USA > Pennsylvania > Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 2 > Part 31
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ber of the American Philosophical Society, a manager of the House of Refuge, to the success of which he largely contributed, and a familiar visitor to the almshouse and prisons of the city. He was now able to reduce to practical operation some of the less Utopian theories of his youth. He established and main- tained, at his own expense, for several years, a large and most successful Salle d'Asile, the first working model in America of this excellent charity, and found coadjutors among the most sober and conservative of his fellow-citizens in another enterprise which he regarded as of great usefulness-the popularization of music in public schools and charitable associations for the train- ing of youth.
In 1860 the portents of storm in the political horizon made him uneasy, and abolitionist though he was, he deprecated war. He counselled peaceful measures, advocated the Crittenden Com- promise, and made numerous trips to Washington, as the winter advanced, to plead with his old Southern friends in Congress. Yet, when the Rebellion broke out, he dropped all his occupa- tions, abandoned all his plans, and was the first volunteer from Pennsylvania for the war, reconciling his course with the peace principles which he had professed, on the score that he went forth as an armed policeman to restore order. Although he had raised a regiment he was himself mustered in as a private. When subsequently elected Colonel, he resigned on the following day in favor of one recommended by General Scott as a proficient in military tactics. He was a rigid disciplinarian, but did not thereby forfeit the love and confidence of his men. In the first victory gained in the Army of the Potomac his regiment was prominently engaged, he manœuvring it with singular skill and receiving a ghastly wound in the mouth.
While in winter quarters at Camp Pierpont, before Washington. in the winter of 1861-'62, Kane wrote his Instruction for Skir- mishers, a protest against the enforcement of European tactics upon American riflemen. He claimed for its chief merit the employment of large bodies of men in dispersed order; deploying and bringing them together again more readily than by the pre- vailing system. His manuscript was submitted, by command, to General Casey, upon whose recommendation General Mcclellan issued an order, dated March 7th, 1862, to General McCall,
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THOMAS L. KANE.
instructing him to "detail four companies of the Kane rifles to report to Lieutenant-Colonel Kane, and until further orders to be drilled by Colonel Kane exclusively in the system of tactics devised by him." Under his instruction these companies became proficient. He served in Bayard's brigade, and here found him- self among officers whose tone was like his own. Bayard was his personal friend. But both were fighting for the Union against the sympathies and wishes of many of their family connections. Their camp near Fredericksburg was set among the plantations of old friends and relatives, now estranged. Complaints of out- rages committed by Union soldiers were often brought to his notice, and meddlesome persons sought to charge him before his former associates with instigating them, though without a shadow of foundation.
It was a relief when spring came to turn from these painful scenes to active campaigning. A specialty of Kane's tactics was a peculiar fatigue march, and in the movement to the Shenan- doah against Jackson, his skirmishers kept pace with the cavalry, outmarching the rest of the column. Kane was no less mag- nanimous than brave. It was his fortune to hold a command opposed to Ashby throughout that officer's career, and in 1861, when operating in the New Creek country against the Black Horse cavalry, he had ordered his men to respect Ashby's life. At. Harrisonburg, Ashby made himself conspicuous, commanding Jackson's rear guard while Kane was pressing the pursuit. Kane was shot, as his men claimed, by Ashby-a pistol ball having been extracted from one of his wounds-and they were intent to avenge the wrong. This was finally accomplished by Fred. Holmes, a Bucktail, who had himself already received his death- wound. As Ashby passed near, Holmes raised himself on his arm and fired. A Bucktail's aim none might elude, and Ashby fell. The engagement at Harrisonburg gave occasion for a dis- play of generous magnanimity worthy to recount. Kane's fall left Charles F. Taylor, brother of Bayard, in command of the Bucktails. Kane refused to be carried off the field at the peril of his men, and by his order Taylor withdrew them to a place of safety. This done he returned alone to seek his wounded Colonel. Darkness had fallen, and Kane had been carried off' the field by the enemy. Taylor surrendered himself, stating his
