USA > Pennsylvania > Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 1 > Part 38
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Of his character as a soldier, one who was with him through- out all his campaigns, and who, from his own sterling qualities, knew how to estimate valor, says, " He never faltered, and when without regular rations for days, he never murmured, but strove to do all in his power for the relief of his men. He was cool, brave, and . unassuming, and no one of his rank in the Army of the Cumberland stood higher in the estimation of his superior officers."
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ANSFORD FOSTER CHAPMAN, Major of the Twenty-eighth regi- ment, was born at Mauch Chunk, on the 13th of Septem- ber, 1834. His father, Joseph Henshaw Chapman, was a native of Northampton, Massachusetts, and his mother, Martha Pro- basco Woolley, of Chester county, Pennsylvania. The son was educated at the common schools of Mauch Chunk, and spent one term at the Wyoming Seminary, an institution of some note in Luzerne county. At the age of fifteen, manifesting a taste for civil engineering, he joined a party engaged in locating a railroad at Summit Hill, and was subsequently employed in surveying several other roads in the anthracite coal regions of the central part of the state, either as assistant or engineer-in-chief. On the Ist of May, 1856, he was married to Olive A. Jackson, of Car- bondale. A short time previous to this he had abandoned civil engineering, and had embarked in the lumber business on the Lehigh river, in which he continued to the breaking out of the Rebellion.
Ilis military education previous to taking the field was limited to a year or two of service in a militia company known as the Cleaver Artillerists, in which he was a Lieutenant. Upon the issue of the President's call for 75,000 men, he was among the first to rally, and in two days three full companies were raised at Mauch Chunk. But such a number could not be accepted, and the question became not who will go, but who is willing to stay ? He was not of the number chosen to go. In June, in conjunction with J. D. Arner, and his brother C. W. Chapman, he set about recruiting a company for three years' ser- vice, and of this he was commissioned Captain. Having placed his company in camp, he put it to a severe course of discipline. Of camp-life he soon tired, and having heard of battles, "he longed to follow to the field some war-like chief." His desire was gratified, for his company was accepted by Colonel John W. Geary, a soldier of the Mexican war, and made the color com- pany of his regiment,-the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania.
The regiment was first stationed on the upper Potomac, and Captain Chapman, when the troops under General Banks were ordered to cross into Virginia, made himself useful by his engi- neering skill in constructing a rope ferry, and afterwards in
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LANSFORD F. CHAPMAN.
laying a pontoon bridge, the task being a difficult one on account of high water, six men having been drowned by the upsetting of a boat in attempting to take the heavy hawser across. With his company he participated in the stirring campaign in the Shenan- doah Valley in the fall and winter of 1861, and in the valley of Virginia with Pope in 1862. At Antietam, on the 17th of Sep- tember, the regiment was subjected to severe fighting, and per- formed efficient service. Captain Chapman was struck by & fragment of shell and sustained considerable injury, but in a short time was sufficiently recovered to be again at the head of his company.
In January, 1863, he was promoted to the rank of Major, and at once took command of the regiment, and retained it until, on the field of Chancellorsville, at ten o'clock on Sunday morning, May 3d, when the battle was at its height and raging with unparalleled fury, he fell dead at the head of his troops, leading them on and encouraging them to deeds of valor by his intrepid example. Eagerly did his comrades strive to rescue the body of their fallen leader, but in the fitful changes of the fight they were compelled to leave it upon the field, and it fell into the hands of the enemy. Many times afterwards were his remains sought by his friends ; but in the tangled wilds of that desolate region, where the dead were strewn thick on every hand, it was impos- sible to identify the place of their interment.
