USA > Pennsylvania > History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, Vol. I > Part 62
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Mustered out with company, June 11, 1864.
4, '61, 3 Discharged on Surgeon's eertificate, Dec. 23, '62. Mustered out with company, June 11, 1864.
Pr. to Cor., Feb. 1, 1862-reduced July, 1S62- inustercu out with company, June 11. 1864.
3 I:eserted June 12, 1861.
Deserted June 9, 1861.
Deserted June 5, 1861.
3 Transferred to 100th regiment P. V., June 1. '64. 3 | Transferred to 109th reg. P. V .. June 1, '61-Vct. Discharged by General Order, July 20, 1865.
3 3 Transferred to 109th regiment P. V., June 11, '64. Promoted to Corporal, November 1. 1862-mus- tered out with company, June 11, 1504.
Arthur Waterson ... do June
4, '61,
3 Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, Aug. 11, '61.
3 Deserted July 29, 1861.
1, '62, 3 Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, Feb. 20, '63. Deserted June 12, 1861. 3
Adruff, Howard. Private
June
4, '61,
4, '61, 3
4, '61,
3
4, '61,
Bauer, Martin. do June
4, '61,
3
3
4, '61,
4, '61, 4, '61, 3 3
May 31. '61,
3
4, '61,
Dolan, Patrick do
June 4, '61,
3
4, '61,
June 4, '61, Dean, Richard ... do
Downs, Thomas. do
Killed at Chattanooga, November 25, 1863. Deserted August 2, 1861.
Mustered out with company, June 11, 1864.
Bart, Ferdinand do June
Bradly, Michael do June
3
Convery. Francis.
TERM-YEARS .!
3 3 Transferred to 109th reg. P. V .. June 1. '64-Vet. Mustered out with company. June 11, 1864.
3 Mustered out with company, June 11, 1864.
Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, April 2, '63. Mustered out with company, June 11, 1864.
417
THREE YEARS' SERVICE.
NAME.
RANK.
DATE OF MUSTER INTO SERVICE.
REMARKS.
Lennan, Edward.
Private
June
4, '61,
Lillich, John.
.. do
Junc
4, '61,
Meier, John.
.. do
June
4, '61,
Miller, William .. do
Juue
4, '61,
Mumbauer, Abr'm
do
June
4, '61,
3 Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, April 2, '63.
Munnich, John .do
June
4, '61,
3
Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, April 2, '63. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, Oct. 7, 1862.
Miller, James do
June
4, '61,
3 Deserted June 28, 1861.
M'Alar, Owen.
.do
June
4, '61, 3 Mustered out with company, June 11, 1854.
M'Ginnis, Henry ..
.. do
Aug.
2, '62, 3 Paroled prisoner-transferred to 109th regiment P. V., June 1, 1864.
M'Laughlin, Patr'k
.. do
June
4, '61, 3
Died June 12, 1862, of wounds received at Cross Keys, Va., June 8, 1862.
M'Gwern, Hugh.
do
June
4, '61,
3
Killed at Cross Keys, Va., June 8, 1862.
M'Cann, James do
June
4, '61,
3
Deserted June 11, 1861.
M'Cann, John. .do
June 4, '61,
3
Deserted June 11, 1861.
M'Dowell, William
do
June
4, '61,
3
Descrted August 2, 1861.
M'Cafferty, Jno. G ..
do
Dec. 13, '62,
3
Nugent, Neil,
do
June 4, '61.
3
Oliver, William .. do
June 4, '61,
3
Orth, Michael.
.do
June
4, '61,
3
Missing in action at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863.
Orth, Jacob ..
do
Aug.
6, '61,
3
O'Brien, Henry
.do
June
4, '61,
3
Otto, August.
do
June
4, '61,
3
Deserted July 30, 1861.
Owens, James.
do
June
4, '61, 3
Remlinger, Francis
do
June
4, '61, 3
Reinhard, John.
.. de
June
4, '61,
Ramage, Charles.
de
June
4, '61,
3 Deserted June 12, 1861.
Schloss, Moses.
đo
June
4, 761.
3
Schneider, Jacob .. .. do
4, '61, 3 Mustered out with company, June 11, 1864.
