Martial Deeds of Pennsylvania, Samuel P. Bates, 1876 - Part 2, Chapter 4, 509-
555

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                         MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA
                                       by
                                SAMUEL P. BATES.

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

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 509

                              Part II.  BIOGRAPHY.

                                   CHAPTER IV.

                              THE KILLED IN BATTLE.

ALEXANDER HAYS, first Colonel of the Sixty-third regiment, and Brevet Major-
General of volunteers.  The war of Rebellion drew from the State of Pennsylvania 
many costly sacrifices; few more so than the subject of this sketch.  Reynolds, 
who fell at Gettysburg, entered the volunteer service as a  general officer, and 
was consequently more in the public eye, and had attained a higher rank in the 
army. It is no disparagement of Reynolds to be compared with Hays, though 
beneath him  n rank; for in all that constitutes a great soldier he was endowed 
with kindred qualities, and was of a brotherhood of heroes - wise in council, 
cool in the midst of dangers, fearless in battle, and merciful as a victor.
  He was born at Franklin, Venango county, on the 8th of July, 1819.  He was the 
son of General Samuel Hays, a native of Ireland, and Agnes (Broadfoot) Hays.  
After acquiring a primary education in the schools of his native place, he 
entered Allegheny College, at Meadville; and subsequently, in 1840, was 
appointed a Cadet in the Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated in 
1844, and where, for three years, he was a fellow student with President Grant.  
He was assigned to duty, with the rank of Brevet Second Lieutenant, in the 
Fourth Infantry, to which Grant also belonged, then constituting part of the 
Army of Observation, stationed in Louisiana.  His regiment was among the first 
to advance upon the enemy's territory in the Mexican War, and in the battles of 
Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma exhibited undaunted heroism, capturing, in 
connection with Lieutenant Woods, likewise a Pennsylvanian, the first gun that 
was

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 510

wrested from the enemy.  In the latter engagement, he received a wound in the 
leg.  In recognition of his gallantry in these actions, he was promoted to the 
rank of First Lieutenant, and was transferred to the Eighth Infantry.
  Before entering upon another active campaign, his wound unfitting him for 
arduous duty, he was sent on recruiting service to western Pennsylvania, where 
he soon enlisted a company of 200 men from among the hardy pioneers of that 
region, and rejoined the army at Vera Cruz. "About this time," says Colonel 
Oliphant in his sketch of Hays, "General Joe Lane was ready to start on a more 
northern line of operations to the City of Mexico, with an expedition against 
Urrera and the guerillas infesting that part of the country.  Lieutenant Hays 
was appointed Assistant Adjutant-General of the expedition.  It had frequent 
encounters with the enemy, inflicting severe punishment.  Lieutenant Hays 
gathered fresh laurels, and was the head and heart and soul of the command - 
making a military reputation for his chief which afterwards sent him to the 
United States Senate from Oregon."  "His record in the whole Mexican War," says 
the Rev. Dr. Paxton, in his funeral discourse, "was that of a brave and skilful 
soldier, whose courage could be trusted in any emergency, and whose ability to 
execute was equal to his will to dare."
  A year previous he had married Annie, daughter of John B. McFadden, a 
prominent citizen of Pittsburg; and on his return from Mexico, tiring of the 
dull monotony of army life in "piping times of peace," he resigned his 
commission, and engaged in the manufacture of iron in that city.  A stagnation 
in this business occurred at about that time, and the venture proved a failure.  
He was accustomed to say, that "that furnace was the only thing that ever licked 
him so badly that he was afraid to tackle it again."  His education at West 
Point had made him a skilful engineer, and the country just then waking up to 
the importance of railroad construction, had need of such talent.  He first 
found employment in California, but subsequently in western Pennsylvania, and 
was engaged in making the drafts of an iron bridge for the Allegheny Railroad, 
when the Rebellion was initiated.  Without waiting to finish his draft even, he 
laid it aside, saying

ALEXANDER HAYS - 511

to his wife w he did so: "That kind of work is now ended; my country has called, 
and I must hasten to the field."
  He enlisted in a militia company in Pittsburg, known as the City Guard, of 
which he was at once chosen Captain.  This company became part of a regiment 
raised at that place for the three months' service, and he was commissioned, by 
Governor Curtin, Major.  Not long before, Floyd of Virginia, then Secretary of 
War, had ordered a number of heavy guns from the Allegheny Arsenal, and a large 
amount of ordnance stores, to some mythical fort near the mouth of the 
Mississippi river.  Hays was one of those who resisted their removal, plainly 
foreseeing the use to which they would be put; and, by assuming a bold front and 
a determined spirit to prevent it, the guns were ordered back to the Arsenal.
  In the summer of 1861, he was appointed Captain in the Sixteenth United States 
Infantry; but he declined this honor, and, at the close of the term of service 
of the Twelfth - which he had largely contributed to make a skilled and 
efficient body of menlie returned home, and at once set about recruiting a 
regiment for the war.  His companions of the City Guard, whom he had converted 
into real soldiers, followed him, and his regiment was designated the Sixty-
third Pennsylvania - he being commissioned Colonel.  After thorough drill at 
Camp Wilkins, he led it to the field.  "Its history," says Colonel Oliphant, in 
the article above quoted, "is bright with laurels, and red with the blood of its 
decimated ranks.  Its commander was the friend, comrade, and fighting Colonel of 
a fighting General - brave old Phil. Kearny.  Kearny was so superlatively brave 
himself, that unless the bearing of another was akin to his own death-defying 
courage, it failed to attract his notice.  Colonel Hays is the only one of his 
officers that he is known to have complimented for this virtue, except in an 
official report.  After the battle of Fair Oaks, conversing with a group of 
officers, he referred to the gallant conduct of Colonel Hays.  One of the 
officers present ventured the suggestion, that he was 'rash and reckless.'  'No 
sir!  No!' says Kearny; 'you are mistaken. Although he storms like a fury on the 
field, his purpose is as clear, and his brain as cool as on drill or parade; and 
his battle tactics are superb.'"

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 512

  Colonel Hays was kept upon the front line, facing Richmond during that sultry 
month which intervened between Fair Oaks and the Seven Days' battle, and had 
frequent hot skirmishing with the enemy.  When the retreat to the James began, 
he moved out, the last to quit his intrenchments; and when, at Charles City 
Cross Roads, the enemy attacked with terrible earnestness, he was ready, with 
his well-ordered regiment, to meet them.  How well he fought, that intrepid 
soldier, Kearny, whose pen was no less keen and incisive than his sword, has 
told in simple and glowing periods.  After relating how the enemy had "come on 
in such masses as I had never witnessed," and had been cut down and swept back 
by the rapid fire of the artillery, yet "increased masses came up, and the wave 
bore on," he says, "It was then that Colonel Hays, with the Sixty-third 
Pennsylvania and half of the Thirty-seventh New York Volunteers, was moved 
forward to the line of the guns.  I have here to call to the attention of my 
superior chiefs this most heroic action on the part of Colonel Hays and his 
regiment.  The Sixty-third has won for Pennsylvania the laurels of fame.  That 
which grape and canister failed in effecting, was accomplished by the determined 
charge and rapid volleys of this foot.  The enemy, at the muzzles of our guns, 
for the first time retired fighting.  Subsequently, ground having been gained, 
the Sixty-third was ordered to 'lie low,' and the battery once more reopened its 
ceaseless work of destruction.  This battle saw three renewed onsets, with 
similar vicissitudes.  If there was one man in this attack, there must have been 
ten thousand, and their loss by artillery, although borne with such fortitude, 
must have been immense."  The gallantry and steadiness of Colonel Hays in this 
desperate fighting is confirmed by another, himself a hero, who laid down his 
life gallantly at Chancellorsville.  General Berry, in a note to Colonel Hays, 
says:  "I was ordered by General Kearny to have myself and command ready at all 
times to render aid to the First and Second brigades.  This being so, I watched 
the movements of the enemy and our own men with the most intense interest.  You, 
sir, and your brave men, were placed near to and ordered to support Thompson's 
battery.  Never was task better done or battery better supported, and it is a 
great pleasure to me to have to say, and

ALEXANDER HAYS - 513

it is also my duty to say it, that I have not, in my career in military life, 
seen better fighting and work better done.  I should fear to try to do better 
with any troops I have ever seen.  'Tis enough to say, your fight was a perfect 
success."
  The next severe encounter was at the Second Bull Run battle, Colonel Hays 
being put into the engagement in the neighborhood of Groveton.  "Here," says 
Kearny, "the Sixty-third Pennsylvania and the Fortieth New York suffered the 
most.  The gallant Hays is badly wounded."  It was while leading his men up to 
an embankment occupied by the enemy, that he was struck in the ankle, and his 
limb badly shattered.  Though suffering the most excruciating pain, as he was 
carried from the field, he still preserved his equanimity, and jocularly 
commanded his servant Pomp, in the most positive tones and manner, "to bring a 
cork and stop the hole in his leg, or he would bleed to death."
  His services in this action, and his eminent ability exhibited upon the 
Peninsula, did not pass without recognition from the Government.  He was 
appointed and confirmed Brigadier-General of volunteers, and Lieutenant-Colonel 
in the Regular Army.
  "About the 1st of January, 1863," says Colonel Oliphant, "before he had 
entirely recovered from the Groveton wound, General Hays was assigned to the 
command of the Third brigade of Casey's division, Heintzelman's corps, then, and 
for some time afterwards, in charge of the defences before and around 
Washington.  This is the same brigade that was demoralized, surrendered and 
disgraced, at Harper's Ferry, just before the battle of Antietam.  They wanted a 
General in a double sense.  They had no General, and they required one who would 
be so in fact, as well as commission and rank.  Quaint and grim old Heintzelman 
knew and picked the man for them.  We will see if they got what they wanted, 
when 'Sandy Hays' first drew his sword over them in command.  The General now 
devoted all his time, talents and energy to bring order and discipline out of 
the confusion in which he found his brigade, and to put fight into it.  He 
drilled, punished, rewarded, coaxed, scolded, and stormed at it - once nearly 
'with shot and shell.'  He was preparing it for the eventful first days of July, 
'63, when the Fourth of '76 was re-endeared to our hearts' affections in a new 
baptism of

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 514

blood and tears. . . . On the 3rd day of the month, and the third of the battle 
of Gettysburg, General Hays, commanding the Third division of the Second army 
corps, finds himself opposed to General A. P. Hill, with whom is General George 
E. Pickett, and others of his old class-mates and comrades of the Mexican War, 
on the road leading to Emmittsburg.  Hill has been cannonading the opposing line 
for some time, without effect; then moves his troops across the field, thinking, 
no doubt, that his veterans will drive these raw militia like chaff before the 
storm.  But they meet General Hays and his veterans; he has put fight into them.  
Behind the shelter of a stone fence, he restrains himself and his men until the 
enemy is at close quarters.  Then, like Wellington at Waterloo, the word is, 
'Up, and at them!'  His rapid, well-directed volleys send the head of Hill's 
column, reeling in confusion, back upon its center and rear.  A hurricane, 
charged with lead and fire and death, consumes them.
  "The battle was won.  This was the decisive charge; and General Hays was a 
hero among heroes at Gettysburg!  He takes from the enemy, that day, twenty 
banners and battle-flags, three thousand stand of arms, and kills and captures 
about twice the number of his command.  Out of twenty mounted orderlies he has 
but six left.  He has lost all of his Colonels; Lieutenant-Colonels command 
brigades; Lieutenants command regiments.  Two of his five horses are killed 
under him.  His whole staff is unhorsed.  Their steeds lie dead where they fell, 
or are in their last agonies.  Gathering around their chief to congratulate him, 
reeking with the dust, and sweat, and fumes, and weary with the toil of the 
battle, they receive the commendation they deserve.  How proud they are of their 
chief!  How proud he is of his 'boys!'  The battle-cloud has passed away from 
his brow, and the hard-set features of a few moments before relax into his kind, 
familiar smile of love and affection.  George P. Corts, Captain and Assistant 
Adjutant-General, reliable and efficient, often under fire with him before, 
wants to follow up the success while the game is in view and the trail is fresh.  
The General takes young Dave Shields, his boy Lieutenant and Aide-de-camp - not 
yet twenty years old and can count nearly as many battles - in his arms, 
imprinting a kiss upon his cheek, while his boyish face is yet

