USA > Pennsylvania > Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 2 > Part 17
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MAJ. GEN. A.A. HUMPHREYS:
737 .
ANDREW A. HUMPHREYS.
had been gathered, and ghastly forms covered all the ground now drenched with gore. His troops were fresh levies, who had never been under fire. But in that hour of desperation they knew that they were led by a tried soldier, and obedient to his call they were borne onward in the face of a storm of shot and shell, over the prostrate forms of the unhappy victims of previous charges, up to the very muzzles of the enemy's guns; yet no valor was equal to that fearfully destructive fire, and his deci- mated columns were compelled to fall back. Where was ever a heroism that exceeded Humphreys' in this charge! He was doubtless as well convinced when he went in, as when, scourged and almost annihilated, he came out, that the attempt would be fruitless ; but obedient to an imperious mandate he went to the very verge of destruction, and did all that mortal could do to snatch victory and achieve a triumph, perilling life and limb without a murmur.
In the battle of Chancellorsville he again led his division where the conflict waged fiercest, and the fire was most destruc- tive. On that Sunday morning, the 3d of May, when the legions of Jackson were led on by his most resolute Lieutenants, with a desperation and determined courage rarely paralleled, they met Humphreys. But here, as at Fredericksburg, there were inherent defects in the plan and conduct of the battle, and the grandest exhibitions of valor counted for naught. At the close of this campaign his division was for the most part mustered out, its term of service having expired, and he was given a division in the Third corps. When General Meade came to the command of the army, he selected General Humphreys for his chief of staff, an office of honor and responsibility ; but being upon the point of fighting a great battle, he deferred making the change until the conflict was over, and Humphreys led his division at Gettys- burg. Few positions can be selected in all the great battle- grounds of the war more exposed or perilous than that on which he was called to stand on this field. But he took it, and held it manfully until ordered back ; and when the foe followed with des- peration and sought to throw him into rout, slowly and sullenly he went, turning often to deal swift destruction to his too san- guine pursuers.
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
After the close of this battle he assumed the duties of chief of staff, and remained in that position through the fall campaign in the Valley of Virginia, during the Wilderness campaign, and the siege of Petersburg, to November, 1864. He was then put in command of the Second corps, which he led with great skill and gallantry in the remaining operations before Petersburg, and in the pursuit and final triumph over Lee, particularly distinguish- ing himself at Sailor's Creek. He was brevetted Brigadier and Major-General in the regular army in 1865. On the 8th of August, 1866, he was made Chief of Engineers with the rank of Brigadier-General, which position he still holds. He is withal a man of literary tastes and accomplishments, is a member of several learned societies, and in 1861 published a memoir on the Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi River. In 1868 the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the corporation of Harvard University.
EORGE W. CULLUM, Brevet Major-General in the regular army, was born in the city of New York, on the 25th of February, 1809. When he was quite young the family removed to Meadville, Pennsylvania, where his boyhood was spent. He was educated at the Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated in the class of 1833. He entered the service as Brevet Second Lieutenant in the Engineer corps, was promoted to Sec- ond Lieutenant in 1836, and to Captain, in 1838. His life has been largely devoted to the construction of coast defences. His earliest work was upon the massive structure of Fort Adams, at Newport, Rhode Island. For a period of ten years, commencing in 1838, he superintended the erection of Fort Trumbull, and the battery at Fort Griswold, New London, Connecticut. During the last two of these years, he was also engaged upon Forts War- ren, Independence, and Winthrop, in Boston harbor. In 1848 he was Professor of Practical Military Engineering at West Point. where he continued until 1855, spending, in the meantime, two years in foreign travel for the benefit of his health, and super- intending the construction of the Assay Office in New York. Sub- sequently he was engaged upon the public works in North and South Carolina, including Fort Sumter, and in 1858 was placed
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GEORGE W. CULLUM .- ALFRED SULLY.
