USA > Pennsylvania > Schuylkill County > Old Schuylkill tales, a history of interesting events, traditions and anecdotes of the early settlers of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania > Part 11
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"My store was one of the first and best shoe stores in Pottsville. I am a shoe-maker by trade and made fine boots and ladies' shoes. For a custom made ladies' gaiter and shoe in those days we received as high as nine dollars a pair, and
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fine custom-made boots brought from twelve to eighteen dollars a pair. Of course there were lower grades. Machine made shoes have destroyed this branch of the business.
"I had several hands in my employ and our store was stocked with our own and other manufacturers' goods. We had an excellent trade when the big fire wiped me out entirely, I having had no insurance on my stock.
" There was no system about fighting fires then, and even the members of the fire department lost their heads. A great crowd collected and everybody lent a hand to save our goods. Shoes were carried to places of safety (?) that were never seen afterward. Stoves and feather beds were carefully carried out and looking glasses and wash bowls were thrown out of the windows; what was not destroyed by fire or stolen was so dam- aged as to be useless. Wm. Leib a well-known politician, uncle of Capt. Frank Leib, of Harrisburg, an officer in the 48th regi- ment, in the Civil War, lived in this block."
OLD HAND ENGINE
Other disastrous fires were those on east Norwegian, corner of Centre, in the Johns property, occupied chiefly by saloons. The fire N. E. corner of Coal and east Norwegian, and the great fire September 10, 1848, when the block on the east side of Centre, between E. Market and E. Arch was burned out. In which Glenn and Stine, Daniel Aurand, Abraham Miessie, Patrick Curry, Patrick Fogarty, Solomon Shoener, John Kal-
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bach, Joseph Weaver, Oliver Roads, Charles Moll and Charles Kopitzsch, were the principal sufferers, although many other business men were heavy losers.
It was in 1846 that the Good Intent Fire Company was organized. Some of the citizens deemed the means for fight- ing fire inadequate, and Benjamin Haywood, Esq., drew up a paper to be circulated for the formation of a new and addi- tional fire company, and it found many signers among the young men at the shops and about town. A ball was held in December of that year to raise funds for the purchase of an engine. The first parade given by the company was April 19, 1847, when the company with the National Light Infantry turned out in honor of Generals Taylor, Winfield Scott, and Col. Wynkoop.
That old hand engine! Every middle-aged man and woman in Pottsville remembers it. How the boys and girls and everybody else, congregated around Garfield Square and the old Market House, where exhibitions were given as to the height the streams could be thrown. Eighty feet were claimed. There were eighty members in the company. The engine had four immense handles and was manned by twelve men on each side, six above and six below, twenty-four in all, and how they did pump. When the first relay were tired they were relieved by another set.
It was this muscular exhibition, one side up and the other side down, that led the boys to form the Young America Fire Company, which was taken under the protection and instruc- tion of the Hydraulian Company, John P. Powers, Captain.
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DESTRUCTIVE FLOODS
In October, 1831, a disastrous freshet occurred along the Schuylkill. The river arose to a great height. Travel by wagon was impeded and the mail was carried on foot over the mountains and on horseback over the flooded roads. The Schuylkill Navigation dam and coal wharves in this vicinity were badly injured, and boats and dwelling houses were carried away.
In January, 1841, another destructive flood occurred. Coal Street, Pottsville, was entirely cut off from the rest of the town and many properties along the river, canal and Norwegian Creek were ruined or badly injured. The houses on Furnace Island were surrounded with water and the families of some were carried to higher ground. Fifty yards of the embank- ment of the canal was swept away, carrying wharves, chutes, bridges and boat houses with it. The old turnpike bridge was carried away as was also the towpath bridge. Ruin and de- struction followed along in the wake of the freshet down the valley. A sick man was rescued with the greatest difficulty from the lock-house at the first dam.
TUMBLING RUN DAM BREAKS
Tumbling Run Dam was threatened in the freshet of 1841, but it was not until 1851 that it succumbed to the flood, the water making a passage inside the wing wall of the water-way
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and working larger until the greater part of the embankment gave way, and ruin and destruction followed in the wake of the great flood. An eye-witness of the breaking of Tumbling Run Dam says:
" When word was conveyed to Pottsville, by a man on horse-back, that the dam was about to break, many repaired to the spot over the mountain, and I was among the number. The hillside was filled with people. It was a great sight.
