USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and Its Centennial Celebration, Volume II > Part 47
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Lieut .- Col. Jas. A. Johnson, 115th U. S. Colored Inf., Ohio township.
Capt. George Weaver, 63d, Vanport.
Capt. Marcus Ormond, 140th, Hookstown.
Capt. Samuel Campbell, 140th, Hanover township.
Capt. Samuel S. Kerr, 140th, Hookstown, killed in battle of Farmville, Va., two days before Lee's surrender.
Capt. Samuel Miller, roth Reserves, New Galilee.
Capt. W. C. Shurlock, 100th, Darlington.
Lieut. Walter S. Lawrence, 140th, Hookstown.
Lieut. Austin Miller, 140th, Hanover township.
Lieut. James Potter, 17th Cav., Raccoon.
Lieut. Alfred Cairnes, roth Reserves Industry.
Lieut. John B. Vance, 140th, Frankfort Springs.
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Capt. and Col. Joseph Reed, 10th Reserves, Bridgewater, fought his way from the ranks to the double bars and the silver leaf.
Capt. Robert Gilmore, 56th, Bridgewater, trained in the old Beaver County Guards.
Lieut. Hugh Barnes, Co. I, 134th, originally of Bridgewater. I saw him fall at Fredericksburg.
Lieut. Josiah Jack, Cav. and Will Jack, Andersonville, Bridgewater.
"Come on Canaries!" It is the chirping battle call of the boy lieuten- ant of the 63d in the charge at Fair Oaks. A few moments later Lieut. Henry Hurst of Bridgewater pours out his life-blood under the flag.
Lieut. Silas Leo Vera, 77th, Bridgewater, died of the war, since the war, at Pittsburg.
Capt. James Darragh, 140th, Sharon, an honored citizen, and oh, the pity of it, a fate as sudden and sadder than in battle.
Dr. Charles Herman Stowe, surgeon in army, Sharon. A playmate at school and classmate at academy.
Major Charles Dickey, regular army, Sharon. Another schoolmate. Big hearted Gen. W. W. Irwin, Rochester, Commissary-General of the State, when Beaver County was in war.
Capt. Elliott Quay, Rochester, on Gen. Tyler's staff, 3d division, 5th Corps, Army of the Potomac.
Lieut. E. Pentland Stewart, 10th Reserves, Rochester.
Lieut. Robert Darragh, 63d, Rochester.
Lieut. Rufus D. Cole, 191st, Rochester.
Lieut. Carman W. Nelson, 140th, Rochester.
Capt. Abner Lacock, roth Reserves, Rochester.
Capt. John Cuthbertson, 9th Reserves, New Brighton, disabled by wound and appointed Provost Marshall 24th District.
Lieut. Charles K. Chamberlain, 9th Reserves, New Brighton.
Lieut. John T. Price, 10th Reserves, New Brighton.
"The bullet is not molded that drives me back." And although mortally hit, Lieut. Milo Boyle, 63d, New Brighton, did not retreat, but lies yonder buried with the "unknown dead" on the Chancellorsville battle-field.
Capt. Jason R. Hanna, 63d, New Brighton, our Adjutant, 56th, New Creek, Va.
Genial, honest Capt. George S. Barker, "C" 56th, New Brighton, U. S. service in West Virginia.
Lieut. Ralph Covert, "C" 56th, New Brighton.
Capt. Samuel R. Patterson, 134th and 56th, Old Brighton. A brave and efficient officer. My most intimate associate, tenting, training, picketing, marching, in battle.
Sergeant Wm. A. McGahey, "E" 134th, Old Brighton. "Missing" since the bugle sounded the charge against the stone wall and rifle-pits with the setting of the sun of Dec. 13, 1862.
These are the dead leaders of Beaver County in war in 1861-65.
Of the living officers I recall:
Gen. John S. Little, 76th, Greene township.
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Major Thomas Henry, 140th, Beaver. Student at academy, now of New Brighton.
