CHAPTER XIX
COMPANY F, SIXTY-THIRD REGIMENT
When and By Whom Recruited – Officers – Service on the Field – Roll of Company
In July, 1861, immediately after the battle of Bull Run, Bernard J. Reid, esq., acting under written authority from Colonel Alexander Hays, began to recruit a company of volunteers for the war. Captain Reid’s headquarters were at Clarion. On the 5th of September, he left Clarion with forty-seven recruits, marched overland to Kittanning, and thence by rail to Pittsburgh, where he with his company joined Colonel Hays’s regiment in Camp Wilkins. Captain Reid was ordered to return immediately to Clarion county, accompanied by Sergeant George W. McCullough, to enlist more men. On the 17th of September they again marched with forty-six new recruits. When they reached Camp Wilkins they learned that the regiment had gone on to Washington. They followed by rail via Harrisburg and Baltimore, and joined the regiment September 21, at Camp Hays, in the eastern suburbs of Washington. At Camp Hays the regiment was armed and equipped for active service, and was numbered and designated the Sixty-third Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. Captain Reid’s company was designated Company F. It was given position at the center of the left wing of the regiment.
The company election was held September 23, 1861, when Bernard J. Reid was elected captain, John G. McGonagle, first lieutenant, Lawrence Eagan, second lieutenant, and Joshua H. Delo, first sergeant. Curtis C. Zink, George W. Fox, John R. Guthrie and George W. McCullough, were appointed, sergeants; John Kuhns, Robert S. Elgin, James Waley, David R. Dunmire, David Irwin, Thomas H. Martin, Adam Potter and John Stewart, corporals; Ami Whitehall and Samuel K. Richards, musicians; Joseph Lichtenberger, bugler, and Preston H. Moodie, teamster.
Other recruits came into camp and the complement of the company was filled. On the 28th of September the regiment crossed the Potomac and camped on the Leesburg turnpike near Fairfax Seminary, at which point were the headquarters of General Franklin, to whose division the Sixty-third was assigned. The camp here was called Camp Shields. President Lincoln and his wife visited Camp Shields October 4th, and on this occasion Arnold’s Battery gave them a salute of fifteen guns. On the 8th of October an election was held under State law in every company of the regiment. This was the first and only time that the soldiers voted in the army, as the Supreme Court decided in the spring of 1862 that soldiers could not legally vote away from their domicile.
On the 9th of October, 1861, the ceremony of formally mustering the regiment into the service of the United States was performed by Lieutenant C. W. Tolles, of the Thirteenth U. S. Infantry. The regiment broke camp October 14th, and moved to a point on the Alexandria and Richmond turnpike, a mile south of Fort Lyon, and five miles from Mount Vernon. This camp was called Camp Johnson. Here the regiment was placed in Brigadier-General C.D. Jamison’s Third, Brigade of the Second Division, which was commanded by Major-General Heintzelman. The brigade included the following regiments: The Fifty-seventh Pennsylvania, commanded by Colonel Charles Campbell; the Sixty-first Pennsylvania, by Colonel Rippey; the Sixty-third Pennsylvania, by Colonel Alex Hayes; the Ninety-ninth Pennsylvania, by Lieutenant-Colonel Lujeane; and the One Hundred and Fifth Pennsylvania, by Colonel McKnight. Soon after this the Sixty-first and the Ninty-ninth were transferred to other divisions, and the Eighty-seventh New York and the Twentieth Indiana Volunteers were put into the Third Brigade. In each camp the troops were daily exercised in company and battalion drill; also in camp guard and police duty. After being brigaded the troops entered upon brigade drill, fatigue duty on the earthworks at Fort Lyon, in addition to the exercise and duty previously, mentioned. They were also given regular terms at picket duty out in front about nine miles from camp. They were also engaged in an occasional reconnaissance in force to keep in check raiding parties of the enemy.
Company F’s first experience in picket duty was on Hallow Eve in 1861, and continued three days. The company picket line was over a mile in extent. By the default of the officer of the day the company was left on duty without the countersign or any specific instruction, but the men were cool and vigilant and acquitted themselves well for beginners, considering the difficulties.
After the company had gone into winter quarters at Camp Johnson Captain Reid, with other officers, was ordered to return to Pennsylvania on recruiting service. They were placed under orders of Major Dodge, superintendent of recruiting service at Harrisburg. Captain Reid was ordered to Clarion, where, during the month of February, 1862, he recruited and turned over to Major Dodge about twenty men to be mustered in and forwarded to the regiment. March 13, Captain Reid was ordered to close his recruiting office and report to Major Dodge at Harrisburg, where, after settling his accounts, he was ordered to join the regiment. March 17, he reached his company at Alexandria, Va., and the regiment embarked that same day for Fortress Monroe, which place it reached on the 18th. The regiment landed alongside the Monitor which had vanquished the Merrimac in a terrible conflict nine days before. The troops went into camp near the ruins of Hampton, which had been burned by the Confederates to prevent the Federal soldiers from occupying it. The whole army was to concentrate here for the advance up the Peninsula to Richmond. It had just been divided into corps. Company F belonged to the Third Corps. Heintzelman commanded the corps and General S.C. Hamilton had succeeded to the command of the division. He was succeeded April 4 by General Phil Kearney, when the army took up its line of march to Yorktown. In the afternoon of April 5, Company F encamped in an open field in plain sight of the fortifications at Yorktown. The whole division had halted and was encamped within easy cannon range of the enemy. The infantry rested on their arms. Meantime some of our artillery became engaged with the enemy, whose return missiles killed several of our artillery horses and men. A detail of Berdan’s sharpshooters soon put our troops in comparative safety for a few days. They picked off the enemy’s gunners and almost silenced his guns. Little demonstration was made by the rebels until toward evening on Sunday, April 6, when they sent some solid shot down into the clover fields to remind the Union troops that the fortifications were still occupied. Being saluted with these unwelcome visitors, Colonel Hays, seeming to desire to express his contempt for the proceedings, ordered the Sixty-third out for dress parade in plain sight of the rebels. The ceremony was performed in detail, the band “beat off” with the Star Spangled Banner and Yankee Doodle, the salutes were given and parade dismissed, then the rebels acknowledged the compliment by sending a large conical shell over the heads of the regiment into a piece of woods half a mile beyond it. That was the regiment’s last dress parade. On the 8th of April the cannonading continued and some picket firing took place. On the 9th General Jamison took the Sixty-third on a reconnaissance along the wooded banks of Warwick River, where the enemy was constructing earthworks. A brisk skirmish ensued, in which Sergeant David Irwin, of Company F, was killed. He was the first soldier in the Clarion county companies to be killed in battle, and the first of the Third Brigade to fall in the Peninsular campaign. On this occasion the company’s conduct deserves special mention. It was marching parallel with the wooded bank of the stream and probably seventy-five yards from it. The two rear companies had been left some distance back on the main road. Thus company F was the last in the line. As the company advanced in this position the rebels on both sides of the stream opened fire upon the regiment from their concealment in the timber. By that volley Sergeant Irwin was mortally wounded. The regiment was halted and faced to the front. By this movement Company F occupied the extreme left of the regiment. Captain Reid was at his place in front of the center of the company. Suddenly all of the companies to the right of Company F broke ranks and took to the nearest trees. This action seemed contagious, and Company F also broke ranks and hurried to the shelter of the timber. Captain Reid thinking this the effect of a sudden panic, and not approving of that kind of conduct in face of the enemy, shouted “Company F stand your ground!” Instantly every man came back to his place in line as if on parade. Just then the colonel came down the line from the extreme right. He complimented Company F for its gallantry, and said that he had ordered the regiment to break ranks. Captain Reid had not heard the order. After further exchange of shots, rebel reinforcements were seen to arrive, and the regiment was marched back to camp, Company F bearing its dying sergeant with it. That afternoon the Union camps were withdrawn to the swampy woods, out of reach of the enemy’s lighter guns, but still within range of their heavy ones.
