USA > Pennsylvania > Northumberland County > History of Northumberland Co., Pennsylvania. With illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories > Part 10
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Musicians-John Marshall, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. 8. B. Morgan, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65.
Privates --- George W. Askine, discharged by General Order, June 19th, '65. Alexander W. Blair, munstered out with company, August 29th, '65. Inmes Bury, mustered out with company, Angust 29th, '65. Charles C. Bright, discharged by General Order, July 9th, '65. W. H. Blind, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. Nuthun Burkhart, mustered ont with company, August 29th, '65. Amas 11. Barrett, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. G. F. Buker, discharged! by General Or- der, Angust 29th, '65. Joseph Burk, discharged by General Order, August 1st, '65. (". W. Coleman, mistered out with company, August 29th, '65. R. C. Creitzer, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. William Comp, mastered ont with company, August 29th, '65. Daniel W. Cox, milistered out with company, August 29th, '65. J. Datesman, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. E. Diefenderfer, mustered out with com- pany, August 20th, '65. James Dixnu, mustered out with company, Alt- gust 29th, '65. John Divel, mustered ont with company, August 29th, '65. W. H. H. Diehl, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. S. B. Dodge, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. Geo. R. Detwiler, discharged by General Order, June 29th, 165. W. S. Eckert, mastered ont with company, August 29th, '65. J. H. Ernst, discharged by General Order, August 1st, '65. Michael Fix, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. William H. Freed, mustered out with company, August 29th, '63. William D. Freymire, discharged by General Order, June 30th, '65. J. J. Gehrig, mastered out with company, August 29th, '65. J. D. Gehrig, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65; W. J. Garkins, mustered out with company, Angust 29th, '65. Charles M. Goodman, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. Edwin F. Gold, mustered out with com- pany, August 29th, '65. W. Y. Gray, mustercd ont with company, August 29th, '65. William F. Gressler, discharged by Genera! Order, June 29th, '65. J. B. Gehrig, discharged by General Order, August 1st, '65. S. Hongland, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. James Hong- land, mustered out with company, August 29th '65. William Hull, must- ered out with company, August 29th, '65. John Hilbourn, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. Recse S. Harris, mustered out with com- pany, August 29th, '65. W. H. Huth, discharged by General Order, June 30th, '65. J. R. Housel, discharged hy General Order, July 9th, '65. Isane Harlive, discharged by General Order, August 1st, '65. W. A. Im- body, mustered out with company, Angust 29th, '65. George Imbody, mustered ont with company, August 29th, '65. S. J. James, deserted, March 10th, '65. Arthur L. Kline, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. John D. Kline, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. Henry Kissinger, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. O. P. Kanfinau, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. Stephen Kendrick, mus- tered out with company, August 29th, '65. Benjamin Klingfelter, dis- charged by General Order, July 9th, '65. D. H. Keifer, discharged by General Order, August 1st, '65. W. H. Miller, mustered out with eom- pany, August 29th, '65. Henry Montague, mustered out with company, Angust 29th, '65. Benjamin Miller, mustered ont with company, August 29th, '65. L. A. Mathias, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. John Martin, discharged by General Order, June 30th, '65. G. W. Over- peek, discharged by General Order, August 1st, '65. John Peeler, Jr., mustereil ont with company, August 29th, '65. Henry C. Paul, mustered ont with company, August 29th, 165. William Penny, mustered ont with company, August 29th, '65. Israel Philipps, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. Jacob H. Rishel, musteredl out with company, August 29th, '65. Samuel W. Riddel, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. Heymon Reynolds, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. E. H. Reese, died, June 20th, '65. William Stutzman, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. George P. Swarts, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. David L. Starrick, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. Charles H. Smith, mustered out with company, Angust 29th, '65. T. J. Sticker, mustered out with company, Angust 29th, '65. G. P. Straub, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. W. B. Stadden, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. J. D. Swarts, discharged by Genera! Order, June 30th, '65. Benjamin Snyder, discharged by Gen- eral Order, August 14th, '65. Albert Tregs, mnstered out with company,
August 29th, '65. F. M. Vandergrift, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. Peter Werts, mustered ant with company, Angust 29th, '65. Joseph Werts, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65. William Weimar, mustered out with company, Angust 29th, '65. John Yount, mustered out with company, August 29th, '65.
CAPTAIN JAMES TAGGART.
