"General Reynolds Rallying the Pennsylvania Reserves at the Second Battle of Manassas": An 1864 Painting Comes to Light

"General Reynolds Rallying the Pennsylvania Reserves at the Second Battle of Manassas" 
Oil Painting By Xanthus Smith, 1864

One of the great joys of studying Civil War history is the steady trickle of artifacts and ephemera that surface after generations in obscurity. Most often, these discoveries take the form of a photograph or a letter. Today, however, it was a painting. And not just any scene, but an 1864 oil painting by Xanthus Smith depicting Gen. John F. Reynolds rallying the Pennsylvania Reserves at the Battle of Second Bull Run! See the auction listing (and let me know if you win it!): https://auction.caseantiques.com/online-auctions/case-antiques/xanthus-smith-o-c-civil-war-painting-battle-of-2nd-manassas-aka-bull-run-1864-7953625

A 2nd Bull Run Account from Co. B, 1st Pennsylvania Reserves

Let's accompany the painting with an account of the depicted incident from an eyewitness from Company B, 1st Pennsylvania Reserves. Lieut. William L. Bear would be a good guess as to the letter-writer's identity. Hopefully, this will be extra helpful since a period of newspapers from May to November 1862 is missing from the microfilm; a researcher needs to get the full bound volume (like I did 20+ years ago) from the Lancaster County Historical Society (LancasterHistory.org) -- although you could also order the late Gary Hawbaker's amazing book from Masthof Press that includes biographies for Companies B and D of the 1st Pennsylvania Reserves, as well as letters like this one.

Co. B, 1st Penna. Reserves, the "Union Guards"
Photo by Mathew Brady in June 1863
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/524795

DAILY EXPRESS.

Wednesday Evening, Sept. 10, 1862.

FROM THE PENNSYLVANIA RESERVES.

A Weary March—Sufferings of the Men—Obstinate Fighting—Rebels Under Dimmell [?]—Visit from Rebel Shells—An Impromptu Report Corrected—At Bull Run—The Battle—Gen. Reynolds—Lancasterians Killed and Wounded—The Reserves in Washington, &c., &c.

Leesborough, Sept. 3, 1862.

I gave an account of the march of the First Regiment Reserves to Fredericksburg, and will now give you what has transpired since. We had expected to make a short stay at Fredericksburg and employed the day after our arrival in making our tents as comfortable as possible. Our anticipations, however, were dissipated by the order which came to us about four o’clock, p.m., that three days rations should be cooked and be ready to march at once. This was on Thursday, August 31st. About 6 o’clock we were called into line, not having had time to cook our rations, and leaving tents, baggage and cooking utensils, we moved off. Night coming on before we had made much progress, and raining at the time, made it extremely tiresome and unpleasant, and when we halted about five miles from camp, we were more tired than at other times after we had marched twice the distance. 

We threw ourselves upon the ground in the road and rested until dawn of day, when we resumed the march. The morning was warm and sultry, and the men soon began to suffer for food and water, but no rest was allowed and on they pressed. Towards noon the sun came out intensely hot, and officers and men felt it by hundreds. Every well, spring and shady spot had its group of thirsty and hungry soldiers; and when I tell you that our regiment had but sixty-four men when it halted for the day, you can imagine that the march was a long and hard one. We halted near Kelly’s Ford, distant, it is said, 27 miles from Fredericksburg. During the night, and before we moved in the morning, most of the men came in.

The day was again very warm, but the march was not so rapid and the men kept together. We passed the Rappahannock Station, where we found the rebels kept at bay by one of our batteries which gave them a compliment of shells whenever they showed themselves. After a rest of about an hour, we continued our march through a heavy rain, which came on about 4 o’clock, p.m. We passed Banks’ men and Sigel’s, the latter being engaged at the time with the enemy. It was 9 o’clock before we halted in a field about four miles from Warrenton, having marched nearly the whole day. A number of our men were by this time marching barefooted.

About seven o’clock, Sunday Aug. 24, we resumed our march. After going about three miles we halted in a large field, stacked arms, and rested while an immense train of artillery and wagons passed. The “boys” in the meantime gathered corn, and also a supply of beef, veal, mutton and poultry. The frequent discharge of muskets, however, to bring it within their reach, brought the patrol after them, and sent them in. We marched a few miles farther and bivouacked in a shady grove near Warrenton. While here we had the pleasure of a visit from Capt. Bolenius and Lieut. Lichty. Those who have been from their home and friends for fifteen months alone know how to appreciate such visits. On Tuesday we moved off in the heat of the day to a position on the Waterloo road opposite Warrenton. 

On Wednesday, Aug. 27, we again had a long and warm march of about seventeen miles. It was evident by this time that we were about drawing our army to a focus, as every field, hill and hillside was covered with troops. On Thursday morning our division took up the line of march early, and had not gone more than three or four miles when the rebels intimated their presence by throwing a number of shells into our midst. Four men of the 8th regiment were wounded and one killed. We were at once drawn up into line of battle, our batteries located, which soon silenced that of the rebels. I understand that it has been reported that the Reserves ran in the last engagement at Bull Run. The man who uttered the falsehood was not in the battle, or did not know what troops were engaged. As the First acted in conjunction with the other regiments of the division, I will continue my account, and leave you to judge whether they ran.

After silencing the rebel battery, skirmishers were thrown out, all the regiments of the division, moving in parallel lines, in three columns, continued their march across the country in an oblique direction, and reached a point a few miles from Manassas. After resting and making coffee, we again moved off until dark, when we halted for the night.

