Book Published on The Camp Kettle and 100th Pennsylvania

The Camp Kettle
Library of Congress

Congratulations to long-time friend and talented genealogist Gary Hawbaker on publishing a book containing on the Camp Kettle newspaper published by the 100th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. The full text of the newspapers is presented along with detailed biographies of soldiers associated with it. There aren't too many direct Lancaster connections, but anyone interested in the 45th Pennsylvania (which at times was brigaded with the 100th Pennsylvania) would appreciate the material. Here are further details about the book:

THE CAMP KETTLE

Civil War Newspaper

100th Pennsylvania Volunteers

The Roundhead Regiment

With selected biographies of members of the 100th Pennsylvania and the 8th Michigan who fought with them After years of research, the complete collection of The Camp Kettle has been transcribed (with photographs and letters from the editor’s collection included). Pension records for seventy-five soldiers were researched and valuable information found in them has been included. Of special interest are the original soldier letters that families sent to the Pension Office to prove that a son had provided for the family before or while he was in the service which were never returned to the family.

Background on other newspapers printed by soldiers during the Civil War is included as well as references to The Camp Kettle found in other newspapers across the United States. Where available, images of the soldier and of his grave stone are shown.

Biographies and family histories of 75 soldiers (47 Pennsylvania and 28 Michigan). Over 8,000 references in the index. Major surnames: Atherton, Ayers, Badger, Bailey, Baker, Banks, Barton, Bell, Bidwell, Bonner, Borden, Brown, Browne, Campbell, Church, Clements, Condon, Crawford, Crowl, Cubbison, Dunlap, Eichbaum, Emery, Evans, Ferren, Fisher, Foote, Gilmore, Gordon, Graul, Gross, Gulmire, Hamilton, Hanna, Hart, Hobbs, Holton, Johnson, Kelly, King, Lobinger, Lock/Locke, Marshall, McClain, McClure, McCracken, McCreary, McKeever, McMillen, Miel, Miller, Mills, Mire, Nelson, Nicklin, Noah, Otto, Parkhill, Pentecost, Quest, Rhett, Rogers, Romberger, Semple, Shelter, Smith, Stevenson, Stewart, Stoner, Sutherland, Thurston, Waddington, Wagner, Watt, White, and Wood.

Publication is 5½ x 8½ inches. Perfect Bound. Laminated Soft Cover. Illustrated. 510+ pages. Index.

Gary has made available an order form available, which I have uploaded and made available at this link.

After Antietam

Confederate Dead near the Dunker Church on the Antietam Battlefield.  Multiple civilians from Lancaster visited this site in the days after the battle.  (Library of Congress)

The Battle of Antietam had hardly ended before the first team of civilians from Lancaster came to help care for the wounded.  Five of Lancaster's prominent physicians and three assistants left Lancaster on September 18, 1862, a day after the battle in response to a call put out by Pennsylvania Surgeon General Henry H. Smith.  They arrived in Hagerstown and proceeded to the battlefield where they spent three days amputating limbs and dressing wounds.

Accompanying the physicians were staff members of the Lancaster Inquirer newspaper, possibly including editor Stuart A. Wylie, who toured the Antietam battlefield while still covered by the dead.  The entourage passed through the North Woods and the Cornfield and eventually reached the Dunker Church:

Afar off on a declivity of a small hill, just in the edge of a large woods, and by the woodside, we observed the white corner of a building peep up, and on making inquiry, were informed that it was the Dunkard Church, where the rebel sharp-shooters suffered so severely.  Making our way carefully on, over the heaps of dead rebels, we at last arrived there.  The building was a small brick one story, perfectly riddled with balls.  The rebels secreted themselves here for the purpose of picking off our artillery men, whom they annoyed for some time very much.  At last the guns were turned on them, and in a few minutes the building was rendered untenable by the bursting shells.  Inside we found a wounded Confederate soldier lying with a ball right through his forehead, and the brain oozing slowly out.  He was still alive and sensible.

The letter continued to describe the military state of affairs in the days after the battle, which they labeled "decisive, but very incomplete."  It concluded with a visit to the Pennsylvania Reserves and the comment, "We returned home on Sunday, well satisfied with our view of the battle scenes, and convinced that the rebels will never more attempt to invade Pennsylvania."  Read the entire letter, which appeared in the September 22, 1862, Lancaster Daily Inquirer at this link. 

