USA > Pennsylvania > Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 1 > Part 44
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FRANK A. ELLIOT.
pened at the moment to be near him, and, in a letter subsequently addressed to Colonel McLean's wife, gave the following account of his death : " Madam : I have just arrived home from Richmond. I was taken prisoner while attending to your husband's wounds. It is my painful duty to inform you that he is dead. He fell near me, while doing all that a brave man could do to hold his men to the support of a battery. He fell from his horse with his foot fast in the stirrup. His horse was about to run with him in this situ- ation, but I caught him, and, disentangling his foot, laid him upon the ground. I found that he had been wounded high up on the thigh, the ball having ruptured the main artery. With a strap that he gave me, I succeeded in stopping the hemorrhage, and, with the assistance of three of his men, was about to carry him to a hospital. When the Colonel saw the charging foe, he said : 'Boys, drop me and save yourselves; for I must die.' The three men became excited, and, dropping him, disappeared. This caused the strap to slip below the wound, and allowed the hem- orrhage to recommence. I replaced the strap, and was in the act of tightening it, when I observed that the enemy had charged past our battery, and were soon upon us. They fought over us about fifteen minutes, in which time your poor husband was wounded again in the same leg, below the knee. They would not help me take him to a surgeon, but made me leave him, when he said : 'Tell my wife she will never blush to be my widow. I die for my country and the old flag.' One of my men, who was detailed to bury the dead, reports having buried Colonel Joseph A. McLean of the Eighty-eighth Pennsylvania. I sym- pathize deeply with you in your loss, and pray God will bless and aid you."
RANK ANDREW ELLIOT, Captain in the One Hundred and Fourteenth regiment, was born in Washington, D. C., on the Sth of August, 1825. His parents, William G. and Margaret (Dawes) Elliot, were natives of Boston, Massachusetts. Through- out his boyhood he was remarkably fearless and upright, fond of adventure, and desired to enter the navy; but in deference to the wishes of his father, he prepared for College with the Rev. S. G. Bulfinch, pastor of the Unitarian Church at Washington.
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Not wishing to enter college, he commenced mercantile life in Boston. Of delicate physique, his health, though good, was never robust. His habits of life were singularly temperate, and in all respects irreproachable. In September, 1854, he married Mary Jane Whipple, niece and adopted daughter of Professor W. R. Johnson of Washington. In the purest spirit of patriotism, he left a successful business, in which he was engaged in Phila- delphia, and devoted himself to the service of his country, enter- ing the One Hundred and Fourteenth regiment as Captain of Company F. He did gallant service at the battle of Fred- ericksburg; and subsequently, at Chancellorsville, was mortally wounded, and died in the hands of the enemy.
ILLIAM SPEER KIRKWOOD, Colonel of the Sixty-third regi- ment, was born on the 4th of July, 1835, at Fairview, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania. His father was Archibald Kirkwood, a native of Ireland; his mother, Elizabeth (Sterrars) Kirkwood. He was, in boyhood, a farmer and ferryman, early developing a liking for naval life. He received a fair English education in the public schools of his native place, but had no military training. From youth he was steady and industrious ; and it is remembered as a somewhat notable circumstance, that he never saw Pittsburg until after he was fifteen years old. In . person, he was nearly six feet in height, and stoutly built.
He recruited a company for the Sixty-third regiment, of which he was elected Captain. During Mcclellan's campaign, Captain Kirkwood was constant at the post of duty, sharing with the humblest subaltern the privations and sufferings incident to a life in camp amid the bogs and swamps before Yorktown and upon the Chickahominy; and in the battle of Fair Oaks, where the regiment was closely engaged, bore himself with great gal- lantry, and fortunately, where so many of his comrades went down, he was preserved unscathed. Soon after that battle he was promoted to Major. At Bull Run the regiment was again subjected to a fiery ordeal. Kearny's division, to which it be- longed, was drawn up in line of battle near Groveton. Robin- son's brigade was ordered to advance upon an old railroad bed, behind which the enemy's skirmishers had taken shelter. Before
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WILLIAM S. KIRKWOOD.
reaching it, two picked men from each company were sent for- ward to drive out these troublesome marksmen. The left of the ' line was already warmly engaged, when General Kearny rode up to Colonel Hays and ordered him to charge, saying, as he gave the order, "I will support you handsomely." No troops could have obeyed the order more gallantly, but as the line approached the embankment, it received, unexpectedly, a deadly fire from the concealed foe, which threw it into some confusion. Rallying, it again went forward, and again was it saluted by a fatally- aimed volley, by which Colonel Hays was wounded. Major Kirkwood promptly assumed command, and led his regiment on ; but he had scarcely done so, when he also was severely wounded in the left leg, being twice struck. He was carried from the field, and his hurts found to be of a serious character. In September, 1862, he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel, and, in the April following, Colonel.
