LOCAL HISTORY: Tarring S. Davis, History of Blair County, Volume I, 1931, Blair County, PA - Chapter 7 Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/ html file: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/1picts/davis/tdavis1.htm _______________________________________________ A HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA UNDER EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF TARRING S. DAVIS LUCILE SHENK, ASSOCIATE EDITOR HARRISBURG: NATIONAL HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION, INC., 1931 VOLUME I CHAPTER VII CIVIL WAR CIVIL WAR 71 ABRAHAM Lincoln, President of the United States, issued a proclamation declaring war on seceded southern states on April 15, 1861. At the same time he called for seventy-five thousand men to volunteer their services in suppressing the rebellion. The system of organization of armies differed then from the draft adopted during the World War. States were expected to fill quotas allotted them by the federal government, and the governors were expected to administer affairs so that the recruiting would fulfill the nation's requirements. Pennsylvania's quota of the 75,000 was 16 regiments, and on the same day on which the call for troops was issued, Governor Andrew G. Curtin received a telegram from the Secretary of War asking that two regiments be prepared to march to Washington within three days, for the purpose of defending the Capitol. Pennsylvania was asked to do this because of her proximity to Washington. Little time elapsed before men in Blair and neighboring counties were gathering to go in defense of the nation. Six companies from our county were enroute to Harrisburg before three days had passed. These six Blair companies were at one time independent organizations but they became incorporated with the Third Regiment of Pennsylvania for three months of service and were mustered in April 20, 1861. Company A and Company H came from Hollidaysburg; Company B and Company E from Altoona; Company C from Williamsburg; Company D from Tyrone. These men who volunteered for three months' service did not engage in action during the period of their enlistment. They were sent to Virginia and remained in camp, drilling and in routine duty for part of the time; and at Williamsport, Maryland, where they guarded the depot of supplies established for the use of General Patterson's forces at and near Martinsburg. Their names with those of the many others who served in the Union Army during the Civil War have been published in 1883 by J. Simpson Africa in the volume, "History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania," and by S. P. Bates in a history of Pennsylvania's activities during the war. Because this phase of Blair County's history has been so completely discussed in the aforementioned volumes the names of the soldiers who served in the Civil War will not be listed here. The members of the six companies of the Third Regiment of three months' service men left Williamsport, returned to Pennsylvania through Hagerstown and came to Harrisburg where they were mustered out of the service on July 29, 1861. Another Blair County company was mustered into service April 24, 1861. Its members were chiefly from Martinsburg and vicinity. It became Company H of the Fourteenth Regiment and enlisted for three months' service. The experiences of this company under General Patterson at Martinsburg (later West Virginia, now Virginia) and at Harper's Ferry were similar to those of the six companies in the Third Regiment. No engagements were participated in and 72 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY the men were mustered out August 7, 1861, at Carlisle. Many of the men who had enlisted for the three months' service and were mustered out on July 29th and August 7th reenlisted for longer periods in various companies that were formed later. After the leaders of Union affairs realized that the war was to be of long duration, no men were accepted then for service for periods less than three years. Hundreds of men volunteered from Blair County and such veterans as John W. Geary, who had served as an officer in the Mexican War and was to become a general and later Governor of Pennsylvania, led in recruiting. It is quite likely that men from Blair County served in the Forty-Ninth Regiment under a Huntingdon County Company. In the Fifth-third Regiment, of which an account is given elsewhere in this chapter, Company C was made up of Huntingdon and Blair County men. The first full company of Blair County men to serve for a longer period than the original three months was designated as Company M of the Sixty-second Regiment. The majority of soldiers in this company were mustered in August 9, 1861. They were engaged in action at Yorktown, Hanover Court House, Seven Day's battles, Gainesville, Antietam, Blackford's Ford, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Manassas Gap, Rappahannock Station, Mine Run, Wilderness, Laurel Hill, Spottsylvania Court House, Jericho Ford, Tolopotomy, Bethesda Church and Petersburg. In the Seventy-sixth Regiment of which Oliver M. Irvine, of Blair County, was major, Companies C and F came from our county. They were engaged in South Carolina, at first in picket duty and the erection of defenses. Some encounters with Confederate forces were experienced in which Blair County men were killed. In May, 1864, the regiment was sent north to join the Army of the James and later the Army of the Potomac. It served at Petersburg and from that time until it was transported to North Carolina, had frequent if not continual skirmishes and engagements in Virginia. In North Carolina they were engaged at Fort Fisher, where they were defeated, and then moved on to Wilmington and Raliegh. After July 15th, when news of the surrender of Lee and Johnston reached them the men returned to Wilmington and then to Pennsylvania. In the autumn of 1861, the Eighty-fourth Regiment of Pennsylvania was organized with Colonel William G. Murray, of Hollidaysburg, as one of the field officers. Two full companies were made up of Blair County men, who were mustered into service on October 24, 1861. One of their first engagements was at Bath, Virginia, where they met part of Stonewall Jackson's forces and after valiantly standing their ground retreated to Hancock. The troops of this regiment were posted at railroad bridges over the north and south branches of the