Pastor F. W. Conrad
(Trinity Lutheran Church)

After the immediate response by the team of physicians, the Lancaster community responded more broadly by donating hospital stores to the Patriot Daughters of Lancaster.  A team of four Lancasterians, including a pastor (pictured on left), a pharmacist, a farmer, and the city's music genius superintended the distribution of six wagon loads of goods to the Pennsylvania Reserves and hospitals, leaving Lancaster on September 30.  I've already featured this trip in a previous post, as there were two very interesting letters by the Patriot Daughters' agents about their trip.  Those letters are available here.

On a more personal level, other citizens of Lancaster tended to the effort of retrieving bodies of soldiers killed at South Mountain and Antietam for reburial in Lancaster, hoping that a final resting place in a family cemetery would be meaningful to families who sacrificed sons to the effort to preserve the Union.

In particular, we have accounts related to soldiers from some of the Columbia companies.  Thomas Bennett, of Company K, 5th Pennsylvania Reserves, died from wounds received at South Mountain in a hospital in Frederick, but the attempt to retrieve the body was unsuccessful due to confusion in the hospital's burial records (or lack thereof).  Another officer, Capt. George A. Brooks of the 46th Pennsylvania and formerly of Columbia, was learned to have been killed in action when Columbians in the Pennsylvania militia were transferring coffins at a railroad depot. [Columbia Spy 10/4/1862]

Amos Hougendobler
Co. K, 5th Penna. Reserves
Brother of John, KIA South Mountain
(USAMHI)
Thanks to PRVC Hist. Soc.

In another case, a week after the battle three men left Columbia to retrieve the remains of John A. Hougendobler (Hogentogler), whose death at South Mountain with Co. K, 5th Pennsylvania Reserves, was reported in a letter I cited last week.  The party first went to the Antietam battlefield and found the Pennsylvania Reserves.  In a letter by "P. F." published in the October 4, 1862, Columbia Spy, he recounted:

Leaving [the Dunker Church], we soon found the immortal Penna. Reserves...Our gallant townsman, Col. Fisher of the 5th, welcomed us in his genial and gentlemanly way.  Dinner being ready we partook of his hospitality and did full justice to the meal.  All the Columbians seemed to be glad to see us as we were to see them.  We mingled freely with them and heard many tales of hair-breadth escapes and mighty deeds.

The next day, they set out east towards Boonesboro to complete their mission.  The letter continued:

Passing on three miles further [past Boonesboro], by way of the Hagerstown and Frederick turnpike, we turned into a road to the left, running northward, and skirting the base of the celebrated South Mountain.  After advancing a mile we again struck a road to the left, running to the westward up a hollow in the mountain side.  We advanced up this road to where it terminates in a ravine in which there is a small log house occupied by an old man and his family.  A young man belonging to the 5th of the name of Rees, detailed by Col. Fisher to act as guide, here pointed out the track of the 5th regiment as they charged up the side of the mountain, driving the rebels before them...Our guide took us to the grave, which we found in an enclosure near the little log house in the ravine.  He had been buried as carefully as the circumstances would permit; the only implements used were bayonets.  We uncovered a part of the body and found the corpse carefully wrapped in a gum blanket, and his cap placed over his face.  Lifting the cap we found the body too much decomposed to remove.  Gathering a few locks of hair we again replaced his cap, and after building a a little wall of stones about his body, covered it with heavy slabs, on one of which we inscribed his name.  Covering the whole with earth we left him to rest till winter, when he will be brought home to his mourning friends.

The party started home later that night.  Although I still have to confirm it, Hougendobler's remains were supposedly removed eventually to what is now the cemetery of the Ironville United Methodist Church, which stands on the Hougendoubler family farm in West Hempfield Township (according to Bridgens' 1864 atlas).
 
Whether to mourn, aid, or simply tour, these anecdotes point to a very strong connection between the battlefield and the home front in the days after the Battle of Antietam.  Through these stories, we can see how civilians tried to cope with mass death and injury and the challenges that they faced in doing so.  We can also start to see hints about how the war's proponents positioned the deaths as a call to loyalty to the nation and a heightened commitment to the war.

'Officers and Men Alike Were Heroes': Lancaster at South Mountain

The Battle for Fox's Gap, in which the 45th Pennsylvania participated.
(Library of Congress)

Corresponding to Friday's 150th anniversary of the Battle of South Mountain, here are some words and images of those Lancasterians involved in the assaults that succeeded in knocking Confederates off their lofty defensive positions and opening the way for McClellan to strike at Lee's scattered army.  Judging solely by number casualties, the Battle of South Mountain, which took place on September 14, 1862, in three different gaps in the mountain range, actually probably was more significant for the people of Lancaster than the Battle of Antietam a couple days later, reflecting the key roles several Lancaster companies played.