ALEXANDER HAYS - 515

aglow with the flush and his bright eye sparkling with the fire of victory.  
What youth in the land would not be prouder of that kiss of honor from his 
General, than of a hundred from the lips of the fairest maiden?"
  A correspondent of the Buffalo Commercial, himself a soldier, and who was upon 
that fatal hill when the battle was at its height, beholding the deeds of valor 
of this brave leader, and his fearlessness when the very air seemed freighted 
with danger, thus describes him:  "I have spoken of our General Hays.  I wish 
you could have seen a picture just at the close of Saturday's battle, on the 
left of our center, of which his splendid figure formed a prominent part.  Our 
brigade, which had been lying on Cemetery Hill, was ordered over to the position 
which was so valiantly but unsuccessfully charged by Pickett's rebel division.  
We moved through a storm of shot and shell, but only arrived in time to see the 
grand finale, at the close of the drama.  The enemy's batteries were still 
playing briskly, and their sharp-shooters kept up a lively fire; but the 
infantry, wearied and routed, were pouring into our lines throughout their whole 
extent.  Then entered General Alexander Hays, the brave American soldier.  Six 
feet or more in height, erect, smiling, lightly holding well in hand his horse - 
the third within a half hour - a noble animal, his flanks bespattered with 
blood, he dashes along our lines, now rushing into the open field, a mark for a 
hundred sharp-shooters, but untouched; now quietly cantering back to our lines 
to be welcomed by a storm of cheers.  I reckon him the grandest view - I bar not 
Niagara.  It was the arch-spirit of glorious victory wildly triumphing over the 
fallen foe."  After recounting the ceaseless care and solicitude of General Hays 
during the long weary hours of the night which succeeded the battle, in looking 
after and caring for the wounded and worn-out soldiers of his command, the same 
writer continues:  "It is not my good fortune to be personally acquainted with 
General Hays, but I wish every one so far as I can effect it, to know him as the 
bravest of soldiers, and love him as the best-hearted of men."  It seems 
miraculous that General Hays escaped unharmed.  His division stood upon the 
broad, open field, joining upon the left Owen's Philadelphia Brigade, now 
Webb's, and only shielded from the death-storm

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 516

which swept its ranks by a slight stone wall perched upon the brow of a shelving 
ledge, but which could be no protection to an officer on horseback.  That 
powerful rebel division of Pickett, strengthened by picked troops on flanks and 
rear, struck the Union front, half overlapping Hays' command.  The latter 
consequently got the full strength and power of the blow; but steadfast in his 
purpose, though all had been stricken down he would stand alone, he had inspired 
all with his own heroism; and though death held high carnival, the surviving 
moved not.  It was a trial of the spirit which he manifested in a letter 
acknowledging the receipt of a magnificent sword presented him by the citizens 
of Pittsburg a few months after this battle, in which he says:  "When the 
Rebellion broke upon us like a tornado, in the desecration of our flag at 
Sumter, I took an oath never to sheathe my sword until honorable peace should 
restore us to one glorious Union."  He shared the fortunes of the army in all 
its weary marches and fighting till he came upon the intricate mazes of the 
Wilderness.  It was his last battle.  On the very day that the march commenced 
he had written, as if impressed with a presentiment of his impending fate:
  "This morning was beautiful, for
                        
      Lightly and brightly shone the sun,
      As if the morn was a jocund one.

Although we were anticipating to march at eight o'clock, it might have been an 
appropriate harbinger of the day of the regeneration of mankind; but it only 
brought to remembrance, through the throats of many bugles, that duty enjoined 
upon each one, perhaps before the setting sun, to lay down a life for his 
country."  Longstreet had already arrived upon the Union front, and Hancock, 
having gone beyond the field and been summoned back, had counter-marched, and 
was advancing in line through the wilds of that labyrinthian ground, when he 
suddenly came upon the foe.  The battle had been raging for half an hour, when, 
General Hays having ridden along his whole front, and returning, had paused at 
the head of his old regiment, the Sixty-third, a rifle ball struck him just 
above the cord of his hat, and penetrating the brain, he fell without an 
utterance to the ground.  He breathed scarcely three hours, when, without 
consciousness, he expired.

ALEXANDER HAYS - JOHN B. KOHLER - 517

  His remains were carried by his sorrowing comrades - while the roar of battle 
still sounded - to the rear, and they were thence taken to his home in 
Pittsburg.  The day of his burial was a day of sadness throughout that great 
city.  Everywhere were the emblems of mourning and the aspects of grief.  A 
public calamity had indeed fallen - a calamity not bounded by a single city, or 
a single State, but which had touched the nation alike.  Five swords were laid 
upon his coffin - the tokens of the respect and confidence of his fellow-
citizens.  One was the gift of his early associates in his native town of 
Franklin, as the memorial of his gallantry at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.  
Another the free offering of his old companions in arms, the Texan Rangers, who 
knew well how to measure a brave man.  A third was presented by his own City 
Guards, through the lamented Colonel Childs, signalizing a mark of filial 
affection.  The fourth - a costly piece of workmanship, as if to typify the 
greatness of his service - was from his fellow-citizens of Pittsburg.  The fifth 
was his battle-sword, which he grasped in death.  He went to his grave, having 
filled a full measure of usefulness.  Few had devoted more signal ability to the 
service of the country.  It is a proud satisfaction to take leave of him with 
that consciousness.

      Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,
        Sleep the sleep that knows no breaking;
      Dream of battle-fields no more;
        Days of danger, nights of waking.

JOHN B. KOHLER, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Ninety-eighth regiment, was born in 
Philadelphia.  He entered the service as Captain of Company A, on the 17th of 
August, 1861; was promoted to Major on the 26th of November, 1862, and to 
Lieutenant-Colonel on the 2d of July, 1863.  In the Peninsula campaign, his 
command was warmly engaged at Williamsburg and Malvern Hill, in the latter 
battle severe loss having been sustained.  It formed part of Wheaton's brigade, 
in the Sixth corps, in the Chancellorsville campaign, and at Salem Church the 
fighting was terrific, this regiment exhibiting the most heroic bearing.  During 
the first days of the Wilderness commencing on the 5th of May, 1864, it was 
steadily engaged, and in the progress of the battle, Colonel Ballier having 
assumed command

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 518

of the brigade, Lieutenant-Colonel Kohler received that of the regiment.  At 
four o'clock on the morning of the 11th, he was ordered to take his command upon 
the picket line in front of Spottsylvania Court-House, where the firing was 
incessant and the loss considerable.  Until the command reached the front before 
Petersburg the fighting was of the most fearful character, in which it 
resolutely participated, losing heavily upon almost every field.  Soon after 
crossing the James, the Sixth corps was sent to Washington to meet a heavy 
detachment of the rebel army under General Early.  On its arrival at the capital 
it was placed immediately in Fort Stevens, where it was ordered to move out in 
front of the fort, in face of the enemy, and establish a picket line.  The duty 
was a perilous one, but it was executed gallantly, though with severe loss, both 
Colonel Ballier and Lieutenant-Colonel Kohler being wounded.  From Washington 
the Sixth corps went to the Shenandoah Valley, where, under Sheridan, it 
participated in the brilliant campaign which followed.  At Cedar Creek, on the 
19th of October, near the close of that campaign, Colonel Kohler, while visiting 
the picket line as officer of the day, was killed.

CHARLES AUGUST KNODERER, Colonel of the One Hundred and Sixty-eighth regiment, 
was born in the town of Emmendingen, in the Grand Duchy of Baden.  He was first 
sent to a lyceum, and afterwards entered the Polytechnic School of Carlsruhe, 
one of the most eminent of the schools of Europe, where he graduated with the 
first honors of his class.  He was educated especially for a civil engineer and 
immediately after completing his course, entered the service of his Government, 
by which he was employed in the correction of the channel of the River Rhine, 
and in constructing Government roads through the Black Forest.  He was, however, 
an enthusiasdtic student of military science, and, while he was engaged in civil 
employments, so applied himself to its mastery in the intervals of labor as to 
be prepared to pass the examination required for an officer.  He had likewise 
familiarized himself with the military history of modern Europe.  In 1849 the 
revolutionary spirit was rife in German, and, abandoning his connection with the 
Government 

CHARLES A. KNODERER - 519

as an engineer, and his prospects as an officer in the service of the Grand 
Duke, he joined the patriots in their struggle for constitutional liberty, and 
served with Sigel in the short but unfortunate campaign in which their hopes 
were frustrated.  With hundreds of others, who had taken part in the attempted 
revolution, he fled from Europe and found in America a home and a country.
  He came to Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1849, and in the following year was 
employed by the Schuylkill Navigation Company as Assistant Engineer, where he 
remained until September, 1861.  At this time the Rebellion had attained to 
formidable proportions, and, desirous of aiding his adopted country in 
suppressing it, he entered the service as a Captain of Engineers, and during the 
brief campaign of General Fremont in Missouri, acted on the staff of General 
Sigel.  At its close, he returned to Reading, and resumed his place in the 
employ of the Navigation Company.  In the early part of 1862, still desirous of 
devoting himself to the national cause, he became actively engaged in raising 
companies for a regiment in process of formation in Pittsburg, for service with 
General Sigel.  He had a fair prospect of having his ranks filled, when the part 
of the enterprise being executed in Pittsburg failed, and he was obliged to 
abandon it altogether.
  When the enemy, soon after the battle of Second Bull Run, threatened to invade 
Pennsylvania, he responded to the call of the Governor for troops by enlisting 
as a private, and proceeded to Harrisburg, where he was elected Colonel of the 
Eleventh militia regiment, called out for the emergency.  His knowledge and 
ability as a soldier were in constant requisition in drilling and organizing the 
raw recruits.  The admirable manner in which he acquitted himself won the 
respect and confidence of all.  The exigency having passed, the militia were 
disbanded, and Colonel Knoderer again returned to private life.  But the value 
of his services to the country had been discovered, and when the camp was 
established at Reading for drafted men, Governor Curtin commissioned him 
Colonel, and placed him in command.  Here, too, his superior knowledge and skill 
as a soldier were of great use, and when the One Hundred and Sixty-seventh 
regiment was organized he was chosen Colonel.  He was

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 520

ordered to Suffolk, Virginia, which was at this time threatened by a formidable 
force.  Upon his arrival, he was actively employed with his men in perfecting 
the fortifications, and placing it in the very best possible condition for 
defence.  His judgment in military matters, and his skill in executing such 
works as were intrusted to him, soon attracted the attention of his superiors, 
and he was early recognized by them as a military engineer of talent.
  The routine of camp and garrison duty was not disturbed at Suffolk until the 
night of the 29th of January 1863, when, upon a report that the rebel General 
Pryor was advancing with a large force, and had crossed the Blackwater, Colonel 
Knoderer's regiment, with others, was ordered to march out to intercept him.  
They left their camp at midnight, and at three o'clock on the morning of the 
30th found themselves in front of the enemy, at about 600 yards distance, and 
subjected to a severe fire from his batteries.  Colonel Knoderer had directed 
his men to lie down, to protect them from the shells, while he remained 
standing.  Subsequently, as he was mounting his horse, he was struck in the left 
hip by a piece of shell, from the effects of which, after two weeks of great 
suffering, he expired.  Upon the occasion of his death, Brigadier-General Terry 
issued the following order:  "The General commanding this brigade announces with 
sorrow the death of Colonel Charles A. Knoderer.  He died at the regimental 
hospital this day, at twelve o'clock M., of a wound received in the late action 
of the Deserted House, near the Blackwater river, Virginia, on the 30th ultimo.  
In the death of Colonel Knoderer, the officers and men of this command have lost 
a good officer and a worthy man, and the country is again called to mourn the 
death of a soldier and a patriot.  Let his sacrifice be an occasion for every 
soldier to renew his vows of fidelity to the Constitution and the Union, and an 
incentive to sustain with new vigor the Old Flag wherever it may be borne."
  Mr. Z. C. Galt, a friend and intimate acquaintance, delineates the character 
of Colonel Knoderer in the following manner, no more appreciative than just:  
"Colonel Knoderer was a man of rare attainments.  His education as a civil 
engineer had been complete and thorough, and his experience large, and from 
habits of

ROBERT B. HAMPTON - 521

close observation and constant study, he had added greatly to the store of 
professional knowledge acquired in the excellent German schools.  In military 
science he was an enthusiast, and in its study constant; and few men were so 
well acquainted with the military history of the world as he.  As soon as the 
Rebellion took the shape of war at Sumter, he was only anxious to find his place 
among the loyal defenders of his loved, adopted country, and he has laid down 
his life in its service, after but a few months of active duty in the field.  
Had he lived he doubtless would have made himself a name, by deeds, for which 
his country would have been grateful; but Providence had otherwise ordered, and 
we can only remember the patriotism which prompted his actions, and regret that 
the country should have lost his valuable services at so early a period of his 
career.  He had, by long residence amount us, endeared himself to all who knew 
him by his amiable manners, his gentle bearing, and his unsullied purity of 
character.  He died the death he coveted."

