USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > Bristol > A history of Bristol borough in the county of Bucks, state of Pennsylvania, anciently known as "Buckingham"; being the third oldest town and second chartered borough in Pennsylvania, from its earliest times to the present year 1911 > Part 18
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
The battle of Boonsboro was fought on the 14th of September, and the battle of Antietam was fought on the 16th and 17th. By the 19th the rebels had retreated to Virginia. On the 24th orders were issued for. the dis- charge of the militia after two weeks' service. Because of the retreat of the rebel army, none of the militia force was called upon to go into action, but it was a narrow pinch, as, had the Northern Army failed to have stopped the rebels' advance the militia would have gotten into it with both feet.
In a letter addressed to Governor Curtin by General Mc- Clellan, thanking the Governor of Pennsylvania for his energetic action in calling out the militia and placing them in the field, McClellan adds: "Fortunately circum- stances render it impossible for the Army to set foot upon the soil of Pennsylvania, but the moral support
CAPTAIN BURNET LANDRETH.
دـ
221
A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
rendered the army was none the less mighty. In the name of the Army and for myself, I again tender you an acknowledgment for your patriotic cause. The manner in which the people responded to the call no doubt exer- cised a great influence upon the enemy."
These 50,000 militia were not mustered into the United States service or the State service. There was no time to spend over the formalities of muster, the men were wanted too quickly, wanted to make a demonstration, and were accepted on the enrollment lists of the captains. Nearly two years later the captains were sent pay rolls in quadruple, on which were made out the names of their men, who, on the second of June, 1864, were paid by the clerks of Colonel B. W. Bruce, United States Paymaster, of the District of Baltimore.
Company G, Forty-third Regiment, Pennsylvania Ninety-Day Volunteer Militia, in 1863; Third Brigade, Franklyn's Second Division, Dana's, Couch's Army of the Susquehanna, was organized by the selection of Bur- net Landreth, captain. Following is a brief history of some incidents connected with the formation and services of the company.
On the 9th of June, Secretary of War Stanton created two new military departments. First, that of the Sus- quehanna, under Major-General Darius N. Couch, trans- ferred from the second corps, this department compre- hending everything in Eastern Pennsylvania and Mary- land, north of the Potomac; second, that of the Monon- gahela, under Major-General W. T. Brooks, comprehend- ing Western Pennsylvania, Western Virginia and part of Ohio. Preparations were immediately made to organize army corps for these two new divisions.
On the 15th of June, President Lincoln called for 100,- 000 men to serve for six months, but enlistments were slow. The people seemed to doubt if the rebels really intended to invade the North, but on the 24th and 25th of June the entire rebel army crossed the Potomac. On the 26th of June, Governor Curtin, with the approval of President Lincoln, and under General Order No. 43, issued a proclamation calling for 60,000 men for ninety days. To this call thirty-eight regiments of infantry,
222
A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
three troops of calvary, and ten batteries of artillery were brigaded, principally in the district of General Sigel. Of these men 31,000 were assigned to the Army of the Susquehanna, and 5,000 to the Army of the Monongahela. One-half of the entire force were men who had already seen service in the field. In addition to the 31,000 Pennsylvanians in the Army of the Susque- hanna, were 6,000 men from New York and 500 from New Jersey.
In the Department of the Susquehanna only one regi- ment of the ninety-day men came in contact with the enemy, this being the Twenty-seventh, under Colonel Frick, who lost nine men in the defense of Columbia bridge on the 24th of June. The other regiments were formed too late to be of any use at Gettysburg, but had Lee after Gettysburg, made a stand at Williamsport Ford, then the ninety-day men would have been put into the game. The rebels recrossed the Potomac on the 13th and 14th of July.