Potomac and at Paw Paw Tunnel, during the winter. In March, they moved to Martinsburg, Bunker Hill, Winchester and Middletown, undergoing changes of command with the death and removal of several of the superior officers. The march southward continued, skirmishes with Ashby's cavalry were engaged in, until a point one mile south of Strasburg was reached. The forces then turned CIVIL WAR 73 north to Winchester and prepared to meet Jackson's army which was thought to be approaching. At Kernstown, a few miles south of Winchester, they met the Confederates. Colonel Murray was killed in the encounter, although the southern soldiers retreated. On March 25th, the regiment moved to Fredericksburg, but were soon recalled to the Shenandoah Valley. At Port Republic it was engaged in battle with the Confederates, and suffered severe losses. Moving eastward toward Alexandria, the regiment was not in the field until July, when with the army of General Pope, it moved to Warrenton and Culpeper Court House. In August, the Eighty-fourth participated in the fight to prevent General Longstreet's army from joining that of Jackson at Manassas Junction. The men were heavily engaged in the Second Battle of Bull Run. After the defeat there they returned to Washington and in October joined the Army of the Potomac. At Fredericksburg the men exhibited great bravery and were commended for their activities. Chancellorsville was the next major battle engaged in, and the regiment again suffered heavy losses among the soldiers. This regiment was not a part of the Union Army at Gettysburg but was active in the Wilderness Campaign early in 1864. At Spottsylvania Court House it aided in defeating the Confederates, and after that fought successively at North Anna River, Tolopotomy and Pleasant Hill. It took part in the assault on Petersburg and in attacks at Deep Bottom and Charles City Cross Roads. On December 12, 1864, the period of enlistment for many of the men ended and they were mustered out of service. Those who reenlisted served under the Fifty-seventh Pennsylvania Regiment. The experiences of the Ninth Cavalry, Ninety-second Regiment, are related elsewhere. The One Hundred and Tenth Regiment included Company A from Tyrone, and Companies C and H from other parts of Blair County. They were organized in the fall of 1861. They moved to Hancock, Maryland, on January 14, 1862, and were put under the command of General Lander. They guarded the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and after that followed the same route as did the Eighty-fourth Regiment referred to earlier, for they were then under the same command. However, the One Hundred and Tenth Regiment took part in the battle at Gettysburg, reaching that place on the night of July 1st. One-third of the men in the regiment were either killed or wounded there. Afterward they remained in Pennsylvania and Maryland for a time and then crossed the Potomac to Warrenton and Culpeper in Virginia. It engaged in battles at Kelly's Ford, Brandy Station and moved to Mine Run, returning to Brandy Station where the men reenlisted. Before the spring campaign of 1864 the One Hundred and Tenth was transferred with others of the brigade to the Second Corps under General Hancock. It participated in the various engagements of the Wilderness Campaign and took a prominent part at Spottsylvania Court House. Subsequent engagements were the same as those met by the Eighty-fourth Regiment. At Amelia Springs the men fought the last battle, suffered heavy losses, but routed the Confederates. At Clover Hill, Virginia, news of the surrender of the Confederate Armies reached them and early in May, 1865, they started 74 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY north. The One Hundred and Tenth participated in the review of the Army of the Potomac on May 23rd at Washington and were finally mustered out of the service on June 28, 1865. Blair and Cambria Counties raised a company for the Twelfth Cavalry, the One Hundred and Thirteenth Regiment of the Pennsylvania line. They were organized at Philadelphia in November, 1861, and in May, 1862, moved to Washington, crossed the Potomac, and actively began their cavalry service in July. Under General Pope they were engaged at Bristow Station and many of their number were captured by the Confederates. Those who escaped went to Centreville, then to Alexandria, and were assigned to picket duty on the north side of the Potomac River near Edwards Ferry. Later, cavalry raids were made at Boonsboro, Moorefield, Woodstock and Fisher's Hill. For a time they assisted in guarding the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad near Harper's Ferry. In June, 1863, the cavalry men fought the southerners near Winchester, and at Apple Pie Ridge. Lee's army surrounded them while they were in Winchester, and upon attempting to get to Martinsburg they were attacked and the troops were divided, some reaching the Potomac at Harper's Ferry, and others, including the Twelfth, went to Bath and Bloody Run, Virginia. After Gettysburg, the Twelfth, with a New York Cavalry Troop, attacked Lee's retreating army at Cunningham's Cross Roads and captured 640 men, artillery, wagons, horses and mules. In 1864, when General Early was moving north, the Twelfth aided in preventing his advance. They fought at Crampton's Gap and Pleasant Valley and near Winchester. Under General Sheridan, the cavalry took part in the skirmishes with the Confederates. The men had reenlisted during the winter of 1864, but a year later their ranks were thin and many of the men were not mounted. During the spring of 1865, the regiment of cavalry, took part in the expeditions against guerilla bands that roved through the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. They met the Confederates at Harmony, and Edinboro fought their last battle. This was a severe one for there were no troops supporting them. After the surrender of the Confederates the regiment was posted at Mount Jackson and at Winchester where it remained until mustered out July 20, 1865. In July and August, 1862, Governor Curtin authorized Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Higgins, of Blair County, to recruit a regiment to serve for nine months. This order came after the disastrous failure of McClellan's forces in the peninsula, when it was becoming difficult to recruit men for long periods of service. Six companies were raised in Blair