Next morning, at dawn of day, we were called into line, as we thought, to proceed on our march, but had not gone far before we received indications of having a busy time for the day. The artillery became engaged with that of the enemy; we were called back and sent forward towards the enemy. Companies A and B of our regiment were thrown out as skirmishers, and were thus engaged nearly all day.

In the afternoon the engagement on the right was very warm for a time. Our regiment was for a time under a severe fire of shell, during which one of Company D was killed, and several in the regiment wounded. The enemy appearing on our left, we were called in and thrown out in that direction. While in a strip of woods and engaged hotly with the enemy’s sharpshooters, one of their batteries opened upon us a terrible fire. The 5th regiment and five companies of the 1st were in the woods at the time, and every one who was there will say that they have not been in a more dangerous place at any time, and not a man flinched, but stood it through until Gen. Reynolds ordered their recall. A number of our men were here killed and wounded. They all returned to their regiments in order, which were in a field outside the woods, and night coming on we moved off to the same spot occupied the night before. Here some imprudent persons made a fire, which invited a shell from the enemy into our midst, and compelled us to get out of range. 

On Saturday, the day of Bull Run battle, we were again on the move before day dawn, and reached the battlefield soon after daylight. We had hardly time for coffee when we were called into line for day’s operations. Our division moved forward in parallel lines, which we found was the left of the battlefield, and our skirmishers soon became engaged with the rebel sharpshooters.

On coming to a field on which the fighting took place the day before, we had a sight of those terrible scenes witnessed on the battlefield. Dead men and horses covered the hillside. The first object that attracted our attention was a wounded Zouave trying to make his way to our troops, and waiving his hand for help. Others tried to raise themselves and make known to us the wish to be brought away. General Reynolds at once ordered the skirmishers to advance, and sent out a number of men to bring off all the wounded. Our brigade was advanced, and held a position in a field exposed to the fire of sharpshooters and shell for more than two hours. During this time, and while out as skirmishers, Capt. Hooton, of Company A, was wounded and three or four of his men. Here we divided our rations remaining, which amounted to a half biscuit to a man. 

Lieut. William L. Bear
(from above photo)

It was amusing amidst all the danger to see the behaviour of some of the men and hear their remarks. One fellow, whose gun became dirty and had difficulty in getting home the ball, cooly looked for a stone and drove it down. Another was very anxious his friend should see a rebel he had been trying to hit, and that he might try his hand at him. When the bullets came whistling past them, or struck near them, the most frequent remark was “That, Henry, was pretty near.”

The enemy was discovered flanking us in force on the left, and in fact, it is said that Gen. Reynolds had knowledge of it long before, and so reported to his superior, but no notice was taken of it. We were called in from our position and took one behind a skirt of woods, when the battle opened with terrible fury on the right. We were on high ground and had a splendid view of the battlefield which, according to some people’s notion, was a “very magnificent sight.” We were not permitted to view it long before Gen. McDowell came riding up and called out “Gen. Reynolds! Gen. Reynolds! get into line every man and get away there.” We were moved away and taken off to the right, opposite where we were, and had not reached our position before the enemy occupied the ground we left but a few moments before.

We had just established our batteries and were ready, when we were ordered move to the left, in the meantime giving the rebels a chance to play on us, which they were not slow in doing. Once more established, our batteries opened with a will and before long our whole Division was ordered forward to check the advance of the enemy, and hold them there for half an hour. They went forward through a shower of bullets, took their position and poured into the rebels such a continued volley of bullets as completely silenced them and made their place untenable. The Reserves held their position for nearly an hour, Gens. Reynolds and Seymour being in the midst of them cheering officers and men.

It was at this time that the flag-staff of the Sixth Regiment was hit by a ball and broken, which Gen. Reynolds seized and waving it overhead rode up and down the line, infusing into the men a spirit anything else than one to run. No, they did not run, they knew nothing of such a thing. Such a cheer as went up at that time, I have no doubt, made somebody run, but thank God, it was not the Reserves.

We were relieved, and forming the regiments about the road retired in perfect order. There was a little disorder in the First, but when I tell you what caused it, you will see it was not the enemy or the fear of them. I said before, that in the early part of the day they shared their last cracker with each other, and with the duties they had performed, you can well imagine that a dozen boxes of hard bread, and sugar and coffee set before them would put them into momentary disorder. This was the case. A considerate friend had a lot of the above brought near where they were engaged, and when they came off the field and were marching by, they fell out to supply those necessaries.

As another and evidence of the above in which they came off, and the absence of fear among them of rebel bullets and shell, I will mention that they were not two hundred rods from the position they held, halting and awaiting orders, when a ball fell in their ranks, striking down a comrade by their side, causing no consternation, or nothing more than a feeling of sympathy for their unfortunate fellow soldier. I have stated facts as I have seen them myself. If my statement is worth anything, I must say for the satisfaction of the friends of those in company “B,” who were in that battle, that not one of them faltered, but went into it and out of it, according to orders.

I cannot close this, without a notice of Col. Roberts’ bravery in every action with the enemy. Having three companies from Lancaster county under his command, it cannot but be a satisfaction to our people to know that their brave sons are led by so brave an officer. There is no toil, or no danger that he does not share with them equally. He was in their midst, alongside of them in the thickest of the fight. The boys all say, with Gen. Reynolds and Col. Roberts they are not afraid to go into any fight with the rebels.