For four weeks the regiment occupied this new camp. During their stay here the soldiers became very familiar with the hideous music of screaming shells and crashing tree tops. The company performed picket duty, dug trenches, and stood under arms for the protection of others so engaged. It was almost constantly under artillery fire and frequently skirmished with the enemy’s infantry. Many suffered from disease while here, as there was a dearth of pure water, and the camp had not adequate drainage.
On the night of May 3, 1862, General Jamison selected the left wing of the Sixty-third for an important and perilous duty. The general desired to place a squad of picked sharpshooters in a rifle pit to be dug within five hundred yards of the principal rebel fort. This had been twice attempted on a previous night. It must be done now. The grand bombardment was to begin May 4, by the Federal gunboats and the heavy siege guns. General Jamison was officer of the trenches for that day. The sharpshooters must be in the pits to pick off the gunners and silence their heaviest guns, and it devolved on him to see that the pits were dug at the point previously determined upon, and that the sharpshooters were in them ready for duty on the morning of the 4th. The left of the Sixty-third was selected for this point, and the right for a similar duty at another point. Company F was a part of the left. The five companies were commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Morgan, and they were led by General Jamison in person to a sheltered nook near the place selected for the pits. Here they waited till the moon went down, about midnight. The shells of the enemy screamed over their heads, and the air was made livid by burning fuses. When he deemed it dark enough the general led them silently up a gentle slope, on the top of which the work was to be done. Three companies halted below the crest of the slope and stood there under arms. Company B, commanded by Captain Kirkwood, were armed with picks and spades to dig the pit. Company F was given the post of honor. It was ordered to deploy a little beyond the crest and to hold the ground at all hazards, till the pit would be finished. The company numbered about seventy men. When it started on what seemed a march to almost certain death General Jamison said to Colonel Morgan: “O, God! it is hard, but it has to be done!” Company F marched forward to its post of duty without flinching. It lay, and waited, and watched for two hours with fifty men on the ground designated by General Jamison, and twenty picked men led forward by Captain Reid as skirmishers. As they lay and watched, the rebels were sweeping the horizon in all directions with the fiercest cannonading that had been witnessed thus far in the campaign. Company F was so close to the enemy’s fort that the men could distinctly hear the commands given to the gunners. At length the pit was completed, the new made embankment was disguised with pine bushes, and half a dozen sharpshooters entered the pit and were left to their fate, out of reach of help when the general bombardment would begin. Company F was called back, and on its way to camp General Jamison warmly congratulated the troops for their successful and bloodless work. The men did not retire. When about to do so the daylight came, and with it loud and wild cheering. The enemy had evacuated their fortifications. The furious cannonading was done merely to divert attention from their departure, which began on the previous day and was completed in the early morning. The guns had been manipulated by a small rear guard. Our army pursued the enemy on the 4th of May, and that evening our cavalry found him entrenched at Williamsburg. On the 5th a portion of our troops gave him battle at that place. The Sixty-third was under artillery fire in the afternoon for some time. It was deployed to relieve some troops in front just about dusk. It was under infantry fire only a short time when darkness caused the firing to cease. The troops lay on their arms that night ready for the fray next morning. During the afternoon the regiment had unslung and stacked their knapsacks, haversacks, canteens, and blankets, as some fast marching had to be done. When Company F halted, its equipments were three miles in the rear, and the mud on the road was knee deep, as it had rained all the night before. The men had no supper and no means of getting breakfast. Captain Reid called for ten volunteers to go with him to get their outfits. These eleven went back and loaded up with all they could carry. They got back to the front some time before day, and Company F was enabled to satisfy both hunger and thirst, while the other companies had to wait till the wagons came up. The morning revealed the fact that the enemy had evacuated Williamsburg. The One Hundred Fifth and the Sixty-third were the first regiments to enter the city. The march into Williamsburg was a sad one. The soldiers passed over the dead and dying of both armies. The dead were buried and the wounded taken to William and Mary College, where they were cared for. The unfortunate blue and gray were mercifully treated side by side.
Company F was next engaged May 31st at Fair Oaks or Seven Pines, one of the bloodiest battles of the war. At two o’clock that day, Saturday, May 31st, the company was engaged in burying Corporal Dummire, who died the night before. When Rev. Captain Danks, acting chaplain, was reciting the funeral rites at the yet unfilled grave, the wind from the west bore to the ears of the men the crack and roar of a furious battle in the direction of Richmond. The company was convinced that desperate work had taken the place of the light skirmishing of the past few days, so they hastily filled the grave and returned to camp, where they found Colonel Morgan and seven companies under arms and ready for orders to march. Orders soon came. The regiment was then near Meadow Station, eleven miles from Richmond and four from Fair Oaks, where Casey’s division of Keyes’s Corps had been assaulted by overwhelming numbers, and after a gallant resistance was falling back before the enemy.