Hat belonging to Col./Brig. Gen. Thomas Welsh
(Richard Abel Collection)

Specifically, seven companies recruited in Lancaster County could count the day's attacks among their proudest moments of the entire war.  All participated in the assaults on two nearby gaps, Turner's and Fox's, along the National Road as it shot west from Frederick.

South of the National Road at Fox's Gap, a brigade under Col. Thomas Welsh of Columbia had deployed at the base of a hill whose crest Confederate artillery and infantry occupied.  Welsh's command included his old regiment, the 45th Pennsylvania, of which Companies B and K were recruited in Marietta and Columbia, Lancaster County.

The regiment's soldier-correspondent to the Columbia Spy, who I think I determined to be Corp. George H. Stape of Company K, picked up the story in a letter dated September 15 published on October 4:

We remained under a terrible fire from the Rebel artillery and infantry for five hours on that day, and after having charged up a hill, we succeeded in driving them away in total confusion.  After we had shot away all our cartridges we went at them with the bayonet, and soon had great heaps of dead Rebels in our front.  Our own loss was terrible.  Behind us lay our dead and wounded, literally covering the ground.  Not a man in this great old Regiment faltered.  Our wounded comrades fell shouting "Forward!"--not even a man left the ranks to bear off the wounded; all felt the great responsibility resting on them, and determined to conquer or die.  Officers and men alike were heroes!  You should have heard the shouts of victory echoing through the old mountain as the Rebels fled in terror down the hill!  

Chaplain William J. Gibson
45th Pennsylvania
(R. Abel Collection)

Both Companies B and K lost two men killed in the action and about ten-fifteen men wounded to various degrees of severity. Word of the battle and its accompanying casualty list reached Lancaster fairly rapidly thanks to the efforts of the regiment's chaplain, William J. Gibson.  A complete list of killed and wounded for the entire regiment was printed in the September 20 Columbia Spy. 

On the northern end of the advance, the Pennsylvania Reserves had the task of moving up a steep, rocky mountain ridge to push the Confederates off the top.  Lancaster County sent six companies as part of the division: Companies B (Lancaster), D (Safe Harbor), and E (Lancaster), 1st Pennsylvania Reserves, Co. G of the 2nd Penna. Reserves (Hempfield), and Co. K of the 5th Penna. Reserves (Columbia).  All belonged to the brigade of Truman Seymour, who occupied the Union line's northernmost position and had the task of charging up the mountain and turning the Confederate left flank.

A soldier-correspondent in Company K, 5th Pennsylvania Reserves, who wrote under the pseudonym "Orderly" (I'm sure it wouldn't be too much work to figure out who this is) gave an account of the assault for the September 27 Columbia Spy, which included:

Adj. Calvin Budding
45th Pennsylvania
Wounded in battle
(R. Abel Collection)

The Reserves, after marching 18 miles, came up with the extreme left of the rebel army, on the mountain top, at 5 o'clock P.M.; the position was a strong one.  The 5th, 1st and Bucktails drove the enemy from rock to rock and hill to hill.  The Rebels took advantage of stone walls, into which many of them were burrowed.  I passed over the battle field this morning; it seems almost incredible that the enemy was driven from a position almost impregnable.  The hills were covered with the dead and wounded.  Amongst them could be found officers of every grade.  You can have an idea of the consummate courage of the brave boys of the 5th, and the manner in which they were handled, when I state that they, the 1st and the Bucktails charged the enemy and drove them over three hills, a mile at least.  After the battle Col. Fisher gave the order "centre dress stack arms," which was done in as perfect order as on dress parade.  Company K suffered severely.  John a. Hogendobler was killed almost instantly, the ball passed through his body and entered the breast of Sergeant Wells, fracturing the bone.  I think he will recover.  Thomas Bennett, two fingers off, and shot through the legs; Patrick Summers was shot through the thigh--doing well, as is also Bennett;* Nicely was shot in the calf of leg; Dan'l Gohn shot in the finger.  I have many incidents to relate but must defer them.  Lieut. Caldwell commanded in the action.  Gen. Hooker, ("fighting Joe,") and other Generals complimented our boys very highly for their courage.

John Hogendobler was buried to the rear of a small log house on the battle field, and a head-board placed in the ground with the name of Company, Regiment, and late residence on nit; the grave is about twenty-five yards north of the house, by a large rock and fence.

* Since died in hospital at Frederick. 

With the passes through South Mountain cleared, the stage was set for the Battle of Antietam. 