I am afraid we will have to mourn the loss of one of the best soldiers we had in the company, Christian Kline. He was detailed with several others from this company to carry off the wounded, and when our regiment went into the engagement, he joined another on our left, and was shot through the head. Thomas Bitzer was wounded in the hand, but will soon be for duty again. With the exception of the above, the boys are all well and safe. Five or six of them were running about barefooted, but are now shod and are in footing order.

We were rejoiced to see a number of our Lancaster county friends last week, while we were halting opposite Georgetown. A visit to the 122nd Regiment enabled us to shake hands with hundreds of our Lancaster friends. Our company was ordered on Saturday to go to Alexandria on duty, and on our return to camp about midnight, found the Regiment gone, with orders to us to follow in the morning. 

In the morning we started, and on our way through Washington called on Captain Barton, whom we found improving under the care of his mother and sister. The “boys” were the recipients of a basket of peaches from Mrs. Barton and other kind ladies. While making a rest in the shade on the corner of N.Y. Avenue and 9th street, the residents came out with buckets full of blackberry shrub, lemonade, peaches, cakes and bread. After a long, warm and dusty march we rejoined our Regiment about 8 o’clock last night.

B.

With the Pennsylvania Reserves at Camp Wayne, June 1861

Mathew Brady image of camp of 1st Pennsylvania Reserves, June 1863. As seen in the center background of the image, the soldiers' June 1861 fascination with leaning on each other (recorded in the letter) continued two years later.

Although personal and professional priorities have limited my blogging this year, an inquiry about the Pennsylvania Reserves from a soldier's descendant gives me the opportunity to post the transcription of a soldier's letter.  This particular letter appeared in the weekly Lancaster Inquirer, a newspaper with limited surviving copies (which are not on microfilm but in the archives of LancasterHistory.org). 

Before heading south for the seat of war, the newly-formed Union Guards went east for a rendezvous in Chester County. On June 4, 1861, the Union Guards -- which later became Company B, 1st Pennsylvania Reserves -- under command of Captain Thomas Barton boarded a train in Lancaster for Camp Wayne. The following letter gives a picture of the company’s first week away from home and appeared in the June 15, 1861, Lancaster Inquirer:

CAMP WAYNE,

West Chester, June 11th, 1861.

Mr. Editor: —Since you were kind enough to compliment the Union Guards, at the time of their primary organization, we have been literally overwhelmed by the “sunny smiles of adventitious fortune.” Since our departure, all prior difficulties vanished into “thin air,” and joy and gladness dispelled the vexation and discontent that had prevailed in our ranks. Although not strictly on the tented field, or by the bivouac fire, to recount brave deeds done, or bloody frays made victorious, our camp life furnishes its incidents to weave into an interesting tale. Fun and frolic, duty and labor are agreeably interspersed.

The first Regiment, under the State Reserve was formed last Sunday. The post of honor, through chicanery and favoritism was allotted to the Brandywine Guards: and our Company secured the second post. We do not desire to cavil or object now at this unjust disposition of the two companies, as regret is unavailing; but in all equity and honor, the first position was deservedly ours. This same finesse of management gave to Chester county all the prominent posts. The Lt. Colonel, McIntyre, is of the Brandywine Guards: the acting Adjutant is from the same Company: the Quartermaster is from Chester county. In short, all the loaves and fishes were appropriated by men from this section of the country. Biddle Roberts, the Colonel is a native of Pittsburg; and Samuel, the Major is from Carlisle.

The “Union Guards” are well furnished with musical instruments from the rattle of the “[?]bones” to the soft strains of the flute. – Every night, we have a gratuitous concert. – Since our arrival here, we have improvised and adopted a “cheer,” in honor of the “Union” Fire Company. It is given by spelling the word, “Union” three times, and pronouncing it each time, ending with a hiss, a bomb and a tiger. It is popular and temporarily “lionized” its authors. We have also introduced a new feature of evolution, not laid down in Hardee – called “the Company squat.” – The men are marched, in close order, so as to form a circle, when the command of “Company squat!” is given, when we sit down on each other’s knee. It is quite amusing to see the boys each the sport, which has become contagious, and as we have not secured the services of the Bummers’ Counsel, B.F. Baer, Esq, to get it copy righted (!) it has become adopted by the whole camp. I do not desire to be considered as a boaster, but our company is considered the best in the camp.

The ladies of West Chester are a little charish about visiting the Camp, as but few have as yet honored us with their presence. Our men are all well; but two or three being slightly indisposed since our arrival here. We have an excellent hospital here, fully supplied with all the necessary appurtenances. Dr. F. de W. Breneman of your city, is with us as Assistant Surgeon—a fact which gives our men great satisfaction.

I am quartered with the Captain, first and second Lieutenants, the four Sergeants, Corporal Hoffmeir, privates Rutler, Nauman, Steinhauser and that jolly typo, Nathan Bear. Our quarters are extensive and well arranged, as we have a dining room, bed room, and office parlor. Our bunks are weather tight, and well built, so that none can complain in rainy weather. We have three cooks detailed for the Company, and so far we have had plenty to eat. If short rations should ensue, be assured I will let you printers ventilate the matter! I am a firm believer in the power and efficacy of printers ink, as a curative to all abuses. Two men of Captain Neff’s Company refused to take the oath, and were drummed out of camp, by our drummer, Frank Haines, who, by the bye, is a “brick;” he is the life of the camp, and his presence is always welcomed in a crowd.—Out three cuisines, Geo. M. Bauman, William Dellet, and James Strachan, although not equal to Demonico, or Taylor, or Shultz Reese, deserve praise for their proficiency in providing for the inner man.