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errand. His capture was reported to Jackson and Ewell, and an aid immediately brought him the offer of a parole. Taylor declined it until he should first find his commander, whom he discovered next day, "hatless, coatless, shoeless, and out of his head," lying on an ammunition wagon in the blazing sun. The offer of parole was formally renewed to both at intervals until accepted. As they were carried across Virginia to Salisbury, North Carolina, Kane was again thrown among the companions of his boyhood. At one point they passed a wounded man propped up against a tree. It was a relative of Kane, who had been shot by the Bucktails and was dying. Another cousin, unlike any other Southerner they met, shook the bed on which Kane was lying to arouse him, and addressing him by his Chris- tian name taunted him with his wounds and captivity. His own men removed the young Virginian forcibly, crying "For shame." The obsequies of Ashby were being celebrated as they went through Charlottesville. The funeral bell was heard tolling, the musketry firing over the hero's grave. Passing the University of Virginia, a young gentleman came into the car where the two prisoners lay among the rows of wounded Confederates, and began giving them refreshments from a basket which he carried on his arm. Approaching Kane the latter said, "We are Fed- erals." "These provisions are my father's," the lad answered courteously ; "he meant them for gallant men. I am sure you have been one, sir." Kane asked his name, and when he gave it, recognized in him the son of one of his oldest family friends. Everywhere he met with kindness; and when he reached home he sought to repay it. He had seen enough of the misery of Southern hospitals, without ice, quinine, or chloroform, to pity the wounded there languishing. One of his first acts was to dictate a letter to President Lincoln, requesting permission to send a schooner-load of these articles to the Southern hospitals at his own expense. But the President was inflexible in his denial.
In the meantime he had been promoted to Brigadier-General of volunteers and given a brigade in the Twelfth corps. After Chancellorsville, a selection was made of regiments " warranted to stand fire" to defend the rear on the retreat. The honor of commanding this brigade was conferred on General Kane. Per- haps the most important in its results of his irregular services
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THOMAS L. KANE.
was his rejoining his brigade before the battle of Gettysburg. Ile was intrusted by the War Department with the important message to General Meade not to place any reliance on the tele- graphic cipher, as it had been intercepted and was understood by the enemy. As the rebel General Stuart's command of horse was between the Capital and Meade's army, it was hazardous to attempt to reach it. A special train furnished him was am- buscaded above Poolesville, and he came. near falling into the enemy's hands. General Schenck, in command at Baltimore, detailed a barouche with spirited horses, in which he made his way to the Union head-quarters. As was apprehended, he fell into Stuart's hands near Westminster, where he was arrested and examined, but it being in the sleepy hours before day, was allowed to pass on. He reached Taneytown in the afternoon of the Ist of July. On reporting to his brigade, it was ordered upon the front, and its place on the line on Culp's Hill is marked to this day by the severity of the fire. During the afternoon of the 2d, while the sharp fighting was in progress on his left, he shifted and strengthened his position ; but in the evening he was hurriedly ordered out to reinforce the opposite wing of the army. Before he was half way to Round Top, his destination, he learned that the enemy had been repulsed, at the same time detecting heavy firing in the direction he had left. Instead of reporting and awaiting orders, he instantly countermarched, arriving at a critical moment. The enemy was found in possession of his breastworks. The night was far advanced; but he drove them out inch by inch, and retook in person a piece of rocky ground- a key-point in the hard fighting of the succeeding day.
: Having been disabled by wounds and sickness he withdrew from the active command soon after the battle, and on doing so issued to his brigade the following characteristic order, which may properly conclude this narrative : "The hard fighting seems over. If there is to be more of it soon, I will be with you. If not, farewell, and may God bless and reward you for your noble conduct, but for which, neither I nor any of the thousands of this army would have home, country, pride, or honor to return to. If you should not see me again in the brigade I hope you will remember long and affectionately your friend and com- mander."
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CHAPTER XIV.
ALUSHA PENNYPACKER, Colonel of the Ninety- seventh regiment, Brigadier and Brevet Major- General, was born at Valley Forge, the scene of the unparalleled fortitude of Washington and the patriot army. He was the son of Joseph J. and Tamzen A. (Workiger) Pennypacker, natives of Chester county. The mother died when the son, her only child, was but three years old, and he was placed in charge of his paternal grandmother, who cared for him with all a mother's tenderness. He received a good English and classical educa- tion, and at the instance of his father learned the art of printing. He was about to commence the study of law when the war broke out, but dismissed the lights of jurisprudence for the camp and bivouac fires.