ROBERT B. HAMPTON, Captain of Independent Battery F, was born in Pittsburg, 
Pennsylvania.  He entered the service of the United States, on the 17th of 
October, 1861, as Captain of his battery.  He was with Banks in the Shenandoah 
Valley, and subsequently with the army of General Pope before Washington.  He 
advanced with General McClellan in the Maryland campaign, and his guns rendered 
efficient service in the passage of South Mountain, and in the battle of 
Antietam.  At the conclusion of this, the Twelfth corps was organized, which 
remained as a corps of observation at the mouth of the Shenandoah Valley, while 
the rest of the army pushed on to Fredericksburg.  In the battle of 
Chancellorsville, this corps had the centre of the Union line, and when, on the 
morning of the 3d of May, 1863, the rebel forces began to press upon it - the 
Eleventh corps having sustained disaster on the previous evening - the action 
became warm, the artillery fire on both sides being terrific.  Captain Hampton 
handled his guns with great skill, and did efficient service; but in the midst 
of the hottest of the fire, and while he was directing the movement of his 
pieces, he was struck by a fragment of shell and instantly killed.

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 522

THOMAS SLOAN BELL, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifty-first regiment, was born at 
West Chester, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of May, 1838.  He was the third son of 
the Hon. Thomas S. Bell, for several years President Judge of the Chester 
district, and subsequently an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
State.  He was a descendant of Captain Joseph McClellan, distinguished in the 
Revolutionary War as a brave, active, and vigilant officer, who, during a long 
life, was held in high estimation.  His education was chiefly acquired at the 
West Chester Academy, where he early gave promise of genius, and developed the 
power of graceful oratory for which his father was distinguished.  He studied 
law under the direction of his father, and was admitted to the bar of Chester 
county, in April, 1859.  One of his examiners, on that occasion, says:  "He 
sustained a most creditable examination, evincing that he had read diligently 
and possessed a legal mind."
  In March, 1858, he was commissioned Aide-de-camp to the Major-General of the 
Third division of the Uniformed Militia, and, in October following, was 
appointed paymaster of that division, with the rank of Major.  On the 20th of 
May, 1859, he was appointed Notary Public for Chester county, and at the general 
election, in 1860, was one of the candidates of the Democratic party for the 
State Legislature.  When troops were called for the defence of the Union, he was 
among the foremost to respond, going as Lieutenant of the first company that 
marched from his native town, and was appointed Adjutant of the Ninth regiment, 
in which position he served in the three months' campaign.
  On his return, after this service, he immediately re-entered with new recruits 
for three years, and was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifty-first 
Pennsylvania, led by Colonel Hartranft.  This regiment was of Burnside's 
expedition to North Carolina, forming part of Reno's brigade.  In the voyage, 
Colonel Bell, with four companies, was on board the transport "Scout," which 
became separated from the rest of the fleet in a storm, and drifted far out of 
its course.  It was given up for lost, but finally came safely to port.  In this 
trying voyage the bearing of Colonel Bell is represented as being heroic.

THOMAS S. BELL - 523

  In the engagement on Roanoke Island his conduct was bold and fearless, and 
inspired confidence and like courage in the breasts of his men.  At Newbern he 
had command of the left wing of his regiment.  He was ordered to charge upon the 
enemy's batteries, which were carried, and he was the first man to mount and 
take possession of the captured pieces.  At Camden he commanded the brigade, 
composed of his own and the Twenty-first Massachusetts; and here, as throughout 
this entire campaign, he distinguished himself by his skill and bravery.  In the 
severe conflicts about Manassas, in Pope's campaign, to Reno's command is justly 
attributed the credit of having been largely instrumental in saving the Union 
army from utter annihilation.  When the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth regiment 
was formed, chiefly recruited in the neighborhood of Colonel Bell's home, he was 
selected to lead it.  Governor Curtin expressed his desire to appoint him.  But 
a regulation of the National Government, relative to the transfer of officers 
from one regiment to another prevented his acceptance of this position.
  He was at South Mountain, where Reno routed the enemy, and in the act fell 
mortally wounded - one of the most deeply lamented of the Union Generals.  At 
the storming of the bridge on Burnside's front, in the battle of Antietam, 
Hartranft's regiment was selected to lead, and Colonel Bell heroically moved 
with the command, which carried that impregnable position at the point of the 
bayonet.  A lodgment had already been gained on the thither bank, when Colonel 
Bell, over solicitous for the assurance of victory, having gone out to bring his 
forces into more favorable position, was struck by an enemy's missile, and soon 
after expired.  "After crossing the bridge," says General Hartranft, "I took the 
regiment to the right and halted.  Colonel Bell here came up to me, saying that 
more troops should be sent over.  I replied, 'Well, go and see about it.'  He 
went; but no farther than the bridge, and soon I saw him coming back on the bed 
of the road (which was now clear of troops) a few feet from the edge nearest the 
water.  When about thirty yards from the bridge, I saw him struck on the left 
temple, as I at that time thought, and now believe, by a canister shot.  He fell 
backward and off the road to within six feet of the water.  He spoke freely, 
say-

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 524

ing:  'Never say die, boys!  Stand by the colors!  Take care of my sword.'  He 
was immediately taken back to the barn hospital and examined by a surgeon, who 
pronounced his wound not dangerous.  Bleeding soon stopped.  I directed 
Sergeant-Major Stoneroad to remain with him and take charge of his effects.  I 
was under orders at this time to move forward, and could not leave the regiment.  
In little less than an hour afterwards, I received permission to go back to the 
hospital to see the Colonel.  I saw him, but he did not recognize me.  In an 
hour after, he passed off calmly."
  An officer who was with him, says:  "There was the same goodness in his last 
hours as had marked his life."  He had won the attachment of his superior 
officers and of his regiment, and his loss was deeply felt.  His remains were 
brought to his home at West Chester, and interred by the side of his mother in 
the Oakland Cemetery, where it was his expressed wish he should be buried.  He 
was possessed of a fine form and features, and had the mark and bearing of a 
soldier.  His disposition was amiable, and he was, in the highest sense of the 
term, a Christian.  Chaplain Mallory says of him:  "While at the College in 
Annapolis, we occupied the same room.  Here I first saw him reading the Bible 
and kneeling at his bedside night and morning - a practice which he continued in 
the midst of abounding wickedness until his death.  He invariably refused to 
taste intoxicating drinks, and mourned, as I did, the prevailing profanity in 
the army.  Especially during our last march through Maryland, when we were 
thrown more in contact with the men, he expressed to me and to others a longing 
to escape from the hateful sounds."  He was a member of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church.
  A short time before his death, he was addressed upon the subject of allowing 
his name to be used as a candidate for Congress.  He replied emphatically, "No," 
that he had volunteered to serve his country in aiding to put down rebellion; 
that he could accept of no civil office until the war was over; that he intended 
to stick to the Union army for weal or for woe.  And at his post, like a 
faithful sentinel, he stood to the last.

FRANCIS A. LANCASTER - CALVIN A. CRAIG - 525

FRANCIS A. LANCASTER, Colonel of the One Hundred and Fifteenth regiment, was 
born in Philadelphia.  He entered the service as Major of this regiment on the 
26th of June, 1862; and was immediately sent with his command to the Peninsula, 
to the succor of McClellan.  In Pope's campaign before Washington it was put to 
severe duty, and in the initial action at Bristoe Station with the redoubtable 
Stonewall Jackson, Major Lancaster was severely wounded in the left arm.  It was 
not until the following April that he was able to rejoin his regiment, having in 
the meantime been promoted to Colonel.  In the fierce fighting on the morning of 
the 3d of May, 1863, at Chancellorsville, when the enemy was coming down with 
overpowering force upon Sickles' corps, Colonel Lancaster, while leading forward 
his troops in the most resolute manner, fell, pierced through the temple by a 
Minie ball.  He had shown himself an heroic officer, and his regiment had come 
to be regarded as one of the best disciplined in the army.

CALVIN A. CRAIG, second Colonel of the One Hundred and Fifth regiment.  This 
regiment retired from the disastrous field of Chancellorsville with ranks 
terribly shattered; but the saddest of its disasters was the loss of its 
dauntless chief, Colonel McKnight.  Fortunate, however, were the remnants of 
that gallant band, who had so resolutely bared their bosoms to the terrible 
death-storm that swept that devoted field, in not being left without a leader.  
The wand that dropped from the nerveless grasp of McKnight, was caught by the 
heroic Craig, and wielded with a courage and a dexterity worthy of that fearless 
regiment.
  Calvin A. Craig, third son of Washington Craig, was born in Clarion county, 
Pennsylvania, on the 7th of December, 1833.  From his earliest years he was 
inured to toil, and received his rudimentary instruction in the schools of a 
rural district.  Possessed of good native talents, his faculties made keen by 
healthful exercise, he soon acquired the elements of a sound English education 
and much solid information, evincing a relish for books of a useful character.  
In 1858 he graduated at Duff's Mercantile College, and in the following spring 
made a journey through the

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 526

West and Southwest, for the purpose of enlarging his observation of men and 
things.  "His opinions and criticisms," says the Rev. J. S. Elder, in his 
funeral discourse - from which the facts contained in his memoir are principally 
drawn - "showed how closely and narrowly he scanned the customs and views of the 
people among whom he sojourned, and proved himself to be a shrewd and careful 
observer.  He closely scrutinized the workings and influence of the institution 
of slavery.  His observations confirm what every intelligent man knows to be 
true.  He maintained this principle:  that whoever seeks to degrade the lowly, 
himself must sink.  . .  To a system producing such results, he declared he was 
in heart and soul opposed, and he ever afterwards cherished an increased 
antipathy to the inhuman institution."
  On his return from this tour, he engaged in the production of lumber, an 
interest largely followed in the forest section in which he lived.  He 
subsequently associated himself in business with his father in his native town.  
At the first tap of the drum, after the assault upon Fort Sumter, he recruited a 
company and marched with the Eighth regiment to the front.  At the expiration of 
three months, the time for which all troops had been enlisted, he returned, and 
immediately set about recruiting for a three years' regiment.  He was surrounded 
by hardy men from farm and forest, possessed of rare qualifications for 
soldiers.  His company, which was speedily filled, became part of the One 
Hundred and Fifth regiment; and with it he acted faithfully as Captain, in the 
skirmishes of the siege of Yorktown, and before Richmond, and in the battles of 
Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Charles City Cross Roads, and Malvern Hill.
  His fidelity in the Peninsula Campaign, and the campaign of Pope before 
Washington, won the promotion which he had richly merited.  On the 20th of 
April, 1863, he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment.  The battle 
of Chancellorsville soon followed, and upon the fall of Colonel McKnight, he 
succeeded to its chief command.  Scarcely had the smoke of that conflict cleared 
away, before the commander of the brigade, the brave General Graham, wrote thus 
to Governor Curtin:  "Colonel A. A. McKnight, of the One Hundred and Fifth 
regiment, Pennsylvania volunteers, having been killed while gallantly leading

