USA > Pennsylvania > Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 2 > Part 21
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On the 9th of July, 1862, he was married to Miss Sarah Tolland, of Philadelphia. Since the close of the war he has been in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as General Manager of the canal and coal mining interests of that great corporation, refusing all propositions to engage in political life.
OBERT BRUCE RICKETTS, Captain of Battery F, First Pennsyl- vania Light Artillery, and Colonel, was born on the 29th of April, 1839, in Orangeville, Columbia county, Pennsylvania, of English and Scotch extraction. He was educated at the Wy- oming seminary near Wilkesbarre, and was engaged in the study of the law at the opening of the Rebellion. He entered the service on the 1st of May, 1861, as Acting Adjutant to Colonel Seiler, then in command of Camp Curtin. He assisted in recruiting Battery F, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant and shortly afterwards First Lieutenant. He went to the upper Potomac, where, in command of a section, he did excellent service under General Lander in opposing Stonewall Jackson, and subsequently participated in the operations in the Shenandoah Valley under General Banks. The battery was finally joined to McDowell's corps, and in Pope's campaign was efficient at Rappahannock bridge with Hartsuff's brigade, holding the enemy in check until the Union troops had all safely retired, and in the battle of Bull Run rendered the most eminent aid at critical periods of the fight. At Antietam it opened the battle, being posted near the Cornfield in front of the little church which marked the most sanguinary struggles of the field. After
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ROBERT B. RICKETTS.
this battle Captain Matthews retired on account of sickness, and Ricketts succeeded to the permanent command. At Fredericks- burg the guns were posted close in upon the river on the Falmouth side, where they were exposed to the fire of the encmy; but maintained their ground, and covered the retire- ment of the infantry. On the evening of Sunday, May 3d, it went into position on the front at Chancellorsville at close quarters. Ricketts was ordered to hold the ground at all hazards. Horses were sent to the rear, and grape and canister were piled at the muzzles of the guns. Late in the evening a violent attack was made upon them, but rapid discharges swept back the assailants. Attacks were repeated at intervals during the night, but their fire was too terrible to withstand, and the attempt to capture them was abandoned.
Captain Ricketts arrived on the Gettysburg field on the after- noon of the 2d of July, and wheeled his guns at once into posi- tion, opposite the Cemetery gate, relieving Cooper's battery. He was almost immediately engaged with the enemy's artillery on Benner's Hill, which was completely silenced in an incredibly short space of time. Cemetery Hill, where it stood, is a bold eminence, open to fire on all sides ; but Ricketts held it against every attack of the enemy's guns. Just as the shadows of evening were shutting in, the Louisiana Tigers-a powerful body of infantry, in perfect formation-shot forth from under a hill in the direction of the town, where they had been screened, and made a desperate rush for this position. The instant they came to view Ricketts turned his double-shotted guns upon them. Stevens, on the opposite knoll, likewise opened and the infantry along the entire line, so that the whole hill was ablaze. The rebel ranks were sensibly depleted; but stimulated with drink and the hope of victory they rushed on; they crossed the stone walls at the base of the hill ; they broke the lines of the infantry, and had fairly reached the guns of Ricketts. Utter destruction for the instant seemed imminent. But never for one moment did heart or hope fail his men, and with handspikes, rammers, and even stones they fought hand to hand over the pieces. Finally the brigade of Carroll from the Second corps came to his assistance, and the foe, broken and almost annihilated, was
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driven back. The battle scene, set as a frontispiece to this volume, represents the struggle at the culminating point, the combatants face to face among the guns, darkness already brooding over them, and the troops of Carroll arriving.
- Again, at Bristoe Station, on the 14th of October, 1863, was Ricketts brought into the place of peril, and by his steadiness and well-directed, rapid fire gained a signal advantage, contrib- uting largely to the victory there won, of which five guns and many prisoners were the fruits. In the spring campaign of 1864, Ricketts moved with the Second corps, and in the Wilder- ness did effective service, boldly pushing out to the extreme front, and in the shifting phases of the fight being left without support. One gun and a caisson fell into the enemy's hands; but they were shortly afterwards recovered. In all the subsequent opera- tions of the army until it reached Petersburg, and in the siege of that stronghold down to the final surrender, his battery was unremittingly engaged, proving itself among the most reliable and skilful.