When it became apparent, near the close of this month, that Hooker was about to lead his army to meet the enemy, Colonel Kirkwood manifested great impatience to lead his regiment, though his wounds were still open. His surgeon remonstrated with him, but he declared that he must see his command fight and be with it. So crippled was he, when the army set out for Chancellorsville, that he had to be lifted upon his horse, and no representations of injury to his wounds by the surgeon could induce him to remain in camp. On the afternoon of the 2d, a few hours before the Eleventh corps was struck by "Stonewall " Jackson, Birney's division was pushed out nearly two miles in front of the main line of the army, where it was engaged with Jackson's rear guard, and when Jackson attacked, Birney was isolated and in danger of being cut off. But the rout of the Eleventh corps having been stayed, Birney moved back. and, after a midnight struggle, gained his place in line. On Sunday the battle was renewed, and though the Union troops fought with their accustomed heroism, they contended at a great disadvan- tage. The Sixty-third, standing on the left of the brigade. found its left flank exposed and over-reached by the enemy. A galling fire was poured in upon it, and many of the brave fellows were laid low. Colonel Kirkwood, while conducting the fight and
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leading his men with unsurpassed bravery and skill, was stricken down, receiving wounds which proved mortal. He survived until the 28th of June, subject to intense suffering, when he expired, deeply lamented by his entire command.
OHN W. MOORE, Colonel of the Two Hundred and Third regi- ment, was born at Philadelphia. He enlisted in Company G, of the Sixty-sixth regiment, in July, 1861, of which he was commissioned Captain. This organization, unfortunately, had but a brief existence, and in March, 1862, he was transferred with his company to the Ninety-ninth. In Pope's campaign be- fore Washington, in Mcclellan's operations in Maryland, and in Burnside's attack upon the enemy at Fredericksburg, he partici- pated in much severe fighting. In February, 1863, he was pro- moted to Major, and was with his command in the desperate conflict of the Third corps with the enemy, on the morning of the 3d of May, at Chancellorsville. The regiment was brought upon the Gettysburg field at a critical point, both in time and place. It was just as the Union left was about to be struck with terrific force by Longstreet's corps, and at the extreme of that flank, where the enemy was intent on breaking through. Major Moore was in command of the regiment; but before he had his line of battle fully formed, he was severely wounded, and was taken from the field. Previous to the opening of the spring cam- paign of 1864, he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, and in the progress of the desperate struggles which ensued, was a por- tion of the time in command of the Seventeenth Maine. Early in June, he was prostrated by sickness, and was sent to hospital. Several new regiments for one year's service were being recruited at this period, and of one of these-the Two Hundred and Third -he was appointed Colonel. His new regiment was intended for duty in General Birney's corps as sharp-shooters; but the Gen- eral dying soon afterwards, it was employed as a simple infantry regiment; though from its being led by veteran officers, it was regarded as among the most reliable in the army. It was one of those employed in the expedition undertaken for the reduc- tion of Fort Fisher ; and here, while engaged in a hand-to-hand encounter over the traverses of the fort, Colonel Moore was
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JOHN W. MOORE .- GUSTAVUS W. TOWN.
killed. " A footing was gained, though at a heavy cost. Colonel Pennypacker had fallen, and was reported mortally hurt, but there was no cessation in the fight. Traverse after traverse, seventeen in all, still remained to be overcome. Colonel Moore, with the flag in one hand and his sword in the other, led gal- lantly on until three of the traverses were carried, and the fourth was being charged, when he fell dead, still grasping the flag-staff, the banner riddled with bullets and more than half shot away." Thus perished one of the bravest soldiers which the Republic offered upon its altars.
