USA > Pennsylvania > Lebanon County > Lebanon County's emergency volunteers at Gettysburg : paper read before the Lebanon County Historical Society, August 18, 1905 > Part 1
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 01792 1948
- GENEALOGY 974.801 L49L V. 3, NO.7
Lebanon County's Emergency Volunteers at Gettysburg.
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PAPER READ BEFORE THE LEBANON COUNTY HISTORICAL
SOCIETY. AUGUST 18, 1905.
By CAPT. H. M. M. RICHARDS, LEBANON, PA.
VOL. III. No. 7.
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Lebanon County's Emergency Volunteers at Gettysburg.
BY H. M. M. RICHARDS.
Gettysburg was not only one of the most hotly contested battles ever fought, but, probably beyond all others, the most important. The battle of Hastings, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, aud Waterloo, did much to shape the ultimate destiny of the human race, as indeed does every war and every conflict, but their immediate result was but to change, for a little while, the boundaries and maps of a small part of the world and to increase some of its kingdoms and principalities, while others were correspondingly diminished. Under Provi- dence. however. Gettysburg' meant the immediate striking of the shackles of slavery from the limbs of millions of bondsmen and bondswomen, and freedom not only to all peoples on this continent. but the establishment of a principle which, like a wave, should spread to the remotest realms of the world. Not only that, but it gave the death-blow to all thoughts of secession and cemented together the two parts of this country into a mighty nation whose influence should be felt every- where. It led' to the freedom of Cuba, the emancipation of the Philippine Islands, and has been instrumental in the awakening of Japan, the result of whose victory over benighted and despotic Russia. for the advancement of civilization and relief of suffering humanity, no eye can foresee, save that of Him in whose hands are all the destinies of the nations,, and no human brain can even imagine.
If such be the case, it cannot be otherwise than a matter of interest and importance to make public even the smallest
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details of such a conflict. _ Much more should this be done when it is known that on one of these details, of which but little has been written and of which the public is practically ignorant, hung, in truth, the fate of the battle if not of the . entire nation. To us it is of special interest, in that Lebanon was closely identified with and an active participant in the op- erations in question.
Why Lee should have attempted to invade Pennsylvania is somewhat of a mystery, and an open question wirich has been discussed for years, both pro and cou, by able men, so the writer of this will not assume to burden his hearers with any crude thoughts of his own upon the subject. The South had long since learned to respect the ability and bravery of its Northern foe. Already it was "robbing the cradle and the grave " to fill, by conscription, the depleted ranks of its armies, while in the North were teeming thousands capable of reinforcing its already great hosts. It is probable that a realization of this fact influenced the Southern leaders to make a supreme effort at this time. Never had their forces been in better shape, their ranks better filled nor their veteran soldiers of a better quality. On the contrary, in the North an element of discontent with the progress of the war was beginning to show itself. There were thousands who openly called the war a failure and demanded that further bloodshed should cease : organized opposition to draft was developed ; a frequent : change of Union commanders, and ineffectual results, had discouraged both the army and the people. When could there be a more opportune time for a dash into the .enemy's country, filled with its plentiful crops and everything needed for the support of an army ;. the carrying of war into the midst of those who knew nothing of its horrors save by report, and who were already complaining of its continuance ; a victory or two, to be followed by a demand on the Northern government by its alarmed people for peace, and a probable recognition of the Confederacy by the European Powers, who were but waiting such an excuse ? It was too tempting a bait
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to ignore. The die was cast, whether for success or disaster. The Army of Northern Virginia was reorganized into three . corps, under the command respectively of Longstreet, Ewell and Hill, and the line of march taken up for Harrisburg via Winchester, Harper's Ferry and Chambersburg.
The great battle of Gettysburg was the first and only conflict fought on Pennsylvania soil. A defeat of the Union army would have resulted in untold misery. It became, therefore, the bounden duty of every Pennsylvanian to see that disaster did not attend our forces.