On the 28th of June, 18.14, he was promoted to Major, and to Colonel on the 15th of March, 1865. He was also brevetted Lieu- tenant-Colonel and Colonel by the President. In the fall of 1864 Colonel Ricketts was advanced to the position of Acting Chief of Artillery of the Ninth army corps, and subsequently to that of Inspector of Artillery. After Lee's surrender he was Inspector of Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac. Since the war he has been largely engaged in the purchase and sale of mineral and timber lands.
ILLIAM WATTS HART DAVIS, Colonel of the One Hundred and Fourth regiment, and Brevet Brigadier-General, was born in Southampton, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on the 27th of July, 1820. He was the only son of John and Amy Davis. A maternal ancestor, John Hart, was a distinguished Quaker min- ister of Whitney, Oxfordshire, England, who settled in Byberry, Philadelphia county, in 1682. A paternal ancestor emigrated from Wales about 1725, and settled in Soleburg, Bucks county. His paternal grandfather, John Davis, served five years in the Revolutionary army as an officer; and in the battle of Brandy-
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WILLIAM W. H. DAVIS ..
wine, with the assistance of a soldier, bore General Lafayette off the field when wounded. His father, John Davis, was an officer in the War of 1812. His own tastes were martial, and as soon as he had completed the ordinary course of school instruction he entered the Military University at Norwich, Vermont, and grad- uated in 1842, receiving the degrees of Master of Arts and Master of Military Science. . Immediately afterwards he was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Drawing in the Military Academy at Portsmouth, Virginia. He resigned his position here in 1844, and having entered upon the study of law in the office of the late John Fox, was admitted to the bar in September, 1846. In the same month he entered the Law School of Harvard University, and while there enlisted as a private in the Massa- chusetts regiment for the Mexican War. He became First Lieu- tenant and afterwards Adjutant, and served to the end of the contest. The position of Major was offered him in the field, but he accepted instead the appointment of Aide-de-camp and Acting Assistant Adjutant-General on the staff of General Cushing, and was promoted to the rank of Captain.
Upon his return from Mexico, in 1848, he entered upon the practice of the law at Doylestown, the seat of his native county. In the fall of 1853 he was appointed, by President Pierce, United States District Attorney for New Mexico. He com- menced the journey across the plains in November, reaching Santa Fé early in December. In July, 1854, he was appointed Secretary of the Territory, and afterwards filled the offices of Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs. In the fall of 1857 he resigned, and returning to Pennsylvania purchased the Doylestown Democrat, in May, 1858, which he still owns and edits.
In April, 1861, he recruited the Doylestown Guards, which became a part of the Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania regiment, and which he commanded in Patterson's campaign. On returning home in August he recruited the One Hundred and Fourth, of which he was commissioned Colonel, and served for a period of three years, one year in the Army of the Potomac, covering the campaign upon the Peninsula, and afterwards in the south, commanding at various times brigades in the Fourth, Tenth, and
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Eighteenth corps. During the winter of 1864 he commanded all the United States forces on Morris Island, South Carolina, operating against Charleston. He was shot in the left elbow by a rifle ball and struck by a spent musket ball in the left breast at Fair Oaks, and had his right hand torn to pieces at the last attack on Charleston in July, 1864. He was brevetted Brigadier- General for " meritorious services " during the siege of Charleston. On being mustered out on the 1st of October, 1864, he returned to Doylestown, where he now resides. In 1865, General Davis was the Democratic candidate for Auditor-General of Pennsyl- vania. He was married in 1856 to Miss Anna Carpenter, of Brooklyn, New York, and made a bridal tour across the great plains, a thousand miles, to Santa Fé. In stature he is above the medium height, and capable of great physical endurance.
HARLES MALLET PREVOST, Colonel of the One Hundred and Eighteenth regiment, Brevet Brigadier-General of volun- teers, and Major-General of the National Guard of Pennsyl- vania, was born in Baltimore on the 19th of September, 1818. His mother was the daughter of one of the most eminent physi- cians of that city. His paternal descent is from an old Huguenot family which was compelled to leave France upon the revocation of the edict of Nantes. One branch chose England as an asylum, and from that descended the Sir George Prevost who commanded the British forces in Canada and South Carolina during the Revolutionary war. Another went to Geneva, Switzerland, and from this was the American branch descended, in which were many distinguished literary and military men. Charles M. from youth manifested a deep interest in everything pertaining to military life. For several years he was on the staff of his father, General A. M. Prevost, of Philadelphia.
