USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 20
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the regiment proved. The discipline enforced embraced every phase of a sol- dier's obligation. Though there was no immediate necessity apparent, the men were instructed in the duties of the outpost as well as the camp. Careful picket lines were maintained and tested by the young colonel at all hours of the day and night. The most rigid rules of soldierly conduct were kindly but firmly enforced.
One of the best drilled companies in the regiment was Company I, and to Captain Marlin of that Company was the One Hundred and Forty-eighth in a great measure indebted for its efficiency in drill and discipline, for in him Colonel Beaver found an officer thoroughly posted in every detail of soldierly qualifications. Going as he did from the One Hundred and Fifth Pennsylva- nia, he carried with him the lessons learned in military tactics, in that rigid school of drill and discipline that Colonel McKnight established at Camp Jame- son, during the winter of 1861-62, and which made the officers of that regi- ment excel in this respect. Colonel Marlin gives this severe and thorough training that he then received the credit for his success as an officer. He lent himself ardently to aid the colonel of the regiment in his efforts to make the One Hundred and Forty-eighth a regiment that would have done credit to the " Old Guards."
A good story is told of the obstacles which Colonel Beaver sometimes encountered in his desire to make a "crack " regiment out of the material gathered from the mountains of Pennsylvania. Standing one day near his headquarters, a sturdy German of the Clarion county company came shambling along toward him, with anything but a soldierly gait, and without a soldier's bearing. Approaching the Colonel, without saluting, he said :
"Say, vere's de old docther ?"
" I don't know. But who are you ?" asked the Colonel.
" Vy, I been Switzer."
" Are you a soldier ?" sternly demanded the Colonel, appreciating the com- edy nature of the performance, but also realizing the necessity of giving the man a practical lesson in a soldier's education.
" Oh, yah ; I belong to the Hundred and Fordy-eidth."
" Ah, is that so," replied the Colonel. " You don't appear like a soldier of that regiment. But if you are, let me show you how a member of that regi- ment addresses an officer. You stand here and be colonel for a moment, while I take your place as a private." The German citizen soldier eyed the colonel curiously as he walked away a few paces, wheeled about and ap- aproached him with a brisk, soldierly step, and military carriage. The substi- tuted private addressed the suddenly commissioned officer and said :
"Colonel, can you tell me, sir, where I will find the surgeon of the regi- ment ?"
" Mein Gott in Himmel, I doan no! I'm been lookin' for him meinself for an hour." 19
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The colonel's dignity succumbed to the German's reply, and he walked into his quarters to conceal a hearty laugh.
On the 7th of December the regiment was ordered to join the army of the Potomac, and assigned to the First Brigade, First Division of the Second Corps. The brigade was commanded by General Caldwell, while General Han- cock was in command of the division. It went into camp near Falmouth, and again built winter quarters. The regiment was here employed on picket duty and active drill, and kept up its reputation for soldierly bearing and neatness, being several times during the winter complimented by General Hancock for its fine appearance on review.
General Walker in his history of the Second Corps, says of the first ap- pearance of this regiment at the front :
" Three days after the First Division returned to camp (after the battle of Fredericksburgh) it as the most depleted division, received a reinforcement in the One Hundred and Forty-eighth Pennsylvania, Colonel James A. Beaver, a regiment which was thereafter, through all the subsequent struggle to the glorious end, to be associated with the Second Corps, and never to be named without honor. The degree of discipline to which this new regiment of Penn- sylvania troops had already, in four months of service, been brought by its accomplished commander, rendered it a conspicuous figure, whether among the camps of the division, on review, or in the field."