CALVIN A. CRAIG - 527

his regiment in a charge against the enemy, on which occasion Lieutenant-Colonel 
Calvin A. Craig succeeded him in command, and behaved with equal coolness and 
courage, I consider it a duty to the service to recommend that Lieutenant-
Colonel Craig be promoted to the vacancy occasioned by the death of the heroic 
McKnight.  In soliciting this promotion, I am influenced alone by a desire to 
keep up the high standard of the One Hundred and Fifth regiment, one of the 
noblest regiments in the United States service."  An appeal like this could not 
fail to reach the heart of the Governor, alive to every exhibition of valor, and 
the appointment was immediately made.  It was a responsible trust, but he proved 
himself, on many a hard-fought field, worthy of it.  He always wrote and spoke 
of his regiment in the highest terms of eulogy.  In a familiar letter to a 
friend, in speaking of its conduct on a hotly-contested field, he said:  "The 
regiment never did better.  When they moved forward on a charge on a double-
quick, every man at his post, and with scarcely an inch of difference in the 
slope of their glittering bayonets - oh! but I did feel proud of them.  I know I 
have a kind of weakness for this regiment, but I tell you, it is a regiment to 
be proud of."  This is the language of an enthusiast.  It sounds like the 
breathings of a devoted spirit, touching the dearest object of its affection.  
One who could speak thus could never abuse this trust.  Soldiers will follow 
such a man into positions of peril, without a murmur.
  Unflinching, Colonel Craig met the storm of battle in campaigns unparalleled 
for severity.  His record of casualties was remarkable.  He was wounded slightly 
in the hand in the Seven Days' battle before Richmond.  At the Second Bull Run 
battle he was wounded severely in the ankle.  At Gettysburg he had three horses 
shot under him, and was himself wounded in the foot.  In the battle of the 
Wilderness he was wounded severely and dangerously in the face.  During the 
siege of Petersburg he was struck in the left shoulder by a fragment of shell.  
In the terrific battle at Deep Bottom on the 16th of August, 1864, while in 
command of the Second brigade, Third division, of the Second corps, he received 
a mortal wound, his face to the foe, and died on the following morning.
  At the end of the three years' service the soldiers of his regi-

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNYSLVANIA - 528

ment reenlisted for a second term, and were given a veteran's furlough.  During 
this interval of duty - grim War's holiday - Colonel Craig was married to Miss 
Elmira Craig of Greenville.
  Mr. Elder mentions, in his discourse, the case of a noted French regiment, the 
soldiers of which so revered the memory of their fallen leader that they 
persisted in having his name retained on the regimental rolls, and called every 
morning with those of the living.  When that name was uttered, a soldier 
answered for him, "Dead on the field of honor."  The One Hundred and Fifth 
regiment could claim the names of McKnight and Craig as worthy of equal 
endearment, as also those of Greenawalt, Clyde, Dowling, Patton, Kirk, Conser, 
Hamilton - heroes all - "Dead on the field of honor."
  The remains of Colonel Craig were returned to his sorrowing friends in his 
native town of Greenville, and there, in the village graveyard, where the rude 
forefathers of the hamlet sleep, the careworn and battle-scarred warrior is at 
rest.

HENRY J. STAINROOK, Colonel of the One Hundred and Ninth regiment, was born in 
Pennsylvania.  He was commissioned Colonel of the One Hundred and Ninth on the 
5th of May, 1862.  He immediately led it to the front, meeting the enemy at the 
mouth of the Shenandoah Valley, as they came down in pursuit of Banks.  When 
Pope assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia, Colonel Stainrook, with 
all the forces of Banks and Fremont, hastened to his support.  In the battle of 
Cedar Mountain Colonel Stainrook's regiment was subjected to severe duty - 
supporting Knap's battery and charting upon the enemy through the noted corn-
field, where a full half its numbers were wither killed or wounded, Colonel 
Stainrook himself being among the latter.  In the campaign in Maryland he 
commanded a brigade of Geary's division.  At Chancellorsville General Kane 
commanded the brigade to which the One Hundred and Ninth had been transferred - 
an officer whose untiring energy is only matched by his skill.  As a consequence 
this brigade was selected to demonstrate on the Twelfth corps' front, where it 
had warm encounters with the advancing foe.  Near the the close of the severe 
fighting of the 3d of May, 1863, when the army of Hooker

HENRY J. STAINROOK - MILTON OPP - 529

was upon the point of taking up a new line of battle more contracted and secure, 
a rebel sharp-shooter, who had gained a position not twenty paces distant, shot 
and instantly killed Colonel Stainrook.  The act created intense feeling among 
the men of the One Hundred and Ninth, and Lieutenant Kidney, of Company G, who 
had witnessed the deed, seizing a musket, and skillfully awaiting his 
opportunity, sent a bullet in reply which forever silenced the sharp-shooter's 
fire.

Milton Opp, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eighty-fourth regiment, was born in 
Moreland, Pennsylvania, on the 28th of August, 1835.  His father was a well-to-
do farmer, and his parents cherished a laudable ambition to see their son well 
educated.  He displayed on his part great aptness to learn.  He graduated in due 
course and with honor at the Lewisburg University, and afterwards at the Law 
School at Poughkeepsie, New York.  With the most flattering prospects of success 
he entered upon the practice of his profession at Muncy.  But he was scarcely 
established in his chosen vocation, when the war came on.  He instantly 
dismissed the hope of fame and fortune which seemed opening before him, and 
volunteered for the war in the Eighty-fourth regiment, in which he was 
commissioned a lieutenant.  He was promoted to Captain in May, 1862, to Major in 
October, and to Lieutenant-Colonel in December.  These rapid advancements were 
earned by real worth and genuine manhood.  He served first with Lander and 
subsequently with Shields in the Shenandoah Valley, and with the latter 
commander shared in the triumph over Stonewall Jackson at the battle of 
Winchester, on the 23d of March, 1862, though his regiment suffered grievous 
loss, and its commander, the highly-esteemed Colonel Murray, was among the 
killed.  He was also at Port Republic, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and in 
the campaign of Gettysburg, though in the latter battle his regiment was not at 
the front, having been assigned to important and difficult special duty.  On the 
second day of the battle of the Wilderness, while leading his men in a charge 
with his accustomed gallantry, he was shot through the right lung and soon after 
expired, the terrible sounds of the conflict saluting his ears to the last.

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 530

  The Rev. J. C. Wynn, who was a classmate of Colonel Opp, gives the following 
tribute to his memory:  "At the age of nineteen, he entered the collegiate 
department of the University of Lewisburg, from which he graduated in 1858.  His 
mind was symmetrical:  it showed no excessive preponderance of particular 
faculties.  Possessed of genuine love of truth and of knowledge, he addressed 
himself to mathematics or classics, to physics or metaphysics, with almost equal 
facility and enthusiasm.  He was a faithful student - a refined scholar.  His 
youthful tastes were elevated and ennobling.  With him the sensual was very 
subordinate; the intellect reigned.  His natural inclination revealed itself in 
his choice of the profession of law.  The highest ideal that his soul knew was 
that of a faithful advocate pleading for justice to his client.  Colonel Opp was 
above the average stature, being five feet ten inches in height.  His general 
health was good.  His habits of life regular and temperate.  He had no military 
education previous to the War of the Rebellion."

JOHN W. CROSBY, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Sixty-first regiment, was born in 
Philadelphia.  He entered the service of the United States as a Second 
Lieutenant in the Twenty-third regiment, in April, 1861.  When that regiment was 
recruited for three years, at the expiration of the short term, he received a 
Captain's commission, and served under Colonel Birney until March, 1862, when 
his, with other companies, was transferred to the Sixty-first regiment.  He was 
with his command through the Peninsula campaign, the Second Bull Run, Maryland, 
and Fredricksburg.  In the storming of Marye's Heights in the Chancellorsville 
campaign his regiment was of the light brigade which had been formed to lead in 
the assault, and here he was wounded.  In April, 1864, he was promoted to Major, 
and in the desperate fighting of the Wilderness he was again wounded.  When the 
Sixth corps, to which his regiment belonged, was brought to Washington, in July 
of that year, for its defence against Early, Major Crosby was lying in one of 
the hospitals at the capital.  He obtained a short furlough and sought 
permission to lead his old command.  It was granted, and in the encounter before 
Fort Stevens he lost his left arm.  In December he resigned, but his

JOHN W. CROSBY - HEZEKIAH EASTON - 531

wound having healed, he rejoined his regiment on the 22d of February, 1865, and 
was recommissioned Lieutenant-Colonel.  In the assault upon Petersburg, on the 
2d of April, he was killed while gallantly leading his men upon the hostile 
works.  An obituary notice thus characterizes him:  "He was idolized by his men 
for his bravery and soldierly bearing.  In him the country has lost a devoted 
servant and a true patriot.  The regiment mourns the loss of a brave leader.  
His little girls are left orphans - they who were his comfort and pride while 
away from them fighting the battles of his country.  When the names of the many 
brave and fallen heroes are gathered up, and shine as stars in the pages of 
history, as bright and fair as any among them will shine that of our lamented 
Colonel Crosby."

HEZEKIAN EASTON, Captain of Battery A, First Pennsylvania Artillery, was killed 
at Gains' Mill on the 27th of June, 1862.  He had been instrumental in 
recruiting this battery, and had entered the service as its Captain in May, 
1861.  To great energy and perseverance he joined rare skill in the arm of the 
service which he had chosen.  At Dranesville, where the first victory of the 
Army of the Potomac was gained, Easton's Battery played an important part, 
exploding the enemy's caissons, and knocking his gun-carriages to pieces.  At 
Gaines' Mill, Easton, with Kern, covered with their artillery the left of the 
Union line, resting upon the Chickahominy.  Desperate fighting and repeated 
charges with massed troops finally broke the Union infantry, and drove them 
back, leaving the guns unsupported.  But Easton, giving little heed to the 
misfortune of his supports, resolutely stood by his guns and continued to pour 
in double charges of canister.  A force of cavalry was sent to his relief, but 
the ground, broken by ravines, was unfavorable for a charge of horse, and it was 
thrown into confusion by the terrible fire of the foe.  Checked and broken in 
their advance, the mounted fugitives came pouring through the battery, carrying 
with them to the rear all the available limbers.  The enemy, yelling like so 
many fiends, advanced boldly to the guns, now left without ammunition, crying 
out to Captain Easton and those officers and men who bravely withstood the 
storm, to surrender.  His reply, never to be forgotten by his

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 532

comrades who clustered about him, was, "No!  We never surrender!"  Alas!  The 
next moment that voice was hushed in death.  He fell beside his guns; none were 
left to surrender them.  In the varying fortunes of the fight two of his 
faithful men attempted to bring off the body, but lost it in the melee.  A 
solitary peach tree marked the spot where he fell.
  "Easton," says a soldier, George W. Crepps, who served with him, "was a 
genial, warm-hearted, Christian officer.  He was killed at Gaines' Mill.  
Mountz, the chief bugler, was the first to bear the melancholy tidings to us, 
which he did on Sunday morning, as we lay in battery below Savage Station.  I 
need not say that it sent a thrill of anguish to all, and especially to us who 
knew him.  The sad news of poor Kern's death also deeply moved us.  Captain 
Easton was enrolled with Battery B at Hagerstown.  He told me that he had been 
owner, or largely interested in some iron works in Maryland before the war."

