USA > Pennsylvania > Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 2 > Part 33
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BOWMAN SWEITZER, Colonel of the Sixty-second regiment, and Brevet Brigadier-General, was born in Fayette county, in 1824. At the breaking out of the Rebellion he was a lawyer of Pittsburg. In conjunction with Samuel W. Black he recruited 58
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the Sixty-second regiment, which they transformed into one of the most reliable corps in the whole army. At Hanover Court House a handsome victory was gained and prisoners taken. In the sanguinary battle of Gaines' Mill, Colonel Black, while directing a charge upon the left, was killed. Nothing daunted, Colonel Sweitzer assumed command and resolutely beat back the foo. The line was now hard-pressed upon the extreme left, and thither Colonel Sweitzer was directed to lead his regiment. The struggle was desperate and was at this time raging with terrible heat along the whole front. To the last Colonel Sweitzer breasted the storm. But the current of disaster was now setting against the fragment of the Union army engaged, which was vastly outnumbered, and he fell, wounded, into the enemy's hands. He was taken to Libby, and his fate was for a while in doubt. He was reported killed, and several papers published his obituaries. His wife, on her way to the front, casually over- hearing a soldier declare that he saw Colonel Sweitzer killed, . swooned and was for some time insensible. It was with a joyous heart that she learned on the following day, from the noble phi- lanthropist Clement B. Barclay, that her husband was still alive and only slightly wounded.
As soon as exchanged Colonel Sweitzer returned to his regi- ment, and led in the battle of Antietam. The command of the brigade to which the Sixty-second was attached fell to his hands a short time afterwards-the brigade which the intrepid Griffin had led. This he commanded in the battle of Fredericksburg, under a fire that has rarely been paralleled. As they advanced in beautiful order, General Burnside, who was watching every movement through his field-glass, exclaimed as he beheld the magnificent spectacle :
" What troops are those ?"
" Second brigade, General Griffin's division," replied General Sturgis, who stood near.
" No troops ever behaved handsomer," said Burnside, as he moved nervously.
But all was to no purpose. Though they fought with a des- peration worthy of success, they were hurled back from the stone walls and intrenched guns, where a foe lurked that no
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daring could reach. Colonel Sweitzer was wounded and had a horse killed under him. At Chancellorsville he handled his brigade with remarkable skill, extricating it, when cut off and in imminent danger of capture, with surprising success. A writer in the Boston Advertiser thus alludes to him in the battle which next succeeded : "At Gettysburg he was as brave as a lion, regardless of his own personal safety, but urging his men on to victory. When he was ordered to move on the enemy, he went up to the very front, some distance in advance of his troops, with his brigade flag flying by his side. Through some oversight or bad management Colonel Sweitzer's brigade was left in the very front without any support, and it became flanked by the
enemy. It was then thought that the whole brigade were prisoners. But Colonel Sweitzer was equal to the emergency, and by a skilful movement withdrew his command, though his loss was very heavy."
Colonel Sweitzer was one of the most trusted leaders in the campaign from the Wilderness to Petersburg, where the way was through human gore, and the track was marked by war's most blasting and blighting effect. At the expiration of his term he was mustered out of service together with the fragment of a regi- ment which remained of that once strong body of men, and he retired to his home at Pittsburg. In March, 1865, the brevet rank of Brigadier-General was conferred upon him-a rank which he had really held for more than two years. Acts of heroism which in the early stages of the war would have been rewarded with a star were allowed to pass unregarded in the later, so gigantic had become the contest and so vast the theatre on which it was conducted.
OHIN FLYNN was born on the 10th of March, 1819, at Water- ford, Ireland. He came to this country in early manhood, and in 1844 enlisted as a private in the regular army. He served in Mexico, and was noticed by General Worth at Cheru- busco and characterized by Captain F. T. Dent, at Molino del Rey, as "foremost and fearless." Upon his discharge-paper, given to accept promotion, Captain Whitall noted the following : " First Sergeant John Flynn is an active, efficient, and intelligent soldier."