Jumes Taggart, who recruited and first commanded Company " B," Fifth Pennsylvania Reserves, was the third son of John and Hannah Taggart. He was born in Northumberland, February 4th, 1827. His maternal grand- father was Matthew Huston, who, more than seventy years ago, representedl the County of Philadelphia in the Assembly, and was afterwards chief clerk if that body, when Lancaster was the seat of government. His paternal grand-father, David Taggart, was the sole escort of Simon Snyder, when he left his home in Northumberland County, to be inaugurated Governor of the State. They made the whole journey on horse. back with no baggage, hut their saddle-bags, and got a gond ducking in Middle Creek, which they at- tempted to ford without knowing the way, Traveling expenses were light in those days --- whisky only three cents a drink, and pure rye at that ! What unfortunate worshipper of Bacchus does not envy his grand-inther! There is no modern improvement to balance the degeneracy and the high price of whisky.
When the war began, .Captain Taggart was a merebant in his native village-a widower with two children-under seven years of age. He was so well esteemed, that when it was known that he would accept command of the company, the ranks were soon filled with men and boys, whose ages ranged from seventeen to fifty-three. The oldest was Albin Newberry-the youngest, John Brautijam, Henry A. Colt, was First, and Charles C. Jones, Second Lieutenant ; and James D. SInter, First Sergeant.
They left for Camp Curtin, in May, 1861, and immediately after the Erst battle of Bull Run, marched to the front.
On the 30th of June, 1862, at the battle of Glendale, the last of the seven days' fight, Captain Taggart fell in the sume volley with the brave and be- loved commander of his regiment, Colonel Sencca G. Simmons, and Major Henry J. Biddle, General M'C'all's, Chief of Staff. His remains were never found, but still mingle with the soil of the battle-field, His monument, at Northumberland, bears this fitting inscription :
" They never fall, who die In n great cause ; the block may souk thelr gore: Their heads muy sudilen in the sun: their limbs Be strung to elly guley nuud castle walls: But sill thetr spirit walks abroad. Though yenrs Elapse, and olbers share as dark a doom, They but nugment the deep and sweeping thoughts, Which overpower all others, and conduct . The world at laat to freedom."
In a famdy of nine, his was the first death in thirty years. His father still lives in his eighty-first year, and three brothers and an only sister yet survive.
CAPTAIN CHARLES WELLS.
Captain Taggart was succeeded by his First Lientenant, Charles G. Wells, a gallant und capable officer, also a native of Northumberland. He was a man of wit, as well as of patriotism and courage. He was a carpenter by trade, and in politics an intense Native American. On one occasion, he was making a huge pine grave-box for an Irishman. It was so big, that Charley remarked; "The devil will think he has brought his shanty with him." He was killed in the thickest of the fight at Chancellorsville.
CAPTAIN JAMES D. SLATER.
The next captain was James D. Slater, a scarred veteran of the Mexienn war, a blunt, brave man, who never fenred to fight for his country, or his opinions. On election days, he was a tower of strength to his party, and his bald logical utterances made him a formidable opponent. His political ad- versaries gave him a wide herth, for he had a rough way of calling wrong things by their right names. He escuped the perils of two bloody wars to die peacefully at home. On three Decoration Days the flowers have been henped upon his grave.
No company in the service has been commanded by three better, braver, trner men, and it was worthy of them.
Captain Taggart's son and daughter still live in Northumberland. Wells died childless, and Slater never married.