The Third Brigade marched on a double quick up the railroad track two miles, then along the Williamsburg road through the mud another mile, On the last mile the brigade met a stream of wounded men and fugitives, driven down the road by the shot and shell of the enemy. Disabled artillery with empty caissons was hurried toward the rear, while fresh guns and full caissons went rolling forward to take their places. A short distance beyond the forks of the road at Seven Pines, General Jamison, amid a perfect storm of shot and shell, deployed the eight companies of the Sixty-third on the west of the Williamsburg road, and the One Hundred Fifth on their right, extending across the road, and gave the order to advance. It should here be observed that the other two companies of the Sixty-third were with Colonel Hays on fatigue duty when the march up the railroad began, and had not joined the main body when this advance was ordered. The troops moved forward through a difficult abatis and a belt of standing timber, and soon reached the edge of the open ground where Casey’s tents still stood, and where his redoubt and its battery of artillery had been captured, and its guns added to the rebel artillery, which was disputing Jamison’s advance. The artillery was supported by heavy masses of infantry posted behind rifle pits, and long ranks of cord wood, from the shelter of which they kept up a furious fire of small arms at short range. The Union side of the open ground was held by a wreak line formed by some companies from the Third and Fifth Michigan, of Berry’s Brigade of the same division, with the Sixty-third. These troops had gone in only a short time before the Sixty-third, which reinforced their line and mingled with them in the conflict. Company F had only forty-four men in this battle; the others were on detached duty or sick in camp and at various hospitals. During the first half hour after reaching the front Orderly J.H. Delo, Sergeant R.S. Elgin, and George W. Rhees were killed, and Private F.P. McClosky mortally wounded. During the afternoon Private James McCammon, Peter O’Neill, and Peter Nugent were seriously wounded ; James. McDonald, Andrew McDonald, and Jonathan McCurdy, all privates, were captured. All the Federal troops on the right of the Williamsburg road were forced from their position, and fell back along that road, contesting every inch of the ground; but long before dark the enemy had possession of the road as far back as Seven Pines, which was nearly a mile in the rear of the point occupied by the Sixty-third. General Jamison sent couriers to order the regiment back, to save it from imminent capture, but the orders were not received. The Sixty-third, with the Michigan soldiers, held its line and kept up a constant fire upon the opposing infantry until night came. It had used all of its ammunition, including that of the dead and wounded, which was used to replenish the cartridge boxes of the living. After seeing Elgin, Rhees, and a Michigan soldier shot at his side, Captain Reid took up the rifle and ammunition of the latter and used the weapon until the last cartridge was gone. The last sounds of the conflict indicated to the small body of men here contending that the enemy in force held the turnpike behind it, and that it was enveloped on three sides by the rebel troops. When darkness came the regiment withdrew from the field through the woods diagonally to the left and rear, to avoid encountering the enemy. Captain Kirkwood was the senior captain. The regiment had no field officer, Colonel Morgan having been wounded and borne from the field early in the fight. Captain Kirkwood gave Captain Reid the lead. Aided by a small pocket compass, read, by the light of friction-matches, these officers led the troops safely through the dark woods, and about midnight they rejoined their division, which was holding a second line, with the rest of the army, two miles in the rear of the place where the little fragments of the two Michigan regiments and the Sixty-third Pennsylvania had solitary and alone held the left of the Union front line till darkness closed that day’s scene of carnage.
On the next day, June 1st, fresh troops that had arrived in the night took the advance, and the enemy fell back toward Richmond after a short struggle. The division to which the Sixty-third belonged was held in reserve, so Company F was not engaged the second day. The army was kept under arms three or four days, expecting a renewal of the attack, and then the corps took position on the extreme left of the advance line which Casey had held before the battle, and which was strongly entrenched by the Union troops during the first three weeks of June.
Then came the “Seven Days’ Battle,” commencing June 25th, and ending with the battle of Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862. The battle was opened in our ‘immediate front on the 25th by Kearney’s and Hooker’s divisions being thrown forward to feel the enemy’s position on the right wing in the direction of Richmond. General John C. Robinson had succeeded to the command of the Third Brigade, in the place of the gallant General Jamison, who was fatally stricken with fever after the battle of Fair Oaks. The Sixty-third advanced some two or three miles, mostly through swampy woods, and had several lively skirmishes with the enemy’s infantry. The artillery on both sides of the advancing Union troops was also giving them attention. When night came the brigade was drawn back about half way to its entrenched camp, and held its line of battle there all night in the woods, occasionally receiving a volley in the dark from the enemy, who had followed it up closely. When daylight came it was ordered back to camp. In that day’s skirmishes Company F had Private William Greenawalt killed and Privates P.D. Griffin, John Johnson, and Anthony Greenawalt wounded, each of the last two losing an arm.
In this action, and during the remaining battles of the Seven Days’ Fight, Captain Reid acted as major of the regiment, as there was no field officer present for duty but the colonel. From the 26th to the 29th inclusive, during the temporary indisposition of Colonel Hays, Captain Reid was in command of the regiment. Company F was commanded by First Lieutenant George W. McCullough, who, during the previous winter, had been promoted to second lieutenant in place of Lieutenant Eagan, who had resigned, then to first lieutenant on the death of Lieutenant McGonagle, from typhoid pneumonia, June 21, 1862.
