USA > Pennsylvania > History of the First regiment infantry, National guard of Pennsylvania (Grey Reserves) 1861-1911, pt 1 > Part 25
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I observed [said General Brinton] the following formation marching ont of the round-house: First Brigade, Brig. Gen. Matthews commanding, with the First Regiment, Col. R. Dale Benson, commanding, in advance. Col. Benson had a skirmish line in front, and the coolness and steadiness of this regiment as they marched out was the admiration even of our enemies. I never saw them on parade, even in their own city, preserve better formation. . . . The remainder of the division came out in the most perfect order, Gen. Lond's Brigade following the Gatling gun wth the Sixth Regiment in the rear. . . .
Notwithstanding the coolness and courage displayed by Col. Maxwell of the Sixth Regiment, the heavy losses, his regiment in the rear of the column, was telling on his discipline, and I concluded to change the formation and place the First Brigade in the rear.
The First Regiment was selected as the rear guard; the manner of its formation was so excellent that it fully justified the implicit confidence I placed in the regiment, and the clear judgment and cool courage of Col. Benson.
I desire to say that after years of experience with regular and volun- teer troops, I never saw a regiment composed of better material or with more perfect discipline.
A noteworthy incident, in touch with the command, as the majority concerned in it, were of the detachments on their way to join the regiment, and important because, aside from its heroies, it was of such material moment to the Pennsylvania Railroad as to call for specific action on the part of the Board of Directors, deserves to be historically recorded.
The complete stoppage of railway traffic throughout the coun- try had caught a large body of National Guardemen at Altoona
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on their way to join their commands at Pittsburgh. Colonel Peter Lyle, of the Second Regiment, National Guard of Penn- sylvania, the ranking officer present, gathered them together and assumed command. The round-house and railroad shops seized by an organized body of disaffected men were held against all in authority and all efforts to recover possession were forcibly re- sisted. The engineers, too, had refused to man their engines, but no trains arriving and none departing, it was deemed advis- able to await further developments before taking a more deter- mined stand to force out the intruders.
A week went by, when, on the 27th of July, there arrived a troop train from Philadelphia, the rear car occupied by Gov- ernor Hartranft and his staff. The train passed through with its same locomotive, and when a few miles west of Altoona, in its attempt to climb the mountain, it was stalled for want of sufficient motive power. No extra engines were available at Altoona, except those in possession of the force that held the round-house. The military now took hold of the situation, and Colonel Lyle made a call for volunteers to force an engine from the custody of the round-house insurgents, and to man it to help the stalled train up the mountain and send it on to its destina- tion. There were soldiers who knew how to do it, and Sergeant J. Campbell Gilmore, of Company K, First Regiment, National Guard of Pennsylvania, not only volunteered to take 'command of the detail, but to operate the engine. Others promptly joined him : Corporal J. Rex Allen, D; Privates J. Orne Godwin, K; J. Martin Yardley, D; Thomas C. Rose, E; A. B. Crawford. B; F. S. Altemus. E. all of the First Regiment; Privates Harry D. Ziegler, Eugene Z. Kienzle, and G. Ashton Hand, of the Artillery Corps of Washington Grays; and Private Jolin Harper, Com- pany B, of the Eleventh Regiment.
Private G. Ashton Hand. an experienced machinist, was se- lected as the engineer and Private Harper as fireman. Gilmore marched his detail to the round-house. It was a noon hour, but few were there, and an engine already fired, to move a United States mail car, was seized after but slight resistance. How- ever, when the full purpose of the soldiers dawned upon the ob- structionists, whistles were blown and bells sounded, and that they might carry out their oft-repeated threat that no soldier who
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1877
entered the round-house should get out alive, should he attempt to move an engine, they hastened back much excited and in great numbers. Awed by the determined stand taken by the guards- men, the threat vanished and the locomotive was started on its movement out of the building. The first obstruction met was a switch set to throw the engine off the track. Sergeant Gilmore with Private Godwin jumped from the engine, unlocked the switch, and amid shouts, jeers, and threats the engine was again put in motion toward the main track. As it proceeded the mob, still more determined and threatening, made a movement for its seizure, but Gilmore's " Load at will," and "Ready," caused it first to hesitate, then to halt, and finally to disperse. The engine was attached, the air-brake coupling made secure, and the train with this help proceeded on its way to Pittsburgh, escaping the ditching that awaited others that followed.