He had previously attached himself to the infantry company of Henry R. Guss, with whom he served in the three months' campaign under Patterson in the Ninth regiment as Quarter- master's Sergeant, performing the duties of Quartermaster during the greater part of the campaign. He displayed unusual execu- tive ability, and when Colonel Guss received authority to raise a regiment for three years Sergeant Pennypacker recruited the first company and was commissioned Captain. He was appointed commandant of Camp Wayne, where the regiment was placed, and authorized to muster the troops as fast as organized. Soon after his entrance upon this duty he was promoted to Major, and in addition aided his associate officers in the routine of their labors, in which by his experience he was well versed, conduct- ing regimental and battalion drills with the skill and confidence of a veteran drill-master.
His regiment left camp on the 16th of November, 1861, for
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ARTEPE-JOR GENERAL G. PENNYPACKER, U. S.A.
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GALUSHA PENNYPACKER.
Fortress Monroe, and a month later sailed for South Carolina. A storm kept the vessel tempest-tossed several days, and the men, fresh from the farm and the work-shop, had their first ex- perience of the sea. It was a dismal voyage; but the kind face and pleasant voice of Major Pennypacker, as he moved among the men, inspecting their quarters and caring for their wants, reassured many a drooping spirit, and brought sunshine amidst clouds and storms. While in the Department of the South, his regiment was engaged in the operations against Fort Pulaski in January, 1862, and in the following month in the occupation of Fort Clinch, Fernandina, and Jacksonville, at the latter place having brisk conflicts with the enemy. Active service continued with little cessation while his regiment remained in the depart- ment, its command much of the time devolving on Major Penny- packer. In the discharge of that trust he showed signal ability, causing General A. H. Terry, who was serving in this depart- ment, to say to Colonel Guss: "You have a most excel- lent and deserving officer in Major Pennypacker; he will make his mark in the service,"-a prediction which was signally verified. In February, 1863, he was member of a board ap- pointed to examine officers. His selection for this grave duty, when barely twenty years of age, over soldiers graced with the training of West Point, shows how completely he had won the confidence of his commander, and how devoted he had been in the brief period of his novitiate to the military profession.
The second assault on Fort Wagner was made at dusk on the evening of July 18th, 1863, the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts (colored) leading the way. The slaughter was terrible, and though promptly and gallantly supported by Putnam's brigade, it proved disastrous. Stevenson's brigade, in which was Penny- packer's regiment, was brought up to cover the retreat, and during the long hours of that dismal night, under a constant fire from the fort, the men were employed in bringing in the wounded, crawling stealthily up to the very moat and slopes of the fortress. To this attempt to gain the stronghold, regular approaches succeeded. In the face of desperate resistance, and a ceaseless fire from the most formidable enginery of war, these operations were pushed. In the midst of them Major Penny- 57
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packer was stricken with fever. When the siege works were ready for a fresh assault, the commanders of regiments were called together to receive their final instructions. Major Penny- packer was too sick to be present, but he awaited until past mid- night the return of his next in command, who attended in his stead, and refused to retire until he had fully mastered every de- tail of the plan of attack. When morning came he mounted his horse, the very study and meditation of the scheme inspiring him with vigor. At the point where horses must be left, he dismounted and marched at the head of his columns. But on reaching the parallels it was ascertained that the enemy had forsaken their posts, leaving the stronghold to fall into the hands of the be- siegers-a bloodless victory.