When, in May, 1865, the war being ended, the Union troops with joyous step were on the homeward march, General Geary turned aside at Chancellorsville to search for the anxiously and long sought grave of his old companion in arms. The corres- pondent of the New York Tribune was on the ground with the disinterring party, and in a communication thus described the scene : " The most notable case of recognition was the discovery of the remains of the heroic Major Chapman of the Twenty- eighth Pennsylvania volunteers, one of the finest regiments in the Second division of the Twelfth corps, which at the time of his death he was commanding. Major Chapman fell in sight of General Geary, and that thoughtful commander was the first to identify his remains, although they had several times been sought by his friends, but in vain. Knowing the spot where he fell, and
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finding a grave near, General Geary at once supposed it to be that of the lamented officer, and directed the disinterment. An eager crowd of friends of the deceased gathered around the spot, and as each shovelful of earth was laid aside, one and another identified some token. The teeth, hair, and size of the body all coincided with those of Major Chapman. In addition to these evidences there were several others equally strong. The coat was identified by the officer who ordered it from the maker. The buttons had been cut off by rebel desperadoes, and the pants were missing. Men who had been taken prisoners near the spot knew that the body of Major Chapman had been thus despoiled. It was known moreover that no other field officer had fallen near this position. Stronger evidences than these could scarcely be in a case of this kind. By order of General Geary the bones were carefully taken up and placed in a cracker box, the only receptacle which the moment afforded, and now they follow the command to Alexandria, whence they will be transported to the North."
On the 27th of May, 1865, they were laid peacefully to rest in the quiet cemetery at upper Mauch Chunk by sorrowing friends. A beautiful monument erected by his family marks his last resting-place. His memory is fondly cherished, not only by his relatives, but by a large circle of acquaintances. Among many letters of condolence which his family received, the following paragraph from one written by Daniel Kalbfus, Esq., will illus- trate their tenor: "I never can forget him. He was a true man, a brave soldier, a finished scholar, and a perfect gen- tleman. He was my friend, and his friendship was very warm. A man of his years, talents, social and political attainments, will be missed in Carbon county, for, in my judgment, there were few like him. Brave to rashness, I knew that he would win honor at the head of his regiment, or die nobly fighting there, and so it proved."
Nearly six feet in height, and of noble proportions, enjoy- ing perfect health, induced by habits of sobriety, he was a shining mark for the destroyer. As a boy, he was a Cadet of Temperance, and when arrived at man's estate was a Son of Temperance, and no one was more consistent to his professions.
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JOHN W. McLANE.
In his family relations he was fortunate, and a wife and two children, a girl and a boy, the objects of his warmest affection, are left to grieve his loss.
OHN WINTE McLANE, Colonel of the Eighty-third regiment, was born in Clearfield county, Pennsylvania, August 24th, 1820. Ile was the son of James H. and Phebe (Fleming) McLane. The family removed to Erie, in 1828. After a few years of instruction received chiefly from his maternal grand- mother, and a brief season at the Erie Academy, he was placed in the store of his uncle, William Fleming. In 1842, he organ- ized and commanded the Wayne Greys, a volunteer company, favorably known throughout western Pennsylvania for their admirable discipline and soldierly bearing. This company, in competition with many others from Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio, was awarded the prize-banner at the encampment at Meadville, September 10th, 1844.
When the Mexican war broke out, McLane was residing tem- porarily at Fort Wayne, Indiana. During his brief sojourn in that city, the ruling passion had manifested itself in the forma- tion of a military company, which, now that troops were needed, promptly volunteered for the war, and marched to camp at New Albany, where they were attached to, and became part of the First regiment, Indiana Volunteers, Colonel James P. Drake. This regiment was engaged chiefly in performing garrison duty at Matamoras and Monterey, and saw but little real service save repelling the attacks of the Mexican cavalry and guerillas, in marching to the latter place. The Wayne Greys volunteered their services to the Governor, for the same war, and placed their arms in condition ; but the State quota being full, were not called out. After the war, Captain McLane engaged in farming and milling. In 1859, he formed a fine volunteer organization, known as the Wayne Guard of Erie. On the 10th of September, 1860, the company took part in the imposing ceremonies incident to the inauguration of a monument to the memory of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of Lake Erie, at Cleveland, Ohio. Captain McLane was officer of the day upon that occasion, and, representing the Guards, presented an elegantly mounted cane,
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made from the wood of Perry's Flag-ship, the Lawrence, to the Hon. George Bancroft, the orator of the day.
