USA > Pennsylvania > Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 2 > Part 28
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He had recovered from his wound sufficiently, as he deemed, though contrary to the advice of his surgeon, to take the field before the opening of the Wilderness campaign in 1864, and on the morning of the first day was engaged with Ewell's corps with heavy loss and varying success, and in the afternoon made a strong attack upon the left flank of Hill's corps with triumphant issue, doubling his left wing back upon his centre, and opening a communication with the Pennsylvania Reserves, who had been completely cut off. On the following morning the division advanced and occupied the Plank Road. While this movement was in progress the wound which he had received at Gettysburg was reopened by the fall of his horse, and so serious was the hurt that he was unable again to take the field. In September he received the brevet rank of Brigadier-General " for gallant ser- vices throughout the war, and especially at Gettysburg."
General Stone was married in August, 1862, to Miss Mary E. Marker, of Pittsburg. In person he is five feet nine inches in height, with a face peculiarly noble and attractive. Though not bred a soldier he developed some of the highest qualities of the profession-a quick appreciation of the situation when in face of the enemy, and accurate judgment of the best to be done to meet him successfully, unquestioned courage, and a devotion that no danger could cool or suffering dampen. Since the close of the war he has been engaged in active pursuits in the great lumber regions along the waters of the Allegheny,
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HECTOR TYNDALE.
whence came the men who, as Bucktails, made for themselves and their leader a world-wide reputation.
ECTOR TYNDALE, Brigadier and Brevet Major-General, was born on the 24th of March, 1821, in Philadelphia. His father, Robinson Tyndale, a lineal descendant of the translator of the Bible, the martyr William Tyndale, was a native of Ireland. His mother, Sarah Thorne, was born in Philadelphia, of a New Jersey family belonging to the Society of Friends. He was offered the appointment to West Point, which at the solicitation of his mother he declined. He was married in 1842 to Miss Julia Nowlen, a sister of Major Garrett Nowlen, who fell at Reams' Station. In 1845 he accompanied an expedition upon the plains commanded by Major E. V. Sumner, of the First dragoons. He was a member of the Washington Grays, and afterwards Captain of the Cadwalader Grays. In politics he identified himself with the Free Soil party. When the war opened he was absent on a business engagement in Europe, but relinquished it, and returning, tendered his services to the Gov- ernment. He was commissioned Major of the Twenty-eighth and raised a battalion of five companies additional to the ten regu- larly required, a privilege granted at his solicitation ; and partici- pated in guarding the Potomac below Point of Rocks, coming often into collision with the partisan chieftain Moseby. In the spring he advanced into Virginia, and having occupied Harper's Ferry and Leesburg, drove the enemy from the passes of the Blue Ridge, and upon the advance of Jackson, by a daring recon- noissance discovered and reported to General Banks the purposes of the rebel leader. Soon afterwards he was promoted to Lieu- tenant-Colonel, and was employed in constant and arduous duty before Washington.
In the battle of Cedar Mountain Colonel Tyndale was in com- mand of the regiment, as he had been for a considerable time previous, and was ordered to retake and hold Thoroughfare Mountain, from which the Union signal officers had been driven. This he accomplished, and during the battle guarded the right wing. In the retreat of Pope's army he was of the rear guard, participating with Bohlen's brigade in the action at Freeman's
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Ford, and supporting the artillery at Warrenton Sulphur Springs. The trains were cumbersome, but they were brought safely in to Kettle Run, where it was found that the enemy had broken the bridge. By direct order of General Pope his regiment was detailed to destroy the immense trains there stopped. While the army was retiring from Centreville Colonel Tyndale, with a small force in addition to his own command, was turned back to hold the bridges over Bull Run, satisfactorily executing the trust.
On the Sth of September he succeeded to the command of the brigade, the First of the Second division, Twelfth corps, which he led in the battle of Antietam. He was early ordered into action, and for full seven hours combated the foe. Thrice the enemy charged but was as often hurled back, an entire battery and seven battle flags being captured, an achievement rarely par- alleled. In one of these charges, seeing a regiment waver, all the color-guard fallen, he himself seized the colors and, cap in hand, led it to victory. At two p. M. his brigade was forced back. While rallying and forming his command he was struck in the head by a musket ball, and his supposed dead body was dragged from the field. The resolute courage, conspicuous gallantry, self- possession and judgment shown in this battle, and previously, were recognized by his promotion to the rank of Brigadier- General.
