USA > Pennsylvania > History of the First regiment infantry, National guard of Pennsylvania (Grey Reserves) 1861-1911, pt 1 > Part 15
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13-1
1864
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
four cents ($7688.54), thirteen dollars and fifty cents ($13.50) per uniform. They were assigned, forty-tive to each company, free of charge. " All uniforms required over and above this number to be paid for upon delivery at the rate of fourteen dol- lars and fifty cents ($14.50) cents each." The contract was com- pleted and the committee, consisting of Major Frank P. Nicholson, - chairman, and Captains Jacob Loudenslager, James D. Keyser, and Lieutenant J. M. Ross, members, discharged at the session of the Board held March 16, 1864.
The margin between this re-equipment and the legislative dis- integration incident to the operation of the Act of May 4, 1864, was very narrow. That act, entitled " an act for the discipline, organization, and regulation of the militia of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," in its 101st and concluding section provided " That any act or acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act or authorizing any organization or organizations not herein pre- scribed are hereby repealed." With this wholesale, indiscrimi- nate, and sweeping muster out the commissions of all the officers expired by limitation. Though it was conceded, as the report of the committee to consider the question shows, that "by an act approved May 4, 1864, repealing the act of May 15, 1861, the Reserve Brigade was virtually disbanded," the regiment was loathe to yield to this imperative demand or at once seek a re- habilitation under the new conditions imposed. There was hope of helpful supplementary legislation before the session, which was likely to last through the summer, closed, so there was dalliance with the conclusion, awaiting adjournment or action.
Meanwhile the enemy was again across the Potomac. General Jubal Early in the beginning of July of 1864, with his corps of Confederate infantry, had left the Petersburg front, where the Army of the Potomac had Lee beleagured, with a view to extensive operations on Baltimore and Washington. There were no de- fenders for Washington except hospital convalescents and govern- ment clerks, and Baltimore was scarcely better provided. Despite the hindrance of no organization, the spirit of the hour was again abroad, and over his signature as Charles S. Smith, late Colonel First Regiment Infantry Reserve Brigade, Colonel Smith pub- lished on July 11. 1>64, a call requesting the late commissioned officers of the First Regiment Reserve Brigade to meet at the City Armory, Broad and Race, at 10 o'clock on the following
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ACT OF MAY 4
1864
morning, Monday, July 12, for the purpose of organizing a regi- ment for immediate service in the present emergency. Simul- taneously with this call there also appeared one from Major Nichol- son, and another from " one of the captains of the old organiza- tion." The companies made prompt response, and the initiatory call was answered at the meeting for B by Captain McCreight, Lieutenants Pollock and Greer; C, Lieutenants Barrington and Brown; D, Captain West, Lieutenants Seeger and Prosser; F, Captain Kennedy; H, Captain Gardner and Lieutenant Klett; I, Captain Martin and Lieutenant Maris; and K, Captain Keys and Lieutenant Woelpper. Further action, however, was suspended. The Sixth Corps, hurriedly despatched by water transportation from the lines at Petersburg, with its one division at the Monocacy and the other two at Fort Stevens, so discomfited Early that he hastened across the river to await his final rout, when later on he was wholly overcome by Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley.
The looked-for supplementary legislation came, but it was not so helpful as was hoped for. This was what was accomplished by the efforts to put the service back, or a part of it at least, to what it was before it had been so summarily disposed of. The third section of the further supplement to the Militia Act of May 4, approved August 26, 1864. which restored the special military organizations of the city of Philadelphia and elsewhere to all their original vested rights, privileges, and immunities, and again validated the commissions of their officers, was apparently rendered wholly nugatory by its proviso " that such organizations shall be in all things subject to the orders of the Commander-in- Chief and the provisions of the act to which this is a supplement."
This involved other obligations, other responsibilities than those comprehended in the original terms of the enlistment, and the question of what was the status of the regiment under these new conditions, what to do and how to do it, was therefore on September 7, 1864, referred for report and recommendation to a committee composed of Colonel Smith. Major Nicholson. Captains Kennedy, Keys, Gardner, Clark, White, McCreight and Martin, and Lieuten- ants Allman, Delleker. and Powell, who on September 19, 1564- another date coincidental with the 119th's well-performed services, when Sheridan sent the " enemy whirling through Winchester "- presented an exhaustive. elaborate, and convincing report. Their conclusions were that despite the reinstatement it was for the
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1864
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
active members to say whether they were willing to accept and assume the responsibilities and obligations clearly imposed by its proviso. They therefore recommended that, accompanied with the necessary information for the better understanding of the matter, the question of continuance or dissolution be submitted to the several companies of the regiment for the separate action of each.
