USA > Pennsylvania > Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 1 > Part 46
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CHAPTER IV.
THE KILLED IN BATTLE.
LEXANDER HAYS, first Colonel of the Sixty-third regiment, and Brevet Major-General of volunteers. The war of Rebellion drew from the State of Penn- sylvania many costly sacrifices ; few more so than the subject of this sketch. Reynolds, who fell at Gettysburg, entered the volunteer service as a general officer, and was consequently more in the public eye, and had attained a higher rank in the army. It is no disparagement of Reynolds to be compared with Hays, though beneath him in rank; for in all that constitutes a great soldier he was endowed with kindred qualities, and was of a brotherhood of heroes-wise in council, cool in the midst of dangers, fearless in battle, and merciful as a victor.
He was born at Franklin, Venango county, on the 8th of July, 1819. He was the son of General Samuel Hays, a native of Ireland, and Agnes (Broadfoot) Hays. After acquiring a primary education in the schools of his native place, he entered Allegheny College, at Meadville; and subsequently, in 1840, was appointed a Cadet in the Military Academy at West Point, where he gradu- ated in 1844, and where, for three years, he was a fellow student with President Grant. He was assigned to duty, with the rank of Brevet Second Lieutenant, in the Fourth Infantry, to which Grant also belonged, then constituting part of the Army of Ob- servation, stationed in Louisiana. His regiment was among the first to advance upon the enemy's territory in the Mexican War, and in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma ex- hibited undaunted heroism, capturing, in connection with Lieu- tenant Woods, likewise a Pennsylvanian, the first gun that was
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wrested from the enemy. In the latter engagement, he received a wound in the leg. In recognition of his gallantry in these actions, he was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant, and was transferred to the Eighth Infantry.
Before entering upon another active campaign, his wound unfitting him for arduous duty, he was sent on recruiting service to western Pennsylvania, where he soon enlisted a company of 200 men from among the hardy pioneers of that region, and rejoined the army at Vera Cruz. " About this time," says Colonel Oliphant in his sketch of Hays, "General Joe Lane was ready to start on a more northern line of operations to the City of Mexico, with an expedition against Urrera and the guerillas infesting that part of the country. Lieutenant Hays was appointed Assistant Adjutant-General of the expedition. It had frequent encounters with the enemy, inflicting severe punishment. Lieutenant Hays gathered fresh laurels, and was the head and heart and soul of the command-making a military reputation for his chief which afterwards sent him to the United States Senate from Oregon." "His record in the whole Mexican War," says the Rev. Dr. Paxton, in his funeral discourse, "was that of a brave and skilful soldier, whose courage could be trusted in any emergency, and whose ability to execute was equal to his will to dare."
A year previous he had married Annie, daughter of John B. McFadden, a prominent citizen of Pittsburg; and on his return from Mexico, tiring of the dull monotony of army life in "piping times of peace," he resigned his commission, and engaged in the manufacture of iron in that city. A stagnation in this business occurred at about that time, and the venture proved a failure. He was accustomed to say, that "that furnace was the only thing that ever licked him so badly that he was afraid to tackle it again." His education at West Point had made him a skilful engineer, and the country just then waking up to the importance of railroad construction, had need of such talent. He first found employment in California, but subsequently in western Penn- sylvania, and was engaged in making the drafts of an iron bridge for the Allegheny Railroad, when the Rebellion was initiated. Without waiting to finish his draft even, he laid it aside, saying
FRANKLIN A.STRATTON Col.ll : Fa.CavY. Brvt Bing Gen.
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to his wife as he did so: "That kind of work is now ended ; my country has called, and I must hasten to the field."
He enlisted in a militia company in Pittsburg, known as the City Guard, of which he was at once chosen Captain. This com- pany became part of a regiment raised at that place for the three months' service, and he was commissioned, by Governor Curtin, Major. Not long before, Floyd of Virginia, then Secretary of War, had ordered a number of heavy guns from the Allegheny Arsenal, and a large amount of ordnance stores, to some mythical fort near the mouth of the Mississippi river. Hays was one of those who resisted their removal, plainly foresceing the use to which they would be put; and, by assuming a bold front and a determined spirit to prevent it, the guns were ordered back to the Arsenal.
