USA > Pennsylvania > History of the First regiment infantry, National guard of Pennsylvania (Grey Reserves) 1861-1911, pt 2 > Part 1
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Gc 973.74 P38Ła pt.2 1757774
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00825 0828
HISTORY
OF THE
FIRST REGIMENT
INFANTRY
NATIONAL GUARD OF PENNSYLVANIA
(GRAY RESERVES)
1861-1911
1
BY JAMES W. LATTA
MAJOR-GENERAL NATIONAL GUARD OF PENNSYLVANIA, RETIRED
ET
PHILADELPHIA & LONDON J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1912
1
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT. N. G. P. 1892
MORNING REPORT, FIRST REGIMENT INFANTRY NATIONAL GUARD OF PENNSYL- VANIA, COLONEL WENDELL P. BOWMAN, COMMANDING, CAMP GENERAL
MCCLELLAND, MOUNT GRETNA, PENNSYLVANIA, JULY 14, 1892:
Present
Absent
Aggregate
Officers
Enlisted Mien
Total
Officers
I'mlisted Men
Total
Officers
Enlisted Men
Total
Field and staff ..
7
5
12
1
I
8
5
13
Company A. Captain Charles Evans Rodgers.
3
54
57
. .
3
54
57
Company B. Captain William ; Ewing ..
3
60
63
3
60
63
Company C. W. Orme ..
Captain Milton
2
58
60
2
58
60
Company D. Captain Harry J. Crump.
3
60
63
3
60
63
Company E. First Lieutenant Charles P. Hunt, commanding
3
60
63
.
3 60
63
Company F. Captain William Brod.
3
60
63
3
60
63
Company G. Williams.
Captain A. L.
3
60
63
3
60
63
Company H. Captain Clarence T. Kensil.
3
60
63
. .
3 60
63
Company I. Captain Thomas H P. Todd .. .
2
60
62
. .
.
.
2
60
62
Company K. First Lieutenant
3
60
63
. .
.
3
60
63
35
597
632
1
1 36
597
633
. .
..
Charles F. Hess, commanding
The field and staff as unofficially reported were as follows: Colonel, Wen- dell P. Bowman; major, J. Lewis Good, commanding first battalion; Captain Jas. Muldoon, commanding second battalion; adjutant. Robt. G. Stinson; quartermaster, F. P. Koons; surgeon, Alexis DuPont Smith; assistant sur- geons, Edw. Martin and Norton Downs; chaplain, Rev. Saml. D. McCon- nell, D.D .; sergeant-major, H. J. Mchard; quartermaster-sergeant, L. L. F. Toboldt; commissary-sergeant, John C. Sheain; drum-major, Wm. D. Baker.
Then followed the inspections of the Second and Third Regi- ments, the battalion of State Fencibles, the Gray Invincibles, and the Battery, the whole concluding with a review by the com- mander-in-chief. And when the work was over General Dechert and the regimental commanders were each heartily congratulated by the governor in warm expressions of approval of the appear- ance and manifest efficiency of officers and men. The days fol-
1852
OFFICIAL COMMENT
377
lowing were uneventful, save the speculative ventures of opinion is to a further movement westward.
Resistance to the enforcement of law and order at Homestead was on the wane. The formidable force, " the largest, perhaps," said General Snowden in his official report, " that any sheriff in the history of our race has had at his call," had from its very strength accomplished its purpose without bloodshed. The law was coming to its own again. It was evident it could soon main- tain itself of itself. At least a reserve could be safely dispensed with. Hence General Dechert, who had been ordered to hold his brigade " in readiness to move at short notice until relieved," his services being no longer required in the field, was on Tues- day, the 19th of July, directed to break his camp, relieve his troops from further duty, and return them by the most practicable rail- way route to their respective rendezvous. These orders promptly put in process of execution, the regiments were soon after dis- missed at their several armories, with Camp General William McClelland. Mount Gretna, and the Homestead riots of 1892 but a memory.
The crisis seemingly over, and there appearing no further need for so large a body of troops, the homeward movement from the seat of the disturbance began on the 27th of July, when the force was reduced to three regiments, the Fifth, Fifteenth, Six- teenth, a battalion of the Tenth, Battery B, and the Sheridan Troop, with General Wiley remaining in command. From time to time other regiments were relieved, but it was not deemed pru- dent to deprive the civil authorities of all military support until some time thereafter, and the last regiment to leave, the Six- teenth, was not finally withdrawn until the 13th of October.
