150th Anniversary of the Battle of Fredericksburg

Today marks the 150th Anniversary of the bloody battle of Fredericksburg, VA. Confederate forces held the town, and for two days, Federal forces under the command of General Ambrose Burnside had been building pontoon bridges across the Rappahannock River.

General Ambrose Burnside, of facial hair fame.

As the 142nd PA Infantry waited across the river from their first battle, they were doing so without their commanding officer, Col. Robert P. Cummins, who was sick in the hospital in Washington, DC. They were being commanded by Lt. Col. Alfred B. McCalmont. The regiment was part of a larger group of Pennsylvania units in Gen. John Reynold's First Corps. On the afternoon of Dec. 12, 1862, the 142nd crossed a pontoon bridge near Deep Run Creek, and spent the night on the Fredericksburg side of the river.

Most scholarship on the battle of Fredericksburg has centered around the Federal assault on the stone wall at the base of Marye's Heights that resulted in the destruction of so many Union troops. The 142nd was not involved in this action however. They were involved in an assault a few miles south of town, on what is now known as the Slaughter Pen Farm.

Battle map of Slaughter Pen Farm action, Dec. 13, 1862.  142nd is part of Magilton's Brigade .  PhotoCredit:www.civilwar.org

The boys woke up on the morning of the 13th knowing that they were going into their first battle. Company F's 1st Sgt. Jacob Zorn wrote extensively about the preparations for battle in his diary:

"At Seven oClock. we moved forward to the Left & front about a half mile when we were ordered to unfling Knapsacks. about this time the Reb Shells began to find us. which excited more than a little. Im sure we dodged when the Shells went high above our head. after unflinging knapsacks we moved forward. crossed. Bowlin green Road about 40 Yards beyond the Road and about twenty Steps in the Rear of our batterys we were ordered to lay down. after lying here Some time Col CUMMINS came riding into the field when least expected as he had been sent away Sick. hearing of the advance of the Army the Col left a Sick bed inorder to get to his Regt in time of nead but when come into the field the Regt gave three hearty cheers."

Further north, at Marye's Heights, Federal commanders kept sending wave after wave of troops to assault the stone wall that the Confederate forces used as cover. They never came close to breaking through the Confederate lines. The Slaughter Pen Farm was the only time the Union troops broke through southern lines. Under a helpful cover of dense fog, Federal troops under Gen. George Meade crossed the open fields and the railroad tracks. Sgt. Zorn wrote that "...the way the field was raked with Schell and canister is entirely beyond description."

The Union breakthrough was short lived, and soon the Federal troops were pushed back by the Confederate artillery batteries on the high ground. The 142nd  fell back away from the field of battle to the spot the occupied two days prior.

Federal losses for the day were high: 12,600 casualties to the Confederates 5,300. The 142nd PVI lost 270 men, killed, wounded, or missing.

Two days later, they would cross the pontoon bridges and settle in Culpeper, VA for their winter camp as combat veterans. In 1889, at the unit's second reunion,  the 142nd's final commander, Col. Horatio N. Warren spoke about his regiment's first battle:

"Here, my comrades, let me say, is where our first genuine experience of war commenced - here is where we passed the first ordeal that was calculated to try men's souls - here is where we heard the first rattle of musketry and knew and realized the leaden missiles, screaming past our ears, coming directly from the muzzles of well-aimed muskets, in the hands of our common enemy, must deal death and destruction to our ranks, and summon many a good friend and comrade to lay his life upon the altar of his country and manfully meet his God."

The Union loss at Fredericksburg was but the first faltering step taken by the 142nd PVI. This step would lead to a run that would end in Appomattox Courthouse, VA two and a half years later.

Camp A, Frederick, MD

In early October of 1862, the 142nd moved from their position at Ft. Massachusetts, on the outskirts of Washington, DC, to Frederick, MD. Following the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, in September, many of the Union wounded were moved to the hospitals located in this central Maryland city.

Aftermath of the Battle of Antietam

The city of Frederick, MD was a crossroads town during the war. Because of this, they had three Confederate invasions, 38 skirmishes, and two major battles. The Union Army held a permanent general hospital there, but after the 1862 Maryland Campaign, many field hospitals were set up, using churches, businesses, and tents.

The 142nd was assigned to one of the tent hospitals, named Camp A. On October 2nd, Capt. Albert Heffley wrote: "This morn they gave our camp a name. They concluded to call it Camp Allen...To day about 300 wounded arrived, amongst which are some 10 or 12 Rebel prisoners, and 3 or 4 of them are very intelligent, & about as fine a looking set of people as I almost ever saw."

William Notson

 Camp A was the largest of the two tent hospitals in Frederick. It staffed 11 surgeons and assistant surgeons, 2 medical cadets, 4 stewards, 114 male nurses, and 18 cooks, with a patient capacity of 733.

