USA > Pennsylvania > History of the First regiment infantry, National guard of Pennsylvania (Grey Reserves) 1861-1911, pt 1 > Part 27
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1880
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
II. Harrison Groff: his place was supplied by the advancement of Quartermaster-Sergeant Henry Avery, Jr., to be sergeant- major, with J. Dallett Roberts named as quartermaster-sergeant, vice Avery, promoted. Private Frank Davis, of Company A, was announced as commissary-sergeant, vice James A. Wallace, honorably discharged. Captain F. Amedee Bregy succeeded Captain Bowman as captain of Company HI, and he in turn, after his resignation, September 25, 1880, with a vacancy of some months intervening, was succeeded February 9, 1881, by Captain Samuel B. Collins.
The captains in February, 1SS0, with the colors transferred to I, ranked as follows: Captains Muldoon, E, 1; Huffington, F, 2; Snyder, I, 3; See, K, 4; Kienzle, G, 5; Good, B, 6; Bur- roughs, D, 7; Rosc. 1, 8; Bregy, Il. 9; Poulterer, C, 10.
Washington's Birthday in the year 1880 was a Sunday hap- pening, and as a commemorative opportunity for attending divine worship, the regiment was paraded with band and field music, marching from the armory to Ninteenth and Wallace Streets, where the rector, Rev. Robert A. Edwards, chaplain, offi- eiated at an afternoon serviee.
Early in March specifie preliminary announcement was made of the celebration of the coming nineteenth anniversary, conelud- ing with the injunction " That the parade on this special day is always strictly and solely one of our regiment and the Veteran Corps, attracting much attention from military men and the gen- eral publie, and, as much is expected from us, let the turnout be a great success in every particular." The regiment started from the armory a few minutes after four o'clock and marched down Broad to Chestnut, to Sixth, to Walnut, to Eighteenth, to Chest- nut, to Broad, to the front of the Union League House, where the column was reviewed by Major-General Hartranft. General Snow- den. General Robert Patterson, and His Honor. Mayor William S. Stokley. Crowds gathered along the sidewalks, and at some points the streets were almost impassable. The throng was greatest in front of the League. Colonel Wiedersheim, Lieu- tenant-Colonel Gilpin, and Adjutant Groff, with the entire staff, were present. The companies were commanded as follows: A, Captain Charles A. Rose; B, Captain J. Lewis Good; C, Cap-
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tain William S. Poulterer; D), First Lieutenant Harry O. Has- tings ; E, Captain James Muldoon; F, Captain Thomas E. Hnfting- ton; G, Captain Eugene Z. Kienzle; II, Captain F. Amedée Bregy; I, Captain George K. Snyder; K, First Lieutenant J. Campbell Gilmore. The Veteran Corps, under command of General Latta, accompanied the regiment.
Colonel Wiedersheim, in his circular of the next day, took occasion to include delinquencies with his commendations. He gives " all possible credit to those officers and men who by their presence and attention endeavored to make the demonstration a success," but directs attention to certain points, which he says "must be carefully observed in the future." He had kept the column under close observation, critically noting defects to be corrected and deficiencies to be supplied, commenting with some severity on the 40 per cent. who were absent from business, sick- ness, or other reasons " as a poor exhibit." "It is believed," however (so reads the final paragraph), " that all that is neces- sary is to call attention to the above, and the officers and men of the command will unite in having the instructions followed in every particular."
On March 16, 1880, in view of a resolution of the Board of Officers providing for a visit to New York on Memorial Day (May 30) passed in response to a request from a number of the enlisted men of the regiment and in acceptance of an invitation extended by the Twenty-second Regiment National Guard State of New York, " there was issued a precautionary circular pre- scribing certain details for the more rigorous enforcement of all present requirements for drill, discipline, and instruction. This, it was urged, was a preliminary essential to so maintain the ac- knowledged military proficiency of the command, that it may not be outelassed by comparison with the troops with which it would likely come in contact-" especially those organizations which have a national reputation."
This preliminary caution had its full fruition when, on the evening of Saturday, July 29, at eight o'clock, the regiment, un- der the command of Colonel Wiedersheim, in most ereditable strength, equipped for the march with full-dress uniform, white duck trousers packed in knapsack, left the armory for the West
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Philadelphia depot, proceeding thence by train to New York, where, upon its arrival, it was quartered and subsisted on one of the capacious Albany Hudson River steamers (the Drew), docked for the purpose and chartered for the occasion. On the 30th, in charge of their hospitable host, the Twenty-second Regi- ment, National Guard, State of New York, with Lieut .- Col. John T. Camp in command, besides an entertainment for the whole body at their regimental armory, the individual members of the several companies were shown most generous and courteous atten- tion.