ROBERT P. CUMMINS, Colonel of the One Hundred and Forty-second regiment was born 
in Somerset county, Pennsylvania.  A considerable portion of this regiment was 
recruited under his supervision, and when an organization was effected he was 
chosen its Colonel. It was attached to Magilton's brigade of the Reserve Corps 
on reaching the front.  Not long afterwards Colonel Cummins was prostrated by 
sickness, by which he was much reduced.  He was still an invalid when the 
Fredericksburg campaign opened; but, being intent on leading his men in the 
battle which he saw impending, he proceeded to the field, arriving just as the 
Lieutenant-Colonel was addressing his men preparatory to advancing to the 
attack.  Colonel Cummins at once assumed the command, and led his regiment in a 
most perilous, destructive charge.  His horse was shot under him, and two 
hundred and fifty of his men had fallen before they had been an hour in action.  
In the Chancellorsville movement the First corps, to which the Reserves were 
attached, supported the Sixth corps on the first day, being posted opposite 
Franklin's crossing, where Colonel Cummins again had his horse killed.  At 
Gettysburg, the First corps was subjected to a terrible ordeal on the 1st of 
July, being greatly outnumbered; and here, while holding his

ROBERT F. CUMMINS - GEORGE C. SPEAR - HENRY M. EDDY - 533

men up to the fight, and stimulating and encouraging them, he received a mortal 
wound, and died on the following day.

GEORGE C. SPEAR, Colonel of the Sixty-first regiment, entered the service as 
Captain of Company A of the Twenty-third, three months' regiment, but was soon 
after promoted to Major. When the Twenty-third was recruited as a veteran 
regiment he was still retained as Major.  But as this organization had fifteen 
companies, soon after taking the field Major Spear was transferred, with four of 
the companies, from this to the Sixty-first regiment, of which he was made 
Lieutenant-Colonel.  In the battle of Fair Oaks, on the Peninsula, on the 31st 
of May, 1862, the Sixty-first bore a prominent part and won lasting honor.  In 
this battle its Colonel, Oliver H. Rippey, was killed, when Lieutenant-Colonel 
Spear was promoted to succeed him.  Colonel Spear participated with his regiment 
in the battles of the Potomac army with singular earnestness and fidelity, until 
the second battle of Fredericksburg, where he was killed while leading the 
assault on Marye's Heights.  A marked compliment had been shown him, in 
selecting his regiment as one of a light division, formed specially for 
dangerous duty, and was given the lead in the famous assault which swept the 
enemy from the strongholds which had defied the utmost efforts of Burnside to 
carry.

HENRY MALCOLM EDDY, Major of the One Hundred and Fourteenth regiment, was born 
on the 27th of October, 1838, at Philadelphia.  He was the son of Jason and 
Sarah (Raban) Eddy.  His father was a native of Massachusetts.  He was educated 
in the public schools of the city, and developed a strong predilection for 
literature and history.  In April, 1861, but a few days after the call for 
troops, he enlisted as a private in the Eighteenth regiment, and at the close of 
his term in this, reenlisted as a private in the Independent Zouaves d'Afrique.  
In July, 1862, he was appointed First Lieutenant in the One Hundred and 
Fourteenth regiment, and in April, 1863, was promoted to Captain.  In the 
afternoon of the second day, in the battle of Gettysburg, he received a slight 
wound from a spent ball, but

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 534

kept the field.  In October, 1864, he was promoted to Major, and in the charge 
upon the rebel works before Petersburg, on the 2d of April, 1865, where he was 
in command of the regiment and was leading it with undaunted heroism, he was 
mortally wounded.  The charge was of the most desperate character, having to be 
made in the face of a ceaseless fire of artillery and small arms, and over 
abattis and ditches of the fort, against a foe who was completely shielded from 
harm.  But the charge was most gallantly executed and the enemy routed.  For the 
able and fearless manner in which Major Eddy led in the assault, he was 
commended in orders.  Captain Dunkel, who enlisted with him, and served by his 
side throughout, says that the following epitaph may truthfully be inscribed 
upon his tomb:  "Here lies one who served his country for four years, and never 
once faltered in the performance of his duty as a soldier."

CONRAD FAEGER JACKSON, Brigadier-General of volunteers, and Colonel of the Ninth 
Reserve regiment, was born on the 11th of September, 1813.  His ancestors were 
Quakers, and his father, Isaac Jackson, was a member of that sect, but joined 
the Army of the United States in the War of 1812, and died six years thereafter 
of disease contracted while in the service.  His maternal grandfather, Conrad 
Faeger, for whom he was named, was for many years sheriff of Berks county.  
After the death of his father he was taken into the family of his uncle, Joseph 
Jackson, a resident of Chester county, and was educated in schools of the 
Friends' Society.  Arrived at man's estate, he commenced business in 
Philadelphia, in a commission warehouse, but subsequently abandoned this for a 
position as conductor on the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad.  In 1845, he was 
appointed by President Polk a Lieutenant in the revenue service of the United 
States, and subsequently was sent to Mexico as the bearer of dispatches to 
General Scott.
  At the opening of the Rebellion he was employed in the management of a 
petroleum oil company in the Kanawha Valley.  The secession of Virginia left him 
but one alterative.  He immediately resigned his position, and, returning to 
Pennsylvania, entered actively upon the business of recruiting troops.

CONRAD F. JACKSON - 535

When the Ninth Reserve regiment was organized, he was made its Colonel.  Upon 
the Peninsula he led his command with so much gallantry that, at its close, he 
was promoted to Brigadier-General, and placed in command of the Third brigade of 
the corps.  In the actions at Bull Run, South mountain, and Antietam, General 
Jackson displayed the qualities of a true soldier and an unswerving patriot, his 
brigade rendering the most efficient service in each of these hard-fought 
battles.
  At Fredericksburg, where the Reserves were given the place of honor to lead in 
the assault upon the enemy, the ground was contested, with infantry and 
artillery, on both sides with great pertinacity; but the Union column gained a 
decided advantage.  Supports failing to come, it was finally compelled to yield 
ground.  Of the service rendered here by Jackson's brigade, General Meade, who 
commanded the corps, says:  "The Third brigade had not advanced over one hundred 
yards when the battery on the height on its left was re-manned, and poured a 
destructive fire into its ranks.  Perceiving this, I dispatched my Aide-de-camp, 
Lieutenant Dehon, with orders for General Jackson to move by the right flank 
till he could clear the open ground in front of the battery, and then, ascending 
the height through the woods, sweep round to the left and take the battery.  
Unfortunately Lieutenant Dehon fell just as he reached General Jackson, and a 
short time after, the latter officer was killed.  The regiments did, however, 
partially execute the movement by obliquing to the right, and advanced across 
the railroad, a portion ascending the heights in their front.  The loss of their 
commander, and the severity of the fire, from both artillery and infantry, to 
which they were subjected, compelled them to withdraw."  No greater encomium 
could have been passed upon the influence of General Jackson than the report of 
the superior, that the troops executed, without orders, and after their 
commander had fallen, the movements which the leader of the corps had intended.  
General Jackson had ridden forward to give the contemplated order; but before it 
had passed his lips he was struck by a volley from the enemy and mortally 
wounded.  In mentioning his death, General Meade said, in his report:  

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 536

"The public service has also to mourn the loss of Brigadier-General C. Faeger 
Jackson, an officer of merit and reputation, who owed his position to his 
gallantry and good conduct in previous actions."

SAMUEL W. BLACK, Colonel of the Sixty-second regiment, was born at Pittsburg, 
Pennsylvania, in 1818.  He was the son of the Rev. John Black, D.D., one of the 
earliest and most distinguished of the Covenanter clergymen of the State.  He 
received a liberal education, and chose the law as his profession, in which he 
soon rose to a lucrative practice, and withal became prominent in political 
life, being especially effective upon the stump.  He married, when very young, 
the daughter of Judge Irvin of Pittsburg, by whom he had four children.  In the 
Mexican War he served as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second Pennsylvania regiment, 
and acquitted himself with distinction.  He was appointed United States Judge 
for Nebraska Territory by President Buchanan, in 1857.  In the following year, 
upon the death of Governor Richardson, Colonel Black was appointed to succeed 
him.  In the spring of 1861, he recruited the Sixty-second regiment, of which he 
was commissioned Colonel, and was assigned to duty in Morrell's brigade of 
Porter's division.  He was engaged at Hanover Court-House, where the enemy was 
put to flight, and his camp and garrison equipage and many prisoners were taken.  
Colonel Black says, in his official report:  "In the course of the afternoon's 
operations, we captured eighty-one prisoners, including seven officers.  From a 
great many arms taken, about seventy-five were brought into camp.  By the 
annexed statement, it will be seen that our loss is only six men wounded, none 
killed, and not one missing.  I should do the brave and faithful men I have the 
honor to command, injustice if I refrained from expressing, in strong terms, my 
admiration of their conduct from first to last.  In common with the other 
regiments of your brigade, they went into action with their bodies broken by 
fatigue, and their physical strength wasted by the hard toils of the day.  But 
their spirits failed not, and they went in and came out with whatever credit is 
due to dangers bravely met, and the noblest duty well performed."

SAMUEL W. BLACK - 537

  The enemy soon began to make himself felt on the left bank of the 
Chickahominy, and on the 26th of June, 1862, fought a stubborn battle at Beaver 
Dam Creek.  The Pennsylvania Reserves were upon the front, but the brigade to 
which Colonel Black belonged was soon ordered to their support.  Colonel Black 
led his men forward with that fervor and enthusiasm which always characterized 
him, anticipating severe fighting; but the Reserves were able to hold their 
position, and Colonel Black, though under fire, was not engaged.  In the night 
the Union forces retired to Gaines' Mill, where, on the following day, the 
battle was renewed with great fury.  Morrell's division had the left of the 
line, its left resting on the slope which reaches down to the Chickahominy, 
Griffin's brigade, which included Colonel Black's regiment, having the right of 
the division.  The battle was opened by the advance of Longstreet's corps, which 
came down upon this flank.  At the very outset of the battle, the Sixty-second 
Pennsylvania and the Ninth Massachusetts were ordered to advance under a 
terrific infantry fire.  They charged across a ravine in their front, and gained 
the woods on the opposite side, handsomely driving the enemy.  But while making 
the charge, and before the woods were reached, Colonel Black, while the heroic 
exploit which he inspired was in full tide, was killed.  Few Pennsylvania 
soldiers, at the time of his death, had made a brighter record, and none could 
look forward with better hope of advancement.  He died, deeply lamented by the 
whole State and mourned by a wide circle of personal friends.
  Of his personal traits the following, from the pen of John W. Forney, conveys 
a vivid idea:  "Twenty-two years ago, more or less, a young man electrified the 
cities and towns of western Pennsylvania by his peculiar and irresistible 
eloquence.  He was more boy than man.  His fine face and laughing eye, his well-
knit and handsome figure, his winning voice, and his mother wit made 'Sam Black' 
the wonder of more than one exciting campaign.  The son of a Presbyterian 
clergyman who was an object of veneration and love in thousands of hearts, and 
whose life had been one prayer, and sacrifice, and thanksgiving to God, Sam 
inherited a fervent religious sentiment, and frequently

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 538

punctuated his political appeals and legal arguments with Bible points and 
periods.  And how he loved that old gray-haired father!  In his most impulsive 
moments, however surrounded or flattered or aroused; whether fired with 
indignation, or reveling with merriment created by his exuberant humor, a mere 
allusion to his father called tears to his eyes and gratitude to his lips. . . .  
To fall in the battle-field, and for his country, was to die as Samuel W. Black 
preferred to die.  If there was one trait conspicuous in him it was courage, and 
courage of the purest chivalry.  It called him to the fields of Mexico, where he 
plucked laurels almost from the cannon's mouth.  It always made him the champion 
of the weak or the wronged.  It made him irresistible at the bar."

