History of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania volunteer cavalry which was recruited and known as the Anderson cavalry in the rebellion of 1861-1865;, Part 1

Author: Kirk, Charles H., ed. and comp
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Philadelphia
Number of Pages: 838


USA > Pennsylvania > History of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania volunteer cavalry which was recruited and known as the Anderson cavalry in the rebellion of 1861-1865; > Part 1


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Gc 973. 74 P38k 265627


M. L. 1


REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION


ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00825 0844


GENEALOGY 973.74 P38K


1


CAMP ALABAMA - OUR FIRST CAMP From an old photograph


.


HISTORY


OF THE


Fifteenth Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry


WHICH WAS RECRUITED AND KNOWN AS


THE ANDERSON CAVALRY in the Rebellion of 1861-1865


EDITED AND COMPILED BY


CHARLES H. KIRK


First Lieutenant Company E ASSISTED BY


THE HISTORICAL COMMITTEE


OF THE Society of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry


PHILADELPHIA 1906


973.7448 Kt5


1938


265627


CONTENTS.


PAGE.


PREFACE


7


INTRODUCTION 9


THE INCEPTION AND ORGANIZATION OF THE REGIMENT .... 13


REMINISCENCES OF THE EARLY DAYS OF THE ANDERSON


CAVALRY


17


ANTIETAM


30


A SCOUT TO HAGERSTOWN 41


EXTRACT FROM COL. A. K. MCCLURE'S BOOK, "LINCOLN AND MEN OF WAR TIMES" 43


AFTER INFORMATION WITH COLONEL PALMER 47


REMINISCENCES OF ANTIETAM 49


ON PICKET AT ANTIETAM


56


COLONEL PALMER AND THE PATRIOTIC PARSON 59


OUR FIRST CAMPAIGN . 62


SERGEANT BETTS AND OLD COMPANY E. 71


A PRIVATE FORAGING PARTY AT BOWLING GREEN WHICH FAILED 73


THE CHRISTMAS FORAGING EXPEDITION IN 1862. 75


DEATH OF MARTIN L. HILL 77


FIFTEENTH PENNSYLVANIA (ANDERSON ) CAVALRY AT STONE RIVER 80


THE HALT AT OVERALL'S CREEK IOI


MAJOR ROSENGARTEN'S LAST ORDER TO MAJOR WARD. 103


INCIDENT OF STONE RIVER BATTLE


I04


WHAT I SAW AT STONE RIVER 108


THE CHARGE ON INFANTRY AT STONE RIVER III


CAPTURE OF OUR WAGON TRAIN BY WHEELER'S CAVALRY II6


WITH ROSENGARTEN'S BATTALION AT STONE RIVER I18


STORY OF A TYPICAL CAPTURE, IMPRISONMENT AND Ex-


CHANGE I2I


AMONG THE KILLED AND WOUNDED AT STONE RIVER: I 29


MY CHARGE AT STONE RIVER


I37


3


4


History of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry.


PAGE.


WITH OUR CAPTURED WAGON TRAIN 140


BRINGING OUR DEAD BACK TO NASHVILLE I42


THE CHASE BROTHERS


FROM STONE RIVER TO LIBBY I45


WILL WARD'S HUNT FOR HIS BROTHER, THE MAJOR I54


I47


AT NASHVILLE 178 A CLOSE CALL 182


REORGANIZATION AND MIDDLE TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 187


THE CHRISTIAN SPIRIT OF THE REGIMENT 195


"L" AND "E" CARRYING A DISPATCH TO GENERAL MITCHELL, AT ROVER 202


COURIER DUTY 204


MEMORIES MUSICAL OF CAMP FIRES


THE ESCORT COMPANIES AT ARMY HEADQUARTERS 206


21I


How I BECAME ACQUAINTED WITH GEN. P. H. SHERIDAN. 217


ON THE COURIER LINE 220


CARRYING DISPATCHES FROM GENERAL ROSECRANS TO GEN- ERAL STANLEY 222


THE CHICKAMAUGA CAMPAIGN


INCIDENTS DURING THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA 225


240


AT HEADQUARTERS DURING THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA .. EXPERIENCE OF A COURIER AT CHICKAMAUGA. 249