"I well remember," says Mr. Isaac. G. Morchead, who has kindly furnished the matter for this sketch, " the spirit exhibited by Captain McLane on his return from witnessing the inaugura- tion of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States. Meeting a group of young men, members of the Wayne Guard, in the Park, he said : ' Boys, you may as well think the matter over, and make up your minds what you are going to do, for we are going to have a fight. I am going into it,-to lead my company, I hope; if not, I'll go as a private. We will fill up our ranks and march to Pittsburg, or some other point, and help to make a regiment.' Most of the group smiled incredulously at the idea of a war with our own people; but the Captain said, 'It will come.' Returning home on the night of the 13th of April from a brief journey, I was awakened in the morning by the noise of fife and drum, and the tramp of marching men. Bells were ringing and cannon firing. Strange sounds to break upon the ear on Sabbath morning in a quiet little city! Sumter had been fired upon, and the Captain had commenced his work. When all others seemed stunned and appalled, he went to work easily and quietly as though anticipating all that was occurring. Flags were flying everywhere. Anxious, determined-looking men were talking in groups, or hurriedly leaving town to rouse the people in the quiet country places. In four days, Captain McLane's company had grown to 1600 men. Men of all trades and pro- fessions were there. The plow was left with its point in the earth, the pen and the hammer were dropped, law-books and briefs were left upon the table." McLane abandoned his office of Sheriff of the county-refused the office of Commissary-General of Pennsylvania tendered him by Governor Curtin, which he said a lame man could administer-and as Colonel, at the head of his regiment, amid the cheers of assembled thousands, in a furious storm of rain and snow, took up the march to Pittsburg. The regiment was known as McLane's Independent Regiment, and at camps Wilkins and Wright, was drilled during the three months of its service in a very effective manner. Scarcely had the regiment reached home, when news of the disaster of the
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JOHN W. McLANE.
Union arms at Bull Bun was received. Colonel McLane imme- diately telegraphed General Cameron, then Secretary of War, and received authority to recruit a regiment for three years. On the 8th of September, the men were mustered into the service by Captain Bell of the regular army, and on the 16th, headed by Mehl's brass band, they started for Washington. They went into camp near that city, and, on the night of the 1st of October, crossed the Long Bridge into Virginia. At Hall's Hill, they were placed in Fitz John Porter's division in the Third brigade, commanded by General Butterfield. Here the regiment settled down to hard work, and that discipline was perfected which gave them their reputation, and fitted them for winning im- mortal glories on every great battle-field of the Army of the Potomac. None who heard, in those days, that clear ringing voice of Colonel McLane, can ever forget it. His men never misunderstood his orders. There was something so energizing in his voice, in the full, firm tone, that gave such entire assurance to the men, something so electric-far beyond the ordinary acceptation and use of the word-that it was a pro- verb, " McLane can lead those men anywhere." He was born to command.
"Proud was his tone, but calm; his eye Had that compelling dignity, His mien that bearing haught and high, Which common spirits fear."
Marching up the Peninsula, their first fighting was at Hanover Court House ; and they fought well. On the morning of the 27th of June, 1862, they were on the extreme left of our line at Gaines' Mill. They stood firm all of that terrible day. Every attack upon the left was repelled ; but toward evening, Colonel McLane was informed that our lines were forced in the next brigade on the right. "I cannot believe that," said the Colonel," for the Sixty- second Pennsylvania is in that brigade." But when the unwel- come truth was made evident, the Colonel said : "Well, we will change front, boys, and fight it out here." But in changing front, Colonel MeLane and his Major, Naghel, were both killed. The retreat now became general, and but a small portion of But- terfield's brigade remained on the field. The courier that had
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been sent with the order to retreat was killed on the way. The Eighty-third had been directed to hold this position, and retreat without orders was not to be thought of. Major Von Vegesack, an Aid of General Butterfield, came at last, with an order to retire. He found them with the glare of battle upon their faces. Their blood was up, and there they stood savagely and des- perately fighting over the dead body of their beloved leader, Colonel McLane. They paid no attention to the order of retreat. While the Aid stood there, vehemently repeating his commands, the Eleventh South Carolina appeared moving past in front. With the sublimity of impudence, the Eighty-third, surrounded almost as they were, and their retreat endangered, sent out Lieu- tenant White with a handkerchief tied to his sword, to demand their surrender. This, of course, was indignantly refused, and before the officer returned to his regiment, he heard the order given in his rear, accompanied by the click of hundreds of mus- kets, and, dropping instantly upon his face, a volley passed over him, killing and wounding a number of the men. Suffering severely from a flanking fire, the retreat was at last ordered by Captain Campbell, and the Eighty-third turned sullenly from the field and crossed the river, leaving one-half of the regiment dead or wounded. When the war was over, and the Eighty-third were marching from the scene of Lee's surrender to Washington, they encamped near this historic field. Colonel Rogers, then in command of the regiment, raised the bones of Colonel McLane, and forwarded them to Erie; and on the 19th of May, 1865, his bereaved widow and children, surrounded by a vast concourse of people, followed his remains to the Cemetery on the hill; the volley was fired,-earth to earth, ashes to ashes,-and the soldier was at rest. He fell early in the war; but his faithful work and perfect discipline lived after him, and produced great and glorious fruit.