USTAVUS WASHINGTON TOWN, Colonel of the Ninety-fifth regiment, was born at Philadelphia on the 28th of August, 1839. He was descended from a family who had been printers and publishers of that city through three generations. He was himself bred to that business, and was actively engaged in it up to the time of entering the military service. He was educated in the public schools, and graduated at the High School. Fondness for military life was early developed, and at the age of sixteen he joined the Washington Blues, a volunteer organization. When this regiment was recruited for the field, he was made First Lieu- tenant of Company A, this organization being known as the Eighteenth Pennsylvania. At the expiration of the term of service, he returned and assisted in recruiting the Ninety-fifth (Zouave) regiment for the war, and was commissioned Lieutenant- Colonel. In the midst of the fierce fighting in the bloody battle of Gaines' Mill, the commander of the regiment, Colonel Gosline, was killed, and Lieutenant-Colonel Town was promoted to succeed him. Being the senior Colonel of the brigade to which his regi- ment was attached, he acted as Brigadier-General, and for nearly a year, ably and efficiently commanded it; the officers of the brigade, to a man, asking for his promotion to the rank in which he was acting. In the second battle of Fredericksburg, which was coincident with that of Chancellorsville, his brigade formed part of the Sixth corps, General Sedgwick. At Salem Church, where the advance of the corps was met by the enemy, and where the fighting was of unusual severity, he was shot through the heart and instantly killed, while heroically leading on his
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men, and encouraging them to stand firm, though pressed by superior numbers.
" In these brave ranks I only see the gaps, Thinking of dear ones whom the dumb turf wraps."
He had participated in every battle in which the Army of the Potomac had been engaged, and was esteemed a gallant and reliable officer. In person he was six feet and three inches in height. He was married but a short time before his death, but left no issue.
ARRETT NOWLEN, Major of the One Hundred and Sixteenth regiment, was born in Philadelphia, on the 6th of March, 1835. He was the son of Edward and Julia (McCarthy) Nowlen. He received a liberal education at the Philadelphia Central High School. In person he was above the medium height, slender and delicate, of a studious turn, regular and simple in habits, and of a generous and self-sacrificing spirit. He entered the army as Second Lieutenant of Company G, One Hundred and Sixteenth regiment, in August, 1862. At the battle of Fredericksburg, where he com- manded Company C, he exhibited cool courage and was severely wounded, being struck in the hip joint by a musket ball, which fractured the bone. His ability displayed in this battle was recognized, and he was promoted to First Lieutenant, and made Adjutant of the regiment. At Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Auburn, Bristoe Station, Mine Run, North Anna, Pamunky, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and Williams' Farm, he was constant at the post of duty. In the engagement at Ream's Station, on the 25th of August, while acting in the most gallant manner, he was shot through the breast by a musket ball. As he was struck, he fell backward and, extending his hand towards the men of his own company, exclaimed: "Good-bye, boys," and immediately expired. He was buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery, on the banks of the Schuylkill. General Mulholland says of him : "IIe was the bravest and most honorable of men, and no purer patriot ever offered his life a sacrifice on the altar of freedom and justice."
" Faithful unto his country's weal, and private friendship's claim, Hle bore unsullied to his grave a noble, honored name ; A watchword for his comrade's lips, and history's page will tell, If not that name, the battle-fields where he fought long and well."
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GARRETT NOWLEN .- ABRAHAM H. SNYDER.
BRAHAM H. SNYDER, Major of the One Hundred and Thirty- ninth regiment, was born on the 17th of April, 1821, in Mercer county, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Andrew and Mary (Sylvis) Snyder. His boyhood was passed upon a farm, and he was educated at the Mercer and Beaver Academies. He was of medium height and stoutly built. He was married on the 6th of May, 1852, to Miss Margaret Stewart.
