The Honorable Andrew Gregg Curtin, Pennsylvania’s Civil War-Era Governor

Andrew Gregg Curtin, Governor, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, circa 1860 (public domain).

“In this locality his very name is a tower of strength — and either in or out of politics, amid the exciting scenes and contests of his profession or in the reciprocity of the amenities and courtesies of society, Col. Curtin commands the respect of his fellows, and never fails to win the confidence of the people with whom he comes in contact. There are always men who seem to be born leaders, and he is one of them. He wins by intuition, as much by the grace of his learning, as by the fiery zeal of his nature. As a lawyer, he is keen, sagacious, and when full[y] engaged in a cause, irresistible in his efforts…. His zeal and devotion to the system of Common School Education, the present arrangement of which is owing to his energies … is as near perfection as possible.” — The Alleghenian, September 29, 1859

 

Known as “the Soldier’s Friend,” Andrew Gregg Curtin (1815-1894) was the fifteenth governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. “His influence had much to do with the first nomination for president of Abraham Lincoln,” according to The New York Times.

He was also revered as a friend by many Pennsylvanians, not only for the genuine compassion he showed to children who had been orphaned during the American Civil War, but for his leadership in improving public education for all children statewide.

FORMATIVE YEARS

Born on April 22, 1815, in the Borough of Bellefonte, the County Seat of Centre County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Andrew Gregg Curtin (1815-1894) was the eldest child of Roland Curtin (1764-1830), an emigrant from Ireland who became an iron industry pioneer in Pennsylvania, and his second wife, Jean Gregg (1791-1854), a daughter of Andrew Gregg, the former president pro tempore of the United States Senate.

Andrew G. Curtin was also the big brother of multiple Bellfonte-born siblings — Constans Curtin (1817-1895), who was born on March 6, 1817 and never married; Martha Maria Curtin (1819-1880), who was born on August 29, 1819 and would later wed William Irwin, M.D.; Ellen Honora Curtin (1822-1851), who was born on June 11, 1822 and would later wed William H. Allen, M.D.; Margery Gregg Curtin (1823-1885), who was born on December 23, 1823 and would later wed Thomas R. Reynolds (1824-1888); Nancy Jane Curtin (1828-1900), who was born on May 4, 1828 and would later wed D. D. Clarke, M.D.; and Julia G. Curtin (1831-1919), who was born on October 3, 1831 and never married.

Educated initially at a private school in Bellefonte, and via attendance with his parents and siblings at Presbyterian Church services, Andrew Curtin was subsequently enrolled at a preparatory school in the city of Harrisburg in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania prior to attending the Milton Academy in Milton, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.

* Note: According to historian Herbert C. Bell, the Milton Academy was highly regarded:

“In 1815 Joseph D. Biles established an English school at the Broadway school house, adding Latin and Greek to his curriculum in the following year. This gained for his school the name of ‘The Milton Academy,’ thus for the first time applied to an educational institution at this place. In 1817 it numbered among its students John F. Wolfinger, for many years a member of the Northumberland county bar, Samuel Pollock, and James Pollock, afterward Governor of Pennsylvania. But this school did not long continue, and other pedagogues succeeded Biles….

“The Milton Academy, the leading educational institution of the West Branch valley during the period of its existence, originated with the Rev. George Junkin, pastor of the Presbyterian church and the moving spirit in many public enterprises of a moral and educational character. Through his efforts a stock company was formed, composed of Samuel Hepburn, Joseph Rhoads, William H. Sanderson, Samuel Teas, Sarah Pollock, and others, by whom a plain, one-story brick building was erected at a cost of four hundred dollars at the brow of the hill on the north side of Broadway, and a short distance to the east of the frame school building previously mentioned. The entrance was on the western side, and from its elevated location the academy commanded a view of the town, the river, and the valley. The interior was divided into two rooms by a narrow entrance hall. The apartment on the north was the smaller of the two; it was occupied by the students in Latin and Greek, the higher mathematics, rhetoric, etc., while the other room was set apart for those who had not advanced beyond the ordinary English branches. A small cupola surmounted the building, but the necessary appendage of a bell was never provided.

“The first principal of the academy … was the Rev. David Kirkpatrick. He was employed as a teacher of the classics at Oxford, Chester county, Pennsylvania, when Mr. Junkin formed his acquaintance and prevailed on him to change the field of his labors; he accordingly came to Milton, and on the second Monday of May, 1822, opened a classical school at a frame building that occupied the site of Dr. James McCleery’s residence on Front street. In the following October he removed his school to the academy building, where he taught until November, 1834, assisted at different times by a Mr. Mayne, Thomas C. Hambly, and others. Among his students were many who subsequently acquired honorable rank in the legal and medical professions, and as clergymen, teachers, civil engineers, etc.”

After completing his education at the Milton Academy, Andrew Curtin studied law with his mother’s cousin, William W. Potter, prior to enrolling formally in the law department at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Dickinson in 1837, he began practicing law in his hometown of Bellefonte. Focused primarily on criminal law during his work days, he spent a significant portion of his free time as a volunteer for the Whig Party.

Married to Katharine Irvine Wilson on May 30, 1844, Andrew Curtin settled with her in Centre County, where they then welcomed the births of: Mary Wilson Curtin (1845-1927), who was born in Potters Bank on March 7, 1845, and would later wed George Fairlamb Harris, M.D. (1843-1911); Jane Gregg Curtin (1847-1893), who was born in Bellefonte on January 17, 1847, and would later wed William Henry Sage (1844-1924); Martha Irvine Curtin (1848-1935), who was born on March 22, 1848, and would later wed Commander Kidder Randolph Breese (1831-1881); William Wilson Curtin (1851-1936), who was born in Bellefonte on March 27, 1851, and would later wed Harriet Fuller Harding (1853-1935); and Myron Stanley Curtin (1854-1857), who was born in Bellefonte on October 9, 1854.