In the summer of 1861, he was appointed Captain in the Six- teenth United States Infantry ; but he declined this honor, and, at the close of the term of service of the Twelfth-which he had largely contributed to make a skilled and efficient body of men- he returned home, and at once set about recruiting a regiment for the war. His companions of the City Guard, whom he had converted into real soldiers, followed him, and his regiment was designated the Sixty-third Pennsylvania-he being commissioned Colonel. After thorough drill at Camp Wilkins, he led it to the field. "Its history," says Colonel Oliphant, in the article above quoted, "is bright with laurels, and red with the blood of its decimated ranks. Its commander was the friend, comrade, and fighting Colonel of a fighting General-brave old Phil. Kearny. Kearny was so superlatively brave himself, that unless the bear- ing of another was akin to his own death-defying courage, it failed to attract his notice. Colonel Hays is the only one of his officers that he is known to have complimented for this virtue, except in an official report. After the battle of Fair Oaks, con- versing with a group of officers, he referred to the gallant conduct of Colonel Hays. One of the officers present ventured the sugges- tion, that he was 'rash and reckless.' 'No sir ! No !' says Kearny ; 'you are mistaken. Although he storms like a fury on the field, his purpose is as clear, and his brain as cool as on drill or parade ; and his battle tactics are superb.'"
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Colonel Hays was kept upon the front line, facing Richmond, during that sultry month which intervened between Fair Oaks and the Seven Days' battle, and had frequent hot skirmishing with the enemy. When the retreat to the James began, he moved out, the last to quit his intrenchments; and when, at Charles City Cross Roads, the enemy attacked with terrible earnestness, he was ready, with his well-ordered regiment, to meet them. How well he fought, that intrepid soldier, Kearny, whose pen was no less keen and incisive than his sword, has told in simple and glowing periods. After relating how the enemy had " come on in such masses as I had never witnessed," and had been cut down and swept back by the rapid fire of the artil- lery, yet "increased masses came up, and the wave bore on," he says, "It was then that Colonel Hays, with the Sixty-third Pennsylvania and half of the Thirty-seventh New York Volun- teers, was moved forward to the line of the guns. I have here to call to the attention of my superior chiefs this most heroic action on the part of Colonel Hays and his regiment. The Sixty-third has won for Pennsylvania the laurels of fame. That which grape and canister failed in effecting, was accomplished by the deter- mined charge and rapid volleys of this foot. The enemy, at the muzzles of our guns, for the first time retired fighting. Subse- quently, ground having been gained, the Sixty-third was ordered to 'lie low,' and the battery once more reopened its ceaseless work of destruction. This battle saw three renewed onsets, with similar vicissitudes. If there was one man in this attack, there must have been ten thousand, and their loss by artillery, although borne with such fortitude, must have been immense." The gal- lantry and steadiness of Colonel Hays in this desperate fighting is confirmed by another, himself a hero, who laid down his life gallantly at Chancellorsville. General Berry, in a note to Colonel Hays, says : "I was ordered by General Kearny to have myself and conimand ready at all times to render aid to the First and Second brigades. This being so, I watched the movements of the enemy and our own men with the most intense interest. You, sir, and your brave men, were placed near to and ordered to support Thompson's battery. Never was task better done or battery better supported, and it is a great pleasure to me to have to say, and
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it is also my duty to say it, that I have not, in my career in military life, seen better fighting and work better done. I should fear to try to do better with any troops I have ever seen. 'Tis enough to say, your fight was a perfect success."
'The next severe encounter was at the Second Bull Run battle, Colonel Hays being put into the engagement in the neighborhood of Groveton. "Here," says Kearny, "the Sixty-third Pennsyl- vania and the Fortieth New York suffered the most. The gallant Hays is badly wounded." It was while leading his men up to an embankment occupied by the enemy, that he was struck in the ankle, and his limb badly shattered. Though suffering the most excruciating pain, as he was carried from the field, he still preserved his equanimity, and jocularly commanded his servant Pomp, in the most positive tones and manner, "to bring a cork and stop the hole in his leg, or he would bleed to death."
Ilis services in this action, and his eminent ability exhibited upon the Peninsula, did not pass without recognition from the . Government. He was appointed and confirmed Brigadier-General of volunteers, and Lieutenant-Colonel in the Regular Army.