Additional References:

• Map of battle, Library of Congress
• Article on Pennsylvania Reserves' attack on South Mountain
• Col. Thomas Welsh' official reports (Antietam on the Web)
• The Battle of South Mountain by John David Hoptak

Letters from 'Zoo-Zoo': Columbians in the 23rd Pa

Unidentified 23rd PA Soldier
(or maybe not, see comment below)
CDV by Stehman & Eberman, Lancaster
(Heritage Auctions)

Having enjoyed writing this past weekend's post about Adam C. Reinoehl--a soldier in 76th Pennsylvania "Keystone Zouaves"--I thought it would be fun and timely to draw attention to the only Zouave unit recruited in Lancaster County.  Specifically, men from the bustling Susquehanna River town of Columbia helped fill the ranks of Companies I and P, 23rd Pennsylvania, also known as "Birney's Zouaves."  They were recruited by Lieuts. C. C. and B. F. Haldeman of Columbia, and a roster of men was published in the Columbia Spy on January 11, 1862 <link>, as well as on February 1, 1862 <link>.

The 23rd Pennsylvania fought in most of the battles with the Army of the Potomac in the war's Eastern Theater, with its severest battles being the Battle of Seven Pines (part of the Peninsula Campaign) and the Battle of Cold Harbor.  One of Columbia's boys in the company, as yet unidentified, wrote regularly to the Columbia Spy under the pen name, "Zoo-Zoo."  His letters are unique in that much of their content is squabbling with other Columbia soldiers in the 45th Pennsylvania, stationed on Hilton Head Island in early 1862.  Here's one excerpt from the January 18, 1862, while the 23rd Pennsylvania was camped near the nation's capital:

I have just finished "45's" letter in your last week's "Spy," and we cannot see what we have done that they are for everlasting slurs at us.  He ("45") says that if we were with them it would do more honor to our old town.  We might perhaps have enlisted in Company "K" of the 45th if the captain had been a native of our town, and we had known under whom we were enlisting.  As for freezing and starving we would inform them that we have plenty and more than we nee to wear and eat.  We might have turkeys and chickens too, if we would take them.  As for the "peg-topped trousers" and being called "Zoo Zoo" we would also inform them that a great many of our boys enlisted before they had seen or even knew what kind of trousers that were to get, "peg-tops" or not.  I suppose the reason that they throw their slurs is, that we are digging holes (as they call it); but I can see no difference in building forts to defend our capitol and in occupying a place after the fighting is all over.  We do not want any of their pianos or sofas as we came for "Union soldiers" not as gentlemen.  We have all been furnished with an extra blanket, and the Colonel has given us a comfort, and have now two suits, and more shirts, drawers, and stockings than we can wear.  We have also the Sibley Tent, which we have raised on logs, thus making it very comfortable.  We have never asked (as we have been accused) for anything from our Columbia friends, but we have heard that a box of stockings and globes that were to have been sent to Company "I" were sent either to the 45th or the 5th Reserve, but as they need them more than we do we do not complain as they are all used in one cause.

Uniform of Corp. William Stephens of Company I, 23rd Pennsylvania
(Heritage Auctions)

For more letters from "Zoo-Zoo," his antagonists in the 45th Pennsylvania, and other soldiers in the 23rd Pennsylvania, browse the digitized Columbia Spy available as part of the Pennsylvania Civil War Newspapers Project.  See the following dates for letters from the 23rd Pennsylvania:

• 1/4/1862 Camp Graham, Near Washington (Company I, 23rd PA) A Birney Zouave 1/11/1862 Columbia Spy
• 1/13/1862 Camp Graham, Near Washington (Company I, 23rd PA) "Zoo-Zoo?" 1/18/1862 Columbia Spy
• 1/22/1862 Camp Graham, Near Washington (Company I, 23rd PA) "23rd P.V." 1/25/1862 Columbia Spy
• 1/25/1862 Camp Graham (Company I, 23rd PA) "Zoo-Zoo" 2/1/1862 Columbia Spy
• 2/3/1862 Camp Graham (Company I, 23rd PA) "Zoo-Zoo" 2/8/1862 Columbia Spy
• 3/5/1862 Camp Birney, Prince George Co'y, Md. (Company I, 23rd PA) "Zoo-Zoo" 3/8/1862 Columbia Spy
• 3/13/1862 Columbia I (Company I, 23rd PA) "Bowery" 3/29/1862 Columbia Spy

There are likely many more letters published after April 1862, but this is as far as my browsing has taken me.