THEODORE HESSER, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Seventy-second regiment, was a native 
of Philadelphia.  He entered the service of the United States in August, 1861.  
In the Peninsula campaign the regiment did excellent duty at Fair Oaks, the 
brigade to which it was attached being led by General Burns.  Few regiments 
suffered more severely than did this in the battle of Antietam.  Thirty-one were 
killed, and nearly half its strength went down in the terrible struggle.  
Colonel Hesser was in command of the regiment in the Mine Run campaign, and on 
the 27th of November, near Robertson's Tavern, the enemy was encountered.  The 
regiment was deployed as skirmishers and advanced.  The enemy, from his covert, 
opened with great violence, and in the midst of the attack, while the command 
was being formed for an assault, Colonel Hesser was killed.  The loss was a 
severe one, as he had from the first been with his men, and had won their 
confidence and esteem.

RICHARD COLGATE DALE, Lieutenant-Colonel of the One Hundred and Sixteenth 
regiment, was born on the 19th of December, 1838, in the city of Allegheny.  His 
father, Thomas F. Dale, M.D., and his mother, Margaret Kennedy Stewart, were 
both natives of Delaware.  He received a thorough English and a partial 
classical education in his native city.  He was from early youth characterized 
by strong individuality.  He

THEODORE HESSER - RICHARD C. DALE - 539

was engaged for a time as a clerk in commission and manufacturing houses, but 
finally became an active partner in a mercantile firm.  When the war came, he 
frankly said to his father:  "Mr. Lincoln has called for men.  Many, on account 
of family or other relations, cannot go as well as I.  Do not think it is a fit 
of enthusiasm.  I do not imagine it will be any pleasure to be a soldier.  His 
is a life of trial and of peril, and I do not know whether my constitution will 
be strong enough to bear those toils and exposures; but I think it my duty to 
go."  An only son, and carefully reared, it was with great reluctance that the 
consent of his parents was given to his resolution; but he would listen to no 
temporizing, and he enlisted as a private in Company A of the Ninth Reserves, in 
the spring of 1861.  In the following August he was detailed from his regiment 
to serve in the United States Signal Corps.  In a School of Instruction for that 
arm of the service, at Tenallytown, and afterwards as clerk to Major Myers, the 
commander of the corps in Washington, he was employed till the opening of the 
spring campaign under McClellan, with whom he went to the Peninsula, and served 
with fidelity and skill until the final battle at Malvern Hill had been fought.  
He then received leave of absence for ten days; but in Washington, while on his 
way home, his furlough was extended by the Adjutant-General, and he was 
authorized to raise a company for signal duty.  He opened a recruiting station 
at Pittsburg, on his arrival, but having been elected First Lieutenant of 
Company D of the One Hundred and Twenty-third regiment, he accepted the 
position, and at once entered upon its duties.  For four months he served as 
Adjutant of the regiment, exerting himself to bring the organization up to an 
efficient standard, when he returned to his place in his company.  At the battle 
of Fredericksburg he acted with great gallantry, taking command of his company 
when its leader, Captain Boisol, was wounded, and had his haversack riddled with 
bullets, though he himself escaped without injury.  He was soon afterwards 
appointed Assistant Adjutant-General of the brigade.  A vacancy occurring in the 
office of Lieutenant-Colonel, he was promptly elected to fill it by the line 
officers, though the junior Captain among them.  So methodical and complete were 
all his acts that, when notified of his promotion, he was

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 540

in readiness to turn over his business at the head of the brigade in a finished 
condition, and at once to assume the responsible one in command of the regiment.  
He was engaged at Chancellorsville, and when the term of the regiment had 
expired, which occurred soon afterwards, he returned with it to Pittsburg, where 
it was mustered out.
  When he heard the intelligence of fighting at Gettysburg, he hastened home, 
exclaiming, "Our boys are fighting and falling at Gettysburg, and I am here 
doing nothing.  I cannot stand this!"  Gathering up a few articles of clothing, 
he hurried away to the depot, and reached Harrisburg that night.  He immediately 
reported to the Governor, and asked to be sent to the front, saying, "I must go.  
I can at least volunteer as aid to some General, to carry dispatches over the 
field."  But the Governor could not provide transportation.  Indeed, all the 
avenues were closed - even a private carriage could not be secured, the 
inhabitants fearing the action of the enemy's cavalry, and refusing every offer, 
unless bonds were entered into for the safe return of the conveyance.  Finding 
it impossible to reach the field, he was obliged reluctantly to return home.
  Soon afterwards, General Brooks, at the head of the Department of the 
Monongahela, offered him the command of a battalion of six-months' cavalry.  "I 
was drilled in cavalry movements when in the signal service," was his response, 
"and I shall be glad to serve in any capacity to which you may assign me."  The 
companies were already recruited and in cap, and fears were entertained that 
officers who were expecting the command, much older than himself, would object 
to having a boy set over them.  The very troubles arose which were anticipated; 
but so firmly and judiciously did he suppress the first rising of revolt, and so 
wisely and well did he enforce his discipline and drill, and instruct his 
charge, that a large part of the men were desirous of being led by him for a 
three years' term.  He was stationed in Fayette county, and was charged with 
guarding the border, a duty which he performed to the satisfaction of General 
Brooks, and, what was more difficult, to the entire approval of the inhabitants 
among whom he was quartered.
  In January, 1864, while General Hancock was engaged in re-

RICHARD C. DALE - WILLIAM G. MURRAY - 541

organizing the Second corps, which became famous under his leadership, Dale was 
offered the position of Lieutenant-Colonel in the One Hundred and Sixteenth 
regiment, which was accepted, and he was immediately engaged in recruiting, it 
having been decimated in previous campaigns while still a part of the celebrated 
Irish brigade.  In the battle of the Wilderness, where his command was closely 
engaged, a bullet penetrated his coat, but he escaped.  On the 9th of May, his 
regiment was ordered to the picket line, to support General Miles' brigade, and 
was under a hot fire of rebel grape and canister.  On the following day it was 
again engaged in a long, hard fight, in which Colonel Mulholland was severely 
wounded in the head.  The command then devolved on Lieutenant-Colonel Dale, and 
in the assault upon the enemy's works at dawn of the 12th, while gallantly 
leading his regiment into the "imminent deadly breach," he fell, instantly 
killed or mortally wounded, as is supposed, no tidings having ever been had of 
him, and no information pertaining to his last resting-place been discovered.  
When a sufficient time had elapsed to preclude all hope of return, resolutions 
were passed by his brother officers commemorative of his great ability as a 
soldier and his many virtues as a man.  The Colonel of his regiment said of him:  
"He was a man of splendid abilities, virtuous, gentle, brave and accomplished.  
He was remarkably calm in battle, and was very much beloved by his comrades."  
His two sisters, who survive him, say, in closing a communication concerning 
him, "No sisters ever had a more devoted brother."

WILLIAM GRAY MURRAY, Colonel of the Eighty-fourth regiment, was born on the 25th 
of July, 1825, in the town of Longford, Ireland.  He was the eldest son of John 
and Sarah (Gray) Murray.  When but nine months old, his parents, with their two 
children, emigrated to New York, where the father engaged in business.  He soon 
after removed to the interior of the State, and settled in Utica, where, and at 
Canandaigua and Rome, he established mercantile houses.  He was for a time 
remarkably prosperous, and showed great business tact and talent; but the 
financial crisis of 1835-36 came upon him like a whirl-

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 542

wind, and, like many another involved in that catastrophe, his fortunes were 
wrecked.  Possessed of great buoyancy of spirit, and endless resources within 
himself, he determined to remove to Pennsylvania, and settled, first at 
Lancaster, and afterwards at Harrisburg, engaging in active business in both 
places, and meeting with success.  Of pleasing manners, generous and hospitable 
to a fault, he was deservedly popular.  In religion, he was a Roman Catholic, 
and his children were all brought up in the same faith.  He died in the fall of 
1844.
  The son, being intended for mercantile life, received a good education in 
those branches best calculated to be useful to him.  On leaving school, he 
entered his father's store; but, that he might have the best advantages which 
could be afforded, he was placed in a large mercantile house in the city of New 
York, where he remained until the spring of 1845.  On coming to his majority in 
the following year, he had perfected his arrangements for entering business on 
his own account, when the Mexican War broke out, and he volunteered as a private 
in the Cameron Guards.  He was made Sergeant, and while serving in that capacity 
at Vera Cruz, was appointed a Second Lieutenant in the Eleventh United States 
Infantry, by President Polk.  In this position he served to the close of the 
war-having been in some of the most memorable engagements of the campaign.
  He was sent by General Scott to Washington, with confidential dispatches to 
Mr. Marcy, then Secretary of War, which having been delivered, he was ordered to 
recruiting duty at Philadelphia, and afterwards at Easton, in both places being 
eminently successful.  Preferring to be with his regiment in the field, in 
response to his solicitations he was ordered forward; but, when on the eve of 
sailing, the order was countermanded, and he was sent to Fort McHenry, near 
Baltimore, to aid in organizing fresh levies.  Upon the conclusion of the war, 
he was transferred to Fort Hamilton, New York harbor, to assist in the discharge 
of troops.  Recognizing his ability as a soldier, he was urged to continue in 
the service; but, yielding to the solicitations of his family he resigned, and 
returning to private life, settled in Hollidaysburg.  He was energetic in 
business, as he had been in the army, and bore a conspicuous part in the 
political strug-

WILLIAM G. MURRAY - 543

gles of the time.  In 1851, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Daugherty, by whom 
he had three children, two of whom survive him.  In 1852, he was appointed 
Postmaster of Hollidaysburg by President Pierce, and was re-appointed by 
President Buchanan.
  At the outbreak of the Rebellion, he took strong grounds with the Union side, 
and avowed his intention of entering the army.  A Captain's commission in the 
regular service was tendered him, but, his wife being in the last stages of 
consumption, he declined it.  Having had much experience in recruiting and 
organizing troops, his counsel was sought, and his services were invaluable in 
enlisting and pushing forward recruits for the volunteer force.  His wife died 
in August, 1861.  A short time afterwards, he received authority from Governor 
Curtin to recruit a regiment of infantry, and, obedient to the promptings of 
duty, he at once set about the work.  When it was known that he would take the 
field, the hardy farmers and mountaineers from Blair and Clearfield counties 
came in large numbers to his standard.
  On the 19th of December, 1861, his regiment, the Eighty-fourth, marched from 
camp, and was drawn up before the Capitol to receive its flag.  Governor Curtin, 
in presenting it, referred to Colonel Murray as a tried soldier, and to the men 
as actuated by the purest and loftiest patriotism, leaving wives, mothers, and 
children, and the endearments of home, to maintain the laws and the Constitution 
with the sword.  In response, Colonel Murray said:  "I accept this beautiful 
standard, presented by the Legislature of the Keystone State, through you, its 
honored Chief Magistrate, in such glowing and eloquent terms.  As the period for 
speech-making has passed, and the hour for energetic action has arrived, my 
remarks on this occasion shall be brief, as becomes a soldier.  In accepting 
this flag on behalf of the regiment, I do it with a full consciousness of the 
relations which both officers and men bear to our noble State, and the Nation 
whose cause we have espoused.  Permit me to thank you, sir, for the terms of 
commendation in which you have been pleased to speak of the Eighty-fourth, and 
of my humble self, and to assure you that whatever our fate may be in the 
future, we will endeavor by good conduct, and a strict discharge of our duties, 
to make such a record as will bring no dishonor upon the Stars and Stripes,

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 544

which we go to maintain and defend, or the proud Commonwealth whose sons we deem 
it an honor to call ourselves.
  