Encouraged by this movement, other attempts followed with like success, organized opposition gradually disappeared, and with the general restoration of good order the company was in full possession of all its property. This initiative of Sergeant Gil- more and his men the railway officials deemed of such material moment toward a speedier solution of the situation that the Board of Directors, in recognition of the heroic and valuable ser- vices of the eleven men of the detail, made acknowledgment of their appreciation and directed the presentation to each of a medal in bronze of special design and inscription.
The communciation, addressed to Sergeant Gilmore, and also sent separately to each of the soldiers, read, and the medal, each with the individual name inscribed, was as follows :
THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY Office 233 South Fourth Street, Philadelphia, April 22nd, 1878.
Dear Sir:
The attention of the Board of Directors of this Company having been called by the President to the special circumstances attending the movement of the troop train that carried Governor Hartranft and party, in July last, when organized bodies of men were preventing the public from using the Company's railway, and were endeavoring at various points on the line, to hinder the proper authorities of the Commonwealth in their efforts to re- store order, and to the fact that. through the volunteer service of yourself and companions, this train was taken safely and promptly from Altoona to Pittsburgh. the Board directel the President to communicate to you an ex-
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pression of their appreciation of the services rendered by you, on that occa- sion, and to request your acceptance of the accompanying medal, which they have caused to be prepared to commemorate the same.
Yours respectfully, Jos. LESLEY, Seeretary.
SERGT. J. CAMPBELL GILMORE.
" Presented by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company to Sergeant J. Camp- bell Gilmore, Co. K, Ist Regiment, N. G. P., as a mark of their appreciation of his bravery and fidelity in the movement of Governor Hartranft's train from Altoona to Pittsburg. July 27th, 1877." On the obverse was an en- graving of locomotive No. 505.
With Colonel Benson's congratulatory order the connection of the regiment with this trying and eventful campaign was severed. The National Guard service had faced a situation of unusual complications, that involved it in not a little criticism, much eomment, and some reflection. In the end it lost none of its prestige and resumed after the blows it had given and the blows it had received its instruction, drill, and exercises, strength- ened rather than weakened by the teaching and experience of its few weeks of activity.
Throughout all these turbulent scenes, the regiment had not only escaped all calumny, but had won as well special com- mendation from its superior officers, as it had appreciably increased its hitherto well-recognized proficiency. That this in- creased proficieney was in large measure due to the efficiency of its commanding offieer was a proposition that had been thoroughly demonstrated and was fully conceded. If naught else had demon- strated it, his official report would have done so eonelusively. Colonel Benson's official report is a model-accurate, elear, ex- hanstive, deliberate when precision is necessary, brief when mat- ters of lesser moment require disposition. He saves his regiment from the rush of excited men, unnerved by fatigue, and fan- ished with hunger, by a rally to the colors that promptly brings order out of confusion : continuing his march thereafter free from further molestation of mob, populace, or the hungry, unnerved soldier, by the execution of a well-conceived manœuvre that of itself forbade assault and prevented intrusion. This deeisive action at a moment so eritieal clearly demonstrated how the well- trained soldier fully compreliends and readily responds to the
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keen perceptions of the officer equal to the emergency. The sig- nificant paragraphs in Colonel Benson's congratulatory order, General Order No. 14, August 10, 1877, are as follows:
SOLDIERS OF THE FIRST INFANTRY-Congratulatory orders from the Com- mander-in-Chief, and the General Commanding Division and Brigade: Your alacrity in responding to the first order, when your numerical strength was more than one-half that of the entire division, the proud consciousness of the faithful discharge of a public duty, under trying circumstances, amid hardships and privations, without a murmur, or the relaxing of your disci- pline, the recognition of that service by your fellow-citizens through the press, and other demonstrations, combine to assure the Commonwealth that the motto of your corps was not meaninglessly adopted, but that the "First Infantry " is "ready " to stand between the unprotected citizen, law and order, and mob violence, destruction, pillage and disorder. You never fal- tered, your duty was well done.
