USA > Pennsylvania > History of the First regiment infantry, National guard of Pennsylvania (Grey Reserves) 1861-1911, pt 1 > Part 37
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For more than a quarter of a century General Hartranft has [had] filled a large place in the activities of his generation which is already recog- nized as forming one of the most important epochs of the history of our country. .
The calm courage. the quiet devotion. the intrepid zeal, and the lofty patriotism which characterized his military service and won for him the
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success which crowned his efforts are known and appreciated by all who have given heed to the stirring times during which this service was ren- der-d.
These are of the official tributes paid to his splendid manhood in the governor's proelamation of October 18, 1889, announeing lis deatlı.
General Hartranft had a part in and was a good part of the Pennsylvania militia before the great war that proved him to be the soldier that he was, and he was the very life of it afterward. Most forcefully does Adjutant-General Hastings confirm this eonelusion in the paragraph announcing the death of General Hartranft in his annual report for 1889:
To him and to the officers he gathered about him more than to all other influences in the State does the National Guard of to-day owe its standing and efficiency. . . . During his term of office as Governor of the Common- wealth and thereafter up to the time of his death he gave from his wealth of experience and knowledge his best thought and efforts to the creation and development of a volunteer military organization which has found its fruition in the present National Guard of the State.
Captain Pearson S. Conrad having added to his previous record his efficient service as a staff offieer resigned the adjutantey November 22, 1889.
On January 7, 1890, Edward V. Stoekham was appointed first lieutenant and adjutant, vice Conrad resigned. Adjutant Stoekham brought with him a soldierly training and experience of especial value. A private in Company H, First Regiment, July 1, 1883, a corporal August 1, 1884, he was honorably dis- charged Mareh 1, 1SS3, to enter the West Point Military Academy, whenee after four years' eadetship he graduated June 12, 1889. Appointed second lieutenant, Seventeenth United States Infantry, June 24, 1859, he resigned September 30 of the same year, and after the brief interval from September to Janu- ary, was again in the military service, this time in the Pennsyl- vania National Guard. On July 17, 1SS9, First Sergeant Car- roll B. Nichols, of Company A, was announced as sergeant-major, vice Ware, honorably discharged, and on November 19. 1890, First Sergeant Harry J. Mehard was appointed to sueeced Car- roll B. Nichols, who had been elected to the second lieutenancy of Company K. Surgeon J. Wilkes O'Neill had been promoted
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to be surgeon of the First Brigade, and on October 10, 1890, Assistant Surgeon Alexis Dupont Smith was advanced to be the surgeon of the regiment. On the same day Norton Downs was appointed as assistant surgeon, vice Smith, promoted.
A dress parade in the regimental armory, skirmish drill, guard mount in the presence of and the regular spring muster and inspection by the brigade inspector, Major A. Lawrence Wetherill, with exercises in the school of the battalion, inter- spersed the routine company and regimental work covered the period for the winter and early spring of 1890.
It had not been the usage for the brigade inspector in his annual report of the spring inspections to sum up his company averages, strike a general average, and submit a regimental figure of efficiency: content, especially as his was not in fact a full tactical regimental inspection, to confine his report to com- pany results only and leave for the adjutant-general but the one regimental conclusion for the year.
As illustrative of how the regiment stood the test, whoever was its critical observer, the following is the result of a caleula- tion from the brigade inspector's company figures for 1890: The possible for the general average for the year at each of the inspections was 80. The regimental general average, computed from company averages which the brigade inspector had reported, was 73.8, and this, multiplied by the regimental percentage of attendance, which he does report, 89.7. would have given a regi- mental figure of efficiency of 63.5 for the spring inspection. In the adjutant-general's annual inspection the percentage of attend- anee is 97.5, the general average 71+, and the figure of effi- ciency 69.