Major Gilbert L. Eberhart, 8th Reserves, New Brighton.
Capt. Jacob Winans, gth Reserves, New Brighton.
Lieut. Jacob Parkinson, 134th and 56th, Fallston.
Lieut. Harry C. Patterson, 124th and 56th, Old Brighton.
Sergeant Augustus Tomlinson, 134th, Old Brighton.
Hon. Will S. Shallenberger, Lieut. and Adjt., 140th, Rochester, now Second Assistant Postmaster-General.
Lieut. Geo. A. Shallenberger, Q.M., 140th, Rochester.
Lieut. John S. Anderson, E, 134th, Rochester.
Lieut. Thomas Lyon Darragh, 10th Reserves, Rochester. A Sharon school boy.
Lieut. James H. Calkins, 134th Rochester.
Lieut. Brice Ramsey, 17th Cav., Bridgewater.
Sergt. and Capt. Joseph E. McCabe, 17th Cav., Bridgewater.
Lieut. Scudder H. Darragh, 56th, Sharon.
Capt. Milo R. Adams, roth Reserves, Sharon. One of the most dan- gerously wounded men that lay upon a battle-field under the pitying stars. He still lives.
Capt. A. W. Taylor, roIst, Brighton township.
Capt. W. F. Dawson, Horst, Smiths Ferry.
Capt. Thomas B. Dawson, rost, Ohio township.
Capt. John Johnson, 100th, Industry.
Lieut. Samuel S. Taylor, roIst, South Beaver.
Lieut. John C. Hart, rooth, Darlington.
Lieut. W. F. Lyon, 100th, Ohio township.
Lieut. R. J. Douthitt, 100th, North Sewickley.
Lieut. J. F. Warrick, IoIst, Brighton township.
Lieut. A. H. Calvert, 140th, Hopewell.
Lieut. Thos. C. Nicholson, 140th, Frankfort Springs.
Lieut. Addison Lancey, 140th, Independence.
Lieut. Samuel Lawrence, 101st, Hookstown.
Lieut. Mack Ramsey, 101st, Hookstown.
Capt. Charles W. May, 101st, Beaver.
Capt. D. M. Donehoo, 17th Cav., Beaver.
Lieut. Samuel A. Johnston, 29th, Beaver.
Arthur Shields, Beaver; enlisted South Side; deserving commission; rank not known to me.
Lieut. Eben Allison, 15th Cav., Beaver.
Hon. Michael Weyand, Serg't, 56th, Beaver.
Lieut. H. J. Chandler, 9th Reserves, Rochester.
Acting Sergeant, Wm. Flugga, E, 134th, Color Bearer, Freedom, Pa. Our one time commander of the 134th, capable and courteous in camp, brave in battle, commoner, statesman, Senator, Col. Matthew Stanley Quay, of Beaver.
Col. J. Adams Vera, 134th and 56th, New Brighton.
And may all the living soldiers of this Beaver County Centennial still
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live in the tender memory, in the patriotic eulogy of these people for a hundred years to come.
Under Major Cuthbertson, roth, New Brighton, and Capt. Harry Watson and Lieut. Thomas, New Brighton, Beaver County sent one company of soldiers to the Orient. Being absent, my knowledge is limited, but I do know that these soldier boys, who made the sacrifices and endured the hardships, did not falter in their whole duty, under the molten skies, and in the fever laden rice swamps of that far away land.
And now, I hand over to your loan association the original Volunteer Roll of Company E, 134th Pennsylvania Infantry. It is one of my most valued possessions, next to wife, children, and the family Bible. And even the Bible may be reverently laid aside, for Bibles are as numerous as the star gemmed constellations of the heavens, but this old roll is unique. Like the Grand Army, it can never be duplicated-It can have no successor.
Here are one hundred and ten signatures. Ninety-two men mustered into the United States service and marched straight to the front in the Third Division, Fifth Corps, Army of the Potomac.