On January 19, 1855, Andrew Curtin was appointed by Pennsylvania Governor James Pollock (1810-1890) as the secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania — a post that he held until January 20, 1858. During that time, he also served in an ex officio capacity as the commonwealth’s superintendent of public instruction. According to historians at the Pennsylvania & Historical Museum Commission (PHMC), it was during that period of his public service career that he “started the state system of teacher training in ‘normal’ schools.” The New York Times would later credit him with reforming the “entire management” of Pennsylvania’s system of public education. “It was Mr. Curtin who secured, among many other innovations, the adoption of the prevailing system [in 1894] of County Superintendents of Schools in Pennsylvania.”

Sadly, during that same time, he and his wife suffered a terrible loss when their youngest child, Myron, died at the age of two on January 13, 1857. They then welcomed the birth of daughter, Katharine Irvine Wilson Curtin (1859-1930), who was born in Bellefonte on May 2, 1859, and would later wed Moses Dewitt Burnett, Jr. (1854-1920).

ELECTED GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s State Capitol Building, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, circa 1870s (James Laughery Paul, Pennsylvania Soldiers’ Orphan Schools, 1876, public domain; click to enlarge).

In 1860, according to PHMC historians, Andrew G. Curtin “helped persuade Pennsylvania’s delegates at the National Republican Convention to abandon the nomination of his political nemesis, Pennsylvania Senator Simon Cameron, [for the office of president of the United States] and instead cast their votes in-favor of [Abraham] Lincoln, making Pennsylvania a key swing state in his successful nomination. That fall, Curtin won Pennsylvania’s 1860 gubernatorial election, becoming the first Republican to hold this office.”

Inaugurated on January 15, 1861, Governor Andrew Curtin began his first term as the nation’s secession crisis was deepening. South Carolina had seceded from the United States on December 20, 1860, followed by Mississippi on January 9, 1861, Florida on January 10th, and Alabama on January 11th. (Georgia then seceded on January 19th, followed by Louisiana on January 26th and Texas on February 1st.)

Working with the Pennsylvania Legislature to prepare for the possibility of a full-blown civil war, he began to bring many of the militia units that had been operating in cities and towns across the commonwealth under the organizational umbrella of the Military Department of Pennsylvania, and then secured appropriations that would eventually fund the purchase and distribution of weapons, ammunition, uniforms, food and other supplies to the more than three hundred thousand Pennsylvanians who would ultimately serve in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

On March 14, 1861, he signed legislation repealing the tonnage tax on Pennsylvania’s railroad companies, “which helped the Pennsylvania Railroad become the nation’s largest transport system,” according to PHMC historians. That change, which was initially criticized by many newspapers statewide, would ultimately prove to be a critical, pro-Union incentive for those same companies over the next several months and years, as they transported Pennsylvanians and other men from the Mid-Atlantic Region to military training facilities and then on to Union Army encampments in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. According to The New York Times:

“In the lower house of the Legislature a bill was instantly introduced investing the Governor with power to raise and equip troops, and appropriating $500,000 for this purpose. In forty-eight hours the bill became a law. Its authority was used by the Governor so promptly that when the President issued his call for 75,000 men for 100 days the Pennsylvania soldiers were the first to reach the capital. The Governor foresaw that the war would be long, called an extra session of the Legislature, asked for authority to raise not less than fifteen nor more than thirty regiments, enlisted for three years, or until the end of the war, and obtained all that he requested and an appropriation of $3,500,000. The reserves equipped with this fund saved the capital of the United States from capture after the battle of Bull Run.”

Among the military units that were created by Governor Curtin during his first months in office was the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, which was established on August 5, 1861 and would later make history as the only regiment from Pennsylvania to take part in the Union’s 1864 Red River Campaign across Louisiana.

As the civil war raged into a second year, he presided over “The Loyal War Governors’ Conference” at the Logan House Hotel in Altoona, Blair County (September 1862). Its participants subsequently urged President Lincoln to remove Union General George B. McClellan from his position as the commander of the Army of the Potomac — a recommendation that Lincoln accepted.

A gifted writer and celebrated orator, Governor Curtin also delivered the first of his Thanksgiving Addresses in 1862. Re-elected in 1863, he then continued to lead the commonwealth’s prosecution of the war by securing funding to support the recruitment, training, transportation, and medical and spiritual care of Union soldiers and sailors from Pennsylvania. According to historian and biographer Rebecca Gifford Albright, “Among Andrew Curtin’s most admirable qualities what that of compassion…. Curtin insisted that all letters from soldiers be answered, either by himself or by his personal secretary. On many occasions, the Governor visited camp hospitals to talk with the wounded or to present them with some recognition of their sacrifices. In addition, Curtin heard countless pleas from wounded soldiers and their families and took what steps he could to relieve their anxieties.” He also “established the practice of bringing Pennsylvania war dead home for burial.”

Through it all, he tried to maintain a measure of normalcy as a husband and father. On October 19, 1865, he and his wife welcomed the birth of Bessie Elliott Curtin (1865-1866), who was born in Bellefonte. Sadly, she died in infancy at their family home on July 1, 1866.

HONORS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
Camp Curtin

Camp Curtin (Harper’s Weekly, 1861, public domain).

Three days after the fall of Fort Sumter to Confederate States Army troops in mid-April 1861, a new military recruiting and training camp was opened just north of the State Capitol building in the city of Harrisburg in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. Situated on eighty acres of land that had previously been used for Dauphin County’s Agricultural Fairgrounds, “The camp was between Reels Lane on the north, the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks on the east, Maclay Street on the south and Fifth Street on the west,” according to volunteers at the Camp Curtin Historical Society, and was initially named “Camp Union.”