County. They became Companies A, B, D, E, G and K of the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Regiment. On August 16th, it was organized at Harrisburg from which place it proceeded to Washington. After a few weeks of drill and garrison duty on the line of the Washington defences, these troops were ordered to the north side of the Potomac, and on September 16th and 17th engaged the Confederates in battle at Antietam Creek. The southern army was driven towards Sharpsburg with the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Regiment leading in the front line of the Union forces. After the CIVIL WAR 75 campaign at Antietam the regiment remained in Maryland until November. It did not take part at Fredericksburg, but in December and January fought Confederate cavalry at Wolf Run Shoals. On January 20th, this regiment moved to Dumfries, Shipping Point and Stafford Court House. At the latter place it encamped and engaged in picket duty and guarded against inroads of the southern cavalry. In April, the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth moved with its brigade toward Chancellorsville, arriving there on the 30th of the month. During the famous battle there the regiment was continually engaged and held the Confederate forces of Jackson at bay on May 2nd. The terms of service for the men of the regiment expired after Chancellorsville, and they were ordered to Pennsylvania, where they were mustered out at Harrisburg on May 18, 1863. A Blair County company known as Company L was part of the Nineteenth Cavalry, One Hundred and Eightieth Regiment, and was organized at Philadelphia in the autumn of 1863. The members enlisted for a three-year period. In November, 1863, the regiment was ordered to Washington, D. C., and went from that city to Columbus, Kentucky. In January, 1864, it served in Mississippi in destroying Confederate supplies of all sorts. The division of which it was a part, moved against General Forrest early in April and the Nineteenth Cavalry fought for an entire day at Cypress Swamp, Mississippi. On May 10th, it aided in defeating the Confederates at Bolivar and was itself defeated with others of the Union forces at Guntown in June. Part of the regiment fought in Mississippi at Grand Gulf, Port Gibson, Big Black, Coldwater and Oxford, during July and August. It returned to Vicksburg and was ordered to Little Rock, Arkansas, and moved north from that place to Independence, Missouri, to aid in the struggle against the Confederate Army there. At Marion, Greensboro, Pilot Knob, Osage and Big Blue, engagements were met. At Big Blue, a daring and successful charge ended in victory for the Union men. Turning southward to Memphis, the troops were sent eastward through Tennessee and Alabama against General Hood, who was coming to Nashville from Atlanta. At the battle at Nashville the cavalry were instrumental in causing the defeat of the Confederates. In fact the cavalry followed the fleeing southerners and engaged with the main body of their horsemen, unintentionally it is said. There the Nineteenth fell back under heavy fire but was reenforced by the rest of the brigade, and the southern army hurried to Franklin in disorder. On Christmas Day, 1864, this body of Union Cavalry, fought at Anthony's Hill and at Sugar Creek, closing the campaign. After this the regiment moved to Gravelly Springs, Alabama, and in February, 1865, underwent changes of organization. Most of the Blair County men in Company L were transferred to Company C. Then they were moved to New Orleans, arriving there on March 9th. On July 25th, the battalion fought at Clinton, Louisiana, then went to Alexandria on the Red River. After that the companies separated and went to different parts of Louisiana and Texas to engage in quelling guerilla bands. They returned to New Orleans in April, 1866, and were mustered out in that city on May 14th. One six months' company, who had served their time and reenlisted, was 76 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY made up of Blair County men. It was formed near Chambersburg on February 22, 1864, as Company D, Twenty-second Cavalry, or the One Hundred and Eighty-fifth Regiment. The members of this company went into the field, with others of the battalion, in July, 1863, when Lee invaded Pennsylvania. The men were engaged in guarding fords, bridges and roads approaching the Susquehanna River from the south. Then they joined the Union forces in their advance into Virginia after Gettysburg. After reorganizing, with the Ringgold Cavalry Battalion of Washington County, as the Twenty-second Cavalry, the regiment was stationed at Cumberland, Maryland, during March, 1864. After drilling and experiencing changes of command and camp site, the dismounted men fought at Leetown, Maryland Heights, Snicker's Gap and Snicker's Ferry in July. In August, the Twenty-second joined the cavalry division in the Army of the Shenandoah, under Sheridan, and engaged Confederates at Kernville, Opequan, Berryville and Charlestown, Virginia. On July 12, 1864, the mounted men, who had remained at Cumberland, participated in the campaign against Lynchburg under General Hunter, and later fought at Kernstown and New Market. Later, under General Averill, this part of the Twenty-second, followed the Confederates under McCausland, after the latter had burned Chambersburg, and overtook them at Moorefield, Virginia, putting them completely to route, and capturing all the artillery. The two detachments were united at Hagerstown and moved with Averill, under whom they engaged with the Confederates at different times. The cavalry gained a decided advantage over the southerners by capturing their wagon-train at Darkesville on September 2nd. Succeeding engagements included another at Darkesville, at Bunker Hill, Stephenson's Station, Buckletown, and Martinsburg, driving the Confederates from the latter place to Winchester. They took part in the campaign in September, to drive the forces of Early up the valley and fought the latter at Opequan, Fisher's Hill and Mount Vernon Forge. The superior numbers of Early's force on September 27th, caused the Twenty-second with the other regiments to merely hold their ground. At Cedar Creek, on October 19th, the well-known battle to which Sheridan rode from Winchester, was fought. The regiment was constantly engaged during the winter months of 1864 and 1865 in scouting activities in opposition to