Part of the ninety-day men were distributed along the banks of the Potomac from Harper's Ferry up to Cum- berland, others relieved men of the Sixth corps, in charge of prisoners, while others were sent into the coal regions of Pennsylvania to quell a threatened insurrection. The Forty-third was stationed along the Potomac near Dam No. 5, not far from Williamsport Ford, special care being given to the preservation of the canal locks, which it was thought the rebels might destroy.
In the Monongahela district three of the ninety-day regiments were very active in the ten-day chase and final capture, near Wheeling, W. Va., on the 24th, of the rebel leader,. Morgan, who, with 2,000 horsemen raided across the State of Ohio.
The Forty-third Regiment, numbering 931 men, was one of the six forming the Third Brigade, Second Divi- sion of Couch's Corps. The Regiment was commanded by Colonel W. W. Scott, formerly a captain in the Twen- ty-fourth Pennsylvania. Lieutenant-Colonel Arnold, Major Petrican, and Adjutant Newlin were all ex-officers of the Army of the Potomac, and all had been wounded.
The Bristol Company, designated as "G," or the ninth
223
A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
company, numbering eighty-two men, furnished two offi- cers for the regimental staff, Assistant Surgeons Potts and Ward, and Quartermaster Harrison, also Drum Major Pettit, and Fife Major Harkins. The captain of Company G was elected major, but declined in favor of the next highest candidate, who was a veteran officer of the Army of the Potomac. The company included twen- ty-four veterans of the Army of the Potomac, one lieuten- ant, three sergeants, two corporals and nineteen privates. Some companies of the regiment were nearly altogether veterans.
Company G contained many representative citizens of the town of Bristol, and County of Bucks, and some wealthy men. Of these the most picturesque individual, and only privileged character, was the Hon. Caleb N. Taylor, who held a pass from Secretary of War Stanton, which document gave him passage through any line of the Army of the Potomac. He would disappear for days at a time and return with a wagon load of provisions, which were for every man as was the contents of his pocketbook.
Company G included two commissioned officers, four non-commissioned officers and seven privates, who had the previous year, served in Company I, Seventeenth Militia. In fact, Company G grew out of Company I, as the latter company, by frequent drills, had been kept together, the officers having been mustered and commis- sioned for two years in the State service. All the regi- ments of the ninety-day men were well armed, uniformed and organized, and if they had been put on the firing line, would have done as well as any other half-green force.
Eight of the thirty-eight regiments were mustered into the service of the United States, but thirty other regi- ments doing the same duty outside the borders of the States of Maryland, Ohio and West Virginia, served along under State muster ..
After the thirty State mustered regiments were dis- charged from State service, it was proposed to muster in to the United States service and muster out companies rolls, so regular United States discharges could be given, but in the rush of military business during war times
224
A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
this was never done. The men, however, by order of the Pension Bureau, were given a "pensionable status," and three men of Company G obtained pensions for injuries received while on duty.
All the officers and men of this regiment were mus- tered in and mustered out of the State service, but they were all sworn into the service of the United States, from which to this day they have never been released. (From writings of Captain Burnet Landreth, Sr.)
The Ladies' Aid Society of St. James' P. E. Church .- Immediately after the battle of Bull Run, in 1861, the ladies of St. James' Protestant Episcopal Church, organ- ized what was known for four years subsequently as "The Ladies' Aid Society," founded for the collection of clothing and delicacies for the soldiers at the front. This Society, though started in the Episcopal Church, was greatly augmented by the women of other congregations of the town, their united efforts resulting in the dispatch- ing of an enormous quantity of underclothing sent prin- cipally to the United States Hospital at Point Lookout, Md., which was in charge of Surgeon Stonelake, once a resident of Bristol. Mrs. David Landreth was president of the Society for the four years of its operation. These ladies received hundreds of the most pathetic letters of thanks from wounded soldiers, both Union and Rebel. (Contributed by Captain Burnet Landreth.)