Not until June, 1863, was he able to resume his place in the field, when he was ordered to duty with General Dix at Fortress Monroe. After commanding a brigade for a time here he was sent to the aid of Meade, joining the army just previous to the escape of Lee across the Potomac in his retreat from the battle of Gettysburg. With the Eleventh and Twelfth corps he went west to the support of Thomas at Chattanooga, and on the night of the 28th of October, when Geary was attacked by Longstreet at Wauhatchie, Tyndale, who was commanding a brigade of the Eleventh corps and who was just in advance, moved rapidly to the assistance of the hard-pressed division. When near Geary's position he encountered the rebels in considerable force, and with Colonel Smith's brigade routed them and gained a hill which threatened their way of retreat. Discovering this movement upon his rear, the foe quickly made dispositions to retire his
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Nector Lyndale
BREVET MAJOR GENERAL U S VOLUNTEERS
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GEORGE W. MERRICK.
whole force, giving up the contest. General Tyndale was also engaged in the glorious battle fought a month later, when Grant, with Sherman, Thomas, and Hooker as his lieutenants, swept the enemy from the fastnesses of Missionary Ridge, and at its con- clusion was hurried away with Sherman to the relief of Burn- side shut up in Knoxville and nearly perishing with hunger, enduring in the march at this wintry season immense suffering and hardship.
Before the opening of the spring campaign of 1864 General Tyndale, now in command of Schurz's division, was ordered by General Thomas to organize a body of loyal refugees, who had come in from Alabama, into a cavalry regiment. In the mean- time the Eleventh and Twelfth corps were merged in one and designated the Twentieth, to the command of the Third brigade, First division of which, he was assigned. But disease contracted in the service had taken fast hold of him, and for days together he was unable to rise from his bed. His sickness proving pro- tracted, and unwilling to stand in the way of promotion of other deserving officers, in August, 1864, he resigned. In March, 1865, he was brevetted Major-General, for "gallant and meritorious services during the war." In stature General Tyndale is above the medium height, of fair complexion, and of commanding pres- ence. His intellect has been improved by study, travel and the association with distinguished artists, literary, scientific, and public men, and his tastes are pure and cultivated. He is a member of the American Philosophical Society, and the Philadel- phia Academy of Sciences. As an officer he was a rigid disci- plinarian, but most kind and watchful for the comfort and safety of his command, being ever solicitous "for wisdom to see and strength to do his duty."
EORGE W. MERRICK, son of Israel and Julia Merrick, was born at Wellsboro, on the 27th of March. 183S. He was made Sergeant of Company H, Sixth regiment of the Pennsyl- vania Reserve corps, upon its formation, and served with it in the battle of Dranesville, upon the Peninsula, and in the Second battle of Bull Run, where the entire command was subjected to hard marching and the most desperate fighting. Sergeant Mer-
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
rick was at the time of the latter battle on the sick-list, but kept his place, and marched and fought with the rest. For seventy- four hours he was without rations, and the suffering endured would have overborne a inan less resolute. Finally broken by exposure and privation, in December, 1862, he was discharged on a surgeon's certificate. He returned to the service as Captain in a six months' battalion, and subsequently became Major of the One Hundred and Eighty-seventh. In the desperate action on the 18th of June, 1864, at Cold Harbor, Major Merrick was in command of his regiment, and while leading it with the most determined bravery, was struck by a Minie ball just below the right knee, which fractured the bone and lodged in the
knee-joint. He was carried from the field, and amputation was found to be unavoidable. This closed his military career. He is described by his associates as one of the bravest of the brave, and in his personal bearing the pattern of a gentleman and a soldier. He was married in 1866 to Miss Ione Butterworth, a niece of the late David Wilmot. Since the war he has studied law, and is in successful practice in his native place.
HOMAS ELLWOOD ROSE, Colonel of the Seventy-seventh regi- ment, and Brevet Brigadier-General, was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of March, 1827. He re- ceived a good education in the academies and schools of the county under the instruction of his father, evincing an aptness for mathematics, and an especial fondness for military history and geography, having at an early age read the accounts of many celebrated battles, and made a record of the character of ground on which they were fought, contiguity to streams, forests or towns, and the number, discipline, and dress of the troops. In the three months' service he was a private in the Twelfth regiment. and at its close recruited a company for the Seventy-seventh, of which he was Captain. It was sent west to the Army of the Cumberland, and was the only Pennsylvania regiment which participated in the battle of Shiloh. In the early part of the battle of Stone River, fought on the last day of 1862, Lieutenant- Colonel Housum, the leader of the regiment, was killed, and the command devolved upon Captain Rose. The enemy had suc-
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THOMAS E. ROSE.
ceeded, by a desperate assault on the Union right, in crushing it and forcing it back. Captain Rose, in the midst of the disorder incident to the disaster, and the fall of the regimental leader, held his men well in hand, and did the most efficient service. His gallantry secured him immediate promotion to Colonel.
