USA > Pennsylvania > Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 1 > Part 37
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Upon the organization of the Reserve Corps, he was chosen Colonel of the Fifth regiment, though personally unknown to any of the officers of that body. His first service was to march, in connection with the Bucktail regiment and some artillery, to the support of General Wallace in West Virginia, and thence to Washington, where he drilled his regiment and prepared it for service in the division. In September of this year, he was pro- moted to Major of the Fourth Infantry, but preferred to remain with the volunteer troops. He was at Beaver Dam Creek and Gaines' Mill, in both of which desperately fought battles, he escaped unhurt. At Charles City Cross Roads, on the 30th of June, 1862, while leading the First brigade with unexampled valor, he fell in the thickest of the fight, breathing his last upon the field of honor. No braver man drew sword in any cause. In person, he was nearly six feet in height, of strong and robust frame, florid complexion, brown hair, heavy beard, light-blue eyes ; his face presenting ordinarily a calm and benevolent ex- pression ; but when excited, every feature seemed to flash fire. and woe to the man who, having disregarded his orders, attempted
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CHARLES ELLET, JR.
to persist in an improper course of conduct. To him, however, who was willing to acknowledge his fault, the Colonel at once relaxed his sternness, and received the offender as though no offence had been committed.
The poet N. P. Willis, in writing to the Home Journal, from a visit to the camps of the army, said ; " I had never before thought that water could embellish a soldier. As we sat in our hack, at the outer edge of the encampments, watching an incipient rain- bow, and rejoicing in the prospect of holding-up, a general officer rode past with his aid and orderly, on the return to his tent, just beyond. Of a most warlike cast of feature, his profuse and slightly grizzly beard was impearled with glistening drops, and, with horse and accoutrements all dripping with water, he rode calmly through the heavy rain like a Triton taking his leisure in his native element. It was the finest of countenances and the best of figures for a horseman. He looked indomitable in spirit, but unsubject, also, to the common inconveniences of humanity- as handsome and brave when tired and wet, as he would be when happy and dry ! I was quite captivated with the picture of such a man, and did not wonder at the comment which was appended to the reply, by a subaltern officer of whom I inquired his name, 'General Simmons,' said he, 'a man whom anybody would be glad to serve under.'"
HARLES ELLET, JR., Colonel of Engineers, was born on the 1st of January, 1810, at Penn's Manor, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He early devoted himself to the business of a Civil Engineer, and eventually became one of the most eminent of his profession, some of the greatest triumphs of engineering skill being the products of his devise. The wire suspension bridge across the Schuylkill below Fairmount, the first of the kind con- structed in this country, the suspension bridge across Niagara river below the falls, and that at Wheeling, West Virginia, were all the fruit of his active brain. The improvement of the navi- gation of the Kanawha river, and the construction of the Virginia Central, and Baltimore and Ohio railroads found in him a master spirit, before whom difficulties vanished, and in whose hand victories were achieved.
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When the war commenced, he was residing at Washington, and immediately interested himself in the cause of the Union. Original in designing, and rapid in executing, he became impa- tient with the Union leaders, and himself drew a plan for cutting off and destroying the rebel army at Manassas, in the fall of 1861. This plan, on being presented to General Mcclellan, was rejected by that commander; whereupon Ellet wrote two pamphlets severely censuring the dilatory and inefficient conduct of the Union chief. He early projected plans for constructing steam rams, for use in the navy, providing them with powerful beaks for running down and piercing opposing crafts. His plans were rejected by the Navy Department; but, on being presented to the Secretary of War, were approved and adopted by him, and Ellet was sent to the Ohio to transform river-boats into rams. On the 6th of June, 1862, Colonel Ellet's fleet attacked a force of rebel rams, off the city of Memphis, and, after a contest stub- bornly maintained, Ellet was triumphant, having run down, blown up, destroyed, or captured seven of the eight vessels com- posing the rebel force. Ellet was the only man injured on the Union side. He received a wound from a rifle ball in the knee, that proved mortal, expiring near Cairo, on the 21st. Colonel Ellet was the author of several important works, chiefly de- voted to the Improvement of the Navigation of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, Internal Improvements of the United States, illustrating the Laws of Trade, and Coast and Harbor De- fences by the use of steam battering rams. He was buried at Laurel Hill, Philadelphia. His wife dying of grief-broken hearted-within a few days, was laid in the same grave. She was the eldest daughter of Judge William Daniel, of Lynch- burg, Virginia.