The Board of Officers on the same date submitted " to the rank and file, the active members, as they now composed the regiment, the commissions of all the officers having expired," a circular for their information, instruction, and their better guidance in whatever action they might take on the resolution that accom- panied it. The circular was to the effect that the act of rein- statement included in its acceptance as comprehended in its pro- viso obedience to all orders of the commander-in-chief, with the surrender of all claim to any special privilege heretofore enjoyed. The term of service was fixed at five years, with no release unless discharged by the proper officer; the three years already served to be counted as part of the seven years which exempted from further militia duty. Organized companies were to be first called into active service in case of invasion, or during war, for such time as the governor might determine. after them the enrolled militia. This enrolled militia, if the law was to be enforced, included all men, not members of active companies, between the ages of twenty-one and forty-five. The individual citizen between the ages named was compelled until exempted by a seven years' service to parade three times each year with a company, and twice with a regiment of the enrolled militia. And this was the resolu- tion that went to the companies :
Resolved, That the Commanding Officers of Companies be requested to call meetings of their Companies in order that they may take such action as they may deem proper in the reorganization of the Regiment by the elec- tion of Company officers; or to notify the Board of Officers that they desire to dissolve their connection with the Regiment.
There was deliberate and considerate action by the several com- panies and a formal presentation of results at the meeting of the Board of Offieers of October 5, 1864. Companies A, C. and E resolved to hold elections for commissioned officers as of the Reserve Brigade, and to subsequently announce whether they would accept and assume the terms and conditions of the Act of May 4, 1864.
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NEW MILITIA LAW
1864
Company I resolved to remain in the service unconditionally, and proceeded at once to the nomination and election of officers under the provisions of the Act of 1864. Company B's resolution was that it " was not willing to accept the privilege by organizing and electing officers under the provisions of the new militia law "; Company D's, "that the representatives of this company in the Board of Officers be requested to notify that body of our desire to dissolve our connection with the 1st Reg't G. R."; Company G's, " that this company declines to accept the privilege of organizing under the new militia bill and electing its officers." Company H had as yet taken no action. Companies F and K made no report.
At the next meeting, October 17, 1864, changes were made in reports already presented, and others were received from companies that had not yet been heard from. Company E reported that it had reconsidered and withdrawn its conditional action and resolved " to call in all property preparatory to winding up its affairs." Company C reported that it had so amended its former conclusions as to now finally resolve " That the representatives of this com- pany at the Board of Officers be instructed to insist upon an immediate winding up and settling of the civic affairs of the regi- ment so far as this company is concerned." Captain Kennedy reported on behalf of his Company F that at its October monthly meeting it had been resolved that his company should disband. Company H had resolved " that the Board of Officers be notified of our desire to dissolve our connection with the regiment," and Captain Keys stated for Company K that the company " had held a meeting and passed a resolution which was conditional, the con- dition being that they would coincide with the action of the balance of the companies." There survived, then, but the two companies, I, with its unconditional acceptance, and A, with its resolve to hold an election and subsequently announce whether it would consider itself as under the system as newly devised. Both companies did hold elections. A informally elected James D. Keyser as cap- tain and Amos Lanning, as first lieutenant, and I, also informally, J. Parker Martin as captain and J. D. Gwynn as first lieutenant. Thereupon the resolution that had been presented at a previous meeting and action postponed until the companies should signify their purpose " that the Board of Officers proceed at once to liqui- date all elaims and wind up its civil affairs in obedience to the requirements of law," was upon a yea and nay vote adopted. The
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1865
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
yeas were Colonel Smith, Captains Clark, Loudenslager, Keys, White. Allen, Gardner, Martin, Kennedy-21; and the nays were Major Nicholson, Captain Keyser, and Lieutenant Maris-3. Absent, Major Kern, Quartermaster Foering, Drs. Atlee and Drysdale, Quartermaster Sergeant Watson, Captain McCreight, Lieutenants Ide, Dusenberry, Pollock, Reed, Sparks, and Garri- gues-12. Not voting, Commissary Sergeant Smith. Yeas, 21; nays, 3; absent, 12; not voting, 1: total 37.