In the action at Liberty Gap, the brigade commander having fallen, Colonel Rose led it to the close of the engagement. The action was stubborn and protracted, but the valor of the Union troops finally triumphed. Colonel Rose won fresh laurels by the good judgment and bravery here displayed. At Chicka- mauga his regiment, with the Seventy-ninth Illinois, was posted upon an important position, but isolated from the main line. They were attacked by overwhelming numbers, and though making a gallant resistance, and for a long time repelling every fresh onset, were finally overpowered, and Colonel Rose with many of his officers and men fell into the enemy's hands. He was taken to Libby Prison, where he soon formed a plan for tunnelling out, and organized a working party. After seventeen days of the most severe labor a way of egress was opened and numbers escaped. Colonel Rose made his way with great difficulty, and numerous hairbreadth escapes, to the Union lines, near Yorktown, but while within sight and about to enter them was captured and taken back to Libby. For a time he was placed in close confinement, but was finally exchanged and returned to his regiment, now with Sherman on his famous At- lanta campaign. It was at Ackworth, on the 6th of June, 1864, that he resumed command. On the 26th, in the fierce fighting at Kenesaw Mountain, he was wounded. The assault proved disastrous to the Union forces, and the movement by the flank was again resorted to, which eventually, after much hard fighting and severe losses, carried Sherman into Atlanta.
In the separation of the army, which subsequently took place, Colonel Rose proceeded with the Fourth corps, under Thomas, to Nashville. In the action at Franklin, and shortly afterwards in front of Nashville, he bore a conspicuous part, having his horse killed under him in the latter engagement. In the reorganization of the forces after this battle Colonel Rose was assigned to the command of a brigade. When the rebel
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
armies in the East were finally overcome, he was ordered with other troops to Texas. In June, 1865, he was made a Brigadier- General by brevet. He continued in the service to the close of the year, when he returned and was mustered out with his regiment.
AMES TEARNEY, Colonel of the Eighty-seventh regiment, was born at Lancaster on the 9th of October, 1836. He served as a private in the First regiment. At the end of its term he enlisted in the Eighty-seventh, in which he was made a Sergeant. He served in the campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley under Gen- erals Kelly and Milroy. When returning from veteran furlough in the spring of 1864, and while approaching the front, the troops being under the command of Sergeant Tearney, they were brought into action unexpectedly, before reaching their regiment, by the sudden attack of Ewell's corps. When Early made his advance upon Washington in July, 1864, the Eighty-seventh was in that portion of the Sixth corps sent to Maryland to meet him. At Monocacy a bloody battle ensued, in which the Union troops, vastly outnumbered, were forced to retire. The regiment here suffered unprecedented loss. It was also in the division which made the attack upon Early's front on the memorable morning of the 19th of September at Opequon. Here Captain Tearney was wounded in the thigh. The Eighty-seventh was now composed only of veterans and recruits, which were consolidated into a bat- talion of five companies. A month later, at Cedar Creek, Captain Edgar M. Ruhl, who led the battalion, was instantly killed, and
many of his men were lost. In December, 1864, Captain Tearney took command. Before the spring campaign opened five new com- panies were added, bringing it up to the full strength of a regi- ment. In the final assault upon Petersburg he led his command, mostly raw recruits, over two lines of old troops, and with his own hands planted the first regimental flag of the brigade on the enemy's works. For the valor here displayed, he was given the rank of Brevet Major. At Sailor's Creek he again made proof of his ability as a soldier, and was soon after commissioned Colonel. He was mustered out of the service with his regiment on the 29th of June, 1865.
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JAMES TEARNEY .- AMOR W. WAKEFIELD.
