USA > Pennsylvania > Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 1 > Part 41
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453
THOMAS M. HULINGS.
water; but, drawing his pistols upon them, he compelled them to go forward. His conduct on that occasion was spoken of by all who witnessed it, in terms of universal praise. Colonel Irwin was severely wounded while leading his men up the bank of the river, and Colonel Hulings succeeded to the command of the regiment.
The Gettysburg campaign followed, in which he participated, making long and wearisome marches, arriving on the field on the afternoon of July 2d, 1863, and going to the support of the Fifth corps and the defence of the left wing of the army, which was hard pushed. At Rappahannock Station he led his regiment in the storming column, consisting of Russell's division, and though the ground was open and swept by the enemy's artillery and small arms from an intrenched position, carried the works and captured more men than were of the assaulting force. When the gallantry of this brigade was described to General Hancock, he said : "They never failed in anything they under- took." The wounds of Colonel Irwin necessitating his resignation, Lieutenant-Colonel Hulings was promoted to the rank of Colonel before the opening of the spring campaign of 1864. It was at this period that General Hancock wrote of him : "He is a brave and faithful officer, and has been twice recommended by myself for brevets for good conduct in action."
With his usual daring he passed unscathed through the terrible ordeal of battle in the Wilderness, of the 5th, 6th and 7th of May. On the 10th, the brigade to which his regiment was attached was ordered to join in an assault on the enemy's works in front of Spottsylvania. An heroic attack was made under a terrible and sweeping musketry and artillery fire. Carried forward by the chivalrous courage of their leader, his command rushed upon the enemy, and after a desperate and bloody contest with clubbed muskets, penetrated the enemy's intrenchments and drove them out, capturing several pieces of artillery, but losing frightfully in the combat, in gallant soldiers and officers; among the latter the brave and lamented Lieutenant-Colonel Miles, who fell while advancing up the slope to the attack. Shortly after the works were thus stormed, Colonel Hulings received orders to withdraw his regiment to the ground held previous to the assault.
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As soon as this movement commenced, the enemy, perceiving it, advanced to recover the intrenchments, opening a scathing fire as they came forward. It was at this moment, while standing with his hand upon a captured piece of artillery, giving orders to the men, and cautioning them, with his accustomed coolness in times of great danger, to return without haste or disorder, that this intrepid soldier received his death wound from a musket ball which pierced his head. He sank instantly into the arms of one of his men, and his heroic soul passed from earth.
"In his fall," says Colonel Irwin, "his country lost one of her best and bravest soldiers, and the regiment a Colonel who was beloved by every officer and soldier in its ranks. Brave to the verge of desperation in action, he set a splendid example of fear- less coolness and courage to his command. While on the march or in camp, his kindness, gentleness of heart and consideration for those under him, gained for him the warm affection of all with whom he came in contact. The truest of friends, the best of comrades, and among the bravest of soldiers, he fell at the post of duty, and it is not too much to say of him that of all the gallant spirits who perished during the late terrible war, none excelled him in honor, heroic courage, devotion to duty, or in love of that country for which he laid down his life."
DWIN ATLEE GLENN, Major of the One Hundred and Ninety- eighth regiment, was born on the 4th of July, 1835, at Frankford, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Robert and Sarah (Thomas) Glenn. In youth he had a fondness for mathematics, and an ambition to excel in whatever he undertook. The more intricate the subject, the greater his pleasure in mastering it. Upon the formation of the Third Reserve regiment, he volun- teered as a private, and at the close of his three years' term was mustered out as Lieutenant, participating in all the battles of the campaign upon the Peninsula, Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Cloyd Mountain and New River. Returning home he was selected by the Union League of Phila- delphia as Major of the One Hundred and Ninety-eighth regiment, which they were assisting to recruit. His gallantry in connection with this body was conspicuous. The battle of Quaker Road
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EDWIN A. GLENN.
