The Grand Welcome Home

On the evening of March 5, 1864, any soldiers of the 79th Pennsylvania who reenlisted as veterans were relieved of picket duty near Tyner's Station, about ten miles east of Chattanooga.  Early the next morning, they left camp and marched to Chattanooga, where they waited for a day before boarding a train for Loiusville.  The journey to Louisville took three days, and the 79th Pennsylvania passed many regiments that had just completed their furlough and were heading in the opposite direction.

The regiment arrived in Pittsburgh on the night of March 13, and were treated to splendid supper before boarding another train for an overnight journey east.  March 14 was spent completing to journey to Harrisburg, where the regiment spent a day preparing for their return to Lancaster by tending to some long overdue personal grooming.  Although the food in Harrisburg was worse than what they got on the front lines, the state legislature acknowledged the regiment's presence by unanimously passing resolutions offered by State Senator Benjamin Champneys of Lancaster.

At 7am on Wednesday, March 16, the 200 or so returning veterans of the 79th Pennsylvania boarded a train bound for Lancaster.  They arrived at the Dillerville Yard, where a procession formed led by the 79th Pa's former Lieut. Colonel, John H. Duchman, and marched through town to take part in a grand collation at Fulton Hall.  The citizens of Lancaster were certainly prepared for the 79th Pa's return.  The Daily Evening Express reported:

Upon their arrival [at Dillerville], the veterans were met and welcomed by an immense crowd of their fellow citizens, and the streets through which they passed were thronged with men, women, and children.  The display of bunting was magnificent, and reminded us of the patriotic uprising in 1861, when the demand for flags could not be supplied.  The Reception was altogether a magnificent affair, and the veterans after what they witnessed that day can have no doubt of how deeply the People sympathizes with the gallant defenders of the flag of the free.

The officers and men of the 79th looked like veterans as they are.  Their soldierly deportment in marching was noticed by every spectator.  There was not as much noisy enthusiasm as many expected to witness.  the regiment is under strict military discipline, and of course the men received all greetings with the dignity of military silence.  The general joy at welcoming home the gallant survivors was mingled with sadness at the memory of the lamented dead.  Many once familiar faces were missed from the veteran ranks; and as the torn colors of the regiment passed along, riddled by the deadly missiles of many a battle, we saw the tear start to eyes unused to weep.

At Fulton Hall, five long tables that stretched the hall greeted the veterans.  Dr. Henry Carpenter gave a greeting and Rev. F. W. Conrad of Trinity Lutheran Church gave a prayer before Mayor George Sanderson gave a lengthy welcome speech.  Private Edwin K. Martin of Company E, 79th Pennsylvania gave a response on behalf of the regiment, and collation concluded with music by the Fencibles Band and the Glee Club.

The joyous occasion was not without controversy, as could be expected given the deep divisions that existed between Lancaster's borderline peace Democrats and its pro-Lincoln Republicans.  Rather than describe it in detail, I'll defer to William T. Clark's diary entry for the day:

Took train at apptd. time, met committee on reception at Dillersville (one mile north of Lancaster). We disembarked, marched, halted, Artillery firing as salute to us. Procession formed at 10½ A.M. lead by (our former Lieut. Col.) John H. Duchman. Copperheads following their Copperhead leader. Marched through the different streets of town. Saw many friends. Stacked arms in front of Fulton Hall. Were marched in where a fine collation was spread. This has been done by deception on the part of Copperheads, only a few Patriot Daughters being among them. The Hon. Copperhead Mayor of Lancaster made a speech of welcome which greatly belies his former actions toward all soldiers. Col. H. A. Hambright made a few remarks excusing himself by saying he never made a speech. Ed Martin responded in behalf of the 79th P.V.V. in a splendid speech cutting Copperheads & all others leagued with Treason right & left. It gave many of them the short coughs & made them generally uneasy. We then ate heartily of the dinner prepared. An hour afterwards we fell in & drilled in Centre Square more than an hour, when we returned to the Hall, marched to the upper story, stacked arms & are given leaves of absence untill the 20th when we must answer to our names & receive our furloughs. 