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At the opening of the Rebellion he was made Lieutenant and Adjutant of the Twenty-eighth regiment and afterwards Captain, participating in the affairs at Bolivar Heights, Cedar Mountain, Rappahannock, Sulphur Springs, Antietam, and Chancellorsville. Shortly after the latter engagement he was promoted to Lieuten- ant-Colonel. At Gettysburg he was severely wounded. In the famous Battle above the Clouds at Lookout Mountain he was conspicuous for gallantry, and in March, 1864, was promoted to Colonel. Throughout the Atlanta campaign he led with skill. and courage his well-tried regiment. In the battle of North Edisto he received a wound in the foot which necessitated the amputation of a portion of it. He was brevetted Brigadier- General in March and mustered out in November, 1865, after a faithful service of over twenty-one years-a hero in two wars. He was married in 1850 to Miss Mary Pinchard. In person he is over six feet in height. He is characterized by an old com- panion-in-arms as "intelligent, zealous, a thorough soldier, at all times and under all circumstances bearing in mind that a soldier should be a gentleman."
HARLES H. T. COLLIS, Brevet Brigadier and Major-General, was born on the 4th of February, 1838, at Cork, Ireland. He was the son of William and Mary Anne (Lloyd) Collis. In the year of his birth his parents removed to England. His father being a gentleman of means, his early education was of the most liberal character. He was fond of athletic games, expert at cricket and ball, and skilled in horsemanship. At the age of fifteen he came with his father to the United States, and settled in Philadelphia. His mother, five sisters, and two brothers sailed shortly afterwards in the City of Glasgow, but were all lost at sea, the vessel, after leaving port, never having been heard of more. His training was conducted with a view to a legal edu- cation. He was married on the 9th of December, 1861, to Miss Septima M. Levy, of Charleston, South Carolina, for several years a resident of Philadelphia.
His only military experience previous to the war was gained while acting on the staff of William D. Lewis, Jr., commanding the First regiment, Pennsylvania militia. He served in the
Charles H.D. Coulis
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CHARLES H. T. COLLIS.
Eighteenth regiment through the three months' campaign, and at its close recruited a company of Zouaves d'Afrique for the special service of body guard to General N. P. Banks, successor to Gen- eral Patterson. When Banks was attacked by Stonewall Jack- son, with forces many times outnumbering his own, to Captain Collis with his fine company was assigned the hazardous and difficult duty of covering the retreat. By skilful dispositions and bold assaults he succeeded in delaying the hostile advance until Banks had got his trains away and the main body into position to defend himself. For this important service Captain Collis was warmly commended by the General, and was induced by him to raise a regiment of Zouaves. In this he was successful and was commissioned Colonel, the entire regiment being uniformed after the manner of the French Zouaves d'Afrique. But though gayly dressed they were no holiday troops, as was proved in many a bloody struggle. At the battle of Fredericksburg Colonel Collis was with Birney on the left, and when the contest was hottest he was thrown in to the support of the Pennsylvania Reserves, coming to the rescue at an important juncture, hurling back the enemy and saving the guns of Randolph's and Livingstone's bat- teries. His service in this battle was specially recognized in the reports of Generals Robinson and Stoneman. At Chancellorsville he so impressed all with his intrepidity that a letter asking his permanent assignment to its command was signed by every regi- mental commander of the brigade, and the enlisted men of his own regiment, desirous of emphasizing their gratification with his growing honors, presented him with a sword inscribed "in commemoration of his distinguished gallantry in the battle of Chancellorsville, May 3d, 1863."
In the retreat of Meade from Culpeper in the fall of this year, General J. E. B. Stuart came unawares upon Colonel Collis' brig- ade, now composed of six Pennsylvania regiments (Fifty-seventh, Sixty-third, Sixty-eighth, One Hundred and Fifth, One Hundred and Fourteenth, and One Hundred and Forty-first) ; but the rebel chieftain found the young Colonel prepared, and was obliged to withdraw sadly repulsed. General Birney immediately issued the following order: "The Major-General commanding the division thanks the officers and men for their admirable conduct
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during the late movements. Especial credit is due to the First brigade, Colonel Collis, for its gallantry in repulsing the enemy's attack on the head of the column at Auburn, and to Colonel Collis for his skill and promptitude in making the dispositions ordered." Soon after this engagement General Birney thus wrote to the President : "Colonel Collis has for a long time very ably commanded the First brigade of my division; the brigade has always behaved, under General Kearny and myself, with the utmost gallantry, and deserves a general officer to command it, promoted for services in it." In this request Birney was joined by Generals Robinson, French, and Meade, and in the following October he was appointed Brigadier-General by brevet.