Captain Henry Clay Beatty .- Captain Henry Clay Beatty was the son of Robert C. Beatty, a former cashier of the Farmers' National Bank of Bucks County. He commenced the study of law with the late Anthony Swain, a prominent member of the Bucks County bar, in 1854, and finished his course in the law office of Charles Gibbons, of Philadelphia, in the early part of 1857. He took his degree in the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania soon afterward. Mr. Gibbons, speaking of him after his death, said: "He was an earnest and in- dustrious student, and at the time of his admission to the Bar was well read in the law. He remained with me as long as he practiced his profession, to which he was almost entirely devoted, and in which he was eminently
.
1
CAPTAIN HENRY CLAY BEATTY.
225
A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
successful. He loved the truth, and no one ever found him a hair's breadth out of its latitude or longitude under any circumstances."
When the call was made by our state authorities for the fifteen regiments known as the Pennsylvania Re- serves, Mr. Beatty volunteered his services for the war and received a lieutenant's commission in Company I of the Third Regiment. Captain Thompson, who then com- manded that company, was elected lieutenant colonel of the regiment, and Mr. Beatty was promoted to the cap- taincy, which he held at the time of his death. He was with the Reserves in all their toilsome and suffering experiences, and at the battles before Richmond where, thrice deciminated by disease, they covered themselves with glory. During the first day's battle Captain Beatty was in the hospital, where he had been confined by an exhaustive sickness for some days. But weak and wasted as he was, he left his bed and was at the head of his company in all the battles that followed except the last one.
At the battle of White Oak Swamp he received a ball in the leg, early in the action, but, debilitated and wound- ed as he was, he remained on the field at his post of duty until the end of the battle. On the next day, having reached the James River, he went down to Fortress Mon- roe, had the ball extracted from his leg and, declining to remain in the hospital, immediately rejoined his regi- ment. He was, however, in no condition for active serv- ice, and was sent home on furlough to recruit his health. He spent a short time with his family in Bristol, and be- fore the expiration of his furlough returned to report himself for duty.
On the day after he left Philadelphia to rejoin his regiment his uncle, Robert B. Cabeen, placed in the hands of his law instructor, Charles Gibbons, Esq., an open letter, addressed to Governor Curtin, from Colonel Sickles, who commanded the regiment. It was a volun- tary testimonial of the heroic courage, soldierly bearing and high military ability displayed by Captain Beatty during the disastrous retreat of the army. And it con- tained a recommendation to the Governor for his promo-
.
226
A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
tion to the colonelcy of one of the new regiments called for from Pennsylvania.
Captain Beatty was wounded in the second battle of Bull Run, near Manassas. He was struck by an almost spent conical ball about eight inches long, doubtlessly fired from a rifle of three-inch bore. The ball struck the ground about · forty yards distant, rebounded, struck a man in Company D in the head, killing him, and then struck Captain Beatty, breaking his arm in two places and wounding his hand. He did not have his wound dressed until the next day, when his arm was amputated at the shoulder. It is said that when Captain Beatty fell, his brother, who was a lieutenant in Company I, rushed to his side, but with that unselfish devotion to country which characterizes a hero, he ordered him back to his company. He considered duty to country as paramount to his own sufferings, and by that patriotic action gave to Bristol a hero, whose memory can never die. After his arm was amputated he was sent to Washington, but died on board the steamboat on the way up the river from Alexandria. He had partaken of some soup which he relished and spoke of feeling better. His comrade left him for a few moments, and on his return found him sinking, and in ten minutes he was dead. Charles Carlin, of the same company, was wounded while in the act of carrying his much loved captain from the field. Captain Beatty's remains were brought to Bristol and interred in St. James' burial ground.
Subsequent to his death and burial, the following poem appeared in the Bucks County Intelligencer, dated Aug- ust 23, 1862. The name of the writer is not given, but simply his initials, "S. S."
Harry Beatty.
Captain of Company I, Third Pennsylvania Reserves.
Fallen in battle! my brave friend, Warm tears from faithful eyes Bedew that grave where lulled to sleep Thy wounded body lies.
