USA > Pennsylvania > History of the First regiment infantry, National guard of Pennsylvania (Grey Reserves) 1861-1911, pt 2 > Part 24
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
1911
VIII. The Rosser Camp of the Spanish-American War Vet- erans, representing the First Regiment Infantry, Pennsylvania Volunteers, in the campaign of 1898.
The first call was to have been sounded at 4.10 and the assem- bly at 4.20. Hope for a weather betterment had gone, and with a little longer delay so would be the daylight, or not enough be left for the performance of what had been laid out to do. By five o'clock the rear of the column had cleared the armory with the head well on its way, the Veteran Corps, Col. Theo. E. Wieder- sheim commanding, leading, its music supplied by its own band, followed by the Cooper Battalion, Maj. Joseph W. Bailey com- manding; the historic pageant, attractive, instructive, impressive; the First Regiment, Col. William F. Eidell in command, with its regimental band of forty pieces, had the left; the first battalion, Maj. Geo. B. Zane. Jr., in regimental full dress; the Scond Bat- talion, Maj. Charles P. Hunt, in United States Army full dress. and the Third Battalion, Maj. Alfred HI. Pierson, in field service uniform.1
Maj .- Gen. C. Bow Dougherty, the division commander, accom- panied by Lieut .- Col. Fred Taylor Pusey, aide-de-camp to the gov- ernor and commander-in-chief, and Mr. James F. Hope, president of the Union League, reviewed the column from the porch of the Union League house. The storm diminished nothing but the crowds; without halt or hindrance the entire route was covered : Broad to Locust, to Eighteenth, to Chestnut. to Fifth, to Market, to Broad, where at its conclusion the Veteran Corps, in line, the regiment passed exchanging salutes and continuing the march to the armory, was there dismissed.
No ceremony, celebration, anniversary or reunion is complete until the banquet concludes it. Not ummindful of a proper re- membrance of a long prevailing usage in harmony with its pur- pose, in accord with its propriety, the Board of Officers and the committee in charge had projected a plan by which the drill floor of the armory should be made a banquet hall, handsomely decorated, appropriately appointed, where a dinner of preten- sions in keeping with the occasion could be served, with covers for a thousand, the active command entire, their guests to be the
1 See Appendix for composition and make-up of entire column. organiza- tion, rolls of membership, name. rank. etc.
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NOTABLE BANQUET
Veteran Corps, the Cooper Battalion, all who had participated in the parade, with such others as should be specially invited. So as the scheme had planned it, this host of diners in orderly pro cession when the hour arrived marched through the corridors to the drill floor and when seated after the invocation of a divine blessing, proceeded to the disposal of a feast. ample in quantity, satisfying in quality. its menu selected with judgment, its service conducted with skill.
Dignity and decorum governed, wit and humor was abundant, song, story, speech and chorus prevailed, each had their oppor- tunity and all contributed to that ardor, zest and sentiment that testified to the occasion being one not only for present appreciation but for future remembrance as well.
Col. William F. Eidell presided, and after an appropriate address briefly summarizing the events, the occasion commemo- rated, introduced Maj .- Gen. Wendell P. Bowman as the officer who brought the organization to the top, characterizing the body as " the finest regiment of citizen soldiery in the country." Among other things General Bowman, in his forceful and impressive address, said :
This meeting is unique in its character because we have participating in it the men who do the fighting and win the glory for their country. Your spirit is the same as that which animated the boys in 1861. The regiment had its inception in a spirit of liberty and patriotism when the country's union was imperiled. The blessing of patriotism has followed it throughout its existence until now it stands foremost in the finest division of soldiery in the country. It is a responsibility which rests upon you men to perpetuate this condition by properly acquitting yourselves. Five hundred thousand men are what is now under these new conditions required as a standing army, of trained men. ready for any emergency that may arise if the country's absolute safety is to be assured.
Maj .- Gen. C. Bow Dougherty, the division commander, fol- lowed, taking for his theme " The New Soldier." In the course of his speech, eloquent and pertinent throughout, General Dough- erty said :
That so far as the commander of the State troops is concerned he believes there is nothing new in soldiery, that a soldier is now constituted the same notwithstanding the changed condition and equipment, as he was in the times of ancient history. everything resting upon the man himself and his ability to apply the knowledge of the military he may have absorbed through study and statistics.