      'No shrewish tears shall fill our eyes,
        When the sword-hilt's in our hand;
       Heart-whole we'll part and not a sigh
        For the fairest of the land.
       Let piping swain and craven wight
        Thus weep and puling cry;
       Our business is like men to fight,
        And Hero-like to die.'"

The Colonel delivered the flag into the hands of Sergeant Stokes, with this 
injunction:  "Into your hands I entrust this standard.  Answer for its safety 
with your life."  The Sergeant replied:  "Governor and Colonel:  If I don't 
return this flag, 'twill be because Ned Stokes will occupy five feet eight of 
ground."
  The active campaigning of the regiment commenced on the 1st of January, 1862, 
when it was led by Colonel Murray to Bath, Virginia, to the relief of the 
Thirty-ninth Illinois and a section of artillery commanded by Lieutenant 
Muhlenberg, crossing the Potomac at Hancock, Maryland.  The opposing force 
greatly outnumbered them, being estimated at from sixteen to twenty thousand 
men.  After twenty-four hours of irregular skirmishing, the Union force 
succeeded in withdrawing across the river and bringing off the guns.  On the 
following day, General Lander arrived with reinforcements.  The campaign was an 
arduous one; but despite all the difficulties which the division had to 
encounter, the troops succeeded in opening the country before them to 
Winchester, where they arrived on the 12th of March.  On Tuesday morning, March 
18th, General Shields, who, upon the death of General Lander, had succeeded to 
the chief command, ordered a reconnaissance in force on the Strasburg road.  The 
enemy was met and driven to a point five miles below Strasburg.  On Thursday, 
the 20th, this force returned to camp, making a march of twenty-two miles.  
General Williams' division was now ordered away to Washington, starting on 
Saturday, the 22d, leaving only the division of Shields and the Michigan 
Cavalry.  When it was known that the Union force had been thus depleted, 
Stonewall Jackson, who was in command of the rebel army, having been reinforced 
by Longstreet and Smith,

WILLIAM G. MURRAY - 545

advanced upon Winchester with the design of crushing Shields in his weakened 
condition.  At five P. M. of Saturday, the 22d, the Union pickets were driven 
in; but the enemy was checked, and a portion of the division was pushed out two 
miles in advance of the town, where the men lay on their arms during the night.  
It was evident that a general battle would occur on the following day, Sunday.  
At dawn the troops were formed, and they had not long to wait.  The enemy 
attacked with great spirit and determination; and from eleven in the morning 
until three in the afternoon the battle raged furiously.  At this juncture, 
Shields ordered a charge.  The Eighty-fourth, which, from the hard service to 
which it had been subjected, had been reduced to barely 300 men, was selected to 
lead in the assault upon the enemy's batteries, which were securely posted, and 
were particularly destructive.  The ground was open which they had to cross, and 
repeated charges were made, which Colonel Murray led with great gallantry, 
officers and men falling on every side, strewing the ground with the dead and 
the dying.  In the midst of the struggle, his horse was shot under him.  
Extricating himself, he renewed the charge on foot.  A little later, his cap-
cover was shot from his head.  The carnage was now terrible, the enemy screening 
themselves behind a stone wall and a curtain of wood.  But, nothing daunted, 
Colonel Murray led on his regiment, and just as it was entering the grove which 
crowned the summit, while rushing on with sword in hand, and exclaiming, 
"Charge, boys! Charge!" he was struck by a rifle ball which, crashing through 
the bugle of his cap, carrying the figures 84 with it, passed through his brain, 
tearing away the top of his skull.  But though fallen, his heroism was not 
without its reward; for the stronghold, in carrying which he had sacrificed his 
life, was taken and the victory gained.  His body was received in Harrisburg 
with imposing ceremonies, the Governor, heads of departments, the two Houses of 
the Legislature, and military and civic societies, moving in the sad procession.  
It was the first Colonel fallen in battle whose remains had been returned to the 
State Capital, from whence so many had been sent forth, and the solemn event 
produced a deep impression.  Flags were at half-mast, many of them draped in 
mourning; and while the train

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 546

was moving, the bells of the city were tolled.  The body lay in state at the 
residence of his mother, and was viewed by great numbers.  From the Capital it 
was taken to Hollidaysburg, where even more universal sorrow was manifested, and 
tokens of respect were shown.  At the residence of his father-in-law, John 
Daugherty, Esq., thousands of sorrowing friends and relatives gathered, eager to 
take a last look at the fallen soldier.  At St. Mary's Church, High Mass was 
celebrated, and a most touching and eloquent discourse was delivered over the 
remains, by the Rev. John Walsh.  He was finally laid to rest beside his wife, 
whom he had but a few months before followed to the grave.
  The New York Tribune, in speaking of the action in which Colonel Murray fell, 
after describing the varying phases of the fight up to the last decisive moment, 
says:  "General Tyler, commanding our left, ordered another charge on the 
batteries on his left.  Two advances were successively repulsed by the enemy, 
with slaughter; but the third prevailed, routing the rebels who opposed it, 
capturing two guns and four caissons.  Of the Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania, which 
led this charge, Colonel Murray and twenty-six other men were killed and eighty-
three wounded-in all, one hundred and nine-out of three hundred who followed the 
standard into the fight.  This success decided the fate of the battle."  The 
flag was carried that day by private Graham.  His left hand, which bore it 
aloft, was shot off; but before the starry emblem fell, he grasped it in the 
remaining hand, and held it triumphantly.  The right arm was next disabled; but 
still clinging to the flag, he suffered it not to touch the ground until he was 
shot dead.
  Colonel Murray was a man of large and active benevolence, warm and ardent in 
his impulses, though singularly calm and equable, and energetic and untiring in 
the path of duty.  In person, he was six feet in height, with a large and 
muscular frame.  He was of light complexion, brown hair, eyes of a light grey 
and expressive, features prominent, movements quick, and to courage of the 
highest order was united a strong sense of religious responsibility.

JOHN D. MUSSER - JOHN M. GOSLINE - MARTIN TSCHUDY - 547

JOHN D. MUSSER, Lieutenant-Colonel of the One Hundred and Forty-third regiment, 
was a native of Pennsylvania.  He enlisted in Company K, in October, 1862, which 
he was active in recruiting, and of which he was made First Lieutenant.  In the 
following month he was promoted to Major, and in June, 1863, to Lieutenant-
Colonel.  He was placed in command of the regiment at the battle of Gettysburg-
Colonel Dana having succeeded to the leadership of the brigade-which he 
continued to exercise for a considerable portion of the time, until the second 
day in the Wilderness, May 6th, 1864, when he was killed.  He was a faithful, 
fearless officer.

JOHN M. GOSLINE, Colonel of the Ninety-fifth regiment, was born on the 7th of 
February, 1826, in Medford, New Jersey.  He was the son of John Gosline, a 
native of Pennsylvania.  His experience in militia service previous to the 
Rebellion was extensive, having entered the National Guards when nineteen years 
of age, and having served sixteen years.  He was disciplinarian.  He entered the 
service of the United States as a Captain in the Eighteenth regiment of the 
three months' campaign, and at its conclusion reentered, as Colonel of the 
Ninety-fifth, on the 12th of October, 1861.  He marched with his regiment to the 
Peninsula in time to join McClellan's army, as it moved up the Chickahominy, 
being attached to Franklin's division.  On the 27th of May, 1862, the rebel 
army, having come out from Richmond in strong force, attacked the isolated corps 
of Fitz John Porter at Gaines' Mill, the larger portion of the army being on the 
opposite side of the Chickahominy.  Franklin's division was hurried across to 
the support of Porter, and in the desperate struggle which ensued Colonel 
Gosline was killed, and nearly a hundred of his men were lost.

MARTIN TSCHUDY, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Sixty-ninth regiment, was born in 
Charleston, South Carolina, in the year 1824.  He was the son of an Episcopal 
clergyman, and previous to the Rebellion was practicing law in Philadelphia.  He 
was commissioned Lieutenant and appointed Adjutant of 

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 548

this regiment on the 19th of August, 1861, was promoted to Major on the 1st of 
January, 1863, and to Lieutenant-Colonel on the 31st of March following.  While 
he was Adjutant, which was practically until the opening of the Gettysburg 
campaign, a great responsibility rested upon him, as much of the care of every 
regiment devolves upon that officer.  As Lieutenant-Colonel he went into the 
battle of Gettysburg.  On the evening of the second day, at the point where the 
enemy believed he had effected a lodgment in the Union lines-and actually sent 
off dispatches to Richmond that the day was won-it was there that he met the 
Sixty-ninth and other brave regiments, and, after manifesting unexampled 
heroism, was thrust back.  In that struggle, Colonel Tschudy was badly wounded.  
But so eager was he to be with his men to the last, and to beat the foe, that he 
refused to go to a hospital, and remained at the head of his column.  On the 
afternoon of the following day came the great charge, and it fell full upon the 
spot where this heroic officer stood; and in the midst of the wild storm of 
battle, when the sheets of flame, that wrapped friend and foe, leaped from 
myriads of guns, he perished, illustrating, in his life as in his death, the 
highest type of the soldier, exemplifying the sentiment of the poet:

      "That is best blood that has most iron in't
         To edge resolve with, pouring without sting
       For what makes manhood dear."

DENNIS O'KANE, Colonel of the Sixty-ninth regiment, was born in Ireland in 1824.  
He entered the service, as Major of the Twenty-fourth regiment, on the 1st of 
May, 1861, and at the conclusion of its three months' term, on the 19th of 
August following, reentered it as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Sixty-ninth, and was 
promoted to Colonel on the 1st of December, 1862.  The excellent fighting 
qualities of this regiment gave its leader, Colonel Owen, special prominence, 
and he was early put at the head of a brigade, and on the 29th of November was 
promoted to the rank of a Brigadier-General.  This threw the entire care of the 
regiment upon the Lieutenant-Colonel.  The fighting at White Oak Swamp and 
Charles City Cross Roads, in the Peninsula campaign, and at Antietam and 
Fredericksburg, was

DENNIS O'KANE - GEORGE W. GOWEN - 549

severe.  At Gettysburg Colonel O'Kane led his regiment, on the second day, with 
great steadiness, performing a prominent part in repulsing Wright's rebel 
brigade from its determined assault to gain the left centre, and on the 
following day won immortal renown in repulsing the charge of Pickett, in the 
last grand effort of the battle.  Here the Sixty-ninth stood in the very centre-
the target of the enemy's supreme effort-battling with deathless energy and 
holding on immovable to the last; and here, at its head, was Colonel O'Kane 
until cut down, breathing his last in the midst of the strife.

