USA > Pennsylvania > Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 2 > Part 30
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881
W. H. BOYD .- F. S. STUMBAUGH .- O. S. WOODWARD.
extracted after three unsuccessful attempts: In 1868 he was an agent of the Treasury Department.
0 REDERIC SHEARER STUMBAUGH, Colonel of the Seventy-sev- enth regiment, was born on the 14th of April, 1817, in Franklin county, Pennsylvania. He was the son of John Stum- baugh, a descendant of Lawrence, who emigrated to this country from Strasburg, Germany, in the year 1751, and Sarah (Shearer) Stumbaugh. He was married in September, 1841, to Anna Sophia Cressler. He was appointed Colonel of the Second regi- ment organized in the State, having for fifteen years previous been connected with the militia. At the expiration of the three months' term he was made Colonel of the Seventy-seventh. It was sent for duty to Buell's army in Kentucky, which was ordered to the support of Grant at Shiloh. At the opening of the battle the Seventy-seventh was a long day's march away. Early the dull sound of artillery told that the struggle had com- menced. It was spring, and the ways were unsettled. But fired with zeal to reach the ground, they moved rapidly forward, and at four on the following morning, April 7th, were embarked upon the Tennessee for the Landing. During the early part of the day the Seventy-seventh was held in reserve, but was attacked, and successfully repulsed a cavalry charge. At one in the after- noon Colonel Stumbaugh was placed in command of a brigade under General McCook, and so led his force in the heavy fighting which ensued as to win the hearty applause of that soldier.
In the campaign before Corinth, he was in command of his regiment ; but soon after was prostrated by sickness, which proved to be of such a lingering nature that he offered his resignation, and was mustered out of service in December, 1862. In Novem- ber preceding he was nominated, by the President, Brigadier- General. Since the war, he has for several terms served as a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, where he has always taken a leading rank.
RPHEUS S. WOODWARD, Colonel of the Eighty-third regiment, and Brevet Brigadier-General, was born in Erie county, on the 1st of May, 1835. He was the son of Ebenezer and Cornelia 56
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
(Prindle) Woodward. He served for three months in the Eric regiment, and at the conclusion became Captain in the Eighty- third, accredited with more battles than any other Pennsylvania regiment. In all these engagements down to the 5th of May, 1864, with the exception of Bull Run and Fredericksburg, he . took part. He commanded his regiment at Gettysburg in one of the most trying positions of the war. He was promoted to Colonel in July, 1863, and to Brevet Brigadier-General in March, 1865. He was slightly wounded in the left arm at Malvern Hill, and severely in the right knee-joint on the first day in the Wilderness, losing his leg, which ended his active service. The pain experienced during the ten days between the wounding and the amputation, in which he was constantly moving, was excruciating. Since the war he has served two terms in the Pennsylvania Legislature. . He was married in 1861 to Miss Marietta Hemrod.
OBERT MILLER HENDERSON, Colonel of the Seventh Reserve regiment, and Brevet Brigadier-General, was born in Cum- berland county, on the 11th of March, 1827. He was a farmer's son, and was educated at Dickinson College. He chose the law as his profession, and before he had attained his majority was admitted to practice. He was soon after elected a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, where he served during the sessions of 1851-'52. He married Miss M. A. Webster, of Baltimore. When the war opened he entered the volunteer force as a Captain in the Seventh Reserve. His two brothers accompanied him, but one of them, William M., was compelled from ill health to resign, and in less than a year died. During the Seven Days' battle upon the Peninsula, Captain Henderson shared in the hard fight- ing, receiving a wound at Charles City Cross Roads. Four days thereafter he was made Lieutenant-Colonel, General Seymour recommending the advancement on the ground of "brilliant gal- lantry." After returning from the Peninsula, Colonel Hender- son marched to Kelly's Ford, and finally to the Second Bull Run battle-ground, where, in the severe struggle which ensued, he led his regiment with such coolness and courage as to elicit the warm commendation of Generals Reynolds and McDowell .. Late in the
883
R. M. HENDERSON .- I. ROGERS .- T. H. GOOD.
action Colonel Henderson was severely wounded and carried from the field. After partially recovering, he resigned his com, mission, to accept the office of Provost Marshal of the Fifteenth district of Pennsylvania. At the close of the war he returned to civil life, and resumed the practice of his profession. He was brevetted Brigadier-General. . The position of Judge Advocate- . General of the Army of the Potomac was tendered him by Gen- eral Meade, in a communication dated October 20th, 1864, but this for private reasons he was obliged to decline.