" About the Ist of January, 1863," says Colonel Oliphant, "before he had entirely recovered from the Groveton wound, General Hays was assigned to the command of the Third brigade of Casey's division, Heintzelman's corps, then, and for some time afterwards, in charge of the defences before and around Wash- ington. This is the same brigade that was demoralized, surren- dered and disgraced, at Harper's Ferry, just before the battle of Antietam. They wanted a General in a double sense. They had no General, and they required one who would be so in fact, as well as commission and rank. Quaint and grim old Heintzel- man knew and picked the man for them. We will see if they got what they wanted, when 'Sandy Hays' first drew his sword over them in command. The General now devoted all his time, talents and energy to bring order and discipline out of the con- fusion in which he found his brigade, and to put fight into it. Hle drilled, punished, rewarded, coaxed, scolded, and stormed at it-once nearly 'with shot and shell.' He was preparing it for the eventful first days of July, '63, when the Fourth of '76 was re-endeared to our hearts' affections in a new baptism of
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blood and tears. . .. On the 3d day of the month, and the third of the battle of Gettysburg, General Hays, commanding the Third division of the Second army corps, finds himself opposed to General A. P. Hill, with whom is General George E. Pickett, and others of his old class-mates and comrades of the Mexican War, on the road leading to Emmittsburg. Hill has been cannonading the opposing line for some time, without effect; then moves his troops across the field, thinking, no doubt, that his veterans will drive these raw militia like chaff before the storm. But they meet General Hays and his veterans; he has put fight into them. Behind the shelter of a stone fence, he restrains himself and his men until the enemy is at close quarters. Then, like Wellington at Waterloo, the word is, 'Up, and at them !' His rapid, well- directed volleys send the head of Hill's column, recling in con- fusion, back upon its centre and rear. A hurricane, charged with lead and fire and death, consumes them.
"The battle was won. This was the decisive charge; and General Hays was a hero among heroes at Gettysburg! Ile takes from the enemy, that day, twenty banners and battle-flags, three thousand stand of arms, and kills and captures about twice the number of his command. Out of twenty mounted orderlies he has but six left. He has lost all his Colonels; Lieutenant-Colonels command brigades; Lieutenants command regiments. Two of
his five horses are killed under him. His whole staff is unhorsed. Their steeds lie dead where they fell, or are in their last agonies. Gathering around their chief to congratulate him, recking with the dust, and sweat, and fumes, and weary with the toil of the battle, they receive the commendation they deserve. How proud they are of their chief! How proud he is of his 'boys!' The . battle-cloud has passed away from his brow, and the hard-set features of a few moments before relax into his kind, familiar smile of love and affection. George P. Corts. Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General, reliable and efficient, often under fire with him before, wants to follow up the success while the game is in view and the trail is fresh. The General takes young Dave Shields, his boy Lieutenant and Aide-de-camp-not yet twenty years old and can count nearly as many battles-in his arms, imprinting a kiss upon his cheek, while his boyish face is yet
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aglow with the flush and his bright eye sparkling with the fire of victory. What youth in the land would not be prouder of that kiss of honor from his General, than of a hundred from the- lips of the fairest maiden ?"