GEORGE W. GOWEN, the third colonel of the Forty-eighth regiment, soon after the 
breaking out of the war volunteered for service for a term of three years, and 
was commissioned First Lieutenant of Company C.  After the arrival of the 
regiment at Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina, he was made Provost-General of 
Hatteras Island by General Williams.  Subsequently he was ordered to detached 
duty with Battery C, First United States Artillery, where he showed himself 
possessed of marked ability in that arm of the service, his gun rendering 
efficient duty in the reduction of Fort Macon.  In June, 1862, he was made 
acting Adjutant of the Forty-eighth.  In this capacity he passed through the 
campaign of Pope in Virginia, and that in Maryland under McClellan, evincing 
throughout the rarest qualities of an officer, and at its close was made Captain 
of his company.
  In the spring of 1863, his regiment, together with the rest of the Ninth 
corps, was sent to Kentucky, and he was put upon detached service, in the 
construction of fortifications about Camp Nelson.  His tact displayed in 
securing the services of negroes for the execution of this labor was remarkable, 
as the inhabitants were exceedingly jealous of any interference in their 
employment.  This work having been successfully accomplished, he was ordered to 
duty, with a corps of officers, in making a survey of a military railroad to 
connect with the Kentucky Central at Nicholasville.  His ability as an engineer 
was conspicuous, he having, in civil life, made it a sturdy and a business.  His 
skill in this secured him the appointment of Assistant Chief-Engineer

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of General Burnside, upon the advance of that officer into East Tennessee.  
During the siege of Knoxville, which followed hard upon, his talent found ample 
scope, and to his judicious preparations may be attributed largely the success 
of the defence on that part of the line where he was posted.  He was made a 
personal Aide-de-camp on the staff of General Parke, after the raising of the 
siege.
  He returned with the Ninth corps to the Army of the Potomac, and joined in the 
spring campaign of 1864, under General Grant.  For his gallantry at the 
Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Tolopotomy, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg, he was 
brevetted Major and Lieutenant-Colonel of his regiment, and in December was made 
its Colonel.  In the assault of the enemy's works at Fort Mahone, on the morning 
of the 2d of April, 1865, he led his command with great heroism.  Seeing his 
troops about to give way, after being fearfully decimated, he sprang to the 
front, and, raising his cap in one hand and waving his sword with the other, led 
them forward with such courage, that the rebel stronghold, which for many months 
had defied every attempt to take it, yielded, and the triumph was complete.  But 
in the midst of the act, and at the moment of victory, he fell mortally wounded 
and poured out his lifeblood upon the field of his noble exploit.  Says his 
biographer, Mr. Wallace, "Colonel Gowen died, beloved, honored and mourned by 
all who knew him.  Thus when fortune seemed ready to crown the manly efforts of 
one so promising, he fell, a martyr to the cause of freedom.  For his many 
social qualities, for his genial, frank, honest nature, and for his military 
abilities, he is mourned."

PETER KEENAN, Major of the Eighth Pennsylvania cavalry, was born on the 9th of 
November, 1834, in the town of York, Livingston county, New York.  He was the 
son of John and Mary Keenan, natives of the county of Lowth, Ireland who 
emigrated to this country in 1834, and are still residents of Friendship, 
Allegheny county.  The son, at an early age, was taken into the family of Philip 
Church, by whom he was reared and educated.  As soon as he had arrived at a 
suitable age, he was set to surveying wild lands, of which the Church family had

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extensive tracts.  In 1857, he went to Philadelphia to visit some relatives, and 
remained there until the breaking out of the war, being, at that time, in the 
employ of Mr. Boyd.  Early in the summer of 1861 he proceeded to Williamsport 
and assisted in recruiting the Eighth cavalry, and was mustered into service on 
the 19th of August, as Captain of Company C, Captain David McM. Gregg, of the 
Sixth Regulars, being appointed Colonel.
  Samuel Wilson, an intimate companion-in-arms of Keenan, and who afterwards 
rose to Colonel of this regiment, says of him:  "He never appeared to be so full 
of life and enjoyment as when engaged in a lively brush with the enemy.  He 
never waited until ordered, but if he saw an opportunity of meeting the enemy, 
he would seek permission to 'go in.'  If the army was advancing, he would manage 
to have command of the advance guard, and if on retreat, to be with the rear 
guard, always choosing the post of danger.  In the advance on Richmond, under 
McClellan, in 1862, our regiment was in the advance of the left wing, Keyes' 
corps.  On arriving at the Chickahominy, where it is crossed by Bottom's Bridge, 
the enemy was discovered at a wood in front, where they were busy felling trees.  
Keenan reported the fact, and was ordered by Colonel Gregg to send twelve picked 
men to flank the position and ascertain if artillery was being masked.  The 
order was executed, and as the foe seemed not to be in much force, and that he 
might be entirely certain of his information, he charged upon a mound which he 
suspected might cover a gun, but which he found to contain only two or three 
rebels.  Nothing but a reliable report would satisfy him.  During the seven 
days' fighting before Richmond he was frequently sent for to report to head-
quarters of the army, having often scouted from Bottom's Bridge and Savage 
Station, off towards White Oak Swamp, Willis' Church, and Malvern Hill, at one 
time going in the night, without any accompanying force, entirely through 
General Wise's command, to the James river, so that he was able to give reliable 
information.  During the night after the battle of Malvern Hill, he was summoned 
to the head-quarters of the army at nine in the evening, and again at two in the 
morning."
  There were but three cavalry regiments in the battle of Chancellorsville.  One 
of these was the Eighth Pennsylvania,

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 552

and, at a critical period in the battle, it played a conspicuous part.  On the 
evening of Saturday, the 2d of May, 1862, the Eleventh corps, which was 
occupying the right of the line, had been routed by Stonewall Jackson, and 
driven in upon the centre.  Jackson's column, which consisted of 25,000 men, was 
seen passing across the Union front from left to right, early in the day; but 
the belief prevailed that it was retreating towards Gordonsville.  Sickles, who 
occupied the left centre of the line, had taken out a part  of his corps, with 
the cavalry, under Pleasanton, to harass this passing column, and was handsomely 
at work, making some captures, when the noise of Jackson's assault, and the rout 
of Howard's troops, reached his ears.  It was a perilous moment for the safety 
of the army; for upon the left centre was open, elevated ground, which commanded 
the field, and was, indeed, the key to the position.  The whole Union left wing 
was in rout, and the massed columns of the victorious foe were pressing on.  
They had almost reached this elevated ground, and no force was in readiness to 
hold it.  Pleasanton, who was with Sickles out in advance, had suggested, as the 
country there was a dense wood, and unsuited to the action of horse, that it had 
better be taken back to the open ground which they had left, and was on its way 
thither when the assaults of Jackson were made.  "As I was going back at a 
trot," says Pleasanton, "an aide-de-camp came up to me and said, 'General, the 
Eleventh corps is falling back very rapidly, and some cavalry is necessary to 
stop it.'  I understood pretty well what that meant.  I had only two regiments 
of cavalry with me; one of them having been retained by General Sickles at the 
front to protect his right, and there was one battery of horse artillery with 
me.  When I came to this open space which I had before left, I found it filled 
with fugitives, caissons, ambulances, guns, and everything.  I saw the moment 
was critical, and I called on Major Keenan of the Eighth Pennsylvania, and gave 
him his orders.  I said to him, 'Major, you must charge in these woods with your 
regiment, and hold the rebels until I can get some of these guns into position.'  
Says I, 'You must do it at all cost.'  I mentioned the Major, because I knew his 
character so well, that he was the man for the occasion.  He replied to me, with 
a smile on his face, though it was almost cer-

PETER KEENAN - 553

tain death, 'General, I will do it.'  He started in with his whole regiment, and 
made one of the most gallant charges of the war.  He was killed at the head of 
his regiment; but he alarmed the rebels so much that I gained about ten minutes 
on the enemy.  Major Keenan had only from four to five hundred men."  By this 
bold manoeuvre the rebels were, for a moment, startled-no doubt expecting that 
this cavalry charge would be followed up by infantry-and time was given General 
Pleasanton to get twenty-two guns into position bearing upon the edge of the 
wood, whence they would emerge; and when, finally, in dark masses they came 
rolling out, screeching and yelling, those guns, double-shotted with canister, 
swept them back with deadly effect.  For nearly an hour, without infantry 
supports, did Pleasanton maintain the fight with artillery alone, repulsing the 
enemy in three separate charges, and finally held the ground-night shutting in, 
and closing the conflict.  Thus, by the daring of Keenan and his few trusty 
followers were Stonewall Jackson's victorious legions checked, though at the 
sacrifice of his own life and of nearly his entire command; and by the resolute 
fighting of Pleasanton was disaster to the army stayed.  The daring valor of 
Keenan on this field is scarcely matched in the history of warfare.  "The 
moment," says Colonel Wilson, "the head of the column reached the plank road, 
the order was given, 'Draw saber!' and the next moment came the word, 'Charge!'  
Keenan fell, and at his side Captain Arrowsmith and Adjutant Haddock."  Three 
officers, fifty-six men, and ninety horses were sacrificed in the few moments of 
that mortal strife.  Just before Major Keenan was seen to fall, he was 
flourishing his saber with unequalled rapidity, and many a traitor who came 
within his reach was made to bite the dust.  He was a powerful man, and, nerved 
at that supreme moment by superhuman power, his trenchant blade was more 
effective than that of a Black Prince in his most desperate hour.  In his 
general order to the brigade, General Pleasanton characterizes him as "the 
generous, the chivalric, Keenan.,"  In the loss of Major Keenan," writes a 
correspondent of the Williamsport Gazette, "this regiment has parted from a 
valuable officer, and our country with a brave leader.  In battle, where warmest 
waged the combat there was he always to be found, and, by

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 554

his cool, undaunted bravery, would ever encourage the men to stand boldly forth 
and teach rebellious hirelings how loyal men can fight."  Dr. Webster, in 
command of an infantry detail, searched for missing officers within the enemy's 
lines, that night; and when the men came upon the body of Keenan they instantly 
recognized it, though every vestige of clothing that could disclose his rank had 
been torn from it.  It was brought in, and, says Colonel Wilson, "General 
Pleasanton gave me a leave of absence for five days, to take charge of his 
remains and accompany them to his former home, in Allegheny county.  I was met 
at the depot by his father and Major Church, who received the body of the hero, 
and, on the following day, it was committed to the grave by the hand of parental 
affection."
  "As boys at school," says De Peyster, "we have read of the one-eyed Horatius 
and the equestrian Curtius.  As students of history, we recall the intrepid 
Piedmontese Sergeant, who, hearing the tramp of the assaulting column of the 
French above the mine, with whose supervision he was charged, totally oblivious 
of himself, thrust his burning candle into the powder, and, at the sacrifice of 
his own life, saved the Washington of his country.  Many have heard in speeches 
of the self-immolation of Arnold of Winkelreid, which gave the victory of 
Senepach, along with their independence, to his countrymen.  Those who have 
visited Amsterdam have doubtless seen that magnificent picture in the State 
House, portraying the act of patriotism by which a Dutch Lieutenant saved the 
honor of his flag, when, with his cigar thrust into the magazine, he blew up his 
vessel, rather than surrender to an accident that had delivered him into the 
power of the rebel Belgians, his deck being jammed with their boarders.  But 
neither Roman, nor Piedmontese, nor Swiss, nor Hollander, performed a nobler 
achievement than that done by an American on this second day of 
Chancellorsville.  It was an act far more worthy of commemoration by a 
magnificent picture, placed in the Capitol of Pennsylvania, than the decisive 
moment of Gettysburg, whose glory belongs equally to all the loyal States; and 
as long as the Keystone Commonwealth shall continue to exist, she will do a 
grievous wrong, if at her hands no enduring

PETER KEENAN - 555

monument arise in commemoration of Peter Keenan, Major of the Eighth 
Pennsylvania Cavalry. 
  "Eighteen years ago, the writer visited the Succursale, or branch 
establishment of the National Hospital for Invalids, in the famous old city of 
Avignon.  There he was struck with the wonderful sagacity displayed by the 
rulers of the warlike nation of France, for the purpose of keeping alive the 
military ardor of their people, by honoring and commemorating every exhibition 
of their patriotic valor.  On every side the garden wherein the veterans took 
their daily walks, or lingered to chat of other days around a cross of honor 
emblazoned with fragrant pansies and evergreens, marble tablets, set in the 
encompassing walls, displayed illustrious acts in appropriate pithy records.  
One of these bore only a few sentences, but those simple lines were sufficient 
to tell an ennobling story:
  "'Go be killed there!' said Kleber to Schowardin, at Torfu.
  "'Yes, my General.'
  "And Schowardin and his command-a couple of hundred braves-threw themselves 
against the pursuing royalist (Vendean) masses, perishing, but saving the 
republican army.  This was grand.  But, Northerners, what one of our own 
brethren did was grander; and we need not go to France, nor any other country, 
nor to any other age, for the highest types of patriotic devotion.  Our own 
annals teem with them; and nothing in all time will shine with greater 
brilliancy than the unquestioned-not fabulous-self-sacrificing, and saving self-
sacrifice, of Major Peter Keenan."