Harrisburg’s location on major railroad lines running east and west, and north and south made it the ideal location for moving men and supplies to the armies in the field. In addition to Pennsylvania regiments, troops from Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin and the Regular Army used Camp Curtin.”

That same day (April 18, 1861), Major Joseph Knipe, “a native of Mount Joy, a veteran of the Mexican War … raised the American flag over the new camp and proposed that it be named after the governor,” according to Tom Huntington, author of Pennsylvania Civil War Trails — a recommendation that was quickly adopted. More than three thousand regular and volunteer Union Army soldiers would ultimately be enrolled, mustered in, trained, mustered out, and/or honorably discharged at Camp Curtin between the spring of 1861 and early January 1866, making it the largest military facility in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and one of the largest in the nation during the American Civil War.

Soldiers’ Orphan Schools

The Tressler Orphans’ Home in Loysville, Pennsylvania, depicted here circa 1876, was founded in 1865 as part of the Pennsylvania Soldiers’ Orphan Schools (John Laughery Paul, Pennsylvania’s Soldiers’ Orphan Schools, 1876, public domain; click to enlarge).

One of Governor Curtin’s most important initiatives was one that outlived him by many years — the creation of a system of schools for the thousands of Pennsylvania children whose fathers had died while serving with Union military units during the American Civil War (or had died, post-war, as a direct result of their service to the nation). Known as the Pennsylvania Soldiers’ Orphan Schools, this system was approved by an act of the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1864, which read as follows:

“Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania be and is hereby authorized to accept the sum of fifty thousand dollars donated by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, for the education and maintenance of destitute orphan children of deceased soldiers and sailors, and appropriate the same in such manner as he may deem best calculated to accomplish the object designed by said donation; the accounts of said disbursements to be settled, in the usual manner, by the Auditor General and the Governor, and make report of the same to the next Legislature.

On June 16, 1864, Governor Curtin appointed The Honorable Thomas L. Burrowes, L.L.D., as superintendent of soldiers’ orphans, and directed him to create a plan for the new school system. Dr. Burrowes, who had previously served as the ex officio superintendent of Pennsylvania’s common school system during his tenure as secretary of the commonwealth under Governor Joseph Ritter, was able to quickly complete that new plan, and submitted it to Governor Curtin on June 27 of that same year (1864). In addition to establishing the criteria for determining a child’s eligibility for orphans’ school enrollment, that plan defined the application procedures for the mother or guardian of an eligible child, the responsibilities of each orphans’ school (to house, clothe, feed, educate, and provide medical and spiritual care to each child enrolled), and the recordkeeping and reporting procedures.

Governor Curtin then dedicated a significant portion of his final years in office to securing a staggering amount of funding for the orphans’ school system from the Pennsylvania Legislature (four hundred thousand dollars), and also worked with Dr. Burrowes on refining the system’s admissions and operating procedures.

POST-GUBERNATORIAL LIFE

The residence of Pennsylvania’s Civil War-era governor, Andrew Gregg Curtin, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, circa 1890s (public domain).

Having completed his second term as governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on January 15, 1867, Andrew Gregg Curtin chose to remain active in public service. Appointed by U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant as the United States’ minister to Russia in 1869, he held that post until 1872. From 1872-1873, he served as a delegate to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Constitutional Convention, the product of which was Pennsylvania’s updated constitution (1874), which, among other things, declared that:

  • “All men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent and indefeasible rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring, possessing and protecting property and reputation, and of pursuing their own happiness…; and that
  • “Elections shall be free and equal; and no power, civil or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage….”

Elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Congress in 1880, Andrew Gregg Curtin served three terms, from March 4, 1881 to March 3, 1887, during which time he chaired the U.S. House of Representatives’ committees on Foreign Affairs (1883-1885) and Banking and Currency (1885-1887). Eschewing a fourth term, he retired to Bellefonte.

By 1889, the Pennsylvania Soldiers’ Orphans School system that he had played such a key role in creating had grown into a network of forty-four separate educational institutions. A businessman involved with the First National Bank of Bellefonte, who had invested in the Bald Eagle Valley Railroad, his net worth during the latter part of his life was estimated at a quarter of a million dollars (the equivalent of more than nine million U.S. dollars in 2026). According to The New York Times:

“He lived at Bellefonte, in his stone house which has the air of a castle, among the books of his library.  He was tall, slim, and straight…. His eyes were dark gray, his hair was silvery, and when he went to Washington his affability attracted around him a circle of eminent men, to whom he related his career and innumerable stories.”

Illness, Death, Funeral and Interment

The Lewisburg Chronicle in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania paid tribute to former Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin on its October 13, 1894 front page (public domain).

Ailing during the final years of his life, Andrew Gregg Curtin died at the age of seventy-nine, at his home in Bellefonte, at 5 a.m. on October 7, 1894, and was immediately eulogized by government officials and in newspapers nationwide. According to The New York Times, “Gov. Pattison issued a proclamation tonight in which he announced ex-Gov. Curtin’s death. After reviewing his distinguished services to his State and country, the proclamation concludes as follows:

‘In honor of his memory and in recognition of his eminent public service, I invoke for his bereaved family the sympathy of the people of Pennsylvania, and I recommend and order that on the day of his funeral the flags upon the public buildings be displayed at half mast and that the several departments of the State Government within executive control be closed upon that day.’”

Both private and public funeral services were then held for Governor Curtin on October 10, 1894. According to The Semi-Weekly New Era of Lancaster, Pennsylvania:

“Private services [were] held at his late home, after which the body [was] taken in charge by Post 89, G.A.R., of [Bellefonte], for burial under the ceremonies of war. Detachments of the Pennsylvania National Guard [acted] as escort to the Post. The pallbearers [were] Col. A. K. McClure and John Scott, of Philadelphia; ex-Governor James A. Beaver, General Daniel H. Hastings, Edward C. Humes and Judge Austin O. Furst, of Bellefonte; Hon. John Dean, of Hollidaysburg, Judge of the Supreme Court; Hon. Wm. A. Wallace, of Clearfield, and Wm. B. Mann, of Philadelphia.”