The volume of official comment on this compaign is of intense interest and much value. The following brief extraets from Gen- eral Snowden's exhaustive, comprehensive, and well-digested offi- cial report (Adjutant-General's Report, 1892) are of special moment :
A concentration of so large a body of soldiers from far-distant parts, with such full ranks. without previous notice. in so short a time, was never before. I believe. accomplished by any troops. . . .
Officers and men hurried from all parts of the country as far away as New Orleans, Bo-tor. Maine. Texas. Montana, and the West, as rapidly as
375
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
1892
steam could carry them, and some abroad used the cable to show their will- ingness to come. ..
The campaign is not without valuable results and information. It showed the staff to be intelligent and efficient, an organization of which the State may well be proud, and of which the advantages are incalculable. It proved that the claim so confidently put forth that the division could be concentrated in a few hours in any part of the State was well founded. The rapidity and the strength with which it assembled surpassed expectation. On the eleventh of July the First Brigtde showed a percentage of 96.6 for duty; on the twelfth the division had present 93.8 per centum. and on the nineteenth, the highest mark, a proportion of the whole force present and under arms of 95.3 per centum. In the First Regiment every place was filled except one. [Italies the author's.]
It is rarely that a disturbance of such magnitude as that at Homestead, arousing antagonism so bitter and intense, remained so distinctly local. Localized though as were its actualities, its political significance, so it was asserted, touched the nation's farthest boundary. Its effect, if conjecture was well founded, was marvellous. It uprooted a powerful political party that with but a brief interruption had held dominant sway for upward of thirty years. It swept it from control, in the end, not only of the executive but of the legislative councils, and disturbed an economic policy through which the country had grown to huge prosperity. But the country was not content under the new dispensation. The thrift that was promised had not materialized. The new régime had brought shrinkage instead of expansion, contraction rather than enlargement, with labor idle, capital stagnant.
The effect of this change, operative but for a single presiden- tial term, had vivid illustration some years afterward from a political platform in a town in western Pennsylvania with a larger labor population than any outside the greater cities. _ 1 speaker forceful, logical, impressive, of ready resources, was ad- dressing an audience that crowded the town's Opera House to its doors, made up mostly of workingmen. He was extolling the virtues of the Republican party, laying special emphasis upon the results of its policies. the thrift that had followed its achieve- ments, how employment was plentiful and disturbances few, when a stentorian voice from the body of the house, apparently voicing the sentiment of those around him. cried out: " We didn't have any strikes when Cleveland was President." " Yes," came the quick retort, "but you got to get a job before you can strike."
379
ANNUAL REPORT OF INSPECTOR-GENERAL
1-02
It was the orator's triumph-a volume in a phrase. He had cap- tured his audience, and for the rest of the evening could do with it as he pleased.
The following extracts from the annual report for 1592 of Col. Chambers MeKibbin, inspector-general. are important in showing what effect the interjection of the Homstead disturbance had on the general annual inspections as at first scheduled :
My duties during the past year were different from the ordinary rou- tine, the placing of the Guard in the field at Homestead necessitating a remodeling of the plans formulated for the year's work of this depart- ment. .
This tour of duty afforded an opportunity to observe the Guard from a new standpoint. Called into the field without warning, and without time to make such arrangements as are considered necessary prior to a summer encampment, the various organizations reported with such equipment as was deemed requisite for the duty at hand. In this shape they were inspected. the First Brigade at Mt. Gretna and the Second and Third Brigades and the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry at Homestead. The inspections were carried out on the rigid lines laid down by the Pennsylvania system; there was no passing over of defects and no lowering of the standard, but the ceremony was performed precisely as in the summer camps of instruc- tion. It was a severe test, but the result proved the often-repeated assertion that the Guard of Pennsylvania was organized for service. Everything was found to be in the condition expected when the troops are in the field for an ordinary encampment.
The First Regiment, with an aggregate of 633, 1 absent, and 632 present, a percentage of attendance of 99.8, seeured a general average of 89.3, and a figure of efficiency of $9.2. It stood second on the list. Its active competitor, the Thirteenth, with an aggregate of 467, 9 absent, 458 present, a percentage of attend- anee of 98.2, a general average of 94.5, and a figure of efficiency of 02.7, led it, as it did all other regiments, in the State.