On the 26th of June Captain Reid was in command of the Sixty-third. The battle of Mechanicsville was raging on the extreme right of the Union line across the Chickahominy. The Sixty-third was led on a reconnaissance in our front, but did not encounter the enemy. It passed over its battle-ground of the previous day. On the 27th the right wing fell back to Beaver Dam, and there fought the bloody battle of Gaines’s Mill. The Sixty-third was not engaged on the 2 7th. On the 28th Captain Reid was ordered to report with the Sixty-third to General Fitz John Porter, at Trent House, on the south side of the river, to which point he had withdrawn the whole right wing of the Union army during the night. The Sixty-third was stationed to guard the two bridges over which Porter had crossed the stream, and while Reid, with his regiment, held these points, that officer took up his line of march towards James River – the first step in the celebrated “change of base” determined upon by the general in command, but which none then yet knew of except the corps commanders. The Sixty-third held the bridges and the shores of the Chickahominy that day and in the evening returned to its post on the extreme left of our entrenched front. While the men were at their coffee and hard tack General Kearney visited the camp on foot, and told Captain Reid to have the men supplied with three days’ cooked rations and 150 rounds of ammunition during the night. The captain thinking Kearney had made a mistake as to the number, ventured to ask him where the men could put so many. Kearney replied “Anywhere, captain, anywhere; in their knapsacks, their pockets, or their boots! Anywhere so they have them! We will have a good deal of marching to do and they may need them.” He also ordered the captain to sees that every officer and man of the regiment sewed a red patch on his hat or cap in a conspicuous position, so that the general could recognize his own troops. That was the origin of the famous red diamond or Kearney Badge. That night the incessant rumbling of artillery wagons and other vehicles over corduroy roads near our camps told very plainly that some general movement was on foot. At daylight of Sunday, June 29, the regiment left the front and fell back nearly a mile, when it halted to make coffee. While breakfasting the soldiers heard the prolonged cheering of the rebel troops, who had taken possession of the earthworks abandoned by McClellan’s army. The Third Corps fell back slowly to its old second line, and halted there as a rear guard across the Williamsburg road till the middle of the afternoon, exposed’ to the shells of the enemy, who was cautiously feeling his way on our track. General Kearney finally led his troops by a cross road to the upper crossing of the small stream called Whiteoak Creek, which lay between his division and the James River. The other and greater part of the army was to cross lower down. Between the dry banks of this stream was a flat swamp of one hundred yards in width, exceedingly miry and almost impassable by man or beast. A single string of logs enabled foot soldiers to cross single file, and mounted officers had to take the chances of losing their horses in the miry stream. Captain Reid rode one of Colonel Hays’s horses, called “Shellbark.” When he reached the stream two horses were already dead, having drowned while struggling to get out of the slough. Several others had crossed in safety. “Shellbark” stuck midway, and the captain dismounted in the mire, into which he sank to the waist. He held the horse’s nose above water while he plunged and floundered. Meanwhile the division had passed over, and while Reid and “Shellbark” were battling with the mire, the head of the column encountered a body of the enemy, and the rattle of musketry began. Very soon the division returned to the creek in single file and crossed over on the string of logs. General Kearney, rather than risk a general engagement before the trains were all safe, had ordered a countermarch. Soon all the troops had recrossed to take the road to a bridge farther down, and rather than see his horse drown, Captain Reid stayed with him at the risk of capture, and finally succeeded in getting him sale to shore. By this time it was dark, but both found their way to where the corps was bivouacking, on the high grounds beyond the swamp, having crossed below. Monday the corps moved forward at intervals and reached Charles City Cross Roads about noon. It halted in a clover field, where a fierce battle was soon to rage. During the forenoon another portion of the Union army had a contest with Jackson’s corps at the lower crossing of the swamp. At Charles City Cross Roads, about two o’clock, heavy masses of the enemy, from the direction of Richmond, deployed in the edge of the woods facing Kearney’s troops, and kept up till dark a succession of determined onsets of infantry, aided by numerous batteries of artillery posted advantageously. Thompson’s battery of the regular artillery was posted in the clover field occupied by Kearney’s division, and the Sixty-third was ordered to support it. Colonel Hays had that morning resumed command, and gallantly did he perform the task allotted to him. Repeated charges of the enemy were repulsed at the point of the bayonet, and the battery was saved from the most desperate attempts to capture it. General Kearney in his, official report of this battle says: “I have here to call attention to this most heroic action of Colonel Hays and his regiment. The Sixty-third has won for Pennsylvania the laurels of fame.” General Berry wrote concerning the same affair: “Never was task better done or battery better supported.” In this action Company F had privates John Thompson, Charles Harbst and Jacob I. Delo wounded, the latter mortally. Our troops held their ground till night, and before morning moved on to Malvern Hill, where the last battle of the memorable seven days’ fight took place. The battle was fought on the Union side principally by the artillery. The Sixty-third was posted in a depression in the ground, ready to support a battery if needed, but it was not called into action and suffered no loss.
This in brief is the history of Company F to the close of the Peninsular campaign. From Malvern it went to Harrison’s Landing.
It is here proper to give an account of Captain Reid’s resignation. For a month before arriving at Harrison’s Landing he had been suffering with chronic diarrhœa and camp malaria. He was daily growing more feeble. At the battle of Glendale or Charles City Cross Roads he stood for two hours beside The guns of Thompson’s battery, while the Sixty-third was lying low, right in front of it, ready to repel charges, and assisted the exhausted gunners in pushing forward their guns after each recoil, so that the flying particles of the shell-flanges, when the guns were discharged over the backs of our men, would not injure them as some had done. The heat of the day and the over exertion under excitement reacted, and Captain Reid became so weak before night that he had to be assisted from the field. However, he remained with the regiment next day at Malvern till towards evening, when by order of the brigade surgeon he was taken with other sick to the field hospital. The next day, for want of ambulances, nearly all the sick at Malvern had to drag through rain and mud as best they could to Harrison’s Landing. By the advice of Colonel Hays, and with the approval of General Kearney, Captain Reid. tendered his resignation, which was accepted, and he was honorably discharged August 1, 1862, and he left for home on one of the James River transports August 4, 1862.
Captain Reid informed the writer that his sickness alone would not have induced him to resign. Two years before the war he had been appointed, trustee of the Hetherington lands, and was under $30,000 bonds for the faithful application of the proceeds of the sale. When he entered the army he left all this business with his law collections in the hands of his then law partner, who had just been admitted to the bar and who gave no security, as no security was asked by the senior member of the firm. In the spring of 1862 this party wrote the captain that his mind was becoming affected, and that he thought he would have to abandon the profession. Reid was soon informed by clients and others at home that his partner had closed the office and gone, no one knew where, leaving collections made by him unaccounted for, and all the business going wrong. These matters were laid before his superior officers, and the captain was advised that under the circumstances it was his duty to resign and set matters straight. The absent partner subsequently returned and satisfactorily settled’ his accounts. First Lieutenant George W. McCullough succeeded to the command of the company, and Second-Lieutenant George W. Fox was promoted to first lieutenant, and Corporal David Shields to second lieutenant, all on the 4th of August, 1862.
