USA > Pennsylvania > History of the First regiment infantry, National guard of Pennsylvania (Grey Reserves) 1861-1911, pt 1 > Part 31
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A rifle competition between the teams of the First and Sixth Regiments was not specially commendatory to either, but the Sixth had the better of it. With five shots each and a possible individual score of 50, the total of the team of the Sixth was 287 at one hundred yards, and at two hundred 221, while the First's total was at one hundred 275 and at two hundred 217.
The First Regiment score was:
100 yards
200 yards
G. W. Coulston
21
20
R. C. Ballenger
17
9
S. N. Ware, Jr.
20
20
G. Post
18
7
F. Elms
18
17
W. Cairns
17
12
L. E. French, Jr.
19
16
C. Hathaway, Jr.
21
18
A. Renner
19
14
H. S. Wright
18
18
L. Byron
21
11
W. W. Abbott
21
15
J. J. Mountjoy
22
22
G. R. Walton
23
18
275
217
On September 27, 1883, Col. Theodore E. Wiedersheim and Lieut .- Col. Washington H. Gilpin were re-elected to their re- speetive offees for the further term of five years. Colonel Wie- dersheim, the eighth colonel of the regiment, was the first to have completed his full five years' term and the first to be re-elected.
292
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
In his annual report for the year 1883 General Snowden makes allusion to this re-election as follows: " It is gratifying to men- tion the re-election of those zealous and capable officers, Colonels Wiedersheim and Gilpin."
On March 5, 19-3, Sergeant Milton W. Orme, of Company K, had been made sergeant-major, vice Frank Davis, honorably discharged; and on March 26, 1983, Sergeant T. H. Gallagher. of Company B, had been appointed quartermaster-sergeant, vice Alexander Y. Davidson, honorably discharged. L. C. Tappey. Jr., had resigned as first lieutenant and quartermaster. General Order No. 28, September 27. 1853, announcing the re-election reappointed the staff with intervening substitutions that have already been noticed. Henry O. Roberts was named as first lieu- tenant and quartermaster, Captain William H. Taber was to continue as volunteer paymaster, as was Sergeant Thomas H. Heath, whose records for accuracy and penmanship have rarely been equalled, as regimental elerks. The reannouncement also ineluded Charles Ouram as hospital steward and William T. Baker as drum major-two faithful, long-continuing, and painstaking men, ever as prompt to execute as they were efficient to perform.
The two assistant surgeons resigned within a few months. and on November 26. 1883. Francis Muhlenberg was appointed assistant surgeon in place of HI. Augustus Wilson, and on Janu- ary 25, 18S4, Alexis Dupont Smith in place of Charles H. Wil- litts. Captain Eugene Z. Kienzle, Company G, resigned May 12, 1884, and First Lieutenant Albert L. Williams was electedl to succeed him. June 17. 1884. On April 10. 1$$4, Milton W. Orme was elected second lientenant of Company C, and Gran- ville M. Post, of F Company, was appointed sergeant-major, and on the same day William D. Bennage, Jr .. having resigned. Edl- ward L. Barter. of Company H. was named as commissary-ser- geant.
On January 24. 1584, General Order No. 3, in its first paragraph announced that " through the exertions of the officers and men of the command. the Veteran Corps, and the liberality of the citizens of Philadelphia. this regiment has succeeded in erecting an armory. which it is hoped will be a credit to the organization. and formal possession of the building will be taken
299
OCCUPATION OF NEW ARMORY
ou February 22." The regiment was ordered to assemble in full- dress uniform at 8.15 o'clock in the evening of that day at the old City Armory, Broad and Race Streets, preparatory to it- movement out of that armory and into the new one, at Broad and Callowhill Streets.
The opening ceremonies were designated in the current re- ports of the event as one of the most elaborate social affairs of the season. " From half-past seven until nearly nine o'clock a constant stream of guests poured into the beautiful building and in an exceedingly short time filled every available seat or passed from room to room, admiring the elegance and beauty of almost everything within." At nine o'clock the regiment. under the command of Colonel Wiedersheim, with the Veteran Corps at its head, left the Broad and Race Streets Armory and marched into the drill-room floor of the new quarters, greeted by the applause of the vast gathering there assembled. The regiment massed in column by divisions in front of the platform tem- porarily erceted for the occasion. The ceremonies were opened with praver by the chaplain. Rev. Robert A. Edwards. Col. George H. North, chairman of the Building Committee, followed, and after detailing exhaustively the measures, means, and labors then so successfully ended formally handed over the keys of the armory to the commanding officer of the regiment, concluding as follows: "Men of the regiment, for nearly twenty-three years you have been homeless. To-night the ladies, the citizens, the officers of the army and navy, and National Guard unite to wel- come you to a home beautiful and commodious. Take it and guard it carefully, and may you have within it peace, happiness. contentment, and prosperity." Colonel Wiedersheim fittingly replied on behalf of the regiment: "The mere acceptance," he said, " was easily done; the responsibility came in holding the trust saeredly for the purposes to which it was dedicated." He recognized how well Colonel North and his co-workers had filled their trust, " impressed as he was with the value of the inherit- ance that had come from honored names borne upon the rolls of the regiment." He urged the members to guard well their trust as a proof of their appreciation of what the good people of the city had done for them.