And this roll was the voluntary pledge of these lives thirty-eight years ago to the preservation of the Union.
It is time-worn and tattered, blotted and blurred and interlined. An icy hand has swept over familiar names and transferred them to memorial stones, white as the patriot lives of those who rest from the weary march, where the low-drooping willow bends over the grave. It is a muster of the living, a memento of the dead. It is sanctified by woman's tears, a tribute from a saddened heart, as bending over, with moist eye she watches the nervous fingers trace the fateful signature.
I would this Volunteer Roll were framed in gold or treasured in casket of silver, a sacred heritage to children's children so long as the star blazoned flag, for which these volunteers fought, shall wave over a free, a united people.
That flag with never a blot of dishonor, with never a star eclipsed, with never a glory dimmed; though it be battle-stained and powder- blackened; though it be shell-torn and bullet-riddled-as these have seen it; though it hang in fringeless ribbon from battered staff, still, with all its old memories clustering there, to the eye of the patriot and soldier it is more beautiful than the crimson and golden shadows clinging to the drifting sunset cloud of summer. Hallowed as the grave of our hero dead-cherished as wife, mother, kindred from whom we part at the bugle call, "Fall in! Fall in!" to do battle for this fitting emblem of one Union, one people and a common destiny!
Under its resplendent folds-
"Shall brothers be knit in closer bands From the mountain's crest to the gray sea sands, And the world be better, I ween."
My friends of Beaver County, I came as a soldier, and, as such, have
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to-day wandered from the beaten track of the professional speaker. With thanks, "An' gie 's a hand o' thine,"
I will detain you but a few moments longer.
"And the passionate green-laureled god of the great, In a whimsical riddle of stone, Has chosen a few from the Field and the State To sit on the steps of his throne.
"But I-I will pass from the rage of renown, This ant-hill, commotion, and strife, Pass by where the marbles and bronzes look down With their fast-frozen gestures of life, On, out to the nameless who lie neath the gloom Of the pitying cypress and pine; Your hero 's the man of the sword and the plume, But the man with the musket is mine.
"I knew him! By all that is noble, I knew This commonplace hero I name! I've camped with him, marched with him, fought with him, too, In the swirl of the fierce battle flamel Laughed with him, mourned with him, taken a part Of his canteen and blanket and known That the throb of this chivalrous soldier boy's heart Was an answering stroke of my own!
" There is peace in the May-laden grace of the hours That come when the day's work is done; And peace with the nameless who under the flowers Lie asleep in the slant of the sun. Beat the taps! Put out lights! and silence all sound, There is rifle-pit strength in the grave! They sleep well who sleep, be they crowned or uncrowned, And death will be kind to the brave.
"Old comrades of mine, by the fast waning years That move to mortality's goal, By my heart full of love and my voice full of tears, I hold you all fast in my soul! And I march with the May, and its blossomy charms I tenderly lay on the sod,
And pray they may rest there, old comrades in arms, Like the kiss of forgiveness of God."
The great assemblage, led by the Chorus Club and the Great Western Band, then sang America, after which J. Rankin Mar-
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tin, Esq., read a cablegram which had just been received by the Chairman of the Executive Committee from Hon. W. S. Shallen- berger, Second Assistant Postmaster-General, an honored citizen of Beaver County, who was then in London, England, on his way to Berne, Switzerland, as a representative of the United States Government to the International Postal Congress. The message was sent by code in the three words, "Agnew, Miles, America," and as translated was as follows:
JOHN M. BUCHANAN, EsQ., LONDON, ENG., June 20, 1900. Chairman of Centennial Executive Committee:
Hail to Beaver County, my own cherished home, as she enters upon the second century of marvelous opportunities!
Hail to the superb courage and patriotism of her citizens, personified in her guest of honor, Lieut .- General Nelson A. Miles, the ideal vol- unteer soldier of the Republic!
All hail to "Old Glory, the Flag of the Free," symbol of Power, prophet of Peace! May her message be hope to the isles of the sea! WILLIAM S. SHALLENBERGER.