At the opening of the campaign of 1864, an independent brig- ade consisting of six regiments of infantry and one of cavalry was organized for duty at the head-quarters of General Grant, to the command of which General Collis was assigned. In this capacity he participated in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsyl- vania, Guinea Station, and Petersburg, under the immediate eye of the Lieutenant-General, and so well did he acquit himself in, the charge delivered from Fort Sedgwick upon the enemy's salient, where he led the assaulting column, that he was brevetted Major-General upon the field.
At the close of the war General Collis returned to the practice of his profession, and was soon after appointed Assistant City Solicitor. In 1869 he was appointed Director of City Trusts of Philadelphia by the Board of Judges. He was tendered the position of Assistant Attorney-General of the State, under Mr. Brewster, but declined. In 1871 he was elected City Solicitor by a large majority, and reelected in 1874 for a second term of three years, by an increased majority. His opinions as law- officer of the city government possess enduring merit, notable among which was that adverse to the right of the Constitutional Convention of 1873 to enact an election law, in which he was sustained by the Supreme Court without a dissenting voice. Few men so youthful have won so high a rank both civil and military as has General Collis.
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JAMES M.L. THOMSON .- JOHN H. TAGGART.
AMES MCLEAN THOMSON, son of Andrew and Jane Eliza (McLean) Thomson, was born in Adams county, on the 4th of February, 1833. He entered the service of the United States as a Captain in the One Hundred and Seventh regiment and led his company through Pope's campaign. At South Moun- tain and Antietam the command of the regiment fell to him. In the former he led in a charge with fixed bayonets which routed the enemy, Colonel Gale of the Twelfth Alabama being killed and the Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifth South Carolina wounded and taken prisoner. In the latter he led on his men up to the noted Corn-field, where he suffered severe losses, having been pitted against vastly superior numbers, but held his ground with unwavering courage. He was shortly after promoted to Major, and took part in the battle of Fredericksburg. In Feb- ruary, 1863, he was made Lieutenant-Colonel. He was with his corps at Chancellorsville, and at Gettysburg the command of the regiment again devolved upon him. Here his horse was killed under him and he was struck by a grapeshot. He was brevetted Brigadier-General for gallantry, and continued to serve until the close of the war, when he was transferred to the regular army. In stature he is over six feet in height. He married in 1864 Miss Mary Rebecca Slye, of Washington, D. C.
OHN HENRY TAGGART was born on the 22d of January, 1821, at Georgetown, Kent county, Maryland, where his ances- tors for several generations had lived. The father died in 1825, when the mother with her two children, a boy and girl, removed to Philadelphia. At the age of eleven the son was apprenticed to a printer, William Fry, of the National Gazette, with whom he remained nine years. To his mother, who had taught school in Maryland, he was much indebted for the rudiments of education. But aside from this his university was the printing office, where a knowledge of the history and politics of the time, and the progress of civilization, was principally gained. He was also indebted to the Apprentices' Library of Philadelphia, which as a lad he liberally patronized. He joined the militia in 1842, aided in suppressing the riots of 1844, and was commissioned Lieu- tenant by Governor Shunk. Believing fully in the doctrine of
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coercion, he was among the first to offer a company, and was put in command of Camp Curtin in May, 1861, and a month later made Colonel of the Twelfth Reserve regiment.
He was warmly engaged at Dranesville, where, he says in his report, "The conduct of the men under fire, nearly all of them for the first time, was most commendable. There was no flinch- ing, and the line was preserved unbroken." .