He was made Captain of Company A, One Hundred and Thirty-ninth regiment, in August, 1862, and in all its campaigns he bore a part, being engaged at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Salem Heights, Gettysburg, Mine Run and in several minor battles. On the 5th of May, 1864, in the battle of the Wilderness, while acting as Lieutenant-Colonel of his regiment, he received his death wound. He was at the time on horseback, leading on his men with undaunted courage, when he was struck directly in the forehead, and died without a struggle. As the regiment was obliged to fall back soon after, his body fell into the enemy's hands, and was never recovered. Adjutant A. M. Harper, who was his intimate companion in arms, says of him : "His conduct was universally that of a brave man, who went into the army from a sense of duty, and carried himself throughout in strict accordance with that laudable purpose. By nature of too mild and amiable a disposition for an arbitrary disciplinarian, it always grieved him to order punishment for soldiers of his com- mand who deserved it. In all the inconveniences and hardships incident to the service, so much harder to bear by one who had arrived at the middle age of life, he was ever patient and uncom- plaining. Sensitive to the sufferings of others, and apparently unmindful of his own, on the long marches he often dismounted, that some weary soldier might have temporary relief by riding his horse. In short, he was a true and patriotic American soldier, such an one as the army stood most in need of."
OHN BLANCHARD MILES, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Forty- ninth regiment, was born on the 20th of September, 1827, at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. He was the son of John G. and Julia (McConnell) Miles. His father was a lawyer of note, and his uncle, Jolin Blanchard, for whom he was named, was a
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member of Congress from the Centre District. A paternal ances- tor, Richard Miles, emigrated from Wales in 1701, and settled upon the Delaware a few miles below Philadelphia. Two of his descendants, brothers, Richard and Samuel, were active in the Revolutionary War-Samuel as a Colonel, and Richard, the great-grandfather of John B., as a Captain-and at a later period were the founders of the town of Milesburg, Centre county. The maternal grandfather, Mathew McConnell, was a Major in the patriot army, and had a leg broken by a musket ball in the battle of Brandywine.
Descended from Revolutionary sires on the part of both father and mother, it is not strange that he should develop heroic traits when brought to the battle-field. He received a good English education, with some knowledge of Latin, in the schools of his native town, and manifested a taste for mechanics. After leaving school he was employed at the Rebecca Furnace, in Blair county, owned by Dr. Peter Shoenberger, first as clerk, and sub- sequently as assistant manager. At the end of two years he went to Philadelphia, where he was employed as salesman in a wholesale hardware store, where he remained two years more. He then went to Peoria, Illinois, where an elder brother lived, and subsequently to Chicago, in both places being engaged in mercantile business ; but the financial crash of 1857 brought dis- aster, and he returned to his home in Huntingdon, where he devoted himself to the manufacture and sale of lumber until the opening of the war. Impelled by a sense of patriotic duty, he recruited a company, of which he was commissioned Captain, which became part of the Forty-ninth regiment. With the Army of the Potomac he went to the Peninsula, and in the affairs at Lee's Mills and Yorktown, and in the battle of Williamsburg, he led with gallantry, evincing from the first heroic valor. He received honorable mention in the report of his superior in the latter, and attracted the attention of General Hancock, whose lasting personal friendship he won. Like courage and skill were displayed at Golding's Farm, and in all the subsequent battles of the campaign, which ended in the last of the noted seven days at Malvern Hill.
The battles of South Mountain and Antietam followed close
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JOHN B. MILES.
upon the disasters of Pope, and at their conclusion, Captain Miles was promoted to Major, an advancement won by faithful and unremitting duty. He crossed the river with Franklin's column in the first Fredericksburg, where his regiment was held in support of the troops assigned to make the assault. In the Chancellors- ville campaign, Major Miles had a more daring part to perform. To the Forty-ninth was assigned the task of crossing the Rappa- hannock in boats under a withering musketry fire, and driving the rebel forces from their intrenchments so as to prepare the way for laying the pontoons. In that desperate undertaking, where large numbers of both officers and men fell, none were more conspicuous for nerve and unflinching courage than the Major of the regiment. The task was heroically executed and the enemy routed. At Salem Church, on the 3d and 4th of May, the foe made fierce assaults upon the Sixth corps, and by superior num- bers compelled it to fall back, the Forty-ninth being hard pressed, but successfully repulsing every attack. The campaign to Get- tysburg followed, involving the demonstration at Fredericksburg on the 9th of June, the battle at Gettysburg on the 1st, 2d, and 3d of July, at Fairview on the 5th, and at Funkstown on the 12th-a campaign rarely paralleled for rapid and fatiguing marches, severe fighting, and glorious achievements, in all of which Major Miles never faltered. But the most marked of his exploits was the part he bore in the assault and capture of the enemy's works at Rappahannock Station. The charge had to be made in the face of a fire of infantry and artillery from behind breastworks. It was made by Russell's division, and resulted in a complete victory ; and the conduct of Major Miles is represented as having been "conspicuous for daring." With Locust Grove and Mine Run his active campaignings for 1863 ended.