After a song by the Chorus Club, there were cries for a speech by General Miles, who was then introduced by the Chairman, Rev. Dr. Anderson, with the following eloquent tribute:
Beaver County is particularly favored on this occasion. We have with us as our guest one of the most distinguished living citizens and soldiers of this great American Republic,-one who has occupied a place of prominence in the eyes of the people second only to the Chief Execu- tive of the nation himself; one whose name and fame are household words throughout this broad land; one whose courage has been tried on scores of battle-fields, and under whose wise and efficient leadership, victory has crowned our arms in civil war, against savage foes and foreign enemies; one whose honor has never been tarnished and whose loyalty has never been suspected,-typical American citizen, typical American soldier, a splendid specimen of the products of our civil and religious institutions-Nelson Appleton Miles, Lieutenant-General of the United States Army! A few days ago I met a lady, one of the most intelligent women of western Pennsylvania, a resident of Pittsburg, Pa., one who has traveled abroad and who has kept herself abreast of the times in her knowledge of public affairs. In speaking of General Miles, she said, "That is the man of whom it is reported that Queen Victoria once said, 'He is the handsomest soldier I ever saw.'"
Whether the report be true or not, I am sure that after the women of Beaver County, all of whom are queens-American queens,-have seen General Miles they will not be disposed to dispute the English Queen's royal judgment.
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History of Beaver County
General Miles is not an old man; he is not as old as Beaver County. In 1839, in the village of Winchester, Mass., he first saw the light. While yet a youth of twenty-one years-at the outbreak of the Civil War-he left a clerkship in a Boston store and offered his services to his country. He was commissioned Ist Lieutenant in the 22d Massachusetts Volunteers. From that hour the star of his ascendency never waned, but rose higher and higher, and grew brighter and brighter, until it reached the zenith of its splendor, and he was made Lieutenant-General of the Armies of the United States, taking rank with Washington, Scott, Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan,-the immortal galaxy of American commanders. General Miles enjoys the unique distinction of being the first and only officer not a West Point man raised to that high position.
General Miles has earned for himself the distinction of being the best Indian fighter of this generation. His chief fame doubtless rests upon the record of his Indian campaigns, where he displayed the very highest qualities of coolness, courage, and remarkable ability. His campaign against Chief Geronimo will likely be his most famous exploit. Allow me to introduce General Miles.
The cheers and applause which General Miles received as he stepped to the front of the platform were so loud and prolonged that it was several minutes before he could proceed. His speech was impromptu, and it is to be regretted that no stenographic report of it was made. As a substitute, therefore, the following, prepared by the editor from memory, aided by a brief news- paper synopsis, may be taken as fairly representing its ideas and spirit :
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
After such a flattering introduction I might well hesitate to say any- thing for fear you should be disappointed. But I cannot refrain from expressing the pleasure I feel in being present on this occasion to join with you in celebrating the Centennial anniversary of the erection of your county. The warmth of your applause I accept not merely as a com- pliment personal to me, but as your tribute through me to that noble branch of our common country's service which I represent-the military arm of our National Government. I greet and congratulate you to-day in the name of the Army of the United States.
You have just unveiled a beautiful monument to the soldier dead of your county. You honor yourselves in honoring those who in any way have contributed to make possible these gala-day rejoicings, who by civic and patriotic virtues exercised during the hundred years of your history have built up this strong and beautiful section of the great Com- monwealth of Pennsylvania. Not least, surely, among the men who have earned a right to your gratitude are those who on the stricken field or in the hospital tent have laid down their lives in defence of home and country. In their story a wreath of famous virtue ever lives:
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General Nelson A. Miles.
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"Glorious their doom, and beautiful their lot, Their tombs are altars; men from tears refrain To honor them, but mourn them not. Their memories not drear decay
Nor all-destroying time shall waste; this right have they."