At Beaver Dam Creek one of his companies was placed in Ellerson's Mill, where it did excellent service, of which Roger A. Pryor said : " Ellerson's Mill was defended with desperate obsti- macy." The fatality in the battle of the following day at Gaines' Mill was very great, as also at Charles City Cross Roads. Finally at Malvern Hill the Union retreat and the rebel pursuit and attack was staid by one of the most sanguinary struggles of the campaign. The Union army played the part of a lion at bay, and the death and destruction which it dealt from artillery sup- ported by determined infantry was indeed frightful. Upon the withdrawal of the army from the Peninsula, Colonel Taggart resigned and was appointed to the head of an institution founded to impart professional military instruction. Patriotic citizens of Philadelphia, anxious to uphold the Government in this trying hour, recognizing the difficulty of obtaining suitable officers to command colored troops just then being called into the army, proposed to establish a school for the instruction of soldiers for these positions. The chairman of the board was Thomas Webster, its secretary Cadwalader Biddle, its treasurer S. A. Mercer. Through the liberality of this board, funds were raised to furnish the instruction free, open alike to citizens of all the States, and Colonel John H. Taggart was selected to conduct it. It was known as the Free Military School of Philadelphia. The insti- tution had the warm approval of the national authorities, and permission to grant furloughs to deserving soldiers to attend it was given to officers in the field. General Casey, chief of the examining board, wrote on March 7th : "It gives me great pleasure to learn that your school is prospering, and I am pleased to inform you that the board of which I am president have not as yet rejected one of your candidates." Pupils en- tered it from eighteen States of the Union, and from ten of the
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JOSEPH JACK .- FRANKLIN A. STRATTON.
leading nations of Europe. It was continued in operation from the 26th of December, 1863, when it was opened with only two students, to September 15th, 1864. During this period four hun- dred and eighty-four were graduated and passed successful ex- aminations. At the end of this time the funds were exhausted, when it was continued by Colonel Taggart on his own responsi- bility until the fall of Richmond, charging a small tuition. This service of Colonel Taggart was doubtless greater than he could possibly have rendered by continuing in the field. The Phila- delphia Dispatch of October 2d, 1864, said of him : "The prac- tical experience of Colonel Taggart is such that probably there is no person in the country, except the veteran professors at West Point, so well fitted to direct the studies which are neces- sary to be prosecuted by those aspirants who are ambitious to become officers of volunteers." On the 1st of November, 1865, he was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue, which office he held until the advent of President Johnson to power. In 1869 he became editor and proprietor of the Philadelphia Sunday Times.
Colonel Taggart was married on the 17th of June, 1845, to Miss Eliza Graham, a native of Philadelphia. Nine children were the issue of this marriage, the eldest son carrying a musket in the militia of 1863.
OSEPH JACK, son of John and Nancy (McCoy) Jack, was a native of Westmoreland county. He rendered long service in the militia, having been successively Captain, Major, and Gen- eral of a brigade. He was made Colonel of the One Hundred and Sixty-eighth regiment in December, 1862, which as a part of the Keystone brigade he led at Suffolk, Virginia, in North Carolina during the siege of Little Washington, and in the demon- stration towards Richmond during the Gettysburg campaign. He retired from the service at the close of his term in July, 1863.
RANKLIN ASA STRATTON, Colonel of the Eleventh cavalry, and Brevet Brigadier-General, was born in Northfield, Mas- sachusetts, on the 30th of November, 1829. He was educated for the occupation of civil engineering, and previous to the war. was engaged in several western States in its practice. In 1857
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he commanded a company of riflemen in a severe winter cam paign against the Sioux Indians. In the summer of 1861 he moved to Washington with a company of Iowa men, which be- came a part of what was eventually the Eleventh. He was promoted to Major in September, 1862, to Lieutenant-Colonel in September, 1864, to Colonel in May, 1865, and Brevet Brigadier- General in March. The pitched battles in which he was engaged number nearly thirty, besides many skirmishes and minor affairs. In a sabre charge at Franklin, in which he displayed courage and skill, he was wounded, and in a hand-to-hand encounter in the battle of October 7th, 1864, received a sabre cut in the hand. He particularly distinguished himself in the raid led by Wilson and Kautz, 500 miles inside the enemy's lines, in which three battles were fought and thirty miles of the Danville Railroad were destroyed, he having the lead in withdrawing in face of vastly superior numbers sent out to intercept them. General Stratton led his regiment in the final charge made in the Army of the Potomac just previous to the surrender of Lee on the 9th of April, and throughout his entire service proved himself an intelligent and able leader. He was married on the 24th of Feb- ruary, 1866, to Mrs. Georgie E. Griffith nee Keeling of Norfolk, Virginia. He was soon afterwards appointed Civil Engineer in the Navy.