Schott, Ludwig
.. do
June
4, '61,
3
Pr. to Corporal, Nov. 22, '61-reduced Jan. 7, '62 -- mustered out with company, June 11, 1864.
Smith, Charles.
do
June
4, '61,
Mustered out with company, June 11, 1864.
Sauer, John
.do
June
4, '61,
3
Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, Aug. 12, '61.
Sweets, John.
do
June
4, '61,
3 Discharged on Surgcon's certificate, Aug. 11, '61.
Schener, Anton.
do
June
4, '61, 3 Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, Aug. 11, '61.
Schmidt, Christian
do
June
June
4, '61, 3
Deserted June 16, 1861.
Shaw, John.
do
June
4, '61, 3
Deserted August 2, 1861.
Truxler, John
.do
Feb.
1, '62,
3
Died January 2, 1864, of wounds received at Missionary Ridge, November 25, 1863.
Walz, John
do
June
4, '61,
3
Transferred to artillery, September 27, 1861.
Wahl, John
do
June
4, '61,
3
Deserted June 5, 1861.
Yard, George
.do
June
4, '61, 3
Deserted June 5, 1861.
Zipfel, Tridoline.
do
June
4, '61, 3 Deserted June 4, 1861.
4, '61, 3 4, '61, 3 Transferred to Vet. Res. Corps-date unknown. Captured at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863-died at Andersonville, June 27, 1864, grave, 2,259.
Schmidt, Casper
do
June
4, '61,
3 Deserted June 5, 1861.
Schwartz, William.
do
June
4, '61,
3
Deserted January 29, 1863.
Shields, Felix
do
June
4, '61,
3
Deserted July 5, 1861.
Smith, John.
.do
Wyatt, William. do
Jan.
3, '64,
3
3 Missing in action at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863. Deserted July 4, 1863.
13: Mustered out with company, June 11, 1864. 3 Mustered out with company, June 11, 1864.
Mitchell, William ... .. do
June
4, '61,
3
3 Deserted June 5, 1861.
Moore, Henry. do
June
4, '61,
Deserted April 6, 1864.
Deserted August 2, 1861.
Died December 12, 1863, of wounds received at Chattanooga, Tenn., November 25, 1863.
Missing in action at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863.
Deserted June 5, 1861.
Deserted August 1, 1861.
Transferred to Vet. Res. Corps-date unknown.
3
Died November 1, 1863, at Annapolis, Md., of disease oontraeted in rebel prisons.
Mustered out with company, June 11, 1864.
3
Schools, Neil.
.do
June
June
Absent, in arrest, at muster out-Vet.
53
TERM-YEARS.
TWENTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT.
E HARLY in June, 1861, Colonel John W. Geary obtained permission from
President Lincoln to raise, in Pennsylvania, a regiment of volunteers to serve for three years. He accordingly established a camp at Oxford Park, in Philadelphia, and on the 2Stht of that month the Twenty-eighth Regiment, which was uniformed and equipped at his own expense, was being mustered into the service of the United States.
The regiment, when completed, consisted of fifteen companies, numbering fifteen hundred and fifty-one officers and men, brought together from various sections of the State; companies A and N having been organized in Luzerne county ; B, in Westmoreland ; C, D, I, K, M and P, in Philadelphia; E, in Carbon; F, in Cambria and Allegheny; G, H and L, in Allegheny, and O, in Huntingdon.
The field and staff officers were John W. Geary, Colonel; Gabriel De Korponay, Lieutenant Colonel; Hector Tyndale, Major; John Flynn, Adjutant ; Benjamin F. Lee, Quartermaster; H. Earnest Goodman, Surgeon ; Samuel Logan, Assistant Surgeon, and Charles W. Heisley, Chaplain.
From surplus recruits a battery was formed and attached to the regiment, which was known as Knap's Battery of the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania Vol- unteers. Mr. Charles Knap, of Pittsburg, presented this company with four steel guns, which were subsequently exchanged by the government for six ten- pounder Parrotts. Also connected with the regiment was Beck's celebrated Philadelphia Brass Band.