Ye Captaine Barton was tendered the post of Lt. Colonel of this Regiment, a position which he would have efficiently filled; but love for and pride in his company to whom he is devotedly attached prevented him accepting the position. They then insisted on him taking the place of Major; but this he also finely declined. Our Captain is by far the best drilled, disciplined and competent man here—a fact generally acknowledged. His men are devoted to him for his innumerable acts of kindness, courtesy, and attention. Our mess sends its respects to you. Sergeants Bauman and McCracken, and private Wm. Cox, and dozens of others desire to be remembered.

Yours truly,
S. R. EVERTS,
O. S. Union Guards.

Living History Prep: Researching Pennsylvania in May 1864

My wife and I beside French Creek at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, June 2013 (Tintype by Jim Pfeiffer)

Once or twice a year, my wife and I have the opportunity to participate in a living history event in which reenactors partner with a historical site to interpret a specific historical event.  My wife savors the opportunity to assemble a high-quality wardrobe, and I generally enjoy doing some of the background research about a particular person, place, and time.  Neither of us are big fans of "first-person" portrayals where we pretend to be a person in the 1860s, but we're happy to do it if it enables us to do something special with costumes, material culture, biography, and history.

This year, we are planning to return to Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site on May 16-18, 2014, in Elverson, Pennsylvania (~20 miles east of New Holland).  The theme of the event is "Enduring the Storm: Hopewell 1864," which excites me as an opportunity to research how Northern communities fared in 1864 -- a time of the war that I've read much less about in newspapers.  So, I recently had the Daily Evening Express microfilm sent out to Pittsburgh to do some research.  I scanned the editions of the newspaper covering May 16-18, 1864, to share with other reenactors and to spark ideas about what to interpret at the event.  Here are links to the PDFs:

• Monday, May 16, 1864
• Tuesday, May 17, 1864
• Wednesday, May 18, 1864

Going over these newspapers, a few themes emerge that might be worthwhile pursuing as topics to research further and possibly incorporate into the event:

1.  Emancipation as a moral imperative.  Instead of talking about emancipation as a military necessity, the possibility of an antislavery amendment brought moral arguments against slavery into pages of the Daily Evening Express, a Republican newspaper.  The Express ran an essay entitled "The Demon of Slavery" by Henry Ward Beecher on its front page, and editorialized that the war's objective was now "the merciless mandated, 'Slavery must die!'"  Among Lancaster's mainstream Republican community, emancipation was pretty much an afterthought in the rush to war, and then really came up in the context of confusing policy situations in which military found itself in 1862.  By 1864, we see that ending slavery went hand-in-hand with winning the war.
2. Details from the Battles of Wilderness and Spotsylvania.  Initial reports had indicated a victory with heavy losses in these first meetings between Grant and Lee, with more clashes expected.  More local news -- casualty lists from the Lancaster companies and accounts of the Pennsylvania Reserves in battle -- began to trickle in a couple days after the national news.  The five Pennsylvania Reserves companies or two 45th Pennsylvania companies suffered moderate casualties.  
3. Soldiers fairs.  News about local soldiers fairs and support for an upcoming fair in Philadelphia filled newspapers for much of the first half of 1864.  In addition to raising the morale of and materially aiding local soldiers, they seem to have served to re-energize the Northern populace and provided a welcome distraction as the war dragged on.  
4. Inflation and prices.  Trade organizations for hotel keepers and shoemakers made attempts to publish suggested prices as the war raised prices of materials.
5. Veterans home on furlough.  Most had already come home and were back in the field, but a few had their furlough in May.  Company G, 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry, was home during this time.  Sadly, one of its veterans was killed when jumping off a train at Elizabethtown. 
6. Administration of veterans' bounties. Veterans who reenlisted were promised bounties from municipalities (that received credit for their reenlistment against their draft quota).  Families were slow to receive that money, much to the indignation of soldiers who wrote letters of protest.  
7. Preparing for the election of 1864. Newspaper editors talked about the Virginia campaigns and military strategy in the context of campaign strategy.  The Union Party (Lincoln's party) would have its convention in the first week of June.  With its editorial, "The President and the War," the Express made clear its unwavering support for Lincoln saying, "The country may rely, with unfaltering trust, upon the supreme devotion of the President to the defence of the Government and the suppression of the rebellion.  He has never, in a single instance, given the slightest ground for the imputation of being governed by personal ambition, or by any other motive than devotion to the public good."

We'll see how these themes develop over the upcoming weeks and if any would be amenable to interpretation at Hopewell.  One of the next steps will be to portray a historical persona.  Last year, I portrayed Lancasterian William A. Heitshu, who married Mary Geiger, daughter of an iron master with operations in the region.  Geigertown, a crossroads two miles west of Hopewell Furnace, was named after their ancestors, and my wife and I pretended to be visiting the village on our respective business and personal matters.  The completion of the Reading and Columbia Railroad gave an excuse to talk about pig iron markets and the pig iron supply chain with some of the other reenactors.  Like I said, pretending to be historical persons is silly on some level, but it often gives an excuse for a fun train of research questions.  We'll see how our impressions develop this year, and I'll try to give an occasional update as I research the issues facing residents of Lancaster, Berks, and Chester Counties in May 1864.    