Upon the breaking out of the Rebellion, he assisted in the formation of the First regiment, Grey Reserves, taking the posi- tion of Captain of Company C. He was subsequently appointed Assistant Adjutant-General of volunteers on the staff of General F. E. Patterson, and went through the Peninsula campaign, par- ticipating in the battles of Yorktown, Williamsburg, and the Seven Days' battle, down to Harrison's Landing, whence, entirely
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CHARLES M. PREVOST.
prostrated by the fever then prevailing, he was ordered home. During his convalescence he was selected by the Corn Exchange Association to command the One Hundred and Eighteenth regi- ment, which had been recruited under its auspices. He led it to the field and was present in the battle of Antietam, and two days after was ordered to cross the Potomac to feel the enemy. He was scarcely over when the rebels from an ambuscade came out in large numbers, and a severe engagement ensued. Left without supports, this single regiment was subjected to a wither- ing fire. The position which it occupied was all exposed, and it was nearly surrounded by a greatly superior force. Colonel Prevost had ordered a company on the right to change front to meet an attack upon his flank, when the remaining com- panies, understanding that an order to retreat had been given, commenced to fall back. Seeing that the colors were being borne away, Colonel Prevost instantly seized them and ran to the front to rally his men. He succeeded in stopping their flight, and saving the honor of his command ; but made himself a conspicu- ous mark for the enemy's bullets. With the colors still in his hand, while encouraging his men, and by his personal heroism inspiring them with his spirit, he was struck in the shoulder by a Minie ball which inflicted a severe and painful wound. The regiment effected a recrossing with much difficulty, and nothing but the coolness and courage of its officers saved it from annihila- tion. Out of a total number of 700 men, 280 were either killed, wounded or missing. The brevet rank of Brigadier-General was conferred upon him after this action. For many months he was confined to his bed, enduring intense suffering. He, however, returned to the field in time to assume command of his regiment in the Chancellorsville campaign, after which he was placed in charge of the camp established at Harrisburg, for the organiza- tion of the Veteran Reserve corps. Finding that the state of his health would not permit of active service in the field, he entered that corps as Colonel of the Sixteenth regiment, in October, 1863, where he served till the close of the war. He was mustered out in June, 1865, with a reputation for bravery and military skill equalled only by the high character he had previously acquired, and has since maintained, as a citizen.
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MARTIAL. DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
ILLIAM EMILE DOSTER, Colonel of the Fourth cavalry, and Brevet Brigadier-General, was born on the Sth of Jan- uary, 1837, at the Moravian town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Ilis father, Lewis Doster, a native of Swabia, Germany, served a campaign against the first Napoleon, and emigrated to America with his father, Doctor Daniel Doster, in 1817, when but twenty years of age. His mother, Pauline Louise (Eggert) Doster, was the daughter of Matthew Eggert, at one time Vorsteher of the Brethren's House, and granddaughter of Adam Rupert, a soldier of the Revolution. He attended the Moravian school until the age of fourteen, and after a careful preparatory training entered the Sophomore class of Yale College, graduating in 1857. In 1859 he graduated as LL.B. at the Harvard Law School. In 1860 he matriculated as student of civil law, in the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and heard lectures on the Code Napo- leon at Paris. Upon his return home he read with ex-Governor Andrew II. Reeder, at Easton, and was admitted to practice at the Northampton county bar. Aside from fencing and riding, taught in the European universities, he had no military train- ing. His youthful tastes were for drawing and painting; but being the seventh son, as his grandfather had been before him, he appeared destined to the profession of medicine, for which, how- ever, he had no liking.
When the war broke out he was in the office of S. Van Sant, of Philadelphia; but putting aside briefs and black letter-books, he responded to the President's call, and recruited a company of cavalry, which, not being wanted for that arm, was turned over to Colonel Baker's infantry regiment. He then raised another for Harlan's Light cavalry, of which he was made Captain, his muster bearing date of August 15th, 1861. A few weeks later this company was transferred to the Fourth Pennsylvania. On the 28th of October he was promoted to Major, and a little more than a month later was detailed with a squadron to act as body- guard to General Keyes. Towards the close of February, 1862, he was placed in command of the mounted provost guard of Washington City. At the departure of. Mcclellan for the Penin- sula, and the appointment of General James S. Wadsworth as Military Governor of the District, Colonel Doster was selected for
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WILLIAM E. DOSTER.