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Col. Theo. E. Wiedersheim, the next speaker, replied on behalf of the Veteran Corps, especially dwelling upon that side of a mili- tary life his subject necessarily suggested, and of how the interests of cach between the active command and Veteran Corps were intertwined the one with the other for mutual benefit, support, encouragement and progress.
Brig .- Gen. William G. Price, Jr., commanding the First Bri- gade, in paying tribute to the record of the First Regiment, said that " an organization cannot live alone on the record of its past achievements, the men must in duty to themselves and the cause they represent equip themselves by experience and fit themselves by study and be prepared to meet any contingency."
Brig .- Gen. J. Lewis Good, Colonel Eidell's immediate prede- cessor, his first appearance since his promotion, spoke in that brief, pointed, and telling way that added force to what he said. Ile was received with such a great ovation, and with such cheers and applause that it was some moments before he could say anything at all.
Rev. Floyd Williams Tomkins, D.D., the regimental chaplain, is described in one of the newspaper reports of the incident as closing the banquet in a burst of " patriotic oratory." The last speech, " Our Flag," had been assigned to Chaplain Tomkins, and on this occasion, as on all others, whether of pulpit or platform, Chaplain Tomkins held the attention and drew the plaudits of his audience with that fluent speech and persuasive delivery in that attractive style altogether his own. He probably, however, won no more commendation for his speech at the banquet than he did from spectator, newspaper reporter and soldier alike, when marching with the Veteran Corps he braved the pelting rain through the entire route of the parade.
What the chaplain said was, in part, as follows :
" I feel like confining my address to an earnest and enthusias- tie applause of my superior officers. Here is our brave and ofit- cient General Commanding the First Brigade, whom we all ad- mire and love. Here is the Colonel of our Veterans whose spirit is undaunted by rain or trouble. Here is our splendid young Colonel of the First, full of energy and promising great things for the regiment's future, and here-and I can hardly control my speech as I think of him-is our glorious ex-Colonel, our new Brigadier-General (General Good), whose patience and courage for
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CHAPLAIN'S ORATION
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the past months have inspired us more than the most daring feats of battle. God bless him-he is a man who makes us courageous by the very sound of his name!
" It is a great thing to be a soldier. The endurance, the faith, the courage of the men of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, are beyond praise. We have had evidence even to-day of the soldier-spirit which flouts at hardships and annoyance in the path of service. But the higher courage, which makes men; the moral daring which hesitates not at the call of right; the enthusiasm which is not put off when gun or sabre is laid aside, but lives in daily honor and hourly action-this is the courage whose call is insistent to-day in our land. The country needs men-men at the ballot as well as men with the bullet-men who hate evil and wrong in every phase of life; men who stand for right at home, in the market, in affairs of city and state. I believe that the mili- tary life breeds such men. A high sense of honor is born of our regimental discipline. and does not die when the heated contest of daily toil contes with its absorbing and trying interests. It stands with firm rebuke for the idler and the cheat. It cries in no uncertain voice when there is danger to the moral welfare of a community. It keeps its banner aloft with loyalty and hope and purity as the countersign, and will never suffer any traitor to lower the sacred standard. May such high glory be ours, men and brothers, that the world may be better for our service and truth be more surely reverenced because we have defended it."
In these fifty years of its existence the First Regiment has had eleven colonels: five of the ex-colonels still survive, all of whom were in attendance at the banquet: Maj .- Gen. James W. Latta, Col. R. Dale Benson, Col. Theodore E. Wiedersheim, Maj .- Gen. Wendell P. Bowman. and Brig .- Gen. J. Lewis Good. Among other military guests present beside the speakers were Col. Hamil- ton D. Turner, of the Second Regiment. National Guard of Penn- sylvania; Col. Caldwell K. Biddle, of the Third Regiment, National Guard of Pennsylvania: Maj. Thomas Biddle Ellis, of the same regiment : Lieut .- Col. Fred. Taylor Pusey, and Lient .- Col. J. Campbell Gilmore.
And so with the fall of the gavel of the presiding officer was the banquet closed and the commemorative ceremonies of the semi- centennial anniversary concluded.
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
1911
" Mere survival," said a philosopher, " and nothing more will never content mankind. What a man cares for is not to survive merely, but to flourish."