A correspondent of the Buffalo Commercial, himself a soldier, and who was upon that fatal hill when the battle was at its height, beholding the deeds of valor of this brave leader, and his fearlessness when the very air seemed freighted with danger, thus describes him: "I have spoken of our General Hays. I wish you could have seen a picture just at the close of Saturday's bat- tle, on the left of our centre, of which his splendid figure formed a prominent part. Our brigade, which had been lying on Cemetery Hill, was ordered over to the position which was so valiantly but unsuccessfully charged by Pickett's rebel division. We moved through a storm of shot and shell, but only arrived in time to see the grand finale, at the close of the drama. The enemy's batteries were still playing briskly, and their sharp-shooters kept up a lively fire; but the infantry, wearied and routed, were pour- ing into our lines throughout their whole extent. Then entered General Alexander Hays, the brave American soldier. Six feet or more in height, erect, smiling, lightly holding well in hand his horse-the third within a half hour -- a noble animal, his flanks bespattered with blood, he dashes along our lines, now rushing into the open field, a mark for a hundred sharp-shooters, but untouched; now quietly cantering back to our lines to be wel- comed by a storm of cheers. I reckon him the grandest view --- I bar not Niagara. It was the arch-spirit of glorious victory wildly triumphing over the fallen foc." After recounting the ceaseless care and solicitude of General Hays during the long weary hours of the night which succeeded the battle, in looking after and caring for the wounded and worn-out soldiers of his com- mand, the same writer continues : "It is not my good fortune to be personally acquainted with General Hays, but I wish every one, so far as I can effect it, to know him as the bravest of soldiers, and love him as the best-hearted of men." It seems miraculous that General Hays escaped unharmed. His division stood upon the broad, open field, joining upon the left Owen's Philadelphia Brigade, now Webb's, and only shielded from the death-storm
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which swept its ranks by a slight stone wall perched upon the brow of a shelving ledge, but which could be no protection to an officer on horseback. That powerful rebel division of Pickett, strengthened by picked troops on flanks and rear, struck the Union front, half overlapping Hays' command. The latter con- sequently got the full strength and power of the blow ; but stead- fast in his purpose, though all had been stricken down he would stand alone, he had inspired all with his own heroism; and though death held high carnival, the surviving moved not. It was a trial of the spirit which he manifested in a letter acknowledg- ing the receipt of a magnificent sword presented him by the citizens of Pittsburg a few months after this battle, in which he says: "When the Rebellion broke upon us like a tornado, in the desecration of our flag at Sumter, I took an oath never to sheathe my sword until honorable peace should restore us to one glorious Union." HIc shared the fortunes of the army in all its weary marches and fighting till he came upon the intricate mazes of the Wilderness. It was his last battle. On the very day that the march commenced he had written, as if impressed with a pre- sentiment of his impending fate:
"This morning was beautiful, for
Lightly and brightly shone the sun, As if the morn was a jocund one.
Although we were anticipating to march at eight o'clock, it might have been an appropriate harbinger of the day of the regener- ation of mankind; but it only brought to remembrance, through the throats of many bugles, that duty enjoined upon each one, perhaps before the setting sun, to lay down a life for his country." Longstreet had already arrived upon the Union front, and Han- cock, having gone beyond the field and been summoned back, had counter-marched, and was advancing in line through the wilds of that labyrinthian ground, when he suddenly came upon the foe. The battle had been raging for half an hour, when, Gen- cral Hays having ridden along his whole front. and returning, had paused at the head of his old regiment, the Sixty-third, a rifle ball struck him just above the cord of his hat, and penetrating the brain, he fell without an utterance to the ground. He breathed scarcely three hours, when, without consciousness, he expired.
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ALEXANDER HAYS .- JOIN B. KOJILER.
His remains were carried by his sorrowing comrades-while the roar of battle still sounded-to the rear, and they were thence taken to his home in Pittsburg. The day of his burial was a day of sadness throughout that great city. Everywhere were the emblems of mourning and the aspects of grief. A public calamity had indeed fallen-a calamity not bounded by a single city, or a single State, but which had touched the nation alike. Five swords were laid upon his coffin -- the tokens of the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens. One was the gift of his early associates in his native town of Franklin, as the memorial of his gallantry at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. Another the free offering of his old companions in arms, the Texan Rangers, who knew well how to measure a brave man. A third was presented by his own City Guards, through the lamented Colonel Childs, signalizing a mark of filial affection. The fourth-a costly piece of workmanship, as if to typify the greatness of his service-was from his fellow-citizens of Pittsburg. The fifth was his battle- sword, which he grasped in death. He went to his grave, having filled a full measure of usefulness. Few had devoted more signal ability to the service of the country. It is a proud satisfaction to take leave of him with that consciousness.
Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er, . Sleep the sleep that knows no breaking ; Dream of battle-fields no more; Days of danger, nights of waking.