At Chancellorsville Companies E. and I of the One Hundred and Forty- eighth were part of the celebrated skirmish line of Colonel Miles. Says Gen- eral Walker : " Again and again did he (the enemy) advanc einto the slashing, and attempt to make his way over Miles's resolute force; but in vain. Occu- pying a position of advantage, the Fifty-seventh, the Sixty-fourth and the Sixty- sixth New York, Second Delaware, and One Hundred and Forty-eighth Pennsylvania, every time beat off these attacks, and drove the assailants back to cover. The importance of this stiff holding of our line on the left could not at this crisis be over-estimated. Had McLaws been able to produce any im- pression, however slight, along the turnpike, he would have fearfully compli- cated the problem for the Union army. Called suddenly to face the irruption of Jackson's three divisions, through its broken right, driving Howard's beaten troops before him as the stones and beams of a ruined dam, separated trees, and the wreckage of a hundred houses 'are driven before the mountainous flood of waters. Fortunately while the good Third Corps with which was William Hays's brigade of French's division of the Second Corps, Pleasanton's small but gallant cavalry force, and the guns of numerous batteries, were, with rare discipline and heroism, resisting this fearful onslaught, no cause for alarm existed on the left; even the line of battle was never for one moment allowed to be- " come engaged ; but Miles holding the enemy off at arm's length, continued in his rifle-pits till night fell." Swinton in his "Potomac Campaigns " says of
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this brilliant exploit, " Amid much that is dastardly at Chancellorsville, the conduct of this young, but gallant and skillful officer, shines forth with a brill- iant lustre." So delighted was Hancock at this splendid behavior of his skir- mish line, that after one repulse of the enemy, he exclaimed to one of his aids, " Captain Parker ride down and tell Colonel Miles he is worth his weight in gold ! "
"On Sunday morning when the One Hundred and Forty-eighth (four companies C, D, G, and H, while companies E and I were on the skirmish line of General Miles) was moving from the abatis where it had lain all night, General Hooker met it; 'What regiment is this?' he shouted. 'The One Hundred and Forty-eighth Pennsylvania,' said Colonel Beaver coming for- ward. With Meagher's Irish Brigade, which had been away on detached service, General Hancock had put Colonel Beaver's and the rest of Caldwell's Brigade under General Hooker's direct orders. A question more as to the brigade, and General Hooker turned to direct the regiment on its way. It was one of those rare moments when the commander of a great army picks up a single regiment and guides its movements. Filing out along the road leav- ing behind the advance line of the enemy, facing towards the new danger, the rebel shot from front and rear flying over their heads, the regiment followed Hooker's white horse. Ten minutes of double quick and the regi- ment poured into a sloping, open field, which lost itself in a wood that crowned an elevation, from behind which were coming the puffs of rifle-shot and rings of artillery firing. 'There is your work, Colonel, occupy that wood,' said Hooker, pointing up the slope lying clean out of the Union lines, with the roads that led to a needed ford winding about it. 'Hadn't I better throw out a skirmish line, General ?' said Colonel Beaver as he looked at the distant point upon which he was ordered to fling his regiment. 'Wait for nothing,' said General Hooker, as he turned to seek another part of the field, 'every- thing depends on holding those woods.'" 1
Reaching the point indicated, Colonel Beaver found the woods swarming with rebels, with whom an engagement began at close range. Here, in the hottest of the fight, Colonel Beaver was severely, and it was at first thought, mortally wounded in the abdomen. After the fall of their colonel the regi- ment remained all day in the woods, swaying back and forth in the fierce fight, but holding the ground on which the safety of the retreating army lay until late in the day, when it was withdrawn after a heavy loss.
General Caldwell in his official report of this engagement says :
" Colonel Beaver of the One Hundred and Forty-eighth Pennsylvania Vol- unteers deserves the highest praise for the discipline and efficiency which he has secured in his regiment. He was unfortunately wounded severely at the first fire, and was borne from the field, before he conld see the heroism of his men."
1 Burr's " Life of Beaver."
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After this battle the regiment returned to camp, where it remained until the opening of the Gettysburg campaign, when it moved north with the rest of the army, and on the morning of the 2d of July the Second Corps which had been halted during the night by General Hancock, about three miles out, on the Taneytown road, reached Gettysburg, and was assigned to occupy Ceme- tery Hill, the left centre of the line. Lee was at this time hurling his forces against the Third Corps, which was heroically striving to beat him back, and an almost hand to hand conflict was taking place in the Peach orchard where Birney's Division sustained the name that Kearney had given it. When these brave men of Sickles's Corps were being beaten back by the combined forces of McLaws and Hood, when eleven Confederate batteries had been hurling death into the Union line and just as Barksdale's Mississippians burst through Graham's feeble line to drive out McGilvray's artillery, and pour into the rear of the Union troops, Switzer's and Tilton's brigades of the Fifth Corps, who had been sent to assist Birney were thrown back and overwhelmed, and all seemed lost.