over the fortifications at New Bedford, Newport, New London, and Sound entrance to New York. At the opening of the Rebel- lion he was ordered to Washington, where he was assigned to the staff of General Scott, with the rank of Colonel. In Novem- ber, 1861, he was appointed Brigadier-General of volunteers, and Chief of staff and of Engineers to General Halleck, serving with that General in his campaign in the West, embracing the siege of Corinth. He was for a time in command at Cairo, Illinois. He served with Halleck in Washington while the latter was at the head of the army, and during almost the entire period of the war was a member of the United States Sanitary Commission. In September, 1864, he was appointed Superintendent of the Acad- emy at West Point, which position he held for two years. He was brevetted Major-General on the 13th of March, 1865. Gen- eral Cullum has been quite a voluminous writer on military sub- jects, having published a Register of the Military Academy in 1850, Military Bridges with India Rubber Pontoons in 1849, a translation of Duparcq's Elements of Military Art and History in 1863, and a Biographical Register of the Military Academy in two volumes in 1868. He is at present third in the Corps of Engineers, with the rank of Colonel.
LFRED SULLY, Brevet Major-General of volunteers, and Briga- dier-General in the regular army, was born in Philadel- phia, in 1821. He was the son of the eminent portrait painter, Thomas Sully. He was educated at West Point, graduating in 1841, and entered the service in July, as Second Lieutenant in the Second infantry. He served against the Seminoles in Florida, and in the Mexican war was at the siege of Vera Cruz, for which he was made First Lieutenant, and in February, 1852, was pro- moted to Captain. On the 4th of March, 1862, just previous to the departure of McClellan's army to the Peninsula, he was ap- pointed Colonel of the First Minnesota volunteers, and was soon after placed in command of a brigade, which he led throughout the Peninsula campaign, distinguishing himself at Fair Oaks, and receiving the brevet rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the regular service. He was also conspicuous at Malvern Hill, and was brevetted Colonel. In October, 1862, he was made Brigadier-
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
General of volunteers, having led his command at South Moun- tain and Antietam, and in the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, in all of which he acquitted himself with marked gallantry. In 1863, he was in command of a column in Dakota, where he remained for three years, having in the meantime carried on successful campaigns against the Indians in the North- west, distinguishing himself at the battle of Whitestone Hill. He was brevetted Brigadier-General in the regular army and Major- General of volunteers, for gallant and meritorious services. He was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the Third infantry in July, 1866, and in December, 1870, was assigned to duty with the Nineteenth infantry. In December, 1873, he was promoted to Colonel of the Twenty-first infantry, with which he is still serving.
THOMAS H. NEILL, Colonel of the Twenty-third regiment, Brevet Brigadier-General in the regular service, and Brevet Major-General of volunteers, was born at Philadelphia, on the 9th of April, 1826. He was the son of Henry Neill, M. D., and Martha (Rutter) Neill. He was educated in private schools in that city, and at the University of Pennsylvania, where he had passed to the Sophomore class when he was appointed a cadet at West Point, graduating in 1847. He entered the army as Second Lieutenant, and served in the Mexican War. Until 1853 he was on duty on the frontier in Arkansas, against Cherokee, Creek, and Indian nations, and in northwestern Texas. He was Assist- ant Professor of Drawing at West Point in 1856, and afterward served in Utah, on the Plains, and in winter campaigns against the Navajoes in New Mexico. As mustering officer at Philadel- phia, in 1861, he inducted more than 10,000 men into the United States service. During the three months' campaign he was Assistant Adjutant-General to General Cadwalader, in the column of General Patterson. At its close he organized a bat- talion of regulars from fragments of the First, Third and Eighth regiments, which had been captured and afterwards paroled, in Texas.
Upon the promotion of Colonel Birney to Brigadier-General, Neill was selected to succeed him as Colonel of the Twenty-third regiment. The first severe fighting in which he was engaged
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THOMAS H. NEILL.
was at Fair Oaks, on the 31st of May, 1862. At two in the afternoon, Neill was ordered to the support of Casey's hard- pressed troops, where he displayed a bravery that attracted the attention and won the applause of all. "Once more," says a correspondent of the New York Herald, "the woods were alive with fire. Gallant Colonel Neill, with the Twenty-third Penn- sylvania, was first into it, and by his presence kept up the spirit of his men. His fire had been reserved until the enemy were very near to him, and only six rounds had been discharged when his own men and the enemy were fairly face to face. Then he gave his men the word to charge, and went in ahead to show them how to do it. The enemy gave way and scattered before the Twenty-third; but now Neill had the fire of the foe upon his right and left, and began to suffer severely as he fell back to his place." Three color-bearers were stricken down, and Colonel Neill had his horse shot under him. At Malvern Hill he was thirteen hours upon the front line without relief, and ren- dered the most important service. "The left of the regiment," he says, "was in a trying position here. It overlapped a battery which was obliged to fire over our heads. Several men were lost by premature explosion of shells from our own guns. . . . The success of this day had a fine effect upon the men, as they had a better field in which to act than at Fair Oaks." In the Maryland campaign, and afterwards in the pursuit of the enemy towards Warrenton, he was temporarily in command of a brigade.