For further information, see:

• Account in March 17, 1864, Daily Evening Express
• Account in March 22, 1864, Intelligencer
• Account in March 29, 1864, Intelligencer

Horse and Buggy CDV from Gap, Pa

CDV of Horse and Buggy by W. H. Heiss taken in Gap, Pennsylvania (vws)

CDV Backmark

For the second time in a week, an interesting transportation-related photograph from Lancaster County appeared on Ebay.  First, there was a carte-de-visite of a locomotive built at the Norris Locomotive Works in Lancaster City in 1867, which I wrote about in a post earlier in the week.  Then, an image of a horse and buggy carrying two men in front of a barn appeared.  Fortunately, I was able to purchase both, and I look forward to doing more research about them and using them to tell the story of life in Lancaster County during the 1860s.

The horse and buggy image was taken by an itinerant photograph named W. H. Heiss, who took pictures at of his "Mammoth Photograph Wagon"  in the Lancaster County towns of Strasburg and Gap during the mid-1860s.  Because the photograph does not have a tax stamp, it was almost certainly taken before summer 1864 or after summer 1866.  A couple of his images pop up on Ebay every year.  Several that I have seen are of children with the same hoop rolling toy props as seen in the image below.

The image is also remarkable simple because it was taken outside.  I don't know if I can think of an earlier CDV taken in Lancaster outside of a photography studio, although there were some earlier daguerreotypes of Lancaster and photographer William L. Gill started making stereoviews of outdoor scenes sometime around 1866.

CDV of Two Children
by W. H. Heiss, Strasburg, 1865
(David Claudon Collection)

Unlike the "Bee" locomotive photo, it's difficult to guess what message the photograph is trying to convey.  Is the focus on the horse or the buggy, or both?  Where is the farm?  Are these Quaker farmers making a show of their prosperity?  Where type of buggy is it, and where was it made?  And, of course, who are the men in the photo?

A Locomotive Built in Lancaster -- The 2-10-0 "Bee" in 1867

Photograph of the "Bee" locomotive, built at Norris Locomotive Works in Lancaster, 1867

One of the joys of Civil War research is that any day artifacts can pop up on Ebay and send you on diverse and exciting research paths.  Such was the case a couple days ago when a carte-de-visite photograph of a locomotive built in Lancaster showed up in my Ebay searches.

The photograph shows a locomotive named "Bee" and has a backmark identifying it as a product of the Norris Locomotive Works, Lancaster, PA.  The locomotive's specifications -- "Cylinders, 20-In. Diameter, 26-In. Stroke, Driving Wheels, 48-In. Diameter" -- and the name of John A. Durgin, Constructor, also appear on the back.  There is a reference in the Locomotive Engineers Journal of 1870 to the trading of photographs among different shops, so it seems plausible that this photograph was taken to showcase the work being done in Lancaster.

Backmark of photograph above
"The Norris Locomotive Works, Lancaster, PA."

Prior to the war, the Lancaster Locomotive Works turned out engines from 1853 until it failed during the Panic of 1857 when railroads could not pay for the locomotives that they purchased.  The shops lay idle for several years until two of the Norris brothers connected to the Norris Locomotive Works in Philadelphia moved production to Lancaster in late 1863.

The facility was located in the northeastern part of Lancaster City along the railroad on the northeast corner of Plum and Fulton Streets.  By June 1865, the works produced one locomotive per week and employed 400 men in Lancaster.  A map from 1866 exists in the collections of the Free Library of Philadelphia and shows the facility's six-acre layout with buildings labeled A-L that housed a machine shop, foundry, blacksmith, boiler shop, erecting shop, etc.  An article in the June 20, 1866, Intelligencer describes all of these shops in detail.       