The contrast strikingly illustrates the overabundance of the contribution of the percentage of attendance to the figure of effi- cieney. In the spring with a general average of 73.8, there fol- lowed a figure of efficiency of 63.5. The percentage of attend- ance there was 89.7. It will be observed that the general aver- age for the spring was 2.8 higher than for the annual inspection, which. instead of 73.5. was but 71+. If the percentage of 97.5 for the annual had been used in the computation, S.1 greater as it was, it would have made the spring figure of efficiency 72.1 in- stead of. as it was. 63.5: and in the annual inspection with a
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general average (71+) 2.8 less than the spring inspection ( 73.8) and a percentage of attendance (97.8) 8.01 greater than the spring's ($9.7), the figure of efficiency was 69; 5.5 higher than it was in the spring, when it was 63.5.
It has been sometimes questioned whether the value of attend- anee is not overestimated. It was contended by Adjutant-General Guthrie in one of his annual reports that highly meritorious com- panies that through unavoidable casualties had necessarily to carry heavily of absentees, had been made to suffer severely in a con- sequent depletion of their rating. And yet it is quite the fact that in after years where a competitive contention ran to a devel- opment of the best effort several regiments have in the same con- test paraded their entire strength, and with the 100 per cent. for attendance their figure of efficiency was in no way disturbed. Then again when one colonel has but 400 to get out and another 600, should the one with the lesser number receive like considera- tion with the one with a larger ? It is not material whether the company be large or small, so that the percentage be 100, or, if a lesser figure, that the competitors be alike. There seems no con- ceivable way by which the effect of the casualty can be avoided. It bears alike upon the just and the unjust, and must propor- tionately affect the standing of both. To discriminate in favor of the meritorious and permit him to escape its consequences, would be subversive of all discipline and an innovation in and attempted avoidance of pains and penalties that from the begin- ning, no man knows why, have been imposed by the Creator upon the creature. In one of the brigades of the Pennsylvania Guard recently at the spring inspection 24 companies secured a stand- ing for attendance of 100 per cent. In one of the larger cities within its geographical boundaries where an epidemic of typhoid fever was raging there was located a number of the brigade's best companies, in active, generous competition with their fellows out- side. The casualty seriously affected their attendance and so appreciably reduced their figures of efficiency as to put them, despite their excellent general averages, altogether out of the com- petition.
If " in union there is strength." as the proverb reads, in the military in numbers lies its strength. Yet essential as may be numbers to its strength. their efficiency must be assured before
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they can be used to the best advantage. The test, too, had proven that the conjecture of overvaluation of attendance had been well conceived. Indeed, it was afterward so conceded in official utter- ance. It was, indirectly at least, declared that the earlier an- nouncement that, the " percentage of attendance " and the " gen- eral average " having been determined, the product of their multi- plication would be the " figure of efficiency," had given to attend- ance an excessive valuation.
In his annual report for the year 1907 (up to that time the earlier principle had remained undisturbed) Col. Frank G. Sweeney, the then inspector-general, said: " In the judgment of the inspector-general attendance at inspection at camp should be used in determining the efficiency of a command. The percentage of attendance should be calculated, and from it and the general average the figure of efficiency in ratio of three to seven, respec- tively."
Already in the spring inspections of that year the brigade in- spectors had accepted the method of calculation, later officially suggested by their chief. Analyses of their reports show that to arrive at the company " figure of efficiency " they multiplied the percentage of attendance by 3, the general average by 7, and divided the total of the two products by 10. In Company M, First Regiment Infantry, as an illustration, its general average is 94.88; multiplied by 7, the product is 644.16; its percentage of attendance is 100; this multiplied by 3 is 300; the two sums aggregate 9641, and with 10 for the divisor the company's " fig- ure of efficiency " is 96.41.
The commemoration of the twenty-ninth anniversary, on April 19, 1890, by the usual full-dress street parade was made the more significant by a special review of the command on Broad Street above Walnut, opposite the Union League, by Gen. James A. Beaver, governor and commander-in-chief. In the publication of his order for the parade the colonel commanding mnade this special announcement :
V. This being an important regimental occasion, celebrating the twenty- ninth year of an honorable, patriotic, and distinguished carcer in the mili- tary of the nation and his Commonwealth, the strength and energy of the entire command will be enthusiastically devoted to its complete success.
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CAMP JOHN F. HARTRANFT
On the day following, Sunday, April 20, the regiment was again paraded, to attend divine service at St. Mark's Protestant Episcopal Church, where the rector, the Rev. Isaac L. Nicholson, D.D., the chaplain of the regiment, officiated.