The monument at the grave of Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin (Bellefonte Union Cemetery, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, public domain).

In addition, the Pennsylvania National Guard’s “Second Brigade Band, Sheridan Troop, Battery B, Companies A, B, C, and G, of the Fifth Regiment, and A, B, D, G, and H, of the Twelfth Regiment” acted “as a funeral escort at the Curtin obsequies.” The Pennsylvania National Guard was also ordered to fire “seventeen minute guns … at the State Arsenal on the day of the funeral” — a funeral that merited coast to coast news coverage. According to The Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

“This town [Bellefonte, Pennsylvania was] draped in mourning today in honor of the memory of Andrew Gregg Curtin, who was laid to rest this afternoon. This morning a memorial meeting was held in the courthouse, a great number of distinguished men being present. Touching addresses were made by Gov. Pattison, A. K. McClure, of Philadelphia, Gen. Gobin [the final commanding officer of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and a future lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania] and others. At 12 o’clock the ex-governor’s body was borne from the family residence to the courthouse, where it remained until 1:30, thousands of people viewing the remains while they lay in state. The body was then taken back to the Gregg mansion [sic], where at 2 o’clock the funeral services were held.

Following those tributes, The Honorable Andrew Gregg Curtin was laid to eternal rest at the Union Cemetery in his beloved hometown of Bellefonte.

 

Sources:

  1. Albright, Rebecca Gifford. “The Civil War Career of Andrew Gregg Curtin, Governor of Pennsylvania,” serialized in The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, vols. 47 and 48, 1964-1965. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania.
  2. “Andrew Curtin Dead: Pennsylvania’s Great War Governor Passes Away: His Invaluable Services to His State and Nation — Idolized by the Soldiers and Loved By All the People — Proclamation By Governor Pattison — Burial With Military Honors.” Meriden, Connecticut: The Meriden Daily Journal, October 8, 1894.
  3. Andrew G. Curtin Historical Marker, in “Explore PA History.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, retrieved online August 4, 2026.
  4. Andrew Gregg Curtin (1817-1894)” (alumus, class of 1937), in “Encyclopedia.” Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Archives & Special Collections, Dickinson College, retrieved online August 4, 2026.
  5. “Andrew Gregg Curtin Dead: The Illustrious ‘War Governor’ Passes Peacefully Away at His Home in Bellefonte.” Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: The Lewisburg Chronicle, October 13, 1894.
  6. Annual Reports of the Pennsylvania Commission of Soldiers’ Orphans Schools, 1870-1918. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
  7. “Another War Governor Gone: Andrew G. Curtin Passes Away at His Pennsylvania Home.” New York, New York: The New York Times, October 8, 1894.
  8. “Appointments by the Governor” (appointment by Governor James Pollock of Andrew G. Curtin as secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania). Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: The Lewisburg Chronicle, January 19, 1855.
  9. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1865-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
  10. “Biographical Sketch of Andrew G. Curtin! Next Governor of Pennsylvania.” Towanda, Pennsylvania: The Bradford Reporter, September 20, 1860.
  11. Bordewich, Fergus M. “Fort Sumter: The Civil War Begins,” in Smithsonian Magazine, 2011. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian.
  12. Camp Curtin Historical Marker,” in ExplorePAhistory.com. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, retrieved online July 25, 2022.
  13. Curtin, Andrew Gregg,” in “History, Art & Archives.” Washington, D.C.: U.S. House of Representatives, retrieved online August 2, 2026.
  14. Curtin, Andrew Gregg,” in “House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College.” Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Dickinson College, retrieved online August 2026.
  15. “For the Repository and Transcript: A List of the Governors, Deputy Governors, Presidents, and Vice Presidents of Pennsylvania” (mentions Andrew G. Curtin’s tenure as secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania). Chambersburg, Pennsylvania: Franklin Repository and Transcript, December 1, 1858.
  16. “Funeral Arrangements and Pallbearers” and “Special Order to the National Guard,” in “Andrew G. Curtin Dead: The Famous War Governor at Rest.” Lancaster, Pennsylvania: The Semi-Weekly New Era, October 10, 1894.
  17. “Funeral of Andrew Gregg Curtin.” Seattle, Washington: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, October 11, 1894.
  18. Gov. Andrew Gregg Curtin,” in “Database of Former Governors: Pennsylvania.” Washington, D.C.: National Governors Association, retrieved online August 2, 2026.
  19. “Gov. Curtin and the Militia System of the State.” Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Pittsburgh Post, April 12, 1861.
  20. Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin,” in “Pennsylvania Governors.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, retrieved online August 1, 2026.
  21. “Governor Curtin Has Signed the Bill for the Repeal of the Tonnage Tax.” York, Pennsylvania: The Wrightsville Star, March 14, 1861.
  22. Grodzins, Dean and David Moss. “The U.S. Secession Crisis as a Breakdown of Democracy,” in When Democracy Breaks: Studies in Democratic Erosion and Collapse, from Ancient Athens to the Present Day (chapter 3). New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2024.
  23. History of Camp Curtin.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Camp Curtin Historical Society, retrieved online July 25, 2022.
  24. “Hon. Andrew G. Curtin,” in “Personal.” Ebensburg, Pennsylvania: The Alleghenian, September 29, 1859.
  25. Huntington, Tom. Pennsylvania Civil War Trails: The Guide to Battle Sites, Monuments, Museums and Towns, pp. 65-66. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 2007; Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 2007.
  26. Miller, William J. The Training of an Army: Camp Curtin and the North’s Civil War. Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: White Mane Publishing, 1990.
  27. Paul, James Laughery. Pennsylvania’s Soldiers’ Orphans Schools, Giving a Brief Account of the Origin of the Late Civil War, the Rise and Progress of the Orphan System, and Legislative Enactments Relating Thereto. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Claxton, Remson & Haffelfinger, 1876; and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Lane S. Hart, 1877.
  28. Schmidt, Lewis G. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.
  29. Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, vol. 4. Westport, Connecticut: Meckler Books, 1978.
  30. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, vol. 2. New York, New York: James T. White & Company, 1895.