The uniform was of gray cloth, manufactured in the vicinity of Oxford Park, and furnished to the several companies as they were mustered in. This subse- quently gave place to the blue regulation uniform. The arms were the Enfield rifle with the formidable sword bayonet. These were obtained of a firm in Philadelphia, who fortunately had them for sale, else the regiment would have been armed with the ordinary musket, altered from the flint to percussion lock, many of which were in possession of the government.
Whilst Colonel Geary was actively engaged in forming, equipping and drilling his regiment, events were transpiring which demanded prompt and en- ergetic action on the part of the Government relative to raising additional troops and hastening them to the field. On the 21st of July the disastrous battle of Bull Run was fought; and the panic which seized upon and disor- ganized a great portion of the army, spread its terrifying influence through all parts of the Northern States, and had the effect to arouse the heads of the na- tional departments to a realizing sense of the danger with which the country was threatened. Re-inforcements were consequently ordered forward to join, as rapidly as possible, the defeated army at the front; and hence, in obedience to orders from General Scott, the Colonel, on the 27th, moved with ten com-
1861
ORGANIZATION AND DRILL. 419
panics of his command-leaving the other five, which were not yet in readiness for the field, in charge of Major Hector Tyndale, with orders to follow as soon as possible-and proceeded directly, by way of Baltimore, to Harper's Ferry, reaching there on the evening of the following day. Here he reported to Major General Banks, to whose command the regiment had been assigned, and was attached to the brigade commanded by Colonel Thomas, now a Major General of the United States army.
The regiment encamped at Sandy Hook, opposite Harper's Ferry, until the night of August 13th, when it marched to Point of Rocks, a distance of six- teen miles, arriving at ten c'elock on the following morning, the roads being bad and the night dark and stormy. The duty here assigned it was to guard the frontier from Nolan's ferry to the Antietam aqueduct, embracing numerous mountain gaps and roads, the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, the Potomac river and its opposite banks, and the many islands with which it is studded, together with a number of ferries and fords. The telegraph and post offices, being in the hands of suspected persons, were also taken in charge. To perform this duty, picket posts were established at every four hundred yards along a line of over twenty-five miles. The utmost vigi- lance was strictly enjoined and enforced. Scouting and reconnoitering parties of guerrillas and rebel cavalry prowled among the hills in the rear and on the opposite side of the river, who daily fred upon the pickets. Slight skirmishes were of constant occurrence. Rebel sympathizers, emissaries and spies existed among the residents, and a systematized plan of signalling was carried on between them and the Confederate troops; whilst, under various pretences, passes were obtained from officers at Washington City, by women as well as men, by means of which communication was kept up between the two shores of the Potomac, with the rebel troops and their sympathizing friends. All this required special watchfulness, and the whole system, with those engaged in it, was soon dis- covered and communication entirely broken up. Many arrests were made and the prisoners forwarded, with detailed accounts of their offences, to the head- quarters of the army. During this time large forces of the enemy were quar- tered in Loudon county, Virginia, and distributed at various points in the neighborhood, who made frequent threatening demonstrations. On September 15th, a body of these troops attacked the pickets above Harper's Ferry, at Pitcher's Mills, where a spirited engagement took place, lasting two hours, in which the rebels were routed, after a loss, acknowledged by them, of eighteen killed, seventy-three wounded, and several prisoners. Two unmounted iron twelve-pounder cannon and two small brass mortars, with other effects, ware captured. On September 24th, about five hundred rebels attacked Point of Rocks from the Virginia side, where another animated fight of two hours oc- curred, in which artillery and small arms were used. The enemy was driven with loss in killed and wounded, and the houses in which he took shelter were destroyed. A few days afterwards he was also driven, with some loss, from a fortified position opposite Berlin. A similar affair took place at Knox- ville on the 2d of October.
Early in October secret organizations, regularly officered and prepared with arms and equipments, for rebellious purposes, were discovered in Frederick and adjoining counties in Maryland. The names of the parties were obtained and their premises searched. Their arms and accoutrements were found hidden in barns and out-houses, and buried in the ground, at some distance from the
1
420
TWENTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT,
1867
homes of their owners. Two hundred sabres, four hundred pistols and full cavalry equipments for at least two hundred men, and about fourteen hundred muskets were captured.