244


WITH GENERAL GARFIELD AT CHICKAMAUGA 254


THE BREAK AT CHICKAMAUGA AND THE RIDE IT COST ME. 259


ORDERLY DUTY AT HEADQUARTERS DURING BATTLE 262


A WILD RIDE BY A COURIER AT CHICKAMAUGA 268


CHICKAMAUGA'S STRICKEN FIELD


27I


How TWO OF US GOT LOST AFTER CHICKAMAUGA 276


BRINGING IN THE CHICKAMAUGA WOUNDED 278 OUR TEAMSTERS 280


COMPANY L ON LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN 286


FIRST STEP TOWARD OPENING THE CRACKER LINE 297


OPENING THE CRACKER LINE 299


CAPTURE OF OUR WAGON TRAIN IN SEQUATCHIE VALLEY, TENNESSEE 303


SEQUATCHIE 307


MAJOR WARD'S CHARLIE 312


WAR'S VARIED DUTIES 314


5


Contents.


COMPANY I AT MISSIONARY RIDGE PAGE.


324


PATRIOTIC UTTERANCES OF GEN. GEO. H. THOMAS 327


HENRI LE CARON-ONE OF OUR CHARACTERS. 328


FIRST EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN-DECEMBER 3, 1863, TO FEBRUARY II, 1864 331


SCOUTING IN EAST TENNESSEE 340


THE CHEROKEE INDIAN RAID 345


FIGHTING CHEROKEE INDIANS 348


THE PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF GENERAL VANCE 35I


DANDRIDGE 24TH OF DECEMBER, 1863 354


WOUNDED AND LEFT TO DIE IN REBEL HANDS 357


A PECULIAR SITUATION 363


MY ESCAPE FROM ANDERSONVILLE 365


PRISON LIFE AT BELLE ISLAND AND ANDERSONVILLE 377


CONTINUATION OF ANDERSONVILLE NARRATIVE 388


THE MIDNIGHT CROSSING OF THE FRENCH BROAD 391


THE WRONG MEN SHOT 394


"HOLD THE FORT" 397 HOOD'S ATTACK ON RESACA, GA. 404


FORAGING WHEN HOOD CUT OUR CRACKER LINE 407


SECOND EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 409


SCOUT TO FIND GENERAL BURBRIDGE 415


RECOLLECTIONS OF THE BURPRIDGE TRIP 421


THE REAR GUARD AT MCKINNEY'S FORD 425


A TRIP TO SAND MOUNTAIN, GA. 430


THE VOTE OF THE REGIMENT IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 432


SOJOURN IN DIXIE 434


THE LAST BLOW AT HOOD'S ARMY 440


CAPTURE OF COLONEL WARREN AND INCIDENTS OF THE PON- TOON RAID 457


AN INCIDENT OF THE RAID 460


THE LYON SCOUT 463


SERGEANT LYON'S LAST RIDE 469


ON THE LYON SCOUT 474


ARTHUR PEACE LYON 475


"HOME THEY BROUGHT HER WARRIOR DEAD" 481


OUR CAMPAIGN AGAINST COLONEL MEAD'S GUERRILLAS 486


OUR LAST CAMPAIGN AND PURSUIT OF JEFF DAVIS 492


6


History of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry.


PAGE.