A Battle Casualty, a Desperate Father, and a Community in Mourning

Railroad running through Fredericksburg Battlefield near where the 5th Pennsylvania Reserves fought and Sergt. Edward M. Shreiner was mortally wounded. (NPS)

Continuing a minor focus on the biographies of casualties, which (1) give insights into the world views of Lancaster's Civil War soldiers and (2) motivate the transformation of attitudes towards the war that Northern communities experienced in winter 1863, today's post focuses on another member of the Pennsylvania Reserves mortally wounded in the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Edward M. Shreiner
Co. K, 5th Pa Reserves
(pareserves.com)

In the December 13, 1862, attack on Prospect Hill, the 5th Pennsylvania Reserves was part of the leftmost brigade in the charge by General Meade's division of Pennsylvania Reserves.  After the division's deadly advance across a long and open plain, the 5th Reserves stopped at a set of railroad tracks in front of the Confederate lines and exchanged fire.  The regiment kept the Confederates pinned down until elements of the 2nd Pennsylvania Reserves could turn the Confederate flank, but by that time the tide had turned and the Pennsylvanians attack collapsed without support and with building pressure from the Confederates.

In the action near this railroad, the 5th Pennsylvania Reserves suffered heavily.  Company K, recruited in Columbia, lost one killed, three mortally wounded, and seven more wounded, according to a casualty list published in the December 20 Columbia Spy.  Lieut. Samuel Evans, the regiment's quartermaster and correspondent "Orderly" of the Spy, wrote a letter to the newspaper on December 14.  On that list was Sergt. Edward M. Shreiner, who was reported wounded and left on the field.

Martin, Philip, and Edward Shreiner

If the name Shreiner sounds familiar in the Civil War history of Lancaster, you're right in recognizing it.  Edward Shreiner's grandfather Martin started a small cemetery in 1836 at the corner of Mulberry and Chestnut Streets in Lancaster's northwest ward.  Although the cemetery was named "Concord Cemetery," it was more commonly known as Shreiner's Cemetery, and became famous when chosen as the final resting place of Congressman Thaddeus Stevens due to the cemetery's policy of allowing African-American burials. 

Ad in Columbia Spy
for P. Shreiner and Son

Born in 1769 and alive through the Civil War, Martin Shreiner (grave) made a name for himself as a maker of tall clocks and fire engines, and was active in Lancaster civic and religious affairs.  Edward's father, Philip Shreiner (grave), carried on Martin's expertise in clocks, and worked as a successful watchmaker and jeweler--besides also being involved in civic affiars--in Columbia, where Edward, born July 24,1837, appears to have spent his childhood.  Some tidbits gleaned about Edward's childhood include that:

• He participated in the Patriotic Order of the Sons of America, a sort of young person's auxiliary to the Know-Nothing Party.  (LEH 8/11/1858)
• He was a member of the Hope Lodge of the International Order of Good Templars which served to advocate for temperance. (Source)  Shreiner even helped organize a temperance meeting near Mountville in August 1859.  (Intelligencer 8/2/1859)
• He was an assistant director of the Vigilant Enginer and Hose Company. (Spy 6/15/1858)
• He was a member of the Columbia lodge of the Masons. (Source)

Ad for Temperance Meeting
in Columbia Spy

Needless to say, Edward Shreiner was fairly well integrated into Columbia's civic and social scene by his enlistment as a private a month after the firing on Fort Sumter in the company that became Company K, 5th Pennsylvania Reserves.  He passed through the Pennsylvania Reserves' costly and hard-fought battles of 1862, earning promotions to corporal and sergeant.  After the Battle of Antietam, his father Philip joined two other men from Columbia to pay a visit to the company, possibly to retrieve the remains of John A. Hougendoubler (Spy 11/8/1862).

Reaction to Wounding and Death

As mentioned, the initial news of Shreiner's wounding came from the post-battle letter of Quartermaster Samuel Evans ("Orderly") that was published in the December 20 Columbia Spy and gave the details:
Sergeants Shreiner and Hollands were left near the rail road.  S. was cheerful and did not complain of pain.

On inquiry made of those who were with him when he fell, as to where he was wounded, I was told that it was through the bowels; I am, however, inclined to doubt this.  I have noticed that all who were thus shot suffered the greatest agony.  H. was thought to be mortally wounded.  Speaker, Fraley, and Rinehart were left on the field, supposed to be dead.

Lieut. Samuel Evans
Quartermaster, 5th Pa Reserves
(Source)

In response to Evans' report, the Columbia Spy editorialized, (link)

This is a sad record.  Although no Columbian is reported killed outright, yet the probably terrible nature of Sergeant Shreiner's wound and the fact of his having been abandoned to the enemy creates the gravest fears for his safety.  Orderly adds that the Sergeant was in good spirits, and may possibly recover.  We trust indeed that this may prove the result.  E. M. Shreiner is one of the bravest among the thousands of brave hearts of the Penna. Reserves.  He is regarded among his fellow soldiers with the strongest attachment, and if his wound shall prove fatal it will have indeed a saddning effect upon his companions in arms.  Of his character as a citizen we need not speak.  All are his friends and admirers at home.  We feel the deepest sympathy with his family in their affliction.  His father started on Tuesday evening [December 16]  for Fredericksburg in order to obtain, if possible, more decided intelligence of his son's fate.  We trust his journey may result more happily than he anticipated when starting on his sad errand.