30
HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
THE SANITARY COMMISSION OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
Poets have sung of the conrage and heroism of the women of Sparta, whose self-sacrifice, in defence of their beloved city, has become known to the civilized world. The respect and esteem, in which women are held in all Christendom, has heen greatly increased by the admiration of mankind, for the bravery exhibited by the women of old, whose enthusiasm inspired the fathers, husbands, sons and brothers, with more than mortal courage, ind expelled the invaders from their ancient citadels. The day has passert, when it was necessary for the weaker part of mankind, to out off their flowing locks, to weave strings for the bows of the archers, und to throw their frail bodies into the breach, to inspire with greater courage, their natural defen- ders; but the opportunity for the exhibition of a fervor, unparalleled in the annals of the world's history, was presented during the trying scenes that filled our land with sorrowing lament, in the progress of the Inst war. Prior to 1861, the women of America were characterized the world over, as effemi- nate, and for the performance of any of the sterner duties of life, incompe- tent by reason of their delicacy. In every thing of a refining nature, in the drawing man out of self, building up the finer part of his nature, and giving lustre to a character that would be otherwise filled with dross and all man- ner of uncleanliness, the women of America take rank far above their sisters of the Old World, who have never fully removed the veil that the dark ages left over them, dwarfing the growth of the best part of their natures, Here, women stand on a pedestal far above the aspirations of man, occupying the middle ground, between Heaven and earth, constituting a happy medium between Divinity and finiteness. They had gradually assumed the role np- parently best suited to them, and none dreamed them possessed of the ele- ments of true heroism, which the opportunities occasioned by the last war so strikingly developed. Man buekled on his armor, and went forth to com- hat with the enemies of his country, nerved to the work, by the remembrance that the home sheltering his trembling, delicate wife or sister, was threatened with desecration, unthinking that he had left behind him, a spirit that when aroused, would exhibit more true moral courage, than the strongest soldiers in the ranks, but such was proven. The moment a wail of distress came up from the wounded friend, women sprang to the rescue, and performed feats of courage, self-sacrifice and endurance, in comparison with which the necom- plishments of the women of Sparta, sinks into insignificance. The citizens of every locality in the North, have just reason to feel proud of the achieve- ments of their women. Everywhere was the one response to the ery for help, the heartiness of which buoyed the drooping spirits of the sick and wounded, und saved from the stranger grave, thousands of the country's brave de- fenders. Through the favor of the worthy Secretory of the Sanitary Com- mission for Sunbury, we are made familiar with the work performed by the women of the County, and ean form some conception of the labor and good accomplished.
The people of Sunbury began their good work for the soldiers, April 18th 1861. A company of volunteers from Sunbury, went to Harrisburg on Saturday morning, April 19th, and by Monday morning, every man was furnished with a new flannel shirt and a needle-book. These were made hy the women of Sunbury, from material purchased by the citizens of the town. On Monday, April 21st, the companies from the upper counties, and from Western New York, began to pass through the town by railway. They were very hungry, and were fed by the people. This led to the habit of keeping ham, bread and coffee, in readiness, to use immediately. During the war, at least forty thousand soldiers were furnished with meals. At one time, the "Bucktail" Regiment of one thousand men, commanded by Colonel Kane, was furnished with two meals, and lodged for twenty-four hours. Sometinies, when the soldiers left the town, there was not a loaf of bread in it ; as the people, with but few exceptions, were unfailing in their liberality. Boxes were sent from time to time to the army, and stockings were knit by a society formed for that purpose. They met every Tuesday evening, at the houses of the members. During May, 1863, several circulars from the United States Sani- tary Commission were received. A meeting was called at the house of Mrs. William Wilson, May 30th, 1863, and the "Sanitary Aid Society of Sunbury, Pennsylvania," was organized. Mrs. Charles Pleasants, was elected Presi- dent, and served until the society closed. Vice-Presidents: Mrs. W. Wilson, Mrs. Alexander Jordan, Mrs. John B. Packer, Mrs. William J. Greenough, Mrs. James Boyd and Miss Maria E. Fisher. Treasurer: Mrs. Benlnh A. Clement. Secretary: Mrs. E. Donnel. Committees were uppointed, and every one set to work in good carnest. Mr. Charles Pleasants gave the use of a room in his building, and the hours of meeting were fixed for Thursday afternoon in summer, and Thursday evening in winter.
The box was sent to the commission, 1309 Chestnut street, June 14th, 1863. During the months of Angust and September, a battalion of the provost guard, was stationed here. The society took charge of the sick soldiers, and the ladies of the society took turns in furnishing the meals for them. The upper rooms of the old Court House, were used as a hospital. On New Year's day, 1864, a supper was given by the society, and in August a tableaux. Dona- tions of money and material were liberally bestowed. January Ist, 1865, there were eighty-nine members on the roll of the society. After a battle, there was generally an extra meeting and extra supplies were sent. The contributions to the Sanitary Fair were very liberal. Extras were published by the Gazette during the battle of the Wilderness and sold for the benefit of the society. June 25th, 1865, the society provided supper for the 150th and 151st, Regiment of New York Vols., numbering twenty-five hundred men, who were returning from the army. This closed the active duties of the "Sanitary Aid Society." November 1865, "Society closed."