.AMES CAMERON, Colonel of the Seventy-ninth (Highlander) regiment, New York Volunteers, was born at Maytown, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, on the 1st of March, 1801. At the age of nineteen he entered the printing office of his brother, the Hon. Simon Cameron, at Harrisburg, where he served a faithful apprenticeship, and in 1827 removed to Lancaster, where he became the editor of the Political Sentinel, studying law in the
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JAMES CAMERON .- AMOR A. MCKNIGHT.
meantime in the office of James Buchanan, afterwards President of the United States. He was with the army of General Scott in Mexico, and, after his return, settled upon an estate on the banks of the Susquehanna, near Milton, Pennsylvania, where he was living in retirement when the Rebellion broke out. At the solicitation of the soldiers of the Highlander Regiment, he accepted the commission of Colonel of that organization. At the battle of the first Bull Run, he was of Sherman's brigade, Tyler's division, and at the crisis of the struggle, bore himself with the greatest gallantry. Again and again he led his men with the cry, "Scots, follow me!" in the face of a withering fire of musketry and artillery, until stricken down mortally wounded, expiring on the field of his heroic exploits. "No mortal man," says an eye-witness, "could stand the fearful storm that swept them."
The body of Colonel Cameron was subjected to indignity. It was rifled of valuables, and portraits of cherished ones, and thrown rudely into a trench with numbers of others, without any mark by which it could be identified. Friends of the family who went to the field to recover it were taken captive and thrust into the Richmond prison pens, where, for several months, they languished. It was finally recovered, and re- ceived Christian burial, amid many demonstrations of respect and affection.
MOR ARCHER MCKNIGHT. Early in the Rebellion, rebel offi- cers, mindful of their repute for chivalry, sought op- portunities for its exemplification; but later in the war, soured by frequent defeat, and grown heart-sick by hope long deferred, the actors and sympathizers in the direful work eschewed the much-vaunted claim, and did not hesitate to mu- tilate the body of a Dahlgren, treat with barbaric cruelty prison- ers of war, send pestilence and fire into northern cities, and finally come stealthily from behind upon the Chief Magistrate of the nation, and shoot him down in cold blood. When Colonel McKnight fell on the gory field of Chancellorsville, on that fearful Sabbath. ushered in with the lurid flames of war, of the 3d of May, 1863, a sudden turn in the fortunes of the day cut
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off the possibility of rescuing his body, and it remained in the hands of the enemy. His prowess on that field had been sorely felt by the foe; but when the lifeless form of such an antagonist was seen, it disarmed hostile feeling. The old Kearny badge which he wore was the symbol of gallantry, and they recognized in him a true type of his old master,-a veritable Kearny. His body was taken up and properly disposed. It was followed to the grave by a guard of honor, many officers being present. Their bands played mournful music .. Over his remains a salute, due to his rank, was fired, and his grave was marked so as to be recognized by sorrowing friends.
Amor Archer McKnight, son of Alexander, and Mary (Thomp- son) McKnight, both of Scotch-Irish descent, was born at Blairs- ville, Pennsylvania, on the 19th of April, 1832. His education was obtained at the common schools and the academy in Brookville, where he proved himself an apt scholar. He early acquired a taste for books of an elevated character, and as his scanty means would allow, collected a small library. His father died when he was but a mere lad, and as the eldest of the children, he labored assiduously for the support of the widowed mother and depen- dent family. He learned the printer's trade at Blairsville, at which he worked zealously. Attracted to the law by his taste for exalted subjects, he subsequently commenced its study in the office of Hon. W. P. Jenks, of Brookville, since president judge of that district, but was still obliged to set type one-half of each day for his support. At the age of twenty-one, he was admitted to practice, and soon after, entered into partnership with G. W. Andrews, Esq., as a practising attorney at the Jef- ferson county bar. The firm at once took a high rank, and its business was extensive and laborious. MeKnight carly evinced a liking for military duty, and at the breaking out of the Rebel- lion, was captain of a militia company known as the Brookville Guards. He promptly tendered his company, and with it, served in the three-months' term in the Eighth regiment. At the ex- piration of this period, he was authorized by the Secretary of War to recruit a regiment for three years. After encountering many difficulties, his efforts were finally rewarded with success, the officers whom he had gathered about him having secured the
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AMOR A. McKNIGIIT.
full complement of hardy men; and on the 28th of September, 1861, it was mustered into service as the One Hundred and Fifth regiment. The indomitable energy manifested by their leader was caught by his men, and this organization soon became noted for its excellence.
