USA > Pennsylvania > History of the First regiment infantry, National guard of Pennsylvania (Grey Reserves) 1861-1911, pt 1 > Part 3
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The Orderly Sergeant's book of Company C supplies much material valuable for its accuracy. From this date, May 27, 1861, to February 18, 1864, except an interval from November 23, 1861. to September 5, 1862,-there is recorded, beside a brief summary of the event, the name of every officer and man present for duty on all publie occasions, drills, parades, campaigns, or target prae- tice. And from thenee on to October, 1576, though the matter inserted has been somewhat curtailed, the information supplied is still of great value.
The record of this, the Company's first appearance on street parade, shows an attendance of three commissioned officers, four sergeants, four corporals, and eighty privates-an aggregate of ninety-one. In the summary it also appears that "Company C paraded a larger number of men than any company in the regi- ment, which caused the colonel to take some sixteen to twenty men to fill up platoons of other companies to equalize the same." The fronts were equalizer] in the usual way by details from the stronger to the weaker companies. This, the first public display of the regiment. clearly demon-trates, therefore, that with its approxi- mate aggregate of seven hundred, the enrolment of the nineteenth
15
INITIAL STREET PARADE
of April was in no sense a mere affair of paper. It is interesting t, note, too, where the rolls are accessible, the number of partici- gents in this parade who subsequently won distinetion in the field.
From a note taken by permission from a partial manuseript vi a prospective history of Company D, the dress then worn is given this characteristic description : "The uniform on this oeeasion is described by an observer who afterward joined the company ( .J. W. Jordan) as a slouch hat, turned up at one side, fastened with the arms of the State, a long gray coat, fitting closely at the waist, and hanging down loosely, nearly to the knees, and gray trousers; the whole looking like a 'regiment of Quakers.'" D had previously made an independent street parade as a company on the twenty-third of May from its armory on Market Street to Broad, to South, to Seventeenth, to Chestnut, to Ninth, to Market, to the Armory, to the manifest delight, so read its minutes, " of the populace and to the entire satisfaction of those in command."
The command was never disposed to be tardy, either in prepara- tion for an emergency or in the early acquisition of knowledge where instruction was needed in a new venture. So, pursuant to Special Order No. 1, Headquarters First Regiment Gray Reserves Infantry, June 21, 1861, squads of one non-commissioned officer . and eight privates were detailed from Companies C, F, and K, with Captain Charles F. Warner of K in command, assisted by Captain Joseph N. Piersol of F and Lieut. A. Atwood Smith of C, to assemble at the Arsenal, Sixteenth and Filbert Streets, for drill and instruction in artillery practice, preparatory to firing a national salute on the approaching Independence Day. The duty was faithfully discharged, the salute successfully fired at four o'clock on the morning of the Fourth of July from the corner of Broad and Spring Garden Streets, and the officers and detach- ments returned to their respective companies.
Arms and equipment were now complete. General Orders No. 4. June 12, 1861, from Regimental Headquarters, announced : " The gratifying intelligence is hereby communicated that through the kindness of Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, arms will 1+ furnished to the regiment forthwith." The issue was made friin the United States Arsenal at Bridesburg, percussion smooth- bores of an old pattern. One hundred was the allotment to each company.
The companies were now all well established in their
16
1861
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
armories, located: A, Market above Eighth Street; B, Ninth and Walnut Streets; C, Concert Hall, Chestnut between Twelfth and Thirteenth Streets; D, Lardner Street east of Fifteenth Street; E and K, Eighth and Callowhill Streets; F, northwest corner Sec- ond and Race Streets; G, Chestnut below Eighth Street; H, Third and Willow Streets; and I, Broad and Spruce Streets. C com- - pany subsequently removed to Market above Eighth Street, and D to the northeast corner of Eighteenth and Chestnut Streets. D, before loeating on Lardner Street, had had two previous removals. Its first location was at Hlasko's Daneing Academy, Broad above Pine, and then on Market Street above Eighth.
There were no tragedies in those early days. Abrasions, slight wounds, and contusions summed up the list of casualties. Latta, a private in Company D, had the little finger of his right hand permanently shortened from the thrust of a bayonet, which he had imprudently permitted to remain fixed, while exercising in the manual of arms, in the execution of that now archaic motion, " return rammer." Smith (S. G.), a private in the same company, received an injury from a like cause, more severe; the result, however, of another fellow's imprudence, not of his.
Target practice was by no means neglected. Suitable locali- ties, readily accessible now, were not so easily reached then. Time was of consequence. What was consumed in travel was lost to the exercise. Records of results are wanting, if they were ever preserved. One that still survives is the special mention made in the book of the " Orderly Sergeant, Company C Gray Reserves," of the winning seore made by Private William W. Allen at the first shoot of the company at Judge Peters's farm-now better known in the general distinction of the vicinity as Belmont Man- sion-June 24, 1861. The same report also states that "after the firing the board was well riddled." This would seem, as a first attempt, to be a decidedly creditable showing. The aggregate present was eighty: three commissioned officers, eight non-com- missioned officers, and sixty-nine privates. This Peters farm was a favorite site for target practice. Another, also well chosen, was on the west bank of the Schuylkill, just above the present Girard Avenue bridge, somewhere near Sweet Briar Mansion. Both, now within the limits of Fairmount Park, were then private property.
17
FOURTH OF JULY PARADE
In its Fourth of July demonstration, previously fully consid- ered, the regiment kept well up to the strength it had developed in its initial performance. The ten companies were equalized to thirty-two files each, with Colonel Ellmaker in command. The field, staff, and line were in full attendance. The route, as taken from the book of the orderly sergeant of Company D, signed " Jos. W. Ricketts, First Sergeant," indicates that it was largely over the same lines followed in the parade of the twenty-seventh of May, extended to eover a wider opportunity for observation. The line was formed at ten o'clock A. M. on Broad Street, facing east, with its right resting on Fairmount Avenue. The column then moved down Broad to Walnut, passing in review at Filbert Street before the Mayor and City Couneils; thence to Sixteenth, to Pine, to Twelfth, to Walnut, to Fifth, to Brown, to Tenth, to Vine, to Broad, to Arch, to Tenth, where, after passing the Second Regi- ment Blue Reserves, the parade was dismissed. In General Pleas- onton's congratulatory order the regiment was specially mentioned for its " soldierly conduct and martial bearing." This was the first time the city had had opportunity to view its new contingent of soldiery.
In those days no highway had a preference. Hence the char- acter of the streets offered no suggestion in selecting a route for a procession, military or eivie. No one possessed any advantage over the other. The more modern facilities through the introdue- tion of the noiseless pavement had not yet had an effective begin- ning. All streets were alike forbidding to man or beast. The ubiquitous cobble-stone still held its sway.
The Field Day, on grounds better remembered from the desig- nation given them for the day as " Camp Logan," on the twenty- third of July, held pursuant to Regimental General Orders No. 6, of July 16, 1-61. has become an historic ineident, eventful as the beginning of that wider scope of military teaching that has borne fruit through all this half century of regimental life. It was the regiment's first battalion drill. The movement was stimulated, rather than retarded, by the ominous Bull Run disaster of July 21 that brought the country for the first time to the full realization of the magnitude of its undertaking. The oeeasion is illustrative, too, of how later facilities of transit save time and shorten distance.
2
1S
1861
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
The grounds, previously well selected,-timber on three sides, with water at a convenient distanec,-were suitably policed and prepared by details properly officered on the day before, and on the morning of the twenty-third, at five and a half o'clock, the com- panies assembled at their several armories and moved thenee to the prescribed rendezvous, Merchants' Exchange, Third and Dock Streets; thence by the cars of the Second and Third Street Passen- ger Railway to the Oxford Street Station of the North Pennsyl- vania Railroad, where, after a few miles of a run on that railway, the command was detrained at Nicetown Lane, and marched via the Lane to the Second Street Road, where the field selected, on the eastern side of the large estate of Dr. J. Dickinson Logan, was located. The time consumed from the start at the armories, five and half o'clock, to the finish at the grounds-ten and a half o'clock-was five hours. Through the present better service on all roads, steam and trolley, the locality is now within much more easy reach.
The companies were first exercised in the skirmish drill, and afterward in the morning, and again in the afternoon, the entire regiment was manœuvred in the movements of the battalion, con- cluding with a review and dress parade. At six o'clock it re- turned by rail to the Master Street station of the North Penn Road, where, received by the Second Regiment Blue Reserves, it was escorted over the following ronte : Master to Franklin, to Vine, to Tenth, to Chestnut, to Sixth, where at Independence Hall the parade was dismissed, the escort returning to its quarters and the companies to their armories. The weather was propitions. The strength present, though ereditable, was below the usual maximum. The largest company aggregate was sixty-seven. Colonel Ell- maker was in command, and of the line and staff there were but few absentees. Captain Jacob Londenslager was the officer of the day and Lieutenant Frank Granello officer of the guard for the afternoon and night. while the grounds were in charge of guards preparing them for the exercises of the following day, and Captain William H. Kern was officer of the day and Lieut. G. F. Delleker officer of the guard on the field day proper. In the afternoon, dur- ing the exercises of the battalion drill. review. and dress parade, visitors who had been specially invited were upon the grounds in goodly numbers.
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19
THE RESERVES' EXCURSION
From the North American and United States Gazette, July 24, 1861
THE RESERVES' EXCURSION
The Third Regiment Infantry Gray Reserves, Col. Peter C. Ellmaker, did up their promised parade yesterday. The line formed in Third Street, near the Exchange, at half past six o'clock, at which point the regiment took cars to the grounds of J. Dickinson Logan, M.D., Second Street Road, above Nicetown Lane. The review at that spot came off according to the pro- gram, and at half past six o'clock the line was received in Oxford Street by the Blue Reserves. The line was dismissed in front of the State House. The entire affair passed off in a most handsome manner.
More conspicuous historic incidents followed closely. The companies were, pursuant to Regimental General Orders No. 8, of that date, assembled at their armories, at eight o'clock on the evening of July 24 for escort duty. The Seventeenth Regiment Infantry, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Col. Francis E. Patterson, was announeed to arrive during the evening. Its three months' term of service was about to expire; it was to be honorably mustered out. Its arrival was delayed, and the troops were dismissed until the following morning. The day proved to be a busy one. Further delay ensued. Assembled at six, it was ten o'clock before these returning soldiers of the Seventeenth, bronzed and hardened from their three months' exposure, then a new experience, wheeled out from the Broad and Prime Street station of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad to pass before their escort, in line to receive them on Broad Street with its right resting on Christian facing west. The usual military formalities attendant upon such occasions followed, when the column moved, amid the plaudits of appreciative crowds upon the sidewalk, up Broad to Chestnut and thence to Independence Hall, where, the escort duty discharged, the companies were dismissed, to assemble again at two o'clock in the afternoon at Broad and Chestnut Streets for further escort duty.
Major-General George B. MeClellan, fresh from the laurels won in his West Virginia campaign, was to pass through Philadel- phia on his way to Washington to assume command of the Army of the Potomac-the heavy responsibility and high honor these laurels, so valiantly won. had imposed upon him. The line formed on Broad Street, facing east. right resting on Chestnut, at two o'clock, where, accompanied by Hon. Alexander Henry, mayor of
20
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT. N. G. P.
1861
the city, the general shortly afterward arrived. With his carriage assigned its proper place in the column, the regiment then moved down Chestnut to Third, to Walnut, to Ninth, to Spruce, to Twelfth, to Walnut, to the residence of Dr. John MeClellan, where the general in a few brief phrases congratulated the regiment upon its appearance and expressed his appreciation of the honor con- ferred by the tender of the escort ; it was not expected, as he was but hurriedly on his way to assume his new duties, not intending to be publicly received on the way. Colonel Ellmaker then dis- missed the regiment, expressing his satisfaction at the creditable manner in which this long tour of duty that actually began the night before had been performed. This occasion, with the field day, was justly decmed of sufficient moment to entitle them to the following congratulatory order :
HEAD QUARTERS THIRD REGT. INFTY. " GRAY RESERVES " Phila. July 26, 1861.
ORDERS NO. 9.
The conduct of the ofliver-, non-conduissjoned officers and men of my command during two day - of arduous duty requires more than a merely formal recognition.
The promptitude with which you responded to the order for a day's field exercise on the 23rd in-t. and the manner in which every officer, non-commis- sioned officer and private discharged his duty, was highly gratifying and fully convinced the Commanding Ofliver of your ability with a little practice, to perform the most difficult and intricate movements with a pre- vision which would be creditable to veteran troops.
Again when it was determined to welcome the brave men of Col. Patter- son's Regiment on their return from the seat of war, the duty was per- formed in a like prompt and praiseworthy manner. But perhaps the min-t gratifying of all was, that after being under arm- for hours waiting for the train. when it was announced that the gallant Mcclellan would arrive in the afternoon. there was one unanimous re-ponse to the suggestion. that at whatever sacrifice of time or personal comfort on your part, the Hero, who had accomplished so much for the cause of the Union, should not enter his native city without a proper e-pit. The duty was nobly performed and whether the encomiums to which you are justly entitled los awarded by other- or not. you have the proud conscion-ness of having done your part. and thereby merited the grateful acknowledgements of your Commander.
When every offwer. noncommissioned officer and private. discharged his duty to the entire satisfaction of the Commanding Officer, it would be. perhaps, unvidion- to name particularly any particular om: but still it seem- to be eminently proper that the faithful and efficient operations of the Quarter Master's Department should be formally acknowledged and the perfect arrangement- of Acting Quarter Master Foering. for the day's excur- sion to Camp Logan, be thu- noticed.
By Conunand of CoL. P. C. ELI MAKER. . Jos. T. Fonp. Adjt.
21
RESOLUTIONS OF BOARD OF OFFICERS
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A ,vet more conspicuous incident is still in the historic crucible of this eventful summer. Ideal as it proved to be, practical as it was meant to be. it demonstrated that the substance was not far away. It was the forerunner of the two regiments of volunteers, practically its own. that afterward took the field, and of the ser- vices in the field this regiment itself twice rendered as a whole. It was a regiment of the active organized militia. The great war had opened with a crisis. An unexpected blow had staggered the country. Offensive measures had been suddenly resolved into defensive necessities. To limit its field of operations, to confine itself to locality, when there were more needs abroad than there were demands at home. to be a command in the real active militia the regiment must exploit itself more definitely, it must, widen its scope, broaden its purposes. release its limitations, and distinctly announce its readiness to do and to act wherever needed and when- ever summoned. So to meet this contingency a special meeting of the Board of Officers was called for the twentieth of August, 1861, and the following extraet from the minutes of the proceed- ings of that meeting fully discloses that the colonel, his officers. and his men were all of one mind :
The Colonel stated that he had convened the Board for the purpose of ascertaining whether the Regiment would tender its services to the Govern- ment for a limited period.
Whereupon, on Motion of Capt. Piersol it was resolved that captains of companies be required to call special meetings of the several commands this evening and that they pre-ent for their consideration the following preamble and resolution: " WHEREAS an urgent appeal ha- been made by the Gover- nors of certain States to forward as quickly as possible all the available troops to the City of Washington for the defense of the Capital-AND WHEREAS the Governor of this Commonwealth has called for information in regard to the member of troops which could be relied upon in this Division. in the threatened crisis .-- AND WHEREAS, this Regiment. although organized for the special defense of the City of Philadelphia is nevertheless bound to make any sacrifice for the good of the country-therefore-Resolred that the Commandant be authorized to hold the Regiment in readiness to comply with any request of the Governor of the Commonwealth for special service. for a period not exceeding thirty days-Provided that the Regiment be accepted as a Regiment and forthwith furnished with suitable arms and all the necessary clothing, accontrements, ete .. and that they report the result of such meetings at these Headquarters at 10 o'clock this evening."
On Motion the Board then took a recess until 10 o'clock this evening.
Upon the re-assembling of the Board at the time above named reports were received from the Commandants of Companies to the effect that the fore- going preamble and resolution had been adopted by the commands of each.
22
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
1861
The response was prompt, conclusive, comprehensive, apprecia- tive.
HDQRS. PENNA. MILITIA, Harrisburg, Aug. 21, 1861.
COL. P. C. ELLMAKER,
Cond. 3rd Regt Infantry,
Ist Brigade Ist Div P. M.
Colonel: I am directed by Governor A. G. Curtin. Commander in Chief of the forees of Pennsylvania, to acknowledge the gallant response of your regiment, raised especially for Home duty, to the eall of the President of the United States. He recognize, in it that true patriotic spirit which has always characterized Pennsylvania's great metropolis.
In tendering his thanks to your regiment, he desires you to say to them that should their services be required for the time mentioned he will not hesitate to call for them.
I am Colonel
Yours very respectfully, CRAIG BIDDLE, A.D.C.
Thero is an impressive significance in the first paragraph of General Order No. 10 of the regimental current series of August 19, 1861, in full consonance with the demands of the hour and the patriotic sacrifice the country expected alike from citizen and soldier. The paragraph reads as follows:
The continuance of our National difficulties and the probabilities of a prolonged contest should admonish every loyal citizen of the necessity of "aetive preparation to meet any demand on the part of the constituted . authorities of the State or Nation, and renders it especially incumbent upon military bodies, although organized for speeial purposes, to be prepared for any emergeney. In order therefore that the strength and discipline of the regiment may be made equal to the crisis, the following directions will be faithfully carried out."
Companies were to be recruited to the full maximum of one hundred men, and the attention of officers and men was to be directed to the importance of procuring recruits. Squad drills, always under the supervision of a commissioned officer, were to be held as frequently as circumstances would permit, and the weekly drills made semi-weekly if possible. Regimental drills in fatigue uniform were provided for, to be hell semi-monthly, and a full attendance of rank and file was particularly enjoined.
The first of the series of regimental drills provided for in this order, was on the same day announced in General Order No. 11. for Angust 22. and the line was directed to form at Diamond Cot- tage, Camden, New Jersey, at four and a half o'clock on the after-
23
REGIMENTAL DRILLS
1861
noon of that day, the commandants of companies to report at the office of the adjutant, No. 127 South Fourth Street, at noon, on the 21st, for specitie instructions.
There appear to have been no significant features in eonnec- tion with this drill. The manœuvres were in the school of the battalion, with Colonel Ellmaker in command, and are reported in one of the journals kept at that time to have been "very creditably" executed. The exereises covered a period of some two hours, and the companies were dismissed on the ground and returned inde- pendently to their several armories, overtaken on the route by a drenching rain. The attendance was not large: of the two compan- ies, C and D, usually out in considerable strength, C's aggregate was 65, and D's 39.
The second of the series was fixed by General Order No. 12, of September, 1861, for September 5, at the same place and honr. Colonel Ellmaker was in command, and, beside the battalion movements, the regiment was exercised with blank cartridges in firing, for the first time, by battalion, by division, by company, and by file. The 28th Pennsylvania, Col. John W. Geary, pre- paring for the field, was eneamped nearby. At the conclusion of the drill the tender of an eseort by Lieutenant-Colonel Korp- onay, then in command of the 28th Pennsylvania, was accepted, and the two regiments paraded through the principal streets of Camden to the Market Street ferry. The escort returned to its camp, and the regiment, erossing the ferry, moved down Front Street to Walnut and up Walnut to Seventh, where the companies were dismissed to their several armories. On this oceasion Com- panies C and D tied themselves. each with an aggregate of 46.
The newspaper eomment (North American and United States Gazette, September 6, 1861) on the occasion is as follows: " Col. Ellmaker's regiment of Gray Reserves drilled yesterday afternoon near Diamond Cottage. Camden. They were accompanied by Col. Geary's regimental band. They made a display alike worthy of themselves and their Colonel."
An incident of some material moment is thus quaintly com- munieated to after-times in one of the company journals of the day : " The Company proceeded to the Armory, where they found a keg of lager awaiting them, which having destroyed, they pro- eceded to vote for Brigadier-General, which resulted in a unani-
24
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
mous vote for Franeis E. Patterson." The same unanimity pre- vailing everywhere, General Patterson, announced as the choice. subsequently accepted the office and assumed command.
The word " destroyed " was evidently introduced faectiously. A minute from the book of one of the companies-it was likely so with all-reads as follows: " That the better to preserve our effieieney, good order, and decorum. the following standing reso- lutions are adopted." Third, " No liquor of any kind shall be kept in or brought into the armory except on special occasions to be authorized by the Quartermaster." It was con- suinption, not destruction, that the quartermaster no doubt in- tended when ho gave his authorization for the keg of beer to be brought into the armory on this, a special occasion.
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