The Board of its own motion changed its designation to Board of Trustees, continued its sessions usually at monthly intervals until June 7, 1865, when, all civic matters, liquidations of claims, disputes and custody of property having been disposed of, the committee charged with the duty imposed by the resolution of October 17, 1864, was discharged. The regimental property not disposed of was placed in the custody and keeping of a committee of five-Major Nicholson, Captains Keys and Kennedy, Lieuten- ant Wray and Quartermaster Foering-when the Board adjourned without dissolving itself, to be called together by that committee should occasion require it.
Without some acquaintance with the sentiment or motive or a knowledge of the prevailing gossip of the times, rarely historically transmitted at least in minor affairs, it is difficult to understand the tenacity with which the organization scemed to cling to its so-called special privileges.
The paramount purpose of its organization and the only special privilege or exemption that seemed to attach to the Reserve Brigade was that as an additional brigade of the first division of the Penn- sylvania militia within the limits of the city of Philadelphia it was " for the special defence of said city." Save with that limitation, it must otherwise conform to all the rules, regulations, laws, and requirements prescribed for the government and discipline of the whole body of the State militia. And yet there was no call, no summons, no alarm, when the regiment did not hasten to volunteer its services to meet the emergency. And again this Reserve Bri- gade was but a flimsy structure at the best. This Act of May 15, 1861. which created and established it. provided in its eighth sec- tion that the brigadier-general should hold his office until the first of July. 1564, " unless the Brigade is sooner disbanded by the Major-General of the First Division." If the major-general had the authority to disband the Reserve Brigade before the first of
FIRAT REGIMENT INFANTRY IGRAY RESERVES. PENNA. MILITIA 1865-1969
139
COL. CHARLES SOMERS SMITH
IS05
July, 1864, why not after? At least such a surmise would indi- cate that the organization was created for a purpose and not for a permanency.
Col. Charles Somers Smith had a conspicuous military record beginning with his earliest manhood. In 1819 he enlisted as a pri- vate in the Third Company, Washington Guards, and was soon afterward made a corporal; then on August 3, 1821, a third lien- tenant; a second lieutenant on May 29, 1823, and captain of the First Company, Washington Guards, June 19, 1824, and for three years was adjutant of the Second Regiment, Pennsylvania Volun- teers, 128th of the line. At the conclusion of this service he resigned, and on September 5, 1827, was elected first lieutenant of the Artillery Corps of Washington Grays, where, after receiving a certificate of seven years' active service, he was, April 23, 1525, made an honorary member. Responding to the summons for the organization of the First Regiment Infantry Gray Reserves, April 19, 1861, he was commissioned captain Company A, April 25, 1861. He held this commission interrupted by his intervening one of captain of Company A, Seventh Pennsylvania Militia, September 12, 1862, until he succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel Kneass as colonel of the First Regiment Infantry, Gray Reserves, by elec- tion, on Friday, March 27, 1863. There he remained, exelusive of his service as colonel Thirty-second Regiment Pennsylvania Ninety Days' Militia, June 26-August 1, 1863. until October 4, 1865, when the last meeting of the Board of Officers under the old régime adjourned for want of a quorum. He was the first com- mandant of the Veteran Corps, and declining re-election retired April 19, 1877. He died August 21, 1884, in his eighty-seventh year, his vigor but little impaired.
Of distinguished lineage, fine culture, high character, a man of thought himself, his associates were men of force, influence, and position. The full strength of his manhood finds its best expres- sion in the strong men, the business leaders of the community, who had chosen him to be the captain of the company which he so successfully commanded. His long life of usefulness, the mili- tary honors he won, the social position he commanded, his care, thoughtfulness, foresight, and rectitude, the civic trust he so long held, as superintendent of the Girard Estate, undisturbed by carp. cant, or cavil, will ever mark him as a significant figure of his time.
