USA > Pennsylvania > History of the First regiment infantry, National guard of Pennsylvania (Grey Reserves) 1861-1911, pt 1 > Part 6
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44
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
1862
William W. Wagner resigned his lieutenancy in Company F and was mustered in as captain of Company F, 119th Pennsylvania Volunteers, September 1, 1562. Second Lieutenant Henry P. Truefitt resigned his lieutenaney in Company G to accept the cap- tainey of Company G, 110th Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was mustered in as such September 1, 1862. He was promoted major April 4, 1863, and was killed in action, in command of the regi- ment, at Spottsylvania, May 12, 1864. Col. Charles M. Pre- vost was appointed to the coloneley of the 11Stli Pennsylvania Vol- unteers, August 28, 1862, and Major Charles P. Herring to the majority in the same regiment August 22, 1862. Major Herring was promoted lieutenant-colonel November 1, 1863; breveted colonel United States Volunteers December 2, 1864, brigadier- general March 13, 1868, and honorably mustered out June 1, 1865. Each resigned their offices as captains and second lieutenant of company on September 12, 1862. Walter K. Ludwig was hon- orably discharged as regimental quartermaster September 9, 1862, to accept promotion as second lieutenant, Company I, 119th Penn- sylvania.
The regiment held tenacionsly to the record it had made in the patriotic tender of its services to meet the crises that had confronted the country in the brief period since its organization. It mani- fested its determination to perpetuate a recollection of these events, so worthy of enduring memory, in more than one emphatic rezolu- tion of the Board of Officers. One of these resolutions is of espe- cial interest; it provided for the " preparation of a history of the organization " and a statement of the facts connected with its offer of service for the field in response to the " late requisition " made by the constituted authorities. These incidents, intended to be thus so fittingly preserved historically, make an appropriate foreground for those of weightier moment that were so soon to follow.
MINUTES OF THE BOARD, MAY 28, 1862
" Resolved, that a committee of five be appointed to prepare a history of this organization and a statement of the facts connected with the Regiment offering its services under the late requisition made upon the anthorities of this State and the orders of the Governor, the same to be prepared for pub- lication if thought proper by this Board." Adopted.
MINUTES OF THE BOARD, JUNE 3, 1862
On motion of Captain Piersol the following was unanimously adopted:
45
PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION
1562
" WHEREAS, under the recent order of the Governor of this Commonwealth for the uniformed Militia of the State to repair forthwith to Washington for its defence-it being supposed that there was imminent danger of its being attacked by the enemy-this Regiment promptly responded to the order, and was in marching condition at short notice although organized for home defence-therefore
"Resolved that in any future emergency of like character this Regiment will hold itself in readiness to march at the call of the constituted authori- ties."
MINUTES OF THE BOARD, JUNE 5. 1862
" Colonel Ellmaker, chairman of the committee to prepare a history of the organization, etc., made a report which was adopted, and on motion of Lieut. Truefitt, it was
" Resolved, that the name be referred to the Committee of Commandants to take such action in reference to its publication as they may think proper."
The report of the Committee " on preparation of history," etc., as it appears in the minutes of the Board, if not a history within itself, is certainly a valuable contribution to history. It is a rare portrayal of the temper of the times. It reveals impressively the purpose of the regiment, not alone to make soldiers, but to use them. It expresses keen disappointment at an enforced inaetion at a critical moment in those perilous times, and charges the disap- pointment to the State's failure to be alert to the situation. It recognizes the liberal support and patriotie encouragement of the citizen and complains of the laek of both in the couneilman. It arraigns the city authorities for their "lavish expenditures " on the " IHome Guard " and " the absence of any interest or eneourage- ment of the eitizen soldiery." The entire report is of especial in- terest, and will be found in the Appendix.