As mentioned, Edward's father Philip immediately started for the battlefield.  In the next week's paper, Philip published "A Card" thanking "the many friends who came to our relief in the hour of our distress, when the heart was racked with grief and almost despair in the uncertainty which shrouded the fate of our much beloved son," and recounting his journey to Virginia.   He thanked railroad conductors, Lancasterians in the 135th Pennsylvania stationed in Washington, and finally to "the poor man's friend, Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, without whose aid I should have been unable to procure a pass to the battlefield."  Shreiner continued, (link)

I will add for the information of friends, that after arriving at the camp of the 5th Regt. Penna. reserve, some of our boys of Co. K, informed me that they had been assured by a Rebel Lieut., when in search of my son, that he was taken from the field on the night of the battle, and was then in one of the Rebel hospitals, doing as well as possible.  He assured them that every care and attention would be given him.  Lieut. Evans and Quartermaster Sergt. Mullen kindly procured me a horse and accompanied me to a point on the banks of the Rappahannock whence we had a view of nearly the whole field of battle.  We were within speaking distance of the Rebel pickets, and the space between us and the Rebel hospitals where my son was supposed to lie, seemed so short, that only the recollection of the loved ones at home prevented me from crossing the narrow stream, at all hazards, to make an effort to reach my wounded boy.  No flag of truce could be obtained by any means.

Despite Phillip Shreiner's herculean efforts, his son was likely already at Libby Prison in Richmond, where he died on December 18 or 19. Philip Shreiner received a letter from Sergt. Hollins, who was wounded with Shreiner, went to Libby Prison with him, and was subsequently paroled.  Hollins revealed that a bullet struck Shreiner in his pencil case, "driving it into him," and that he was buried in a pine coffin although it was unclear if the grave was marked.  Shreiner responded by going to Annapolis, where Hollins was recovering, eager to visit his son's friend and to get any further details that the seriously wounded Hollins might be able to provide.

Tributes and memorials followed from the various organizations to which Shreiner was connected, including:

•  The Columbia Spy, January 17, 1863.  "No individual loss has occurred during the war against the accursed treason and rebellion which is striking at the existence of our country, has produced a more painful sorry in our town than the fall of this brave young Columbian.  Generally known and where known esteemed or beloved, his loss comes home to every one of us.  His life as a boy and man, as far as we know, and as we believe, was as near blameless as is possible...He was an universal favorite, throughout not only his company, but the regiment."
• Hiawatha Club (Spy 1/17/1863)
• Masons (Spy 2/14/1863)
• A poem written by one of the 5th Pennsylvania Reserves soldiers that was included in a letter by "Orderly" published in the March 21, 1863, Spy (link)about Shreiner and one other officer in the company killed earlier in the year. 

Shreiner's story even made it into Josiah R. Sypher's 1865 History of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps.  You'll recognize Sypher as the journalist and local activist who visited the 79th Pennsylvania in May 1862 before spending much of the rest of the war as a journalist with the Pennsylvania Reserves and the Army of the Potomac.  Sypher likely knew Shreiner through temperance activities in Lancaster, if not through many other possible social connections that the two civic-minded men shared.  Sypher introduced Shreiner and two of his comrades--Sergeant Charles Hollands and Pvt. Joseph Speaker--as good friends who vowed to live Christian lives together as soldiers, help each other if sick or wounded, and report the fate to families upon one of their deaths.

When the fierce storm of battle swept along the heights of Fredericksburg, Sergeant Edward M. Shreiner and Charles Hollands, both mortally wounded, yet each unconscious of the others' presence.  When night came, and the rebels were on the field plundering the dead and wounded, Sergeant Shreiner was so rudely handled that he groaned aloud, and immediately in a weak and low voice, some one inquired, "Edward, is that you?"  The companions recognized each other, and Sergeant Hollands gave the sign of Masonic recognition, which was responded to by the rebel bending over him, and the fainting comrades were placed side by side.  In the morning they were taken to Richmond.  Shreiner died, and was buried in the rebel capital, Hollands lingered many months, was paroled and sent to Annapolis.  He advised the friends of his slain companions, how they had fallen, and of the final disposition that had been made of the bodies of Sergeants Shreiner and Speaker, and having thus lived to discharge his last promise, he died in the hospital soon after landing from the steamer.

In one final note to this remarkable story of loss and mourning that demonstrates what was going on for the community as a whole, when the Republicans and War Democrats of Columbia formed their own Union League franchise on March 7, 1863, they selected Philip Shreiner as their president (Spy 3/14/1863).  The Union League would play a critical role starting in winter of 1863 rallying the Northern populace in support of the war effort, fiercely opposing anti-war Democrats and expanding the war's mission to include emancipation and the war's prosecution to include African-American soldiers.  As the story of Edward and Philip Shreiner shows, the battle deaths of a community's cherished sons were connected in no uncertain terms to the case for an emboldened Northern war effort led by men such as Pennsylvania's Governor Andrew Curtin, reelected in 1863, and President Lincoln, who won reelection in 1864.