 The 142nd's duties during this time consisted of cooking, nursing, and policing. William Notson was the Surgeon in Charge of Camp A. He did not have kind words for the new recruits of the 142nd, stating that "To a perfect laxity of discipline upon the part of their officers may be added the natural inefficiency of the recruit." 

 The regiment spent only a couple weeks in Frederick caring for the wounded. Soon they would march off the Antietam and Harper's Ferry to join the rest of the Army of the Potomac that was massing for another drive into Virginia.






Works Cited:

Reimer, Terry. One Vast Hospital: The Civil War Hospital Sites in Frederick, Maryland After Antietam. National Museum of Civil War Medicine, 2001. pp. 94-98.

Croner, Barbara M. A Sergeant's Story - Civil War Diary of Jacob J. Zorn 1862-1865. Apollo, PA: Closson Press, 1999.

Berlin Area Historical Society. Civil War Diaries of Capt. Albert Heffley and Lt. Cyrus P. Heffley. Apollo, PA: Closson Press, 2000.

Pvt. Jesse H. Critchfield, Co. F

Today we meet Jesse Critchfield, a man born and raised in Somerset County, PA. He was born in that rural, hilly country on July 2, 1841 to William and Susannah Critchfield. Jesse grew up on the family farm, and married Rebecca Gessner of Berlin, Somerset County, PA on Dec. 3, 1861.

Less than two years later, on August 21, 1862, Jesse enlisted in Co. F, 142nd PA Infantry and was mustered into service four days later. Pvt. Critchfield (often misspelled "Scritchfield" in regimental records) saw action in the battles of Fredericksburg, Wilderness, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Laurel Hill, where he was taken prisoner, according to the records kept by his 1st Sergeant, Jacob Zorn.

Jesse then spent eight months in Andersonville Prison in Georgia. According to his pension records, he made his way back to his regiment March 2, 1865, and mustered out with them in Washington, DC on May 29, 1865.

After the war, Jesse moved back home and was a schoolteacher in Somerset County until 1881, when he went into the mercantile business. A few years later, Jesse and Rebecca moved to Ellersie, Allegany County, MD where he taught school again, was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, became Assistant Postmaster, and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He and Rebecca also had 7 children.

In 1902, the 142nd PVI held their 40th reunion in Berlin, PA, and according to the Berlin Record, Jesse was one of the veterans in attendance. Below is a picture of some Co. F veterans from that reunion.

Photo Credit: A Sergeant's Story

Jesse H. Critchfield passed away on March 13, 1917, and is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Cumberland, MD.

A very big THANK YOU is due to Pvt. Critchfield's great-great grandaugher, Michele Doyle, for sharing all her research into Jesse and his family. Check out her blog at http://michelefamilyresearch.blogspot.com/

Works Cited:

Croner, Barbara M. A Sergeant's Story - Civil War Diary of Jacob J. Zorn 1862-1865. Apollo, PA: Closson Press, 1999.

Doyle, Michele. "Jesse Critchfield Collection."

Lt. John W. Dissinger, Co. K

Today's post is about an officer in Luzerne County's Co. K, John Weitzel Dissinger. John enlisted as a Private on Sept. 2, 1862 and moved quickly through the ranks, making Captain on Sept. 21, 1864. According to his obituary from the Dec. 4, 1919 edition of the Lebanon Daily News, John earned the rank of Captain before he was mustered out on May 29, 1865, but the regimental records do not show this.

His obituary also lists a litany of wounds that Lt. Dissinger received while serving the Union.

"He was wounded at Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 13, 1862, by a shell fragment in the left knee. Later, in the Wilderness, on May 5, 1864, he was gun shot in both shoulders. At Spotsylvania Court House, on the night of May 9, 1864, he was again gun shot in the right shoulder."

After the war, John moved to Lebanon County, PA and lived in Lebanon, where he became a carpenter and an active member in the Hebron United Brethern Church. He and his wife, Louisa, had five children. At the time of his death, John also had 15 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

John Dissinger passed away on Dec. 2, 1919 at home in Lebanon, PA and is buried there beside his wife in Kimmerlings Cemetery.

Fort Stevens, Washington, D.C.

Photo Credit: Library of Congress

Once the 142nd left Camp Curtin in Pennsylvania, the regiment was immediately sent to Ft. Massachusetts, later named Ft. Stevens, just outside of Washington, D.C. This fort was one of many structures surrounding D.C., making it one of the most fortified cities on earth. By the end of the war, there were 68 forts, 93 gun batteries, 20 miles of rifle pits, and 32 miles of military roads around the Capital.

  The regiment was sent to this location, along what was then 7th Street Pike, to help secure the main artery into the city from the North. Their time here did not consist of much drilling. Mostly, they dug rifle pits and cleared trees.