The casualty in war is ever present, whether victory attend or disaster follow its prosecution. The ranks of the armies in the field, seriously depleted, required heavy recruitment. The mag- nitude of operations appreciably extended, new troops were in instant demand. The patriotic utterance of the ancient cleric, " There is no limit in measure or in time to the claims which their country has upon the care and service of right-minded men," was as potent then as it was in the day of its deliverance. The Presi- dent's proelamation called for 300,000 additional volunteers. The First Regiment Infantry, Gray Reserves, responded without stint " in measure " or limit " in time " and contributed largely from its men and liberally from its means toward the recruitment of
46
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
IS62
two full regiments 1 to help fill Pennsylvania's quota under this call. These regiments were known respectively as the 118th Pennsylvania Volunteers (Corn Exchange Regiment), Col. Charles M. Prevost, and the 119th Pennsylvania Volunteers (Gray Reserve Regiment), Col. Peter C. Ellmaker. Colonel Prevost, as captain of Company C, withdrew from the First Regiment by resignation, and Colonel Ellmaker officially announced his retire- ment as follows :
HEAD QUARTERS FIRST REGIMENT, INFANTRY. RESERVE BRIGADE, Philadelphia Aug. 14, 1862.
GENERAL ORDERS NO. 12
Having been authorized by His Excellency, Governor A. G. Curtin to organize a Regiment for Active Service Lieut. Colonel N. B. Kneass will assume command of the First Regiment Infantry forthwith.
In relinquishing the command the Colonel desires to convey to each officer, non-commissioned officer and man of the Regiment his profound ac- knowledgment for the uniform courtesy displayed by them and for the prompt manner all have discharged their several duties.
By Command of COL. P. C. ELLMAKER.
Colonel Ellmaker had few equals as a military instructor. He was equally efficient as an organizer and as equally able to maintain the efficiency of whatever he organized. His knowledge was ample, his conceptions clear, his explanations thorough. His orders on the field rarely failed of a proper execution, which on- lookers frequently applauded, critics generally approved. He was always firm, often severe, seldom harsh. He had just sufficient self-assurance to impress others that he knew what he professed to know, and could demonstrate that he did, if demonstration were necessary. He was as well adapted for the camp, the field, the march, the bivouac, the battle, as he was for drill and evolution. He everywhere proved himself the soldier, and when he swung his 119th Pennsylvania for the first time into column in presence of the bronzed and battle-scarred veterans of the Army of the Poto- mae, it was received with the hearty commendations of officers and men alike. It seemed so thorough in all appointments that it was openly asserted that this was no contingent of newly recruited
* The 11Sth Pennsylvania was really the regiment of that great com- mercial body of Philadelphia, the Corn Exchange Association, but its life so bound up in and its touch always so close with the Fir-t Regiment of Infan- try, the military parentage claimed for it by that regiment has now been freely conceded.
47
RESIGNATIONS
1962
troops, but a regiment that certainly had seen service elsewhere in the field. This regiment was especially conspicuous in its make- up of both officers and men, and the promise it gave in the begin- ning of future usefulness was faithfully kept through all its three strennous years of service in the field.
Colonel Ellmaker survived the war and lived to a ripe old age, respected by the community, and ever honored by the men who had been his soldiers.
Col. Charles M. Prevost, Brevet Brigadier-General, U. S. V., came from a long line of distinguished military forbears, and well maintained the reputation of his sires. He was a man of soldierly presence, winning ways, and generous speech. His military in- stinets were ever at his bidding. He commanded respect, enforced discipline, secured obedience. His dress and carriage, always exceptional in neatness and precision, so impressed itself upon his company, as to give it the special distinctiveness of his own military personality. His new regiment, with himself of the best, was especially well officered, its personnel was impressive, its soldierly bearing of definite significance. It won a high place in the beginning and carried it effectually through all its three eventful years of conspicuous service.
General Prevost was made a captain and assistant adjutant- general, United States Volunteers, on May 1, 1862, and resigned August 16, 1862, to accept his commission and be mustered in as colonel of the 118th Pennsylvania Volunteers, from which rank he was honorably discharged September 30, 1863, to be appointed to the coloneley of the 16th Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps. Brevetted brigadier-general United States Volunteers March 13, 1865, for gallant and meritorious services during the war, he was finally honorably discharged from the United States service June 30, 1866.
General Prevost, though severely wounded, survived the war, to gather honors, and laurels, and appreciation through many years of business thrift and home contentment. His old First Regi- ment, upon its resumption of activity in 1866, honored him with its coloneley, and the State subsequently made him the major- general of the First Division of its National Guard.