Without detracting in any degree from the honors won by the valor of others, it is a constant source of pride to the Pennsylvania soldier to realize that he did not fail to do bis duty, and that much of the glory of those days rests upon his- shoulders. The first shot fired in the. campaign was by Pennsylvaniams : General Gregg. whose gallant cavalry con- flict accomplished so much, was a Pennsylvanian ; the com- inander of the Union forces and two .of his general officers, Reynolds and Hancock, who were pre-eminently the heroes of the day, one of whom sealed his derotion to his country with This life's, blood. were Pennsylvanians ; the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps saved Round Top and the army from being flanked : it was the Philadelphia Brigade that stood opposed to Pickett's tulmm.ating charge : Pennsylvania had 27.000 men 'in line of battle against the enemy, and Pennsylvania's soil was enriched with blood from the veins of twenty per cent. of her sons who went into the conflict. It is a theme on which a Pennsylvanian may well love to dwell, and over which he is surely justified in feeling pride.
Tales might be told of individual acts of heroism, not . confined to the soldiery alone, as the oft repeated story of old John Burns, of Gettysburg, and the less familiar one of young Weakley. from the same town, both participants in the battle. We might recount scores of noble deeds done by the other citizens of Gettysburg, especially during the first day's fight. We might even rehearse the angel visits to the hospitals after
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the battle, and the works of mercy done therein, but were we to begin where should we. end, and, even though it were possible to do so, we would be merely going over again. what others have already written. But, beyond all these, in the subject of "Pennsylvania's Emergency Men at Gettysburg,' we find a comparatively untrodden field. and a fact which, from neglect, bids fair to pass into oblivion, and that is that the Emergency Volunteers of Pennsylvania, in addition to her other troops, likewise performed the full measure of their duty in that dread period.
I desire to make this prominent more especially because the tendency has been to thoughtlessly belittle those who are sneeringly denominated as "militia." And yet it was with militia that General Jackson gained the great battle of New Orleans, and, when the cause of American Independence seemed on the verge of ruin, it was mainly with the aid of Pennsylvania militia that Washington accomplished the de- cisive victories of Trenton and Princeton, thus turning per- manently the tide of war and assuring the grand results which eventually followed. And it was the 26th Emergency Regi- . ment, a part of Pennsylvania's gallant sons, who were the first troops to oppose the entrance of the Confederates into Penn. sylvinia, the first to meet the enemy at Gettysburg, and the first to draw blood in that historic combat. . During this time tts members, besides being engaged with the enemy, were two days without food: three days and two nights, substantially without sleep or rest; they marched forty five out of fifty.two consecutive hours: materially delayed the advance .of. Lee's army; saved Harrisburg from capture, and, with. the knowl- edge of events which we now .possess, who can deny that these occurrences were not instrumental in the salvation of the entire nation
The manner in which the people of Pennsylvania received the news of the threatened invasion of their State is one of the peculiar occurrences in history. It was with comparative apathy and unconcern. They had heard the cry of "Wolf !" ·
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so often that when the wolf really came they would not be- lieve it. In 1862 the same foe had advanced to the frontier, the militia had sprung to arms in a body, and, without even waiting to uniform themselves, had rushed to the front only in time to hear the guns of the retreating army at Antietam; various cavalry raids had threatened and alarmed but to. pass away harmlessly; our Democratic friends thought it was merely a political ruse on the part of Governor Curtin to keep them away from the polls at election. and so the great and ever-patriotic State of Pennsylvania closed its eyes to the dangers which surrounded it and its ears to all appeals for aid.