The First Regiment qualified every man on its rolls at the close of the rifle practice season on November 14. 1892: 59 sharpshooters, 540 marksmen-a total of 599, being an increase of 148 over the record of 1591. The company average was 58.4. Two other regiments, eight companies each, the Twelfth and Thir- teenth, also qualified every officer and man; the Twelfth. 454. with a company average of 38.7, and the Thirteenth, 450, with a company average of 58.1.
Of this achievement Colonel Bowman in his Orders No. 40, December 30, 1992, speaks as follows :
------
350
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
1892
You have the distinguished honor of being the first and only regiment of ten companies in the National Guard of this Commonwealth to qualify every member on its rolls as a sharpshooter or marksman.
You stand to-day a compact body of trained officers and soldiers num- bering 500, and every man a sharpshooter or marksman, being within 46 of the maximum strength allowed by law in time of peace.
And Major Herbert Cox, the brigade inspector of rifle prac- tice, in his annual report of 1592 adds his tribute as follows :
Too much credit cannot be given the officers and men of the First Regi- ment for their success in qualifying every man on the rolls. This result was only obtained after hard work and much personal inconvenience and expense on the part of the members of that regiment. A great deal is due to the intelligent and efficient services of Lieutenant Thomas D. MeGlathery, inspector of rifle practice. Last winter he gave leetures to the officers and non-commissioned officers of each company upon the manufacture and use of the rifle and the proper adjustment of the sights and wind gauge, at the same time giving each one personal instruction in the aiming and sighting drills.
" The Potter trophy, to become the property of the organiza- tion first winning it three times, was won by the team of the First Regiment " with the following score : Musician Theo. F. Shonert, Company H, 86; Lieutenant A. W. Deane, Company D, 84; Ser- geant-Major H. J. Mehard, 81; Corporal H. L. Cooper, Company C, 69. Total, 320. A second, also a Potter prize of four silver collar badges, was won by the team of Company D, First Regiment, with a score of 143. In the regimental match the First Regiment was seventh on the list with a score of 314, and in the Coleman match, third, with a score of 417.
" The superiority of Pennsylvania marksmanship was mani- fested in the interstate rifle competitions at Sea Girt, New Jer- sey, in the month of September. On this occasion the Pennsyl- vania team won the two great international matches, the Hilton trophy and the Interstate, the latter by the highest score (1051) shot in all the eighteen years since the competition began." The New York team scored 998, the District of Columbia 990, and the New Jersey team 992. The First Regiment contribution to the Interstate match was Sergeant-Major H. J. Mehard, who made the highest individual score, 93: and Musician T. F. Shonert, who stood sixth, with a score of SS. On the Hilton trophy match Mehard was eleventh, with a score of $2, and Shonert. twelfth. with a seore of SO.
1
1402
3-1
" COLUMBIAN CELEBRATION "
The Board of Officers subsequently recognized the participa- tion of their own people in Pennsylvania's significant success, in this international competition by the presentation of a badge of appropriate design and ornate construction, the outside circle a wreath of green and gold leaves, top a bull's-eye, bottom a bow- knot, field of tourquoise blue enamel, centre a United States shield and Springfield rifle, inscribed Interstate and Hilton Trophy, suspended from a bar with inscription, State Team, 1892. Upon the reverse was the following: " Presented to Ser- geant-Major Harry J. Mehard and Musician Theodore F. Sho- nert by the Board of Officers, First Regiment Infantry, N. G. P., for Distinguished Marksmanship, Pennsylvania State Team, Sea Girt, September 9, 1892."
Company H still continued to preserve its touch with the command from which its early membership was largely recruited. On Angust 31. 1592, under the command of Captain Clarence T. Kensil, it paraded to attend a reunion and campfire of the 118th Pennsylvania Corn Exchange Regiment at the Falls of Schuyl- kill.
The commemorative ceremonies attendant upon the celebration of the four hundredth anniversary of the landing of Columbus, October 12, 1892. had their more significant demonstration in the city of New York, where its observance. officially designated as the " Columbian Celebration," had its greater prominence in the military and naval displays. The 12th, the anniversary day it- self, was assigned to the military. In a well-constructed descrip- tive story of the occasion it was said that " the metropolis had already illustrated her ability in the art of entertainment with the school parade. the naval pageant, the Catholic societies parade, and the magnificent fireworks exhibition from the bridge: but by far the greatest and most successful of all the events of the Colum- bian celebration was the brilliant military parade of the 12th." In this parade. composed of troops from the regular army, marines and sailors from the fleet in the harbor. the National Guard of New York, New Jersey. Connecticut, and other States, a signifi- cant feature was the First Brigade of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, under the command of Brig .- Gen. Robert P. Dech- ert : the more so as the service uniform in which it appeared was
-
352
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
1802
in conspicuous contrast, and not to its disadvantage, with the full- dress uniforms of the other troops.