The following extract gives an account of the steamboat-hotel experience of the regiment :
A STEAMBOAT AS A HOTEL: PHILADELPHIA'S FIRST REGIMENT, FORBIDDEN TO MARCH ON SUNDAY, SPEND THE DAY AFLOAT
The New York Sun of this morning [May 31, 1880] says: It is seldom that the large steamboats of the Albany line have all their gas jets ablaze, even in the height of Saratoga travel in summer. Last evening the Drew was brilliantly lighted in the cabin, on the main deck, and in the saloons, though she was lying quietly at her wharf with no steam up. She makes no Sunday night trip, and her owners had temporarily converted her into a hotel. Promenading and smoking on the main deck and lounging in the saloons were about 600 members of the First Regiment of the Pennsylvania National Guard and many of their New York friends, particularly of the Twenty-second Regiment, at whose invitation the First Regiment had come from Philadelphia to participate in to-day's parade. They had intended to leave Philadelphia on Sunday and stay at the Grand Central Hotel, but a society of Sabbatarians in Philadelphia protested against their march- ing through the streets of that city on Sunday, and other Sabbatarians in New York insisted that the police here should prevent them from violating the Sunday law by marching through the streets. Their next misfortune was that the manager of the Grand Central Hotel found it impossible to accommodate all of them in addition to its other guests. Col. Theodore E. Wiedersheim therefore changed the entire programme. The Drew was char- tered for twenty-four hours, and the regiment marched from its armory on Saturday night and took a midnight train. They were met in the Jersey City Depot at 4 o'clock yesterday morning by a committee of the Twenty- second Regiment. They breakfasted at the Hotel Hudson at 5 o'clock. At 9 they erossed the Desbrosses street ferry, whence they went at once on board the Drew at the neighboring Albany line pier. The men were de- lighted with their quarters. Colonel Wiedersheim made the bridal chamber the regimental headquarters.
Last evening the regimental band gave a fine sacred eoneert. The well- behaved Philadelphians glistened in bright uniforms. They wear a French cutaway blue coat, double-breasted and trimmed with red, goll, and white. Their trousers are of light blue, with a white stripe and red piping. The veteran corps of the regiment came with them, but secured quarters at the
FIRST REGIMENT INFANTRY, NATIONAL GUARD OF PENNA. 1870-1885
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NEWSPAPER EXCERPTS
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St. Nicholas Hotel. Among the veterans were Col. George H. North, in command, Col. Hassinger and Majors Wray and Field. Lieut .- Col. John T. Camp, who is now in command of the Twenty-second Regiment, and many others of its officers were present on the Drew last evening.
Memorial Day, the thirtieth, falling upon Sunday, the next day, Monday, was set apart for its observance. In New York it is made a distinctive military feature. The entire First Di- vision of the National Guard parades as an escort to the posts of the Grand Army of the Republic. Upon the conclusion of the parade the posts distribute themselves to the various cemeteries for decoration, oration, and memorial services. The regiment acquitted itself with that military propriety the cautionary circu- lar had enjoined. Leading some, abreast with others, not behind any, it had its full distribution of the honors and commenda- tions incident to the occasion.
The following excerpts from the special correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer, dated New York, May 31, are details of historic value :
The Twenty-second Regiment was followed by the band of the First Regiment National Guard of Pennsylvania, 31 men, with red coats and white trousers, under the leadership of J. G. Stevenson Beck, and a drum corps of 46, W. T. Baker, drum-major. The First Regiment had 505 men in the ranks, and they had on their dress uniform of dark blue coats faced with white, white trousers, knapsacks and blankets. The regiment was offi- cered as follows:
Colonel, Theodore E. Wiedersheim; Lieutenant-Colonel, Washington H. Gilpin; Major, Wendell P. Bowman; Adjutant, H. Harrison Groff; Quar- termaster, L. C. Tappey, Jr .; Commissary, Henry L. Elder; Paymaster, Cap- tain William H. Taber: Assistant Surgeons, J. Wilkes O'Neill, M.D., W. W. Van Valzah, M.D .; Sergeant-Major, Henry Avery, Jr .; Quartermaster-Ser- geant, J. Dallett Roberts; Commissary-Sergeant, Frank Davis; Hospital Steward, Charles Ouram.