However, there were still many to be found who were awake to the actual conditions of the case. When an in- vasion of some description became an assured fact on June 15th the President of the United States issued a call for 50.000 volunteers, and, in response, many pressed forward hastily to Harrisburg; too hastily, in fact, as company organi zation was not even effected in various instances, some of the bodies arriving barely constituting respectable squads. In-
deed, the call. was greatly-misunderstood, the general impres sion being that the Governor of the State was concentrating the militia as in 1862, and the fact was overlooked that it came from the President himself, and was for regular volun- teers in the United States service to be enlisted for the term of six months. The dilemma was great. Loyal men had sprung to armis to whom business, family ties, pecuniary resources, even health itself, made a prolonged absence utterly impossi- ble. Until mustered into the service food and shelter were not to be obtained. The streets of Harrisburg were filled with unorganized crowds. roaming about aimlessly. Utterly discouraged many returned home. General Conch, in .com- mind, was at his wit's end. Finally, Simon Cameron, with Governor Curtin and General Couch, suggested to Secretary Stanton that the Government modify its term of enlistment to embrace the "existing emergency." To this Mr. Stanton acceded, having previously, in a letter of June 15th, written : "No one can tell how long the present emergency for troops
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in Pennsylvania may continue. The present movement is but- the execution of Jeff. Davis' original plan to make Penn - sylvania and the loyal States the theatre of war. Human foresight cannot say how long it may take to drive out the rebels."
Order at once began to come out of the chaos which had existed. The consent of Secretary Stanton was given at twenty minutes before two o'clock on the afternoon of June 17th, and that same afternoon 57 students from the Pennsyl- vania College, + from the Lutheran Seminary and 22 citi. zens, all of Gettysburg, the first of the Emergency troops, took the oath'and entered the service of the United States. These 83 men, to which the writer had the honor of belonging, became Company A, of the 26th Emergency Regiment, Penn - sylvania Volunteers, the first to be mustered and organized. By June 22nd the formation of the entire regiment had been completed and it was ready for service. Its commanding officer was Colonel W. W. Jennings, of Harrisburg. whose regiment of nine months' volunteers (127th Regt. P. V. ) had but recently been mustered out: thoroughly capable and most brave, he was held in highest esteem by all. He had a cor- respondingly good opinion of his own men, and' seemed to
- have an especial contempt for those who composed the Phila - delphia regiments, whom he denominated as "city chaps." hardly worthy to be called soldiers and only fit for stragglers. Lieut. Col. Jenkins, from Hanover, did not have the same faculty of securing the good graces of those under him. but bravely sealed-his loyalty to the Union with his life's blood. in front of. Petersburg a year later. Major Lorenzo Leonard Greenawalt, of Lebanon, a veteran captain of the 127th Regt , P. V., Co. E, and an old campaigner who had crossed the plains to the Pacific Coast in 1852 when the undertaking was a hazardous one, was held in special reverence by the "boys" with whom he always insisted upon marching on foot; he had a stentorian voice like the roar of a bull. with the heart of a child; he could thrash any two men in the regiment, but never used his strength save for kindly acts. Joseph L. I.em-
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berger, of Lebanon, served on the Regimental Staff as Hospi- tal Steward. Actively identified with all the experience of the regiment, and by no means the least worthy of its com- ponent parts, was Company E from Lebanon County, a full roster of which will be found attached hereto.
My own company (A), Captain Frederick Klinefelter, came from Gettysburg and was made up as has been already stated. I cannot here refrain from reiterating a fact, which has been published in the Century magazine, in a previous article of mine, that, notwithstanding the generally accepted reflection cast upon the people of Gettysburg by Bret Harte in his popular poem on old John Burns, it is nevertheless true that the same little town, in addition to her full quota already in the service, furnished one company of volunteers, besides a troop of horse under Major Robert Bell, to aid in repelling Lee's invasion, and that from Hanover, but a few miles dis. tant, came another company also in our regiment.
In addition to the 26th Regt. followed speedily the forma- tion of the 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, and 33rd regiments (the zoth Regt. already in existence), the whole . constituting :- the Pennsylvania "Emergency" Volunteers during Lee's invasion; and no. army ever contained better material for soldiers than did this body of troops.
It is a matter of considerable historical interest to bear in mind the time of enlistment of- these patriotic men. No other troops committed themselves into the hands of the Government for an enlistment of indefinite time. Governor S. W. Pennypacker, himself an honored member of the regi- ment (Co. F), has very properly said : "Happily the emer- gency proved to be only for a brief period, but with Lee in the State it might have been of long and indefinite duration, and they took the risk. The invasion of Italy by Hannibal lasted for twenty years. Since the origin of the feuds the uncertain service has always been regarded as the most, hon- orable."