-
227
A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
Youth, fame, ambition-all were laid On thy dear country's shrine- A future proud with promised glory Closed in that battle line.
A mind clear as this autumn moon- A heart warm as its sun, Have done what sternest duty asked- Toiled and suffered and-gone.
So many brave and stalwart arms Have palsied in the fray- So crowded moved and long procession Of heroes passing away.
That darker seemed our country's woe. And deeper sighed the breeze On that sad day we laid thy form Beneath St. James' trees.
Thy martyr dust is sacred now, And coming years will bless Thy place of rest, and its green mound With mutest reverence press.
Yes, pilgrim feet will gather there, Oppression's crime to ban, And mark how green the laurels grow Above the truthful man.
Thy heart twined closest with thy being Is worn and bruised indeed. And o'er thy doom and o'er its own Will lived and pitied, bleed.
The shadow of thy loss will lay A cold and cheerless bar Athwart her faltering steps, illumed Only by memory's star.
Farewell! with Him who knows thy heart, Its longings, aims, and worth, We trust thee, and resume our march So soon to close on earth.
We praise thee for thy generous daring. Thy scorn and selfish ease; We mourn thee for the love we bore thee, For thy loss in days like these!
228
A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
Commissioned Officers in Civil War .- Captain Burnet Landreth contributes the following list of names and. occupations of those Bristol men, recorded by him, with the assistance of Captain Strickland Yardley and Ser- geant Charles E. Scott, who served as officers in the Army and Navy.
From Captain Landreth it has been learned that al- though at the outbreak of the war Bristol's population was less than 3,000, yet the town contributed one out of every seven of its entire population to the Army and Navy ; to be exact, 493 soldiers and sailors. Such a total of enlistment of 493 gives force to the war poem :
"We are coming Father Abraham, Six hundred thousand more."
Among these, nearly 500 men, were the following forty-three, who were commissioned as officers on land or sea :
Brigadier-General William H. Montgomery, of the First New Jersey Brigade ; West Point graduate.
Colonel John M. Gosline, Ninety-fifth Pennsylvania ; lawyer.
Colonel William R. Dickinson, New Jersey Cavalry ; lawyer.
Colonel and Surgeon Stonelake, commanding hospital at Point Lookout, Maryland ; doctor.
Lieutenant-Colonel William S. Thompson, original Captain First Bristol Company, Third Pennsylvania Re- serves ; engineer Steamer Warner.
Captain Henry Clay Beatty, second Captain Company I, Third Pennsylvania Reserves; lawyer.
Captain Samuel J. La Rue, third captain Company I, Third Pennsylvania Reserves ; hotel man.
Captain Strickland Yardley, Quartermaster Third Pennsylvania Reserves ; storekeeper.
Captain Oscar Vezin, Company H, Anderson Cavalry, Fifteenth Pennsylvania; student at "Bonn," Germany.
Captain Alfred Vezin, Company C, Anderson Cavalry, Fifteenth Pennsylvania ; banker.
Captain Anthony Taylor, Company K, Anderson Cav- alry, Fifteenth Pennsylvania ; farmer.
229
A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
Captain Richard Henry Morris, of Company K, Ninth New York; merchant.
Captain Burnet Landreth, Seventeenth and Firty-third Volunteer Militia ; farmer.
Lieutenant Samuel Beatty, Company I, Third Re- serves ; clerk.
Leituenant J. Hutchinson, Company I, Third Re- serves ; farmer.
Lieutenant Frank Mckean, Marine Corps, U. S. Navy ; Annapolis man.
Lieutenant Henry Montgomery, Company A, Thir- teenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, transferred to general staff ; student.
Lieutenant John Burton, Company C, Anderson Cav- alry, Fifteenth Pennsylvania ; farmer.
Lieutenant John Rousseau, Sixth Regular Cavalry ; clerk.