This proposition developed to a demonstration finds full fruition in the character, record. and standing in the ever con- tinning progress of the First Regiment Infantry, National Guard of Pennylvania, as it was and has been through all its previous years and is now as it passes out of its fiftieth and into the fifty-first year of its military life. Nor need there be any more convincing proof submitted, nor any better earnest sought, than what has here been presented for an assurance, that what its past was, so shall its future be, and that this our First Regiment In- fantry of the Pennsylvania National Guard, ever insistent "to flourish," never content to " merely survive," will ever be ready with prompt patriotic response to answer every call for service, every summons for duty, that demands that a right invaded shall be restored, a wrong inflicted shall be relieved, that the public honor shall be protected and the nation's fame preserved.
تنـ
فس رهابية ٢٠
ـير
SOTH ANNIVERSARY MEDAL
CHAPTER XIII
THE VETERAN CORPS
THE Veteran Corps of the First Regiment Infantry, National Gnard of Pennsylvania, had its origin in a meeting held at the armory of Company D. First Regiment, National Guard of Penn- sylvania, Fifteenth and Lardner Streets, convened on Friday even- ing, November 5, 1875, pursuant to a call published in the public prints, inviting the attendance, for the purpose of effecting such an organization, of all soldiers who had ever served with the First Regiment under any of its designations, or with any other organizations, volunteers or militia that had grown out of it and seen service in the field in time of war. The call was signed by Col. P. C. Ellmaker, the first colonel, Col. R. Dale Benson, the then colonel, and others, some who had won distinction in war, all prominent in the military service. The response was en- couraging; some two hundred were present. Col. Charles S. Smith was called to the chair and S. Grant Smith was appointed secretary, and for the purpose of perfecting such an association committees were appointed on Charter, Constitution, By-Laws, and Membership, and the meeting adjourned to meet again on Wednesday, November 24, at S o'clock, at the same place.
The gratifying reports of this meeting in the newspapers of the day gave the enterprise countenance and lent it aid.
" Judging." said one, " from the character of the gentlemen present, and the spirit manifested by them last evening, an organization, second to no other in the country, will be speedily formed. It is also contemplated to organize an active uniformed corps, and it is confidently believed that such an interest will be taken in the First Regiment of Infantry that during the Cen- tennial year that organization will take rank with any similar corps in the country."
And another said: " The gentlemen who met on Friday even- ing last at the Armory of D Company of the First Regiment for the purpose of forming an association to be known as the 'Veteran Corps First Regiment Infantry, N. G. Pa.,' were the nucleus of
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
1911
what is undoubtedly destined to become a highly creditable organization."
At the adjourned meeting a constitution and by-laws were adopted and a charter was directed to be applied for through the courts with this declaration of purposes and intents :
The objects of said corporation are to afford pecuniary relief to indigent or reduced members and their widows and children: to promote social union and fellowship: to preserve and continue the recollections of service in, and to maintain and encourage the general interests of the First Regiment In- fantry of the National Guard of Pennsylvania.
Eligibility for membership, widened subsequently as contin- gencies demanded, especially to include the Spanish- American War, was limited to a five years' service in the First Regiment Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania; to honorably dis- charged officers and soldiers of the United States Army and Navy, regular or volunteers, of the War of the Rebellion who ever served with the First Regiment under any of its names; to officers and enlisted men 119th Pennsylvania Volunteers, Gray Reserves : to all honorably discharged officers and soldiers who served with the Seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Militia (Gray Reserves) in the campaign of 1862, or with the Thirty-second Regiment Pennsyl- vania Militia (Gray Reserves) in the campaign of 1863; Starr's Battery, Company L, Seventh, Company L, Thirty-second.
The active membership roll was composed. as it was left optional whether or not the member should uniform as prescribed by the bill of dress, of both uniformed and non-uniformed mem- bers. There was, however, no such specific classification. The distinction finds its best illustration in the form of inquiry not infrequently propounded. Is he uniformed ? not Is he a uni- formed member ?
The Honorary Member, it was prescribed, should be anyone whom the Corps might desire to honor, his choice to be unanimous br vote of the Board of Management and of the Corps. "either for service rendered or who may oceupy a high official public position." Social privileges. exemption from fees and dues, badge of membership, permission to parade with the non-uniformned bat- talion, were of the rights and benefits thus conferred.