It is well, at this time, to correct any possible misunder- standing with regard to the status of these troops. In no
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sense were they militia. They were enlisted in the service of the United States Government alone; hold regular I'nited States discharges; were armed # uniformed and equipped by the United States; under the command of United States offi- cers, and were no more responsible to the State of Pennsyl- vania than any others of her volunteers.
Owing to the rapidity with which the momentous events of the time occurred the emergency troops alone were enabled to take part in the defense of the State .- \\s our present pur- pose is to detail the service of the 26th Regt. in particular. and of its Lebanon members, we will only say that the other · regiments were stationed in and about Carlisle, Chambers- burg, York, etc., where they contested the advance of Ewell's corps, so far as able, until overpowered by numbers and driven back on Harrisburg, where they were disposed to receive the- attack which, fortunately, never came.
Upon the first indication of danger Major General D. N. Couch was detached from the Army of the Potomac and ordered to Harrisburg to arrange for its defe :: . 2. That he did everything possible within the short space of time allotted him admits of no doubt. The Department of the Susquehanna was established. The Emergency troops were organized and stationed as already mentioned." Various militia regiments from New York and neighboring States were received and hurried forward. Fort Couch (later called Fort Washington ), . quite an extensive earthwork, was built on the opposite side of the river, commanding the approaches to Harrisburg, and other minor works and defences, such as abattis, arranged at various points. Then, seeing how utterly inadequate were the numbers at his disposal, General Couch, through Govern- or Curtin, made a spirited appeal to the people, and, on June 26th, called for the formation of militia regiments for State service, to be under the control of the State officials. By . this time an appeal, was hardly needed. Even at that mo- ment the 26th regiment was contesting the entrance of Early's advance division into Gettysburg, and parts of Milroy's re-
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treating -troops from Harper's Ferry, with their baggage. wagons, were dashing into Harrisburg spreading alarm every- where. Hardly was the proclamation in the hands of those whom it called, when Jenkin's rebel cavalry were already thundering at the gates of their capitol, and the beautiful bridge over the Susquehanna at Columbia had been destroyed when it could no longer be defended. Where before there had been but apathy and unconcern was now the wildest alarm. From Philadelphia to Harrisburg; in all cities, towns and hamlets, people were burying their valuables, and, to the sound of the alarm bell and beat of drum, the loyal men of Pennsylvania, now thoroughly aroused, were flocking by thousands to ber standard. Camps were established at various points of strategic value, and. in the briefest time, twenty -- eighth regiments, from the 32nd to the 60th (except the 33rd Emergency regiment), together with various independent ^companies and batteries, were mustered into the service of the State. By that time the battle of Gettysburg had just been fought, yet many of these regiments were enabled to join the · other troops who were pushed forward by forced marches un- til they came within sound of Lee's guns as he retreated, but. unfortunately, too late to be of material benefit. The invasion was over. Peace again reigned supreme in Pennsylvania, and its soldiers returned joyfully to their unharmed homes.
The early morning of June 24th, 1863, found the . 26th regiment on cars, enroute to Gettysburg, selected for the hon- orable but dangerous duty of defending the passes through the hills at Cashtown, thus delaying the enemy and securing a few more hours for preparation, so badly needed. "Man proposes, but God disposes," and the carrying out of this program, which might have completely changed the entire history of the war, was prevented by a poor woman's cow that stepped in front of our train, when still six miles distant from Gettysburg, wrecking a portion of it, tearing up the track and causing us to go into camp then and there.
It was here that Company A became known as the "pious" company. Our friends and relatives in Gettysburg,
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hearing of our whereabouts, promptly loaded up several- teams with pies and other delicacies for our refreshment. As we were on the right of the regiment the first invoice naturally reached its destination, but the rest of the "boys" seeing each member of the company with a pie in his hand, a loaf of bread under his arm. and a broad grin on his face, soon "caught on" to what was transpiring, whereupon they quiet- ly walked up the road a short distance. To the uext team that came along the question was asked. "For what company are you looking ? " and upon hearing the reply, "Company A !" with an utter disregard for all semblance of truth they yelled out, "Here you are !" and immediately cleaned out the premises. I fear a conscientious regard Tor historical verities compels me to add that Company E from Lebanon was not the least offender on that occasion.