A detachment of the command having been ordered to seize a quantity of. wheat intended for the rebel army, at a mill near Harper's Ferry, in Virginia, Colonel Geary crossed the Potomac with three companies and a piece of artil- lery to assist in removing it, and to protect the operations. This labor, though. pushed forward with great activity, occupied several days. It being completed, the Colonel had determined to re-cross the river on the 16th, but at seven o'clock in the morning his pickets stationed on Bolivar Heights, west of Har- per's Ferry, were driven into the town of Bolivar by the enemy who approached. from the west in three columns, consisting of one regiment of infantry, one of cavalry, and three pieces of artillery, commanded by General Ashby. His advanced guard of cavalry charged gallantly towards the upper part of the town, and his infantry and artillery took position on the heights from which the pickets had been driven. At the same time General Evans, with four regi- ments of infantry and four pieces of artillery appeared on Loudon Heights. Sharp-shooters were stationed at eligible points to annoy our troops at the crossing of the Potomac, near the railroad bridge at Harper's Ferry. Having detached a portion of his command to defend the fords on the Shenandoah, the: Colonel remained with about five hundred men, with whom he resisted the enemy's charge. A second and third were made, each increasing in impetu- ousity, during which, in addition to artillery, the rebels were supported by their infantry on Bolivar Heights. They were each time repulsed. Under this concentrated fire the troops held their position until eleven o'clock, when, having brought up a rifled cannon, companies A and G pushed forward, turned the cnemy's left flank, and gained a portion of the heights. A few well directed shots from this gun at the same time silenced two of their pieces, and soon after they were in full retreat towards Charlestown. The standard of the regi- ment was then planted on Bolivar Heights. The victory over Ashby was com- plete. The rebels stated their loss to be one hundred and fifty killed and wounded. Eleven prisoners, one thirty-five-pounder Columbiad, a wagon used for a caisson, with a large quantity of ammunition, and twenty-one thousand bushels of wheat were taken, besides which, one of their small guns was dis- abled. Three companies of the Third Wisconsin, and two companies of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Volunteers, acted under Colonel Geary's command in this battle, and were at the time complimented by him for their gallantry. Aiter disposing of Ashby, attention was turned to General Evans, on Lou- don Heights. His sharp-shooters were soon driven from the east bank of the Shenandoah by the expert marksmen of the Twenty-eighth, and two of his guns were disabled by a fire from the artillery. A number of his men were killed and wounded, and finding that nothing could be accomplished, he re- turned to Leesburg. This was the first victory after the Bull Run distaster. Before quitting the field the Colonel forwarded a dispatch to the Secretary of War, saying :- "I write upon the butt of a cannon captured from the enemy to inform you that we have gained a complete victory over the combined forces of Ashby and Evans;" to which the Secretary facetiously replied, that it was "far more desirable to receive dispatches from the butts than from the muzzles of the cannon of the enemy." For this achievement the command received the thanks of the President, the Secretary of War, and the commander of the corps.
421
BATTLE OF BOLIVAR.
1861
General Banks wrote :- " You and your regiment receive commendations from all quarters."
On October 21st, under orders from Major General Banks, Colonel Geary re- ported at Edwards' Ferry with one thousand men, to participate in the battle of Ball's Bluff, and on the 23d returned to the camp at Point of Rocks. The Mary- land Legislature being in session at Frederick, and about to pass an ordinance of secession, a column of four thousand of the enemy attempted, on the 30th, to cross the Potomac for the purpose of sustaining them in their rebellious act ; but were met at Nolan's ferry by the troops of Colonel Geary's command and driven back, thus effecting a vastly important event in the history of the war.
Under date of October 21st, in a letter to Colonel Geary, Governor Andrew G. Curtin, of Pennsylvania, says :- " The standard for your regiment is ready, and if I can leave Harrisburg, I will come and present it in person, as it would afford me much pleasure to express to you and the brave men you command, my gratification and pride in all you have done since you left Pennsylvania." Pressing official business prevented the Governor from carrying out the inten- tion expressed in this letter; but in the month of March following, he dis- patched a messenger with the standard, who delivered it to the Regimental Quartermaster, Captain B. F. Lee, at Harper's Ferry, by whom it was conveyed to Upperville, Virginia, and presented to the regiment, then stationed at that point.