The Colonel Commanding desires to make acknowledgment of the ser- vices of First Lieutenant A. Haverstick, of the Regimental Staff, who in the absence of the Field Officers, and the illness of the Adjutant, personally pro- mulgated the order to place the Regiment under Arms, and also of the valued services of Lieut .- Col. J. Ross Clark, in placing the Regiment in marching order, and to Asst. Surg. Charles F. Turnbull, for the faithful and untiring service throughout the tour of duty, especially on the march of July 22d.
The Companies were commanded in this campaign, respect- ively : A, Captain Washington H. Gilpin ; B, Captain Thomas J. Dunn ; C, Captain David A. MaeCarroll; D, Captain Theodore E. Wiedersheim; E, Captain James Muldoon; F, Captain T. E. Huffington; G, Captain C. H. Kretschmar; H, the captaincy vacant, Lieutenant H. R. Schultz was in command; I, First Lieu- tenant George K. Snyder, Jr .; and K, Captain Isidore Crome- lein.
This campaign, memorable for its magnitude, loss of life, destruction of property, wide scope, the many interests involved, practically closed about mid-August. Danger of future outbreak, however, was not altogether removed; friction and irritation were still abroad in disaffected localities. The railways had re- sumed their schedules, but the mining industries, usually the first involved when disturbances threaten and the last to yield when the end approaches, needed still to be cared for by the forces of law and order. The regular troops-some had been summoned from the distant and remote frontier-were retained for a time. and the Twentieth Regiment of Pennsylvania National Guard. specially organized for the emergency, with Col. Sylvester Bon-
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
naffon, Jr., as its commander, was on duty for another month. The product of the energies and influence of the Veteran Corps, organized under its patronage, the story to be told of it very properly belongs to what is intended to be said of the Corps itself.
An incident that happened in one of the camps of the troops of the regular army, that an officer then quite young is now quite willing to repeat of himself, has about it that flavor of preserva- tive humor that entitles it to other appropriation than the mere gossip of the hour.
The proverbial humor of the Irishman never loses its oppor- tunity. His native wit is ever ready when needed to relieve him from dilemma or to be used on others when his keen per- ceptions deteet a ready susceptibility. He cares little for the consequences, and, good soldier as he is, he would rather take his chances with discipline than lose the opportunity his racial in- stinets forbid him to miss. One such, long in the service, with a thorough acquaintance with its every detail, was on duty with his detachment encamped on the outskirts of one of our larger cities. With the same detachment was a young second lieutenant, just out of the Academy. The Irishman was on post, big, strapping fellow that he was, patrolling his beat in all the fine proportions of his well-developed manhood. The lieutenant, abroad on some duty connected with the camp, several times ap- proached his post close enough for the salute, and each time the Irishman gave no sign of recognition. He had caught the notion that the lieutenant, a bit self-important, had taken him for a novice, and was disposed to assume something of a manner that would tend to encourage rather than allay his supposed convic- tions. " My man," said the lieutenant, getting still closer to his beat, " haven't you made a mistake ?" " Sure and I did, sir, when I joined this army." "No, no! haven't you made a mis- take in not recognizing a commissioned officer with the salute proper for his rank when he approaches your post ? Do you know the insignia on the shoulder-strap that indicates the rank of the officer ? If you do not, I will give them to you." "Sure and I do." " Well, then, suppose you give them to me." "Well," continued the Irishman, " there's a major-general, he has two sil- ver stars. one at each end of the strap; and the brigadier, he has
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one silver star in the middle. The colonel he has a silver eagle, the lieutenant-colonel has a silver leaf at each end and the major has a gold one, the captain has two bars and the first lieutenant one, and the second lieutenant-well, well! he wears a brigadier- general's shoulder-straps without the star."