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
Both addresses were frequently interrupted by applause. The exercises over, the companies were marched to their company quarters to dispose of their accoutrements, whence they returned to the main drill room to extend the courtesies, hospitalities, and attentions ineident to such an occasion.
Among those present of especial prominenec, eivic and mili- tary, were: Governor Robert Emory Pattison and Adjutant-Geu- eral Presley N. Guthrie, with the departmental staff officers and aids; Maj .- Gen. John F. Hartranft, of the Pennsylvania Division, and Maj .- Gen. William J. Sewell, of the New Jersey Division of the National Guard; Brig .- Gens. James A. Beaver and George R. Snowden; Col. Robert P. Dechert, of the Second Regiment; Major John W. Ryan, of the State Fencibles Bat- talion ; Captain E. Burd Grubb, of the City Troop; Col. William Ludlow, U. S. Engineers; Commander Higginson, U. S. Navy, and other officers of the U. S. S. Ossipee; and, as representing the New York Twenty-second, Captains Milderberger and Priest, Lieutenant Doty and Surgeon Dunean; Messrs. Wharton Barker. George I. MeKelway, William C. Allison, Francis Wells, Major Edwin N. Benson. Hon. William B. Smith, mayor-eleet. a for- mer highly appreciated captain of Company A, was conspicuous as a recipient of much congratulation.
Colonel Wiedersheim's General Order No. 5, of February 25, 1584, congratulatory of the present, content with the past. expectant of the future, is a well-constructed valedietory of the occasion :
I. The Colonel commanding congratulates the officers and men of the Command upon the successful occupation of the new armory, on the even- ing of the 22d in-t. The appearance and numbers of the Regiment-the cordial support of our Veteran Corps-the eneomiums of the Commander-in- Chief, the presence of so many distinguished Army and Navy Officers- the interest manifested by the entire National Guard of the State, as evinced by the large number of officers who honored the occasion, and the flatter- ing remarks of so many of the City's representative business men, all com- bined to make every member feel proud of his connection with the First Regiment.
II. The Command should now inerense in numbers, selecting only the best material, discipline rigidly maintained, prompt and full attendance at Company drills and a ready and cheerful obedience to all the require- ments of a National Guardsman-thus showing to those who have taken sueh an interest in the organization that it will always merit their confidence and support.
1554
295
GETTYSBURG ENCAMPMENT
The twenty-third anniversary was modestly disposed of by a commemorative street parade in full-dress uniform at four o'clock on the afternoon of AApril 19, and as the annual church service had lost its place on the calendar, other events intervening, Sunday, April 6, was designated instead of the usual day in Feb- ruary, and the regiment and Veteran Corps in attendance, the chaplain, the Rev. Robert A. Edwards, officiated at divine wor- ship in his own Church of St. Matthias on the afternoon of that day.
General Hartranft had formally recommended, and the Har- risburg authorities had long had in contemplation, the selection of Gettysburg for the division encampment. Its rich historic remembranees, its natural attractions, its advantageous sites had helped, the then wholly inadequate rail facilities for the speedy concentration of troops had hindered the execution of the projeet.
The project as eventually consummated, as announced in gen- eral orders from division headquarters, fixed the location for the annual encampment for 1554 as at Gettysburg, and named the time from Saturday to Saturday, August 2 to 9. It made for the Guard much repute. The most conspicuous event out of the usual course was a visit to the camp and review of the division by Lieut .- Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, commanding the Army of the United States. A headline to an article in a leading journal that fully and in detail described the encampment and summarized its events read : " A military spectacle not seen since the war." Adjutant-General Guthrie, in his report for the year, said of it: " It was apparent to all who witnessed the inspection that the enlisted men have advanced greatly in drill, discipline, and effi- ciency." And General Hartranft, in his report as division com- mander, coneluded his specifie reference to it as follows: " Our expectations have been realized in the steady improvement of the Guard since it has been sent into annual encampment. It could readily be seen from year to year: its manœuvres and ceremonies impressed Lieutenant-General Sheridan, command- ing the United States Army, with such effect that he has made very kind mention of the command in his annual report to the President of the United States."
