.  Two years later, at the breaking 
out of the Mexican War, he volunteered and served as Captain of Company I, First 
Pennsylvania infantry, throughout the entire period of that contest.  At the 
landing of the troops under General Scott at Anton Lizards, on the 9th of March, 
1847, he was in Patterson's division, and participated in the siege, 
bombardment, and capture of Vera Cruz, and the Castle of San Juan D'Ulloa.  He 
bore a part also in the battle of Cerro Gordo, and led a storming party composed 
of his own and Company A of the First Pennsylvania, at Black Pass.  For his 
conduct in the siege of Puebla in September and October he was complimented in 
general orders.  With his company he marched to the city of Mexico, and when the 
war was ended returned with it to Pennsylvania.  During the summer and fall of 
1862 he was active in recruiting the One Hundred and Forty-third regiment, of 
which he was commissioned Colonel.  He participated in the movement to Pollock's 
mills, and in the battle of Chancellorsville.
  Colonel Dana's most sustained and signal action was at Gettysburg.  Reynolds 
had fallen, Stone and Wister been wounded, when Colonel Dana succeeded to the 
command of the brigade.  It stood in the centre of the line on open ground.  
Round shots and shells ploughed the field.  From the rebel infantry were poured 
showers of deadly missiles, as in repeated assaults and with ever fresh troops 
they charged forth; but though outnumbered three to one, and outflanked, that 
devoted corps stood firm, dealing death in return upon the daring foe, and when 
finally it was forced to retire went defiantly with flaunting colors, often 
halting to deliver its fire.  The rebel General Hill reported at 

EDMUND L. DANA - 809

Evening to Lee that the Yankees had fought with a determination unusual to them.  
Changes of front were repeatedly, and with the utmost precision, made under 
Colonel Dana's orders, and new lines of defence formed as the exigencies 
demanded, and after the close of this severe and prolonged struggle the remains 
of the brigade were withdrawn in good order through the town and formed on 
Cemetery Hill.  Few commands lost more heavily or did more gallant service.  
During the succeeding days of the battle, he acted in support upon the left 
centre of the Union line.
  In the battle of the Wilderness, on the first day of the fight, Colonel Dana 
was wounded, his horse having been shot under him, and he was taken captive.  
For three months he languished in rebel prisons, and a part of the time was held 
under the fire of the Union guns at Charleston.  After regaining his freedom he 
rejoined his command, then before Petersburg, and in the battles at Poplar Grove 
Church, Hatcher's Run, Weldon Railroad, Petersburg, and a Second Hatcher's Run, 
he bore an important part, commanding for a portion of the time his old brigade, 
though having been transferred, in the consolidation of organizations, to the 
Fifth corps.  In the siege of Petersburg Colonel Dana was especially commended 
by General Warren in command of the Fifth corps, for his energy and courage 
displayed in advancing, against strong opposition, the corps skirmish line.  The 
line in front of the corps was irregular, a covert of wood sheltering the enemy, 
who had established several advanced posts.  To straighten it and drive the 
enemy out was strongly desired by the Union commander, and this Colonel Dana was 
set to do.  Making his dispositions he ordered a bold movement, and after a 
severe struggle routed the foe and gained the ground.  This gave the Union line 
the advantage of the wood where the enemy had lurked.  He was subsequently 
brevetted a Brigadier-General. 
  At the close of the war General Dana resumed the practice of his profession, 
and in 1867 was elected an additional law judge for the eleventh judicial 
district, in which capacity he is now acting.  In person he is of medium height, 
and of fair complexion.  He was married on the 28th of March, 1842, to Miss 
Sarah H. Peters.