He was now made a full Brigadier-General, and was advanced to the permanent charge of a brigade, which he led in the Fred- cricksburg battle, in the storming of Marye's Heights in the Chancellorsville campaign, and at Salem Church, in which the duty was severe. After the battle of Gettysburg, where he was held upon an important part of the field in an important period in the battle, he was placed in command of a light division com- posed of McIntosh's brigade of cavalry, his own brigade of infantry, and Martin's battery, with which he was sent in pursuit of the retreating enemy, pushing him through Waynes- boro and across the Antietam to Hagerstown. In the battle of Rappahannock Station he led his own brigade, and, after
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
the fall of General Getty, succeeded to the command of his division. In the Wilderness, at Spottsylvania, the Bloody Angle, at the North Anna and Pamunky, at Cold Harbor and at Peters- burg, he was constant in his duty and ever ready to meet the foe. He went with the Sixth corps to the Shenandoah Valley in the summer of 1864, and fought under Sheridan in the battle of Winchester. Afterwards he was assigned to a command in General Hancock's First army corps, and was president of a board for the examination of officers for colored troops. He was also Recorder of a board for the examination of infantry officers in the regular army. He was in command of the regiment in the field at camp near Fort Hays, and at Fort Riley from December,-1871, to August, 1872. He is at present in command of a column directed against hostile Indians in Colorado.
FORGE SHORKLEY, Brevet Colonel of the Fifty-first regiment, was born at Scipio, Cayuga county, New York, on the 20th of May, 1837. His father, James Cushman Shorkley, was of Scotch and English origin, and his mother, Julia Annie (Thorn- ton) Shorkley, of English descent. Until the age of eighteen he remained with his parents acquiring a fair business education, after which he removed to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, to engage with his brothers in the manufacture of iron and agricultural implements, and was employed in this business until the opening of the Rebellion. He was active in recruiting, and on the 22d of September, 1861, was mustered as First Lieutenant of Com- pany H, of the Fifty-first.
The regiment was with Burnside in his expedition upon the North Carolina coast, and in the battles of Roanoke Island, New- bern, and Camden, Lieutenant Shorkley fought with his company, doing efficient service in each, this regiment being assigned prominent places, and acquitting itself, though on its first cam- paign, in a manner worthy of its gallant commander, Colonel John F. Hartranft. In the movement upon Camden, Lieutenant Shorkley acted as Adjutant of the regiment, and on the 6th of June, 1862, received his commission for that position. He was solicited by General Ferrero to become Assistant Adjutant-General to the brigade, but this position he declined, preferring to remain
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GEORGE SHORKLEY.
with his regiment. : At Bull Run, Chantilly, South Mountain, and Antietam, the command was put at the fore-front, proving itself, in the most trying emergencies, steadfast and true. In the battle of Antietam, it was this regiment which carried the celebrated Burnside Bridge, after repeated failures by other troops. Adjutant Shorkley in this desperate charge was fearless and intrepid, inspiring courage and daring by his example, exe- cuting the orders of Colonel Hartranft with fidelity, and actually leading the column upon the bridge, swept by the enemy's fire. In that terrible ordeal few escaped unscathed, and he was among the severely wounded, receiving a musket shot in the left arm. He was taken from the field, and sent for treatment, first to the Georgetown Seminary Hospital, and from thence to the General Hospital at Philadelphia, where he remained until the spring of 1863. Though still disqualified for field service, his arm requiring the use of a sling, he sought such duty as was suited to his condition, and was assigned as Aide-de-camp to General D. N. Couch, then commanding the Department of the Susquehanna, during the Gettysburg campaign. He was also in command of Camp Parole at West Chester.