Many of the poorer people, and the working-class, built their little homes in this ravine and along the low lands near the Mt. Carbon bridge. Their homes, everything was swept away. Cows, pigs, chickens, the little cabins, stables, pig pens all were swept down stream. The bridge over the Schuylkill and canal went with the flood.
The railroad at Mt. Carbon was filled with people watch- ing the flood. One man was seen swimming with the current with a pig in his arms. A rope was thrown him and he was rescued.
A Pottsville man, whose wife and year-old baby were visit- ing a sister who lived on the Schuylkill Haven Flats, when he heard of the threatened disaster procured a horse and rode down the pike at break-neck speed. The flood was there before him, however, and he found the house surrounded with water.
He rescued the inmates one by one, baby and all, with the horse and assisted in conveying others to a place of safety. Several narrow escapes were made from drowning all along the pathway of the flood by people who were trying to save their effects. A Mrs. Meek and " Mom " Pilliard, who afterward kept the Seven Stars hotel, were among those who lived on the flats at Schuylkill Haven."
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MILITARY HISTORY
In a work of this nature much that is relevant to, and forms part of the history of the region, must necessarily be omitted. The facts narrated and the sketches drawn are nearly all included in the years from the first settlement of the county to a period anterior to the breaking out of the Civil War.
Schuylkill County was highly honored through its illus- trious sons and the part they took in the Mexican War. There is a halo of glory surrounding the military history of this County and the part taken in the great struggle for the pres- ervation of our great and glorious Union, that has never been questioned. Its claims for recognition as a County, filled with noble and self-sacrificing men and women, who offered their all in the dark days of the rebellion, are second to no similar district in the State.
Every Schuylkill Countian, at home and abroad, is proud of the military history of this County. The record, however, is one of such magnitude that it would be impossible to intro- duce even a gist of it in this volume, and beyond a casual refer- ence to it the writer leaves it with the hope that the local historian of the future will do justice to its rich and already ripened field.
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FIRST MILITARY COMPANIES
The National Light Infantry, now Company H., Eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, is the oldest military organ- ization in Pennsylvania. It was formed March 1st, 1832. The names of Captains Baird, Dean, Schoenfelter, Bland, Hon. James H. Campbell and Captain Frank Pott occur among its list of commanders. The latter took command at the close of the Mexican War. Its list of lieutenants includes the names of James Beatty, E. Joy Ridgway, Wm. Pollock, Hon. Robert M. Palmer, Henry L. Cake, David P. Brown, James Russel, Thomas Wren and Robert Colburn.
The Independent Blues were organized in 1841, and were commanded by Capt. James Nagle, afterward Gen. Nagle. Thomas Johnson was a lieutenant. The great ambition of the young company was to make a showing beside their older rivals, the Light Infantry. They had scanty funds with which to equip themselves and their first uniform consisted of blue Kentucky jean trowsers and coat and a comical looking cap.
On July 4, 1843, the company was reorganized and re- christened the Washington Artillerists. At that time the com- pany was presented with a beautiful silk flag made by the ladies of Pottsville. The Artillerists were equipped with handsome uniforms and had flint lock muskets from the State arsenal. They met in an armory located over Nicholas Kemp and Muth's carpenter shop, N. E. corner of Sixth and Market streets.
The call for troops for the Mexican War was limited. The Washington Artillerists were the first to answer the summons
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excluding the Light Infantry, but several members of the latter joined the Artillerists and served through that war. When the troops returned, the honor gained by the Artillerists over- shadowed that of the Infantry. It took the combined efforts of Col. Henry L. Cake and Capt. Edmund McDonald ( uncle of Captain E. D. Smith) to keep the company together to do good work later on.
Eighteen members of the Washington Artillerists voted to go to the Mexican War. Of this number two afterward backed out and two deserted at New Orleans. This left fourteen members, which with four men from the Light Infantry brought up the original number. This small squad was supplemented by others along the route and a good-sized company was raised before they reached Washington. The following was the roster of the Artillerists :
Capt. James Nagle, Lieutenant Simon Nagle, Lieutenant Franklin P. Kaercher, Sergeants Wm. Nagle, August Boyer, Peter Douty, Edward Kaercher, Corporals Washington Garrett and Edward Masson, and Daniel Nagle, Benjamin Smith, Owen Thomas, Reuben Samm and Nelson Berger. National Light Infantry: Robert Welsh, Jacob Sharp, Valentine K. Mills and Barney Barr.