 

Flag Days: The History of One Regiment’s Battle Flags

Cared for by archivists of the Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the two battle flags that were carried by the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during its tenure of service in the American Civil War were known as the First and Second State Colors.

First State Color

The First State Color of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was presented to the regiment by Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin on September 20, 1861, and was officially retired on May 11, 1865 (source: Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee, 1985.057, Evans and Hassall, v1p126).

Presented to the regiment by Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on September 20, 1861, the First State Color of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was manufactured by Evans and Hassall of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the September 17, 1861 edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper:

Under an act of the Legislature, passed during the extra session of 1861, the Governor of the State was authorized to purchase stands of colors for the several regiments of Pennsylvania. — Twelve of these have been completed, marked with the appropriate numbers of the regiments, and sent to Gov. Curtin. We have been shown one of these new standards. It bore upon it the Stars and Stripes, with the coat of Arms of Pennsylvania exquisitely painted on the blue field, and surrounded by the thirty-four Stars. On the central stripe the number of the regiment was emblazoned. The material is rich, heavy and lustrous silk. The sunlight never flashed on a more beautiful ensign…. The trimmings of the flags are very handsome. The work was completed by Messrs. Evans & Hassall, No. 51 S. Fourth Street.

The First State Color was the battle flag that was initially cared for and carried by the 47th Pennsylvania’s first color bearer, Sergeant Benjamin Walls, as the regiment took part in multiple military engagements, including the:

The First State Color was then carried by Sergeant William Pyers in subsequent military engagements, including the:

Subsequently carried by a third regimental color bearer, the First State Color was also the flag carried by the regiment during the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry’s defense of Washington, D.C., following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln (beginning mid-April 1865 and lasting until the First State Color was officially retired on May 11, 1865).

Second State Color

Second State Color, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, presented to the regiment on March 7, 1865, this battle flag documents the regiment’s major engagements (source: Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee, 1985.058, Horstmann Brothers and Company, v1p127).

The Second State Color of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was the battle flag that was carried by the regiment’s color-bearer as the 47th Pennsylvania marched through the streets of Washington, D.C. during the Grand Review of the National Armies on May 23, 1865, and as it marched into Savannah, Georgia in early June 1865 and into Charleston, South Carolina in July of that same year (while stationed in both cities on provost duty during the Reconstruction Era).

Presented to Captain Daniel Oyster on March 7, 1865, the commanding officer of the 47th Pennsylvania’s C Company (the regiment’s color guard unit), while Captain Oyster was at home in Sunbury, Pennsylvania on a thirty-day military furlough (after having been wounded in action twice during Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign), it had been shipped to Sunbury in February by its manufacturer, Horstmann Brothers & Company of Philadelphia. According to archivists at the American History Museum in Washington, D.C.:

“William Hortsmann [sic, “Horstmann”], born in Germany, emigrated to the United States and established himself as a maker of fringe, laces, and trimmings in Philadelphia, in 1815. William Horstmann & Sons were located at North Third Street between 1830 and 1857, manufacturing and importing everything from textiles and trimmings to military goods including drums, pistols, and swords. As the company expanded, Horstmann & Sons moved the factory to 5th and Cherry Streets and their storefront to 2223 Chestnut Street. Later the company would grow to two stores in New York and an agency in Paris. William Horstmann retired from the company in 1845, and his sons, William and Sigmund continued the family business until 1872.”

Sources:

  1. 47th Infantry,” in “Pennsylvania Civil War Battle Flags.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee, retrieved online June 3, 2026.
  2. “A Handsome Flag.” Sunbury, Pennsylvania: The Sunbury American, March 11, 1865.
  3. Bates, Samuel P., in History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
  4. “Flags for Pennsylvania Regiments.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 17, 1861.
  5. Historical Listing of Pennsylvania Civil War Color Bearers,” in “Pennsylvania Civil War Battle Flags.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee, retrieved online June 3, 2026.
  6. Horstmann Brothers & Co. Military Trumpet.” Washington, D.C.: American History Museum, Smithsonian Institute, retrieved online June 3, 2026.
  7. Schmidt, Lewis G. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.
  8. “The History of the Forty-Seventh Regt. P. V.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Lehigh Register, July 20, 1870.

 

Finding Your 47th Pennsylvanian: Registers of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865

Main website page for the Registers of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865 (Pennsylvania State Archives, public domain; click to enlarge).

Another useful tool for Finding Your 47th Pennsylvanian is one of several records collections related to the American Civil War housed at the Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania — the “Registers of Pennsylvana Volunteers, 1861-1865.”

Similar to the Pennsylvania State Archives’ collection of Pennsylvania Civil War Muster Rolls, the Registers of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865 are part of a sixteen-volume set of rosters that document the names, ages, ranks, regiment and company affiliations, and dates and places of enlistment and discharge or desertion for the more than three hundred and sixty-thousand men who served with one or more of Pennsylvania’s volunteer infantry, volunteer militia, emergency militia, independent, or other military units during the war. In addition, many of these registers contain additional data about about the status of individual soldiers, including whether or not they were promoted or reduced in rank and whether or not they were wounded or killed in battle. According to Pennsylvania State Archives personnel:

“Arranged by regiment, rank, and then alphabetically by surname, these registers document Pennsylvania Volunteers who served during the Civil War. Information normally recorded includes the soldier’s name, age, rank, regiment and company; the term of service; and the date, place, and name of the person who enrolled him. Written remarks regarding the promotion, desertion, death, or discharge of the volunteer are frequently entered as well.”