A roll was subsequently created, those borne upon it to be known as the "Honorary Associate Members." It included an .
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VETERAN CORPS, FIRST REGIMENT INFANTRY, N. G. P.
1911
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OFFICERS OF VETERAN CORPS
annual payment of $10.00, its composition to be "of any gentle- man, with or without military record, of good moral character, who may be desirous of aiding and (who) is in sympathy with the Veteran Corps." Unanimous consent of the Board of Officers at a regular session and subsequently a two-thirds approval by vote of the Corps " present at a meeting " were essentials to this mem- bership. Social privileges, a badge of special design, a right to parade with the non-uniformed battalion on occasions of cere- mony were among the benefits conferred upon the Honorary Asso- ciates.
The field officers-first known as colonel, lieutenant-colonel, and major; afterward as commander, senior vice-commander, and junior vice-commander-were elected as follows: Colonel, Charles S. Smith; lieutenant-colonel, Sylvester Bonnaffon, Jr .; major, Edwin N. Benson; adjutant, James W. Latta; paymaster, Chas. S. Jones; surgeon, William S. Stewart; quartermaster, Edwin North; commissary, David Stanley Hassinger; assistant surgeon, Charles S. Turnbull; captains, William A. Wiedersheim, James C. Wray, James D. Keyser, Albert D. Fell, Henry J. White, George F. Delleker, and George H. North; lieutenants J. E. Hyneman, Charles Marshall, H. P. Dixon, J. Parker Martin, Daniel K. Grim, Charles M. Miller and George W. Briggs.
The charter, procured through the Courts by Col. William MeMichael, of counsel, was accepted on April 19, 1876, the day thereafter recognized as the day for the annual meeting and an- niversary demonstration and the organization of the Veteran Corps, First Regiment Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania, was complete. The strength of the men who built, was the best assurance of the endurance of the structure they had reared.
The first appearance of the Veteran Corps was in citizen dress. when it assembled at the Armory of Company D, and proceeded to Concert Hall to participate in the ceremonies arranged for by the Board of Officers for the suitable recognition of Washington's Birthday. February 22d, in this, the Centennial Year of 1576. The programme, including musical selections, patriotic and other- wise, preceded by an opening prayer by Rev. Henry J. Morton, D.D .. consisted of introductory remarks by Gov. John J. Hart- ranft, addresses by Colonels William Me Michael and James W. Latta, and the reading of Washington's Farewell Address, by Hon. M. Russell Thayer.
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On several other occasions during the Centennial year the Veteran Corps made a public appearance, each time in uniform.
At the annual meeting of the Corps, April 19, 1876, " Colonel Benson on behalf of the active command in very appropriate re- marks returned the thanks of the regiment for part taken this day by the Corps."
Preparatory to the general parade of the Division, which was to take place on July 4th, the Veteran Corps was paraded for inspection by Colonel Chas. S. Smith at the armory of Company " D" on Wednesday, June 28th, at S o'clock P.M.
The Corps was also paraded in full dress uniform, white trousers, at eleven-thirty A.M., on Saturday, July 1st, with Major Edward N. Benson in command, to participate in the reception of the Albany Zouave Cadets by Company " D" of the First Regi- ment.
On July 4th. " the Centennial Anniversary of the Declara- tion of Independence of the United Colonies," at seven o'clock A. M., moving promptly at 7.15, the Corps paraded in full dress uniform. In his order announcing the parade, the Colonel Com- manding said that he desired "that every uniformed member will make an effort to parade, as the hour selected is judiciously early and the route a short one." In the absence of the Adjutant, on duty with the Governor, Lieutenant J. Parker Martin was detailed in his place.
Again acting as escort to his Excellency Governor John F. Hartranft, the Veteran Corps paraded to the Centennial Grounds on Pennsylvania Day, September 28th. 1876, which service. through his adjutant-general, on October 4th, 1876, the Governor acknowledged in a communication to Col. Charles S. Smith. commandant of the Veteran Corps, as follows :
The Governor directs me to return his thanks to your corps for its eseort and presence on Pennsylvania Day.
It was to him a great satisfaction that Pennsylvanians, themselves displayed in such overwhelming numbers, should have had this fitting oppor- tunity to see what has been her soldiery, and who vet, by their countenance and organization. propose to encourage her established national guard system.