" But at this moment a powerful reinforcement is approaching the field. It is the division which Sumner organized at Camp California, in the winter of 1861, and which Richardson and Hancock had led into action-commanded this day by Caldwell. The scene of the contest is the wheat-field, so famous in the story of Gettysburg. This, and the woods on the south and west, are now full of the exulting enemy. Through this space charges the fiery Cross of the Fifth New Hampshire, with his well approved brigade (in which was the One Hundred and Forty-eighth.) It is his last battle. He has said it, as he ex- changed greetings with Hancock on the way. (' It is my last day. I'll have a star or a coffin to-day !') But he moves to his death with all the splendid en- thusiasm that he displayed at Fair Oaks, Antietam, and Fredericksburg." 1
By an error in deploying the One Hundred and Forty-eighth Regiment, Companies C and I were on the right and in the already well-contested wheat- field, the rest of the regiment extending into the woods and rocks towards the Devil's Den, the Fifth New Hampshire on the extreme left of the brigade. Here was an opportunity to fully test the discipline and courage of the men engaged. The companies in the wheatfield fully exposed, while the enemy was protected by the stone-wall and rocks in the woods beyond the field. In this terrible engagement Company I lost twenty-six out of sixty-one men that it took into the fight, and was fortunate enough to capture quite a number of the enemy.
After the battle of Gettysburg the One Hundred, and Forty-eighth took part in the pursuit of Lee, and after taking an important part in the Mine Run campaign, it went into winter quarters near Stevensburg, where it recruited its wasted ranks. The location of the camp was a pleasant and healthy one, and this season of inactivity was of great benefit to the men. The regiment was here kept up to its standard in drill and discipline.
1 Walker's " History of the Second Corps."
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In February important changes took place in the Army of the Potomac. The five corps which had fought so long side by side were to be consolidated into three, and to this end the First and Third were sacrificed. Whether this dismemberment of these brave organizations was for the best, it is not my province to here discuss. The bitter pangs of the soldiers of both these corps were hard to bear ; but when the veterans of the First and Second Division of the Third Corps, the men commanded by the illustrious Kearney, and the gal- lant Hooker, were transferred to the Second Corps, they could not have fallen (if the change had to be made) into better hands, and they in the campaigns that were to follow added lustre to the laurels of that corps.
In this reorganization of the Second Corps, the One Hundred and Forty- eighth was assigned to the Fourth Brigade of the First Division, commanded by Colonel John R. Brooke, the Second Delaware, Fifty-third, One Hundred and Forty-fifth Pennsylvania and the Sixty-fourth and Sixty-sixth New York, comprising the other regiments in the brigade, General Barlow commanding the division. On the 22d of April the reinforced Second Corps was brought to- gether to be reviewed by General Grant. Says Walker of this grand review, " More than twenty-five thousand men actually marched in review. The ap- pearance and bearing of the troops was brilliant in the extreme ; but among all the gallant regiments which passed the reviewing officer, two excited spe- cial admiration-the One Hundred and Forty-eighth Pennsylvania, Colonel Beaver from the old Second, and the Fortieth New York, Colonel Egan, from the former Third Corps."
On the evening of May 3d the regiment moved from camp and crossing the Rapidan at Ely's Ford reached Chancellorsville on the 4th, the anniversary of their first hard fought battle. At an early hour on the following morning the column was put in motion, the One Hundred and Forty-eight acting as skirmishers and flankers, and reached the battle-field of the Wilderness in the evening. Lying upon the extreme left of the line the regiment shared but little of the fighting of the 5th and 6th. "When it was marching to the front, still fresh, though just off a nine hours' march, the splendid condition and sol- dierly bearing of the regiment was noticed by a group of general officers, who had been watching the methodical drill of the gleaming bayonets, while the roar of battle could be plainly heard. When Colonel Beaver rode over to this group of officers General Gibbon, in command of two divisions of the Sec- ond Corps, said to him, 'Colonel, I'd rather have that regiment in its splendid condition and command it, than occupy the position that I do.'1 A flank move- ment of the enemy, which had commenced during the night, was continued during the day, and on the 9th the One Hundred and Forty-eighth advanced on the Spottsylvania road to the Po River, on the opposite side of which the enemy was found. Fording the stream the three right companies were de-