 

Links:

• Grave of Edward M. Shreiner
• "Busted Up and Gone to Hell: The Assault of the Pennsylvania Reserves at Fredericksburg" by Frank O'Reilly
• Memorial biography to Edward Shreiner published in Masonic Review
• Passage from Sypher's History of the Pennsylvania Reserves about Edward M. Shreiner
• Biography of Edward Shreiner's brother, Charles P. Shreiner
• Tall case clock made by Martin Shreiner at the National Watch and Clock Museum
• Biography of Martin Shreiner, grandfather of Edward Shreiner
• Second Biography of Martin Shreiner
• Civil War Issues of the Columbia Spy
• Roster of Company K, 5th Pennsylvania Reserves

The Tragedy of the Pa Reserves at Fredericksburg

A photo between shots from Fredericksburg scenes of Gods and Generals in 2001 (vws)

Perhaps the most tragically heroic action on any Civil War battlefield occurred on December 13, 1862, at the Battle of Fredericksburg as Gen. George Gordon Meade led the Pennsylvania Reserves division against the Confederate right on Prospect Hill (map).  Meade's attack "exceeded all expectations"--as assessed by Frank A. O'Reilly in his campaign study--charging hard over an open field and punching through Confederate lines.  Poor coordination at the corps and army level squandered the opportunity, and attention turned to Marye's Heights where Union assaults failed disastrously.  If only Meade had been reinforced so that his division's gains could be exploited, the battle could have had a dramatically different ending.

Co. B, 1st Penna. Reserves, the "Union Guards"
Photo by Mathew Brady in June 1863

As a matter of fact, the 1st Pennsylvania Reserves, which included Companies B, D, and E from Lancaster County, possibly penetrated farthest of any Union troops in their advance up the wooded hillside.  Along with the 6th Pennsylvania Reserves, they managed to surprise and route almost an entire brigade of unsuspecting South Carolinians, mortally wounding its commander Maxcy Gregg and cutting Lee's army in two.  With no reinforcements behind and more Confederates ahead, the gains were only temporary.

The focus of this post, though, is on one young Lancasterian from the five Lancaster County companies in the Pennsylvania Reserves.  As the culmination of death's relentless six-month march from the Virginia Peninsula to Second Bull Run to South Mountain and Antietam to Perryville and finally to Fredericksburg, his death would be fresh of the minds of Union soldiers who experienced a sort of awakening in the winter months of 1863 when the war's cause underwent a revolution that strengthened resolve to win the war and began to include new attitudes towards slavery, race, and black soldiers as part of the war effort.

Bounty Check for Josiah A. H. Lutz, 1st Penna. Reserves (Tom and Janice Grove Collection)

Josiah A. H. Lutz, Co. B, 1st Pennsylvania Reserves

Sixteen year-old Josiah A. H. Lutz joined the Union Guards--Company B, 1st Pennsylvania Reserves--as the company rested after the Battle of Antietam.  I won't reveal too much of the extensive research done by genealogist and historian Gary Hawbaker, but the orphaned Lutz presumably lied about his age to enlist and financially support his younger sister.  Remarkably, his bounty check turned up several years ago at a Lancaster County flea market and is now in the collection of a friend.  The native of East Petersburg, Lancaster County, quickly proved himself an able soldier and endeared himself to the company and its officers.

Lt. W. L. Bear
(Detail from
photo above)

As Meade's men crossed an open field nearing the Confederate defenses, Lutz was struck in the leg by a bullet.  The Pennsylvanians were under orders to not stop to help the wounded so as to not slow the advance, and Lutz was left behind.  Company B continued into the woods and up the hill, and did not hear from Lutz again until Sergeant Philip L. Sprecher (bio) received a letter from him while in a hospital in Washington.  Through a letter from Lieut. William L. Bear published in the January 12, 1863, Lancaster Daily Inquirer, we learned that: (link to full letter)

[Lutz] laid upon the field between our and the rebel line of skirmishers from the afternoon of the battle until the next day at dusk.  During the time he laid there, probably while attempting to drag himself within our lines, he was fired at three times.  The first ball passed close to his neck, the second close to his face, and the third struck his cap off his head, after which he said he concluded to lie still.  He was taken off with others, under a flag of truce. 

Lutz survived relocation to a hospital in Washington, DC, but his health quickly deteriorated thereafter.  Lutz died on December 21 or 22 (depending on the source), and his remains were taken back to Lancaster.  He was buried in East Petersburg Mennonite Cemetery by Pastor F. W. Conrad (bio) of Trinity Lutheran Church in Lancaster.  Word of his death reached his comrades through the Lancaster newspapers, which prompted the letter from Lieut. Bear referenced above.  Bear added, "Thus has this accursed rebellion added another bright victim to our fallen brave.  His memory will ever be cherished by all who knew him." 

Gravestone of Josiah A. H. Lutz
East Petersburg Mennonite Cemetery

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

Auctions I Missed

Civil War Grouping of Capt. William D. Reitzel, Co. G, 2nd Penna. Reserves
Sold by Alderfer Auctions in 2010

Although my research on this site primarily relies upon soldiers' accounts published in period newspapers (and occasionally something from the Lancaster County Historical Society), documents and photographs in the hands of private collectors can also play a very important role in telling Civil War stories.  Furthermore, they give a little bit of thrill and tragedy to Civil War research, as you never know what's going to pop up next...and what happens to it after someone buys it. 