E. DONNEL, Secretary.
Volumes have been written of the achievements of our soldiers during the four years' struggles; thousands have been expended in erecting monu- ments, commemorating some notable feat or bloody field; but here, four years' labor, filled with a self-sacrifice and devotion, to which the world's history furnishes no parallel, and it was but an infantissimal portion of the work done by the Sanitary Commission, are ended with this brief motive, "Society elused." The ever memorable words, "It is finished," uttered by the Savior of mankind, suspended upon the ignominious cross, proclaimed to the world, that the work he came to perform was completed. But who of finiteness can form any estimate of the work this true sentence announced as ended. For years there had been a struggle between Divinity as represented in him and humanity ; Divinity at all times maintaining the ascendeney. Four years, the women of Northumberland County had toiled almost ceaselessly, with aching brain and anxious hearts for the alleviation of their suffering heroes. How many anxious sighs and tearful prayers, were interwoven in the meshes of the delicate fabrics, so skillfully prepared-not time, but eternity, will dis- cover. What snerifices were made in behalf of the loved ones far away, the recipients will never know. All we know is, that silently and lovingly was the work done, and when no longer occasion acquired the offerings, as silently the "Society elosed." Side by side with the names of the country's brave de- fenders, should be inscribed in letters imperishable, those of the noble women, whose noble sacrifices made possible the success of our soldiers.
At the first meeting of the regular Sanitary Commission, held in Sunbury, June 4th, 1863, there were present :
Mrs. A. Jordan, Mrs. C. Plensants, Mrs. William Willson, Mrs. J. B. Pocker, Mrs. Henry Billington, Mrs. George Walker, Mis. W. L. Dewart, Mrs. William Rockefeller, Mrs. Jordan Rockefeller, Mrs. Thomas D. Grant. Mrs. Andrew N. Brier, Mrs. George Smith, Mrs. John Buyers, Mrs. George Hill, Mrs. George Wren, Miss Marin A. Fisher, Miss Marmela Covert, Miss Lizzie Lazarus, Miss Mary Lazarus, Miss Malinda Weiser, Miss Sallie Fry, Miss Sarah Engle, Miss Louisa Hendricks, Miss Mary E. Masser, Miss Emma Painter, Miss Maggie Donnell, Miss Amelia Keihl, Miss Louisa Weaver, Miss Rachel McCarty, Miss F. M. F. Donnell, Mrs. Samuel Gobin, Mrs. Horatio Wolverton, Mrs. William Reed, Mrs. Lewis W. Gibson.
Mrs. Charles Pleasants, President ; Miss Beulah A. Colement, Treasurer ; Miss Elizabeth Donnel, Secretary. For two years and six months, they met together week after week for the noble purposes of their mission. Their members were added to at different times, until at its close there were ninety- two names on the rolls. The value of the supplies forwarded to the camps and hospital, during that time, was upwards of fifteen hundred dollars, em- bracing every article that could alleviate suffering and increase the comfort of the sick and wounded.
The society has elosed, but the remembrance of the good necomplished will remain fresh in the hearts of all, so long as time shall last.
PLATE V
EV - LUTHERAN CHURCH, MILTON, NORTHUMBERLAND CO ., PA.
W. A. LEOPOLDX .
Clarks
ST JOHN'S CHURCH OF EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION, REV. W. A. LEOPOLD, PASTOR, SUNBURY ST., SHAMOKIN, NORTHUMBERLAND CO,PA
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, REV A. C. CLARKE, PASTOR. SUNBUPY ST. SHAMOKIN NORTHUMBERLAND CO, PX
PLATE VI
31
HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
CHAPTER X.
CHURCHES.
THE GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH.
A CELEBRATED writer has said, that the "History of the World is little else than a History of Eminent Men." This sagacious remark is eminently true of Church History. It is little else than a record of the feelings and acts under Divine inspiration, of men whose education and circumstances bave fitted and marked them for the great work of reforming a lost people.
Ulrich Zwingle, the great reformer of Switzerland, the father and founder of the German Reform Church, commenced his work twelve months before the great Lnther from the centre of Europe, hurled forth his powerful darts that spread such consternation among the ranks of the emissaries of the Pope. Zwingle was born January Ist, 1487, took charge of a church at the age of eighteen, and at twenty-nine began to preach holdly in opposi- tion to the tenants of the Catholic Church. At the early age of forty-four, this bright light was extinguished, but the rays that emanated from his fer- tile and powerful mind, have penetrated to the furthermost confines of the earth, carrying joy to the hearts of millions that now worship in accordance with the creed that he promulgated. To the efforts of the pastor of this church in Milton, we are indebted for a full History of the German Church in our country and Northumberland County.