Lt. Col. Alfred B. McCalmont
Photo Credit: Dickinson College



In a letter to his brother John, dated Sept. 9, 1862, Lt. Col. Alfred McCalmont wrote, "Our men are all detailed to cut down the woods in front of the fort, and to work on the fortifications."





Capt. Albert Heffley
Photo Credit: Berlin, PA Historical Society







Capt. Albert Heffley of Co. F records the same in his diary: "After breakfast I detailed 50 men from the company to chop trees down about a mile from the Fort, so as to prevent the enemy from planting batteries. I had a great time with the boys. About one half worked exceedingly well, while the other half scarcely earned their salt."



It's difficult to imagine the need for cutting down trees around Fort Stevens if you see its 21st Century location. Due to years of urban sprawl, Ft. Stevens is now located in the middle of Washington, DC, completely encroached by development on all sides. In fact, the Civil War Trust, the nation's leader in battlefield preservation, named Fort Stevens as among the most endangered Civil War battlefields in 2010.

Photo Credit: Civil War Trust

After a few weeks in the Nation's Capital, the 142nd left Ft. Stevens and moved to Maryland to help with the sick and wounded from the battles of Antietam and South Mountain.

Two years later, Fort Stevens would gain fame as being the only location where a sitting President of the United States ever came under direct enemy fire. In July 1864, Confederate General Jubal Early moved northward through Virginia and Maryland, and on July 11 arrived near Silver Spring, MD, just outside of Washington. He sent out skirmishers to test the city's surrounding fortifications. On July 12, President and Mrs. Lincoln came to Fort Stevens to see the action for themselves. After Confederate snipers took a few shots in his direction, the President quickly left for a safer venue.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Works Cited:

United States Departmentt of the Interior brochure. http://www.civilwartraveler.com/maps/nps/CWDW-Interpretive-Brochure-2010.pdf

National Park Service Battle Summaries. http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/dc001.htm

Civil War Trust. http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/fort-stevens.html

150th Anniversary of the 142nd PA Volunteer Infantry

This week marks the sesquicentennial of the formation of 142nd PA Volunteers.

During the summer of 1862, Union victory in the War Between the States was anything but assured. In fact, until this point it was the Confederate forces who were racking up victory after victory on the battlefield. Federal losses during the Peninsular Campaign in Eastern Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley in West-Central Virginia, and New Orleans and Shiloh in the Western Theater shed a dark shadow across the White House and the Governor's mansions of the Northern states during that spring and summer.

In response to the military losses suffered by the Federal Army, the Commander in Chief, Abraham Lincoln, made a call for 150,000 additional troops.

To the Governors of the several States:

The capture of New Orleans, Norfolk, and Corinth by the national forces has enabled the insurgents to concentrate a large force at and about Richmond, which place we must take with the least possible delay; in fact, there will soon be no formidable insurgent force except at Richmond. With so large an army there, the enemy can threaten us on the Potomac and elsewhere. Until we have reestablished the national authority, all these places must be held, and we must keep a respectable force in front of Washington. But this, from the diminished strength of our Army, by sickness and casualties, renders an addition to it necessary in order to close the struggle which has been prosecuted for the last three months with energy and success. Rather than hazard the misapprehension of our military condition and of groundless alarm by a call for troops by proclamation, I have deemed it best to address you in this form. To accomplish the object stated we require without delay 150,000 men, including those recently called for by the Secretary of War. Thus reenforced our gallant Army will be enabled to realize the hopes and expectations of the Government and the people.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

The 142nd PA was among the hundreds of new regiments that formed across the Union in the summer of 1862 at the urging of the President.

Pennsylvania's Governor, Andrew Curtin, was among the Union Governors who replied back to President Lincoln:



Andrew Gregg Curtin
(Photo: Camp Curtin Historical Society)



The PRESIDENT:

The undersigned, governors of States of the Union, impressed with the belief that the citizens of the States which they respectively represent are of one accord in the hearty desire that the recent successes of the Federal arms may be followed up by measures which must insure the speedy restoration of the Union, and believing that, in view of the present state of the important military movements now in progress and the reduced condition of our effective forces in the field, resulting from the usual and unavoidable casualties in the service, the time has arrived for prompt and vigorous measures to be adopted by the people in support of the great interests committed to your charge, respectfully request, if it meets with your entire approval, that you at once call upon the several States for such number of men as may be required to fill up all military organizations now in the field, and add to the armies heretofore organized such additional number of men as may, in your judgment, be necessary to garrison and hold all the numerous cities and military positions that have been captured by our armies, and to speedily crush the rebellion that still exists in several of the Southern States, thus practically restoring to the civilized world our great and good Government. All believe that the decisive moment is near at hand, and to that end the people of the United States are desirous to aid promptly in furnishing all reenforcements that you may deem needful to sustain our Government.