Recently, web searches have allowed me to find three auction lots that are very important for our understanding of Lancaster and the Civil War.  Unfortunately, all three lots were from past auction catalogs, so the items are now likely in the hands of private collections.  Coincidentally, all three lots related to officers whose correspondence was regularly printed in Lancaster newspapers.  The auction lots were:

Adam C. Reinoehl
Heritage Auctions, 2008

1. CDV of Sgt. Major Adam C. Reinoehl.  Heritage Auctions, 2008.  Valedictorian of F&M's Class of 1861, Reinoehl wrote a series of twenty or so very interesting letters from Union operations in South Carolina in 1862-3 and then in Virginia in 1864.  Wounded in the assault on Battery Wagner, I believe this photograph was taken while he recovered from his wound in Lancaster.  See more information in this post I wrote about him back in January.  
2. Diary of Capt. Emanuel D. Roath, Company E, 107th Pennsylvania.  Cowan's Auctions, June 2011.  Perhaps the most prominent Civil War soldier from Marietta, Lancaster County, Roath frequently wrote about a dozen or so letters to the Weekly Mariettian.
3. Civil War Grouping of Capt. William D. Reitzel, Company G, 2nd Pennsylvania Reserves.  Alderfer Auctions, March 2010.  Reitzel recruited a company out of Landisville that joined up with the Pennsylvania Reserves as a replacement company in July 1862.  He corresponded occasionally with the Lancaster Daily Inquirer.  

I'm not as concerned about the Reinoehl CDV, as it can be downloaded from the website and duplicates might exist, but not getting to read the Roath or Reitzel diaries, or getting to see the pictures clearly, really eats at me.  If anyone has information about the fate of these primary sources, please let me know.       

The Week the War Changed for Lancaster

Gaines' Mill Battlefield (vws)

Before June 26, 1862, the Lancaster community's exposure to combat casualties had been limited.  Only a few of the twenty or so companies recruited in Lancaster County had seen large-scale battles, and as far as I can tell none of the soldiers in those companies had been killed in action.  That changed dramatically in one week when the Pennsylvania Reserves bore the brunt of a Confederate offensive out of Richmond known as the Seven Days Campaign.  Three battles in particular over the span of five days produced casualties that shocked Lancaster County, and inaugurated a six-month seemingly nonstop sequence of battles whose mass casualties would transform how people in Lancaster thought about the war.      

The Pennsylvania Reserves was a division of thirteen infantry regiments organized by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania shortly after the war's outbreak.  Four of the companies were from Lancaster County:

• Company B, 1st Pennsylvania Reserves, recruited in Lancaster City
• Company D, 1st Pennsylvania Reserves, recruited in Safe Harbor
• Company E, 1st Pennsylvania Reserves, recruited in Lancaster City
• Company K, 5th Pennsylvania Reserves, recruited in Columbia
• [Joining in July 1862:] Co. G, 2nd Pennsylvania Reserves, recruited in Landisville

Co. B, 1st Pennsylvania Reserves, in 1863 (Mathew Brady)

The Pennsylvania Reserves had just joined the Army of the Potomac on its northern flank as it approached Richmond in June 1862.  Gen. Robert E. Lee, the new commander of the Confederate army, saw taking the offensive as his only opportunity to save Richmond, and focused on the Union right--including the Pennsylvania Reserves--as particularly vulnerable since the army straddled the rain-swollen Chickahominy River.  Over 60,000 Rebels concentrated on about 30,000 federals and intended to destroy them.

The Pennsylvania Reserves' task, then, was to stop the Confederate momentum and buy time for the Union army to retreat and reform a strong defensive line.  They fought in three battles, Beaver Dam Creek on June 26, Gaines' Mill on June 27, and Glendale on June 30.  Casualties were severe with the four Lancaster companies accumulating 13 killed, 81 wounded, and 15 missing, based on initial reports.

Daily Evening Express Front Page
July 12, 1862

National accounts first allowed readers in Lancaster to infer by July 1 that the Pennsylvania Reserves had been in battle.  On July 2, names of a couple of the wounded had reached Lancaster through private correspondence.  Increasingly worse rumors continued over the next few days, with the Daily Evening Express printing on July 5 that two officers (Capt. Barton and Lieut. O'Rourke) had been killed and that Co. B, 1st Penna. Reserves, "had but eight men left."  Thanks to a wagon master serving with the Army of the Potomac, a full list of casualties was furnished and published on July 12. 

The Lancaster community was shocked.  The Patriot Daughters of Lancaster received a surge of donations of hospital stores, and a commission of three men left Lancaster on July 2 to personally deliver the first shipment.  Fathers of wounded soldiers set out for Virginia to try to find their sons, including the County Register G. C. Hawthorne whose son Aldus was wounded.  A group of Lancaster's prominent citizens petitioned to have military hospital established at the summer resort Wabank (where Rt. 741 crosses the Conestoga), although apparently York was chosen over Lancaster.  The editors of the Daily Evening Express even suggested that a monument be built on Centre Square, a proposal that came to fruition twelve years later.

The string of battles and  casualties continued through the rest of the year without respite.  Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Perryville, Fredericksburg, and Stones River badly cut up the companies that left Lancaster in 1861.  As I think through what I've read about the second half of 1862, the whirlwind of campaigns and casualties transformed popular sentiments about the war, increasing determination, decreasing tolerance for anti-war (even anti-Lincoln) protesters, and making emancipation palatable.  The 79th Pennsylvania, the Battle of Perryville, and the Lancaster community certainly offers a fascinating case study for this transformation, and I look forward to exploring it here later this year.

For further reading, see:

• Battlefield and Prison Pen, a memoir by John W. Urban of Co. D, 1st Penna Reserves.  (Start on page 101 for his experiences in the Seven Days Campaign; much of the memoir is his less remarkable grand history of the war.)
• Browse the Lancaster Examiner and Herald for news reports and soldiers' letters in July 1862
• Browse the Columbia Spy for reaction in Columbia and soldiers' letters in July 1862
• Letter from George McElroy, an artilleryman from Lancaster in Capt. Easton's Battery