MOR WILLIAM WAKEFIELD was born in Mifflin county, on the 30th of August, 1829. He was educated at the Lewis- town and Tuscarora Academies. He served in the ranks of the Seventh regiment for three months, and upon the organization of the Forty-ninth was commissioned a First Lieutenant, and soon afterwards Captain. The regiment did excellent service in the battle of Williamsburg. During the entire Peninsula campaign Captain Wakefield was exposed with his command to the perils and hardships of the field. In the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, the Forty-ninth participated, but was for the most part held in positions where it was exposed to a hot fire without the opportunity of return- ing it. In the action at Rappahannock Station, on the 7th of November, 1863, a feat was executed which will always reflect the greatest honor upon the troops engaged. The enemy occupied an intrenched position of great strength, defended by artillery. It was stormed and carried, at the point of the bayonet, by Rus- sell's brigade, of which the Forty-ninth formed a part. The enemy had a bridge at his back; but so sudden was the attack, and so terrible the fire poured upon its approaches, that scarcely one escaped.
To the time of the action before Spottsylvania Court House, on the 10th of May, 1864, the casualties in the command had been comparatively light. But on the evening of that day, in a charge which lasted but a few minutes, greater losses were sustained than in all the three years of its previous experience. Sixty five were killed, including the Colonel and Lieutenant- Colonel, and one hundred and ninety-five wounded and missing. Captain Wakefield came forth from the fearful ordeal unscathed. At Cold Harbor the fighting was desperate, and here he was less fortunate, receiving a severe wound. In June he was promoted to the rank of Major, and subsequently to that of Colonel. After a service of over four years, he was mustered out at the expira- tion of his term. General Irwin, the original commander of the regiment, thus speaks of him : "At Cold Harbor and Spottsyl- vania he highly distinguished himself in command of the regi- ment, and won the praise of General David A. Russell, one of the best soldiers in the army. I considered Colonel Wakefield an
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
admirable soldier, patient, courageous, strict in discipline, but utterly without cruelty, remarkably kind and generous, though firm and faithful in duty. He possessed at all times my entire confidence, and was as free from envy and malice as the human heart can be. His career in the army reflects honor on his native State. He is indeed a worthy son of Pennsylvania."
ENNIS HEENAN, Colonel of the One Hundred and Sixteenth regiment, was born at Barris O'Kane, Tipperary county, Ireland, on the 18th of April, 1818. His father owned and cul- tivated a large and well-stocked farm, where the son passed his boyhood and received his education. In 1843 he emigrated to this country, and settled in Philadelphia.
He enlisted for the Mexican War, but his company was not accepted. He served in the militia as Lieutenant, Captain, and Lieutenant-Colonel, in which capacity he acted in the three months' campaign. Returning to Philadelphia, he commenced recruiting a veteran regiment, and in September, 1862, was commissioned Colonel of the One Hundred and Sixteenth. At the battle of Fredericksburg he received a painful wound in the hand. The bones were broken, and the limb was lacerated in a fearful manner. After having his wound dressed he went again upon the field, and brought off the flag of the regiment, when the ground was found to be untenable. He was highly com- mended by both Generals Meagher and Sigel. On account of the great losses of the regiment it was consolidated in a battalion of five companies, and not being entitled to an officer of his rank he was mustered out of service and honorably discharged.
DWARD JAY ALLEN, Colonel of the One Hundred and Fifty- fifth regiment, was born on the 27th of April, 1830, in the city of New York. He was the son of Edward and Amelia (Bindley) Allen, both of English descent. He was a lover of books and received a good English education in the schools of Pittsburg, whither his parents had removed, and a classical train- ing at Duquesne College. He was married in 1857 to Miss Elizabeth W. Robison. His first military duty was as a vol- unteer aid to General Fremont, at the battle of Lewisburg, Vir-
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DENNIS HEENAN .- EDWARD J. ALLEN.
ginia, May 25th, 1862. He continued with that officer through- out the campaign, and at Stone Run volunteered with a detail of twenty men to repair the road and bridges destroyed by Stone- wall Jackson, executing the hazardous duty in advance of the Union skirmishers, and under the fire of the enemy's rear guard. On approaching the Shenandoah River he again volunteered to aid in getting the pontoons across the north fork, which he did under fire. He took part in the battles of Winchester, Mount Jackson, and Cross Keys where he won the commendation of his General. A new regiment that had been recruited at Pitts- burg towards the close of the summer of 1862 was organized in September, and he was selected its Colonel.