Two PDFs to View for Each Soldier

Excerpt from left side of register entry, Company A, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (Registers of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865, Pennsylvania State Archives, public domain; click to enlarge).

Due to the large size of each book in this register series, Pennsylvania State Archives personnel scanned each page of each register as two separate PDF pages — with the first page containing the left side of the roster with an alphabetized list of soldiers’ names and their respective enrollment data — and the second page containing the right side of the roster with its remarks section, which presents data about the service status for each of those soldiers (promotions, desertions, deaths, etc.). Those PDF pages were then grouped by regiment and company, officers first, followed by the enlisted members of the regiment who served under them, and were posted on the Pennsylvania State Archives’ website, where they remain available, free of charge to everyone, regardless of geographic location, and without any requirement to create an account in order to search these records.

This collection has also been indexed by FamilySearch volunteers, who have entered each soldier’s summarized data into a database that may be searched online, free of charge, via the “Pennsylvania, Register of Military Volunteers, 1861-1865” portal on the FamilySearch website. (Note: While the summarized data for soldiers may be viewed online from the privacy of one’s home, by creating and logging into a free FamilySearch account, the opportunity to browse through and view scanned images of the original registers is only available by visiting a FamilySearch Center in person.)

Remember and Honor Them

Second State Colors, 47th Pennsylvania Veteran
Volunteers (presented to the regiment 7 March 1865).

The members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry gave everything they had in them to help preserve America’s Union. For that reason alone, they deserve our enduring gratitude and respect.

So, make it a practice to say the name of your ancestor out loud each week (or say the name of one of the men who fought beside him).

Tell and re-tell their stories to everyone you know (especially the children in your local school system).

And most of all, honor the sacrifices that they made by volunteering your own time and energy to make life better for everyone in your community.

 

Sources:

  1. Civil War Records,” in “Pennsylvania State Archives – Research Guides.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, retrieved online November 3, 2025.
  2. Pennsylvania, Register of Military Volunteers, 1861-1865.” Lehi, Utah: FamilySearch, retrieved online November 3, 2025.
  3. Registers of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865,” in Records of the Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs (Record Group 19, Series 19.65). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives, retrieved online November 3, 2025.

 

Finding Your 47th Pennsylvanian: The Surprising Details in Pennsylvania’s Civil War-Era Muster Rolls

Excerpt of muster-out roll, Company G, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, December 25, 1865, page one (Pennsylvania Civil War Muster Rolls, Pennsylvania State Archives, public domain; click to enlarge).

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s collection of Civil War-era muster rolls is another of the three major tools that beginning, medium and advanced researchers initially turn to for help in determining which Pennsylvania military unit(s) a soldier served with during the American Civil War. Unfortunately, it is also a resource that often does not receive the close attention from researchers that it should.

Those who have chosen to spend significant time looking through the individual documents contained in this collection have come to understand that, in addition to confirming the identity of a soldier’s regiment and company, as well as his rank(s) at enrollment and final discharge, Pennsylvania’s Civil War-era muster rolls are also useful for documenting when and where that soldier enrolled and mustered in for service and whether or not he had some change to his status while serving, such as a promotion, reduction in rank or charge of desertion — and possibly data which documented whether or not he was wounded or killed in battle and, if so, when and where.

Physically created as hard-copy index cards that were later preserved by the Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as part of the “Civil War Muster Rolls and Related Records” group of documents from the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs’ archives (Series RG:-019-ADJT-11, 1861-1866, 1906), this collection includes muster rolls from each of Pennsylvania’s volunteer infantry and volunteer militia regiments, emergency volunteer militia regiments that were formed during the summer of 1863 in response to the looming invasion of the commonwealth by the Confederate States Army, United States Colored Troops (USCT), United States Veteran Volunteer regiments and Hancock Veterans Corps, regiments of the Veterans Reserve Corps, and independent or other unattached units. Preserved on microfilm decades ago by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a portion of this large collection has since been partially digitized and made available on the Ancestry.com website as “Pennsylvania, U.S., Civil War Muster Rolls, 1860-1869.”

* Note: Although Ancestry.com is a subscription-based genealogy service that generally requires users to pay for access to its records collections, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania entered into a partnership with Ancestry.com several years ago “to digitize family history records in the State Archives and make them available online.” As part of that agreement, Ancestry.com created Ancestry.com Pennsylvania to provide free access to Pennsylvania residents to the Pennsylvania records it has digitized. If you reside in Pennsylvania and want to learn more about how you may obtain free access to those records, please contact the Pennsylvania State Archives for guidance. If you reside elsewhere, check with your local library to determine if it offers access to Ancestry.com as part of its service to library users.

What May Researchers Find with This Resource?

Excerpt from muster-out roll, Company G, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, December 25, 1865, showing soldiers’ promotions, status as Veteran Volunteers, etc. (Pennsylvania State Archives, public domain; click to enlarge).

According to personnel at the Pennsylvania State Archives, Pennsylvania’s Civil War Muster Rolls and Related Records collection includes:

“Alphabetical Rolls. The rolls are arranged alphabetically by the soldiers’ surnames. Entries usually give the name, rank, civilian occupation, and residence, the unit, regiment, company, and commanding officer, and the date and place where the roll was taken. Particulars about sickness or injury are also sometimes noted.

“Descriptive Lists of Deserters. Lists give the names, ages, places of birth, height, hair and eye color, civilian occupations, and ranks of deserters, the units, regiments, and companies to which they were assigned, and the dates and places from which they deserted.