Company A, 41 men-Captain Charles A. Rose, First Lieutenant George E. Deacon, Second Lieutenant John F. Smith.
Company B, 66 men-Captain J. Lewis Good, First Lieutenant William Ewing, Second Lieutenant Louis K. Opdyke.
Company C, 50 men-Captain W. S. Poulterer, First Lientenant Henry L. Townsend, Second Lieutenant Pearson S. Conrad.
Company D, 44 men-First Lieutenant Harry O. Hastings.
Company E, 55 men-Captain James Muldoon, First Lieutenant William H. Dole, Second Lientenant James A. Filley.
Company F. 55 men-Captain Thomas E. Huffington, First Lientenant Frederick P. Koons, Second Lieutenant A. L. Beck.
Company G | Washington Grays), 60 men-Captain Engene Z. Kienzle. First Lieutenant, Gustavus K. Morehead, Second Lieutenant A. L. Williams.
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
Company H., 50 men-Captain F. Amedce Bregy, First Lieutenant Clar- ence T. Kensil, Second Lieutenant John L. Smith, Jr.
Company 1, 45 men-Captain George K. Snyder, Jr., First Lieutenant II. P. Dunean.
Company K, 39 men-First Lieutenant J. Campbell Gilmore, Second Lieutenant Edward S. Barnes.
Although there were several well-drilled regiments in the parade, the First Pennsylvania was excelled by none. Their splendid marching, and the unbroken front they presented as they marched down Fifth Avenue, were noticed by every one.
Their reception all along the route was a perfect ovation, the regiment being welcomed by continued applause and waving of handkerchiefs by the fair sex. The First Regiment was followed by the Fifth New York Regi- ment, 300 men, under Col. Chas. Spencer. The Twelfth had 320 men, Colonel S. V. R. Cruger in command. Next came Battery B, four pieces, Captain Augustus Hoelsie.
The First Pennsylvania Regiment, escorted by the Twenty-second New York, returned twenty minutes before three o'clock to the armory of the latter, Fourteenth Street, near Sixth Avenue, which was beautifully deco- rated with flags and evergreens. Here' a right royal welcome awaited the First, and they partook of a fine collation which had been provided for them. At five o'clock the officers of the First Regiment were entertained by the officers of the Twenty-second at Pinard's, on Fifteenth Street, near Fifth Avenue, where a sumptuous banquet was spread. . . .
The First Regiment, at eight o'clock this evening, started from the armory on Fourteenth Street, escorted by the Twenty-second Regiment and a detachment of the Seventh and Seventy-first. They marehed out Fif- teenth Street to Fifth Avenue. up the Avenue to Twenty-third Street, and along Twenty-third Street to the North River. All along the route there was one continned display of fireworks. At 9:20 P. M. the regiment took a special train for Philadelphia.
A patriotic demonstration, not designed as a military cele- bration, but in commemoration of the day, and for which the presence of the soldier was sought to give zest to the occasion, was projected for the permanent exhibition building on the Cen- tennial grounds for Monday, July 5-the fifth stood for Sunday, the fourth. In response to the request for its presence the regi- ment left the armory at nine in the morning, took the train at 9:30 on the Reading for West Park station, where, having satis- factorily fulfilled its full measure of patriotic duty, it returned in the late afternoon.
The most conspicnons military event of the year 1880 was the appearance for the first time of the military encampment, as authorized by law and directed from Harrisburg. For the first time, too, was the United States army officer in attendance by invitation and request. His then but supervisory and sug-
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gestive authority is now by concurrent provision of the States and recent congressional legislation wisely enlarged to guidanee, control, and direction. Ile then appeared at the request of the governor to his superiors; he now reports by orders from the War Department. The First. Seeond, and Third Brigades were encamiped at Fairmount Park in Philadelphia from August 6 to 12, their eamp known as Camp George G. Meade, with Brig .- Gen. G. A. De Russey, U. S. A., as the inspecting officer, and the Fourth and Fifth Brigades the weck following, at Thomson's Station on the Pittsburg. Virginia, and Charleston Railroad, their camp known as Camp "Alexander Hays," with Major Horatio G. Gibson, U. S. A., Third United States Artillery, as the inspecting offieer. Maj .- Gen. John F. Hartranft was in com- mand of each eneampment.