The Artillerists are now Company F. of the Fourth Regi- ment, N. G. P. Volunteers.
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JUDGE D. C. HENNING
Former Judge D. C. Henning, president of the Schuylkill County Historical Society, says:
" I heard the late Washington Garrett narrate a story on one occasion when I was present at a meeting of Gowen Post, in G. A. R. Hall. 'Wash' Garrett, as everybody called him, was a good soldier in the Mexican War and also in the Civil War, serving, I believe, his full three years' term in the War of the Rebellion.
"Mr. Garrett was asked to tell something about his experi- ence in the Mexican War. He arose and said: 'I am no story teller or speech-maker, but this I can say. There was never any lagging behind in marching in the Mexican War. The Greasers were a treacherous lot. They made war on the sly and any man who fell behind could expect to be " done " by them.
" 'In the Civil War a man could fall out, even in the enemy's country, and catch up again with his command. There were not many Johnnie Rebs who hunted the men in blue on the quiet. But in the Mexican War the fighting was not open or governed by tactics.' "
REMINISCENT OF THE WOMEN OF POTTSVILLE
The following reminiscences by the author appeared in the Pottsville "Daily Republican," J. H. Zerbey, publisher,
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April 18th, 1900, when a special military copy in honor of the First Defenders was brought out.
"Something reminiscent of the departure of the first troops for the seat of war and their return. In vain do I cudgel my brains for a mental picture of the event. What would a mere slip of a girl then recollect through all these years ? Brushing aside the cobwebs of time that obstruct the mental vision, a kal- eidescopic picture of a parade on Washington's birthday flashes over the camera of long forgotten memories. A real soldiers' pa- rade, with martial music and Nicholas Rehr's band. The Wash- ington Artillerists in light blue trousers with red stripes with dark blue swallow tail coats and a profusion of gold lace. The Light Infantry in a cadet grey with black and gold facings and black felt hats with large white cocks' plumes. The Artillerists had bear skin hats like those the drum majors today affect. The Washington Yaegers had dark green and brown uniforms and bandmen's hats, with a dark green tuft or pompon in front. A hunter's costume, it was said, as was worn in Germany. The Continentals, the impression they left on the mind is most dis- tinct, with their pale buff knee breeches, leather leggings, buff vests and blue swallow tail coats covered with gold lace and three cornered hats. They were the admiration of all the girls and boys and were looked upon as veritable George Washing- tons in re-production. They marched through the town with a grace and precision that would be the envy of the militia boys of to-day, forming at intervals into hollow squares to fire a volley of blank cartridges in celebration of the day to the terror of the small children on the streets. This, possibly, was February 22d, 1861. The next recollection is when our father, who always read aloud evenings from his daily papers, the
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"Public Ledger" and the "Evening Bulletin," (a custom he maintained during the entire war) with great impressiveness delivered, the President's proclamation and the call for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the "insurrectionary combina- tions." The children were awed by the solemnity of his man- ner, but did not understand the situation. They tried to sup- plement their knowledge by studying the pictures of " Harper's Weekly." The illustrations of the firing upon Forts Sumter and Moultrie are still indelibly stamped upon the writer's brain together with others from the same pictorials in the years that followed, that pictured the blood and carnage of the battlefield and the encounters between the " Blue and the Grey." The departure of the first volunteers and their return, all is a blank. Possibly we were not allowed to wander about on the streets in those exciting times and in the crowds that gathered to bid the troops " God speed." Local historians tell of the day being cold, raw, and disagreeable and that the people flocked by the thousands from all parts of the County to witness their depart- ure. The roofs of the houses about the depots were black with people and the ladies lined every available window along the route waving their handkerchiefs to the brave boys. All through the war this deep interest in the soldier boys was main- tained by the women and girls of the town. On April 23d, a flag made by the Misses Bannan of Cloud Home, was placed in the hand of the iron statue of Henry Clay on top of the monument of that name. A multitude of people gathered to witness the ceremonies and patriotic resolutions were passed. Twenty-one ladies signed a communication at this time in which they tendered to the Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War,
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their services as a nurse corps. His response to Miss Amanda Sillyman and Mrs. Jas. H. Campbell was highly complimentary to their loyalty and patriotism. A sewing society was organized, and up to the following June 800 havelocks, 135 bands, 90 towels and 150 needle cases were sent to the troops from Schuyl- kill County. The ladies in other towns in the County organized for work with good results. In those times no gala day was complete without the erection of stands for the speakers.