On the afternoon of Thursday, June 25th, a prisoner was brought into camp charged with being a rebel spy, and taken to headquarters. At S oo p. m., on the same day, a detail of some one hundred and twenty men, fully equipped for a pro- longed stay, started out for Gettysburg in the midst of a se- vere rain, under command of Lieut. Moyer, which place they reached in due time and reported to the commanding officer of the post, Major Granville O. Haller, at the Eagle hotel. The intention was to have them seize a narrow pass in the South Mountain where a few men might delay the advance of a large body, but Major Bell, commanding the cavalry company of Gettysburg Scouts, who was present, reported that it was already in the hands of the Confederates, so the project was abandoned, and it was decided to await the arrival of the regiment on the next day. Repairs to the railroad having been completed, tents were struck early on the morning of Friday, June 26th, the cars were boarded, and, about 9.00.a. m. the entire regiment was in Gettysburg.
It was of the utmost importance that the movements of the enemy should be hindered in every possible way. With the Union army 'on the advance, and Harrisburg almost with - in reach of the foe, a delay to them of minutes; to say noth-
LEBANON COUNTY'S EMERGENCY VOLUNTEERS. . ISO
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ing of hours, might be the deciding factor in the game of war then being played. It might mean not only the loss or gain of one battle, but the success or failure of the war itself. To accomplish this result it was necessary to sacrifice the few for the welfare of the many, and it fell to the lot of the 26th regi- ment to become this sacrifice. In the hope that we might still be able to reach the hills towards Cashtown, there to take
· up a defensive position, we were immediately ordered out the Chambersburg pike in the face of Lee's whole advancing army. Wisely, indeed, does Providence draw a veil between us and the future. In happy ignorance of this future, at 10.00 a. m., with drums beating, sweethearts. relatives and friends waving us farewell, we, of the rank and file, proudly stepped out and passed through the town.
I recall one little fellow, who would be a soldier, march- ing with us for a mile or more, overjoyed because he was allowed to assist in carrying a drum; and, again to the honor of Gettysburg, I remember how another of the citizens, knowing as he did that we were marching against the enemy, insisted upon joining my company ( A.) and did true and loyal "service with us throughout the campaign.
In my ignorance and ingxperience the excitement and dis. play of the moment completely overshadowed the thought of coming danger, and yet, marching as I did at the head of the regiment. I can even now recall the serious looks upon the faces of Colonel Jennings and Major Bell who rode directly in front of me. Passing by the Lutheran Theological Seminary we proceeded some three miles further when a halt was called and, immediately after, we filed to the right into a swampy piece of ground on the borders of Marsh Creek. Whether some of the company officers gave orders to pitch tents, or whether we took it for granted that we were going into camp I am unable to say, but, in a very short time, most of us had our tents up, were despoiling a pile of shingles near by to lay on the marsby ground, and were hunting a "top rail" prepar- atory to making ourselves happy, when, suddenly, loud and
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exciting commands were given to "strike tents !" and :fall- in !" almost in a breath followed by the command "For- ward !" and, in hardly more time than it has taken to relate these events, the regiment was marching off, having turned. directly away from the Chambersburg pike and headed more toward Gettysburg.
It need hardly be said that the private soldier knows, at the time, very little of what is going on about hint, of the plans that have been laid, of the movements of troops, or of the storm about to burst upon his own devoted head. It will ' be a matter of no surprise, therefore, when I say that the oc- ' currences of the moment certainly indicated an alarming con . dition of affairs to us, but, beyond that, we were in blissful ignorance, and, as we hurried forward to reach our places in the already marching ranks, the principal feeling which actu- ated many was to say "cuss words" because no sufficient halt was made to enable us to get our traps in proper condition. For a proper understanding of the momentous events then transpiring it is well that we should now have the facts of the case as they have been developed in the light of later research. -
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