The regimental orders for the occasion published October 7, 1892, issued pursuant to general orders from brigade headquar- ters, announced that the regiment would participate "in the Columbian celebration in New York City on October 12." pre- scribed for the occasion the service uniform, campaign hats, heavy marching order, with this modification: "The enlisted men will carry their overcoats rolled inside the rubber blankets tied at each end and thrown over the left shoulder." Another modification --- Major, now Lieut .- Col. J. Lewis Good, with First Lieutenant Eugene J. Kensil. Company H, as acting adjutant, and First Sergeant William B. Johnson, Company G, as acting sergeant- major, was assigned to the first battalion. composed of Companies E, F, G, II, and I. and Captain, now Major Albert L. Williams, with First Lieutenant Artemas W. Deane. Company D, as acting adjutant, and First Sergeant F. H. Pierce, Company A, as acting sergeant-major, was assigned to the second, composed of Compan- ies C, B, A, K, and D.
The field and staff were directed to appear mounted, and it was announced that on the morning of the parade the brigade in- · spector would inspect the brigade and men not uniformed as pre- scribed would not be permitted to parade.
The first call was sounded on the morning of the 12th at the armory at 6.10. the assembly at 6.20, and at 6.30, under the com- mand of Col. Wendell P. Bowman, the regiment moved out of the armory direet for the railway station, whence it entrained for New York, where it arrived promptly on its scheduled time.
The parade, under the command of Gen. Martin T. McMahon as chief marshal, well remembered by all the Pennsylvania sol- diers who ever served in the old Sixth Army Corps as its distin- guished adjutant-general, began its movement from Bowling Green promptly at ten o'clock, over the following route: From the Battery at the foot of Broadway to Fourth Street, thence west. passing around Washington Square, to Fifth Avenue, up Fifth Avenue to Fourteenth Street, Fourth Avenue to Seventeenth, along Fifth Avenue from Seventeenth Street to Fifty-ninth Street, Central Park, where it was disbanded.
1502
SOLDIERLY BEARING OF PHILADELPHIA TROOPS
A New York correspondent in his review of the display of the twelfth said: "A noted feature of the great military display in this city yesterday was the admirable appearance and soldierly bearing of the Philadelphia troops, consisting of the First Bri- gade National Guard, commanded by Brig .- Gen. R. P. Dechert, minbering 2400 trained soldiers."
The Pennsylvanians had fourth place in the column, preceded by the United States regulars, the naval brigade, the New York troops, and followed by the New Jersey regiments, the Connecticut regiments, and the Grand Army. The Sixth Regiment, Col. John W. Schall, four hundred and forty-seven strong, had the right of the First Brigade. " The First Regiment, Col. Wendell P. Bowman, followed. This command had six hundred men and a drum corps. The men carried no knapsacks, but each one had an india-rubber ciled blanket rolled up over his shoulder and pre- sented a novel sight. The appearance of the regiment was splen- did." Another comment reads: " The band of the First Penn- sylvania Regiment, which was uniformed much like the Sixth. marched in single file. The regiment's platoon front was good, and better marching than some of the other troops brought appre- ciative applause. Nearly the full strength of the regiment had turned out-ten companies, in all. Colonel Bowman was in com- mand. His men had the air of veterans and looked formidable on the march."
The Second Regiment, Col. Oliver C. Bosbyshell, with nearly six hundred men in line, followed the First; then came the four hundred men of the Third Regiment, Lieut .- Col. Thomas H. Maginnis, the battalion of State Feneibles, Major William _1. Witherup. with the Gray Invincibles, Captain Charles W. Hail- stock, bringing up the rear.
. As the Philadelphia soldiers [said the special correspondent of the Evening Bulletin] turned into Fifth Avenue from Fourteenth Street (a good point of observation ) the great crowd at that point chrered them lustily. and their perfect marching and soldierly bearing attracted general attention, for there was no glitter or unnecessary display about the Quaker City boys, as they wore the same regulation blue, hard-service uniform they donned when they were so suddenly called out to proceed to the Homestead riots, and where they did such hard and protracted service. "Here comes the Homestead soldiers." could be heard along the line as the "Boys in Blue" passed up Fifth Avenue, and the command looked ready to go into service
IS92
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
then and there, as they were encumbered with no unnecessary toggery, and they marched along only to the music of a large file and drum corps, and it was practically the same body of men who were on duty at Homestead, trans- ferred to the streets of New York.