In the battle of Fair Oaks, before Richmond, Colonel McKnight fought under the immediate eye of General Jameson, the veteran officer who commanded the brigade, and received from him the warmest commendation. " During the time Mcknight was engaged on the Richmond Road, the line had been gradually giving way about a quarter of a mile to his right. Just as McKnight succeeded in routing the force in his front, the line gave way entirely at the point above indicated, and the rebel force came pouring into the Richmond Road directly in his rear, and while the: gallant McKnight was pursuing the South Caro- lina chivalry towards Richmond, the rebels were pursuing a portion of our forces towards the Chickahominy. . .. No other evidence of the valor displayed by this heroic little band is necessary, than a list of the killed and wounded. General Kearny's horse and mine were both killed. A parallel to this fighting does not exist in the two days' battle, nor will it exist during the war."
In this battle, a ball struck the watch of Colonel McKnight, which glanced off, causing a slight wound. He was soon after stricken with fever, and not until told by his physicians that he would die if he remained in the field, under the influence of the deadly miasmas of the Peninsula, could he be prevailed on to relinquish his command. Failing to obtain a furlough, he ten- dered his resignation, and retired to Philadelphia. By care- ful nursing and attendance, he was, at the end of two months. so far recovered as to be able to again take the field, and was re- commissioned Colonel of his old regiment. While absent at this time, he was impatient of the delay in again reaching the front. His greatest wish and most ardent desire was to be with the boys of the One Hundred and Fifth regiment. He said he had been instrumental in taking them into the war, and he wished to share their toils and fortunes. With the exception of a short leave of absence in March following, this was his only absence
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from his command. While at home during his furlough in March, he remarked that he would not survive to again return. Little did his friends think that this was the language of prophecy. But so it proved. On the field of Chancellorsville, while leading on his brave men against the veterans of Stonewall Jackson- nerved to unwonted deeds of valor to avenge the fall of their idolized leader, who had a few hours before received his mortal hurt-Colonel Mcknight, while in the act of waving his sword above his head to cheer on his men, was struck in the arm, the missile passing on through his brain, killing him instantly. Strenuous efforts were made to recover his body, but they proved fruitless, and he sleeps on that gory field-the scene of his daring valor.
At his death, Colonel Mcknight was already in a fair way of promotion. The excellence of his regiment and his own cool- ness and courage on the field, had attracted the attention of his superior officers, and he had at intervals been called to the com- mand of a brigade, and had been recommended for appointment as a Brigadier.
He was one of those men who had come up to manhood through the rough school of experience. Ile had learned to set a true value on those qualities which, in any walk of life, win success. When he entered the army, he went with the feeling that he was personally responsible for accomplishing what the nation had undertaken, and in his struggles with the great problem at the very threshold of the momentous contest, he seemed to have fathomed its mysterious depths, and fearlessly announced his sentiments in advance of all others. When, in January, 1862, before leading his regiment to the field, the Hon. J. K. Moorhead, in behalf of his Excellency Governor Curtin, pre- sented the command with the State Colors, Colonel McKnight in reply, after returning thanks for the gift, and referring to the responsibilities imposed in defending it, said : "The intelli- gent American soldier enters upon this conflict with entirely different emotions from those possessed by the combatants in the ordinary wars between nations. He feels that the war has been wantonly and unprovokedly commenced by those who have always basked in the favor of the Government-commenced not
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AMOR A. MCKNIGHT.
to assert the majesty of the law, but to violate it-not to protect freedom, but to enforce the perpetuation and enlargement of degrading servitude-not to preserve the Government, but to destroy it.