Company F was next engaged at Bull Run, August 29, 1862. Kearney reported the Sixty-third Pennsylvania and the Fortieth New York to have suffered the most loss. Company F had John R. Guthrie, John Thompson, Henry Shoup, killed; and Lieutenant George W. Fox, First Sergeant James Waley, Corporal Thomas H. Martin, and Privates J. Shugart Elder, Martin Castner, E. Highbarger, Daniel O’Neill, Alfred T. Rance, John G. Richards, and James Sample wounded. Fox, Martin, Castner, Highbarger and Richards were discharged afterwards on account of wounds here received.
After the fatal Chantilly, where the heroic Kearney fell, Colonel Hays was promoted to brigadier-general on the 29th of September, and Lieutenant-Colonel Morgan became colonel. Hays won his promotion by his gallant conduct at Bull Run. The company assisted in the defense of Washington till after Antietam. It joined the army near Leesburg, and moved with it to Warrenton. At Fredericksburg it went to the front on the 13th of December, and remained there forty-eight hours under fire till the 15th, when it was relieved, and late at night fell back with the entire army across the river. Its loss was light. William M. Thompson was captured, and Benjamin P. Hilliard, one of the musicians, was wounded. In the battle of Chancellorsville the company was less fortunate. Captain McCullough, First Lieutenant Fenstermacher, Corporals Joseph Loll and Stewart Fulton, and Private James McDonald were wounded on the 3d of May. McDonald was discharged on account of wounds.
The company next took part in the battle of Gettysburg. General Sickles now commanded the corps. On the 1st of July the men could hear the cannon in the contest where the brave Reynolds fell. On receiving the news of the death of Reynolds, Sickles hastened his men forward and reached the battle field at ten o’clock that night. The corps went into bivouac on the Emmittsburg Pike. Scarcely had the men lain down when an order came for the Sixty-third to go on the picket line. On the 2d the brigade was brought into position on the pike to the right of the cross road leading to Round Top. The Sixty-third was thrown forward on the skirmish line, and was hotly engaged till five o’clock in the afternoon, when it was ordered to the rear to replenish its ammunition, which had been expended. It also needed rest, as it had been on the extreme front and constantly engaged for seven terrible hours. The regiment spent the night of the 2d on picket to the right of Little Round Top. The dead of our soldiers lay thick around. On the 3d at ten o’clock the regiment was double-quicked to support a battery in the immediate front of Meade’s headquarters, where it remained till the battle closed. The loss was slight when we take into consideration its exposed position and the length of time it was engaged. Company F had Lieutenant Fenstermacher, Sergeant John A. Griffin, Corporal Adam Potter, and Private P.D. Griffin wounded, At Kelly’s Ford and Mine Run the company met with no casualties.
In the spring of 1864 the regiment became a part of General Hays’s Second Brigade, Third Division of the Second Corps. The regiment marched at midnight, May 3d, and camped on the 4th at evening on the old battle ground of Chancellorsville, where the men saw the unburied skeletons of soldiers who fell in that battle one year before. It advanced to the front at 3 P.M., May 5, and was at once engaged, and the battle raged with great fury till, after dark. General Hays was killed, Colonel Danks was wounded. The command of the regiment fell upon Major George W. McCullough, late captain of Company F, who had been promoted major April 5, 1864. On the 6th of May the battle was renewed, and in a counter charge sustained by the Third Division Major McCullough was mortally wounded. He died the following day, and added another illustrious name to the long list of Clarion county heroes who had been slain in battle. During these two days the Sixty-third had lost one hundred eighty-six rank and file. It was temporarily consolidated with the One Hundred and Fifth, with Captain Weaver, of Company C, in command. This new body was led through the exciting experiences of the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th, by this officer. On the 11th he was wounded, and Captain Hunter took command. He led the regiment during the severe fighting of the 12th, and assisted in the final and decisive repulse of the enemy at Spottsylvania Court House.
On his return from detached service, Captain Isaac Moorhead assumed command of the regiment. During the Wilderness campaign Company F sustained the following losses: On the 5th First Sergeant James Waley and Corporal James Hamilton were killed. The same day Sergeants Anthony R. Refner and William Hall, Corporals Joseph Loll, James McBride, and William Blair, and Privates Andrew Basom, John Cyphert, Gregory Lawrence, Anthony Torry, and Hugh P. McKee were wounded. Sergeant John A. Griffin was wounded on the 6th, Private William Thompson on the 7th, and Private Jonas Highbarger on the 12th. After the battle Jonas Highbarger and John Den-slinger were missing. Andrew Basom having lost a leg, his wound proved fatal on the 18th of May. William Blair’s wounds caused his death on the 21st.
The regiment was later engaged at North Anna River, and again after it crossed Pole-cat River, but Company F sustained no loss. On the 16th of June, before Petersburg, Lieutenant Fenstermacher was wounded. At Petersburg also Anthony Torry was wounded with loss of leg. The regiment suffered severely. Captain Moorhead was among the slain. Colonel Kiddoo, formerly of Company F, commanded a regiment of colored troops, and won distinction by capturing a fort from the enemy, in front of Petersburg. After this no casualties were sustained by the company, and it was mustered out on the 8th of September, 1864.
During its eventful career, this brave, body of Clarion county’s sons won enduring laurels for themselves, and made for us a page of history of which we may well he proud. The company all told numbered one hundred twelve men, of whom forty-two were wounded in battle, five of which died from their wounds. Eleven were killed in battle. Captain McCullough was promoted to major of the regiment April 5, 1864, and he was killed in action at the Wilderness, May 6, 1864. That made eleven of the company who were killed in action, but only ten are shown on roster.