1 Burns "Life of Beaver."
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ployed and advanced with three companies as support, and the remaining four as battalion reserve. The line advanced steadily in the face of a brisk fire from the enemy's batteries, and drove him from his position. The battle which opened the next morning was renewed later in the day, and about 3 P. M. a strong line of the enemy appeared in front of the position occupied by the One Hundred and Forty-eighth, and its line of skirmishers were driven in with severe loss; but as the enemy emerged from the woods into the open ground they received such a well-directed fire from Company H, that they wavered, and a moment later Colonel Beaver ordered the entire line to open fire. The fight- ing lasted some time, and being unsupported, Colonel Beaver determined to withdraw his command. This was exceedingly difficult, as the near presence of the enemy and the burning woods through which he had to pass made it very dangerous ; but by a masterly effort Colonel Beaver managed to bring off the regiment in safety, he being the last one to ford the river, which he did on foot, having given his horse to a lieutenant of his regiment who had lost a leg, and to whom death would have been certain if left in the burning woods. The faithful horse had been wounded before his master gave him up, and fell dead just as he reached the bank of the river with his maimed burden. In his report of this engagement General Hancock says :
" I feel that I cannot speak too highly of the bravery and soldierly conduct displayed by Brooke's and Brown's brigades on this occasion ; attacked by an entire division of the enemy (Heth's), they repeatedly beat him back, holding their ground with unyielding courage until they were ordered to withdraw, when they retired with such order and steadiness as to meet the highest praise."
General Brooke in his official report to General Hancock says:
" 1 would particularly mention Colonel James A. Beaver, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, whose regiment occupied the right of the line, and the most exposed position, for his great gallantry and the mas- terly manner in which he extricated his regiment from the burning woods, which were set on fire by some means during the action. During the latter part of this action this regiment had to contend with the enemy in front, and the burning timber in the rear, and at its close were compelled to retire through the fire to the opposite or left bank of the Po, no other path being left open.'
On the 12th the regiment found itself in the front of the conflict at Spott- sylvania, where it fought bravely. The troops of Barlow fought desper- ately in this engagement. General Walker says of them : "Tearing away the abatis with their hands, Miles's and Brooke's brigades sprang over the entrench- ments, bayoneting the defenders or beating them down with clubbed muskets. Almost at the same instant Birney entered the works on his side and the sal- ient was won." Company I here lost Lieutenant John A. Maguire, who was
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mortally wounded and died on the 15th. He was a brave young officer, and his death was deeply regretted by his comrades and by his many friends in Brookville, from which place he enlisted.
On the 3d of June, after taking part at North Anna and Tolopotomy, the regiment found itself at Cold Harbor, and with the division captured the ene- my's front line ; but the division not being properly supported, was obliged to fall back a short distance, where it held its ground against every assault of the enemy. On the 15th moved to Petersburg and took an active part in the siege of that place, where on the evening of the 16th Colonel Beaver was severely wounded, in an advance of his brigade on the enemy's works.
On the 21st of August the regiment returned from Deep Bottom, and was immediately hurried to the left of Warren on the Weldon Railroad, tearing up and destroying the road southward of Reams's Station. The First and Sec- ond Divisions were engaged in this work until the morning of the 25th, when they were attacked by the enemy. The fighting was desperate. Again and again was the enemy repulsed ; but the division had finally to withdraw before the overwhelming force brought against it. The loss in the regiment was very heavy. General Beaver, who had hurried to the field in an ambulance, not
having entirely recovered from the wound received at Petersburg, June 16th, was just in the act of reviewing his front, when he was shot through the right leg and borne from the field disabled. This battle deprived the regiment of the leader which it loved, and the army of one of its best volunteer officers, but it probably saved to Pennsylvania her present able and honored executive, for had General Beaver been able to go into any more hard-fought fights, his bravery would most likely have cost him his life.
On the return of the regiment to Petersburg, it did duty at Forts Haskell and Steadman, and Battery No. 10.
By an order of the War Department, it was directed that one regiment in each division should be furnished with Spencer repeating rifles, and General Hancock designated the One Hundred and Forty-eighth to receive them on the part of the First Division
During the winter the regiment was engaged in garrisoning Forts Sampson, Gregg and Cummings. When the spring campaign opened it participated in the action at Hatcher's Run, March 25, 1865, and on the 3Ist at Adams's farm. On the 2d of April it took part in the fight at Sutherland Station. Here they were deployed as skirmishers by General Miles and led the advance. With Captain Sutton of Company E in command of the right wing, and Captain Harper of the left, it moved steadily forward, and by a well-executed ma- neuvre, flanked the enemy's works and opened a well-directed enfilading fire from the repeating rifles. This deadly fire threw the rebels into confusion, and an entire brigade laid down their arms and surrendered to the brigade. On the following day General Miles issued an order warmly commending the gal-
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lant conduct of the brigade, and stating the result of the charge to be seven hundred prisoners, two pieces of artillery, and two flags. On the 7th of April the regiment participated in the battle of Farmville, and the closing scenes of the war, after which it returned to Alexandria, and on the 3d of June, 1865, was mustered out of service.