Andrew Gregg Curtin was the wartime Governor of Pennsylvania, serving as Republican from 1861-1867. The Bellefonte, PA native became an ally of President Linoln's in the war effort and was excellent at being able to secure funding and troops to protect his state from the Confederate troops sneaking back and forth across his southern border.

Statue of Gov. Curtin on one of the corners of the Pennsylvania State Monument at Gettysburg National Military Park
Photo Credit: http://www.gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/PA/PaMon.php

Curtin came from a political family and was a lawyer before entering the political arena himself. After the war, he became Minister to Russia, a Democratic US Congressman, and was a member of the Committee on Foriegn Affairs and the Committee on Banking and Currency.

After his time in Congress, Curtin resumed his law practiced until his death in 1894. He is buried in Union Cemetery in his hometown of Bellefonte.

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The men of the 142nd were mustered into service at Camp Curtin, an army camp near Harrisburg, PA. Camp Curtin was established soon after Ft. Sumter was fired upon, when men throughout Pennsylvania converged on the state capital to volunteer their services. At that time, Governor Curtin ordered his state militia commander to seize the grounds of the Dauphin County Agricultural Society. Although it was supposed to be named "Camp Union", when the Camp was opened on April 18, 1861, Maj. Joseph Knipe changed the name to honor the State's Governor. Over the course of the War, over 300,000 troops passed through Camp Curtin, making it the largest Federal camp.  

Even though the camp trained such large numbers of soldiers, at least two Somerset County men from Co. F were less than impressed with their short stay. 

In his Saturday, August 23, 1862 diary entry, 1st Sgt Jacob Zorn wrote that "Camp Curtin (on as windy as day as this) is one of the dirtiest and dustiest places Ive ever Been theres no end to dust" (sic)

The next day's entry is no better: "Gov. CURTIN passed through Camp today and plenty of women visiting. but most of them are in my opinion doubtful characters" (sic)

Capt. Albert Heffley only briefly mentions Camp Curtin in passing, after the regiment has already been moved to Washington, DC. "Camp Curtin is a very dirty place. The boys did not like it there a bit."

Though they might not have enjoyed their time at Camp Curtin, it was the launching pad for the 142nd PVI. It is where they came together, elected officers, and received their gear to get them through the next four years of bloody and dirty conflict. This would be the most peaceful time of their military service. In only a few shorts months, bullets and cannonballs would do what they do in all wars: steal young men from their friends and family far too early.

Works Cited:

Abraham Lincoln: "Executive Order - Call for Troops," June 30, 1862. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=69810.
 

Berlin Area (PA) Historical Society. Civil War Diaries of Capt. Albert Heffley and Lt. Cyrus P. Heffley. Apollo, PA: Closson Press, 2000.

Camp Curtin Historical Society and Civil War Roundtable. History of Camp Curtin.
http://www.campcurtin.org/id5.html

Croner, Barbara M. A Sergeant's Story - Civil War Diary of Jacob J. Zorn 1862-1865. Apollo, PA: Closson Press, 1999.

"Curtin, Andrew Gregg." Online by Tara L. Belcher and Lindley Homol, Pennsylvania Center for the Book. http://www.pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Curtin__Andrew_Gregg.html

Pvt. Andrew Jackson Rose

Andrew "Jackson" Rose was born in 1838 to Silvester and Sophia (Smith) Rose. In 1858, at the age of twenty, Jackson married Susanna Minerd at the Bethel Methodist Church above Paddytown in Upper Turkeyfoot Twp, Somerset County, PA, by Rev. Benjamin Price. The couple would go on to have seven children.

In August of 1862, Jackson joined his brother-in-law Martin Miner and cousin-in-law Ephraim Miner in the 142nd, and enlisted in Co. C.

The 142nd saw significant action on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. Pvt. Rose was among the Union soldiers wounded and taken prisoner from the battlefield. Jackson's right arm was amputated below the elbow due to the seriousness of his gunshot wound there. Pvt. Rose would later be exchanged and spend time in an Army hospital in Philadelphia before he went home.

A year after he returned to his home in Kingwood, Somerset County, Jackson, Susanna, and family moved to Fayette County, PA, where he worked as a farmer and a lay preacher, among other jobs.

Andrew Jackson Rose passed away on Apr 4, 1897 after suffering from lung and heart problems. Visiting at his deathbed was his brother-in-law and Co. C comrade Martin Miner. Pvt. Rose is buried in Normalville Cemetery, Fayette County, PA.

All pictures and info courtesy of Mark Miner. A much more robust biography of Pvt. Rose and his wife, Susanna can be found at Mark's extensive family website, minerd.com