Joseph B. Kiddoo entered the service as a private of Company F. He rose to corporal, then to first sergeant of his company. He was next promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers on the 25th of August, 1862. Later he was promoted to colonel of the Twenty-second colored regiment, and finally to brigadier-general in the regular army, which rank he held at the time of his death, about the year 1880. Joseph Lichtenberger was promoted to principal musician and transferred to the One Hundred and Fifth. William McCaskey, after being discharged for sickness, re-enlisted in February, 1864, in the Second Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, and died in service September 30, 1864. Michael Kemp reenlisted in December, 1863, and rose to first sergeant in Company H, One Hundred and Fifth. Andrew McDonald was promoted to sergeant in the One Hundred and Fifth, and he was discharged November 5, 1865. Barney McCann re-enlisted January 19, 1864, in Company A, Seventy-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers. Andrew E. Russell was detailed into the Signal Corps in 1862. John Vorhauer was detailed at brigade headquarters in 1862. Lieutenant David Shields was assigned as aid to Brigadier-General Hays in 1862, and Lieutenant George W. Fox re-enlisted in Veteran Reserve Corps in 1864.
Since their discharge, the following members of Company F have died. This list may not be complete, but it is given in full as far as known now (January, 1887): Lieutenant Lawrence Egan died in Baltimore in 1862; Joseph Lichtenberger, bugler, died in Licking township, Clarion county, May 18, 1875; First Lieutenant Isaac Fenstermacher died at Clarion December 27, 1877; Sergeant John A. Griffen died at Red Bank Furnace, Clarion county, in April, 1866; Sergeant William L. Hall died in Piney township, Clarion county, about 1864. Privates – John Johnston died at Strattanville, Clarion county, February 14, 1865; Gregory Lawrence died at Jamestown, N.Y., in 1881; Daniel O’Neill died in the West somewhere about 1875; Anthony Torry died at Clarion April 22, 1884; Sergeant Andrew McDonald died at North Pine Grove, Clarion county, March 9, 1883. General Joseph B. Kiddoo died in New York City August 20, 1880. The readers of this sketch will recognize many of the survivors of this company among their friends and neighbors.
Only seven of the company were ever captured. One was left in hospital sick and unaccounted for. Two were missing. Only one deserted. Two resigned, both on account of ill health. Only thirteen were mustered out with the company.
Recapitulation. – Original enlistment, 94 men; enlisted recruits, 11 men; drafted recruits, 7 men; total, 112 men. Killed in battle while in company, 10; die 1 of disease, 20; died of wounds, 5; discharged for wounds, 9; discharged for other causes, 27; resigned, 2 ; missing and unaccounted for, 3 ; deserted, 1; promoted out of the company, 3; transferred, 19; mustered out with company, 13 ; total, 112.
Captain Reid, who recruited the company and to whom the writer is indebted for valuable memoranda concerning this company, lives in Clarion town. He is well known throughout Clarion county as one of the most able attorneys at the Clarion bar. Many passages in the foregoing pages are taken verbatim from Captain Reid’s notes, as the writer felt that to change them would be to render less acceptable this narrative. This sketch of Company F has been penned with earnest admiration for the talented gentlemen who bore its titles. The deeds of its heroic men, led by heroic officers, together with the memory of its battle-slain and other dead warriors, should inspire the children of these men, and in turn their children’s children, to patriotic and earnest lives.
It is believed that the roster of Company F, which follows, is as free from errors as one can be compiled.
CORRECTED ROLL OF COMPANY F, SIXTY-THIRD REGIMENT.*
Bernard J. Reid, captain, August 1, 1861, three years; resigned August 1, 1862.
George W. McCulloch, captain, August 1, 1861, three years; promoted from sergeant to second lieutenant November 22, 1861; to first lieutenant June 23, 1862; to captain. August 4, 1862; to major April 5, 1864; wounded at Chancellorsville May 3, 1863.
David S. Shields, captain, October 15, 1861, three years; promoted to corporal June 1, 1862; to second lieutenant August 4, 1862; to captain April 5, 1864; wounded at Rapidan, Va., November, 1863; discharged June 9, 1864.
John G. McGonagle, first lieutenant, August 1, 1861, three years; died in hospital of pneumonia June 21, 1861.
George W. Fox, first lieutenant, August 1, 1861, three years; prompted from sergeant to second. lieutenant June 23, 1862; to first lieutenant August 4, 1862; discharged March 1, 1863, for wounds received at Bull Run, Va., August 29, 1862.
I.N. Fenstermacher, first lieutenant, August 1, 1861, three years; promoted to corporal June 30, 1862; to first sergeant August, 1862; to first lieutenant May 19, 1863; wounded at Chancellorsville, Va., May 3, 1863; Gettysburg July 3, 1863; Petersburg June 11, 1864; discharged July 23, 1864.
Lawrence Egan, second lieutenant, August 1, 1861, three years; resigned November 1, 1861.
James Waley, first sergeant, August 1, 1861, three years; promoted from corporal to sergeant July 15, 1862; to first sergeant November, 1863; wounded at Bull Run August 29, 1862; killed at Wilderness, Va., May 5, 1864; veteran.
Joseph B. Kiddoo, first sergeant, November 1, 1861, three years; promoted to corporal November 2, 1861; to first sergeant June 1, 1862; to lieutenant-colonel One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Regiment P.V., August 25, 1862.
Joshua H. Delo, first sergeant, August 1, 1861, three years; killed at Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, 1862.
Curtis C. Zink, first sergeant, August 1, 1861, three years; promoted to first sergeant June 1, 1862; died at Harrison’s Landing, Va., August 10, 1862.
John R. Guthrie, sergeant, August 1, 1861, three years; killed at Bull Run, Va., August 29, 1862.
Michael Kemp, sergeant, August 1, 1861, three years; promoted to sergeant July 18, 1863; transferred to Company H, One Hundred and Fifth Regiment P.V., veteran.
Anthony P. Refner, sergeant, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded at Wilderness, Va., May 5, 1864; transferred to Company K, One Hundred and Fifth Regiment P.V.; veteran.
John A. Griffin, sergeant, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded at Gettysburg, Pa., July 3, 1863; Wilderness, Va., May 6, 1864; mustered out with company September 8, 1864.
William L. Hall, sergeant, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded at Wilderness, Va., May 5, 1864; discharged October 25, 1864.