the Confederate guerilla warfare of western Virginia. The men were mustered out at different times from August, 1864, to June, 1865. In February, 1865, a regiment, known as the One Hundred and Ninety-second, was organized. It was the second of that designation, and included Company D from Blair County. The men enlisted for a year and entered the field in central Virginia in the spring of 1865. They were never actively engaged in battle because Lee's surrender at Appomattox came on April 9th. On August 24, 1865, the regiment was mustered out. Companies A, C and I, from Blair County, served in the Two Hundred and Fifth Regiment. This regiment was organized on September 2, 1864, at Harrisburg, for a one-year term, and many of its members were veterans. They left Harrisburg for the Washington defenses at Fort Corcoran. In a short time they CIVIL WAR 77 were sent to City Point, Virginia, to escort recruits to the aid of Grant's army at Petersburg. In October, the regiment joined the Army of the James and later the Army of the Potomac. Under General Hartranft the Two Hundred and Fifth wintered at Fort Prescott. On March 25, 1865, they met their first engagement at Fort Steadman in the front line and succeeded in taking prisoners. The most important battle in which they participated was while in the first assault on the works of the inner line at Petersburg on April 2nd. The regiment was exposed to heavy fire from Confederate muskets and artillery, losing 125 men, who were killed or wounded. After the evacuation of Petersburg by the southern troops, they engaged in repairing the South Side Railroad on the way to Burkesville junction, where they remained until the war ended. Then the men moved back to City Point and then to Alexandria, remaining at Fairfax Seminary until ordered to Pennsylvania, where they were mustered out June 2, 1865. One company, known as Company B, Two Hundred and Eighth Regiment, was made up principally of Blair County men. Organized on September 12, 1864, at Harrisburg, the regiment went to Bermuda Hundred on the James River and was placed under Colonel Potter's brigade. It joined the Army of the Potomac on November 27th, and was assigned to the division commanded by General Hartranft. The men were engaged in skirmishes during much of the winter. Fort Steadman was captured by the Confederates on March 25, 1865, and the Two Hundred and Eighth was ordered to move on and attack them. It was successful in capturing Battery No. 12 with 300 prisoners, and on April 2nd took part in the final attack on Petersburg. After that successful battle they followed the retreating southern army to Nottoway Court House where news of Lee's surrender reached them. On June 1, 1865, the members of this regiment were mustered out of the service. Men from Blair County served in other regiments but the ones referred to contained the largest numbers of our soldiers. Reviews of the services of the men of the Ninth Cavalry and the Fifty-third Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, follow. A reunion of the members of the Ninth Pennsylvania Cavalry was held at Hollidaysburg on June 8, 1893. Judge A. S. Landis reviewed the services this organization rendered to bring victory to the cause of the north. His address appeared in an article by S. Beswick in the Hollidaysburg Register on June 14, 1893. It follows: "On behalf of the surviving officers and members of the Ninth Pennsylvania Cavalry, I thank you for your cordial and generous reception. Twenty-eight years have passed since this regiment was discharged and mustered out of service. At that time their ranks had been decimated by the deadly fortunes of a deadly war; and, now, but few survive to relate as living witnesses, the incident and experience of their military life. Their record is a proud one. Its name has become synonomous with courage and constancy, sacrifice and suffering - devotion and death. And when the history of this arm of the country's service has been written, no regiment will be recalled with more lustrous name than the Ninety-second Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers. 78 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY "Its organization was authorized by Simon Cameron, secretary of war, and it was first known as the Lochiel Cavalry. Its members were enlisted from this and twelve other counties, and on the 29th of August, 1861, it was formally organized, with Edward C. Williams as its colonel; Thomas C. James, lieutenant colonel; and Thomas J. Jordan, as major. Its colonel had already won an honorable name by his service in the Mexican War. Its major, Thomas J. Jordan, afterward became general with a most honorable record. On the 20th of November, 1861, it went by order of the government to Kentucky and reported to General Buell in the department of the Cumberland. Being at once subjected to drill and discipline, it was, on the 10th of January, 1862, ordered to the front and first rendered service in the protection of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. In March, it went into Tennessee, and in May the third battalion was engaged with the celebrated Morgan's men and defeated them, capturing 300 prisoners and that famous confederate chieftain himself narrowly escaping capture. "During the summer this battalion under Major Jordan won renown by its repeated and successful encounters with this valorous and famous southern cavalryman. In August, the regiment was reunited and it was employed in watching the advance of Morgan and his bands, and guarding the roads in Tennessee for General Buell's advance to Kentucky. It fought the battle of Perryville and received the complimentary notice of General Buell for bravery. "From December to January, 1863, it endured great hardships in crossing the Cumberland and Clinch Mountains. Hundreds of miles across these trackless mountains in single file by night and by day were passed. "The Cumberland and Clinch Rivers were forded to the Wedango. Here they attacked the enemy, defending a bridge, defeating them, and destroying the bridge. "Then followed other encounters resulting in success, the continual capture of prisoners and the destruction of a large portion of the enemy's railway. "They recrossed the same mountains, enduring the same suffering from exposure and want of food and rest. Major Jordan than became the colonel and the regiment came under the command of General Rosecrans and at