On the 31st a committee, consisting of Messrs. Jas. B. Nicholson, Samuel R. Hilt and Gilbert S. Parker, presented the regiment with an elegant suite of colors, State and National, the gift of a number of citizens of Philadelphia. The ceremonies attending the presentation were exceedingly interesting and impressive. The regiment was formed in hollow square. Mr. Nicholson made an eloquent and patriotic speech, to which Colonel Geary responded with much feeling and loyal enthusiasm. In the course of his remarks he assured the. donors that he regarded the colors as a sacred trust, for whose preservation he would answer through every trial; that his command would protect them with their lives, and though they might be tattered and torn, would return them to be deposited among the archives of the State. Beck's Philadelphia Brass Band performed several national and soul-stirring airs, and Chaplain Heisley closed the imposing ceremonies with a fervent prayer.
On November 10th an attack was made upon the pickets at Berlin, which was successfully resisted, the enemy suffering materially. On December 19th shells were thrown from the Virginia side into the camp at Point of Rocks, when a section of Knap's Battery opened fire upon the rebels, who were in pos- session of four guns, with such effect as to scatter them and to cause consid- erable loss. An action occurred at Harper's Ferry during the latter part of this month, which lasted two hours. The enemy was defeated and a large por- tion of the town was burned. During the months of January and February, 1862, many prisoners were sent to the Provost Marshal. These were chiefly civilians, captured as spies, or caught in the act of communicating intelligence to the enemy. On January 31st, a rebel flag, seized at Point of Rocks, was for- warded as a present from the regiment to the State of Pennsylvania.
In pursuance of orders for the army to cross the Potomac, Colonel Geary concentrated his command at Sandy Hook on the 24th of February. In en- deavoring to stretch a rope over the river, a boat was upset by a sudden storm of wind, and six men of company P were drowned. The command crossed
422
TWENTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT.
1862
on the two following days on large flat-boats and drove the enemy from Bolivar Heights.
On the 28th, the regiment and battery, with four companies of the First Michigan Cavalry, crossed the Shenandoah by a rope ferry, and, at the point of the bayonet, took possession of Loudon Heights. Leaving five companies with Lieutenant Colonel De Korponay, to garrison the heights, Colonel Geary, with the main body, pushed forward, and on the morning of March 1st reached Lovettsville. The enemy stationed there, after a sharp skirmish, fled with great precipitation. Nineteen of his cavalry were captured, with horses and arms, and a large quantity of other property. During the three succeeding days General A. P. Hill, with a force of four thousand men and thirteen pieces of artillery, was held in check, On the 3d Lieutenant Colonel De Korponay, with his detachment, being relieved at Loudon Heights, re-joined the command.
Information being received on the 7th of March that a force of fifteen hun- dred rebel infantry, artillery and cavairy, were at Waterford, determined upon destroying that town and Wheatland, and also the railroad, Colone, Geary im- mediately put his cavalry and artillery in motion, leaving instructions for the infantry to follow, and entered Wheatland in time to frustrate these incendiary designs. The rebels stationed at Wheatland fled to Waterford, creating such a panic that the troops quartered there instantly decamped and hastened to join General Hill, at Leesburg. At eleven o'clock at night Colonel Geary fol- lowed in pursuit to Waterford, and after resting three hours, pushed forward for Leesburg. Having an exaggerated idea of the strength of the advancing forces, General Hill, after burning his barracks and much valuable property, hastily evacuated the town and fled towards Middleburg, and at about sun- rise on the morning of the 8th, Hill's retreating forces still in sight, Colonel Geary's command, after a forced march of sixteen miles over muddy roads, · entered Leesburg without opposition, planting the Union flag upon Forts John- son, Beauregard and Evans, and taking possession of all the public buildings. Ninety prisoners, seventy horses and a train of wagons containing officers' baggage and sutlers' stores were captured. The line of the enemy's retreat was marked with devastations hastily committed. Bridges were destroyed and mills, fences, granaries, barns, stacks of grain and hay, and the buildings upon the fair grounds were burned. In regard to this movement, General Banks, on the 9th, telegraphed to Colonel Geary, saying :- " I congratulate you on the occupation of Leesburg. It indicates the overthrow of the left wing of the rebel army on the Potomac, and will give joy to the country." And on the 11th he closed a congratulatory letter with the remark :- " I am greatly gratified with your occupation of the town so promptly."