John Kuhns, sergeant, August 1, 1861, three years; promoted from corporal June 1, 1862; died at Philadelphia, Pa., September 26, 1862.
Robert S. Elgin, sergeant, August 1, 1861, three years; promoted from corporal April 12, 1862; killed at Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, 1862.
David Irwin, sergeant, August 1, 1861, three years; promoted from corporal November 22, 1861; killed at Yorktown, Va., April 9, 1862.
David R. Dunmire, corporal, August 1, 1861, three years; died at Meadow Station, Va., May 30, 1862.
Thomas H. Martin, corporal, August 1, 1861, three years; promoted to corporal April 12, 1862; discharged October 31 for wounds received at Bull Run, Va., August 29, 1862.
Adam Potter, corporal, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded at Gettysburg, Pa., July 31 1863 ; transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps April 1, 1864; discharged October 10, 1864.
John Stewart, corporal, August 1, 1861, three years; discharged on surgeon’s certificate 1862.
John B. Denslinger, corporal, August 1, 1861, three years; missing at Wilderness, Va., May 5, 1864; veteran.
Joseph Loll, corporal, August 1, 1861, three years; promoted to corporal April, 1863; wounded at Chancellorsville, Va., May 3, 1863; Wilderness May 5, 1864; discharged February 6, 1865; veteran.
James McBride, corporal, August 1, 1861, three years; promoted to corporal October 18, 1862; wounded at Wilderness, Va., May 5, 1864; transferred to Company H, One Hundred and Fifth Regiment P.V.; veteran.
Stewart W. Fulton, corporal, October 15, 1861, three years; wounded at Chancellorsville, Va., May 3, 1863; promoted to corporal December 1, 1863; transferred to Company H, One Hundred and Fifth Regiment P.V.; veteran.
William Blair, corporal; August 1, 1861, three years; promoted to corporal 1863 ; died at Fredericksburg, Va., May 21, 1864, of wounds received at Wilderness May 5, 1864.
James Hamilton, corporal, August 1, 1861, three years; promoted to corporal 1863; killed at Wilderness, Va., May 5, 1864.
Joseph Lichtenberger, musician, August 1, 1861, three years; promoted to principal musician, date unknown; veteran.
Ami Whitehill, musician, August 1, 1861, three years; mustered out with company September 8, 1864.
Benjamin P. Hilliard, musician, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded at Fredericksburg, Va., December 13, 1862; mustered out with company September 8, 1864.
Barr, James, private, August 1, 1861, three years; discharged on surgeon’s certificate December 10, 1862.
Basom, Andrew, private, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded, with loss of leg, at Wilderness, Va., May 5, 1864; died at Fredericksburg, Va., May 18, 1864.
Baumgardner, John, private, August 1, 1861, three years; died near Fair Oaks, Va., June 30, 1862.
Beer, Henry, private, August 1, 1861, three years; discharged on surgeon’s certificate October 31, 1862.
Bolton, Thomas, private, August 1, 1861, three years; discharged on surgeon’s certificate 1862.
Bouch, Joseph, private, January 28, 1864, three years; transferred to Company B, Ninety-ninth Regiment P.V.
Gathers, Franklin, private, August 1, 1861, three years; died at Yorktown, Va., April 22, 1862.
Campbell, William, private, August 1, 1861, three years; discharged on surgeon’s certificate 1862.
Crooks, John S., private, August 1, 1861, three years; died June 3, 1863.
Cussins, Emanuel, private, August 1, 1861, three years; discharged on surgeon’s certificate 1863.
Cyphert, John, private, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded at Wilderness, Va., May 5, 1864; mustered out with company September 8, 1864.
Castner, Martin, private, March 4, 1862, three years; discharged 1863 for wounds received at Bull Run, Va., August 29, 1862.
Dale, Isaiah K., private, August 1, 1861, three years; mustered out with company September 8, 1864.
Daum, Philip, private, August 1, 1861, three years; died 1863.
Delp, James O., August 1, 1861, three years; wounded in action May 23, 1864; transferred to Company A, date unknown; veteran.
Delo, Jacob I., private, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded and captured June 30, 1862; died, date unknown.
Dunlap, William I., private, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded at Petersburg, Va., with loss of eye, November 1, 1864; transferred to Company H, One Hundred and Fifth Regiment P.V.; veteran.
Elder, J. Shugart, private, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded at Bull Run, Va., August 29, 1862; discharged November 22, 1862.
Eshleman, Finady, private, August 1, 1861, three years; died April 25, 1863; buried in Military Asylum Cemetery, D.C.
Faroust, Bernard, private, August 1, 1861, three years; transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps 1864.
Frazier, Thomas M., private, August 1, 1862, three years; died April 1862.
Furgeson, Michael, private, March 28, 1864, three years; Company H, One Hundred and Fifth Regiment P.V.
Gilford, John, private, August 1, 1861, three years; mustered out with company September 8, 1864.
Goble, Alexander, private, August 1, 1861, three years; re-enlisted as veteran December, 1863; wounded in leg at Hatcher’s Run, Va., October 27, 1864; transferred to Company H, One Hundred and Fifth Regiment P.V.
Greenawalt, William, private, August 1, 1861, three years; killed near Richmond, Va., June 25, 1862.
Griffin, Philip D., private, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded near Richmond, Va., June 25, 1862; Gettysburg, July 3, 1863; discharged May 20, 1864.
Greenawalt, Anthony, private, November 25, 1861, three years; discharged August 8, 1862, for wounds, with loss of arm, received near Richmond, Va., June 25, 1862.
Gilchrist, John, private, January 28, 1864, three years; transferred to Company H, One Hundred and Fifth Regiment P.V.; veteran.
George, Alpheus, private, April 13, 1862, three years; discharged on surgeon’s certificate 1862.
Harbst, Charles, private, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded at Charles City Cross Roads, Va., June 30, 1862; discharged February 18, 1863.
Highbarger, H.L., private, August 1, 1861, three years; died September 3, 1862.
Highbarger, Jonas, private, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded and missing at Wilderness, Va., May 12, 1864; veteran.
Hichbarger, E., private, October 15, 1861, three years; discharged February 7, 1863, for wounds received at Bull Run, Va., August 29, 1862.