SAAC ROGERS, son of John and Matilda (Gorsuch) Rogers, was born on the 5th of November, 1834. Entering , the service as a Lieutenant in the One Hundred and Tenth regiment, he rose to Captain, Major, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Colonel in suc- cession. He was with Shields at Winchester, and in the battles of Cedar Mountain, Bull Run, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Wilderness, he bore himself with heroic courage. At Laurel Hill, on the 12th of May, 1864, he was mortally wounded, and expired eleven days thereafter, having endured intense suffering. He left his home a year before with a presentiment that he would never return. His last message to his family was: "Tell them I have fought and fallen for my country," and died commending his comrades to heaven.
ILGHIMAN H. Goon, Colonel of the Forty-seventh regiment, 2 was born in Lehigh county, on the 6th of October, 1830. He was the son of James and Mary A. (Blumer) Good. At the age of twenty he joined the militia, and in 1856 was Brigade- Inspector. He married, in 1851, Miss Mary A. Trexler. In 1858 he was a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature. When troops were called for the three months' service, his company, the Allen Rifles, was the first which arrived in camp, reporting at Harrisburg fully armed and equipped on the 20th of April, and became a part of the First regiment, of which he was Lieu- tenant-Colonel. IIe was made Colonel of the Forty-seventh regi- ment, and was sent to the Department of the South, where he participated in the battles of Pocotaligo, South Carolina; St. John's Bluff, Florida; and in Louisiana at Sabine Cross Roads,
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· MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Pleasant Hill, Cain River Crossing, and Morganza. In July, 1864, the Nineteenth corps to which he belonged was ordered north, and upon its arrival at Fortress Monroe was hastened for- ward to the Shenandoah Valley. At Berryville, Winchester, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek, he was among the most reliable and skilful leaders who had a place in the glorious column that followed Sheridan to victory. The most notable exploit of his military life was that at Pocotaligo, where the brigade which he then commanded had the advance, and in fact fought the battle. Colonel Hawley, of the Seventh Connecticut, says of his conduct here : "Throughout this terrible engagement he dis- played such marked coolness, indomitable bravery and skill as to win the admiration of all the officers and men in the expedition."
FORGE ELWOOD JOHNSON, son of Samuel and Eliza (Keen) Johnson, was born in Philadelphia, on the 8th of December, 1824. He entered the service as a Lieutenant in the Twenty- ninth regiment in May, 1861, and was promoted to Captain, Major, and Lieutenant-Colonel. He was captured in the battle of Front Royal and was a prisoner at Salisbury three months. He was engaged in the battles of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg- where he was captured but escaped-Lookout Mountain, Mis- sionary Ridge, Ringgold-where he was wounded severely- Atlanta, in the March to the Sea commanded a battalion of pioneers for the Twentieth corps, and was with his regiment in the march north, participating in several minor engagements. He was honorably discharged at the close of the war. He was married in 1848 to Miss Annie Burwell. In 1868 he was chosen an Alderman of Philadelphia.
AMES W. H. REISINGER, son of Charles and Providence (Roberts) Reisinger, was born on the 19th of January, 1833, at Beaver. When the war came he with his brothers was in the oil regions. Carried along by the current of fortune- making and speculation they had overlooked the claims of patriotism, when they were one day greeted with a note from their mother intimating her consent to their enlistment in the army of the Union. That hint was enough, and her four sons
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885
G. E. JOHNSON .- J. W. H. REISINGER .- A. J. WARNER.
were quickly transformed to soldiers. James W. H. became a Captain in the One Hundred and Fiftieth, with which he served until after Chancellorsville, when, from ill health, he was trans- ferred to the Veteran Reserve corps, and subsequently was commissioned Major, and Lieutenant-Colonel of the Twenty-fifth colored regiment, with a section of which he was in command at Fort Pickens. Napoleon B. served in the Seventeenth Indiana ; Charles S. lost a leg in front of Petersburg; and Roe, the youngest, received three balls in the right leg at Gettysburg. At the close of the war Colonel Reisinger published a weekly paper in Venango county, and afterward became editor and proprietor of the Meadville Republican, having a daily and weekly issue.