WHEN THE TROOPS RETURNED
The ladies' deft fingers made wreaths and garlands to decor- ate the stand, market house and along the route. Bouquets of flowers were presented as they marched over the short line of parade, halting in front of the stand near the market house where they were welcomed home by John Bannan, Benjamin Haywood and other speakers. Inside of the market house a dinner had been prepared for the troops in which Mrs. Charle- magne Tower was interested and Mrs. Geo. C. Wynkoop had charge assisted by a corps of ladies, old and young, some of them the wives and sweethearts of the boys who came marching home again.
On the return of the Tower guards, Mrs. Tower had pre- pared for them a collation at the Tower residence. Mrs. Tower all through the rebellion gave largely of her means and time to the soldiers' cause. Many soldiers' families in town received substantial aid from her private purse during the absence of
.
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their support in the army. During the encampment of the 96th Regiment on Lawton's Hill the ladies' sewing society pre- sented each man with a needle book and Testament, and before the regiment left, Miss Allen's pupils, a private school for young ladies, sent them a library of 200 volumes. Miss Amanda Sillyman of the postoffice, with the co-operation of other ladies, manufactured a large flag which was sent to the 48th Regi- ment at Fort Hatteras, N. C. Miss Sillyman, who went south to nurse her brother, Thomas Sillyman, was the first woman granted permission at Petersburg to enter the lines after the battle, Gen. McClellan giving her a pass and granting her an escort. It is a matter of regret that there is so little data of the work performed by the noble women of our town. Many of the ladies interested have long since died or removed to other places, and those still living recollect very little that they can impart for publication. Of those that took an active part in the work of patriotism were the Misses Bannan, Silliman, McCool, Carpenter, Sillyman, Hartz, Haywood, Mrs. S. C. Colt, Mrs. C. Tower, Mrs. C. Little, Mrs. G. Wynkoop, Mrs. A. Cochran, Mrs. James Campbell, Mrs. J. P. Bertram, Mrs. Meyer Strouse and many others whose names are not recorded, but the recollection of their deeds still live fresh in the mem- ories of those who remain. Mrs. Emma B. Bohannon and Miss Christie Miessie had charge of the presentation of a stand of colors that were presented to the Forty-Eighth Regiment on their return home. The scrolls contained the names of the battles participated in, Misses Clara E. Lessig, Matilda P. Russel and Maggie Boyle representing the ladies of Pottsville pre- sented a stand of colors to the 96th on their return. On the re-
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turn of the 129th Regiment the ladies had a collation prepared for them in the Market House. On Thanksgiving Day of 1863 the ladies of Pottsville under Mrs. Martha Shearer served in the same place a Thanksgiving dinner to the troops stationed on Lawton's Hill and in the west end to preserve the peace and prevent a threatened riot during the enforcement of the draft. Soldiers aid societies under the superintendence of patriotic ladies were organized throughout the County and thousands of dollars worth of goods were sent to their brave compatriots on the field and in the hospitals. After the work of the
SANITARY AND CHRISTIAN COMMISSIONS
was inaugurated they were used as a medium for the dis- tribution of gifts to our soldier boys and others. Mrs. C. Tower was largely interested in the work of the Sanitary Commission and with the assistance of other ladies large sup- plies were forwarded. The ladies of the First Presbyterian church worked for the cause. The Ladies' Aid of Trinity Episcopal church was organized with Mrs. Andrew Russel, Misses Sarah and Amanda Silliman, Mrs. D. J. Ridgway, Mrs. A. Henderson, Mrs. J. C. Hughes, Mrs. Michael Bright, Miss Amelia Pott and others as members. 68 boxes of goods were sent the commission, the result of the work of the above ladies private contributions. The M. E. Church also organized. Miss Rachel Bartholomew, the Misses Taylor, Evans, Sparks, Amelia Haywood and others were largely interested and seven