“Muster-In Rolls. Entries usually list the name, age, rank, unit, regiment, and company of the soldier, the date and place where enrolled, the name of the person who mustered him in, the term of enlistment, the date of mustering in, and the name of commanding officer. Remarks concerning promotions and assignments are sometimes recorded.

“Muster-Out Rolls. The dated lists ordinarily give the soldier’s name, age, rank, unit, regiment, and company, the date, place, and person who mustered him in, the period of enlistment, and the name of the commanding officer. Particulars concerning pay earned, promotions, capture by the enemy and the like also regularly appear.

“Muster and Descriptive Rolls. Generally the rolls give the name, age, town or county and state or kingdom of birth, civilian occupation, complexion, height, eye and hair color, and rank, the unit, regiment, company and commanding officer, and the amount of money received for pay, bounties, and clothing. Rolls for assigned United States black troops are included in this group. Included throughout are such related materials as regimental accounts of action, and correspondence related to infractions of military procedures, correspondence from soldiers addressed to the governor expressing grievances or petitioning for promotion.

“The data found in the documents of this series were used to create the Civil War Veterans Card File, 1861-1866 (Series 19.12).”

Be Sure to Look for Data Regarding Soldiers’ Pay

Excerpt from muster-out roll for Company G, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, showing soldiers’ pay data, December 25, 1865 (Pennsylvania State Archives, public domain).

One of the most fascinating features found on the muster-out rolls for Pennsylvania volunteer soldiers is that many of the infantry unit clerks took the time to meticulously record the pay data for multiple members of their respective regiments. As a result, present-day researchers are often able to determine how much bounty pay a particular soldier was eligible for at the time of his enlistment — and how much of that promised pay he actually received, as well as how much money he still owed the United States government for his army uniform, rifle and ammunition at the time of his discharged from the military.

Another striking feature on the muster-out rolls is the “Last Paid” column, which corroborates the shocking fact that many Union Army soldiers were expected to perform their duties, even though they were not being paid regularly — a data point that also may help to shed light on why some soldiers’ families faced greater hardship than others (because some soldiers were able to send part of their pay home while others were not).

Caveat Regarding Ancestry.com’s Collection Related to the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry

Screenshot of Ancestry.com’s record detail page for Peter Haupt, which incorrectly identifies him as a member of Company A, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, instead of Company C (fair use for illustration purpose, October 2025).

Although Ancestry.com’s collection of Pennsylvania Civil War-era muster rolls can be a useful tool for researchers, there is a significant problem with records related to the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry that merits closer scrutiny — the inaccurate transcription of soldiers’ data. That scrutiny is needed because the muster rolls from the 47th Pennsylvania’s Company C were mixed together with the muster rolls from Company A when they were posted to Ancestry.com’s website, making it appear, when browsing through those rolls, that all of the soldiers listed on every single one of those incorrectly grouped muster rolls were all members of Company A, when they were not.

Complicating things further, the Ancestry.com personnel who were assigned to transcribe the data from each of those muster rolls and create Record Detail pages for each individual soldier that summarized each soldier’s data from the muster roll on which it appeared, apparently did not realize that the muster rolls from Companies A and C of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry had been mixed together. As a result, those transcribers incorrectly described every soldier from that improperly sorted muster roll group as a member of Company A, when they were not. (See attached image.)

So, when reviewing Ancestry.com’s collection of muster rolls, it is vitally important that researchers not take the transcribed data found on any of the Record Detail pages of 47th Pennsylvania muster rolls at face value. Instead, researchers should double check the data found on those muster rolls for the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry against the data for individual soldiers published by Samuel P. Bates in his History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, volume 1, and should also then re-check that data against the information of individual soldiers that is contained in the Pennsylvania Civil War Veterans Index Card File, 1861-1866.

* Note: This is particularly important if you are a family historian who is hoping to identify the specific company in which your ancestor served. (And you will definitely want to know which company your ancestor served with because each company of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was assigned to different duties in different locations at different times during the regiment’s service.)

Caveat Regarding “Deserters”

Private Milton P. Cashner, Company B, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, was incorrectly labeled as a deserter on this regimental muster roll from the American Civil War (Pennsylvania State Archives, public domain; click to enlarge).

If a muster roll entry for your ancestor noted that he was a deserter, it’s also important that you not take that label at face value, either, because that data may also be incorrect. Military records from the Civil War era contained a surprising number of errors, a fact that is understandable when considering what the average army clerk was expected to do — keep track of more than a thousand men, many of whom ended up becoming separated from their regiment and confined to Union Army hospitals after being wounded in battle. (Wounded too severely to identify themselves to army personnel, they were then often mis-identified by army hospital personnel and then also incorrectly labeled as “deserters” by their own regiments because they hadn’t shown up for post-battle roll calls.) So, it’s important to double and triple check the data for any ancestor who was labeled as a “deserter” because he might actually have been convalescing at a hospital and not absent without leave.

Honoring Our Ancestors 

One of the best ways to honor ancestors who fought to preserve America’s Union is to pass their stories along to future generations. No embellishment required. Their willingness to volunteer for military service and the bravery they displayed as they ran toward danger and certain death during one of America’s darkest times speaks for itself.

Our job, as students of American History, educators and family historians is to ensure that their stories are told as accurately and thoroughly as possible so that their valor and love of community and country are never forgotten.

Remember their names. Tell and re-tell their stories. Honor the sacrifices that they made.

 

Sources:

  1. “Ancestry Pennsylvania,” in “Agencies: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission,” in “Pennsylvania State Archives.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, retrieved online October 25, 2025.
  2. Civil War Muster Rolls and Related Records” (resource description). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives, retrieved online October 30, 2025.
  3. Pennsylvania,” in Collections. Lehi, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2021 (retrieved online October 25, 2025).