A general order in early September directed the resumption on September 17 of " the regular routine of duty throughout the command," and also announced that on that date the colonel commanding would inspect the right wing, and on the 21st the left wing. A battalion under the command of Lieutenant- Colonel Clark was detailed as an escort to the Twentieth Regi- ment National Guard of Pennsylvania, Col. Sylvester Bonnaffon, Jr., commanding, on Thursday, the 20th of September, on its re- turn from emergency duty in the Wyoming coal fields, and on September 24 there was the annual muster and inspection by the adjutant-general of the State in east Fairmount Park.
Captain Albert H. Walters, who to the prestige he had brought from the field as an officer of the 118th Pennsylvania Volunteers, had added the faithful and well-performed service he had ren- dered the First Regiment, resigned his commission as captain of Company H on June 25, 1877. The vacancy thereby created continued until June 12, 1878, when it was filled by the election of Captain Wendell P. Bowman. Captain Isidor Cromelien re- signed the captaincy of Company K April 16, 1878, and Octo- ber 14, 1878, Captain Horace See was elected to succeed him.
On November 5, 1877, the colonel commanding, in general orders, officially announced the death on the 4th instant of Cap- tain Rudolph Klauder, of Company I, after a lingering illness. Orginally entering the service in 1865, in the ranks of that company, he had risen by merit through selection as a non- commissioned officer and by election as a commissioned officer until by a unanimous vote he was chosen for the captaincy on November 4, 1872. His death was coincident with the expira- tion of his commission, after he had efficiently and worthily discharged the duties of his office for the full five years of its allotted term. The colors of the regiment were ordered draped and the badge of mourning was directed to be worn for the period of thirty days. His first lieutenant. George K. Snyder, Jr., was elected to succeed him, January 12, 1873.
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
An unlooked-for happening confronted the regiment, a griev- ous disappointment was awaiting disclosure. Of the nine years of Colonel Benson's service, beginning as adjutant, passing through the grades of major and lieutenant-colonel, four and a half years had been given to the coloneley. No thought had been entertained that the end was aught else but the mere legal formal- ity for a new beginning, nor was there conception that before the time for its occurrence had come the regiment, instead of fac- ing this mere formality, was to confront a stern reality. In- deed, it had rather been assumed that this renewal of his com- mission was to go on indefinitely until he willed it otherwise.
Colonel Benson never framed a judgment except after close scrutiny, searching investigation, and thoughtful deliberation. His judgments were the conscionable conclusions of a mind that never wavered after it had struck the balance on the side of right. What he said of these conclusions he said better for himself than others can say for him, so feelingly does his parting address sum up his convictions.
TO THE OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE FIRST REGIMENT INFANTRY, NATIONAL GUARD OF PENNSYLVANIA:
I am this day officially advised of the acceptance of my resignation as Colonel of the First Regiment Infantry, and of my honorable discharge from the National Guard of this State.
Called to the command of this Regiment by your unanimous voice, June 4, 1873, with positive convictions of the importance and necessity in this State of a well-disciplined National Guard, it has ever been my aim, with your cooperation, to maintain it at a standard that would reflect eredit upon your city and State, prove worthy of the support of your fellow-eitizens, and cause it to be a reliance behind the eivil power of the State, for the suprem- aey of the law, and the maintenance of peace and order.
This has caused a sacrifice of time that could be ill afforded, but which has been fully compensated for by the devotion, confidence, and respeet ever extended to me, and the cordial and hearty support invariably received. Your corps, to-day, is the only Regiment in the State service fully equipped in every detail for active duty: for which your thanks are due to appreciative and law-upholding fellow-citizens, who have thus recognized the services you have endeavored to render the Commonwealth.
Your corps has stood in eritical comparison, as to its military bearing. drill, discipline, and equipment, with the first volunteer organizations of this country-in the city of Boston in 1875, and in your own city in 1576- and it did not suffer by such comparison.
The services of your corps, honorable in the past, have been demanded in every emergeney in this State, since I have had the honor to be associated with the organization. It challenges a parallel for the promptness and
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numerical strength with which it has responded to every call; and as to its efficiency, and the manner in which it has performed every duty, these I leave to the judgment of the authorities of the State and your fellow-citizens. lts gallantry and discipline have been tested under fire, and its standard has been upheld when those of other corps were lowered.
