Military: CWR: Ringler, Cyrus E. of interest in Somerset County, PA

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Keith Petenbrink and 
Meyersdale Public Library.
Transcribed and proofread by: Keith Petenbrink.

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Ringler, Cyrus E.

* Born Sept. 20, 1835 in Johnstown, Pa. 
* Co. B "Grafton Guards" 
* He grew up a strong pro-slavery Democrat, held a military commission in 
Virginia. At secession he took stand for Union. He was probably the first man in 
Harrison Co. Virginia to procure men for Union service. He was offered command 
of a company, as well as other positions, but preferred to remain in the ranks 
of his own company He was the first member of the company inside of the lines at 
Laurel Hill, as a spy. He only escaped by riding down the middle of the creek at 
night, and after scrambling in the brush and obstructions about the enemy 
position, in the dense darkness and rain, and narrowly escaping being shot, he 
reached his camp at Phillippi, the next morning Oct, 10, 1861, he took four 
others and scouted on the lookout for a noted guerrilla, resulting in a combat 
with the bushwackers and the death of Joe Wright. At Monterey he was detailed to 
the brigade department, yet at McDowell he was in the skirmish line with his 
company, and was stunned by a musket ball that shot the cord off his hat. At 
Cross Keys he was stunned by a rebel shell and later in open ground, he became 
the target for fully a hundred hostile muskets, escaping with a scratch on the 
face and a sting on the back of the neck. At Bull Run he was shot in the stomach 
and in the right hand. From January till April 1864 he acted on courts martial 
and enquiry at Martinsburg, being no longer fit for active duty. He was mustered 
out June 1864. About two months later he accepted a rank of Lieutenant in the 
17th W. Va. Infantry from Governor Boreman. He often declared that he would 
rather be a private soldier in front of battle, than anything else, and his 
conduct fully verified his statement.

SOURCE:

* Somerset Past Vol. 8 No. 1