USA > Pennsylvania > History of the First regiment infantry, National guard of Pennsylvania (Grey Reserves) 1861-1911, pt 1 > Part 2
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At this 19th of April adjourned meeting, where Col. Chas. S. Smith presided and Col. P. C. Ellmaker acted as secretary, there were in attendance men of such then civic prominence as Morton McMichael, Charles Gilpin, Robert P. King, Joseph M. Thomas, Samuel Welsh, Samuel Branson, E. C. Markley, Jas. Lefevre, and many others of equal importance. A "Plan of Organization " (see Appendix) was agreed upon, uniform adopted, field, staff, and company officers selected, and eight hundred and twenty-five men. it was stated, were ready for enrolment. Six hundred and fifty-eight names of patriotic contribution to the needs of the times are preserved to posterity, and are to be found with their respective places of residence on the first page of the North Ameri- can and United States Gazette in its issue of April 22, 1861. The names of these men deserve a more permanent and secure abid- ing-place. They will be transferred from the columns of this newspaper, where they have so long unobtrusively rested, to the Appendix, where the men of the regiment to-day, themselves ever ready in crisis or emergency, may have opportunity to know who and what their military forbears were.
At that meeting Peter C. Ellmaker was named as colonel, and afterward Richard H. Rush as lieutenant-colonel and Napoleon B. Kneass as major. The organization was to be known as the "First Regiment Infantry Gray Reserves of the City of Philadel- phia "; its uniform to be in color a cadet gray and in pattern of the service dress of the United States infantry. A significant frature of the " plan " was that " until the regiment shall be recognized by the constituted authorities the officers shall be invested with the same power and authority as though they were duly commissioned by the Governor of the Commonwealth."
This voluntary submission, that obedience should at all times be rendered until officers were invested with the proper author- ity to enforce it, is in striking contrast with the peculiar require-
5
HOME GUARDS PARADE
1-61
the men stood at Parade Rest. . . [Ilere follows a full account of a pword presentation to Captain Charles M. Prevost.]
. The ranks were then closed and the Company marched in quick !! . e to Spring Garden and Broad Sto., where the regiment formed at 71/2 orlock. The weather was warm and the men were thoroughly heated, when rhey arrived on the ground, by the quick march. The regiment formed on Spring Garden Street the right re-ting on Broad Street facing North unpro- ttodl from the sun. After forming it was marched to Broad and Parrish sts. and halted.
The Regiments of Home Guards, under Genl. A. J. Pleasonton were to «vlebrate the day by a Parade early in the morning, and invited the 3rd [1st] Regt. Infantry Gray Reserves to participate and tendered them the right of the line. The invitation was of necessity accepted and at 71% was ready to march. Through some gross mismanagement, Genl. Pleasonton did not have the column formed and started until eleven o'clock, by which time the heat of the sun was most intense. The route was some four or five miles in extent, and was marched over at almost quick time. The consequence was that scores of the men were overcome and had to leave the line, some joining it again at other points on the route. Some fifteen members of Company C were thus affected and in two or three cases reached the Armory at Concert Hall in a dangerous condition, but through the prompt attention of onr fellow member, Dr. Halsey, who did not parade but went to the Armory, expecting some of us would need some medical attention, they were promptly relieved.
The Parade was dismissed at Vine and Broad Sis and our regiment was dismissed at Arch & 11 Sts.
The following extraet from the " Minute Book of the Board of Officers," dated June 22, 1861, gives an account of the action taken by the officers of the regiment with regard to the invitation of the Home Guards to join in the Fourth of July parade:
Col. Ellmaker stated that he had convened the Board for the Purpose of submitting a communication received from Brig. A. J. P'leasonton Com'g. Home Guard.
The communication was read and. on Motion of Capt. Loudenslager it was Resolved that a committee of three be appointed to wait upon Genl. Plasonton and, if possible, ascertain what are his arrangements in regard to the proposed parade on the coming 4th of July.
The Commandant appointed thereon Capts. Loudon-lager and Smith and Lieut. Murphy.
The Committee after a short absence reported that Genl. Pleasonton had expressed a desire to make everything agreeable to the Regiment. On Motion the Committee was discharged.