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boxes of stores, the work of one year and valued at $500 were forwarded the commission. In the great Fair of the Sanitary Commission in Philadelphia in June, 1864, practically the same ladies were interested, although the contributions were from all sources and the organization throughout the County was complete and independent of the work accomplished in Potts- ville. Miss Amanda Silliman was the chairman of the com- mittee in the ladies department and in addition to those men- tioned Mrs. Wallace Wolff, Mrs. John Noble, Miss Parvin and Miss Wolff took an active part, and Mrs. Benjamin Bannan was chairman of the whole. The business men of the County contributed to the Sanitary Commission and Fair, the Christian Commission, for the relief of soldiers' families and miscellaneous contributions to Schuylkill county soldiers and others during the three or more years of the war showed that the enormous sum of $92,138.08 was contributed to the cause from the people of this county merely for philanthropical purposes. This did not include the aid given soldiers' families, many of whom were taken care of privately by the localities in which they lived, nor the money contributed toward filling the quota. But the work of the girls and boys during that time and the 16 boxes of supplies sent to the Commission by the pupils of the Public School deserve some recognition and must not be forgotten. Large quantities of lint were forwarded for the staunching of wounds. The scholars were requested to bring old linen, which was unraveled by the thread or scraped to make the coveted article. Girls and boys left their play to pick lint for the sol- diers. Our school, a sub-Grammar in a building of two rooms on the site of the present Centre street Grammar school, had the
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distinction of filling one of these boxes. The grammar school below of the Misses McCool did likewise. We worked for sev- eral weeks for the box at home and between school house hours on hemming towels, making needle books, havelocks and band- ages and the lint. On several rare occasions, our teacher, Miss Fanny Couch, a 'Yankee school marm,' from the green hills of Vermont, and one of the strictest disciplinarians Potts- ville's public schools ever knew, unbent enough to allow an hour's work for the box before the close of school hours, dur- ing which we sang patriotic songs. Then the box, with what interest we surveyed it. It was no 'measly' little box either, but a huge, square solid box. Dried fruits of all kinds were requested to fill it, cornstarch, crackers and farinaceous foods, together with cured meats. Bologna was forbidden, it would spoil, and glasses did not pack well; the solid glass pickle bottles, however, were sent. There was a quantity of dried beef in the whole pieces and tongues and tongues. Well do I re- member with what feelings of pride I carried a huge farmer's summer sausage of the thick stove pipe variety and a contribu- tion of money to help defray the freight expenses. Then the conjectures as to the safety of that box. Geographies were taken out and the route studied which it would take till it reached Hatteras, N. C., and no one felt safe until a letter of acknowledgment was received, which was read aloud in the school. Reading matter was contributed for the hospitals in some of the schools, several of them clubbing together to fill boxes at intervals. These are but few of the incidents of those stirring times, many of which must go down in the un- written history of the annals of time with the unnumbered
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deeds of valor of the brave defenders of our country of which history has no record. All honor to the memory of the patriotic women of Schuylkill County whose unselfish devotion and gen- erosity saved many precious lives and inspired with courage and zeal the brave soldiers in the field."
NOT A FOOT WASHER
Bob was the despair and delight of little Susan. They were brother and sister, and only two out of the little Peterpin brood of nine, over the youngest of which Susan exercised 2 housewifely and motherly care; and to whom the mother rel- egated much of the supervision of the children that she might the better attend to what she considered other and more impor- tant duties.
Susan was a real little motherling, and it was amusing to see the care she took of the brood when they went out or were playing about. A watchful and interested neighbor related (Susan was small for her age and delicate) how upon one occa- sion a runaway horse came down the street full tear. She could not get her charges away, and taking her short skirts in both hands spread them out to their utmost, like a danseuse, and bidding them be quiet and stand close behind her she stood pale and trembling with dilated eyes watching the beast until he galloped harmlessly by and the danger was past.
Susan had her own ideas about cleanliness, and her rules were iron-clad about how the unruly six must appear before they
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could have their meals, go to school or to bed. There were many incipient rebellions over the enforcement of the laws about clean ears, well brushed teeth, and combed hair, not to mention their baths, but Susan had all the phlegmatic firmness of her Pennsylvania German ancestry to fall back on during such occasions and usually came off conqueror.
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