Leaving a garrison to guard the town, the main body of the command moved forward on the morning of the 12th, sixteen miles to Snickersville, having a spirited skirmish on the way. After reconnoitering the mountains and country in this vicinity, it proceeded to Upperville on the 14th, driving off Ashby's and the Sixth Virginia Cavalry, killing one officer and capturing twenty prisoners and a number of horses and equipments. The order preserved by the troops, their respect for persons and property, and their general praise- worthy deportment so commended them to the citizens, that a lively Union sen- timent sprang up in all these villages and towns. Many came forward and took the oath of allegiance and desired the protection of the Union forces.
A force of rebel cavalry was driven, on the 15th, from Ashby's Gap, to hold
423
OCCUPATION OF LEESBURG.
1862
which and Snicker's Gap, was of essential importance to the troops operating against Winchester in the valley westward. At the same time a flank move- ment was made towards Thoroughfare Gap, and the enemy, fearing an attack, burned an immense quantity of bacon there, and five thousand barrels of flour at Gainesville. The regiment was actively engaged for several successive days, and by the 20th it had taken possession of Rectortown, Piedmont, Markham, Linden and Front Royal, after much skirmishing, and taking many prisoners.
Deeming Leesburg to be safe without a garrison, Lieutenant Colonel De Korponay, who had been left there with three companies, was ordered to join the main command, which he did at Snickersville on the morning of the 25th, Colonel Geary having reached that point the day previous on his return from Aldie, where he had proceeded in obedience to an order of the 21st from Divi- sion Head-quarters. At noon of the 25th the line of march was resumed and the command reached Philemont, and encamped at sunset. On the morning of the 26th it proceeded to Middleburg, where it encountered and repulsed about three hundred of the enemy's cavalry, with a reserve of infantry, who had approached from the direction of Upperville. They retreated in great dis- order to the mountains. An engagement also took place at Salem with rebel cavalry and infantry, who were driven with much loss in killed and wounded, and thirty prisoners. The command lost three killed, ten wounded and nine prisoners. Remaining here a day and a half, in consequence of the existence of violent secession feeling, for the purpose of adopting means for the preser- vation of order, it left on the morning of the 29th, and reached White Plains, on the Manassas railroad, at two o'clock in the afternoon, driving the rebel cavalry towards Warrenton.
At White Plains, on the 1st of April, the command was menaced by several thousand rebel cavalry, who were approaching from the direction of Flint Hill. The position being difficult to defend, the camp was moved to Thoroughfare Gap, about five miles distant, where the enemy was unwilling to risk an attack. The next day Colonel Geary resumed the offensive. On the 3d, he moved ten miles to Greenwich, and on the 4th reached Catlett's station, on the road to Warrenton Junction. The country was reconnoitred for a considerable distance, and parties of rebel cavalry were encountered and defeated. Proceeding toward Warrenton at sunrise on the 6th, he encamped about noon near thetown. During the morning's march about eight hundred rebel cavalry were driven from War- renton across the Rappahannock, who burned the bridge at Waterloo to escape pursuit. Formal possession was taken of the town on the same day, where the flag of the Forty-sixth Virginia Regiment was captured. On the morning of the 7th the line of march was resumed, but the progress was arrested by a severe snow storm, which continued four days with unabated violence, com- pelling the command to remain encamped during that time about five miles from Warrenton, after which it proceeded, agreeably to orders, to White Plains, reaching its former position there on the 11th. On the 14th it en- camped in the vicinity of Rectortown. On that day, in a skirmish near Pied- mont, with rebel cavalry, two of the advance guard of the regiment were killed.
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