Provost Marshal. This gave him command, by detachment, of four infantry and one cavalry regiment, together with the flotilla under Harwood cruising upon the Chesapeake.
. In.October, 1862, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant- Colonel, but continued at his post as Provost Marshal. Just previous to the opening of the spring campaign of 1863, he ap- plied for an order to return to his regiment, which was granted, and was coupled with a recommendation from General Wads- worth to President Lincoln, for his appointment as Brigadier- General. On rejoining his regiment he assumed command, and led it during the Chancellorsville and Gettysburg campaigns. He had his horse shot under him at Ely's Ford, and in a charge which he led at Upperville was taken prisoner, but succeeded in less than an hour, by striking down his guard, in freeing him- self, and returning to his command. At Gettysburg he was ordered to report with his regiment to General Pleasanton, at General Meade's head-quarters, and was posted on the afternoon of the second day, during the artillery fire, to support a battery on Cemetery Ridge. In the evening he was ordered to picket duty on the left flank, and established a line in front of the infantry at eleven o'clock that night. On the 5th he was ordered to advance through Gettysburg in pursuit of the enemy. Tear- ing aside the barricades which obstructed the way, he pushed on as far as Stevens' Furnace, where he engaged the rebel rear guard. By the evening of the 6th he had reached Marion, near Green Castle, where he struck Fitz Hugh Lee's cavalry. After a severe action brought on by reconnoitring towards Winchester, he led his regiment back to the Rappahannock, where he was prostrated by typhoid fever. The disease appearing to be of a lingering type, he sent in his resignation, which was accepted. Ile was appointed, soon after, Colonel of the Fifth Pennsylvania cavalry, but never joined it. He was subsequently brevetted Brigadier- General.
For a short time he practised his profession in the city of Washington, and at the trial of the conspirators against the life of the President, he was appointed, by Judge-Advocate-Generals Holt and Bingham, to defend Payne and Atzerodt, two of the boldest of the number. Soon after the close of the war he re-
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turned to Northampton county and resumed the practice of the law at Easton, residing at Bethlehem, and has held the office of Register in Bankruptcy for the eleventh Congressional district. He was married on the 15th of August, 1867, to Evelyn A. De- pew, daughter of Edward A. Depew, of Easton.
IDEON CLARK, Colonel of the One Hundred and Nineteenth regiment, and Brevet Brigadier-General, was born on the 19th of June, 1822, at Philadelphia. He was the son of Thomas and Hannah (Walker) Clark. His father was a native of Mary- land. He was educated in the private schools of the city, and in youth was employed in the business of engraving. In the spring of 1843 he joined a militia organization, known as the Philadelphia Grays, in which he served for a period of eighteen years, and as a member of that body assisted to quell the riots of 1844. He was married on the 1st of September, 1850, to Miss Louisa D. Guirey, of Philadelphia.
At the opening of the Rebellion, he had been for two years First Lieutenant of the Grays, and immediately commenced re- cruiting his company for the First regiment of artillery, which became the Seventeenth infantry for three months, and of which he was appointed Adjutant. After having completed his term of service, he was, upon the organization of the One Hundred and Nineteenth, appointed and commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel. Few operations in the course of the late war were more heroically conducted or more brilliant in their results than the battle of Rappahannock Station. The enemy was well posted and shel- tered by strong works supplied with artillery, and in ample force. Against this the Union troops, consisting of a part of Russell's division, were led, and it was carried at the point of the bayonet, nearly the entire garrison, with guns, small arms, and battle flags, being captured. In this triumphant action Lieutenant-Colonel Clark commanded the One Hundred and Nineteenth, which was part of the brigade that led the storming force.