Johnston, John, private, August 1, 1861, three years; discharged August 8, 1862, for wounds, with loss of arm, received near Richmond, Va., June 25, 1862.
Keiser, David S., private, August 1, 1861, three years; prisoner from June 30 to September 1, 1862; discharged on surgeon’s certificate 1863.
Lawhead, John, private, August 1, 1861, three years; discharged on surgeon’s certificate May 28, 1862.
Lawrence, Gregory, private, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded at Wilderness May 5, 1864; North Anna, Va., May 23, 1864; mustered out with company September 8, 1864.
Mentzer, Jacob, private, August 1, 1861, three years; discharged on surgeon’s certificate 1862.
Moodie, Preston H., August 1, 1861, three years; discharged on surgeon’s certificate 1862.
Menser, William, private, February 27, 1862, three years; mustered out February 27, 1865 – expiration of term.
McCloskey, Francis P., private, August 1, 1861, three years; died July 24, 1862, of wounds received at Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, 1862; buried in Military Asylum Cemetery, D.C.
McCammon, James, private, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded at Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, 1862; discharged September 22, 1862.
McCaskey, William, private, August 1, 1861, three years; discharged on surgeon’s certificate 1862.
McDonald, James, private, August 1, 1861, three years; prisoner from May 31 to September 13, 1862; promoted to corporal May, 1863; discharged August 28, 1863, for wounds received at Chancellorsville, Va., May 31, 1862.
McKee, Hugh P., private, August 1, 1861, three years; appointed corporal June 1, 1862; wounded at Wilderness, Va., May 5, 1864; mustered out with company September 8, 1864.
McLaughlin, M.J., private, August 1, 1861, three years; died at Harrison’s Landing, Va., July 3, 1863; buried in Glendale National Cemetery, section D, grave 5.
McMichael, George W., private, August 1, 1861, three years; captured June 30, 1862; died at Richmond, Va., September 20, 1862.
McCurdy, Jonathan, private, February 25, 1862, three years; prisoner from May 31 to September 13, 1862; transferred to Company H, One Hundred and Fifth Regiment P.V.
McMumm, Thomas, private, February 27, 1864, three years; transferred to Company H, One Hundred and Fifth Regiment P.V.
McDonald, John, private, February 25, 1864, three years; transferred to Company H, One Hundred and Fifth Regiment P.V.
McBride, Robert, private, February 25, 1864, three years; died near Orange and Alexandria Railroad and fords of the Rapidan April 9, 1864.
McDonald, Andrew, private, March 14, 1862, three years; prisoner from May 31 to September 13, 1862; transferred to Company G, Second U.S. Cavalry, November 5, 1862.
McCann, Barney, private, February 27, 1862, three years; discharged on surgeon’s certificate 1863.
Newhouse, John, private, August 1, 1861, three years; promoted to corporal December 28, 1863; re-enlisted December 30, 1863; veteran; transferred to Company G, Second U.S. Cavalry, November 5, 1862.
Nugent, Peter, private, August 1, 1861, three years; discharged September 26, 1862, for wounds received at Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, 1862.
O’Neill, Daniel, private, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded at Bull Run, Va., August 29, 1862; mustered out with company September 8, 1864.
O’Neill, Peter, private, August 1, 1861, three years; discharged, November 9, for wounds received at Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, 1862.
Paup, William A., private, August 1, 1861, three years; died near Meadow Station, Va., November 12, 1862.
Rance, Alfred T., private, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded at Bull Run, Va., August 29, 1862; discharged August 8, 1864.
Reed, John, private, August 1, 1861, three years; died at Meadow Station, Va., June 24, 1862.
Remel, George W., private, August 1, 1861, three years; deserted 1862.
Rhees, George W., private, August 1, 1861, three years; killed at Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, 1862.
Richards, S.K., private, August 1, 1861, three years; transferred September, 1862, to First New Jersey Artillery; returned to regiment April, 1864; mustered out with company September 1, 1864.
Richards, John G., private, August 1, 1861, three years; discharged 1862 for wounds received at Bull Run, Va., August 29, 1862.
Russell, Andrew E., private, August 1, 1861, three years; mustered out with company September 8, 1864.
Rynard, Jacob, private, November 25, 1861, three years; discharged on surgeon’s certificate 1862.
Sample, James, private, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded at Bull Run, Va., August 29, 1862; transferred to Company H, One Hundred and Fifth Regiment P.V.; veteran.
Shoup, Henry, private, August 1, 1861, three years; killed at Bull Run, Va., August 29, 1862.
Slocum, Alden, private, August 1, 1861, three years; discharged on surgeon’s certificate 1862.
Smathers, Christian, private, August 1, 1861, three years; died at Alexandria March 18, 1862; buried at Alexandria, Va., grave 1302.
Straub, Sylvester, private, August 1, 1861, three years; died April 28, 1863; buried in Strangers’ burial ground, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Stroup, John A., private, August 1, 1861, three years; discharged on surgeon’s certificate 1862.
Thompson, John, private, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded at Charles City Cross Roads June 30, 1862; killed at Bull Run, Va., August 29, 1862.
Thompson, William M., private, August 1, 1861, three years; captured at Fredericksburg, Va., December 13, 1862; wounded at Wilderness May 7, 1864; mustered out with company September 8, 1864.
Torry, Anthony, private, August 1, 1861, three years; wounded at Wilderness, Va., May 5, 1864; wounded, with loss of leg, at Petersburg June, 1864; discharged June 1, 1865.
Tyler, John, private, August 1, 1861, three years; left sick at hospital May 18, 1862.
Vorhauer, John, private, August 1, 1861, three years; mustered out with company September 8, 1864.
Wiles, Abraham, private, August 1, 1861, three years; discharged on surgeon’s certificate 1862.
Wilkinson, William, private, August 1, 1861, three years; discharged on surgeon’s certificate February 3, 1863.
Woodruff; David, private, August 1, 1861, three years; died near Meadow Station, Va., June 11, 1862.
* Company F was principally enlisted August 1, 1861. All dates after October 9 show the time of recruits entering the company.
SOURCE: Page(s) 189-209, History of Clarion County, A.J. Davis, A.J.; Syracuse, N.Y.: D. Mason & Co. 1887
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