The journals of the day foreshadowed the event with encour- aging comment and a generous recognition of the soldier of the State as an indispensable publie servant. In its issue of August 3, 1880, the Philadelphia Public Ledger spoke thus:
The National Guard is called upon this week for pleasanter service than they were required to do in the summer-time of three years ago, and al- though they may feel when they go to the Park that they are playing sol- dier, they should do their full duty with as much earnestness and desire to excel as though in actual service. Camp life is a part of their soldierly training, without which they will be unprepared for real service. Not only the Philadelphia soldiery but two brigades of the troops from near-by towns of the State will be quartered in the Park for a week, and there will doubtless be plenty of music and pageantry and novelty for all who choose to visit the camp.
The camp was located in the West Park beyond and between Belmont Mansion and Chamounix, with the First Brigade in the vieinity of Mount Prospect. The General Order of July 28, 1550, No. 24 of the current series, direeted that in com- plianee with orders from division and brigade headquarters the regiment would assemble at the armory at 9 o'clock A. M. on Fri- day, Angust 6, 1850, fully equipped, to proceed thence by rail to West Fairmount Park. where it would remain in camp until and including the twelfth. Speeitie details were prescribed for a complete equipment and it " was expected that the men of the command will [would] make every effort to participate in large numbers and be ready at all times to perform faithfully the vari-
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
1880
. ous duties required of them." Captain E. Z. Kienzle, Com- pany G, Lieutenant F. P. Koons, Company F, and Quartermaster L. C. Tappey, Jr., with a detail of five men from each com- pany, were instructed to report at regimental headquarters on Wednesday, August 4, thenee to proceed to the camping-ground as a fatigue party to erect tents and prepare the camp for occu- pancy. The field and staff were to report dismounted, but horses and equipment were to be on the camp-ground ready for use when required.
A re-announcement of the regimental formation in operation during the encampment had previously been published :.
1 Muldoon 6 Rose
4 Kienzle
9 Hastings
3 Snyder I S Bregy H
E
A
2 G
3
D 4
5 6
1
B 7 Good
10 Gilmore K 8
9 7 Poulterer C
F 10 2 Huffington
The routine of camp duty as generally prescribed and at the hours usually fixed was announced, save that the hour of nine was named for tattoo and ten for taps. For Friday, August 6, Captain Rose, A, was detailed as officer of the day and Second Lieutenant Conrad, C, as officer of the guard; for Saturday, August 7, Captain Poulterer, C, and Second Lieutenant J. F. Smith, of A; for Sunday, August 8, Captain Snyder, of I, and Second Lieutenant A. L. Beek, F; for Monday, August 9, Cap- tain Bregy, H. and First Lieutenant W. H. Dole, E; for Tues- day, August 10, Captain Hastings, D, and First Lieutenant F. P. Koons, F; for Wednesday, August 11. Captain Kienzle, G, and Second Lieutenant John L. Smith, H; for Thursday, August 12, Captain Huffington, F, and Lieutenant E. S. Barnes, K.
The aggregate daily detail for guard duty, two sergeants, three corporals, and twenty privates, was apportioned among the several companies according to their strength.
Breakfast eall was sounded at an earlier hour, company streets well policed, company quarters put in order, arms and accontrements thoroughly cleansed, and the regiment paraded in State uniform, knapsack with blanket rolled, haversacks, and canteens at 7.30 o'clock on the morning of Monday, August 9,
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" OFFICERS' SALUTES "
1550
preparatory to the annual muster and inspection by the adjutant- general. The inspection beginning at that hour, closely fol- lowed by Major-General Hartranft and Brigadier-General Snow- len, their respective staffs, and the staff of the Governor, was continued throughout the major portion of the day. From un- official sources it was reported that the companies were com- manded by and appeared in aggregate strength as follows: 1, Captain Chas. 1. Rose, 36; B, Captain J. Lewis Good, 57; C, Captain William S. Poulterer, 43; D, Captain Harry O. Has- tings, 21; E, Captain James Muldoon, 49; F, Captain Thomas E. Huffington, 57; G, Captain Eugene Z. Kienzle, 52; H, Captain F. Amedee Bregy, 37; I, Captain George K. Snyder, 53; K, First Lieutenant J. Campbell Gilmore, 34. Total, 439; total absent, 180.
Company commanders were urged "to send word to their absentees and use every exertion available to have every man possible report " on the occasion of the review by His Excellency, Governor Henry M. Hoyt, on Wednesday, August 11.