CHAPTER III
ANTIETAM CAMPAIGN, SEPTEMBER, 1562, AS SEVENTH REGIMENT PENNSYLVANIA MILITIA-FUNERAL ESCORTS-COL. CHARLES S. SMIITH ELECTED -- ANECDOTES -- INCIDENTS-PROPERTY, INVEN- TORY, VALUATION, NEEDS-REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON BETTER- MENTS
The ranks of the regiment had been seriously depleted. A, B, C, D, E, G, and I had severely felt the strain, and one hundred and twenty-five from their membership were reported to the Board of Officers to have withdrawn from the active rolls and taken the field for active service, largely in response to the recent call for additional volunteers, under which the 118th and 119th Penn- sylvania had been organized. This depletion reduced the aggre- gate of these seven companies to three hundred and thirty-three present and absent, of whom, it was stated, but two hundred and thirty-five could be counted on as present for duty in an emergency.
This report was the incentive for immediate action, and the Board by resolution set about to devise measures for a general betterment, and meanwhile urged the companies to recognize the needs for promoting efficiency, recruiting the ranks, and filling the numerous vacancies in the line. Then there came an unlooked-for happening that hastened the end sought for at a lively pace. The disastrous defeat of the army under Maj .- Gen. John Pope, on the old Bull Run battle-field, late in the month of August-the last of the disasters that had followed each other in such orderly sequence through all that fateful summer of 1862-in the end proved rather a stimulant than a depression. With it came a reawakening, a new energy, a new zeal, a new patriotism, a new purpose. It gave new zest, new patriotism, as it conclusively dem- onstrated that the casualties of war did not prevent, nor did the hardships of war hinder, enlistment of the volunteer. It gave new purpose to the war when within the month that followed Pope's defeat at Manassas, and but a few days after Mcclellan's victory at AAntietam, the great Emancipation Proclamation announced to the world that America thenceforth was to be forever free.
48
1197H. TTH, AND 32D REGIMENTS PENNA. INFANTRY, U. S. VOLUNTEERS AND PENNA. MILITIA, WAR OF THE REBELLION 1862-1865
49
APPEAL TO CITIZENS
The feverish anxiety prevalent in Pennsylvania is best ascer- tained from official sources. A single paragraph from Bates's " History of Pennsylvania Volunteers " concisely portrays the situation. "The result of the struggle " (so runs the paragraph) " on the plains of Manassas was no sooner known than the helpless condition of the State, which had been apparent from the first, became a subject of alarm."
Then there came this sound of the tocsin, this note of warning, this urgent summons : " On September 4th Governor Curtin issued a proclamation calling upon the people to arin and prepare for defence. He recommended the immediate formation of companies and regiments throughout the Commonwealth and for the purpose of drill and instruction that, after three p.M. of each day all business houses be closed."
The First Regiment, equally alert and with foresight quite as keen, through its committee to devise measures for a general bet- terment, having added to their numbers such eminent citizens as Morton MeMichael and Thomas Sparks, of even date with the Governor's proclamation, reported to the Board of Officers the following appeal addressed to the citizens of Philadelphia :
TO THE CITIZENS OF PHILADELPHIA:
In May, 1861, a Supplement to the Militia Laws of the State was passed, constituting a brigade, to be called the Reserve Brigade, for the special defence of this City, and the Third Regiment of Infantry Grey Reserves, as then organized, was made the First Regiment of that brigade.
That regiment started with full ranks and experienced officers, and has furnished efficient means for teaching the manual of arms and military evo- lutions to all who choose to learn.
Of its original members one-fourth are now in active service, and a large number of them holding commissions, which their knowledge of the military art fully entitles them to.
From the above and other causes the regiment is reduced to half its original number, and its board of officers now call upon all loyal men capable of bearing arms to come forward and fill its ranks, to make it efficient for the purposes of its creation. A savage and desperate enemy is pressing for- ward into our old Commonwealth, and no man can say how soon the contest may be transferred to our own soil.
It is the part of prudence to prepare in time for any emergency which may arise, and every good citizen may soon have occasion to thank those who now invite him to come forward and learn how to use a musket.
The ranks of the regiment are open to all reputable citizens, and those liable to draft may qualify themselves to receive commissions in active service, while those who are exempt may acquire a knowledge and confidence which may be of the utmost importance to them.
4
50
1862
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT. N. G. P.
This appeal was adopted, ordered to be published, and a meet- ing called of the non-commissioned officers, privates, and associate members of the regiment, and all others seeking service or the acquisition of military knowledge, for the following evening, September 5, at eight o'clock, at Sansom Street Hall.