The custom of honoring the graves of fallen heroes is a laudable one, and is of immemorial antiquity. On a hillock in the Pass of Ther- mopylæ which the Spartan king Leonidas held with a handful of men against the Persian hosts the Greeks set up a marble lion commemorative of his desperate valor. The traveler in the Old World sees at Lucerne Thorwaldsen's noble monument to the brave Swiss Guard who died in defense of the Tuilleries-the figure of a dying lion twenty-eight feet in length cut from the native rock on a hillside; he sees in Rome and Paris and Berlin and London columns and arches of victory and magnificent mausoleums, and on the field of Waterloo he sees the colossal pyramid which the English have erected in honor of those whose blood was spilt to purchase there their nation's glory. Nor does America fail to pay grateful tribute to her heroic dead. Within the bounds of this Common- wealth is a field of battle as glorious as that of Waterloo. Thirty-seven years ago it was a lurid furnace of war, as if hell had enlarged herself and opened her mouth there to consume the nations. To-day it is a scene of beauty and peace. Countless monuments of marble and granite mark the spots where heroic men fought and fell at Gettysburg to save this grandest of all the nations upon which Time has looked. There, too, stands the one great monument sacred to all the Union dead, bearing upon it the words of the immortal Lincoln spoken at its unveiling. Let us never forget those words. let us speak them often in the hearing of youth, let us to-day heed the message of duty they bear and say now on this solemn as well as joyous occasion that-
"from these honored dead we shall take increased devotion to the cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, for the people and by the people shall not perish from the earth."
Bear in mind fellow-citizens, that when Lincoln uttered those undying words the fate of the Union still hung " in a perilous and dancing balance." The rebel forces had, indeed, received on that very field a paralyzing blow. but there were many hours of anxiety still to come before that great heart should be at rest about the issue of the struggle.
We who stand here to-day have need to make high resolves. There are other dangers to be met. other battles to be won, and we shall not be worthy of the heritage we have received from those who labored and fought in the past unless we strive to safeguard the precious things they have wrought and bought for us and pass them on to our posterity with the added increment of our own virtuous endeavors. And I want to assure you of my confidence that this great trust is safe in the hands
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of the present and rising generation. The spirit of the early pioneers and settlers of this commonwealth and of this county, who wrested this grand domain from the savages and protected it from foreign invaders, is not dead. It lived again in the men of '61 to '65. I bear my testi- mony to the valor and bravery of these men. I saw it tested on many a hard-foughten field. No nobler or braver soldiers ever went into action than those who belonged to the regiments that came from this county, some of whose grizzled veterans kept step to the music of the bands in the great procession that passed through your streets to-day. Hail to the boys of the 100th, of the 101st, of the 103d, of the 140th, and of the 9th and roth Reserves. And hail to their sons, the boys of the 16th and roth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry who in the Spanish-American War have shown that they were worthy of their sires. It is the same chivalrous spirit, the same fighting blood in both that won two wars for freedom. The American soldier is of one mold, whether you find him at home or abroad, fighting among the pines of Virginia or in the rice-fields of the Philippines, scaling the rocky heights of Lookout Mountain or the sandy slopes of San Juan hill. His head is cool, his heart is warm, his arm is strong, his courage firm. In defeat he is undismayed and in victory humane and unrevengeful. His past is his pledge for the future. Let come what will this glorious land of ours shall never lack defenders, nor Freedom call in vain for knightly souls to champion her cause.
And now, comrades and fellow-citizens, I repeat that I am glad to have been permitted to share with you the pleasures of this delightful occasion. I congratulate you once more upon the success of your Cen- tennial Celebration, and hope that the Twentieth Century may bring to Beaver County a double measure of the prosperity that crowns her at the close of the Nineteenth.
This address closed the speech-making of the day. F. E. Reader, Esq., of New Brighton, a member of the Beaver bar, was to have spoken on "The Early Military History," and James H. Cunningham, Esq., of Beaver, and a member of the Beaver bar, on "A Boy's View of the Civil War"; but, owing to the lateness of the hour, these speeches were omitted, greatly to the regret of all present.