At Locust Grove, Mine Run, and Spottsylvania, he participated and was conspicuous for gallantry. In the action at Cold Harbor he was in command of a brigade, and by his skilful management won the warm commendation of that heroic but unfortunate
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GIDEON CLARK .- SAMUEL M. ZULICK.
soldier, General David A. Russell. He was likewise commended by General Wheaton for the successful manner in which he with- drew the division picket-line from the face of the enemy, after having been out until half past two on the morning of the 7th of February, 1865. On the 13th of March following he was brevetted Colonel by the President, and on the 25th of that month was slightly wounded in the right forearm, in the action before Petersburg. In storming the enemy's works on the 2d of April, he was seriously wounded by a musket ball in the right leg, losing a considerable portion of the tibia. An operation was performed for its removal in the field hospital, by Dr. Philip Leidy, Surgeon of the regiment. He was then transferred to City Point, and afterwards to the general hospital in Philadel- phia, where he remained until the final muster out of his regi- ment. On the 19th of June he was promoted to Colonel, and was appointed Brevet Brigadier-General, by the President, to rank from the 13th of March, for gallant and meritorious conduct and services performed in storming the works of the enemy in front of Petersburg, on the 2d of April. General Clark has held the office of Master Warden for the Port of Philadelphia. In the fall of 1873 he was elected to the office of Register of Wills for that city.
AMUEL M. ZULICK, who, from the position of a private soldier, attained to the rank of Brevet Brigadier-General, was born at Easton, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, on the 1st of March, 1824. His father, Anthony Zulick, was a native of Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany. His mother, Jane Cummings, was a native of Philadelphia. He was educated at Easton, re- ceiving a classical training, and was graduated at the Jefferson Medical College, on the 20th of March, 1844.
On the 15th of May, 1861, scarcely a month from the time the rebels fired the first gun upon Fort Sumter, he was mustered into the service of the United States, and from that time until John- ston surrendered to Sherman in North Carolina he was at the post of duty, ascending through the various grades of honor in his regiment, and in every position winning the favor and com- mendation of his superiors. Upon the organization of troops for
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the three years' service he was active, and was chosen Captain of Company E of the Twenty-ninth regiment. In this position he participated in the battles of Winchester, Edenburg, Front Royal, Second Winchester, Cedar Mountain, and Antietam.
.On the 3d of March, 1863, Captain Zulick was promoted to the rank of Major, a well-earned advancement. In the battle of: Chancellorsville the regiment did excellent service, and when the army recrossed the Rappahannock, the post of honor and of danger, that of covering the rear, was assigned to it. Immediately after this battle Major Zulick was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, to date from the first day on that bloody field. At Gettysburg his regiment was subjected to a fiery ordeal. It stood in the forest, on Culp's Hill, where the enemy delivered desperate assaults, with a courage and pertinacity inspired by the hope of turning the right of the Union army. General Ewell had staked everything on accomplishing this. But the living valor which he met turned him from his purpose, and with dead covering all that dark forest ground, he retired before the steady fire of the Twelfth corps, leaving it master of the field, and of the key to the whole battle ground.
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With the Twelfth corps the Twenty-ninth regiment was trans- ferred to the western army, with which Lieutenant-Colonel Zulick participated in the battles of Wauhatchie, Lookout Moun- tain, and Missionary Ridge, brilliant feats of arms, which. gave the united army under General Grant command of the avenues to his base, now well-nigh cut off. Colonel Zulick's regiment was the first to reenlist, and while he was away upon the veteran furlough given troops who thus showed their devotion, he was assigned, by special order of the War Department, to duty at Camp Cadwalader, in mustering veteran and drafted troops. On the 6th of July he was relieved from this duty, and imme- diately rejoined his regiment, now with Sherman in his great campaign, and assuming command took part in the battles of Chattahoochee River, Peach Tree Creek, and Atlanta, the objec- tive for the attainment of which myriads on either side had laid down their lives, and which the unscathed veterans were per- mitted in triumph to enter.
The March to the Sea followed close upon this long and
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THOMAS A. ROWLEY.
desperately contested campaign. At Milledgeville and Savannah, Colonel Zulick led his command, in a manner worthy of the highest praise. The affairs at Bentonville, Goldsboro, and Raleigh followed in succession, and after the surrender of the Confederate armies, Colonel Zulick marched with the Union forces to Washington, where he received his final discharge, but not until a grateful country had conferred upon him the com- mission of Colonel and Brevet Brigadier-General.
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