once engaged and drove off that doughty confederate general, Forrest. For eighteen days it withstood with but slim support, the rebel army under Van Dorn, Wheeler and Forrest, frequently making attacks upon their strong position. A series of engagements took place and the valorous conduct of our regiment received the honorable mention of General Rosecrans. Then followed in splendid succession the battles of Rover, Middletown, Shelbyville and Elk River, with the capture of a thousand prisoners and breaking up the enemy's entire cavalry. Pushing on, it captured General Bragg's rear guard and penetrating Georgia, captured the advance guard of Longstreet and gave Rosecrans the first information of that general's arrival from Virginia. "For all this brilliant service it received the special commendation and thanks of General Thomas. It was magnificent training for Chickamauga, where that deadly and disastrous engagement shortly ensued between the veterans of CIVIL WAR 79 Rosecrans, Thomas, McCook and Stanley on the national side, and Bragg, Longstreet, Polk, Hill and others on the confederate side. Many of its members breathed their last upon that bloody field, but it was their prowess and devotion that strengthened our wavering line and saved the army from the crushing weight of an outnumbering foe. This spirit of devotion unto immolation was again noticed by the commander-in-chief, and a new glory was added to the name of our cavalry. "Then followed Dandridge, New Market, Mossy Creek, Chattanooga, Tullahoma and Murfreesboro. Over and over again it poured its blood upon these southern fields and won the recorded approbation of Van Cleve, Milroy and Steedman. The glory which attached to the name of Grant at Chattanooga was shared by our regiment. This great captain had just come from the field of Vicksburg, and the glory of that wonderful campaign was only surpassed by the brilliance of Chattanooga. These two stars in his crown shown with undimmed lustre. The country was electrified. Hope sprang anew in the northern breast and waited only to be blessed by similar prowess and victory in the east, where yet lingered the waning fires of the rebellion. "On the 14th of November, 1864, began the great march of Sherman from Tennessee to the Atlantic coast. The advance of this intrepid soldier across a hostile country, with no friendly support in the rear and an unknown fate before, was like the march, with spear and chariot, of an Oriental conqueror and his legions to conquer or death. For five weeks this host tramped on, over highways and through forest, through village and city, over mountain and through river, fighting by day and resting by night, till it reached the city of the Savannahs on the wave washed coast. Thus do these cavalrymen share the imperishable renown of a soldier whose name can never die, so long as republics continue and deeds of daring win the admiration of the race. "During the remainder of the year and the early part of 1865, our regiment was industriously engaged in the Carolinas. Success attended every effort. On the 16th of March a severe battle was fought at Averysboro, at which our friend, Captain E. A. Hancock, lost his leg. The last battle of Sherman was that of Bentonsville and in this our heroes were engaged. This was said to have been one of the most important victories of the war. Its loss meant the loss of Sherman's army and the probable defeat of Grant before Petersburg and Richmond. But heaven now smiled upon the union arms. The following month Lee surrendered at Appomatox and a few days later Johnstown surrendered to Sherman. On the 17th day of December, 1864, John M. Porter, of Alexandria, Huntingdon County, had been promoted to be major of the regiment and on the 14th of April, whilst that officer was in command, the regiment received a flag of truce, under which was a letter from General Johnston purposing to surrender to Sherman. The regiment was the escort of General Sherman to meet Johnston at Burnett's house and likewise his escort, when he again met him to agree upon the terms of surrender. "When the flag of truce was received our cavalrymen were in hot pursuit of 80 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY the enemy, and thus it is seen that this favored and honored regiment was the last to draw their sabers and to fire their guns in Sherman's command upon the confederate foe. On the 18th of July, 1865, it ceased to exist, having first participated in that great pageant at Washington which stands unrivalled as a review by the nation of its scarred and war-worn veterans. Such is a brief reference only to the four years' service of this troop." Another interesting account of the history of Blair County soldiers in the Civil War was related by D. B. Rothrock, of Altoona, before a gathering of veterans of Company C, Fifty-third Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, at Williamsburg, early in June, 1894. Mr. Rothrock's account follows: "The company of which the survivors here present are but a remnant was recruited in the counties of Huntingdon and Blair in the early fall of 1861 by Captain J. H. Wintrode, of Marklesburg, and was mustered into the service of the United States on the 5th day of October, of that year, as Company C, Fifty-third Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, for the period of three years, or during the war. The regiment was composed of ten companies and included representatives from forty-four different counties of the Keystone State, with John R. Brooke, of Montgomery County, as colonel, and was, emphatically, a Pennsylvania Regiment, for its members came from Philadelphia in the east to Allegheny in the west, from the northern tier to the southern border, and with few exceptions were native to the Pennsylvania manner born. As soon as organization and equipment were completed, the regiment went to the front at Washington and was merged in and became a part of that mighty host known to the world and to fame as the Army of the Potomac, that army that upheld the starry banner of the American union and waged an aggressive warfare for four-years in ten campaigns and two score battlefields and drenched the soil of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania with human blood, and whose history is one of great misfortunes, great follies and great glories; but amid all the buffetings of fortune, through winter and rough weather the Army