"To defeat such a nefarious plot, the citizen soldier has left the comforts of home to endure the privations of camp; and while he hazards his life without hesitation, he also expects that no unnational or squeamish regard on the part of those who order and conduct the war will deprive our forces of the assis- tance we might derive from those unwilling serfs who escape from the enemy; and that, casting aside the pusillanimous fear which dreads the stigma of a name, they will promptly punish and weaken our opponents by removing from them and the country that institution which is not only the cause of the present difficulties, but has ever been a source of annoyance and irritation.
"Should such be the policy pursued, the war will not have been for nought; the earnings of the tax-payer, which are being so lavishly emptied into the National Treasury, will have been expended to some practical purpose; and the soldier, whose blood is now offered as the occasion presents, will know that it has been done to preserve liberty to himself and friends, and to pro- tect them from the moral debasement which would result from the enlargement in our midst of a race who are degraded because their condition is base."
To execute the purpose which is here sketched, and which he cherished as the real object of the struggle, he labored with the earnestness and assiduity of a life and death aim. Says a mem- ber of his command : " At Camp Jameson, Virginia, he would convert the officers of the regiment into a school every evening, and would have them study tactics and discipline, and then recite them to him. On these occasions, he would impress upon their minds the necessity of study to become good officers; and would not only have his officers study, but applied himself to the work with all the power of his great mind. Seldom did he lie down until the small hours of the night and his own exhausted strength told him too plainly that man must have some rest ; but his repose was short, for four o'clock soon came, and with it arose the Colonel and at once resumed his daily labors."
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Colonel McKnight was thirty years eleven months and four- teen days old when he died-just upon the threshold of life. He was six feet in height, of commanding presence, blue eyes, brown hair, and possessed of a remarkably attractive and intelli- gent countenance. His mother died before his entrance to mili- tary life. He left two brothers. .. He was unmarried. His loss in the community in which he lived was deeply felt, and his death sincerely mourned. His old instructor in the law, Judge Jenks, says of him, " A braver, truer, nobler man than Amor A. McKnight could not be found in the service."
ARK KERN, Captain of battery G, First artillery, which he aided in recruiting at Philadelphia, was commissioned its First-Lieutenant in July, 1861. Shortly after, he was promoted to Captain, and until the day of his death led that noble battery with unexampled skill and heroism. At Beaver Dam Creek, it was brought up from its position in reserve just in time to do most effective service, when the enemy was pressing on in massed columns, and confident of sweeping everything before them. But canister from the double-shotted guns of Kern drove them back and saved the field. On the following day Kern was posted upon commanding ground on the left at Gaines' Mill. For a time the Union infantry held the front and covered his pieces ; but it was finally swept back, and they were in danger of cap- ture. Then it was that the spirit of Kern was tested. Again and again the enemy charged on him, but his guns, admirably posted. did fearful execution. With a persistence rarely equalled the enemy assaulted, and made that battery the object of his most determined efforts. Finally, when he could no longer hold out, on account of the enemy swarming upon him, he retired behind a new line of battle, losing two of his guns, himself being wounded.
At Charles City Cross Roads the execution of his guns was even more deadly and destructive than on previous fields. The ground was open for a long distance in his front, and as often as the enemy attempted to advance, Kern scourged them with terrible effect. The struggle on this part of the field was continued for over two hours, the enemy gaining no advantage.
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MARK KERN .- PETER B. HOUSUM.
Finally, the ammunition running low, General McCall ordered Kern to send his caissons to the rear, and soon the battery fol- lowed. The fidelity which Captain Kern displayed in the most trying positions caused him to be selected for critical duty. At four o'clock P. M. on the evening of the 30th of August, on the Second Bull Run battle-ground, he was attacked-the first on the part of the line which he held, to feel its power. The rebel tactics of massing and delivering assault after assault, at what- ever sacrifice, were here repeated, and upon Kern they fell with terrible power, the shocks carrying swift destruction. So long as his supports remained firm, he was triumphant; but when they failed, having himself again received a severe wound, he was forced to yield, and fell into the enemy's hands, where he soon after died. Three of his men were killed and twenty-one wounded. Four. guns, two caissons, two limbers, and twenty- seven horses were lost. For the short space of time that he was in active service, it was his lot to play as important, if not a more important part, than any commander of a battery in the Potomac Army. In all places he acquitted himself manfully, and fell in the very front of the battle.