CHAPTER II.
THE KILLED IN BATTLE.
EORGE DASHIELL BAYARD, Brigadier-General of volunteers, and Colonel of the First Pennsyl- vania cavalry, was born on the 18th of December, 1835, at Seneca Falls, New York. He traced his paternal ancestry to the family of the Chevalier Bayard, the Good Knight, without fear and with- out reproach, and his maternal to the Dashiells, a French Huguenot family. At eight years of age his father removed to Iowa, where he remained several years. In 1849, the family returned and settled in New Jersey, and in 1852, George was appointed by Mr. Fillmore a cadet at large in the Military Academy at West Point, whence he graduated in 1856, standing eleven in a class which originally numbered ninety members. On leaving the Academy he chose the cavalry arm of the service, and was assigned to duty with the First, now the Fourth regiment of regulars, in which he rose to the rank of Captain. Soon after entering it his command was ordered to the plains, where it had frequent encounters with the Indians. In 1860, while engaged with a party of Kiowas, he was severely wounded. His father, in his life of Bayard, gives the following account of this event : " After a pursuit of more than twenty miles, some Indians were seen at a distance. Lieutenant Bayard, being mounted on a superior horse, whose speed sur- passed that of any in the command, led the way in the chase. He soon came up with an Indian warrior, and, presenting his revolver, demanded his surrender. The Indian, as Lieutenant Bayard rode up to him, had dismounted from his pony for the purpose of dodging the shot from the pistol he anticipated, or
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to enable him the better to use his bow and arrow. At this moment, while in this attitude, Lieutenant Bayard saw some Indians running at a distance, and turned to see if any of his men were near enough to receive a signal from him that other Indians were in sight, and as he turned again towards the chief he had brought to bay, the latter shot him with his arrow. The arrow was steel-headed, in shape like a spear-head, and the head two and a half inches long. It struck Lieutenant Bayard under the cheek-bone, and penetrated the antrim. If the Indian had not been so near, he would have drawn his bow more taut, and probably killed his enemy." The arrow head was imbedded so firmly in the bone, that it could not with safety be removed except by superior skill. Though enduring intense suffering, he made a journey of 800 miles to St. Louis before he could have the operation performed. Its removal gave some relief, but the wound did not heal, and he was subject to severe hemorrhage which threatened his life. The artery, which had been severed, was finally taken up and tied, freeing him from further danger from this source, and he was soon after assigned to duty as cav- alry instructor at West Point.
When the war broke out, in 1861, though his wound was still unhealed and very painful, he repeatedly asked to be relieved, and allowed to join a regiment of volunteers. In a letter to his father of April 13th, he says : "The capital will very soon be the object of attack, and I think it the duty of all good Americans to march to its defence. My heart is too full to write you anything about Sumter. The Southerners have made a great mistake in attacking it. All my sympathy with the South is now gone. It is now war to the knife." And again, of July 26th, . . . "I must go to this war. I cannot stay here and rust while gallant men are in the field. This Rebellion is a much more serious thing than many suppose. I pity the Southern officers in our army. They cannot but condemn the madness of their politicians who have brought on this war, and yet they feel in honor bound to go with their section." His request to be relieved was steadily refused until September 1861, when he was made Major of a regiment recruited by Colonel Van Allen of New York. On his arrival at Washington General Mcclellan, then Commander-in-
GeoD Bayard
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GEORGE D. BAYARD.