Lieutenant Albert Booz, Company E, Eighty-eighth Pennsylvania Infantry ; farmer.
Cadet William J. Hamilton, of the Regular Army ; student West Point.
Lieutenant Frank Sargent, New Jersey Regiment ; clerk.
Lieutenant William Shewell, General Staff ; merchant.
Lieutenant B. F. Hibbs, Seventy-first Pennsylvania ; clerk.
Lieutenant William D. Baker, Seventeenth and Forty- third Militia, Landreth's Companies I and G; dentist.
Lieutenant David H. Carter, of Forty-third Militia, Landreth's Company G; clerk.
Lieutenant James W. Martin, of Seventeenth Militia, Landreth's Company I; master carpenter.
Lieutenant Jacob Hamilton, Company I, Ninth Veter- an Reserves ; hotel man.
Cadet Bloomfield McIlvaine, U. S. Navy; student Annapolis.
Lieutenant and Surgeon Potts, of the Forty-third Militia. Promoted from private, Landreth's Company ; doctor.
Lieutenant and Surgeon John Ward, Forty-third
230
A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
Militia, promoted from corporal, Landreth's Company ; doctor.
Lieutenant and Regimental Quartermaster, Edmund G. Harrison, of the Forty-third Militia. Promoted from private, Landreth's Company ; doctor.
Lieutenant and Surgeon John Downing, New York Regiment ; doctor.
Lieutenant and Surgeon Thomas P. Tomlinson ; doctor. Lieutenant and Surgeon Rev. John H. Drumm ; doctor.
Lieutenant and Assistant Surgeon Henry Dorrance ; doctor.
Lieutenant and Second Assistant H. K. Brouse ; doctor. Lieutenant and First Assistant Surgeon Hawke, U. S. N .; doctor.
Lieutenant and Chaplain Henry B. Bartow; Episcopal rector.
Lieutenant and Assistant Surgeon Woodbury ; doctor.
Lieutenant and Second Assistant Surgeon Alexander G. Hazard; doctor.
Lieutenant and Engineer William Pratt, of the U. S. Navy; machinist.
Lieutenant and Engineer Thomas Crosby, of the U. S. Navy ; machinist.
Three of these officers died of wounds; five others were wounded but recovered ; two died in the field of disease, a mortality of ten, or one-fourth of the whole.
Of these forty-three officers from Bristol, all but four have answered the final roll call, these being Admiral Hawke, Lieutenant Beatty, Engineer Pratt and Captain Burnet Landreth.
Terrible Railroad Accident .- In the month of March, 1865, a terrible railroad accident occurred at the Mill Street crossing of the Pennsylvania Railroad. But one track ran through the town at this period. A train, sev- eral rear cars of which were loaded with soldiers, some of whom had recently been released from Libby Prison, became disabled and stopped on the crossing at I o'clock A. M. The old railroad ran just back of Otter Street and the curve in the road made it impossible to see an approaching train either way, until it had almost reached
231
A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
the crossing. Joseph Tomlinson, a resident of Bristol, was station master at Schenk's station (Croyden), having charge of the switches at that point. On the night when the accident occurred, the conductor of the wrecked train, told Mr. Tomlinson to hold the express train, which was following, until the lights of his train were out of sight. These instructions Mr. Tomlinson followed, but an unexpected breakdown detained the first train at the Mill Street crossing. The express train came thundering along unaware of the near proximity of the preceding train, and rounding the curve crashed into it on the cross- ing, while running at full speed. The three rear cars on the front train, which contained the soldiers, were tele- scoped and their occupants pinioned in the debris. To add to the horror of the scene, the coaches took fire and the cries of the wounded, whose agonies were increased as the flames reached their bodies, were heartrending. Fire Company No. I quickly responded to the call for assist- ance and the old hand engine was put into effective service. As soon as the flames were subdued the citizens made an effort to release the wounded. Carpenters brought their saws and cut through the side of the coaches, then ropes were fastened to the loosened por- tions, and in this manner the sides of the cars were pulled out. The wounded were carried into nearby houses. Some were taken into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Sutch, who lived in a brick house adjoining the track; others into the home of Elwood Doron, next to his lum- ber yard on Mill Street. The ambulances and surgeons from the hospital at China Hall, were quickly on the scene and the surgeons gave valuable service. The greaser on the wrecked locomotive was performing some duty outside the cab on the side of the boiler, when the wreck occurred, and in the collision was impailed on a piece of piping. He lived for half an hour, but it was two hours before the rescuers could reach his body. Such a horrible railroad accident was never before or since wit- nessed in Bristol.