of the Potomac never gave up, never lost its individuality, made a good fight and finally reached the goal. This Fifty-third was not what in those days was termed a newspaper regiment, neither was it a fancy regiment, and it made no pretentions to being a crack regiment, but rather its members, from its young commander down to the humblest private were soldiers from the necessities of the country, rather than choice and were young men of good form, both from the physical and mental point of view. The position to which we were assigned was French's Brigade and Sumner's division and happening to be the first regiment that reported to General Sumner we became the nucleus or cornerstone of the second army corps of whose history and career we became a part throughout the entire existence of that one of the five original corps that preserved its organization to the end of the war unbroken. After a severe and extended school of drill and discipline we eventually found ourselves in the position of the reserve at the siege of Yorktown but in course of time the enemy retreated up the peninsula and ours was one of the divisions that followed, and who of our old divisions CIVIL WAR 81 can forget that night's march to Williamsburg, Va. The Fifty-third's first severe baptism of fire though was at Fair Oaks on the second day where we stood the enemy off for a time, repulsing the charges of Longstreet's and Huger's commands and finally charging their lines and driving them from the field in confusion. This action, though of no decisive result nor great importance in determining the ultimate results of the war, was of great importance to the troops of our division for it imbued them with confidence in themselves and nerved them for the trying seven days that were soon to follow. Moreover, it engendered a confidence between officers and men that stood them much good for both in the future, as well as demonstrating that which was iron and which was clay. The month following we were almost constantly under fire and subjected to much discomfort from night alarms, the excessive heat of the sun and the use of stagnant water, but the siege of Richmond, like all other earthly things, at last had an ending. June 27th, after lying all day under an artillery fire, we - that is French's brigade - accompanied by Meagher's Irish brigade, are started double quick through heat and dust five miles distant to Gaines's Hill, where fierce fighting has been going on for two days. I quote here from General Francis A. Walker's history of the Second corps. 'And now an unaccustomed cheer rises along the slender union lines; it is the cheer of men over-weighted and worn when they learn that help is at hand. Mingled with it is the cheer of brave men who know they are sorely wanted and have come in time. Two brigades of those which a month ago crossed the river in such haste to the relief of Keys, now hotly crowd the bridge for Porter's rescue. Good brigades, good men; there wave the green flags of the Irish regiments of the reckless, rollicking Meagher. Here comes the peerless brigade of French, the grim old artillerist at its head. These brigades deploy and charge, the enemy gives way, and night settles like a pall over the field.' June 29th the retreat begins and the Fifty-third soon finds that to them has been entrusted a perilous duty, but one none the less honorable, that of the rear guard. Soon Allen's farm was reached, where the Fifty-third held the keypoint to the position. This was of limited extent, hence was soon over, the enemy being severely punished "and losing General Griffiths killed." The retreat was resumed and in the afternoon we joined our corps, which, in conjunction with the Sixth, had taken post at Savage's Station, and took post on the extreme right of the line, holding that flank against all comers. The battle of Savage Station was one of considerable severity and magnitude. However, night found the enemy repulsed all along the line and our column took up their weary, toilsome march toward the James. The Fifty-third, in connection with the balance of their brigade and a battery of artillery, however, were left behind, and solitary and alone the little command stood to arms on that hill until after midnight confronted by the divisions of Magruder and Huger. What might have been the result had the impetuous Magruder been aware of our situation is sickening to contemplate. Daylight, however, found us across White Oak Creek, where we tore up the bridge and again went into position on the right of the line on the 82 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY summit of a high hill. This was ground Stonewall Jackson was expected to pass over with 30,000 men to connect his lines with Longstreet and Hill. Along about 11 o'clock a.m., Jackson put in an appearance and proceeded to see what he could find out by opening thirty-six pieces of artillery on our hill. I venture the assertion that many a soldier that was on that hill remembers that shelling as one of his most memorable experiences. Jackson made several attempts to take that hill, but each was estopped, and whilst he could hear the tell tale guns up at Glendale he was powerless to get there. It not being in accord with the order of procedure for us to remain there in that position any longer than night, we again took up our line of march, and who among us can ever forget that night's march through dust and heat, part of the way at double quick, two miles of the way square across the enemy's front and in speaking distance of their lines. At last the light of another day appears; so do the waters of the James River. We get an hour's rest, then march four miles to Malvern Hill and take up our position in the battle line, this time in reserve supporting batteries. In the waning afternoon the fighting is resumed; the enemy assault, making charge after charge, but the Potomac army stand firm as the hill on which they are posted and the enemy's charges prove all in vain. The ground is soon strewn with dead and wounded, but not one inch of space for one moment is yielded up. "Our next experiences with southern chivalry was during the disgraceful and disastrous campaign of Pope which culminated in the defeat at second Bull Run. The part assigned to the Fifty-third was as usual - rear guard in the retreat of the column from Fairfax to Chain Bridge. At Ball's Cross Roads we found ourselves cut off from the