 

Finding Your 47th Pennsylvanian: Using the Pennsylvania Civil War Veterans Card File, 1861-1866

The index card of Field Musician James Geidner, Company G, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (Pennsylvania Civil War Veterans Card File, 1861-1866, courtesy of the Pennsylvania State Archives).

The Pennsylvania Civil War Veterans Index Card File, 1861-1866 is one of three resources that beginning, medium and advanced researchers frequently turn to for help in determining which Pennsylvania military unit(s) a soldier served with during the American Civil War. Physically housed at the Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as part of the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs’ archives (Series RG-019-ADJT-12), this collection of individual index cards was preserved on microfilm decades ago by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and then later digitized and made available, free of charge, on the State Archives’ website via a user-friendly portal, enabling researchers nationwide to search or browse, alphabetically, through each of the index cards that had been created for the majority of Pennsylvanians who had served with the Union Army (as well as the non-Pennsylvanians who had also served with Pennsylvania units). According to Pennsylvania State Archives personnel:

“These 3 x 5 cards were initially prepared to serve as an index to Samuel Penniman Bates’ History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865, (Harrisburg, 1869-1871). The Office of the Adjutant General later expanded the scope of the cards by transcribing onto them data found on the original documents. Among the information generally found are the soldiers’ names, military units, and ages at enrollment, the dates and places where enrolled, the dates and places where mustered in, and the dates of discharge. Physical descriptions (complexion, height, color of hair and eyes), residences, birthplaces, promotions and wounds also are sometimes included. The listing is not comprehensive.”

That last sentence is an important caveat because, while this index card system can be a helpful primary source for basic data about individual soldiers, it does not contain the name of every single Pennsylvanian who served with the Union Army during the Civil War. In addition, a significant number of the index cards contain errors (incorrect spellings of soldiers’ names, soldiers labeled as deserters when they had actually been honorably discharged or hospitalized to due battle wounds or illness, etc.).

* Note: Those faults are understandable, however, when considering that the index cards were based on data compiled by Samuel Bates for his History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5a five-volume series of books that included rosters of soldiers for each Pennsylvania regiment that served during the American Civil War. The errors in Bates’ History are also understandable as you come to understand that Samuel Bates was assigned the task, during the mid-1860s, of summarizing thousands and thousands of muster rolls generated by Pennsylvania military units during the war — many of which were also filled with errors because the army clerks assigned to maintain those rolls were often unable to create accurate records as their regiments were being marched into battle or from one duty station to another.

Another more recent issue with this system is that its portal to the digitized index cards that was so easy to browse and search for free is now no longer available on the Pennsylvania State Archives’ website. The index cards are still available, however, to researchers who travel to Harrisburg to view the microfilmed version at the State Archives, as well as to online researchers via Ancestry.com as “Pennsylvania, U.S., Veterans Card Files, 1775-1948.” (Although Ancestry.com is a subscription-based genealogy service that generally requires users to pay for access to its records collections, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania entered into a partnership with Ancestry.com several years ago “to digitize family history records in the State Archives and make them available online.” As part of that agreement, Ancestry.com created Ancestry.com Pennsylvania to provide free access to Pennsylvania residents to the Pennsylvania State Archives records it has digitized. If you reside in Pennsylvania and want to learn more about how you may obtain free access to those records, please contact the Pennsylvania State Archives for guidance. If you reside elsewhere, check with your local library to see if it offers access to Ancestry.com as part of its service to library users.)

Despite those issues, the Pennsylvania Civil War Veterans Index Card File, 1861-1866 remains a useful tool for finding your 47th Pennsylvanian because it may help you confirm your ancestor’s place of residence during the early 1860s and may also provide you with an approximate year of birth for him.

Additional Important Tips for Using This Resource

The index card of William H. Egle, M.D. shows that this soldier served with the 47th Pennsylvania Militia, Emergency of 1863 and not the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (Pennsylvania Civil War Veterans Card File, 1861-1866, courtesy of the Pennsylvania State Archives).

If you are able to find an index card for your ancestor in the Pennsylvania Civil War Veterans Index Card File, 1861-1866, pay particular attention to the top line of that card’s data. That data identifies the regiment number and company letter of his military unit. Then also look at the lines of data below. (Those lines of text note the start and dates of his service.) If you see dates of service indicating that your ancestor served between mid-April 1861 and the end of July 1861, you will realize that the regiment number in the top line was not “47.” This means that your ancestor performed what is known as “Three Months’ Service,” that he actually served with a different regiment during the first months of the war, and that he then may also have served with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry at a later date (because the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was not established until August 5, 1861). So, you’re one of those 47th Pennsylvania descendants who needs to look for two or more index cards in the Pennsylvania Civil War Veterans Index Card File, 1861-1866 — one for your ancestor’s “Three Month Service” and one for his service with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (which was initially most likely a three-year term of enlistment, but may have been a one or two-year term, depending on how late he was enrolled for service).

HOWEVER, if you see dates of service indicating that your ancestor served at any point during 1863 — AND, if the top line indicates that his regiment was “47 I Mil 63” — this means that your ancestor DID NOT serve with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He served with the 47th Pennsylvania Militia, Emergency of 1863. (The soldiers who served with that militia group were also brave and honorable men, but they were part of a very different unit that had a very different mission. Learn more about that militia unit here.)

Regardless of whether or not your ancestor “performed Three Months’ Service” during the earliest part of the Civil War, if you see dates of service indicating that your ancestor served at any point between August 5, 1861 and early January 1866 — AND if the top line indicates that his regiment was “47 I” — then you can be reasonably confident that your ancestor actually did serve with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (also known as the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers or the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers). So, you should make yourself a cup of coffee or tea, find a comfy chair, and spend some quality time exploring our website to learn more about the history-making 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.

Best wishes for success with your research! