USA > Pennsylvania > History of the First regiment infantry, National guard of Pennsylvania (Grey Reserves) 1861-1911, pt 1 > Part 30
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CAMP JOHN FULTON REYNOLDS
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The regimental daily routine, published in general orders, did not vary materially from that previously prescribed for like occa- rions. Saturday, August 5, Captain P. S. Conrad, of Company C, and Lieutenant William Ewing, of Company B; Sunday, August 6, Captain J. Campbell Gilmore, Company K, and Lieu- tenant George E. Deacon, Company A; Monday, August 7, Cap- tain Samuel B. Collins, Company H, and Lieutenant G. W. Thomas, Company D; Tuesday, August S, Captain HI. O. Hast- ings, Company D, and Lieutenant E. S. Barnes, Company K; Wednesday, August 9, Captain Charles A. Ro-e, Company A, and Lieutenant C. T. Kensil, Company H; Thursday, August 10, Captain F. P. Koons, Company I, and Lieutenant James A. Filley, Company E; Friday, August 11, Captain T. E. Huffing- ton, Company F, and T. C. Sherborne, Company C; Saturday, August 12, Captain E. Z. Kienzle, Company G, and Lieutenant Lonis K. Opdyke, Company B, were each respectively detailed for offieers of the day and officers of the guard.
Lient .- Col. Washington 11. Gilpin was detailed for brigade field officer of the day for August 10, and Major Wendell P. Bow- man for August 6.
Religious services in front of regimental headquarters, on Sunday, conducted by the chaplain, largely attended; the annual inspection on Monday by the adjutant-general of the State; com- pany, skirmish, battalion drill, brigade mamenvres, the division review by the governor and commander-in-chief on Friday turned off in a manner to elicit special commendation, the break- ing of the eamp on Saturday, the 12th, and the same day the regiment's return to Philadelphia, and Camp John Fulton Rey nolds was a memory.
In the regimental general order that followed the close of the encampment the following paragraph appears:
I. The colonel commanding de-ires to express his thanks to those officers and men who by faithful attention to duty at Camp John Fulton Reynolds enabled the regiment to occupy a high position in the Division of the State.
Captain R. H. Hall, Tenth United States Infantry, a keen observer, was the inspecting officer assigned by the War Depart- ment. In his thorough, exhaustive. and detailed report he draws this conclusion :
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Viewing the entire division of the National Guard, or even considering the brigades, the force appears to be fairly instructed and disciplined. The school of the soldier, although now more than ever before of the highest importance, as so much depends on the individual soldier when bodies of troops fight in dispersed order, seems to be very generally neglected.
The regiment during the year had been making some progress with the rifle. The score of the two regiments competing for the division prize was the Thirteenth, 210; and the Sixteenth, 202. Next followed the First Regiment, leading the rest of the State with a score of 197. The number of marksmen had increased to 51, with Geo. W. Coulston, of Company C, so long a master at the target, making the highest score-48. Their names were published in Regimental General Orders No. 2, of January 16, 1883, announcing that "honorable mention is made of the fol- lowing officers and men of the command, who, having qualified at the Stockton Rifle Range during the past year, are hereby awarded the marksman badge, to be worn on all occasions when on duty." Of the officers, there were: Adjutant H. Harrison Groff; Captains J. Lewis Good, P. S. Conrad, J. Campbell Gil- more, H. O. Hastings; Lieutenants Geo. E. Deacon, H. De C. Brolasky, N. A. Williams, A. L. Williams, H. C. Roberts, William Ewing, and Louis K. Opdyke.
On October 18, 1882, J. Wilkes O'Neill was promoted to be the surgeon to fill the vacancy that followed the resignation of Alonzo L. Leach, Charles H. Willitts advanced to be senior assist- ant surgeon, and William W. Van Valzah, having also resigned, H. Augustus Wilson was made the junior assistant surgeon. Henry Avery, Jr., honorably discharged as sergeant-major, Frank Davis was appointed to succeed him September 25, 1882. William D. Bennage was made commissary-sergeant October 2, 1882, vice Davis, advanced. On October 20, Alexander Y. Davidson was announced as quartermaster-sergeant, vice Rob- erts, honorably discharged.
The centenary day had been effective in the creation and execution of schemes for the commemoration and celebration of centennial events highly creditable to the country. Others were to follow. Meanwhile a bi-centenary was upon ns. Philadel- phia was to honor the founder and commemorate the founding and settlement of the province of Pennsylvania two hundred
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BI-CENTENNIAL OF STATE
years after that October of 1652 when the good ship Welcome had brought William Penn across the stormy seas and landed him safely in the city of his creation on the shores of the Dela- ware. The occasion was one of novel features, costly displays, pageants, parades, festivities, great gatherings, and much oratory. The military demonstration on the day set apart as " military day," Friday, October 27, is the incident of the celebration that is of special concern here.
In his general order of August 17, 1882, Colonel Wiedersheim had included this announcement: " The Command will at once place itself in condition for the fall campaign, and it must carry off the laurels on the occasion of the parade of the division in this city on October 27, in celebration of the Bi-Centennial of the State of Pennsylvania." And from what was said by the IIon. James Rankin Young, a journalist of high repute, the then well- known " S. M." Washington correspondent of the Philadelphia Evening Star, of the First Regiment in its proportionate share of an entire page of that paper devoted to the parade, the regi- ment profited by the admonition and certainly made good the * injunction of its commanding officer. The following is an extract from Mr. Young's story in the issue of that paper of Saturday, October 2S:
The Philadelphia Brigade appeared to the best advantage, all the com- mands being out with full ranks and in first-class condition. But this came from the fact, probably, that they had no railroad travelling to do. It is not doing injustice to the others to say that Colonel Wiedersheim's regiment, the First, carried off the honors of the day. There was a swing and a dash about the men of the First, in their marching, which seemed to indicate that they knew they had the best of the thing, and they intended to hold on to it. There was a style that was captivating in the whole command, from the handsome and soldierly Colonel, the staff and line officers, the splendid band, fife and drum and bugle corps, down and along the line to the rear, where were the non-commissioned staff and the bearers of the water buckets. I suppose the regiment turned out the greatest number of men of any con .- mand in the line. Colonel Wiedershein evidently takes great interest in his command, else it could not have made the splendid appearance it did to-day. The musical department was a great feature, and I have seen noth- ing like it outside of New York City.
The newspaper count of the "militiamen veterans [Grand Army of the Republic] and cadets in line" was 17,529. Of the National Guard besides the Pennsylvania division, there was the New Jersey brigade, composed of the Third, Sixth, and
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT. N. C. P.
Seventh Infantry, Battery A of Elizabeth ; the Delaware militia : the colored detachments from Washington and Baltimore; the Capital City Guards, the Washington Cadet Corps, the Baltimore Rifles, and the Monumental City Guards.
The column, under the command of Maj .- Gen. John F. Hart- ranft, moved promptly at eleven o'clock, and General Snowden's First Brigade, which had been directed to form on Fitzwater Street, west of Broad, swung into the column, as soon as the rear of the Second Brigade, which it had been instructed to follow, had passed the point of junetion. "The proficiency," says one re- port, " shown by the National Guard in its movements and evo- lutions was far superior to the great parade of July 4, 1876." The improvement since the consolidation of the ten into the one division had made itself as manifest to the observer outside the ranks as an intrinsic betterment had long been known to the work- ers within them. The route completed, the review held,-the troops made an imposing appearance,-the afternoon was well along before the procession was over and the parade dismissed.
The editorial comment that followed was to the National Guardsmen a most encouraging remembrance of the ceremonies attendant on this Pennsylvania bi-centenary celebration. The following is illustrative of its general tenor:
THE MILITIA AT THE BI-CENTENNIAL: The parade of the organized mili- tia of the State yesterday was one of the most impre sive features of the week and made a bright finish to the outdoor festivities of the Bi-Centen- nial. .
Thus the troops that paraded yesterday may trace their military ances- try not quite to the days of Penn, yet to a period equally heroic and down through a most illustrious line. . . .
The men whom Hartranft may be proud to lead are the legitimate descendants of those who followed Armstrong and Bouquet and Wayne and Sullivan, who helped to establish the freedom of the Commonwealth and time and again defended it from armed foes without its borders and with- in. . . .
It was a distinctly military organization throughout, compact, well- disciplined, well-drilled. and well-equipped, in a uniform meant for service and not for show, and marching with that firm step that belongs to men who are confident of themselves and of one another. It was the first time that the whole military establishment of the State-the division of three brigades and fifteen regiments, with independent battalions, artillery and cavalry, a marching army of nearly seven thousand men-had been brought together for a parade like this, and a better opportunity could not have been had to show how complete is the organization for the public defense in Pennsylvania to-day. . . .
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HOSPITALITY TO VISITING CORPS
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The light, are out, the flags are furled, the crowds are scattered. But the memory of this week will linger long in the heart of every true son of Pennsylvania, making him more than ever proud of the great Commonwealth of which he forms a part.
The New York Twenty-second was not tardy in substantial acknowledgment and generous recognition of hospitalities and courtesies tendered on the occasion of their visit on the 19th of April to participate in the ceremonies incident to the laying of the corner-stone of the new armory. A committee of some thirty officers and men of the Twenty-second, with Col. Josiah Porter as its chairman, on its arrival in Philadelphia on the evening of the 5th of January, 1883, was met at the Colonnade Hotel by a committee of like numbers from the First Regiment and escorted to the Rink Building, Twenty-third and Chestnut Streets. There the First Regiment at eight o'clock in full-dress uniform, 600 strong, Colonel Wiedersheim in command, received Colonel Porter and his committee. Then in an appropriate speech Colonel Porter. in front of the regiment, on behalf of the Twenty-second, " in cordial recognition," as he said, " of the kindness, courtesy, and attention extended to them by the First Regiment during their visit last spring presented this set of na- tional, State, and regimental colors, two right and left guidons and four markers guidons." " It commemorated a notable event in his regiment's history and he had esteemed it a great compliment to have been selected to participate in the ceremonies of laying the corner-stone of the new armory when so many other regiments would have gladly responded to the call." Colonel Wiedersheim followed. accepting with generous thanks this mani- festation of the feeling on the part of the Twenty-second, say- ing in conclusion: " Now and hereafter we must ever regard this souvenir of your visit as a tie of unalterable friendship." .1 review of the First followed. the regiment presenting a fine ap- pearance. exeenting all movements with great precision. A ban- qnet at the Union League to the committee of the Twenty-second by the officers of the First concluded the very pleasurable inci- dent.
What return does the guardsman render the State for these opportunities of brief intervals for festivities, for the precious sentiment of association and companionship, the service engen-
1883
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
ders, worthily cherished and ever remembered, for the encour- aging comment he is permitted to enjoy from an appreciative publie, and for the satisfaction he boastfully measures out to himself when he draws his conclusion that he has done the State some service? The trivial sum he has received for pay at the encampments he has not considered in the reckoning. This was all he got from the service; he spent much more for the service.
The year 1883, typical of other years, is a good year to sub- mit for the guardsman, what for that year were his renderings to the State, and let others if they choose estimate their value. There were no conspicuous happenings : the annual encampment, the anniversary celebration, the divine service in recognition of February 22-the rest was routine.
Company drills were held every week in the year except for two months in the summer, and seven days out of those were devoted to the encampment. A fine was imposed for non-attend- ance. Special drills were frequent and often there were com- pany functions. There was a stated meeting of the company and of the Board of Officers monthly: at the one everybody was re- quired to be present; at the other, officers only. The intervals of leisure were frequently interrupted with a summons for a school of instruction, board of examination, special sessions for one purpose or another, civic or military. The captain, at all times subject to call, frequently delayed his own affairs until his military duties had first been disposed of. Besides he was under bonds to look safely to the care and watch closely to the custody of the public property in his keeping. Proportionately a like responsibility rested upon subaltern and rank and file as well. Then books, accounts, documents, papers, were to be constantly kept and muster rolls, returns, reports repeatedly made.
This was the schedule of events for the year specifically an- nounced from regimental headquarters. The set-up drill (par. 16, Upton's) preparatory to a coming inspection, and induced doubtless by Captain Hall's official reference to the lack of indi- vidual instruction, was particularly enjoined. Battalions, two of three and a third of four companies, each respectively under the command of Colonel Wiedersheim, Lieutenant-Colonel Gil- pin, and Major Bowman, were to be drilled at the regimental armory on the evenings of February 6, 12, and 28. In com-
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TWENTY-SECOND ANNIVERSARY
pliance with instructions from brigade headquarters, regimental orders fixed the evenings of Monday, March 19, for Companies D, F, I, and K; Tuesday, March 27, Companies A, E, and G; Wednesday, March 28, Companies B, C, and HI; for inspection by Major A. L. Wetherill, brigade inspector, when company com- mandants would " be required to exercise their companies in battalion and company drill, setting up, guard mounting, in- cluding relieving and posting sentinels." A company property inspection was published, six companies Mareh 27, and four com- panies April 2, by Col. P. Laeey Goddard, inspector-general of the State. Regimental inspections, one of four and two of three companies, by Colonel Wiedersheim, Lieutenant-Colonel Gilpin, and Major Bowman, were fixed for the evenings of April 10, 11, and 16. The regular spring inspection made by Major A. L. Wetherill, brigade inspector, was held at the Rink Building Monday evening, May 7. A street parade in full-dress uniform, with a dress parade in front of the Union League, was announced for Saturday evening, June 9; a regimental inspection by bat- talions, by the three field officers, on October 13, 15, and 17; and battalion drills, also under command of each of the three field officers, respectively on November 17 and 19 and Deeem- ber 5.
The more significant feature in the celebration of the twenty- first anniversary in no way impaired the zest for the commemora- tion of the twenty-second. Besides the usual street parade, the eoinmand was present at the Forepaugh show, where a benefit was given by its proprietor and the entire gross receipts appropriated in aid of the armory fund. There were about five hundred men in line, not including the members of the Veteran Corps, who turned out to the extent of nearly one hundred. The annual banquet of the Veteran Corps followed in the evening at the Union League. The affair was in charge of Comrade Jacob E. Hyneman. The gathering was made the occasion for the pres- entation to the Corps by Lieutenant John A. Wiedersheim of a handsome pair of silk guidons.
Col. George H. North presided at the dinner, and in his open- ing remarks ealled attention to the fact that the oldest colonel of the First Regiment, Charles S. Smith, aged eighty-six years, who carried a musket in 1514, and Col. Peter C. Ellmaker, the
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first colonel of the First Regiment Gray Reserves, were present, as were also two of their successors, General Latta and Colonel Wiedersheim. Major-General Hartranft was the chief guest of the evening, and in replying to the toast, " The National Guard of Pennsylvania," said in substance that he had always held a high opinion of the First Regiment and that his ambition during the past ten years had been to bring up the standard of the entire Guard to such as that occupied by the First. He referred to the apathy of the public concerning the National Guard until they were convinced of its efficieney, and said that the reputa- tion given abroad to the militia was probably greater than it was entitled to, because the organization was not perfect. There was much to be learned and much hard work for the militiamen.
To-day the variety in the " problem " makes every mancenvre a new creation; the same system of discipline, drill, and instruc- tion, long in vogne in the past, and still operative, the orders for the encampments but repeated themselves. From Saturday to Saturday, August 11 to 18, was designated as the time, Camp MeCall as the name, Phoenixville as the location for the encamp- ment of the First Brigade-this was the alternate year for brigades -for the year 1883. The town, well known as a centre of thriving industries, is on the Schuylkill twenty-seven miles from Philadel- phia, and the camp site was about a mile beyond, to the north and west. The camp, it was supposed, was named in honor of Brig .- Gen. George A. McCall. an eminent citizen of Chester County, a graduate of the West Point Military Aesademy, a soldier of dis- tinetion in the Florida and Mexican wars. the well-remembered commander of the celebrated Pennsylvania Reserve Division of the Army of the Potomac. But this was not the fact : it was called for Col. David MeCall, " a hero," so said a newspaper report, " whose history is known to those who gave the title to the en- campment, but which the rest of mankind, especially those of the younger generation, will never ascertain."
The regiment, with Colonel Wiedersheim in command, fully equipped. assembled at the armory at seven o'clock on the morn- ing of the 11th, and was moved promptly by rail to its camp destination. Company commanders, so it was provided, were to be held responsible for the attendance and continued presence of their men; if employers refused their employees permission to
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join the ranks, the facts were to be reported; no leaves of ab- sence or furloughs were to be granted until after the 20th, and then only upon surgeon's certificate, or irresistible domestic or business reasons. Hours of service and duty, drills, parades, guard mounts, were announced in general orders.
Company books. inspection rolls, and property returns, it was enjoined, should be in complete order and ready to be deliv- "red to the inspecting officer on Monday, August 13, at seven o'clock A. M., when the regiment was to be inspected by Brig .- Gen. Presley N. Guthrie, the adjutant-general of the State. As the result of this inspection, out of an aggregate of 586, present 522, absent 64, the regiment attained a percentage present of S9. and a regimental rating of " superior," numerical values having been abandoned and the use of words resumed.
And to the encampment generally General Guthrie, in his annual report for 1883, makes this allusion: " The National Guard went into camp for seven days, commencing August 11, First Brigade at Phoenixville. The First Brigade is most per- feet in its organization; General Snowden having the brigade almost entirely in Philadelphia has been able to personally know its defieieneies and correet the same."
Anticipating the arrival of Governor Pattison on the same day, the regiment reached the camp, Colonel Wiedersheim had published his order of August 11, directing the command to assemble at 5.30 p. M. for the ceremony of dress parade in front of brigade headquarters, the parade to be witnessed by Governor Pattison and General Hartranft. The following report, included in his other matters from the camp, was made of the event by a Philadelphia Press correspondent :
The commander-in-chief had not been in eamp ten minutes before the First Regiment of Philadelphia massed upon the plateau in front of his . headquarters. The Governor. previously advised of the colonel's announce- ment of the morning, had named the hour, and the ceremony was proceeded with. The regiment mustered nearly 400 men and they made a beautiful showing, their white trousers and blue nniform contrasting handsomely with the greensward of the field. After the parade the officers were personally pre- sented to the Governor.
On the conclusion of the Sunday morning inspection. August 12, the regiment. at the invitation of its reetor, Rev. Dr. Stock- 19
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ton, tendered through the regimental chaplain, Rev. Robert _1. Edwards, attended divine service at St. Peter's Church in Pho- nixville. A camp service, conducted by Rev. Dr. Henry C. MeCook, chaplain of the Second, was largely attended by both officers and men, with Governor Pattison, Generals Hartranft, Guthrie, and Snowden, as attentive listeners. The preacher's text was from Romans, eighth chapter, thirty-seventh verse: " In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that hath loved us," and his theme was of the moral victory over wrong convietions.
The afternoon drew an immense crowd from the neighbor- hood to witness the brigade dress parade. A bit of the gossip of the occasion for what it is worth, is thus transmitted to pos- terity in a special despatch to the Press of the day's doings :
"I want to see the general," said a brown-eyed little beauty to one of the pickets on duty near the outskirts of the camp. "Which one?" asked the sentry, halting and coming to a carry arms. "Why, the handsome one." was the reply; "it's no harm to look at him, is it? I've forgotten his name, but he's awfully nice." "Don't know who you mean," replied the soldier, with a smile. "All of 'em are pretty good lookers. Go down there to the Fencibles' camp and see Major Ryan. Won't cost you anything to look at him." And the picket came to a right shoulder, wheeled, and re- snmed his tramp.
And here is another, from the same correspondent, the one for amusement, the other in earnest :
An example of soldier-like behavior was shown in the City Troop, when one of the members came 1900 miles to obey Captain Grubb's order to go into camp. The trooper had gone to Dakota. and wrote home for a leave of absence. This was refused and he was ordered back. He came by the first train.
The regiment, through with its inspcetion at four o'clock on the afternoon of the 13th, joined the brigade for the annual review by the Governor, and the ceremony impressively disposed of, he left with his staff for the eneampment of the Second Brigade at Williamsport. The review was said to be one of the most creditable to the troops among the many others that had been specially commended. The step was regular and the alignment and distances generally good. The few errors that drew attention were an oceasional awkward salute. now and then a failure to turn the head and eyes at the proper time.
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Thursday was a dies non. A rain-storin from the northeast set in an hour before reveille and continued throughout the day. Mud was everywhere, dry feet nowhere; the rainfall was in- eessant; except guard mount, all military exercises were sus- prended, and the time was devoted to such preparation for break- ing camp as the moisture permitted. A clear day followed, then another, sunshine hastened what the rain had delayed, and by noon on the 15th everything in readiness, the camp was broken with due formality, and by the middle afternoon, the seven days' tour of duty over, the troops satisfied that it had ended by no means to their disadvantage, were once more back to their quar- ters.
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