OHN B. KOHLER, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Ninety-eighth regi- ment, was born in Philadelphia. He entered the service as Captain of Company A, on the 17th of August, 1861; was pro- moted to Major on the 26th of November, 1862, and to Lieu- tenant-Colonel on the 2d of July, 1863. In the Peninsula cam- paign, his command was warmly engaged at Williamsburg and Malvern Hill, in the latter battle severe loss having been sus- tained. It formed part of Wheaton's brigade, in the Sixth corps, in the Chancellorsville campaign, and at Salem Church the fighting was terrific, this regiment exhibiting the most heroic bearing. During the first days of the Wilderness, commencing on the 5th of May, 1864, it was steadily engaged, and in the progress of the battle, Colonel Ballier having assumed command
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of the brigade, Lieutenant-Colonel Kohler received that of the regiment. At four o'clock on the morning of the 11th, he was ordered to take his command upon the picket line in front of Spottsylvania Court-House, where the firing was incessant and the loss considerable. Until the command reached the front before Petersburg the fighting was of the most fearful character, in which it resolutely participated, losing heavily upon almost every field. Soon after crossing the James, the Sixth corps was sent to Washington to meet a heavy detachment of the rebel army under General Early. On its arrival at the capital it was placed immediately in Fort Stevens, where it was ordered to move out in front of the fort, in face of the enemy, and establish a picket line. The duty was a perilous one, but it was executed gallantly, though with severe loss, both Colonel Ballier and Licu- tenant-Colonel Kohler being wounded. From Washington the Sixth corps went to the Shenandoah Valley, where, under Sheri- dan, it participated in the brilliant campaign which followed. At Cedar Creek, on the 19th of October, near the close of that cam- paign, Colonel Kohler, while visiting the picket line as officer of the day, was killed.
HARLES AUGUST KNODERER, Colonel of the One Hundred and Sixty-eighth regiment, was born in the town of Emmen- dingen, in the Grand Duchy of Baden. He was first sent to a lyceum, and afterwards entered the Polytechnic School of Carls- ruhe, one of the most eminent of the schools of Europe, where he graduated with the first honors of his class. He was educated especially for a civil engineer, and immediately after completing his course, entered the service of his Government, by which he was employed in the correction of the channel of the River Rhine, and in constructing Government roads through the Black Forest. He was, however, an enthusiastic student of military science, and, while he was engaged in civil employments, so applied himself to its mastery in the intervals of labor as to be prepared to pass the examination required for an officer. He had likewise familiarized himself with the military history of modern Europe. In 1849 the revolutionary spirit was rife in Germany, and, abandoning his connection with the Government
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as an engineer, and his prospects as an officer in the service of the Grand Duke, he joined the patriots in their struggle for con- stitutional liberty, and served with Sigel in the short but unfor- tunate campaign in which their hopes were frustrated. With hundreds of others, who had taken part in the attempted revolu- tion, he fled from Europe and found in America a home and a country.
He came to Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1849, and in the follow- ing year was employed by the Schuylkill Navigation Company as Assistant Engineer, where he remained until September, 1861. At this time the Rebellion had attained to formidable proportions, and, desirous of aiding his adopted country in suppressing it, he entered the service as a Captain of Engineers, and during the brief campaign of General Fremont in Missouri, acted on the staff of General Sigel. At its close, he returned to Reading, and resumed his place in the employ of the Navigation Company. In the carly part of 1862, still desirous of devoting himself to the national cause, he became actively engaged in raising companies for a regiment in process of formation at Pittsburg, for service with General Sigel. He had a fair prospect of having his ranks filled, when the part of the enterprise being executed in Pitts- burg failed, and he was obliged to abandon it altogether.
When the enemy, soon after the battle of Second Bull Run, threatened to invade Pennsylvania, he responded to the call of the Governor for troops by enlisting as a private, and proceeded to Harrisburg, where he was elected Colonel of the Eleventh militia regiment, called out for the emergency. His knowledge and ability as a soldier were in constant requisition in drilling and organizing the raw recruits. The admirable manner in which he acquitted himself won the respect and confidence of all. The exigency having passed, the militia were disbanded. and Colonel Knoderer again returned to private life. But the value of his services to the country had been discovered, and when the camp was established at Reading for drafted men, Governor Curtin commissioned him Colonel, and placed him in command. Here, too, his superior knowledge and skill as a soldier were of great use, and when the One Hundred and Sixty- seventh regiment was organized he was chosen Colonel. He was
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