Companies I and E took part in the following engagements in which their regiment was engaged : Auburn, Bristow, Mine Run, The Wilderness, Po River, Spottsylvania Court-House, North Anna, Tolopotomy, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Deep Bottom, Strawberry Plains, Reams's Station, Hatcher's Run, Adams's Farm, Sutherland Station, Farmville, and Appomattox.
Company I of the One Hundred and Forty-eighth was recruited by Cap- tain Silas J. Marlin in July and August of 1862. This company was fortunate in having such an excellent and efficient officer to command it, and he was equally fortunate in securing such good material for his company. He remained with his company until July 28, 1863, when he was detailed as acting inspector general of the First Division of the Second Corps, which position he held until the close of the war, being on several occasions detailed as inspector of the Second Corps. During the time that he was thus detailed he served on the staffs of Generals Caldwell, Barlow, and Miles, and was actively engaged in every engagement in which his division participated, either in command of his company or on staff duty.
May 26, 1865, he was, by General Order No. 254 from the War Depart- ment, ordered to report for duty at Fortress Monroe, and was appointed by General Miles inspector during the first part of Jefferson Davis's imprisonment at the fortress.
He was commissioned major of his regiment June 1, 1865, but being absent on detailed service was not mustered as such.
On the 27th of December Captain Marlin was brevetted a major of volun- teers, by President Lincoln, " for gallant services at the battle of Reams's Sta- tion, and in the present campaign before Richmond " to rank from December 2, 1864. And January 15, 1865, he was again brevetted a lieutenant-colonel of volunteers, " for gallantry and valuable services."
Governor Beaver says of Colonel Marlin : " He was a most capable, gallant and useful officer upon the staff, and was well entitled to all the honors which lie received for the service."
General Walker says: " He was a cool, intelligent officer."
During Colonel Marlin's absence from his company it was well and skillfully handled by Lieutenants Crane and Clark. The former was commissioned captain June 1, 1865.
Company E shared equally in the honors of the One Hundred and Forty- eighth with Company I. Captain Stewart resigning soon after it went out, the command devolved upon Captain Sutton of Indiana; but two of its most effi-
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cient and bravest officers were Lieutenants Clark and Sprankle, both of Jeffer- son county. Joseph E. Hall of Company I was on April 27, 1863, promoted from sergeant to sergeant-major of the regiment, and on August 2, to second lieutenant of Company I, and promoted to adjutant of the One Hundred and Eighty-third Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers September 7, 1864, a position he held until the muster out of his regiment, with great credit. An officer of the division said of him : "You cannot praise him too highly."
COMPANY E, ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT P. V.
The following were the Jefferson county men in Company E, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers.
Captain Charles Stewart resigned September 25, 1863 ; first lieutenants, W. T. Clark, promoted November 15, 1863, discharged on surgeon's certificate July 7, 1864; Peter D. Sprankle, promoted September 25, 1864; first ser- geants, George Baughman, Levi C. Smith, Robert A. Travis; sergeants, Daniel W. Smith, Charles M. Law; corporals, Robert J. Crissman, John Milliron, E. Vincent Richards, James Shoppard, W. J. Postlethwait, John J. Shoffstall ; mu- sicians, David N. Henry, Johnston Hamilton ; privates, John Boyer, Emanuel Bush, Peter Burkett, Isaac G. Cochran, Robert J. Crissman, Alexander R. Dun- lap, Samuel P. Edwards, William Evans, David Gearheart, Samuel R. Gear- heart, John M. Hartman, John C. Hoover, William Jordan, Benjamin F. Keck, Sampson Klingensmith, Daniel C. Law, Joseph H. Law, Joseph Long, John Milliron, William Milliron, George Miller, Andrew Minish, William S. New- com, Josiah Postlethwait, William J. Postlethwait, Emanuel Raybuck, Henry Raybuck, Philip Sloppy, James L. Staggers, David Smith, John Snyder, Sam- uel Shilling, Joseph Shoffstall, Chambers O. Timblin, George Timblin, Philip Whitesell, Henry Young.
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