On Motion Capt. Piersol it was
Resolved that the Commandant of the Regiment be requested to accept the invitation of Genl. Pleasonton to participate in the proposed ecelebration of the coming 4th of July and make such arrangements with Gent. Pleasonton as he may deem proper.
The organizers of the "Reserve Guard" evinced the wiser judgment. They built for the permanent establishment: the
6
1861
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
militia is as old as the country. The Home Guard was a new erea- tion. " First Regiment Infantry " has a true soldierly signiti- canee. " Home Guard " is not an attractive military designation. The one was for the field when required; the other was to be operative for defence only. Both were bred of the same crisis and at the same time. The one was an experience, a lesson, an education ; the other is but a memory.
The full regimental designation as prescribed by law was " First Regiment Infantry. Gray Reserves, Reserve Brigade, First Division Pennsylvania Militia." The regiment bore this desig- nation until by the first section of the let of Assembly of April T. 1870, a further supplement to the Act of 1964, which repealed the Aet of 185S and ereated new methods for the organization, dis- cipline, and regulation of the militia, it was provided that there- after the active militia of the Commonwealth should be known as the National Guard of Pennsylvania. And from then on the regiment has been known by the far more euphonious title of " First Regiment Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania." But the title had not found this its best military significance until it had undergone a previous change. As originally organized, and so the earlier books and papers show, it was known as " Third Regiment Infantry, Gray Reserves." This number fell to its lot as the third regiment of the first brigade, to which brigade it was first assigned, but its stay was brief. The supplement of May 15, 1861, which ereated the reserve brigade, specially pro- vided in its fourth seetion that the Third Regiment of Infantry. as had been then so known, "organized and inspected," should form the first regiment of the brigade thus created.
An attempt was at one time made to wrest from the regiment its regimental title. It was seriously contended that the number " First " did not rightfully belong to it. The claim, though apparently not conclusively settled through official correspondenec that followed, was effectually disposed of, with other contentions of a like character. by Special Order No. 154, dated Headquarters Pennsylvania Militia, Harri-burg. December 6, 1869, which reads as follows :
In order that no confusion may arise in the future, as to the number and names of the different Regiments of Pennsylvania Militia in the Ist Division, they will hereafter be recognized and known as follows:
Ist Regiment " Grey Reserves." Infantry. Penna. Militia.
2nd Regiment National Guard, Infantry. Penna. Militia.
GRAY RESERVES 1801-1865
7
MILITIA REGULATION ACT OF 1858
1861
The whole militia system was at the date of the organization of the First Regiment operated under the provisions of an Act of Assembly approved April 21, 1858, entitled an " Act for the regu- lation of the Militia of this Commonwealth." Of this Act the Adjutant-General of the State, in his annual report for the year 1862, speaks as follows: " The importance of efficient military organization competent for the protection of the citizen in the en- joyment of life, liberty, and property and for the public against sudden emergencies was never more manifest in our history than now; and while I would not propose the repeal of the Act for the regulation of the militia, believing that the stability of any system must be impaired by the frequent change of the law which governs it, I am convinced that in some of its features it is suscep- tible of improvement."
It was more than this; it was radically defective. It was apparently created to supply officers with rank rather than recruit men for efficiency. It was probably an improvement on previous attempts at betterment, and in a fair sense a proper sequence in the development toward greater proficiency that was soon to follow.
Twenty major-generals, one for each division with a brigadier- general for each county, besides other attendant evils, tended to overburden and interrupt intermediate channels of communication between subordinate commands and the department at Harrisburg. Then staff officers absent with the volunteer forces, the generals themselves, many of them, in the field, practically severed the Adjutant-General's office from official touch with those militia organizations still manfully maintaining their proficiency. Hence meagre details, unreliable data, unsatisfactory results, must neces- sarily follow all research that pertains to that period of the Civil War.
This conclusion is practically sustained by the Adjutant- General himself in his annual report of 1862, already quoted from.
The general respon-es [he says] from every section of the State to the various requisitions of the President for troops to suppress the rebellion has merged in the army contributed by Pennsylvania nearly all the previously existing military organizations of the State. Hence. saving a few exceptions, no information has been received of the condition of the Militia of the Com- monwealth from officers on whom the duty devolves to make such returns to the Department. A partial li-t of Division and Brigade organizations of the State is appended to this report only because the law requires it. and not with a view of affording information.