A Lancaster boy, Henry C. Frazer (1850-1903), who apprenticed at the shop between 1865 and 1868 recalled that many of the locomotives produced in 1865 went into service on the Western Pacific Railroad in California (Railway and Locomotive Engineering, May 1902, p. 208).  In 1866, John A. Durgin became Constructor and Superintendent, and the first ten-wheeled locomotives were produced in 1867 for the Pennsylvania and the Allegheny Valley Railroads.

Focusing on these two 2-10-0 "decapod" engines, the locomotives are interesting as prototypes in the first wave of "consolidation" engines that would successfully fill the role of hauling heavy freight.  The two 2-10-0 Lancaster engines were the first of that configuration built in the United States and designed by Alexander Mitchell, who had perfected the design of the 2-8-0 engine in 1866.  Other correspondents to the Railway and Locomotive Engineering journal provided additional details about the locomotives:

Alexander Mitchell tried to advance on the consolidation with two engines called the "Ant" and the "Bee," which had five pair of drivers connected and a pony truck in front.  The engines gave some trouble on curves, so the back pair of drivers were taken out and a pair of small carrying wheels substituted, making the first of the 2-8-2 or Mikado type.  Two engines were built by the Norris Locomotive Works, Lancaster, Pa., in 1867. Quite a number of this kind of engines is now used in mountain service.  (p. 32, Railway and Locomotive Engineering, January 1907)

Lancaster's locomotive works were closed again in October 1868, perhaps testifying to the volatility of industrial growth in the Civil War era.  Surely, some of the returning veterans of the 79th Pennsylvania found employment there upon their return from the war in summer 1865.  

The Bee appears to have gone into service on the Lehigh Valley Railroad and was modified in 1883 to a 2-8-2 configuration.  The Bee's novelty attracted attention as railroad engineers reflected on their early days in professional journals in the early 1900s, and engravings from those journals document its appearance over the course of its lifetime.

1907 Railway and Locomotive Engineering

Engraving of "Bee" Locomotive

Modification Plan for the Bee, 1883-4
Locomotive Engineering, January 1898, p. 28

Lt. Col. David Miles' Escape from Libby Prison (and his recapture, use as a human shield, and parole)

Libby Prison in Richmond, 1865 (Source)

In this post, I republish an exciting account of David Miles' eleven months in Southern prisons that Miles gave to the editors of the Daily Evening Express upon his parole and return to Lancaster.  See the full account here, which was published on August 11, 1864.

Lieut. Col. David Miles
(D. Scott Hartzell Collection, USAMHI)

David Miles, the future lieutenant colonel of the 79th Pennsylvania, was born in Franklin County in 1831.  By 1860, he had moved to Lancaster's Northwest Ward to work as a tinsmith with wife Mary and four children.  Before the war, he was involved with the Lancaster Fencibles militia and apparently also worked to promote Lincoln's election, as William McCaskey mentions Miles as the marshal of "the great Lincoln Mass Meeting" (as a reference point for a type of hat McCaskey wished to have sent from Lancaster, 2/5/1865).  Upon the organization of the Lancaster County Regiment, Miles would take the position of first lieutenant of Company B, 79th Pennsylvania.  The departures in 1862 of Captains Kendrick, Duchman, and Druckenmiller opened the path for Miles to become lieutenant colonel, and he led the regiment's left wing with distinction at the Battle of Perryville.

Just after the dark on September 19, 1863 -- the first day of the Battle of Chickamauga -- the 79th Pennsylvania advanced through dense woods to plug a hole in the Union line.  Commanding the left wing was Lt. Col. David Miles, who was mounted on horseback after breaking his leg in a fall from his horse back in May.  As the Lancaster County Regiment moved forward, a combination of friendly and enemy fire caused the situation to rapidly deteriorate.  The line broke and the regiment hastily retreated.

The hobbled Miles found himself dismounted in no man's land with his horse's reins in his hands.  He lay on the ground to escape the bullets and eventually remounted after finding a stump to stand on.  Due to a faulty sense of direction or the shifting battle lines, Miles rode into what he thought were friendly soldiers, only to be surrounded by Confederate soldiers who demanded his surrender.