Soon after taking the field the battle of Fredericksburg was fought, and he was put upon the fore front. He was of the division of the intrepid General Humphreys, one of the last to go forward in the desperate struggle to break the enemy's line. " When the fire of the artillery ceased," says General Hooker, " I gave directions for the enemy's works to be assaulted. General Humphreys' men took off their knapsacks, overcoats, and haver- sacks. They were ordered to make their assault with empty muskets, for there was no time then to load and fire. When the word was given, the men moved forward with great impetuosity. They ran and hurrahed, and I was encouraged by the great good feeling that pervaded them. The head of Humphreys' column moved to within perhaps fifteen or twenty yards of the stone wall which was the advanced position held by the rebels, and then they were thrown back, as quickly as they had approached. They left behind, as was reported to me, seventeen hundred and sixty, out of four thousand." In the midst of the operations on the enemy's front, the command of the brigade devolved upon Colonel Allen, who won by his gallantry the earnest praise of General Humphreys. Soon after the close of this campaign he was prostrated by a rheumatic attack, and though he remained nominally at the head of the regiment until after the battle of Gettysburg, he performed no further field duty, and on the 25th of July was obliged to resign.
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
ENRY RUHL Guss, Colonel of the Ninety-seventh regiment, and Brevet Brigadier and Major-General, was born on the 28th of July, 1825, at Chester Springs, Chester county. Ile was the son of Samuel and Sabrina (Ruhl) Guss. He was educated in Philadelphia, and at the academy of Joshua Hoopes in West Chester. He was an original member of the noted National Guards of West Chester, organized in 1846, and for several years was its commander. Captain Guss was. one of the first to respond to the call for troops in 1861, and so great was the confidence in him, that, in four days from the date of the requisition, he was on his way to Harrisburg with a force of three hundred men. They were assigned to the Ninth regiment, and served under Patterson in the Shenandoah Valley. He assisted in recruiting the Ninety- seventh, of which he was Colonel, and which he brought to a high state of efficiency. In November, 1861, he was ordered to the Department of the South, and arrived at Hilton Head on the 15th of December. He was assigned to the expeditionary corps commanded by General H. G. Wright, and led his regiment with skill in the campaign which resulted in the occupation of Fer- nandina, Jacksonville, and other points on the Florida coast, carly in 1862, and in the disastrous campaign on James Island in the following summer. In the affairs at Grimball's Plantation, on the 10th of June, 1862, and at Secessionville a week later, he especially distinguished himself, and was highly complimented by General Wright.
On the 1st of August, 1862, he was assigned to the command of the post at Hilton Head, the most important in the Depart- ment. When General Hunter organized his forces for the reduc- tion of Charleston he gave to Colonel Guss the First brigade of Terry's division. The campaigni was unsuccessful, and upon the withdrawal of the troops he was ordered to the command of the posts successively of Edisto, Botany Bay, and St. Helena Island. Upon the advent of General Quincy A. Gilmore to the head of the Department, Colonel Guss was again intrusted with the com- mand of the First brigade, which he exercised with ability throughout the protracted and wearisome operations on Morris Island directed against Fort Wagner. When the immense siege operations had been completed, and the third assault upon
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HENRY R GUSS. "Col 97th Reg V V Brev Maj Gen CSV
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HENRY R. GUSS .- JOSEPH S. HOARD.
Wagner had been ordered, he was selected to lead the storming party, to consist of his own regiment and the Third New Hamp- shire. The plan of operations had been discussed and each soldier had pictured the part he was to bear, many sending mes- sages of love to friends as for the last time. Before day the enemy fortunately abandoned this stronghold. The joyous news relieved many burdened hearts.
On the 1st of October, 1863, Colonel Guss was ordered with his regiment to Fernandina, Florida, and directed to assume command of the post. Until the 1st of April, 1864, he remained here, when, for the first time since his entrance to the service, he accepted a leave of absence, and with the members of his regi- ment who had reenlisted as veterans departed for home. On the 14th of May following he resumed command of his brigade, now in the Army of the James. This position he continued to fill during the time that active operations were in progress on the south side of the James, around Cold Harbor, and in front of Petersburg, until the 22d of June, 1864, when, for reasons of a personal nature, which, though regretted by his associate officers, were acknowledged to be imperative, he tendered his resignation. One who knew him intimately says of him : "By the officers and men of his regiment and brigade he was highly esteemed. The characteristics that made him popular at home served him better in the field. He was emphatically a man of deeds, not words." On the 23d of July, 1867, he was brevetted Brigadier and Major-General for faithful and meritorious services in the field.
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