WITH GILLEM'S TENNESSEANS ON THE YADKIN 520


WITH THE FIRST BATTALION TO LYNCHBURG 529


THE REGIMENT AT HILLSVILLE, VA., IN APRIL, 1865 533


A HIGH-PRICED MEAL 536


"AN ORDERLY ENTRANCE INTO TOWN" 538


CAPTURE OF THIRD SOUTH CAROLINA CAVALRY 54I


BURNING BRIDGE OVER SOUTH BUFFALO CREEK 545


MY PART IN THE CAPTURE OF THE THIRD SOUTH CAROLINA CAVALRY 550


A RECRUIT WHO HAD GREAT NERVE


COMPANY A AT SHERRILL'S FORD, 1865 553


CARRYING DISPATCHES ON OUR LAST RAID 556


560


CARRYING NEWS OF THE ARMISTICE BETWEEN SHERMAN AND JOHNSTON 564


THE CAPTURE OF GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG 566


AN ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE JEFF DAVIS 569


CAPTURE AND RELEASE OF MAJOR GARNER AT JACKSONVILLE, ALA. 572


ONE OF THE FINAL INCIDENTS OF THE WAR 574


A SCRAP OF PAPER 575


A RACE FOR LIFE 582


GETTING HOME FROM ATHENS, GA. 586


THE "FIFTEENTH" AT GENERAL JOE JOHNSTON'S SURRENDER 589


OUR REGIMENT-IN WAR AND PEACE 596


PLAN OF THE FORMATION OF THE ANDERSON TROOP 601


THE ANDERSON TROOP 605


CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO THE FORMATION OF THE AN- DERSON CAVALRY 622


MUSTER ROLL OF THE "ANDERSON TROOP" 624


ADDENDA 627


CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE FIFTEENTH PENNSYLVANIA CAVALRY 629


TELEGRAMS FROM THE FRONT 640 OFFICIAL REPORTS 647 LETTERS OF GENERAL PALMER 716 MUSTER ROLL OF THE FIFTEENTH PENNSYLVANIA CAVALRY. 737 TAPS 785


PREFACE


I "T is possible that this book should have been prepared and published long ago, when the incidents described were fresh in the memories of all; but we were too busy then, and the recollections of our war experiences were so vivid that it did not seem they could ever fade. Even now, with forty years intervening, to many the events are as clear and fresh as if it were only yesterday the facts narrated in the following pages took place.


In the compilation of this work, the committee who had it in charge have received active help from so many of the Regiment that it is hardly proper to name any-the list would be too long. In like manner those who have contributed the various articles which tell the history from enlistment to muster out have been assisted by those who took part in the events described. It is, therefore, a regimental work. All of the most prominent articles are verified by official documents, while old diaries and letters have been ransacked to tell again the story they told long ago.


But, in a large sense, this book is not for those who made these annals, but rather as an inheritance we leave our children, that they may know, for all time, what Regiment their fathers served in and the part they took in the greatest war of modern history. Should this object be accomplished, the work done will be a suc- cess.


CHARLES H. KIRK, Ist Lieut. Company E, 15th Penna. Cavalry, Chairman of Historical Committee.


7


INTRODUCTION


GLEN EYRIE, COLORADO SPRINGS, June 1, 1905.


T HESE annals of a Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, which served for the last three years of the Civil War, are written by some of its surviving members, and edited by one of its line officers, Lieutenant Kirk, to whose selection of the contributors and subjects and weaving together of the "thread of the narrative" the chief credit for this modest history is due. There is included a brief account of the Anderson Troop of Pennsylvania, which served under General Buell during the first year of the war, and was the pioneer body whose success led to the organization of the Regiment.


Having had the honor to raise and command both Troop and Regiment, I have been asked to contribute some introductory words. It should be stated that in the last year of the war, when its activity was perhaps the greatest, the command of the Regi- ment-then embraced in my brigade and division-devolved upon a very able and successful officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles M. Betts.


For the whole three years, with a few temporary exceptions, the Regiment served as an independent command; under the direct orders either of the Department Commander or of the General commanding the cavalry of the army with which it was serving. This naturally gave its officers and men an unusual opportunity of knowing what was going on; and, owing to their intelligence, discipline and spirit, they were often entrusted with special and delicate missions requiring tact, dash and courage.


As the Regiment campaigned actively in every Southern State east of the Mississippi River (except Florida and Louisiana) and also in Pennsylvania and Maryland, it may be supposed that, first and last, it enjoyed rather an adventurous career.


Beginning with the Pennsylvania border, to which it was rushed, while being organized, from Carlisle Barracks to harass and delay the rebel invasion of 1862, and with the battle of Antietam which


9


IO


History of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry.