All then joined in singing Hail Columbia, after which three cheers were given for General Miles. The Long Meter Doxology was then sung, and the exercises closed with the benediction, pronounced by Dr. Anderson.
GENERAL MILES MADE A MEMBER OF THE UNION VETERANS' LEGION
An interesting and pleasing event of this day, which fol- lowed the exercises described above, was the making of General
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Miles a member of Encampment No. 1, Union Veterans' Legion, of Pittsburg.
General Miles had filed his application for membership in this Encampment in July, 1899. His application had been ap- proved, but no earlier opportunity had presented itself to per- form the ceremonies of initiation. Advantage was therefore taken of his presence in Beaver at this time to carry out these formalities.
The ceremony took place in the parlors of the residence of F. H. Laird, Esq., at whose home, as previously stated, General Miles was a guest during his stay in Beaver, and was performed by Past Col. Commander J. M. Ray and F. L. Blair of Encamp- ment No. I, assisted by Past Col. Commander N. H. Pangburn and Adam Siemon of Encampment No. 4, of Beaver Falls, Pa .; J. H. Stevenson of Encampment No. 6, of Allegheny, Pa .; and C. L. Rose of Encampment No. 9, of New Castle, Pa.
Those present to witness and take part in the ceremony were J. M. Ray, F. L. Blair, O. M. Head, M. Sloan, S. M. Evans, Thomas J. Hamil- ton, John Walter, George V. Marshall, John Heineman, F. A. Burrows, S. L. Montgomery, A. B. Smith, S. M. Duvall, D. R. Lewis, and Edwin W. Bausman, all of the Pittsburg Encampment; N. H. Pangburn and Adam Siemon, of the Beaver Falls Encampment; John H. Stevenson, of the Allegheny Encampment, and C. L, Rose, of the New Castle Encamp- ment.
THE CAMP-FIRE
In the evening a Camp-Fire was held by the old soldiers in the court-house, which was well attended. Rev. T. B. Ander- son, D.D., of Rochester, was called to the chair, and made a neat introductory speech.
Miss Ada Potter of Monaca then sang Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean and an encore.
Short speeches were made by the following persons: Rev. William Cooper of Frankfort Springs, a member of the 140th; Hon. Warren S. Dungan of Iowa; Hon. J. Sharp Wilson, Presi- dent Judge of Beaver County; William H. Underwood of the 100th Regiment, Washington, Pa .; James Sankey, and others.
Miss Elizabeth L. Randall of Geneva College recited The Battle of Lookout Mountain, and, being heartily encored, gave Cheers for our Soldiers.
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Miss Mildred Morgan of Freedom sang My Old Kentucky Home, and was also encored.
Prayer by Dr. Anderson closed the meeting.
THE ANTIQUARIAN ENTERTAINMENT
The Antiquarian entertainment, given under the auspices of the Alumna Association of Beaver College on the same evening (Wednesday) in the auditorium of the College, drew an immense audience. Many were unable to gain admission, so great was the throng.
The entertainment consisted of a series of tableaux repre- senting portraits of persons famous in local and national history, and living pictures of scenes in the early history of this country, especially in colonial times. The spectacular effects were very fine, and the portraits remarkably lifelike. Every one was ap- plauded and encored. The cast and characters were as follows:
PORTRAITS
I. "George Washington," Julius Kurtz; "Martha Washington," Rosa Wittish.
2. "William Penn," Robert W. Darragh; "Mrs. Penn," Lucy Watkins.
3. "King Beaver," the Indian chief, Clarence Hughes; "Queen Ali- quippa," the Indian ruler, Blanche Bray.
4. "Missionary Priest and Indian Convert," Robert W. Darragh and Mrs. S. P. Provost.
5. "Captain Sam Brady," the famous scout and Indian fighter, Dan S. Darragh.
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