DONIRAM JUDSON WARNER, Colonel of the Tenth Reserve, and Brevet Brigadier-General, was born on the 13th of. January, 1834, in Erie county, New York. His father was a native of Vermont, his mother of Massachusetts. At the age of. twelve the family removed to Wisconsin. Four years after, his father died, and he, being the eldest of five children, remained at, home and took the management of the farm, which had been broken anew on reaching the State. By his own exertions upon the farm, and as a hired laborer and teacher, he not only obtained a liberal education at Beloit and the New York Central College, but continued the discharge of a filial duty by providing for the support of the family of his widowed mother. In 1856 he was married to Miss Susan E. Butts, of Wayne county, New York, and soon after went to Lewistown, Pennsylvania, where he had previously taught, and became principal of the Lewistown Academy. Subsequently he was appointed Superintendent of the schools of that county, but resigned before the expiration of the term to take charge of the Union School at Mercer, Pennsyl- vania, where he was engaged at the breaking out of the war. He had no military training, and on this account declined the offer of the place of Major, accepting the commission of Captain of Company G. Before the opening of the Seven Days' battle on the Peninsula he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel. In the actions at Beaver Dam Creek, Gaines' Mill, and Charles City Cross Roads his regiment was hotly engaged and suffered severe
886
BASE MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
losses." In connection with the first two of these battles Colonel Warner mentions an interesting fact. " At Beaver Dam Creek, a request to be allowed to dig rifle-pits was hardly permitted by a regular army officer, and then only with an intimation that it was not evidence of true courage to get behind breastworks, and at Gaines' Mill it was impossible to get any attention paid to suggestions as to the propriety of throwing up temporary works, and no tools could be had for the purpose. A year later no one was asked for permission to dig trenches." At Charles City Cross Roads, when one wing of MeCall's division was broken, after the most stubborn fighting, Colonel Warner, in conjunction with Major Stone and a few other officers, rallied disjointed. troops, and when the enemy was about to charge, arrested a powerful attack, creating the impression that heavy Union supports were in readiness to receive it.
« After the return from the Peninsula, Colonel Warner rendered important service throughout Pope's campaign and at South Mountain. But it was at Antietam that he gave the most signal proof of his ability as a soldier. As the battle opened he was ordered by General Hooker to proceed to the extreme right of the line, and as far to the front as he could, and report the movements of the enemy. : As he went forward he: discovered heavy masses of the foe pushing out upon that part of the field where Hooker was already most heavily engaged. With the eye of a true soldier he perceived that, unless that assault could be checked, Hooker's centre would be pierced. His. resolution was instantly taken. "I immediately," he says in' his. report, "threw out nearly the whole regiment into a corn-field, as skir- mishers, placing the rest as a reserve under cover, and opened a sharp fire upon the enemy's moving columns. This manœuvre had the intended effect. The enemy evidently expecting an attack in force, halted his columns, formed line, and threw out skirmishers to engage us. Meanwhile I sent a few chosen men further to our right, who crept up close enough to the rebel bat- tery to kill the horses and pick off the gunners. . For about twenty minutes the skirmishing was kept up sharply, and the enemy's whole force was held at bay. He evidently construed it into a movement on his flank. I had ascertained and reported to
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887
: ADONIRAM J. WARNER.