For the next month, his fate was a mystery to the remaining soldiers in the 79th Pa, who feared the worst for him and his family.  Capt. William G. Kendrick wrote his wife of the situation, "[Miles'] wife has five children and she is not able to walk and has nothing to live on, a terrible condition to be left in, no life insurance."  (10/14/1863, emphasis in original)  Miles' self-described protege, Capt. William McCaskey, thought it a good idea for his brother to send his sister on a visit to Mrs. Miles to comfort her, but felt confident that Miles would turn up based on reports of another regiment nearby thinking that they saw him on the night of September 19.

By the time news of Miles' capture reached Lancaster and the 79th Pennsylvania, Miles had already spent two weeks as a resident of Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia.  Immediately after his capture on September 19, the Confederates had him and other prisoners march to a rendezvous point ten miles distant.  Fellow captives John Shirk of Company E, 79th Pa, and Lieut. John W. Thomas of the 2nd Ohio Infantry* provided the injured Miles with badly needed shoulders to lean on during this march.  Miles and other Union soldiers made a journey by train and arrived at Libby prison -- an old tobacco warehouse -- on September 29, 1863.

Diagram of Libby Prison Escape Tunnel, Century Magazine, March 1888

The escape took place on the night of February 9-10, 1864, after weeks of tunneling by imprisoned Union officers.  The total number of prisoners to escape was 109, of whom 59 succeeded in reaching Union lines.  Miles joined Captain Hardy of the 79th Illinois and broke east for Union lines.  The traveled an estimated 60 miles in a circuitous route, aided by local African Americans.  While trying to pass the very last line of Confederate pickets, they were recaptured five days after they escaped.  Miles was taken back to Libby prison and was confined in a hole for two days, but was spared further punishment due to his illness and rejoined the general prison population.

O'Conner House, Charleston, South Carolina
Stereoview by John P. Soule (1865)

The next chapter in Miles' prison saga involved getting sent to Charleston, South Carolina, as a human shield, which was an upgrade from prisoner in Richmond as far as Miles was concerned.  Upset about the bombardment of Charleston by Union forces, the Confederates placed the fifty highest ranking prisoners (which included Miles) in a jail and subsequently a relatively comfortable house in range of the Union shells.  Miles claimed not to have felt any great danger but rather enjoyed the ability to purchase from market wagons and even to "play ball and exercise themselves" in a space set aside for that purpose.

Tombstone of David Miles
Lancaster Cemetery

Eventually, the controversy over the bombardment of Charleston and use of human shields came to a resolution, and a special exception to the no prisoner exchange policy allowed the Union officers in Charleston to be exchanged.  Miles arrived home in Lancaster in early August 1864.  Besides spending time with the editors of the Express to get a full account that was published on August 11, the Lancaster Fencibles -- his old militia unit -- treated him to a supper on August 18.  Miles made a celebrated return to the Lancaster County Regiment on the evening of October 29, 1864.  Sgt. William T. Clark reported in his diary, "Lieut. Col. Miles looks very well. Crowds are continually around him, hearing of the suffering of Rebel Prisons."          

Miles would lead the 79th Pennsylvania or its brigade for most of the rest of the war, most notably commanding a brigade at the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, where he was wounded.  Overall, he seems to have been a courageous, competent, and highly-esteemed officer.  The escape in which he participated gained national attention and provided another welcome positive distraction in what could have been a long winter of 1864 for Northern civilians and soldiers.

Notes:
* Both Shirk and Thomas have their own escape stories.  Shirk went off to Danville prison and was part of a similar escape later in February 1864.  He left his own account (and is mentioned in an account by John Obreiter of the 77th Pennsylvania), which I will feature in a future post.  Thomas successfully reached Union lines in the escape from Libby prison.  He was killed in battle on July 20, 1864, near Atlanta.    

• Full account published in Daily Evening Express on August 11, 1864.
• List of prisoners in Richmond, Lancaster Intelligencer, 11/3/1863
• Resources on Libby Prison breakout