Though the three years of his service had been years of trial and carnage almost beyond precedent, yet that which was to follow was even more trying and terrible. Before entering upon the campaign of 1864, under Grant, he was promoted to Lieuten- ant-Colonel, and in the three days of fighting in the Wilderness he was involved. The 10th of May brought the Sixth corps in front of Spottsylvania Court-House, where, at six o'clock in the evening, Eustis' brigade was formed to charge the enemy's works,
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the Forty-ninth occupying the left of the second line. When the soldiers looked upon the task before them, they at once realized that few would ever come out of that movement alive. It was made. It was successful. Guns and standards were captured. But failing of support, and the enemy rallying in force, the advantage was lost. In that assault, while charging up the slope, and inspiring his men by his own dauntless heroism, the brave Colonel Miles perished. . Of his bearing here, and of his character as a soldier, W. G. Mitchell, who had served by his side and knew him intimately, bears the following testimony : "Blanch," the name by which Colonel Miles was familiarly known, a contraction of Blanchard, " was with his regiment in the Wil- derness, and I have been told by many officers and men, that in the desperate assault in which he and Colonel Hulings fell, on the 10th of May, he was more than ever conspicuous for heroic cour- age, and was killed while leading the men up the slope and into the enemy's works. I know that he bore the reputation, in the Sixth corps, of being among the bravest and most dutiful officers in its ranks, and I have often noticed his extreme gallantry, and heard it spoken of by our brother officers. I have frequently heard General Hancock speak of Blanch's courage and good conduct. While I served with the Forty-ninth and with Hancock's brigade, Blanch was one of those with whom I associated most constantly ; and among all the officers whom I have ever known, he was distinguished for bravery, devotion to duty and generosity of heart. I made many long marches by his side, and have seen him on many occasions of danger and trial, but never knew him, for one instant, to fail in the performance of his duty as a gal- lant and noble gentleman. Had he not been struck down at Spottsylvania, he could not have failed in rising to high rank in the army, for the terrible campaign of 1864 was one in which men of his stamp were certain of obtaining rank and distinction by their gallant bearing, and the influence they exerted in times of peril. I lamented his death, and that of Colonel Hulings, as if they had been my own brothers." "His letters," says the Presbyterian, " written shortly before his death, showed that he had a presentiment of his fate, and that he had made his peace with his God. He was endeared to a large circle of friends by
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JOIIN B. MILES.
many estimable qualities, prominent among which were an un- selfish nature and remarkable kindness of heart. He has nobly fought life's great battle, and we trust has received his reward." We know by the testimony of General Lessig, who was with him, that just before going into the charge, he gave away many of his valuables to his servants, evidently believing that he would not survive the struggle. Of the unselfish trait in his character, the evidence of its prominence is abundant. So long as he had any- thing, he was ready to share with his comrades. Colonel Miles had no military education, but he so quickly and so thoroughly mastered his profession as to excite the admiration of his supe- riors. Colonel Irwin, an experienced and exacting soldier, thus wrote of him, on the 20th of March, 1862: "Yesterday, he being the senior Captain on duty, it was his turn to manœuvre the battalion. There are ten companies, accustomed to all the pre- cision and rigor of my handling; but, to my extreme satisfaction and greatly to his credit, Captain Miles alone, at the head of my regiment, directed the entire drill with perfect self-possession, and without committing one error of any consequence." Colonel Miles was once asked how he felt when in the midst of battle, with the deadly missiles flying thick about him ? His answer was: "I always feel somewhat nervous in the commencement of a battle, but I usually find so much to do, that I soon lose sight of the danger to myself."
Colonel Miles was married, on the 29th of February, 1864, to Miss Belle Creigh, daughter of Hon. John Creigh of California. She accompanied her husband to the front, but an order from the General in command obliged her, in common with all other ladies, to leave the army at the end of ten days. He never saw her but once afterwards, and then but for a day or two, while on a brief furlough, immediately preceding the moving of the army.
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