On Memorial Day, May 30, 1890, Company F, Captain George F. Eiler, Jr., paraded as escort to Hector Tyndale Post, No. 160, Grand Army of the Republic, and Company I, Captain Thomas H. P. Todd, as an escort to Naval Post, No. 400. Com- pany D, Captain H. O. Hastings, was at rifle practice at the Lazaretto, and Company K, Captain Alex J. Diamond, Jr., at Fort Washington.
As recruiting was prohibited during a thirty days' period previous to the encampment, in early June an earnest appeal went from regimental headquarters urging its vigorous prosecution.
The companies [so read the colonel's order] which have not now on their rolls the maximum number allowed hy law will make every effort to secure that number.
The companies will be thoroughly canvassed and the cases of men who anticipate trouble in reporting for camp investigated, any difficulty in ob- taining consent of employers promptly reported to these headquarters, as efforts will be made to obtain a rating of 100 per cent. for attendance.
Announcement was made in general orders from National Guard headquarters as early as May 26, 1890, of the division en- campment at Mount Gretna, from July 19 to July 26, and a sub- sequent order from division headquarters had named the camp " Camp John F. Hartranft." Here was a beginning of the coming together on the same camping ground of State and na- tional troops, intermittently but frequently repeated thereafter, much to the profit, benefit and advantage of the Guard. At the request of Governor Beaver, the Secretary of War had ordered a brigade of regular troops, representing the three arms of the ser- vice, under the command of Col. H. G. Gibson, Third United States Artillery, to encamp at Mount Gretna at the same time with the division of the Pennsylvania National Guard.
A significant incident of the encampment was the announce- ment on July 25 of the promotion of Brig .- Gen. George R. Snow- den, who since the decease of General Hartranft had been in com- mand of the division, to be its major-general. He had earned his own promotion by continuous, courageous, and intelligent ser-
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vice in the Guard, a service that supplemented distinction won in war. So close a student of the military art as is General Snow- den is rarely found outside of those who pursue the study as a pro- fession. Gen. Robert P. Dechert, with a distinguished career in war from July 1, 1861, to July 17, 1865, continuously in the field, and with eminent service in the Pennsylvania National Guard from November 7, 1868, to his advancement to be a briga- dier, and thence on until his death, was on the same day pro- moted from his coloneley of the Second Regiment to be the briga- dier-general of the First Brigade.
The encampment was abundantly supplied with officers of the regular army detailed by the War Department for supervisory inspection duty : Col. Henry C. Corbin, Assistant Adjutant- General, Department of Missouri; Captain Clinton B. Scars, of the Engineer Corps; Captain J. Gales Ramsay, Second Artillery and Major Charles R. Greenleaf, surgeon, United States Army.
The hours for drill, bugle calls, and other duties were an- nounced from division headquarters, taken up, and repeated promptly by brigade, and so on through the regiments. A divi- sion drill-ground was set apart, and hours designated for its use by particular brigades. It was assigned to the First Brigade for battalion drill on Monday, July 21, from 9 to 11 in the morn- ing, and for brigade drill on Tuesday, July 22, from 4 to 6 in the afternoon. Of the total strength of the division-8399 rank and file there was present in camp an average of 8018, or 95.5 per cent.
On Wednesday, July 23, in the afternoon the division was re- viewed by the governor and commander-in-chief, and on Thurs- day, the 24th, by Lieut .- Gen. John M. Schofield, U. S. A.
The regiment, preceded by the usual detail for camp con- struction, left the armory at 8.30 o'clock on the evening of July 19, under command of Col. Wendell P. Bowman, with a full con- plement of officers and a strength that quite approached the maxi- mum that the preliminary order had urged should be atttained. It returned by the Reading, leaving camp at 6.15 P. M. on the 26.