The meeting was a decided success. The appeal was effective and the best results followed. At the next meeting of the Board, on September 10, additional recruits were reported as follows: A, 62; B, 20; C, 39; D, 30; E, 68; F, 40; G, 26; H, 22; I, 26; K, 10 ;- making an aggregate of 343. At the same time a fatigue uniform was adopted-dark blue army blouse and cap with oil- cloth cover; trousers-" pants " as they were then styled-to be of light blue kersey, army pattern.
The proclamation to arm and prepare for defence was supple- mented by General Orders No. 35, Headquarters Pennsylvania Militia, September 10, 1862. This order called for all able-bodied men to enroll immediately and to hold themselves in readiness to march at an hour's notice, to select officers, to provide them- selves with such arms as could be obtained, with sixty rounds of ammunition to the man. Arms were to be supplied to such as had none, and it was promised that the troops should be held to service only so long as the pressing exigency for State defence should continue.
Contrary to a previously established precedent in General Orders No. 24. Headquarters Pennsylvania Militia, May 26, 1862, where in making a call for troops in obedience to a requisition made by the President of the United States it was stated that " no com- manding officer of a higher grade than captain can be accepted ยท . excepting where the regiment is already organized," General Order No. 35 provided for the acceptance of company organizations only. made no exception as to regiments already in existence, and ignored the active militia, whatever there was of it, as if it had neither place nor being in the military system of the Commonwealth.
On the following day, September 11, the President of the United States having meanwhile sanctioned the action of the State authorities, given the movement his encouragement, and pledged the general government "to provide such equipment as may be required, according to the regulations of the United States service,"
51
LETTER OF PRESIDENT
the governor ordered the mobilization of fifty thousand men, directed them to report by companies by telegraph to Harrisburg for orders to move, and added that further ealls would be made and the number of men increased as the exigencies should require.
The President's letter to Governor Curtin follows:
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C. Sept. 11th, 1862.
The application made to me by your Adjutant General for authority to call out the Militia of the State of Pennsylvania has received careful con- -deration.
It is my anxious desire to afford as far as possible the means and power of the Federal Government to protect the State of Pennsylvania from in- va-ion by the rebel forces and since in your judgment, the Militia of the State are required and have been called upon by you to organize for home defence and protection, I sanetion the call that you have made, and will receive them into the service and pay of the United States to the extent they can be armed and equipped and usefully employed. . . .
You will be authorized to provide such equipment as may be required according to the regulations of the United States service, which upon being turned over to the United States Quartermaster's Department will be paid for at regulation prices or the rates allowed by the Department for such articles. Railroad transportation will also be paid for as in other cases. Such general officers will be supplied as the exigencies of the service will permit.
Yours truly, ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
HIS EXCELLENCY ANDREW G. CURTIN.
There was a sort of frontier flavor about this General Order No. 35-something that savored of Indian outbreaks, border raids, a summons to the minute men, the ride of Paul Revere. "Bring your weapons, with such ammunition as you may have on hand; deficiencies will be supplied at the rendezvous." The injunetion " to provide themselves with such arms as could be obtained " was doubtless intended directly for the active organized miliita, and indirectly expected to reach any abandoned property of the inactive or neglected companies, whose ranks the war had already depleted.
But comment is for naught. criticism of little avail, before results so substantial. The demonstration was unique, patriotie. spontaneons. The assembling of so large a body of men arrayed for war, armed, aceontred, equipped afresh. in many instances entirely, put into the field in so brief a period, has seareely a historie parallel.
And who were and whence eame these " able-bodied men "
52
1862
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
of the Commonwealth ? " Companies were rapidly formed," says the Adjutant-General's report of 1862, " and regiments organized comprising in the ranks the most responsible and prominent eiti- zens of the State, representing the pulpit, the bench, the bar and tho forum, and every pursuit of the enterprising and industrial portion of the community."
And of the fact that the quota was complete, that the fifty thousand men were there, there is ample proof from official sourees.
" Fifteen thousand men," says Bates's " Ilistory of Pennsyl- vania Volunteers," "were pushed forward to Hagerstown and Boonsboro, and a portion of them stood in line of battle in close proximity to the field, in readiness to advance while the fieree fighting was in progress. Ten thousand more were posted in the vicinity of Greencastle and Chambersburg." " And about twenty- five thousand " (so reads Governor Curtin's annual message of 1863) " were in Harrisburg or on their way to Harrisburg, or in readiness and waiting transportation to proceed there."