shortly followed, the Regiment was soon after sent to Kentucky to join the army of the Cumberland, in all of whose subsequent cam- paigns, first under Rosecrans and later under Geo. H. Thomas, it participated to the close of the war. It has been observed how completely the coils were drawn around the fated Southern army, when at the time of the closing battle Sherman was in North Caro- lina and forces from the Army of the Cumberland of Thomas high up in Virginia. The latter, under General Stoneman, were repre- sented in part by this Regiment, which had borne the most promi- nent part in disabling the railroad connecting East Tennessee with Richmond, and whose advanced battalion (under Major Wagner) had, on April 8th, driven in the enemy's pickets at Lynchburg, within about twenty miles of Lee's rear at Appomattox, when on April 9, 1865, the final surrender of his army and of the Southern Cause took place. The Regiment then followed south- ward through the Carolinas, destroying the railroads and cutting off the retreat of the scattered forces with the Cabinet and Gen- erals from Richmond, many of whom it captured and paroled. Having destroyed the railroad bridge ahead of it, and but barely failing to intercept the train on which Jefferson Davis was retreat- ing, the Regiment then followed in the pursuit of Davis and his large cavalry escort supposed to be seeking union with the Confed- erate forces of the trans-Mississippi for a prolongation of the struggle. Following closely on their,heels, well down into Georgia, it drove Davis and his escort into the successful cordon which General Wilson had drawn across that State to intercept him.


These chronicles, written by men without pretence to any liter- ary training, have the interest of coming from soldiers who were part of what they describe. Forty years after the close of the war, when from sixty to seventy years of age, these veterans have turned aside for a moment from the current of their present civil life to recall and, aided by reference to their war-time letters and diaries, to set down, that it may be preserved for the edification of their children and grandchildren and successors and for the en- tertainment of their surviving comrades, this unambitious record of their regimental experience. Written especially for the "inner cir- cle" of family, friends and comrades, these familiar recollections of camp, march and engagement make no appeal for recognition by the general reader. Nevertheless they may contribute some mate-


II


Introduction.


rial of interest to the historian who hereafter seeks to recreate with truth and vividness the life of these memorable years in one of the decisive epochs of the world's history.


This Regiment, raised in the dark days of the war following the defeat of Pope in Virginia, was composed of young men of good character and physique, intelligence and spirit, carefully selected from nearly every county in Pennsylvania, from several- fold as many applicants. They were chiefly very young men- boys in fact-of good breeding and education, usefully occupied on railroads, farms, in law offices, stores and counting houses, machine shops, etc., or but just out of school or college. They had not felt strongly called upon to take the field as private sol- diers during the first year of the war, when volunteers were in excess of the demand and "acceptance" was a favor.


Enthusiasm was then unbounded and an early victory was the general expectation. But now one disaster after another had made it plain as noonday that the "putting down of the Rebellion" was no holiday affair and that the nation's throat was in the grip of a mortal enemy, with the issue in the gravest doubt.


It was at this time, and not long after the fruitless Corinth campaign, that I was detached by General Buell and sent to Penn- sylvania from Huntsville, Ala., where I was serving as Captain with my troop, to raise, by consent of the Secretary of War, a bat- talion of cavalry, which very soon, by reason of the unexpected number of young men of the desired sort offering, developed into a regiment of 1200 men.


They were among those who came forward in response to President Lincoln's call for "300,000 more." The life of the nation was at stake and they felt that their own lives would cease to have interest or justification should their country be rent asunder. The recruits for this Regiment came almost without solicitation, and without a single promise of office, commissioned or non-commissioned, directly or indirectly. Every man enlisted, as the men of "the Troop" had done before them, as a private soldier, either heedless of office or trusting to future demonstra- tion of fitness for command. It can, I think, be truthfully said that before the war closed but few of them were not competent to be officers, and many served as such with this and other regi- ments. Of the three years' experience which followed their enlist-


12


History of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry.


ment and drilling at Carlisle Barracks, or at least of the salient features of that experience, the story is told by themselves in the pages which follow. That they served with usefulness and dis- tinction is borne independent testimony to by their common repute in the Army of the Cumberland and by the reports of Gen. Geo. H. Thomas and other Commanders.


Since the close of the war, with few exceptions, they or their survivors have borne an honorable record in civil life. Among them are now found, or have been, judges, merchants, engineers, bankers, presidents and treasurers, lawyers, railroad officers, minis- ters, locomotive builders and citizens well known in many other useful and honorable pursuits. One of our First Sergeants, Wil- mon W. Blackmar, of Company K, was elected Commander-in- Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic at the National Encamp- ment held in 1904. Although most of the survivors continue to live in Pennsylvania, there are many scattered throughout the Union from the Atlantic shore to the Pacific. Sixteen were at one time assisting me in railway building in Colorado.