The routine of camp duty rigorously followed was ultimately resultful of quite appreciable improvement. Picket duty had been included in the curriculum, and on the night of July 23 Captain Kirk W. Magill's company was tested for its efficiency in a night
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operation. His command was strengthened by details from the other companies, together with Lieutenants Stinson (C), Deane (D), and Crane (E), assigned as subalterns. Provost duty fell upon separate occasions upon Captain Eiler's and Captain Todd's companies respectively. The activity of details, drills, skirmish, battalion, brigade, and company rifle practice, parades, and re- views, was of unusual manifestation throughout the entire tour of duty. Whatever the duty, whether of detail, detachment, bat- talion, or what not, the troops appeared always in fullest strength possible.
The annual muster and inspection by the adjutant-general was held on Tuesday afternoon, July 22, at 2.30 o'clock. With an aggregate of 596, present 583, absent 13, the percentage of attendanee was 97.6. The general average was 71+ out of a possible 80, and the figure of efficiency 69. The rating varied but a trifle from that of 1889, where the possible was 100. The regiment still held first place in the State among the regiments. with the Thirteenth second, with a general average of 70.3 and figure of efficiency of 68.4.
A conclusion of Captain Clinton B. Sears, Engineers, U. S. Army, the whole tenor of whose report shows him to have been a close and analytical observer, is as follows:
Taking the division as a whole, I have seen no State organization equal to it in the essential features of a military hody. The general organization and administration are excellent. The State can, with forty-eight hours' notice, put into the field at almost any point within its limits a division of 8000 men, well armed, fairly equipped, and properly organized, which, on taking the field, will be much superior to any volunteer brigade or division that took the field in 18tl, after two months' service, and after a month's hard work in camp engaged in drilling and guard duty the division can be relied on to make its mark, pro bono publico, in a sharp, decisive campaign and on the field of battle. I know of no other State, unless it be New York, that can put into the field on as short notice so large, so well equipped. and so efficient a body of men, and I doubt if any other State has as good an organization as far as relates to the division staff and the logistie or- ganization.
Under his head, "Performance of Duty," Captain J. Gales Ramsay, Second Artillery, U. S. A., said :
Most cheerful and usually intelligent performance of duty pervades all grades. Zeal and subordination the rule, and desire to exeel apparent, though lack of instruction (proper instruction) in preliminary duties has been the rule. Negleet of the proper custom and regulation of privates
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saluting officers is most noticeable, and to be deprecated. On the other hand, the practice of officers saluting each other and superiors is most punctiliously carried out. The former should be taught the recruit with his setting up exercise and in squad drill, and should be in-isted upon by his company officers at all times. No spirit of disrespect causes this omission, for on a given example, they follow suit invariably.
Though some of its accurate shots during the season of 1820 did not maintain their usual standard, the regiment's general effi- eieney in rifle practice had materially advaneed. Not only with its 98 sharpshooters and 292 marksmen, a total of 390, had it made a gain of 152 over the previous year, but with its average number of qualified men in each company, 38, it led the infantry organizations of the First Brigade in company averages. "The average number of men qualified in each company and separate organization in the division for the year was 32 135." 19. " The first regiment had bettered this average by 5753
In the list of the regimental teams contesting for the regimen- tal prizes-fifteen infantry regiments, one infantry battalion, three troops of cavalry, two batteries; twenty-one in all- offered by Robert H. Coleman to the teams making the six highest seores in regimental team praetiee, the First Regiment was sev- enth, heading the list of " scores of the other competing regi- ments " with " total scores " of 416, as against " total seores " of 436, the score of the Thirteenth Regiment, the leader of the six winners.
The Third Brigade won the brigade trophy with a grand total of 1034, with a narrow margin of four points, as against the First Brigade's grand total of 1030. The three First Regi- ment men on the First Brigade's team were George W. Coulston, inspector of rifle practice, whose total seores were 93; Sergeant George F. Root, F, ST: Sergeant-Major H. J. Mchard, 73. Pri- vate Mountjoy, of the Sixth, was highest, 95; and Mehard low- est, 73. In the regimental mateli, won by the Thirteenth Regi- ment, the First Regiment was eleventh on the list of the twenty- one competitors.
Col. Peter C. Ellmaker, who, beginning with its beginning as its colonel. had never ceased through all its years to maintain with the regiment a close, friendly. and purposeful fellowship, died at his residence. 1324 Areh Street, Philadelphia, on Sunday, October 12, 1890. Born August 11, 1913, his seventy-seven com-
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RESOLUTIONS OF APPRECIATION AND REGRET
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pleted years had carried him through busy, broken, boisterous times; carried him through the crucial tests that in the limelight of tremendous achievement made a race free and a Union per- fect.