column and our situation was truly one of great peril, but patience and perseverance which so often overcome difficulties, came to our aid that night and stood us in good stead when after a rapid march of five miles we found protection in the fortifications of Washington. Three times during that night's march we stopped to fight but the enemy not knowing our numbers seemed about as much afraid of us as we were of them; at least they made their discretion the major part of their valor, for which we were devoutly thankful. "South Mountain and Antietam next claimed our attention. The Second Corps was not actually engaged at South Mountain, but relieved the Pennsylvania Reserves during the early morning following the action, when it became evident that the enemy had retreated, and our division, taking the advance, pushed rapidly forward. During the afternoon we struck Lee standing at bay on the banks of the Antietam. In the earliest hours of our engagement we were posted on the extreme left of the Second Corps' line, when it fell to our lot to turn the enemy's right and, in conjunction with some other troops, drive them from their strong position in the sunken road that is so much spoken of in connection with that battle. We were later transferred to the right of our division, where we effectually estopped one of their flanking movements. While getting in position to support a battery a shell killed Major General Richardson, our division commander; also a lieutenant of the Fifty-third, and wounded another. Thus fell that lion-hearted, noble and generous commander that the boys had CIVIL WAR 83 learned to love so well, and who had infused in his command so much of the spirit of soldierly duty. And now there came to us another who has left his brigade in the Sixth Corps to add new laurels to his growing fame as the leader of our old First Division, and later on as commander of our corps and stamp the impress of his genius throughout the rank and file. It is the peerless and intrepid Hancock, well named the superb. History records his transcendant virtues and brilliant achievements. December 13, 1862, was fought the battle of Fredericksburg. The Fifty-third was given on that day the post of honor, the extreme right of the line, and led the charge of Hancock's division on Maryes Heights. That short December day was, alas, a fateful one to the Fifty-third, as well as to the entire division which Hancock led through such a fire as is rarely encountered in warfare. The men forced their way, with fearful loss, to within twenty paces of the fatal stone wall, and held their positions under a murderous fire of both musketry and artillery. Of this assault an historian writes: 'Braver men never smiled at death than whose who climbed the Maryes Hill that day. Their ranks, even in process of formation, were plowed through and torn to pieces by rebel batteries, and after, at heavy cost, they had reached the foot of the hill, they were confronted with a stone wall from behind which their infantry mowed them down like grass. Never, alas, did men fight better, or died more fruitlessly, than did those of Hancock's division. Of the 314 men the Fifty-third carried into action 155 were killed and wounded; sad ending of bright, noble young lives.' "Chancellorsville next claims our attention, and like Fredericksburg it, too, was disastrous to the union cause. The Fifty-third, in common with the division, held post well toward the left of the line and was kept busy holding off the attempts and demonstrations of Hood and McLaw's commands of the enemy, while Jackson was making the flanking movements, which resulted so disastrously and caused the rout of the Eleventh Corps and the turning of right of Hooker's position. After all the troops had been withdrawn to a new line, Hancock is required to hold the lines around the Chancellor house until the new position is secured. Our position was not tenable, but it was necessary that it be held, and hold it we did for three-quarters of an hour. The Chancellorsville plateau was a hill of fiery shot and shell screaming over it from every direction but the northeast, yet Hancock's division alone, where seven divisions had been stood in two lines of battle, back to back, east and west, while the fourteen guns held the enemy at bay on the south. At last we are ordered to withdraw. The guns of Lepine's battery, which had lost all its officers, all its cannoneers, all its horses, are drawn off by the men of the Fifty-third, One Hundred and Sixteenth and One Hundred and Fortieth Pennsylvania. Time and space forbid our dwelling longer on the wreck and ruin that befell us in darkling woods at Chancellorsville. "Another and more glorious action claims our attention. Gettysburg, the one great and decisive action on the soil of our own state, where the fabric of the Southern Confederacy received its death wound, only to linger on until it 84 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY found its grave at Appomattox. On the morning of July 2nd, the Fifty-third, in conjunction with the companion commands of the brigade, division and corps to which we belonged, took post well toward the left on the west slope of Cemetery Ridge; nothing important other than the desultory firing of skirmishers and occasional artillery shots, incident to two great armies getting into position, occurring until the middle of the afternoon, when a furious attack was made by Longstreet's Corps on the position of the gallant troops of our Third Corps, then led by brave Dan Sickles. Soon the Fifth Corps also became involved; later our division went to the rescue. The scene of our contest is the wheatfield, so famous in the story of Gettysburg. The woods to the south were full of the enemy; seven brigades had been engaged on our side. When we arrive, we deploy into line; the notes of the charge float out above the rattle of musketry and the bugler falls dead, shot through the brain. Poor fellow! he has sounded his last charge. The commanding voice of Brooke rings out above the din and those five oft decimated regiments, with a mighty yell, spring forward on through the wheatfield in spite of all, across the rivulet choked with the dead, into the woods beyond, up the rocky slope to the open space in sight of the Emmittsburg Road. Brooke pushes his charge until he penetrates the enemy's lines and reaches a position far in advance of any reached by our troops on