Perhaps to an exceptional degree the officers and men have kept up since the war their regimental associations-the surviving "comrades" meeting at a yearly banquet to exchange greetings, renew old memories and "fight their battles o'er again."


I feel sure that no war of aggression or for the spread of empire would have drawn these young men from their homes. It was a great and pure cause for which they fought, and if war is ever justifiable, their consciences are clear that this one was so. That I am proud to have commanded and to have since retained the respect and confidence of such a body of men goes without saying.


WM. J. PALMER.


HISTORY


OF THE


Fifteenth Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry


THE INCEPTION AND ORGANIZATION OF THE REGIMENT.


FIRST LIEUT. JOHN F. CONAWAY, CO. B, PHILADELPHIA.


T HE Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry was conceived shortly after the Battle of Shiloh (April, 1862) where General


Buell, after the hardest fighting that had perhaps so far oc- curred in the War of the Rebellion, drove the enemy from the field and converted the crushing defeat of the previous day into a victory.


Some two months later, at Huntsville, Alabama, realizing what even a comparatively small body of properly trained and led young cavalrymen of spirit and intelligence could do in serving as ears and eyes for the commanding General, as well as in demoralizing a retreating enemy by a bold charge at the right moment, General Buell sent for Capt. Wm. J. Palmer, then commanding his es- cort, the Anderson Troop, and asked if he could raise in Pennsyl- vania enough more of the same class of young men to increase his company to a battalion. Captain Palmer at once responded that he could, and urged to be allowed the opportunity.


General Buell, accordingly, in July, 1862, obtained permission from the War Department for Captain Palmer to enlist a battalion of 400 men for special service, and a detail was at once sent to Pennsylvania from the "Troop" for that purpose. Recruiting


13


+ 14


History of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry.


offices were opened in Philadelphia, Pittsburg and other parts of the State early in August, 1862, and in a few days the 400 inen, allowed by the War Department, were enlisted.


Captain Palmer saw at once that a full regiment of ten or twelve companies could easily be enrolled, and asked permission to increase the enlistment, which the War Department, at the re- quest of General Buell, granted. The result was that a regiment of 1200 men was very quickly secured. A large majority joined within ten days after August 10, 1862. They represented over thirty counties in the State, the larger numbers coming from Philadelphia and Allegheny, and a splendid body of young men they were.


The quickness in securing the required number of this quality of men was phenomenal. There were more than forty regiments of Pennsylvania infantry and cavalry mustered into service in August, 1862. Most of these regiments had been recruiting and in process of formation for a long time; the Fifteenth Penn- sylvania Cavalry, however, was recruited and assembled at Car- lisle, Pa., for organization and muster, in less than two weeks from the time the recruiting stations were opened.


These young men were actuated chiefly by sincere patriotic motives-they wanted to do something to suppress the rebellion and to preserve the life of the nation. That they were attracted by the promise of special service there can be no question although they may not have stopped to consider that special ser- vice meant specially arduous and dangerous service.


Probably one reason why the Regiment was formed so quickly was because it was not so easy a matter to join the Ander- son Cavalry. Special care was taken to obtain a select body of young men. Applicants were required to have a good moral character and to furnish letters of recommendation from men of standing in the respective counties, and to pass a severe physical examination. In addition, the recruiting officers from the Ander- son Troop were stationed throughout the State at their home towns, and naturally drew recruits from the circles in which they moved themselves. The result was the formation of a regiment of as intelligent, active and high-spirited young men as could be found anywhere in the country. Every man was enlisted as a pri- vate and without promise of office of any kind. Clothed in a neat-


15


The Inception and Organization of the Regiment.


fitting and handsome uniform, the members of the Regiment pre- sented an attractive appearance and, excepting training and ex- perience, possessed all the requisites of the ideal cavalry soldier.


As the men were enlisted they were sent off to Carlisle in small and larger bodies and went into camp on ground adjacent to the U. S. Cavalry barracks near that town. The camp was named "Camp Alabama," and to most of us there was something very significant in that name. Alabama at that time was to our youthful minds far down South, and little did we then think that nearly three years of great hardship and danger were before us and that many skirmishes and battles would have to be fought ere we could make our final halt at Huntsville preparatory to our happy march to Nashville to be mustered out of the service-the war being over.