The great reformation of the sixteenth century, which commenced in Central Europe, but gradually spread over the whole of that continent, divided itself at an early day into two distinct branches, the Reformed and Lutheran. The Reformed movement was inaugurated by Ulrich Zwingle, in Switzerland, in 1516, one year before Luther commenced his reformation in Wittenburg. The chief theological difference between Zwingle and Luther had reference to the Lord's Supper. Luther held to the real pres- enee of Christ in the Eucharist, in such a sense that the communicant actually receives the hody and blood of Christ, "in, with and under," the form of the bread and wine; whilst Zwingle taught the Holy Communion to be simply a commemorative ordinance. The system of Zwingle was afterwards somewhat modified, and more fully developed by John Calvin, who, in con- trast with Zwingle's notion of mere commemoration in the Holy Supper, maintained the real spiritual presence of Christ in that sacrament in such a sense that the worthy communicant only is made a partaker of Christ by faith under the operation of the Holy Ghost.
Our branch of the Holy Catholic Church is a part of this general Re- formed movement in Europe in the sixteenth century. We, however, prop- erly date our establishment as a specific German Reformed Church from the year 1562, in which the Elector Frederick, the Third, surnamed the Pions, of the Palatinate in Germany, employed two Calvanistic divines, Zacharius Ursinns and Casper Olevianus, to draw up the Heidelberg Catechism, which ever since that time has been the only acknowledged confession of faith in our church. The object of the Elector Frederick in having this Catechism drawn up at that time was, if possible, to have it serve the pur- pose of harmonizing the Reformed and Lutheran parties in his dominions. Hence the catechism was made to combine the moderate spirit of Melanc- thon, a Lutheran, with the general doctrinal system of Calvin. It is this peculiarity of our confession of faith that gives us our distinctive character as a denomination, especially in the United States, where our ministers gen- erally have more strongly emphasized the Melancthonian than the Calvan- istic elements in the catechism. I cannot now speak of our confessional symhol further than to say, that immediately upon its appearance in print it was introduced into all the Reformed Churches of the Palatinate, as well as many other parts of Europe.
You will now please call to mind what was said in my Centennial discourse two weeks ago, in reference to the sufferings, privations and persecutions en- dured by our German Reformed ancestors in this part of Germany, the Pal- atinate on the Rhine, as early as 1689. Roman Catholic fanaticism then drove our forefathers out of their houses in mid-winter, their dwellings were burned, their crops destroyed, and men, women and children left without shelter and food. In 1719, they were forbidden to use the Heidelberg Cate- chism, their confessional standard, and prevented from worshipping in the
Church of the Holy Ghost, in Heidelberg. Thus persecuted and oppressed at home, these German Reformed people turned their eyes towards this new world, and came hither in search of a home, where they might have freedom to worship God according to their own faith, eustoms and usages.
As early as the middle of the seventeenth century, a company of Germans had already found a home and religious toleration in America. Before William Penn arrived, in 1682, Germantown, now a suburb of Philadelphia, was founded by the Germans. In 1711, nearly seven thousand Germans arrived in America, from the Palatinate. At first they settled in Schoharie County, New York, but the following year, 1712, they constructed for them- selves rafts, upon which they floated down the Susquehanna, and took up their ahode in what is now Berks County, this State. From them, it is sup- posed, the greater part of the German Reformed population in Rerks and Lehanou counties, are descended.
During the following ten years, large numbers of Reformed people settled in Pennsylvania, and in 1731, their number here was no less than 15,000. It must be remembered, however, that at that time they were not as yet an organized church.
These people were generally supplied with bibles, eatechisms, prayer-hooks, which they brought with them from the fatherland, and often were accom- panied by pious school-masters, who, after their arrival here, gathered the people together on the Lord's day, and read to them an appropriate sermon. But there is no account of any regularly ordained Minister being among them, and preaching to them, until 1727. In this year, the Classis of the Palatinate sent over to America the Rev. George Weiss, with about 400 people of the Palatinate. Mr. Weiss settled in Montgomery County, Pa., and there organized a congregation and coasistory. He also, a few years later, established another church in Philadelphia.
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