8
1861
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
This would account in a measure for the absence of all refer- ence to the newly established " Reserve Brigade," and of reports and returns from any of its regiments in the reports of the Adjutant-General for either of the years of its early existence, 1861 or 1862. Nor does a present inquiry and exhaustive research add new light. If the chronieler would discover evidence of the beginnings of the First Regiment Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania, and the law for its existence, he must look to the statutes of the State and its regimental records. Fortunately there is ample material to be found in both from which to tell the story of its rise.
The Act of Assembly entitled " A further supplement to an aet for the regulation of the Militia of this Commonwealth ap- proved April 21, 1858," approved May 15, 1861, and to be found on page 748 of the Pamphlet Laws of that year, provided, among other things, that :
SECTION I. In addition to the three Brigades of the First Division, the City of Philadelphia, authorized by the Act to which this is a supplement, there shall be organized within the City of Philadelphia another Brigade, to be called the Reserve Brigade, which shall consist of four regiments of Infantry and one Squadron of Cavalry for special defence of the said City.
And the Aet further provided, in Seetion 4, that " the Third Regiment of Infantry Gray Reserves as at present organized and inspected shall form the first regiment of the Brigade authorized by this Aet."
In the apparent non-existence of any official records of muster, enrolment, and inspection this Act is of material import. It dis- poses of the need for them. It confirms and ratifies the enrol- ment the regiment made of itself, when its eight hundred men pledged themselves to obedience, until the law should permit its enforcement. It confirms as well, also, the inspection made about April 20, 1861, as announeed in the North American and United States Gazette of that date, by Major David P. Weaver, Brigade Inspector, First Brigade, First Division, Pennsylvania Militia, when he reported that the Gray Reserves were duly organized with ten companies with full ranks. The inspection was followed by the usual election, ineident to sneh occasions. The election re- sulted in the choice of Peter C. Ellmaker for colonel; Richard H. Rush for lieutenant-colonel: Napoleon B. Kneass for major.
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1
COMMISSION OF COL. PETER C. ELEMARER, FIRST COLONEL FIRST INFANTRY G. R.
9
ORDER NO. 1
In six companies elections were held and company officers chosen. The other four companies had previously, on the night of the organization of the regiment, passed the inspection of and had their elections held by the brigade inspector, who then announced that the elections of the other six companies would take place on the twenty-ninth.
As " organized and inspected " (so reads the fourth section) the third regiment " shall " become the first regiment of the brigade hereby authorized. The brigade so authorized was to be a part of the active militia, to be known as the Reserve Brigade, to be attached as another brigade to the first division of that militia. That brigade was to consist of four regiments, and the regiment that had been previously designated as the Third Regiment Infantry Gray Reserves was to be the first of the four. The founders recognized its importance, and by resolution of the Board of Officers the Act was directed to be pub- lished with the first issue of the Constitution and By-Laws.
The colonel awaited the coming of his commission before he published his order formally assuming command. As the order is of significant importance, it is better that it should appear in full and in the body of the text.
HEADQUARTERS 3RD REGT. INFTY, GRAY RESERVES. Ist Brig. Ist Div. P. M. Philada. April 29, 1861.
ORDERS NO. 1.
By virtue of a commission from the Governor of the Commonwealth bearing date the twenty-sixth day of April 1861 the undersigned hereby assumes command of the Regiment and has appointed Joseph T. Ford Adjutant P. C. ELLMAKEB.
This valuable record is confirmed by the original commission of Colonel Ellmaker-a cherished and well-cared-for relic now in the possession of the Veteran Corps. It is here reproduced in a reduced facsimile. As the archives of the State do not disclose the issuance of any commission to any of the officers of the old Gray Reserves Regiment, the present existence of any such com- mission is of more than usual interest. Major Charles S. Turn- bull, the grandson of Col. Chas. S. Smith, has the original commis- sion of his grandfather as Captain of "Company A, Gray Re- serves, Uniformed Militia, First Brigade, First Division." Others doubtless are in private hands. An official inquiry to the com-
10
1861
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
panies of the regiment producing no response, it would indicate that there are no others in official custody, except that of Colonel Ellmaker, with the Veteran Corps. It may be fairly inferred. however, from the acceptance of an officer's resignation as " of his commission," and it so appears in the order publishing the accept- ance, that all the officers of the Gray Reserves were duly commis- sioned.