Compelling and Worth Retelling: Letters from the 45th PA and Other Regiments

Scene on Otter Island, South Carolina, where Companies B and K, 45th Pennsylvania, were stationed beginning in December 1861. (New York Illustrated News, May 17, 1862)

In my reading of Lancaster County newspapers from 150 years ago, I recently decided to take a glance at two digitized weekly newspapers, the Columbia Spy and the Mariettian, and have been absolutely amazed at the soldiers' letters they contain!  In late 1861 and early 1862, they seem to average about five per month (a little over one per edition) and cover a variety of units:

1. Co. K, 5th Pennsylvania Reserves
2. Battery G, 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery
3. Co. E, 107th Pennsylvania Infantry
4. Co. I, 23rd Pennsylvania Infantry ("Birney Zouaves")

But, most of all, they cover the wartime experiences of Companies B and K, 45th Pennsylvania Infantry, which were recruited in Marietta and Columbia, respectively, which were probably Lancaster County's two "bloodiest" companies in terms of casualties, and the regiment ranks in the Top 20 for men killed in battle for all Union regiments.  They also had the most unique travelogue of Lancaster companies, which included

• Spending several months on Hilton Head, South Carolina, where they were on the front line of the Union's emancipation policy and regularly interacted with runaway slaves (Wikipedia page about operations there)
• Fighting at South Mountain and Antietam in September 1862
• Being transferred to fight at Vicksburg, Mississippi
• Fighting in East Tennessee on their way back east
• Going through miserable fighting at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor
• Participating in the Siege of Petersburg and operations through the end of the war

Sgt. (later Capt.) John F. Trout
Company B, 45th Pa.
(From recent Ebay auction)

I've barely begun reading these letters, but their content is usually fascinating both from a human interest standpoint and from the perspective of historical analysis.  Several different correspondents contributed, including Columbians George H. Stape ("45," I believe, in the Spy) and Lewis Martin (in the Mariettian).  The first letter from the 45th Pennsylvania in South Carolina, though, was written on December 13, 1861, by a soldier who signed his name "Hempfield."  (Based on circumstantial evidence, I'll nominate Sergt. John F. Trout of Landisville as a possible author.)  <Click here> for a link to the letter in the December 28, 1861, edition of the Columbia Spy, which is part of the Pennsylvania Civil War Newspapers Project.  Here's an excerpt:

Behold us then on the super-sacred soil of South Carolina, and nary bloody hand has welcomed us to ary hospitable grave thus far.  We were all upside down for a little while, but the Colonel [Thomas Welsh of Columbia] soon reduced us to order.  The boys generally went into bathing and oyster hunting, collecting curiosities, &c.  At night the contraband (who arrived simultaneously with the northern invaders) afforded amusement by their grotesque dances, &c.
...
Otter Island, on which we are stationed is some three miles in length by a width of two and a half miles.  It seems never to have been cultivated, but commands a very prominent point on St. Helena Sound.  Hutchinson Island, opposite, is highly cultivated, and grows cotton abundantly, but the crops have either been removed or burned.  

Col. Thomas Welsh
(Source)

Unfortunately, I mostly won't be posting on these letters, as telling the story of the 79th Pennsylvania fully consumes my blogging time capacity, but I just wanted to point out their existence and online availability for anyone who might be interested.  I'm compiling a list of the letters for my own use as a go through the newspapers, and I might polish it at some point and publish it online.

I hope that the resurrection of some of these stories as for entertainment, inspiration, and analysis becomes a hallmark of the Civil War sesquicentennial, as we begin to care not just what was going through the mind of Generals Grant and Lee but also, for instance, what was going through the mind of some corporal from Columbia who found himself building quarters on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, for some of the first slaves liberated by Union armies. 

Other References:

• Pennsylvania Civil War Newspapers Project (includes Lancaster Intelligencer, Columbia Spy, and the Weekly Mariettian), which you can search and browse by paper.
• Bates' regimental history and roster of the 45th Pennsylvania
•  Albert, Allen D. (Editor) History of the Forty-Fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, 1861-1865, Williamsport, Pennsylvania, 1912.
•  Biography of Col. Thomas Welsh (later Brig. Gen)
• Don’t forget it the Civil War military correspondence of Private John W. Bookman, 45th regiment, Pennsylvania volunteer infantry (at Lancaster County Historical Society)
  
• First Sergeant John Hipple, Co. B 45th Pennsylvania / by Donald L. Rhoads, Jr. (LCHS Journal, 2000)
• Also providing commentary from South Carolina was Franklin and Marshall College Class of 1861 Valedictorian Adam Cyrus Reinoehl, who wrote back to the Daily Evening Express throughout the war under the name, "Demas."