In the meantime, the Ninth corps, in which was the Fifty- first regiment, had been sent to the Western armies, first to Kentucky, then to Grant, at that time pressing the siege of Vicksburg, and subsequently to Knoxville, East Tennessee, at which place Adjutant Shorkley rejoined it in November, 1863. Hartranft was now in command of the Second division of the Ninth corps, and with him Shorkley served as Acting Inspec- tor-General in the siege of Knoxville. Upon the reorganization of the corps, after its return to the Atlantic coast, he was ordered to duty as Acting Assistant Adjutant-General to General Hartranft, and in this capacity took part in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and of the Petersburg mine. In the latter he was severely wounded in the right hand, which he lost with the exception of the thumb. He was sufficiently recovered to return to duty in November, 1864, when he was desired to take the position which he had left, with the rank of Captain. But this he declined on account of the loss of his right hand, not having yet acquired the habit of writing well
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
with the left, and accepted instead the position of Assistant Inspector-General on the staff of General Hartranft, in command of a division of Pennsylvania troops.
In the brilliant engagement at Fort Steadman, on the 25th of March, 1865, Captain Shorkley was again severely wounded in the right thigh. While lying in the field hospital he was visited by the Commander of the Army of the Potomac, who complimented him for his gallant conduct, and gave him leave to proceed as soon as able to Georgetown Hospital for treatment.
As early as May, 1863, while serving in the Department of the Susquehanna, he had been commissioned Major, but not mustered. In April, 1864, he was commissioned Captain. And now, for gallant and meritorious services at Fort Steadman, he was brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel, and a month later Colonel, for long, faithful, and valuable services. Rejoining the division in April, he was ordered to duty as Acting Inspector-General of the Ninth corps, on the staff of General Parke, in which he remained until mustered out of the volunteer service with his regiment.
In February, 1866, he was appointed Second Lieutenant of the Fifteenth United States infantry, and was commissioned on the same date First Lieutenant. On the 2d of March, 1867, he was brevetted Captain in the regular army for " gallant" services at Antietam, and Major for "gallant and meritorious" services at Fort Steadman. In October following he was commissioned Cap- tain in the Fifteenth infantry. He first served as Acting Assist- ant Adjutant-General to Generals Shepherd and Hayden, com- manding in the District of Alabama, during 1867-'S, whence he proceeded to Texas with his regiment, and during parts of 1868-'9 was in command of the post at Clarksville. In September, 1869, he was placed in command of the post at Fort McRae, New Mex- ico, the nearest station occupied by any part of the army to the Southern Apache Indians, where he remained till 1872. He is at present with his company at Fort- Craig.
EVI MAISH, Colonel of the One Hundred and Thirtieth regi- ment, was born on the 22d of November, 1837, in Cone- wago township, York county, Pennsylvania. He was the son of David and Sallie (Nieman) Maish. He received a common-
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LEVI MAISH .- LEMUEL TODD.
school education, and in the York County Academy a higher English training, but made only indifferent progress in the ancient languages. When not at school, he was employed upon the farm until the age of seventeen. He then served an apprenticeship to a machinist, and remained two years, developing a decided taste for this business.
In July, 1862, he recruited a company for the service of the United States, and with it joined the One Hundred and Thirtieth regiment, of which he was soon after promoted to Lieutenant- Colonel. In the battle of Antietam, where his regiment, which had had hardly time to learn anything of its duty, was put into the fight upon the most hotly-contested part of the field, he received a shot in the right lung, which the surgeons were unable to extract, and which still remains in its lodgment. On the 14th of December, 1863, on the day after the fall of Colonel Zinn at Fredericksburg, he was promoted to Colonel, and led his regiment in the battle of Chancellorsville, where he received a slight wound in the right hip. The time of his command expired soon afterwards, and with it he was mustered out of service. He represented York county in the Legislature, in the sessions of 1867 and 1868.