FORGE SHELDON GALLUPE was born at Troy, New York, on the 4th of August, 1832. In early life he followed the seas for a period of three years. At the commencement of hostilities he was made Captain in the Eighth Reserve regiment, in which capacity he served through the Peninsula campaign, being severely wounded at Gaines' Mill, and again slightly at Charles City Cross Roads. The command of the regiment de. volved upon Captain Gallupe in the midst of the hardest fighting at Fredericksburg, where he won the thanks of General Reynolds in command of the corps. He was shortly after made Inspector- General of the Reserves, and promoted to Major. At Spottsyl- vania, on the 11th of May, 1864, he was hit, and only preserved from death by the pocket-book in which the bullet lodged, and on the following day was severely wounded in the face, the flesh
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GEORGE S. GALLUPE .- JOHN A. DANKS.
of the chin being carried away. At the close of his service in May he commenced recruiting for a new command and soon had over three thousand men. He was made Colonel of the Fifth artillery (heavy) and was assigned to the command of a brigade in the Department of Washington, having some severe skirmish- ing in keeping open the Manassas Gap Railroad, his gallantry securing him the brevet rank of Brigadier-General. On leaving the volunteer service he was appointed a Captain in the regular army and brevetted Major and Colonel. General Gallupe was married in 1854 to Miss Sadie Hare of Pittsburg.
OHN ANDERSON DANKS was born in Venango county, on the 11th of March, 1826. In early life he was a farmer and iron-worker. He was married in 1848 to Miss Annie Reese. Earnest in his support of the Government, he recruited a com- pany for the Sixty-third regiment, of which he was commissioned Captain. At Fair Oaks he was wounded in the right leg. After recovering he returned to his regiment, having in the meantime been promoted to Major, and was in time to lead in the battle of Fredericksburg. In that engagement he heroically headed a charge, in which his own regiment with the One Hundred and Fourteenth rescued twelve pieces of artillery, and saved them from capture, receiving the thanks of General Stoneman. At Chancellorsville he was taken prisoner, and for two weeks endured the privations of Libby. Soon after his release he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel.
At Gettysburg this regiment was thrust out upon the skirmish front at the Peach Orchard, where it was subjected to a cross fire of artillery and infantry. In the face of the most fearful assaults that shook that ever memorable field it held its ground, and until the Third corps, shattered and broken, was forced back. Lieu- tenant-Colonel Danks was promoted to Colonel, to date from the second day of this battle. He was warmly engaged at Auburn Mills on the 14th of October, where he led the regiment in a charge which resulted fortunately, and won the approval of the division commander, the gallant Birney. At the very opening of the spring campaign of 1864 Colonel Danks was severely wounded, a Minie ball striking his left fore-arm and passing
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into his hand. Seven officers besides himself were wounded, and General Hays, the father of the Sixty-third regiment, who led the brigade, was killed. Colonel Danks was sufficiently recovered to participate in the battles before Petersburg. He was mustered out at the conclusion of his term, August 5th, 1864. In 1866 he was elected a member of the Legislature of Pennsylvania.
SOUIS WAGNER, son of Ludwig and Christina (Berg) Wagner, was born on the 4th of August, 1838, in Giessen, Germany. At the age of eleven he came to Philadelphia, where, after re- ceiving a fair education, he was apprenticed to learn the business of lithograph printing. He entered the service as a First Lieu- tenant in the Eighty-eighth regiment, and was engaged at Cedar Mountain, Thoroughfare Gap, Second Bull Run, and Chancellors- ville, rising rapidly through the ranks of Captain, Lieutenant- Colonel, and Colonel, which last he attained in March, 1863. At the second battle of Bull Run he received a severe wound, which was eighteen months in healing, the tibia of the right leg being fractured, and necessitated the insection and removal of a considerable portion of it. He fell into the enemy's hands on this field, but was paroled shortly after. In June, 1863, in con- sequence of his disability from wounds, he was placed in com- mand of Camp William Penn, established as a rendezvous for colored soldiers, which he kept open until May, 1865, organizing in the meantime troops to the number of 12,354. After closing the camp he returned to his regiment and was for a time in command of a brigade. He was brevetted Brigadier-General in March, 1865, "for gallant and meritorious services during the war." He has since been a member of the Councils of Philadelphia, executive officer of the Sons of Temperance, and Commander of the State organization of the Grand Army of the Republic. Gen- eral Wagner was married to Miss Hattie Slocum, in 1869.
HOMAS JEFFERSON AHL was born on the 2d of April, 1839, in York county. His grandfather was a surgeon in the Revolutionary army. In February, 1859, with three others he went overland with a cattle-team to Pike's Peak, and in 1860
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