CHAPTER V
1866-1873-COLONELS PREVOST, MEMICHAEL AND LATTA-A, C, D, E, AND I RESUME-CAPTAIN KEYSER COMMANDING-" WIGWAM - CONVENTION "-ON DUTY "TO PRESERVE THE PEACE " -- AC- CEPTANCE ACT OF 1864-MILITIA TAX-ITS REPEAL-NEW LEGISLATION-DEDICATION ANTIETAM MONUMENT -- CAPE MAY ENCAMPMENT-CAMP UPTON-PRESIDENT GRANT'S VISIT- ELEVENTH ANNIVERSARY-EVACUATION DAY NEW YORK VISIT, 1872 -- NEW YORK SEVENTH-INAUGURATION GOVERNOR HART- RANFT-APPOINTS COLONEL LATTA ADJUTANT-GENERAL.
That the hesitancy of the First Regiment Gray Reserves to accept the provisions of the Militia Act of May 4, 1864, had not depended solely upon the mere sacrifice of a privilege of but little avail, but rather upon the more substantial reason of their admitted inadequacy and inefficiency, is best demonstrated through the light thrown upon this new, improvident, and illy constructed system by the military authorities in their first presentation to the public of the result of their observations.
Brig .- Gen. Lemuel Todd, a former major of the First Regi- ment Pennsylvania Reserves, the Thirtieth of the line, was com- missioned as State Inspector-General August 29, 1864. He " gave to the work his personal attention and earnest efforts for more than a year, submitting such views as his administration of that branch of the service had suggested," which the adjutant-general ineor- porated in his report for the year 1866. The following extraets exemplify the purport of its text :
From the fact of the utter prostration of the militia system throughout the Commonwealth. it will be a most arduous, tedious, and expensive under- taking to effect any organization under that Act (May 4. 1864). . .. From a careful examination of the subject it will in my judgment require the ex- penditure of one hundred thousand dollars to accomplish an organization of the (enrolled ) militia under that act. If we are to have a militia system at all, it should be an uniform one and well sustained by liberal provisions for its organization and support. In no other way can one be instituted and sustaine-l. . Our laws on this subject are multitudinous, incon- gruous, and inconsistent, and productive only of trouble, expense, and in- utility. Often the product of haste and incompetency, they utterly fail to meet our wants or produce results acceptable to the people or worthy of their support and admiration.
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ACT OF MAY 4
1866
And in this same report, after giving in detail the names of the officers elected to the thirteen militia companies organized throughout the State under the provision of the 1864 Act, the adjutant-general himself said: "These company organizations afford a fair specimen of what may be expected to be accomplished under the present militia law of the State. Here and there a company of volunteer militia may be organized, but it is hardly probable that in many counties there will be a sufficient number to constitute a regimental organization, much less likely a brigade."
The system made no provision for the support, maintenance, or equipment of the volunteer militia except by the imposition of fines ranging from two dollars against the delinquent soldiers to three hundred dollars against the disobedient officer, the collection of which apparently never was and never should have been en- forced. The Legislature made no appropriation for the support of the militia, nor did the Act of 1864 require that it should. It was expected that the soldier should not only bear the burdens of the service, but its expense as well. But deficient as was the system in its failure to meet the cost of the service, it was equally pernicious in its initial failure to organize a service worthy of an expenditure from the public funds for its maintenance. Its company units were well conceived, its battalion and regimental combinations properly provided for, but its divisional organization was beyond the limit of military tolerance.
The Act of May 4, 1864, provided, as did its predecessor, for twenty divisions (two others were subsequently added) topograph- ically described, if not by metes and bounds, at least by county designations, and to each there was allotted a major-general. It made no difference under the law whether there were few soldiers or many, or none at all, the title held, the rank prevailed, and every berth was filled. It took almost as many years in time, patience, and pursuasion as there were major-generals in numbers, to work them off, first one and then another, to the single and only one the service needs.
But the statute was workable. The best way to be rid of an obnoxious law, it has been said, is to enforce it. The best way to improve a poor law is to execute it, show its deficiencies, and seek its amendment. The bone and sinew of the service is the rank and file, except that the soldier saw the principle reversed, that instead of getting what he paid for he got nothing for what
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
ISC6
he gave, he had but little personal opportunity to gauge the defeets of the statute. But he was willing for the sacrifice, and not only gave his services without compensation, but paid for the privilege besides.