that field. It was during that afternoon that the real battle of Gettysburg was fought, there along the left of the union lines where for three and one-half hours the lines of the opposing forces pressed each other back and forth. General Longstreet says that it was three and one-half hours of the best fighting ever done on the American continent. On the third day we held the extreme left of Hancock's line, our skirmishers being heavily engaged and making large captures of prisoners. About 1:30 p.m., a signal gun is fired opposite our front. In a few minutes Lee was pounding our lines with one hundred and forty guns. The air was filled with shot and shell with their abominable shrieks and sent their deadly fragments down in showers upon the rocky ridge. All that is hideous in war seemed to have gathered itself together to burst in one fell tornado upon Cemetery Ridge. Later came the charge of the divisions of Pickett, Pettigrew and Pender, 18,000 strong, only to be hurled back broken, defeated, aye almost annihilated. Their valor was beyond praise; it was sublime; it was worthy of a better cause; and what a spectacle was visible after their defeat - a field strewn with the wreck and ruin of all this horrible warfare. Then there arose a tremendous shout all along the union lines - a shout that rolled along that ridge from Culp's Hill to the Round Tops and echoed back again. Gettysburg was won; the unity of the states assured; slavery was doomed and the valor of the American volunteer soldiery established beyond any doubt. After our return to Virginia we had a much needed period of rest, after which came a campaign of manoeuvres, the culmination in a race between the two armies for the possession of Centreville Heights, with the Fifty-third again the rear guard. In the gray of an early morning we were attacked at Auburn while in the act of preparing breakfast and lost our coffee. For a while things looked very dusty; in fact the enemy, CIVIL WAR 85 consisting of Ewell's Corps, 30,000 strong, had us apparently cut off. Time was essential to get our trains out of the way. So that when at last the time came for our withdrawal it was a matter of no small difficulty. We were not much more than out of this scrape than we heard the guns of Hill's Corps thundering against the head of the column of the corps at Bristol, where we arrived about 4 p.m., in ample time to participate in the stirring events of that lively fracas. I cannot conceive or recall any time or occasion in which we were more critically beset during our entire period of service than we were that day at Coffee Hill and Bristol. Time and space forbid more than mere mention of Mine Run, our reenlistment and furlough home. In the Wilderness proper we were in reserve. At Poe River I merely quote General Walker who says: 'I cannot speak too highly of the bravery, soldierly conduct and discipline displayed by Brooke's and Brown's brigades on this occasion. Attacked by Heth's entire division of the enemy, they repeatedly beat him back, holding their ground until ordered to withdraw, when they retired with such order and steadiness as to merit the highest praise.' We now come to one of the most brilliant achievements in our history - the famous charge of Hancock's Second Corps on the bloody angle at Spottsylvania. The Fifty-third had the honor to be battalion of direction that morning, when in the very early dawn the command 'forward' was given, and as soon as the red earth of the salient was seen the troops broke into a wild cheer, and taking the double quick without orders, they rushed to the works, and tearing away the abattis, go over the entrenchments and the salient was won. The fruits of our victory were 4,000 prisoners, thirty-three colors and twenty-four cannons. This Spottsylvania battle never has received the degree of recognition it is entitled to. For twenty hours the battle raged in the midst of a drenching rain and those that slept after it had but little more of life than the corpses that lay around them on every side and the chilly rain still fell on that ghastly field on the living and the dead, on friend and foe. Were we attempting to write a book North Anna and Totopotomoy would next demand our attention, but Cold Harbor presents greater claims to our consideration, where, for ten days, death reaped a rich harvest. The assault proper, as is well known, was a failure, though the character of the fighting all along the lines was very severe. Our position there was on the left of the front line. June 16th, we arrived in front of Petersburg, where on that same day we made another charge, as usual on intrenched lines, where about 400 of our brigade had the misfortune to be captured by the enemy, and as the writer was one of the number, he has come to the end of the string so far as personal reminiscences are concerned. Nevertheless, the Fifty-third, through all the long and arduous operations in front of Petersburg, First and Second Deep Bottom, Ream's Station, Boydton Road, Hatcher's Run, White Oak Road, Sailor's Creek, upheld the credit of their cause, and at Farmville took active part in the last infantry battle in Virginia, and were in at the front when the Army of Northern Virginia ground arms in surrender at Appomattox. 86 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY "If one were to attempt a detailed narrative of the regiment it would fill a good-sized book. It went to the front with less than 1,000 men; it was filled up twice, and the total number of names borne on the rolls for longer and shorter terms was almost 2,200. Of the 600 men assigned to it in the closing days of the rebellion, we can take but small consideration, leaving the aggregate of the tried and true about 1,600. Killed on the field, 205, and wounded about 800, so that its roll of casualties exceeded its original number. As to C Company I can say it never for one hour failed to perform its part in common with its comrade companies with fidelity to the cause and the gratification of the officers placed over it. A generation has come and a generation has gone since the survivors came home and resumed their places as citizens of the country they helped to save. And now after a lapse of thirty years, when we are passing to the sere and yellow leaf, it is our prayer that white-winged peace may continue to spread its refulgent smiles over all the world with happiness and good will to all mankind."