ETER B. HOUSUM, Colonel of the Seventy-seventh regiment. " It was the banner regiment at Stone River," said Gene- ral Rosecrans, as he reined in his steed in front of the Seventy- seventh Pennsylvania, while passing his army in review just previous to the second grand advance against Bragg. "Give my compliments to the boys," said he, "and tell them that I say, 'It was the banner regiment at Stone River.' They never broke their ranks.", It was at Stone River, while leading this regi- ment, that Colonel Housum was killed.
He was born on the 22d of September, 1824, in Berks county, Pennsylvania. His father was George L., and his mother Eliza- beth (Burknard) Housum, both natives of Berks county. He received a good English education at the public schools, and by close application during his leisure hours, attained to a high degree of proficiency in mathematics and civil engineering. for which he evinced a decided taste. His occupation was that of a millwright. In physical stature he was five feet ten inches, and
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
was possessed of a sound constitution. He was married on the 25th of September, 1846, to Miss Lucy E. Elmenston.
For fifteen years previous to the Rebellion he had served as First-Lieutenant of a uniformed militia company, and in the three months' service was Captain of company A, Second Penn- sylvania regiment. He recruited a section of a battery at Cham- bersburg, for three years' duty, which, after having been consoli- dated with a section raised in Erie, was organized for service with the Seventy-seventh regiment, of which body he was made Lieutenant-Colonel. The first of the only three Pennsylvania infantry regiments sent to the Western armies, in the early part of the war, it was assigned to duty with the force in Kentucky, then under command of General Buell. On the field of Shiloh, he bore a part for the first time in a great battle, and beheld the horrors which war carries with it. When the fighting opened he was with his command twenty miles off, toilsomely wending his way over heavy roads towards the field, Grant having been attacked by Sidney Johnston before Buell could form a junction with him. Hastening forward, it moved upon the field on the morning of the second day, passing over the ground where three out of the five of Grant's divisions had, the day before, been crushed and his entire army well-nigh annihilated. At one P. M. the Colonel of the regiment, Stumbaugh, having succeeded to the command of a brigade, Lieutenant-Colonel Housum assumed that of the regiment, and led it throughout the severe fighting which followed. In the final charge, which decided the fate of the day, and swept the enemy hopelessly back, he was upon the front line, and took many prisoners, among them, Colonel Battles of the Twentieth (rebel) Tennessee.
After the battle, the Union troops encamped upon the field, the sickening odors from which soon became intolerable, occasion- ing disease, from which Colonel Housum was a sufferer, and for a long time prostrated. At Stone River, on the last day of the year 1862, he was in command of his regiment, and was posted on the extreme right of Rosecrans' line, where the enemy, having secretly massed his troops under the cover of darkness, attacked at dawn with overwhelming power. Colonel Housum had divined this strategy, having detected in the confused sounds
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that came to him, that a constant movement of troops across the front of the Union line towards the right was in progress. He accordingly ordered his men to stand to their arms throughout the weary hours of that long night, and when, at length, the blow was given at dawn, he was ready to receive it, and to deliver a counter-blow, which fell with stunning effect upon the too confident foe, who, counting unreservedly on a complete surprise, had anticipated an easy victory. But the other regi- ments upon the left, being less vigilant, the attack came upon them while unprepared, and they soon gave way. Left without support or cooperation, it was impossible for this single body to long hold out against a determined and strong assailant, and it was borne back. But reforming at right-angles to the main direction of the Union line, and connecting with the next division, which stood firm, Colonel Housum prepared to advance. In his front were Edgarton's guns in possession of the enemy, having been captured in the confusion which resulted from the first surprise. To retake them and bring them in became a darling project with Colonel Housum. He ordered a charge, which was heroically executed, and the guns, after a brief struggle, were recovered. Stimulated by this success, the assault was continued, being directed upon the enemy's own guns ; but before they could be reached the rebels rallied in great strength, and everything was lost, Colonel Housum himself receiving a wound, from which he soon after died. In his last moments his thoughts were of his men, and the success of the conflict. Com- prehending the nature of his hurt, he exclaimed, "I am mortally wounded. See to it that my brave boys do not yield an inch !" To his Adjutant he said, and they were the last words he uttered, "Stay by my brave boys of the Seventy-seventh."
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