Col. Charles S. Smith, at the annual meeting of the Corps, April 19, 1877, officially announced that having reached the
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OFFER OF SERVICES TO CITY
1911
advanced age of eighty years, and deeming it to be the " course of wisdom to withdraw from military life and deeline any further honors of office, or preferment," he had determined to decline further election after the expiration of his present term. The Corps reluctantly coneurring in his wishes and recognizing his virtues, worth and past services in the passage of an appropriate preamble and suitable resolutions, proceeded to the election of his successor, whereupon General James W. Latta was unani- mously chosen.
But little more than two years had gone by from the date of its organization before the Veteran Corps had opportunity to take an initial step, creative and substantial, to make effective its avowal of purpose " to maintain and encourage the general interests of the First Regiment Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania." The country was aflame with the nation-wide "Industrial Dis- turbances " of 1877. The Philadelphia soldiers had all been sum- moned elsewhere with the other troops of the First Division, the First Regiment had left for Pittsburgh, where on the 20th and 21st of July a crushing blow had fallen upon the dignity, peace and good order of that thrifty community. Thereupon, with the intelligence of it still on the wires, a special session of the Veteran Corps was hastily called for the 22d, when the Corps not only immediately offered its services to the Mayor of the city, in what- ever capacity it might be most effectively used, for the protection of property and preservation of the peace, but at the same time re- solved to tender to the Governor, for the emergency, a regiment of Infantry to be fully recruited, armed and equipped at its own expense.
On the 23d of July Mayor Stokley promptly accepted the offer on behalf of the city in a communication addressed to Lient .- Col. Bonnaffon, commanding the Veteran Corps. as follows: "You are hereby authorized to recruit your organization to ten (10) companies, one hundred men each, in all one thousand strong. properly officered. I will see that a proper officer is detailed to muster them into the State service for this emergency."
And on July 25th, in his special order No. 25 from the adjutant-general's office, the governor announced the acceptance of the offer of services from the following-named organizations :
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" The Veteran Corps First Regiment Infantry to be known as the Twentieth Regiment National Guard of Pennsylvania." Col. George HI. North, aide-de-camp, was detailed as mustering officer.
The celerity with which this regiment was clothed, armed, equipped, mustered, and off for its destination was remarkable. The report of the commanding officer to the Veteran Corps makes this forceful allusion to it :
I desire to call the attention of the Corps to the fact that the total time occupied in mustering into the service, uniforming, arming and equipping the Twentieth Veteran Rogiment. N. G. P., was thirty-six hours, a feat unprecedented and unparalleled in the military history of this continent.
Nor did the spontaneous contributions from Philadelphia's patriotic citizens, this speedy and generous action of the Veteran Corps, this orderly haste of execution of the Twentieth Regi- ment itself fail of a recognition from the Harrisburg authorities that now gives it place in the archives of the State. The follow- ing is an extract from the adjutant-general's report for the year 1877:
Tenders of service of bodies of troops and officers, many of the latter of a high order of military talent and with distinguished war records, had come from all parts of the Commonwealth. Except in two cases, they were declined. The Veteran Corps of the First Regiment and the Grand Army of the Republic in Philadelphia tendered the services each of a regiment. There being an urgent necessity for an increased force, they were accepted and ordered to begin recruiting immediately. The first was recognized as the Twentieth Regiment National Guard of Pennsylvania, Colonel S. Bonnaffon, Jr., commanding. It was recruited in 36 hours, fully clothed by the contribu- tions of patriotic citizens, armed by the State, and in 56 hours from the time recruiting was commenced was on duty in Pittsburgh. The services of this organization became of great value, it was kept continuously in the field until the 20th of September and discharged most faithful, onerous and fatiguing duties.
Not precisely in a line of. but in the nature of an advance- ment from lieutenant-colonel of the Veteran Corps to be colonel of the Twentieth Regiment, National Guard of Pennsylvania, no more fitting and appropriate selection could have been made as it was than that of Colonel Sylvester Bonnaffon, Jr., nor could any one of better record or better competency have been chosen. Colonel Bounaffon enlisting as a private in the Ninty-ninth Penn- sylvania Volunteers, December 14th, 1861, was on August 1st,
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