was commenced by several companies under his immediate leadership. Early in the fight Colonel Sickel was wounded, when the entire command devolved upon him. In the action at Gravelly Run, on the 31st of March, he particularly distinguished himself. The regiment was ordered to charge across an open field where it was much exposed to the enemy's fire. It was necessary for the regiment to advance from the swamp and wood where it lay into open ground to form. It had no sooner emerged than the enemy opened from his works a withering fire. Major Glenn saw that it was a most critical moment. He ran down to the centre of the regiment, grasped the colors, and started out upon the field, crying, " Men, follow me !" They did follow, and, sweeping across the field, carried the enemy's works. At Five Forks, on the 1st of April, the fighting was renewed with great vigor. A portion of the Union troops had been beaten back, when General Chamberlain came riding up to Major Glenn, and cried out, " Major, if you can take those works," pointing to the place whence the Union troops had been driven, " and keep them, I will promote you on the field." "Boys!" exclaimed Glenn, "will you follow me ?" With a wild shout they responded their assent, and the frowning works were taken. After having driven the enemy, the Major was the first to enter. Waving his sword and shouting to the men under his command to cease firing, he advanced and seized the colors of the enemy, and when they were just fairly within his grasp, a shot fired by one of his own men struck him in the abdomen, and he fell mortally wounded. He died four days afterward. A companion in arms says of him: " He was a military student in active service; for he was always studying. A thorough tactician, a strict disciplinarian, a pure patriot, a brave soldier, and a kind-hearted and genial com- panion, in whom his command had the most implicit confidence ; by his death the country lost the services of one worthy the cause he died to defend." The Union League, under whose auspices he last went to the field, united in an appreciative tribute to his memory, and asked the privilege of erecting a monument over his remains.
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
UY H. WATKINS, Lieutenant-Colonel of the one Hundred and Forty-first regiment, was born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania. He was active in recruiting company B, and was its Captain. When the regimental organization was effected, he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel. In the battle of Fred- cricksburg this regiment was with Franklin's grand division, where it sustained some loss. At Chancellorsville it formed part of Graham's division, Sickles' corps, and when the enemy attacked the Twelfth corps, Graham was sent to its support. As the regiment came under fire, Colonel Watkins, while in the act of mounting, and when one foot was already in the stirrup, had his horse killed by a cannon shot. In the midst of the fierce fighting in which the Third corps was involved on the following morning, he was severely wounded and fell into the enemy's hands. After his exchange, and before his wounds were sufficiently healed to take the field, he was nominated by President Lincoln as Paymaster in the army, and the nomination was promptly confirmed by the Senate ; but he declined the honor, preferring to lead and share the fortunes of his men. At the opening of the spring campaign of 1864, he took the field, and in all of the desperate fighting of the Wilderness campaign, and until the army had arrived before Petersburg, he escaped un- harmed; but while leading his regiment in a charge upon the enemy's works, on the 18th of June, he was instantly killed. He was characterized as among " the bravest of the brave."
ILLIAM LOVERING CURRY, Colonel of the One Hundred and Sixth regiment, was born in the city of Philadelphia, on the 29th of January, 1833. His father, William Curry, was a native of Pennsylvania. His mother, Mary (Lent) Curry, was born at Croton, New York. During boyhood - he was engaged in the manufacture of paper-hangings with his father. He was educated in the public schools of Philadelphia, and graduated in due course from the Central High School. Ile is represented as having had a military turn of mind, and he early enlisted in a regiment known as the Philadelphia Light Guard, which, upon the breaking out of the Rebellion, became the Twenty-second in the three months' service, and in which he served as Lieu-
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GUY H. WATKINS .- WILLIAM L. CURRY.
tenant-Colonel. He was nearly six feet in height, stoutly built, was possessed of good health, and of well-formed and temperate habits.