The larger number of the companies of the regiment had never disbanded nor dispersed; kept together, as they had been, by drill associations, social clubs, the Delta Association of D, and other methods, they had in a measure preserved their identity. The zeal for the service was still paramount ; given new zest by the return of the volunteers from the field, a reorganization only awaited the formalities to be perfected.
The movement took its initiative when Brevet Brig .- Gen. Charles P. Herring, with his sears, his honors, and his distinctions so bravely won in war, signified his willingness to accept the posi- tion of brigade inspector of the Reserve Brigade. There had been no incumbent in this office since the old one had been by the opera- tion of the new law so summarily disposed of. This officer was the supervisor of all elections for commissioned officers; without his authority no election could be lawfully held; through him and with his approval all returns must be transmitted to Harrisburg before a commission could issue. It was essential, therefore, that this office should be filled before any movement could be inaugur- ated to give the service an opportunity to restore itself to its for- mer prestige. So on May 23, 1866, Brevet Brig .- Gen. Charles P. Herring was commissioned as the brigade inspector of the Reserve Brigade.
The First Regiment took early advantage of the opportunity thus afforded, and supplied five of the thirteen companies officially reported as organized throughout the State during the year 1866: Company A, Captain James D. Keyser, commissioned June 15; Company C. Captain William W. Allen, commissioned June 21; Company D, Captain J. Ross Clark, commissioned August 31; Company E, Captain Jacob Loudenslager, commissioned June 19; Company I, Captain J. Parker Martin, commissioned June 19.
The lientenants who were commissioned as of the same date, with their respective captains, were as follows:
Company A.
Second Lieut., Wm. D. Hastings First Lieut., Geo. F. Delleker
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" WIGWAM CONVENTION "
1866
First Lieut., John O. Giller
First Lieut., Charles K. Ide
First Lieut., James Muldoon
First Lieut., John D. Gwynn
Company C. Second Lieut., James Hogan
Company D.
Second Lieut., Harry F. West Company E. Second Lieut., Samuel M. Marsh Company I. Second Lieut., Rudolph Klauder
The Board of Officers held its first meeting under the new régime June 22, 1566, at which there were in attendance all the officers whose commissions had already been received; the others joined them at the subsequent meetings when theirs came to hand. Captain James D. Keyser, as the ranking officer, presided. He re- tained command and continued to preside until field officers were chosen. Second Lieutenant Samuel M. Marsh was named as act- ing adjutant and secretary. Friday night was set apart for the weekly drill night, and the secretary was directed to give it such public notice by advertisement that it might be brought to the attention of those members not yet acquainted with the return of the regiment to the service. A resolution prevailed to parade on the coming Fourth of July, and Brevet Brig. Gen. Charles M. Prevost, honorably discharged from the volunteer service June 30, 1866, accepted the invitation of the Board and took command of the battalion on that occasion.
This period of reconstruction was not altogether devoid of inci- dent. The " Wigwam Convention " held in Philadelphia August 14-17, 1866, so called from the design of the building at Twentieth and Girard Avenue constructed for its special use-there was no hall in the city of sufficient size to accommodate it-was a repre- sentative assemblage composed of delegates from all the States, ostensibly the supporters of the " my policy " of Andrew Johnson in his design for the reconstruction of the late seceded States as against the measures proposed or to be proposed by the Con- gress, the broad question being whether the issne was for executive or legislative disposition. Its most resonant slogan was the im- mediate restoration to their seats in Congress of the Senators and members from the eleven seceded States. Maj .- Gen. John A. Dix,
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
1866
of New York, was made temporary chairman, and the Hon. James R. Doolittle, a senator from Wisconsin, permanent.
The recollection of the Convention is probably better recalled and its memories revived by the introduction in its initiatory pro- ceedings of a decidedly dramatic incident evidently intended to be serious, but by the criticism and comment which followed, it was really made to appear ridiculous. When the delegates were all seated, with the body of the house filled, and the audience all attention, the chairman, in deep, deliberate, well-modulated tones, made the impressive announcement that " Massachusetts and South Carolina will now enter the wigwam arm in arm." Whereupon, approaching from the rear, Gen. Darius N. Couch, of Massachu- setts, and Governor Orr, of South Carolina, with stately step and measured tread, arm in arm as provided, moved up the main aisle, and took their seats upon the platform, the vast assembly breaking into deafening shouts and tremendous applause as the incident which had opened so dramatically now closed so auspiciously.
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