EMUEL TODD, Major of the First Reserve regiment, was born on the 29th of July, 1817, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish descent. He was educated at Dickinson College, read law with General Samuel Alexander, and, on being admitted to the bar in 1841, formed a business partnership with his pre- ceptor. His tastes ran in the line of his profession and of politics, and he became noted for his effective oratory. In 1849 he mar- ried Miss Sarah A. Wilson, granddaughter of Captain David Wilson, of Adams county. Upon the call for troops, in 1861, he raised a company for the three months' service, but not being accepted, he held it for three years' duty, and it was incorporated in the First Reserve, of which he was made Major. He partici- pated with his command in the battle of Dranesville, in the Seven Days' battle upon the Peninsula, in the Second Bull Run, and Chantilly. At the end of this time he was obliged, on account of severe attacks of disease, to leave the field, and soon afterwards
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MARTIAL. DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
resigned. In the fall of 1862, and winter of 1863, under the appointment of Governor Curtin, with the rank of Colonel, he organized the drafted men of the eastern part of the State, in the camp at Philadelphia. He subsequently served on the staff of the Governor as Inspector-General, and in that capacity was- charged with the organization of the militia, and the formation of the State Guard. He was a member of the Thirty-fourth Congress, and is now serving in the Forty-third.
AVID WATSON ROWE, Lieutenant-Colonel of the One Hun- dred and Twenty-sixth regiment, was born at Greencastle, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of November, 1836. He was the son of John and Elizabeth (Prather) Rowe. His father was a member of the Legislature of Pennsylvania in 1853, was Surveyor-General of the State from 1856 to 1859, and was Speaker of the House during the period of the late war. His great-grandfather, James Watson, was an officer in the Revolu- tion, his commissions as Captain 'and Colonel bearing date July 8th, 1776, and July 1st, 1777. The son early manifested a taste for study, and graduated at Marshall College, after which he read law. He enlisted as a private in the Second regiment, and served through Patterson's campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, having been promoted to Sergeant-Major and First Lieutenant. When the One Hundred and. Twenty-sixth regiment was organized, he was selected as Lieutenant-Colonel. On the 5th of August, 1862, the day previous to his departure for the front, he was married to Miss Annie E. Fletcher. He was present at Antietam, but was held in reserve and not actively engaged. His regiment, in the battle of Fredericksburg, bore itself with great steadiness and courage, in the face of a most deadly fire. When the battle was at its height, and raging with great fury, Colonel Elder was wounded. The command then devolved upon Lieutenant-Colonel Rowe, under whose skilful leadership the struggle was maintained, and finally, when it was seen that the conflict was fruitless, and that further sacrifice, already fearful, was vain, he brought the remnants off, in obedience to commands, in good order. General Joseph Hooker was asked by the com- mittee which inquired respecting the conduct of the war,
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: D. WATSON ROWE.
" How did the men behave during the attack ?"
" They behaved well. There never was anything more glori- ous than the behavior of the men. No campaign in the world ever saw a more gallant advance than Humphreys' men made there. But they were put to do a work that no men could do."
Lieutenant-Colonel Rowe's command was of Humphreys' divi- sion, and this opinion was passed by a soldier who knew what gallantry meant, and in what consisted hard fighting. He was here wounded in the cheek by a rifle ball.
1. . On the field of Chancellorsville the conflict on the part of the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth was of a character not so des- perate as at Fredericksburg; for here the enemy was obliged to show himself, having nothing better behind which to take shelter than the dense wood and undergrowth. The enemy having turned the Union right, pressed upon the unprotected flank, occupied, for the time, by Tyler's brigade, to which Colonel Rowe's regiment belonged, and passing around to the rear, threatened it with capture. Thus outflanked the regiment was forced to retire, which it did in obedience to the commander of the brigade, but not until all the ammunition which the men carried had been exhausted, and that also had been gathered which could be found in the cartridge boxes of the dead and wounded lying near them. Lieutenant-Colonel Rowe was in chief command throughout this action, and of him General Tyler, in his report of the battle, says : "Colonel Rowe exhibited the true characteristics of a soldier-brave, cool, and determined; and his spirit was infused into every officer and soldier of his command."
After his return from the field at the expiration of his term, he resumed the practice of his profession, and in March, 1868, when only thirty-one years of age, was appointed by Governor Geary, President Judge of the sixteenth judicial district of Penn- sylvania, a position of great honor and responsibility, ever filled by men of learning and ability; and in the October following he was elected by the people to the same office for the term of ten years. In person he is full six feet in height, of a pallid and scholastic countenance, a piercing black eye, raven hair, and that urbane and dignified demeanor which stamps him as a man of mark.
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