The keen disappointment in the loss of identity of the First Regiment Infantry Gray Reserves in its absorption as an entire body into the Seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Militia of 1862 has measurable compensation in the opportunity thus afforded its progeny to reeall so riel an historie remembrance of their military forbears.
Neither was there discrimination. Similar disposition was made of the other two regiments of the Reserve Brigade. Colonel Day's regiment was designated as the Eighth Regiment Pennsyl- vania Militia and Colonel Eakin's as the Twenty-fifth. In re- taining under a mobilization the numbers of the militia regiments, as organized, there was this difficulty- they did not always run as serial, but their designation generally was not complete until the brigade and division to which they were severally attached had been added. The much wiser serial system as an essential has long since prevailed.
The pursuit by the regiment of every proper endeavor to preserve its identity had in no sense dulled its patriotie instinets or impaired its alacrity, so on the twelfth of September, pursuant to the instructions published in the Governor's General Order No. 35 of the eleventh, Regimental General Orders No. 5 directed
53
ELECTION OF FIELD OFFICERS
commandants of companies to instruct their commands to be ready to move at a moment's notice, a roll-call was to be held at each armory at 9 A.M. and $ p.M., and daily reports were to be made to regimental headquarters at twelve o'clock noon. Each man, it was directed, should provide himself with a proper change of underclothing, heavy shoes, tin plate, knife, fork, spoon, and blanket.
Enthusiasm, exhilaration, excitement, followed. Armories were thrown open to receive recruits, squad drills followed daily from 4 p.M. until 6, and again from & P.M. until 10; in fact, drills and instructions of some sort or other were kept up contin- uously every day until the hour of departure, save on the interven- ing Sunday, the fourteenth, when a noon roll-call only was had. This was the result reported within twenty-four hours of the recruiting : Company A had its ranks filled to a total of 98; B, 59; C, 95; D. 98; E, 98; F, 98 ; G, 50; H, 98, and 20 over; I, 50; K, 43: Battery, 50; making an aggregate of 840, exclusive of H's surplus.
Elections were held pursuant to Regimental General Order No. 8 of September 13, for field officers, and throughout the com- panies where vacancies existed. Napoleon B. Kneass was elected colonel, Charles H. Graff lieutenant-colonel, and Joseph N. Pier- sol major. Dr. William C. Byington was named as surgeon and Dr. Silas Updegrove as assistant surgeon. The four-gun howitzer battery commanded by Captain Isaac Starr, Jr., was added to the regiment as Company L. Captain Atwood Smith had been elected to command C, and Captain Harry C. Kennedy to command F. vice Colonel Prevost and Major Piersol, promoted.
A committee of three, consisting of Lieutenant James D. Key- ser, Quartermaster A. R. Foering, Adjutant William W. Keys, with Mr. R. Rundle Smith subsequently added, was appointed to visit Harrisburg " to ascertain if the Governor will accept the regiment intact " and to look after matters of detail.
Simultaneously with the appointment of this committee, at least on the same day. for the Board of Officers remained in con- tinuous session through most of the twelfth,-Colonel Kneass was in receipt of the following telegram :
Report your command as companies in accordance with General Order No. 35. The consolidated organization shall be made to suit your wishes
54
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
1862
in such form as is now authorized by United States Army regulations. Get ready for movement to this point ( Harrisburg) immediately. Will your men be fully armed and have ammunition ?
(Sgd.) A. G. CURTIN.
To this telegram a reply was promptly made as follows:
To HIS EXCELLENCY A. G. CURTIN
A Committee of the Board of Officers will leave for Harrisburg per Reading train at 3 o'clock P. M. to give you the needful information. The regiment nearly full. Armed and accoutred but not equipped.
N. B. KNEASS Lt. Col. Comdg.
Meanwhile the committee reported that it had fully accom- plished the purpose of its mission and had seeured the proper requisition on the United States Quartermaster's Department at Philadelphia for the complete equipment of the regiment for the field, arms to be exchanged and ammunition and hospital stores to be supplied at Harrisburg. Then on the fourteenth the Gover- nor's order followed by wire: " Message received. Get transporta- tion and bring your regiment here as soon as possible."
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