General Sheridan and Secretary of War Lincoln were de- lighted with the camp, and General Sheridan permitted the fol-
IS54
296
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
lowing to go out as his view of the conditions and the situation as he stated it to " S. M.," the Washington correspondent of the Philadelphia Evening Star: " That scattered as our regular army is over so much territory, he sometimes imagines he commands nothing except on paper. But the camp here shows him that if necessity required it he could have an army equal in numbers to the largest in Europe in a very brief time. He said further that his visit here had convinced him that Pennsylvania comes nearer probably than any other State in the Union in appreciating what a national guard should be. It ought to be the duty of every other State, he thought, to emulate her example."
The First Regiment left its armory on the morning of Satur- day, the second of August, under the command of Colonel Wie- dersheim, with a full complement of officers and men, and reached its camping-ground before nightfall. There was little variance in the usual rigorous routine of drill, discipline, and instrue- tion. The men were held more closely to the camp lines than heretofore, and no absences were permitted after three o'clock in the afternoon, that the ranks might be full for all ceremonies of parades and reviews, and especially so that there might be no mistakes or misunderstanding of a full comprehension of the orders then usually promulgated for the next day's duties. The usnal church service, conducted by the chaplain, Rev. Robert 1. Edwards, was held on Sunday morning, the 3d inst., at ten o'clock.
The regiment was paraded on its color line in heavy march- ing order for the annual muster and inspection by Adjutant-Gen- eral Guthrie at 8 o'clock on Monday morning, Angust 4. Out of an aggregate of 602, 565 present, and 61 absent, the com- mand attained a percentage present of $0.9, and a regimental rating of "very good."
There was the usual review by the governor and commander- in-chief on Friday, August S, and the special review by Lieuten- ant-General Sheridan on Wednesday, August 6. 1 division ritle range was established under the immediate charge of Lieut .- Col. E. O. Shakespeare, division inspector of rifle practice. Among others of the details from time to time ordered to report to the range were Captain P. S. Conrad. Company C; Lieutenant Chas.
297
NEWSPAPER COMMENTS
Hathaway, Jr., Company F; Sergeant Geo. W. Coulston, Com- pany F; Corporal George R. Walton, Company F; Corporal J. G. Stanley, Company G; Corporal W. Abbott, Company D; and Private J. J. Mountjoy, Company F. Markers not members of the team, as it was its turn were supplied from the regiment.
The camp was broken on Saturday, the 9th, amid all the dampness and discomfort incident to the proverbial Gettysburg rain-storm, without which no encampment in that vicinity sceined ever to be complete. The First Regiment was the last of the troops of the First Brigade to leave, "and marched into the cars which remained and which it filled to the last seat." Colonel Wiedersheim was the last to board the train, and this squib is told of him by a newspaper correspondent as his parting words :
" We arrived in the rain and we are leaving under a cloud," he laughed, as he boarded the platform of the officers' car.
"But the First isn't under any figurative cloud." was observed.
"No; I am proud to say that not a word of fault can be found with the First; and I believe that the other colonels of the First Brigade can say the same of their regiments. The men have all behaved splendidly in camp, and in my command I have had scarcely a single case of disciplinary punishment. the worst offences having been absence in town withont leave, and we have had scarcely enough culprits to keep the camp streets clean."
Company D on its return, with Captain Hastings in command. detached itself by permission for the test of an endurance march. General Snowden in his annual report gives the expedition thi- commendatory notice, making special mention of the repellent weather, that rather favored the abandonment than the execution of the project :
The soldierly spirit [he said] of this command [ First Brigade] is well illustrated by the calmness and indifference with which they endured the storm of the 7th of August on the occasion of the review by the Commander- in Chief and in the respective marches of the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry and Company D, First Iniontiy. . . . Captain Hastings by per- mission left Getty-burg by way of Mount Holly Springs on Saturday even- ing at 5 o'clock in the midst of a severe rain-storm, halting at nine o'clock at Centre Mills, ten miles out; he reached Carlisle, a distance of 28 miles, on Sunday at half-past one, with his command in fair order. The march, however, was not conducted with as much compactness and attention to the wants of the men as could he wished. It is a pleasure to note such spirited example of the performance of duty muider adverse and trying circumstances : they reflect much credit on all concerned.
298
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
1884
The following is from a newspaper account :
The Company consisted of Captain Harry O. Hastings, First Lieutenant HI. J. Crump, Second Lieutenant Thomas A. Edwards, Sergeants Eugene A. Linnard, Harry Binder, L. F. Smiley and Lewis C. Gratz; Corporals J. V. Ellison, A. W. Deane, Roland L. Goodman, William Shimer, and W. W. Abbott, and Privates C. H. Allen, George Adams, Ormond Rambo, Frederick English, S. S. Shaleross, W. H. Rothermel, W. Barger, Andrew Cattell, Charles Dittrich, W. C. Holbrook and George Newton and Fifer Esquirrell, a volun- teer from the drum corps, and the officers, servant and quartermaster. The rest of the company, much against their desire, remained to arrange the camp stores and came by rail. The company and its officers have been warmly praised by the brigade commanders for what they accomplished. No one fagged out, and beyond being footsore in consequence of improper foot- gear, they all returned in excellent condition. The time from the camp to Carlisle was the same as made by the City Troop, though the latter rode horseback.
S. M., in his interesting correspondence from Gettysburg of August 8, 1884, to which the Philadelphia Evening Star of the next day gives several columns, writes just as if some one had met him on the street, knowing of his visit, and asked him what he thought of the Guard's Gettysburg encampment, in a sort of diction winning at all times, but especially attractive when read in after-times, as it tells the story as if it were at the very time itself. This is what he says of the First Regiment and the coun- try around about :
We reserved for the last our visit to Colonel Wiedersheim's nobby First Regiment. Here we found a camp that ought to be a model, but we were told it cost the regiment a good deal of extra money to secure the improve- ments they have over the camps of the other regiments. Colonel Wieder- sheim has a fine hody of men and he never misses a point to show them off and thus seenre for them the encomiums their appearance is bound to bring.
Colonel Wiedersheim's reception of General Sheridan and the Secretary of War, when those gentlemen were making a tour through the camp of each command, was a point that caught Sheridan's eye immediately. Wie- dersheim did the thing in true military fashion by having each man in the regiment stationed in front of his quarters, and as the visiting party passed salute them in silence. The other commanders allowed their men to form in groups and to cheer as they suited. That was all wrong, as it is not good military ethics to accompany a salute with noise or boisterousness of any kind.
Then in the review Wiedersheim saw his opportunity to give the First a send-off before the ten thousand people who were present by wheeling his command after having passed the reviewing point into battalion front and sending them down the slope on the double quick, and then suddenly. when a fourth way down the field, wheeling them in another direction by column of fours and running them on the double quick for at least a half a mile
ISS4
299
ON SANITATION
to their quarters. It was a pretty movement, and the novelty instantly at- tracted the attention of everybody present. As a natural consequence, the question on every one's tongue was, "What regiment is that?" . ..
The country is rich and beautiful the entire distance, and with proper railway facilities it would be a great pleasure to make the trip. The town of Gettysburg has the same sleepy and sluggish look that all country towns have. The people have comfortable honses and look contented, as if they enjoyed life; that is, the lite a country town affords one. The camp is located a mile and a half south of the town. It stretches for a mile or more along the west side of the Emmittsburg road. Aeross this road a few yards back was the battle line of the Union troops who received the celebrated charge of eighteen thousand Confederates under the command of Pickett. The road is on a slight ridge and the tents of the camp are on a gradual slope. Beyond the tents is the field used for the drill and parades. It ex- tends back for about half a mile to another ridge, which was the Confederate line of battle.
The service in after years learned a bitter lesson for its fail- ure properly to enforce wise regulations for a better sanitation in camp and field. The endorsement of a high authority for the First Regiment's careful foresight in this behalf appears through its staff correspondent in the columns of the Philadelphia Press of August 9, 1884:
Colonel Black, of the regular army, who was commandant at West Point just before Upton was, inspected the kitchens and sinks of the First Regi- ment yesterday and was agreeably surprised at the excellent order. To Dr. Muhlenberg is largely due-as executive officer-the splendid sanitary ar- rangements so heartily approved by Colonel Black.
By a special order of August 6, 1884, issued from regimen- tal headquarters in camp at Gettysburg, Company H, Captain Samuel B. Collins commanding, with one day's cooked rations, was detailed to report for special duty to Lieut .- Col. Alex. Krumbhaar, assistant adjutant-general, at 7.30 o'clock on the morning of Thursday, August 7. And the order concluded with this in- junetion, that " this company has been selected with the belief that its tour of duty will reflect great credit upon the company and regiment." Though there seems to be no directly connected sequence between this and what followed, Company H, organized for a better perpetuation in the First Regiment of the heroic and patriotic memories of the 11Sth Regiment (Corn Exchange) Pennsylvania Volunteers, was baek to Gettysburg again within a few weeks in compliance with Special Order No. 65, Headquar- ters First Brigade National Guard of Pennsylvania of August
18>4
300
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
27, 1884, which read as follows: "Captain Samuel B. Collins, Company H, First Regiment National Guard of Pennsylvania. is hereby granted permission to parade his eommand for the pur- pose of accompanying the 118th Regiment P. V. Association as a military escort to Gettysburg upon the occasion of the unveil- ing of a monument to their dead upon that field, September 6, 1884.""
In the absence of Colonel Wiedersheim, temporarily in coul- mand of the brigade, the following General Order No. 32, of August 22, 1884, announcing the decease of Col. Charles S. Smith, was published by Lient .- Col. Washington H. Gilpin :
The Lieutenant-Colonel commanding announces with regret the death of Col. Charles S. Smith, which occurred on the 20th inst.
Colonel Smith entered the military service of the State in 1819 and later became a member of the Artillery Corps of Washington Gray -. In April. 1861, one of the founder, of the Regiment, he was made captain of Company A. First Regiment Gray Reserves. He was promoted to the coloneley of the regiment in 1863, and served in the campaign in the Cumberland Valley in the summer of that year. On the formation of the Veteran Corps of the Regiment he was made its colonel, and retired from that position in conse- quence of his advanced years. His record as a eitizen and guardsman is worthy of emulation; his death makes the first gap in the ex-colonels of our regiment.
The national colors will be displayed from the regimental armory at half staff until the day of the funeral. The regimental colors will be draped and the officers wear crape for the period of sixty days in respect to his memory.
The commissions of Major Bowman and Captain Muldoon expired during the year 1884, and Brigadier-General Snowden in his annual report makes this pleasing allusion to their re- election : " The disposition to retain experienced and capable offi- cers is well illustrated in the re-election respectively . . . of Major Bowman and Captain Muldoon, the veterans of two wars. These gentlemen have served long and faithfully and their unani- mous re-election is a deserving recognition of their zeal and capacity."
On October 30, 1854, Company G, Captain Albert L. Wil- liams, accompanied by the Old Guard Artillery Corps of Wash- ington Grays, Captain Jacob Loudenslager, commander, paraded as the funeral escort to the remains of Brevt. Brig .- Gen. George Alexander Hamilton Blake, United States Army, who died on
K
ARTILLERY CORPS WASHINGTON GRAYS 1822-1941
301
GENERAL G. A. H. BLAKE
October 27 at his Washington residence and was buried from this, his home city.
A tradition was abroad that General Blake had secured his first appointment in the Regular Army from the strong impression the Artillery Corps of Washington Grays had made upon Presi- dent Jackson for drill and discipline on a visit to the White House, as the corps passed through Washington on its way to another locality, the President at that time offering a lieutenancy in the army to the first sergeant and he declining, it was said Blake was named in his stead.
The tradition doubtless had its origin and no doubt some effect on Blake's subsequent appointment from a happening when the corps visited the White House on the 21st of February, 1832, on the occasion of its pilgrimage to the tomb of Washington in com- memoration of the centenary of his birth,1 and graphically told of by Col. William Houston Patterson in his manuscript history of the Artillery Corps of Washington Grays, vol. I, pages 195 and 199. The work is now in the possession of the Historical So- ciety of Pennsylvania. "From the mass," so reads the history, " of cumulative tradition surrounding this Mt. Vernon excursion. we cull the following concerning the visit of the corps to the Presi- dent of the United States, Gen. Andrew Jackson. As the Presi- ·lent approached the right of the line Johnson's Band crashed forth " Hail to the Chief." The President, discovering he had not the right step, promptly changed and, passing along the line. looked every man in the eye. In coming to a Present arms, the bayonet of one of the muskets struck a large and costly cut-glass chandelier; Jackson's eve instinctively fell upon the hapless handler of the musket, not in reproof, but in military curiosity to discover the effect of the accident upon the man's steadiness; but finding him apparently unconcerned and motionless as a statne, a gratified smile passed over his face, and he afterwards expressed his admiration of this evidence of the high discipline of the corps and proffered to the hero of this occasion (Benjamin K. Fox) a commission as first lieutenant in the United States Army. Fox was compelled to deeline the appointment." Blake joined the corps in 1831. Attentive, looking for promotion, which
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