I'm not quite sure how to interpret this rather odd story concerning Col. Hambright during the Three Months Campaign from the September 23, 1861, Daily Evening Express: (alternate link)
Showing posts with label 1st Pennsylvania. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1st Pennsylvania. Show all posts
October 4, 2011
August 6, 2011
Soldiers' Letters: A Teaser (Part 2)
Location:
Harpers Ferry, WV, USA
Labels:
1st Pennsylvania,
Ober
(Parts 1 2)
As a follow up to Pvt. Benjamin Ober's first letter after leaving Lancaster, here is Ober's last letter to the Daily Evening Express (predecessor to the New Era) as a soldier in the 1st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
He writes from Harpers Ferry after a brief campaign in which Gen. Robert Patterson's forces had advanced into Virginia (now West Virginia) near Martinsburg. This campaign in early July 1861 actually ruined Patterson's career, as his failure to pressure Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston's army allowed them to reinforce Confederates near Manassas and win the Battle of First Bull Run.
Harpers Ferry, of course, was important as the host to a federal armory which Virginians promptly confiscated for the Confederate cause after seceding from the Union. In additional to its fantastic scenery, the town's location where the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers meet propelled it to the forefront of early-to-mid nineteenth century industry and commerce.
The following letter appeared in the July 26, 1861, edition of the Daily Evening Express. (Alternate link)
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| Harpers Ferry (Harper's Weekly, 7/6/1861) |
He writes from Harpers Ferry after a brief campaign in which Gen. Robert Patterson's forces had advanced into Virginia (now West Virginia) near Martinsburg. This campaign in early July 1861 actually ruined Patterson's career, as his failure to pressure Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston's army allowed them to reinforce Confederates near Manassas and win the Battle of First Bull Run.
Harpers Ferry, of course, was important as the host to a federal armory which Virginians promptly confiscated for the Confederate cause after seceding from the Union. In additional to its fantastic scenery, the town's location where the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers meet propelled it to the forefront of early-to-mid nineteenth century industry and commerce.
 |
| Harpers Ferry Armory (Harper's Weekly, 7/20/1861) |
The following letter appeared in the July 26, 1861, edition of the Daily Evening Express. (Alternate link)
August 4, 2011
Soldiers' Letters: A Teaser (Part 1)
Location:
Camp Curtin, Harrisburg, PA, USA
Labels:
1st Pennsylvania,
Ober
(Parts 1 2)
If I succeed at nothing else with this blog, I hope to at least make accessible the ~150 letters written by soldiers in the 79th Pennsylvania to editors of Lancaster's newspapers over the course of the war. It was Corp. Elias H. Witmer's letters in the Daily Evening Express that initially attracted me to the regiment, and I've since spent many hours in front of microfilm readers harvesting soldiers' letters. Look for the first 79th Pennsylvania soldiers' letters to appear in mid-October.
To give a little taste of what's to come, here is the first of two preview letters from the Three Months' Campaign. The author, Pvt. Ben Ober, of Co. F, 1st Pennsylvania, also wrote to the Daily Evening Express. Ober would later end up collaborating with Frederick Pyfer to raise a company for Colonel Hambright's regiment. Their company, however, was either to late or got intercepted and ended up as Co. K, 77th Pennsylvania. That regiment, coincidentally, also fought in the Western Theater and was initially even brigaded with the 79th Pennsylvania.
His first letter after leaving Lancaster appeared in the Daily Evening Express on April 22, 1861. The company had just departed Lancaster and arrived in Harrisburg to form the 1st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. From there, they traveled to York, Baltimore, Chambersburg, Martinsburg, and Harpers Ferry, missing the Battle of First Bull Run.
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| Camp Curtin: "A Rendezvous of Pennsylvania Volunteers" (Harper's Weekly, 5/11/1861) |
If I succeed at nothing else with this blog, I hope to at least make accessible the ~150 letters written by soldiers in the 79th Pennsylvania to editors of Lancaster's newspapers over the course of the war. It was Corp. Elias H. Witmer's letters in the Daily Evening Express that initially attracted me to the regiment, and I've since spent many hours in front of microfilm readers harvesting soldiers' letters. Look for the first 79th Pennsylvania soldiers' letters to appear in mid-October.
To give a little taste of what's to come, here is the first of two preview letters from the Three Months' Campaign. The author, Pvt. Ben Ober, of Co. F, 1st Pennsylvania, also wrote to the Daily Evening Express. Ober would later end up collaborating with Frederick Pyfer to raise a company for Colonel Hambright's regiment. Their company, however, was either to late or got intercepted and ended up as Co. K, 77th Pennsylvania. That regiment, coincidentally, also fought in the Western Theater and was initially even brigaded with the 79th Pennsylvania.
 |
| Benjamin Ober Service Card (Source) |
His first letter after leaving Lancaster appeared in the Daily Evening Express on April 22, 1861. The company had just departed Lancaster and arrived in Harrisburg to form the 1st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. From there, they traveled to York, Baltimore, Chambersburg, Martinsburg, and Harpers Ferry, missing the Battle of First Bull Run.
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