The Philadelphia Call of October 13, adds:
The Pennsylvania soldiers made a grand appearance in the big parade at New York. They were not decked out as most of the militiamen were, but when it came to marching and to the exhibition of soldierly qualities the boys from Pennsylvania were undoubtedly and unquestionably next to the regulars. All the way from the Post Office building up Broadway and out Fifth Avenue to Fifty-ninth Street were our National Guardsmen cheered as no other division of the great parade was cheered.
And the New York World of the same date continues :
The First Regiment, also from Philadelphia, was equipped in the mod- ern style, with no knapsacks, and the blankets wound round the shoulders in a big roll, like a cross between a parade scarf and a life-preserver. This regiment alone, of all that had passed thus far, seemed to have " caught on to the curves," so to speak, of the avenue. Its lines were dressed over to the east side of the avenue before the stand was reached, and the files went by the Governor pointed straight up the street and with an even front.
And to this same uniform question General Snowden in his official report for 1892 contributes this sentence: "A recent parade of the First Brigade in New York in the service dress was re- ceived with great approbation and shows that the simple uniform still answers the purpose for which it was designed."
The regiment was again in the hands of its old entertainers, the Twenty-second Regiment, National Guard of the State of New York, and at the conclusion of the parade the recipient at its armory, as of yore, of that generous hospitality and attentive courtesy with which it had become so well acquainted, and which on this occasion the Board of Officers afterward appreciatively acknowledged by suitable testimonial. The host in no haste to part with his guest, and he quite willing to stay, only permitted him to leave with margin sufficient to reach the foot of Liberty Street in time for a special scheduled for a midnight departure, which after a fairly expeditious run delivered the regiment at its home destination, thus closing a successful and eventful partici- pation in the great military pageant of New York's Columbian celebration of 1892.
385
BANNER YEAR FOR THE FIRST
The regimental banners were on the outer walls; 1892 was a baner year for the First Regiment. Summoned at 2.30 in the morning for the field, at ten it left the armory fully armed and equipped, with 381 present and but 52 absentees, " the next day every place filled except one," and before three o'clock, twelve hours after its summons, it was at its destination, one hundred and - three miles away : it presented for inspection at the annual muster 632 of an aggregate, 36 officers and 597 enlisted men, with but one absentee; it furnished two soldiers, one-sixth of the team that won for Pennsylvania both of the international matches, the one the Interstate match won by " the highest score shot in all the eighteen years since the competition began," the highest individual score having been made by the regimental sergeant-major; it qualified as sharpshooter or marksinen every member out of the 599 on the rolls of the regiment; it scored a triumph, won the plaudits of enthusiastic crowds, secured the cneomiums of the critically observing correspondent in the great military pageant, the crowning incident in New York's international celebration of the fourth eentenary of the discovery of the continent. A page bright in story; an era in the chronicles brilliant and impressive !
The commission of Lieut .- Col. Thomas E. Huffington expired by limitation July 26, 1892. He declined a re-election and thus severed a connection which, beginning January 10, 1872, had been continuous for upward of twenty years. Colonel Huffington was a private in Company F, Seventh Delaware Volunteers, July 1, 1864; corporal, July 12, 1864; captain and A. Q. M., August 1, 1864; honorably mustered ont. June, 1865. On January 10, 1872, he enlisted as private in Company F, First Regi- ment Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania ; was made a ser- geant November 1, 1873; elected second lieutenant January 11, 1875; captain. May 31, 1875; re-elected captain June 28, 1880; major, November 14, 1585; and lieutenant-colonel. July 26, 1887. The Board of Officers in their resolutions, in which they desired to place on record their high regard and great respect for him and their regret at his retirement, after briefly summarizing his mili- tary career, among other things, said: " That we are ever mind- ful of his high soldierly attainments. trained tactical abilities, painstaking and thoughtful; his skill as drill-master, whether as
25
386
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
1802
a commandant or subaltern; and his faithful discharge of all committee work entrusted to him have secured for him a record of enviable distinction ; and his judgment has materially aided in maintaining for the regiment the high place it has ever so worthily held."
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