In the recent emergency in this State, through its Active Corps, its " Veteran Corps," aud the "20th Regiment Infantry," raised by its " Veteran Corps," it actually had on duty, or offered to the authorities, nearly fifteen hundred men.
. In relinquishing the honor of commanding the "best Regiment in the State," as it is designated in the Official Report of the Adjutant-General, which I do from a high sense of duty, largely influenced by the extraordinary circumstances existing in the National Guard, which history and future in- vestigation will develop; I desire to bear testimony to the valuable aid and cordial support of the "Field," "Staff," and "Line," and the faithful cooperation of the "Rank and File," and to make grateful acknowledgment for the same.
Trusting your corps is destined to greater honors, I beg to say that it has been a struggle to sever these official ties, but more difficult still. after nine years' association, to say to my comrades of the First Infantry-Fare- well.
Faithfully yours, R. DALE BENSON, Brevet Major U. S. Vols., Late Colonel First Infantry, N. G. P.
Philadelphia, December 4, 1877.
With his keen sense of good order, decorum, and business; his cool courage in emergency; his wisdom in purpose and skill in performance; his constancy in friendship; his acute military in- stinets ; his wide influence with the men of finance and the re- spect lie commanded from the public at large; his unremitting attention to his every duty,-his confidence in his men and their confidence in him made his loss not irreparable, as no less ever is, but one indeed of much concern.
By operation of law the commission of the regimental staff expired with that of their chief. Adjutant Joseph B. Godwin, specially adapted for his office in make-up, habit, and method, was a faithful, painstaking, and zealous executive. Assistant Surgeon Charles T. Turnbull, who subsequently returned with the full rank of surgeon, besides the generous encomiums that came to him otherwise had received special mention for meritorious conduet at Pittsburgh, and Captain William 1. Rolin, methodical earnest, and resourceful, had been a business executive in the paymaster's and quartermaster's department from very early
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
times. Lieutenant-Colonel Clark and Major Ide tendered their resignations respectively, and as their commissions bear date coincident with the colonel's, June 4, 1873, so, too, does the ac- ceptanee of their resignations with his retirement, December +, 1877.
Lieut .- Col. J. Ross Clark came from the Artillery Corps of Washington Grays with that group of men who laid the founda- tion of the structure that has now grown to its fifty years of military usefulness. He began with it as a first lieutenant for a single night only ; the next day he was a captain, then a major, retiring as a lieutenant-colonel as he neared the completion of his eighteen years of faithful service. Of that group, all force- ful and worthy of exceptional value as military men, notable for their standing and character, many had passed away, all had long before retired, Colonel Clark alone remained.
Aside from his constant attention to his every duty, his record is supplemented by his conspicuous presence in every campaign in war or peace, battle, skirmish, riot, outbreak -- Antietam, Car- lisle, Gettysburg, Susquehanna Depot, Hazleton, Round-House, Pittsburgh, Scranton-that called his regiment to the field, during his well-nigh two decades of service.
Colonel Clark had many significant characteristics that made for faithfulness. He had a conscionable conviction of an ever- continuing responsibility, not permitted to slumber and await the recurrence of each requirement that demanded its exercise, but a responsibility that was never forgotten and was always awake. He did not need to be severe-he never was; his sol- diers preferred to anticipate what was to be done rather than to be told to do it. As thoroughly a tactician as he was thorough in all things, gifted with a distinctive adaptability to impart instruction, he was a tactical officer of rare acquirements. He had a true sense of camaraderie ; he sought the companionship of others and others sought his. The record he made for him- self, the record he made for his company while a captain, and the record he helped to make for the regiment while a field officer, deserves to be indelibly impressed upon the archives of both.
Major Charles K. Ide, disciplined and schooled in a highly responsible position in a leading railway corporation of the coun- try, brought with him to his soldiers' life a training that fitted
Janus Thulawon,
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PARADES, MUSTERS, ETC.
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him for a better understanding of how to discipline others and1 how to be disciplined himself. Ile was a conspicuous figure in the military circles of the day. A company officer of value, a field officer of merit, quick in perception, ready in execution, of a distinctive personality, he left an imprint upon the history of the regiment that preserves his memory beyond his genera- tion.
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