This review, as well as the camp generally, had been the sub- jeet of considerable free newspaper comment, commendatory and reflective, not a little of which deserves preservation among the annals. An article in the Philadelphia Times, entitled "Camp Meade Reviewed." opens its subdivision on " Officers' Salutes " with the phrase, " There is nothing more graceful than an offi- cer's salute with the hand, if it is done properly," and after a brief reference to many exhibitions of awkwardness that came under his notice, the writer continues with this allusion to the salute with the sword:
. We have never before seen the salute with the sword to the reviewing officer so well done by so many officers as it was at the review on Wednes- day. It is not only the sword-arm that is to be looked after, but so much depends upon the carriage of the body, the pose of the head, the direction of the eyes; the ceremony is so easily marred by being performed a moment 100 soon or a moment too late, and it is so thoroughly spoiled by the slight. est nervousness or uncertainty on the part of the officer, that to see it done properly is a treat. Without making any invidious comparisons, we can say that the salute of Colonel Wiedersheim. of the First Regiment, was well np to every requisite. At that moment he looked what he is-an ideal soldier. In the matter of salutes Colonel Wiedersheim may be taken as a model for the National Guard, and indeed young officers would do well to follow his soldierly example in other respects. And this reminds us that so good an adjutant of so good a regiment as the First should not permit
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
258
his sergeant-major, in camp and on duty, to address him as "Harry," no matter what their social relations are nor how good friends they may be in private life.
And this " Review " concludes as follows: WHAT THE CAMP PROVED.
To sum np: In spite of some things to be regretted, the encampment in its results was an unequivocal success. The review on Wednesday was as handsome a ceremony of the kind as was ever seen anywhere. It could not have been done at the beginning of the camp. It was only after a week of hard work that the troops were able to make such a display. The neces- sity of the camp and its benefits have been demonstrated beyond question, and we hope that when the Legislature meets next winter there will be no ditliculty in passing a bill to provide for such an encampment each year, though it would be better if it could last two weeks instead of one.
This comment of the journals, sustained as it is by official judgment, may be well supplemented by the following extracts from the report of Bvt. Brig .- Gen. Gustavus A. De Russey, U. S. A., the regular officer assigned by the War Department to supervise the inspection :
More care should be taken to enforce the attendance of the men during the few days the camp continues. It is but once a year that opportunities for serving by regiment, drilling in bodies, offer. These should be improved by every soldier who desires to become conversant with the routine duties of camp life, and expert in the use of his arms. . .
The marching of the troops to and from the parade grounds to the dress parade of the First Brigade on Sunday, the Sth of August. and in review before the Commander-in-Chief on Wednesday, was very good. The review itself was a perfect success. All arms were represented and all did well.
And in his letter of transmittal enclosing this report to Gov- ernor Hoyt, the adjutant-general of the army, Brig .- Gen. R. C. Drum, said :
I have read with sincere pleasure this minute report, so highly credit- able to Pennsylvania troops, and heg you to accept my congratulations. Deeply interested in the militia of the States, I may be pardoned a little pride when the National Guard of my native State is in question.
So far as the First Regiment was concerned, its commandant did not hesitate to recount its failures and summon it to answer for its delinquencies. The regiment had fallen under the same adverse public criticism for non-attendance as had all the Phila- delphia troops, as clearly evidenced in the following additional extract from " Camp Meade Reviewed ":
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The officers of the First Regiment were in camp almost to a mnan, but the men in the infantry organizations were sadly deficient. It does not seem to answer the point that the men could not get away from their work. We do not see why they could not have got away as well as the men who work in the mines and mills of the coal and iron regions at a dollar a day, if they had tried as hard. The truth is, many men were not in camp who would have been there if it had been farther away from home.
This criticism Colonel Wiedersheim brings home more specifically to his own command in his circular of August 16th, in which he not only commends the deserving but censures the negligent :
CIRCULAR
The Colonel commanding desires to express his thanks to those officers and men who by their presence and attention to duty while in Camp, at Fairmount Park, enabled him in a manner to carry out the orders of the General commanding, but he also regrets that so many members of the command were unable to present themselves, while others showed so little interest and regard for the Regiment as to absent themselves altogether. The esprit-de-corps which has been heretofore foremost in this Regiment appears upon this occasion to have been entirely forgotten. A tour of camp duty without sufficient men remaining in camp to have company or battalion drills renders the object of the encampment entirely lost.
The strength of the command on the Division Review was a farce; being able to parade only as six companies, the smallest number for many years; this is particularly to be commented upon when so many members of the command found time and inclination to witness the Review in citizen's attire or semi-uniform, while a little effort and a small sacrifice on their part would have swelled our ranks to what they should have been.
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