General Hooker fully the enemy's movements." By his prompt and skilful conduct the centre was relieved, and Hooker was enabled to make one of the most gallant and well-directed fights of the war. #: But Colonel Warner, while doing bravely and well for his country, was himself sorely scourged. Being the only mounted officer he was a conspicuous mark for the enemy's sharp- shooters. After having his horse twice struck, his sword once, one ball graze his right side and another pass through his coat, he was hit by a Minie ball in the right hip, which shattered the pelvis bone and buried itself, where for a long time it was inextricable. Two unsuccessful attempts were made to find it, during which he suffered great anguish. Not until the 8th of February, 1864, after an operation that lasted five hours, was it finally removed. His subsequent field service was trying. He could only walk with the aid of crutches or canes, which he carried fastened to his saddle, and riding was exceedingly painful. But the Gettysburg cam- paign was at full tide, the enemy already on the soil of his State, and he could not resist the desire to hasten forward to join in the great struggle. As he was advancing into position across a spur of the Little Round Top, he received a severe injury from the fall of his horse. "Once on the field of Gettysburg," he says, "I felt sure of victory ; for it was the determination of the men to bravely withstand the enemy that won us the battle." As: soon as the conflict was over he was sent again to Washing- ton for treatment. . He had been reported to the Secretary of War as unfit for duty, with wounds likely to prove fatal. This prevented his promotion, which had been recommended by Gen- eral. Meade. He was, however, advanced to Colonel, to date from April 25th, 1863; but after Gettysburg, seeing no hope of being useful in the field, he accepted of a transfer to the Seven- teenth regiment of the Veteran Reserve corps, on the 23d of November, and in March following was brevetted Brigadier-Gen- eral. In the meantime he was kept on court-martial duty, and was finally sent to Indianapolis, and placed in command of that post. Bounty-jumping was here rife, a practice which he could not regard but with feelings of abhorrence. Indeed the whole system of giving bounties he condemned in unqualified terms. To break up this flagitious outrage he resorted to the most
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
severe punishment, ordering the worst offenders to trial and execution, and binding whole gangs of others together and send- ing them thus yoked to the front. At the conclusion of his service he took up his residence at Marietta, Ohio, where he be- came President of the Marietta, Pittsburg, and Cleveland Railroad Company, in which position he is still employed.
ORENZO CANTADOR was born on the 10th of June, 1810, at Dusseldorf, Prussia. He entered the Prussian army in 1832, as a volunteer, was promoted an officer of the Landwehr in 1833, and in the attempted revolution of 1848 commanded a hody of the National Guard. He was subsequently engaged in mercantile pursuits, and in 1861 was commissioned Lieutenant- Colonel of the Twenty-seventh regiment, having in the meantime become a resident of Philadelphia. He was in the battles of Cross-Keys, Cedar Mountain, Second Bull Run, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, and had two horses shot under him. He re- signed in November, 1863. He is six feet four inches in height, and well formed.
OHN ELY was born on the 16th of January, 1816, in Bucks county, where his ancestors, who were of the Society of Friends, had lived for six generations. He abandoned a lucra- tive trade in coal at the opening of the Rebellion, and contributed liberally to the formation of a company for Colonel Baker's Cali- fornia regiment. In August, 1861, he recruited a battalion of five companies for the Twenty-third regiment, of which he was appointed Major. He was engaged at Williamsburg, and at Fair Oaks had a leg broken by a musket shot, but kept his horse until the fighting was over. His promotion to Lieutenant-Colonel followed close, and in the battle of Marye's Heights, in May. 1863, he acted a leading part in that daring charge which hurled the enemy from his stronghold, and received severe injuries from the fall of his wounded horse in the midst of the assault, which compelled him to tender his resignation. In January, 1864, he was appointed Colonel in the Veteran Reserve corps. From July to November, he was recruiting and disbursing officer in West Virginia, when he was transferred for similar duty to New Jersey.
889
L. CANTADOR .- JOHN ELY .- E. E. ZEIGLER .- A. S. LEIDY.
In January, 1866, he was placed in charge of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands in Kentucky, having in the meantime been advanced to Brevet Brigadier-General. General Ely was twice married-in 1837 to Rebecca R. Winder, and in 1856 to. Marie Antoinette Morris-and had one son, Samuel L. Ely, who served in the Eighth cavalry. In person he was nearly six feet in height, deep chested, and of powerful frame. General Ely was intrusted with responsible duties in the Freedmen's Bureau, which he resigned in 1867. In 1869 he was appointed United States Marshal for the eastern district of Penn- sylvania, but died suddenly on the 4th of May, soon after being inducted into office.
DWIN E. ZEIGLER was born in Lewistown, in 1842. He was a member of the noted Logan Guards, the van of the first column to reach the Capital in April, 1861, and with it served for three months at Fort Washington. On being mustered out he entered the Forty-ninth regiment as a Lieutenant, where he served until March, 1862, when he was transferred to the One Hundred and Seventh, of which he became in succession Captain, Major, and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel. In the stubborn battle at the Wel- don Railroad on the 19th of August, 1864, he was taken prisoner and was incarcerated in the prisons at Salisbury and Danville until the spring of 1865. General McCoy says of him : " Colonel Zeigler participated in nearly all the battles of his regiment, and was esteemed as one of its most courageous, faithful, and reliable officers." At the close of the war he became an agent of the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company at Huntingdon, and was subsequently promoted to a much more responsible position in Allegheny City.