An exhaustive search in the Adjutant-General's office at Harris- burg brings no better result than a statement that concludes a letter from the Adjutant-General himself, of February 11, 1910, as follows :
I might say in this connection that the Adjutant-General's report of 1866 shows that Captain James D. Keyser was commissioned as Captain of Company "A" Ist Regiment Grey Reserves Reserve Brigade on June 15, 1866. That appears to have been the earliest date on which commissions were issued to any officers in the organization.
An effort to uncover militia commissions in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth has been alike fruitless. There are no records there of the issuance of any commissions to the First Regiment of Infantry, under any of its designations in its early days.
There is a fugitive record in the charge of the Custodian of Public Records in the State Library building at Harrisburg, identi- fied as a " Commission Book of 1861." It supplies a few meagre and indefinite details. Under the heading " First Reserve Regi- ment " the colonel is blank; the lieutenant-colonel is given as Napoleon B. Kneass; quartermaster as Albert R. Foering; regi- mental commissary as William H. Kern. Then follow nine of the ten companies, by letter, K omitted. Opposite each there is a blank, except B, where C. Fred Huf(p) field appears as captain and William Hart, Jr., as second lientenant; F, where Charles H. Fernald appears as second lientenant ; and I has E. A. Adams as "Lieut." This record, unsatisfactory as it is, it will be observed, is not in an office in any way directly or indirectly identified with military affairs; neither is it of any service.
But the foundations of the regiment securely established by the effective operation of the let of Assembly approved May 15. 1861, with the conclusive proofs from the regimental records and the production of the commission itself that on April 29, 1861,
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11
STAFF APPOINTMENTS
1961
the first eolonel, P. C. Ellmaker, assumed command by virtue of a commission from the Governor of the Commonwealth, his rank to date from April 26, 1861, renders the disclosure of the absence from the archives of the State of all record evidence of the regi- ment's early existence, rather a revelation for the eurious than a fuet of material moment in the regimental history.
On the day following, April 30, " Orders No. 2," Par. III, announced the staff appointments as follows: Joseph T. Ford, adjutant; Joseph M. Thomas, quartermaster ; Robert P. Desilver, paymaster; Washington L. Atlee, M.D., surgeon; Thomas M. Drysdale, M.D., assistant surgeon; Nathan Spering, sergeant- major; and Albert R. Foering, quartermaster-sergeant.
The Board of Officers held its first meeting April 28, 1861. Its sessions in these early days were frequent-weekly and oftener two and three times a week. Its meeting places were Sansom Street Hall, Continental Hotel, and the office of the quartermaster, 303 Chestnut Street. Its business, Equipment, Uniform, Tac- tics, Constitution and By-Laws, one for its own government, and another for the several companies suitable for each and to preserve uniformity for all. Other matters important and imperative, inei- dent to the prevailing military activities, demanded constant atten- tion. The time never eame, in these busy, stirring days, when it could be fairly said that the business of the Board had been con- elnded, for what was not finished at one session waited over until the next, and it lost nothing in the keeping, for that was never very far away.
CHAPTER II
DRILLS-PARADES-TARGET PRACTICE-FIELD-DAYS - ORDERS -- CIRCULARS - EQUIPMENT-ESCORTS-RESIGNATIONS - ELEC- TIONS - TESTIMONIALS - TENDER OF SERVICES TO NATIONAL GOVERNMENT-RIOT DUTY-BRIGADE DRILLS-FIRST ANNIVER- SARY, APRIL, 1562
From a paper read before the Pennsylvania Commandery, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, January, 1902: " A Few Stray Leaves of Civil War Reminiscences."