Upon the formation of the One Hundred and Sixth Pennsyl- vania regiment for three years, he entered it as Lieutenant- Colonel, many of the officers and men of the Twenty-second remaining the same in this. This regiment was a part of the brigade commanded by Colonel E. D. Baker, and at the battle of Ball's Bluff, where that ill-fated officer fell, the men were com- pelled to stand, mute spectators of the slaughter which a superior force of the enemy was inflicting, without the ability to render aid for want of transportation. He was a favorite with Baker, and was more than once sent out to command the advance guard, with these minute instructions : "Report by messenger any change observed across the river. Let the report be full and carefully digested before sent. Be assured of the reliability of information ; make no movement of your troops without orders, unless attacked, and then only in holding your position." At the battle of Fair Oaks, the One Hundred and Sixth was in the command of the gallant General Sumner, who, hearing the sound of battle and knowing he was wanted, put his columns in motion without orders, crossed the swollen Chickahominy on a frail bridge, and arrived in time to save the day. Here Colonel Curry had ample scope for the exercise of his military talent, and gallantly did he acquit himself; hurling back the foc at the point of the bayonet in repeated desperate charges, and preserv- ing intact his own lines, and the guns he supported, which were the special object of rebel spite. Ten days later, while visiting the picket line at carly dawn, not knowing that the pickets had fallen back, he walked into the enemy's lines and was taken prisoner. He was immediately marehed to Richmond, thence to Petersburg, and finally to Salisbury, where he was the subject of harsh usage, but after three months, was exchanged and returned to duty.
In the battle of Fredericksburg his regiment was among the first to cross the river at the town, and was engaged in driving out the enemy, fighting from street to street. On the 13th, it delivered a charge in the face of two lines of hostile forces
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securely posted behind works, and held an advanced position in the face of a most destructive fire. The duty here was only equalled in severity by that at Gettysburg, where Colonel Curry again led his regiment in a daring assault upon the advancing enemy, and achieved a well-earned triumph. It was on the extreme right of Sickles' line where the foe was flanking him. "Our regiment," says Colonel Curry, "opened fire, and charged so determinedly along with others, that we drove the enemy to their original lines, and would have spiked a six-gun battery had we not been ordered back. The carnage was terrible, the ground being covered with the dead and wounded. It was in this charge that Adjutant Pleis fell, being struck in the thigh by a piece of shell. I have fully made up for my capture (in June, 1862), as the regiment took a Colonel, two Majors, a number of Captains and Lieutenants, and at least 200 privates prisoners. We had more swords than we could use. I have one in place of the one taken from me at Richmond, and also a silver-mounted pistol."
When General Grant opened his campaign in the spring of 1864, Colonel Curry was the only field officer with the regiment. In the fierce fighting in front of Spottsylvania, on the 11th of May, he received a mortal wound. It was from a Minie ball, which struck him in the leg too near the groin to admit of ampu- tation. He was taken to the Douglas Hospital at Washington, where he received every attention which medical skill and careful nursing could afford; but in vain, and on the 7th of July he breathed his last.
" We welcome back our bravest and our best ;- Ah, me ! not all ! some come not with the rest, Who went forth brave and bright as any here !"
DWIN SCHALL, Colonel of the Fifty-first regiment, was born at the Green Lane Iron Works, Montgomery county, Penn- sylvania, on the 15th of February, 1835. He was the son of General William Schall. He received a good English and classical education at Elmwood Institute, in Norristown. He afterwards spent several years in the military school of Captain Partridge, at Norwich, Vermont, at Pembroke, Brandywine Springs,
EDWIN SCHALL. 459
and Bristol, and finally entered upon the study of the law in the office of B. M. Boyer, at Norristown. He subsequently became a student of the Law School at Poughkeepsie, New York, and also in the Ohio State Law School, under the charge of Judge Hayden. After graduating here, and being admitted to the bar, he turned his face westward and for a time practised his profes- sion in Iowa. But returning to Pennsylvania, he opened a law office at Norristown, and not long after became the editor of the National Defender, and finally its proprietor, which he continued to be to the day of his death.
At the first call of the President for volunteers, he abandoned his occupation, and, in company with four brothers, joined the ranks of the Fourth regiment. It may here be stated as a circumstance somewhat remarkable, that there were from this family eight brothers in the service in various Pennsylvania organizations : Edwin, Edward, Reuben T., David, Calvin, George, William P., and Alexander. He was elected Major, and his twin brother Edward Lieutenant-Colonel of this regiment, his brother Reuben commanding one of its companies. At the conclusion of his first term of service he assisted in recruiting the Fifty-first regiment for three years, of which he was made Major. He went with his command to North Carolina, in the column of Burnside, and bore a conspicuous part in the battles of Roanoke Island, Newbern, and Camden. On the return of Burnside north, his corps was hastened forward to the support of Pope, and the Fifty-first was hotly engaged at the Second Bull Run and Chantilly. In the campaign in Maryland it was again brought to close conflict at South Mountain, and at the famous Stone Bridge, at Antietam, it was selected to lead in the assault, which finally carried the ground and won the crossing. In all these engagements Major Schall was at the post of duty, and acquitted himself with marked gallantry. In the last-named struggle Lieutenant-Colonel Bell was killed, and he was promoted to fill the vacancy.