So much reduced was he by the severe duty here imposed that, at the urgent representation of his physicians, he accepted a furlough and went north to regain his shattered strength. He returned and rejoined his regiment near the close of October, 1863, which had in the meantime been transferred to Fernandina, Florida. He was immediately placed over five companies, and in April following succeeded to the command of the post. He headed twe expeditions to the mainland for the purpose of sur- prising rebel camps and obtaining lumber for the use of the department, both of which were successful. In April, 1864, he was ordered to Virginia, there to join the Army of the James, and was soon after commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel. Arrived at Gloucester Point, the place of rendezvous of the troops, his regiment was assigned to the Second brigade of General Terry's division of the Tenth corps. In the operations from Bermuda Hundred and along the line of the Petersburg and Richmond Railroad, in the main fruitless, though involving desperate fight- ing, Colonel Pennypacker manœuvred his men in the face of superior forces with consummate skill. Especially was this the case in the action at Wier Bottom Church, on the 16th of May. It was necessary that the enemy, who was concentrating there in considerable force, should be held in check until the main body of General Butler's army could be withdrawn. By a forced march the regiment was brought into position in time to check the foe, and by so disposing his troops as to convey the impression
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that his was only the skirmish line to a powerful body, he stopped a vastly superior force, until Butler was safe in his works.
Two days after this, Beauregard, who commanded the rebel troops, attacked and carried a portion of the Union line occupied by the Eighth Maine. Pennypacker was ordered up with his regiment to retake it. Selecting four companies with which to make the assault, by a sudden spring he routed the enemy, though in the face of a terrific fire, and reoccupied the ground. It was a brilliant dash, and though attended with fearful slaughter was completely triumphant. At Foster's Plantation, on the 20th, his command was less fortunate, but not less heroic ; for, · charging gallantly over open ground, his steadfast line was swept by a storm of musket shot and canister from well-served guns. Twice had he fallen from grievous wounds, but recovering him- self, had led on, exhorting and encouraging, when he was a third time stricken, and now rendered helpless. A more gallant or persistent charge was not delivered during the war, nor one which more clearly demonstrated the devotion of a body of men to their commander. He was carried helpless to his tent with a wound in his right arm, another in his left leg, and still a third in his right side, and three days thereafter was sent to the gen- eral hospital at Fortress Monroe. Impatient to be with his men, though still suffering from his wounds, he resumed command on the 12th of August, and soon after was made Colonel. The actions at Deep Bottom and Strawberry Plains speedily followed, in which, though with right arm still disabled, he headed his com- mand, and at the moment of extreme peril in the latter engage- ment succeeded by great skill and heroism in bringing off his regiment, when by a sudden unfortunate turn in the fight it seemed given over to inevitable capture. On returning to the lines before Petersburg, Colonel Pennypacker succeeded to the command of the brigade, and was shortly after permanently assigned to it by General Butler.
Towards the close of September, aggressive operations were renewed on the north side of the James, and in the actions at New Market Heights, and before Fort Gilmer, Colonel Penny- packer led his brigade, winning new claims to confidence in his more responsible position. In the latter engagement he received
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a painful wound, and his horse was shot under him. Though suffering greatly, he refused to leave the field. Commanding positions were secured at New Market Heights and at Fort Har- rison. To regain them the enemy made desperate assaults, and the slaughter was frightful. The reconnoissance towards Richmond by Terry and Kautz involved severe actions at the Darbytown and Charles City Roads. Major Price, who succeeded him in command of the regiment, and who furnished the material for this sketch, thus speaks of his chief: "During these impor- tant movements, Colonel Pennypacker was continuously in com- mand of his brigade, always at the post of duty, always prepared for instant action, always thoroughly cognizant of every move- ment of the enemy in his front."