The readiness of a people to respond willingly to a call to arms was never so effectually demonstrated as it was during the Civil War. There was scarce a diminution in the offering during the entire period of the combat. The result of the conscription in no way appreciably impaired the vast hosts of volunteers who had so willingly offered themselves. The total enlistments in the land and naval forces were upwards of three millions, one out of every ten of the population of the loyal states, men, women and children. The casualties of war were no deterrent. The responses were as ready when the recruit had this hitter knowledge of the hazard of his undertaking, as they had been when the patriotic answers came to the first summons for the havoc of war. In his report of November 22nd, 1865, the Secretary of War said, " When Lee's army surrendered thousands of recruits were pouring in, and men were discharged from recruiting stations and rendezvous in every state."
The soldier bore the heavier burden. His sacrifice was of everything, if need be, of life itself. It had no computable commutation value. Saving the Mexican War and its Indian disturbances, the country had been for well nigh forty years at profound peace. An acquaintance with the military art had its consequent depreciation. The organized militia was looked upon as a pageant and a show, and the training day had long since been ridiculed out of existence. But the people were in a responsive mood. Inspired with true patriotic zeal, they were ready to lend a helping hand, supply substantial aid, and furnish real support. The soldier soon learned that the country was behind him, with all its vast resources and tremendous energies. Nor did the newly organized active militia fail to remember that the profound peace had been broken, that the days of the pageant had gone, that war had come to stay, that its training must be for combat, and that its ultimate mission was the battle-field.
12
13
ARMORIES
Imbued with these convictions, the recruit of this our now First Regiment Infantry was ready with his time, energy, attention, and zeal to acquire with all the speed the situation demanded that fundamental training so essential to a better acquaintance with his new responsibilities. Drills, squad and company, were as well the order of the day as the order of the commanding officer; they followed each other with a significant frequency, often in the early morning before the business hour, and again evening after evening during the week. The officers were in every way competent to impart and the men keen to re- ceive instructions. There was no such incompetency there that was not at times a manifest hindrance elsewhere.
The day of the regimental armory had not yet come. In conjecture, at least, it was not so very far away. It was evident, too, that the founders had designed their organization for a present as well as a future usefulness. In their judgment it had come to stay. On April 8, 1862, an act was approved entitled “ An Act to incorporate the Armory Company of the Gray Reserves " ( P. L., p. 428), with Peter C. Ellmaker, Napoleon B. Kneass, Charles S. Smith, William H. Kern, Charles M. Prevost, J. Ross Clark, Jacob Loudenslager, and others as incorporators. They were empowered, with the usual rights and privileges incident to corporations, to erect and construct an armory building "for the accommodation of the Companies composing the First Regiment of Infantry Gray Reserves " " and other organizations desirous of renting and occupying the same." Though the project was in the intermediate years never altogether at rest, twenty years elapsed before it reached a consummation.
The company armories were scattered in different localities at inconvenient distances, and none of a capacity sufficient beyond their own needs. There was no opportunity, therefore, for battal- ion manœuvres except on the field. There was, indeed, for a time apparently no regimental headquarters, except the residence of the colonel, 1637 Race Street, where the colors were kept, and to and from which they were escorted by a company detailed for the purpose when occasion required their use. For the first six weeks the drills were altogether by company, where instruction was vigorous and systematic. There was generally a full attendance and always a commissioned officer in charge. Cooper's " Tactics "
14
1861
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
had been adopted by the Board of Offieers as the text-book and an issue of eleven copies to each company had already been made. Casey's " Infantry Tarties " was afterward substituted.
The companies had made commendable progress. They were assembled for the first time in regimental formation, ten com- panies, with Col. P. C. Ellmaker in command, on the twenty- seventh of May, at two o'clock in the afternoon, pursuant to directions published in General Order No. 2, Headquarters Third Regiment Infantry, Gray Reserves. May 23, 1861, fixing that day and hour for the initial street parade. The line formed on Broad Street facing west with its right resting on Chestnut Street, and the column moved at four and a half o'clock up Broad to Areh, to Seventeenth, to Chestnut, to Eighth, to Market, to Third, to Vine, to Second, to Walnut, to Third, to Chest- nut, to Fifth, to Walnut, to Independence Square, where the parade was dismissed. The command was in full uni- form, commissioned officers and sergeants with side-arms, cor- porals and privates without arms. The troops made a most eredit- able appearance; eadence, carriage, and steadiness indicated that the month's training had been effective.
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