On August 22, 1862, the regiment was paraded and mustered into the U. S. Service by Capt. D. H. Hastings for three years or during the war. The drill was started at once, the old regular sergeants of the barracks being the chief drill-masters and some progress was made in perfecting the details of the organization, when an interruption occurred. Lee had invaded Maryland and was threatening Pennsylvania and on September 9th and IIth two large detachments were hastily sent to the border and "Antietam" to do what they could to repel him. They performed the duty as- signed to them better than, at the time, they thought they did-the great misfortune being that they were compelled, after the battle of Antietam, to return to their camp at Carlisle without their com- mander, and thus, unfortunately, before he had selected any offi- cers for the Regiment, which then left for the Army of the Cum- berland, comparatively unofficered.


After these many years it must be a source of much gratifica- tion to every survivor to look back to those early days and recall that, with all the disappointments and troubles of the time, the boys of the Regiment (the average age was probably not over twenty years) remained faithful and anxious for duty, and although some of them, when the real test came at Nashville, at first refused to move, bringing some confusion to our ranks, it was not disloy- alty or cowardice-they wanted a leader, such as he who, having escaped from captivity, stood before us early in February, 1863, at our rude camp on the outskirts of Nashville, and said to those


16


History of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry.


drawn up in line there: "I was determined I would not appear before you until I could look every man of you in the face and say to you-this Regiment will be re-organized." And so we were or- ganized at Carlisle and re-organized at Murfreesboro, and after nearly three years' service, we returned to our homes and took up the cares and duties of civil life, and forty years after, those of us who survive, are meeting year after year to "fight our battles o'er again" and still keep up our organization.


REMINISCENCES OF THE EARLY DAYS OF THE ANDERSON CAVALRY.


C. B. NEWTON, COMPANY F, JULLUNDUR CITY, NORTH INDIA.


I N August, 1862, a group of students, including myself, in Washington College, Pa., were discussing the war and Presi- dent Lincoln's recent call for 300,000 more volunteers, when one of the number, Sam. McFarren, mentioned that a crack Regiment was being raised to be General Buell's bodyguard, and proposed that we go into it.


Our patriotism was already at a white heat and the suggestion was adopted with enthusiasm.


As soon as arrangements could be made, we secured a spring wagon and drove over to Pittsburg, twenty-eight miles distant, where we enlisted in Company F.


There were eight of us, namely: Robert Brownlee, David Clark, Edward Cornes, M. L. Hill, A. P. Howard, S. J. McFarren, J. H. Sharpe and myself.


We were soon after sent to Carlisle, where we joined the Regi- ment, and spent some weeks in being drilled by the Sergeants of the regular army stationed there.


At the time of Lee's invasion of Maryland, in September, the Regiment was hurried down to the front, gathering up our equip- ment of horses on the way.


At Chambersburg I was detailed on orderly duty at headquar- ters, and served in this capacity for three days, which proved advantageous to me in two ways. First, I had my pick out of some hundreds of horses and secured a fine animal, which did me a good turn when we had our baptism of fire at Antietam. The second advantage was the opportunity afforded me of seeing a fine sight, namely, the gathering of the Pennsylvania clans at the special call of Governor Curtin. Besides the many stalwart regi- ments furnished by the State for the regular volunteer army, the attempted invasion of the North by the rebel army stimulated the


2


17


18


History of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry.


Governor to an extra effort, and 50,000 emergency men responded to his call. Camps were established for the enrollment and organi- zation of these men, and one of these, Camp McClure, was situated near Chambersburg. While I was acting as orderly, it became my duty to carry dispatches to Camp McClure several times, and there I saw what thrilled me with patriotic fervor. The town of Wash- ington, Pa., where I had been attending college, had sent its best citizens, and here I saw many whom I had known personally- lawyers, doctors and ministers, as well as business men. There was Dr. Scott, the President of Washington College, a man of magnificent proportions-six feet six, I should judge. He was a Corporal, and for uniform wore a stout leather belt over his black clerical coat.




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