At Sulphur Springs, and in the desperate work of the Ninth corps at Fredericksburg, he was with his regiment in the place of peril and of honor. In the spring of 1863, the corps was sent West, and Colonel Hartranft having been given the leadership
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
of a brigade, the command of the regiment devolved upon him. The debilitating and wearing campaign against Vicksburg, and the subsequent movement to Jackson followed, in which the most important service was rendered to General Grant in the reduction of the great stronghold upon the Mississippi, and at its conclusion the corps was hurried back to Kentucky, and hence upon a wearisome march across the mountains to Knoxville, East Ten- nessee. General Hartranft was here entrusted with a division, and Colonel Schall with a brigade. "Afterwards transferred to East Tennessee," says the Rev. George D. Wolk, in his commemo- rative discourse, "he was in the battle at Campbell's Station, and the heroic defence of Knoxville; enduring patiently and bravely with his men the great privations and dangers connected with that campaign-sometimes subsisting on unground and unshelled corn-encouraging his worn-out men whose three years' term of service was about expiring, to re-enlist, and himself setting them the example, and on the very day of re-enlistment, it is said, receiv- ing as rations two ears of corn for officer and man, thus sharing subsistence with their artillery horses and baggage mules."
Returning with the corps to the Army of the Potomac for the spring campaign of 1864, he had passed unharmed through the terrible battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, and the North Anna, and had entered upon that at Cold Harbor, when he was struck by the fire of a sharp-shooter, and instantly killed, while leading on his regiment in a daring charge against the hostile works. In acknowledging the reception of a flag presented at his home in Norristown, before setting out for the front, he said : " We will return with this flag in honor, or fall in its defence." That promise he redeemed, laying down his life a sacrifice to that glorious standard ; and he who had withstood the hardships of the service and the bullets of the foe for three full years of active duty, was instantly cut off in the very prime of manhood, and at an hour of greatest promise. It seems that he had a presentiment that he was to fall, and had given all needful direc- tions what to do in case his forebodings should be verified. At the moment the fatal shaft was speeding on its death-dealing way, an incident occurred in a far-off hospital, connected with this event, most strange and marvellous. Captain Bisbing of
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JOSEPH S. CHANDLER.
this regiment had been mortally wounded in the battle of the Wilderness, and was at the time lying in the hospital at George- town, District of Columbia. He had been quiet upon his cot for some time, when he suddenly started up and cried out in a clear voice, "Lieutenant, Lieutenant," the title by which Lieutenant- Colonel Schall had been known in the regiment, meaning thereby Lieutenant-Colonel, Hartranft having but recently been confirmed Brigadier-General. A wounded Lieutenant lying near him re- sponded, inquiring what was wanted, when Captain Bisbing said, "I do not want you, but Lieutenant-Colonel Schall, for I have seen him fall and I want to know whether he is dead or not." The Captain himself died on the 5th. Whence he had gained this prophetic vision is perhaps beyond the comprehension of mortals.
The body of Colonel Schall was with difficulty rescued, and was returned to his home, where it was buried amid tributes of heartfelt grief rarely witnessed. He had been commissioned Colonel of his regiment but a few days before his fall. In stature he was of medium height, well formed, and capable of great endurance. He was of a deeply religious nature, and suffered not the wild disorders incident to warfare and the de- moralizing influences of the camp to contaminate the purity of his life. " As a soldier," says the Norristown Republican, " by a tried bravery, by a valor tested in all the battles of the Fifty-first, Colonel Schall merits, and must receive the admiration, not only of the brave men whom he led, but of us, who have not assumed the hardships of a soldier's life, and whose lives have been pro- tected by such devotion as this dying hero displayed." And the Herald and Free Press observed : "When he fell, his loss was deeply felt in his regiment, where his many acts of kindness, his forbearing and generous spirit, and his noble deeds of bravery, endeared him to all."