Resolutions appropriately expressive of his worth and his ser- vices were adopted by various bodies to which he was attached, and a general order from regimental headquarters testified to his virtues, his manhood, his achievements, his patriotism, and his usefulness.
The board of directors of the Incorporated Association of the First Regiment Infantry, of which Colonel Ellmaker was the secretary, at its November monthly meeting of 1890 gave by reso- lution this expressive utterance of their appreciation and regret :
WHEREAS, since the last meeting of this board we have sustained the great loss of our sincere friend and comrade, Col. Peter C. Ellmaker, " Death ! proprietor of all," having removed him from the scene of this life at one o'clock A. M., on October 12, we, the members of the Board of Directors of the First Regiment Infantry of Pennsylvania, hereby solemnly and rever- entially record our sorrow and pay a lasting tribute to his memory.
We mourn the loss of our departed friend more than mere words can express. His death closes a long and public-spirited life. Born August 11, 1813, from his early youth he manifested the warmest interest in military affairs, and for half a century devoted his best thoughts and attention to the advancement of our military strength and prowess as a commonwealth.
We mourn his loss as the father of our regiment and point with ever- lasting satisfaction to his unfaltering devotion to our welfare.
His public services as a soldier to this commonwealth and his country in every troublesome period. in riot and in war, for half a century whenever and wherever peace was assailed and our country's flag imperilled, entitle him to our heartfelt gratitude and place him beside the most distinguished of Pennsylvania's volunteer soldiers.
His faithful serviees as our secretary throughout all the years of our corporate existence and hi- unceasing labors to secure this armory for the command he loved so well have enshrined his memory in our hearts.
That we extend our heartfelt sympathy to his bereaved family and transmit to thom a copy of this expression of our appreciation of the ser- vices and affection for the memory of our departed friend.
Colonel Bowman's general order paid heroic tribute to his early predecessor :
Hle was a soldier by nature as well as by study and training, and for more than half a century served this, his native State. and the nation in peace, riot. and war with courage, ability, and distinction. For the pres- ervation of law and order and the defence of his country's flag, his brave spirit and military prowess were ever ready.
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P. 1890
He commenced his military career on June 2, 1834, as a private in the Artillery Corps, Washington Grays, in which distinguished body he actively served for a period of twenty years, during which time he occupied every position of honor and trust in its civil body and held every rank in the military organization from corporal to captain. He served faithfully in the Buckshot war and the riots of 1844 and 1846.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, in April, 1861. although by reason of age exempt from military duty, his training, experience, and ability as a soldier were vigorously employed in behalf of the Union. As a result of his instruction as commanding officer of the Artillery Corps, Washington Grays, its members were qualified to immediately enter the service of their country as commissioned officers. Realizing the necessity of the hour, he was the moving spirit in the organization of this regiment, and was duly elected and commissioned its first colonel in April, 1861.
He continued therein his larger school for training and disciplining men for service in the field, furnishing from its ranks many distinguished officers, notably among them being those high in command of the 118th and 119th Regiments of Pennsylvania Volunteers. The latter regiment he or- ganized in July, 1862, from this regiment, and led it to the front as its commanding officer. It won distinction in the annals of the Army of the Potomac for its military efficiency and bravery in action. He is also in- scribed upon the historic page of that immortal army as a brave and effi- cient commander of the Third Brigade, First Division, Sixth Army Corps, and was selected to lead the charge at Rappahannock Station, where he captured the entire opposing force, including artillery, battle flags, and small arms, receiving special mention in orders for his bravery and skill in this action. He participated in all the memorable campaigns and battles of this regiment until January 12, 1864, when he resigned.
The regiment paraded in dress uniform and side-arms in at- tendance at the funeral on October 14, 1890, at 1.40 o'clock in the afternoon. The usual badge of mourning was directed to be worn by the officers for a period of thirty days, and the flag over the regimental armory was displayed at half staff until after the funeral.
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