chief, would not consent to his taking this position, and gave him the option to take command of a regiment, or to serve as aid upon his staff. Bayard chose an independent command, and was appointed by Governor Curtin Colonel of the First Pennsylvania cavalry, one of the regiments of the Reserve corps. Ilis great- grandfather had been Colonel of the First Pennsylvania cavalry, in the Revolution. His discipline was exact, and to independent yeomanry it seemed arbitrary; but the real worth and heroism of the man soon endeared him to all hearts, and reconciled them to his methods. His first speech to his men, delivered as they were about to undertake a hazardous duty, was characteristic : " Men ! I will ask you to go in no place but where I lead."
One who knew him well says of him : " As a soldier, in camp and on the field, in bivouac or in the height of an engagement, lie was a perfect model. He had a quiet but keen eye, detecting and correcting what was wrong, and just as quick to discern merit. In the field, he participated in all the hardships with the men, declining a shelter when they were exposed."
In the spring of 1862, he was promoted to Brigadier-General, and was placed over the First brigade of cavalry in the Army of the Potomac. When Mcclellan went to the Peninsula, Bayard remained with the army of observation before Washington. At Cross Keys, and all the subsequent operations under General Pope, he acquitted himself with great credit. He had been at the Academy with J. E. B. Stuart, and at Cedar Mountain they met; first in conflict, and afterwards under flag of truce for the burial of the dead, where they conversed in a friendly way. No allusion was made to the present war, but they talked of former associations. "During the interview," says a Washington paper, "a wounded Union soldier lying near was groaning and asked for water. 'Here, Jeb,' said Bayard-old time recollections making him familiar as he tossed his bridle to the rebel officer-' hold my horse a minute, will you, till I fetch that poor fellow some water.' Jeb held the bridle. Bayard went to a stream and brought the wounded man some water. As Bayard mounted his horse, Jeb remarked that it was the first time he had 'played orderly to a Union General.'" Stuart was then a Major-General in the Confederate service. The business for which they met
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was soon arranged, and when the bugle sounded the recall they shook hands and turned away, mortal enemies again.
General Bayard, from the midst of war's direful encounters, was looking forward with interest to his marriage, which, he says in a letter to his mother, of October 26th, 1862, " we have intended should take place on the 18th of December, my twenty- seventh birthday." In a letter of the 22d of November, to his father, he says : "I have been troubled a good deal of late with rheumatism, owing to having been thoroughly drenched with rain. I ought to be in the hospital. But I must go with this army through. I am senior General of cavalry. Honor and glory are before me-shame lurks in the rear. It looks as if I should not be able to leave at the time appointed for my marriage, but will have to postpone it till this campaign is over."
In the desperate engagement at Fredericksburg, on the 13th of December, he had the honor of opening the battle, and hold- ing the enemy in check until the infantry could come up, when he was withdrawn and posted on the extreme left of the line, his left flank abutting upon the river. "There," says the life, "he was engaged all the morning of the 13th, more or less with the enemy's skirmishers and advance. His last directions, before leaving his troops to go to the headquarters of General Franklin, were given to his artillery officer to change the position of some of his guns. A little before two o'clock he rode to headquarters, to receive such orders as General Franklin might deem proper to give. He found the General in a grove of trees, with some of his staff and other General officers. The enemy were then throwing their shells at and around this grove. General Bayard, soon after he arrived, having dismounted, seated himself at the foot of a tree, but with his face towards the quarter from whence the shells came. He was warned by a brother officer of his needless exposure, and invited to change his position. This he did not do, but remained for some time participating in the conversation of those around. In a little while, however, he rose from his seat, and hardly stood erect, when he was struck by a shell just below the hip, shattering his thigh near the joint." In this frightful condition, with mind still clear and active, he lingered until noon of the following day, arranging his business and send-
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