OSEPH SPENCER CHANDLER, Major of the One Hundred and Fourteenth regiment, was born in Philadelphia, on the 26th of October, 1834. Ile was the son of Joseph R. and Maria (Holton) Chandler. His father was a native of Plymouth county. Massachusetts, and became a prominent citizen of Philadelphia
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
and of his adopted State. The son received a liberal education, first in his native city, and afterwards in New York. His taste was more gratified with the duties of the camp than with those of business, in which he became engaged after finishing his studies, and he joined, in 1857, an artillery corps, the Washington Grays, of the local militia. When the call for troops was made in April, 1861, he was among the first to offer himself as a private in Company A, but was immediately appointed a First Sergeant in Company F, First Pennsylvania Artillery, subsequently known as the Seventeenth three months' regiment, with which he served in the Rockville expedition under General Charles P. Stone, afterwards merged in Patterson's army, faithfully performing all the duties of his position.
After his discharge from this service he received the appoint- ment of First Lieutenant in the Seventy-fifth, Colonel Henry Bohlen, and was shortly afterwards promoted to Captain. When Bohlen was appointed a Brigadier-General, he selected Captain Chandler as his Aide-de-camp. The brigade which Bohlen com- manded was of the German division, led by General Blenker. The service rendered by this division was of the most exhaust- ing character. It marched over rough roads and swollen streams to the very heart of West Virginia, and again returning by forced marches, drove Jackson up the Shenandoah Valley, and fought him at Cross Keys; crossing into the valley of Virginia, it was immediately engaged in Pope's disastrous campaign, and while heroically battling with the enemy at Freeman's Ford, to hold him in check, for the rest of the army to recross the Rappahannock and gain a position favorable for battle, General Bohlen, commanding the rear guard, was killed. The General fell just as night was closing in, and at a moment when all his aids were absent carrying his orders. To Cap- tain Chandler had been intrusted the duty of directing the falling back of the brigade across the river. Not until all were over was the General missed. Upon inquiry, he could no- where be found. It was finally reported that he had fallen. Captain Chandler immediately started, and taking with him a few trusty soldiers who volunteered to go, recrossed the river, and after devoted search, found him in a dying condition. They
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JOSEPH S. CHANDLER.
immediately took him up, and bearing him across, brought him to his own tent, where he soon after expired. The feeling which prompted Captain Chandler to recross a wide and rapid river, enter the enemy's lines, and in the midst of the darkness, search for, and find his wounded and dying leader, strikingly illustrates his heroism and his valor, and the strength of his attachment. None other than a brave man, and a devoted friend, would have done so much.
Shortly after General Bohlen's death, Captain Chandler was offered and accepted the position of Major of the One Hundred and Fourteenth regiment, Zouaves d'Afrique. He was here thrown among old friends and acquaintances, over whom, by the force of his discipline and example, he soon acquired a command- ing influence. In all the hard service of Kearny's old brigade, to which this regiment was attached, Major Chandler partici- pated, gaining day by day more and more the confidence and affection of his command. At Chancellorsville, on the morning of the 3d of May, the regiment was early in action. At dusk, on the evening before, Stonewall Jackson had fallen, and now the battle was being renewed on the very ground where he had got his mortal hurt. On that field Major Chandler was con- spicuous, now reforming the ranks of this company, and now steadying and directing the fire of that. Perfectly cool and col- lected himself, he did much towards keeping the regiment steady after the first repulse, and when the lines were reformed in front of the Chancellor House, charged the enemy and drove him before them into the woods and beyond a temporary breast- work of logs and earth, behind which he had taken shelter. Turning defiantly, disputing their farther advance, a terrific, almost hand-to-hand conflict took place. "Here," says an officer, fearless like himself, "Chandler, by his magnificent appearance, heightened by the conspicuous uniform of his regiment. became a target for the enemy. At the height of the conflict he noticed a Confederate flag flaunted defiantly almost directly in front of him. Determined, if possible, to possess it, he called to an officer near him to seize it when its bearer should fall. and drew his revólver; but at that instant, and before he had time to raise his weapon, he fell mortally wounded, shot through the
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