A coroner's jury was impanelled a few days following the accident and an investigation begun. When the con- ductor of the wrecked train was summoned before the
232
A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
jury, he endeavored to clear himself of blame, by claim- ing to have instructed Tomlinson, the station master at Schenks, not to allow the express to follow. The coro- ner's jury rendered a verdict of criminal negligence, and the district attorney issued indictments against Tomlin- son and the engineer and conductor of the wrecked train, charging them with manslaughter. The trial of the engineer and conductor was called first, when the con- ducator reaffirmed his statement made before the coroner's jury and both were acquitted. Mr. Tomlinson's trial was set for the next day and it looked as if he was to be made the scapegoat. It appeared, however, that on the night of the wreck, the conductor had been asked the cause by a friend, and in the presence of several other citizens, among whom were Richard Trudgen and Charles M. Foster, had told how he had informed the station master at Schenks, to let the express pass as soon as the red lights of the first train were out of sight. When news reached Bristol on the afternoon of the day before the trial, that Tomlinson would undoubtedly be convicted, Messrs. Trudgen and Foster voluntarily went to Doyles- town, arriving in the evening, hunted up Mr. Tomlin- son's lawyer and informed him of the evidence they de- sired to give. He cautioned them of the necessity for secrecy and made his plans for the morrow. At the trial the conductor renewed his accusations against Tomlin- son, and the lawyer for the defense allowed all the evi- dence of the prosecution to be presented without com- ment. Then he called Messrs. Trudgen and Foster to the witness stand, both of whom recited the conversation which they had overheard between the conductor and his friend. The prosecuting attorney attempted to weak- en the evidence, but it was too convincing, and amid sup- pressed excitement the jury rendered a verdict of acquit- tal. Joseph Tomlinson lived to a ripe old age and died respected by all who knew him.
Robert Tyler .- At the breaking out of the Civil War, Robert Tyler, son of ex-President John Tyler, lived in the house on the river bank now occupied by Joseph R. Grundy. He was a Southerner by birth and very pro-
233
A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
nounced in his defense and advocacy of the South. One morning he left town suddenly and a short time after- ward news was received here that he had joined the Con- federacy and had accepted an office under the rebel gov- ernment. In a newspaper article written by William Kinsey at the close of the war, we find a good description of the hot blooded Southern temperament possessed by Tyler, as well as the causes which finally carried him over to the Confederacy :
"Shortly after the firing on Fort Sumter by the rebels, when the country was in a high state of excitement, and men, at the call of the President, were volunteering for the defense of the Government, and the watchword was 'shoot every man who attempts to pull down the Ameri- can flag,' when every man who was not outspoken in favor of sustaining the President, was suspected of being in sympathy with the South, Mr. Tyler at that time lived in a house on the river bank, belonging to Captain Hutchinson, near Penn Street (now the home of Jos. R. Grundy). He held the office of Clerk of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and went to and returned from Philadelphia daily on the steamboat. Being a Southerner by birth and education, he had frequent conversations with the passengers, on the causes and effects of the war. He attributed the cause of the difficulty between the North and South to acts of the Abolitionists. Those in sympathy with that body would reply and sometimes the conversation would run into personalities and become very bitter.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.