Early in December, the Tenth and Eighteenth corps were merged in one and designated the Twenty-fourth. A plan was devised about this time for the reduction of Fort Fisher, com- manding the entrance to Wilmington, the chief remaining en- trepôt to the Confederacy. With Ames' division of the Twenty- fourth and Paine's of the Twenty-fifth (colored), about six thou- sand five hundred men, General Butler set sail on the 13th of December, to act in conjunction with Admiral Porter. Under cover of the fleet, Ames' division debarked, and pushed up close under the fort, Pennypacker leading his brigade. A reconnois- sance was made by General Weitzel, second in command, which resulted in the conclusion that the place was impregnable ; where- upon Butler ordered the division to embark, and sailed away to the James. On the 2d of January, scarcely two weeks later, the same troops, with the addition of Abbott's brigade of Terry's division and a small siege train, in all about eight thousand men, under General Terry, were ordered to renew the attempt. Ren- dezvousing with the fleet off Beaufort, Terry was obliged by stress of weather to wait from the Sth to the 12th, when, moving up, he landed with his entire force. A line of skirmishers was thrown out which met little resistance, and Colonel Pennypacker at dusk, with his own and two other brigades, was sent to estab- lish a line of defensive works across the island from sea to river. The ground was marshy and difficult, and it was not until two o'clock on the following morning that a line much nearer the
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fort than the one originally sought was found feasible, and the work of intrenching commenced. Before morning, a good pro- tection was completed, giving a sure foothold. After a careful reconnoissance, Terry determined to assault. At eight o'clock on the morning of the 15th, the fleet moved down and opened fire at close quarters. Ames' division had been selected to lead. At two o'clock P. M. one hundred picked men, with Spencer repeating carbines and light spades, went forward at a run, and when arrived within two hundred yards of the fort, quickly threw up sufficient earth to afford some protection, and opened fire. Curtis' brigade followed, and was succeeded by Penny- packer's and Bell's at regular intervals. By successive steps these were advanced one after another by rapid movements, taking shelter behind the slight works prepared. The missiles of the fleet and the work of the intrepid axe-men had made openings in the palisades, when Curtis' brigade sprang forward, and though meeting a terrific fire, passed all obstruction and made a lodgment upon the parapet. Pennypacker was not far behind, "overlapping Curtis' right," says Terry, "and drove the enemy from the heavy palisading, from the west end of the land face to the river, capturing a considerable number of prisoners; then pushing forward to their left, the two brigades together drove the enemy from about one quarter of the land face." Bell carried the side next the river, where the works were of minor strength. But the difficulties had now but just begun to be met. "Hand- to-hand fighting," continues Terry, "of the most desperate char- acter ensued, the huge traverses of the land face being used successively by the enemy as breastworks, over the tops of which the contending forces fired into each other's faces. Nine of these, one after the other, were carried by our men. . .. The fighting for the traverses continued until nearly nine o'clock, when a portion of Abbott's brigade, which had been brought to the sup- port of the assault, drove the enemy from the last remaining stronghold, and the occupation of the work was completed." Language is inadequate to the presentation of the terrors of the scene as assailants and assailed met each other over the traverses of this strongest of rebel works. But the valor of this devoted division was superior to all, and everything went down before it.
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When his brigade had scaled the battlements of the frowning fortress, Colonel Pennypacker, seizing the flag of his old regi- ment, heroically led the way. Three of the traverses, after fearful struggles, had been carried, when Colonel Pennypacker received a severe wound. Recovering himself, by one desperate effort he planted his flag at the farthest reach on the front, and then fell back helpless and exhausted from the loss of blood. "I have no words," says General Terry, "to do justice to the behavior of both officers and men on this occasion. Better sol- diers never fought. Brigadier-General Curtis and Colonels Penny- packer, Bell, and Abbott, the brigade commanders, led them with the utmost gallantry. Curtis was wounded after fighting in the front rank, rifle in hand! Pennypacker, while carrying the standard of his regiment, the first man in a charge over a traverse ! Bell was mortally wounded near the palisades !"
Captain George F. Toule, Inspector-General to General Terry, in a letter from the fort, of January 23d, 1865, says: "The assault was magnificent. For six hours success seemed doubtful. The men actually clubbed rifles over the parapet, and the fighting was of that hand-to-hand character we so often read about but seldom see. . . . Curtis was wounded. Bell was wounded and died the next day. Poor Pennypacker was wounded while lead- ing his brigade over the parapet, with the colors of the Ninety- seventh in his hand. I saw him as he was brought off on a stretcher. He refused to leave the field until he had seen Gen- eral Terry. I told the General, who went to see him. Penny- packer then pointed to the foremost flag on the traverses, and said, 'General, take notice ; that is the flag of the Ninety-seventh Pennsylvania.' Everybody feels badly that he should receive such a severe wound, and none more so than myself. . .. The carrying of such a strong work as Fisher by assault is an event unparalleled in military history. Including the Mound battery; and Battery Buchanan, there are eighty-four guns. Among them a splendid one-hundred-and-fifty pounder gun, with a rosewood carriage, presented to the rebels by English friends. General Terry intends to present it to West Point."
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