SHER S. LEIDY, Colonel of the Ninety-ninth regiment, was born on the 30th of July, 1830, in Philadelphia. He was the son of Philip and Christiana Teliana (Maley) Leidy. He was educated at the Philadelphia High School, the College of Pharmacy, and the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania. He was active in raising the Ninety-ninth regi- ment, which he assisted materially in equipping, organizing, and disciplining, and was commissioned its Major. He was severely
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WAS A. MARTIAL DEEDS . OF PENNSYLVANIA.
wounded in the battle of : Fredericksburg, the left thigh bone being fractured. By skilful treatment he recovered with only slight permanent disability. He was promoted to Lieutenant- Colonel on the 1st of February, 1862, and to Colonel in June following. . On various occasions he was called to the command of Kearny's old brigade. The most important battles in which he participated were Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Chan- cellorsville, though he was conspicuous in a large number of less important engagements, notably at White's Ford, where Stuart's cavalry attacked and was repulsed, and at Wolf Creek Bridge, where Moseby was likewise driven in rout. He was handsomely noticed by Kearny at Bull Run, by Birney at Fredericksburg, and by Ward, Birney, and Sickles at Chancellorsville. He was honorably discharged on the 9th of April, 1864.
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THOMAS LEIPER KANE, Colonel of the Bucktail regiment, Brigadier and Brevet Major-General, second son of John K. Kane, was born in Philadelphia. . Having overtaxed himself in study he was sent, at the age of sixteen, to Norfolkshire, Eng- land, to reside with an aged kinsman, to whose property he was by family arrangement to succeed. Finding it a condition of his fortune that he should become a British subject, he broke with his relative, and left England for the Continent, where his educa- tion was completed. On his return to the United States he engaged with youthful ardor in various reforms designed to intro- duce advanced French ideas into American politics. He drew about him a circle of young professional men, who, though vary- ing widely in opinion, united in preparing articles of a progressive tone, the publication of which they pushed in newspapers and serials. The little junto, however, split and went to pieces upon the slavery question, Kane with the minority being an uncon- ditional abolitionist.
In the meantime he had studied law and was admitted to practice ; but an adventurous spirit possessed him, and he forsook his profession to find, in the western wilds of America, its satis- faction. With his brother, Elisha Kent, whose exploits have filled the world with their renown, he had early planned ex- tended travel, and when his brother entered upon his Arctic
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891
THOMAS L. KANE.
explorations he went west. Fremont's journals had not then familiarized the reading public with the character of the national domain west of the Missouri. It had as yet been little explored, and the months of Kane's residence in the Indian villages of the plains were full of adventure. He returned to Philadelphia the sworn defender of the Red Man. The boldness of his attacks on the Indian rings at Washington conciliated prominent members of the Society of Friends, who led him to regard with favor their methods of advancing reform, and fed his zeal in the cause of the American slave. He made southern trips to urge upon eminent slave-holders gradual compensated emancipation, and three voy- ages to the British. West Indies to study the working of emanci- pation there, extending his researches to the Spanish Islands.
". In :1846, while on a confidential mission from President Polk to New Mexico, he fell in with the Mormons, just then driven from Nauvoo, whose wretched condition excited his pity and moved him to efforts for their amelioration. Mr. Buchanan, in his message of 1858, alludes in terms of compliment to his media- tory offices in pacifying Utah. In 1848 he was chairman of the Freesoil State Central Committee. : At the time of the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, he was a. United States Com- missioner; but spurning its provisions he resigned his place in a letter which was construed as a contempt of court. The action of the District Judge in committing him was, however, overruled by Judge Grier of the Supreme Bench. Kane, shortly after this, appears as a corporator of the Underground Railroad, asserting practically the abstract right of a member of society to break any law against his conscience, provided he does so openly, and without attempting to evade its penalties. In June, 1852, he was upon the platform at an anti-slavery meeting in the Taber- nacle, New York, facing boldly the threats of violence, and at a similar assemblage in Philadelphia, to be addressed by George W. Curtis, resolutely advocated the meeting of force by force.
:. But as a resident of Philadelphia he found scope for his energies in more practical duties. As a city director of the Sunbury and Erie Railroad he was influential in having its route changed to one running through a pass of the Alleghenies, which he had discovered in his summer explorations. .. He was an active mem-
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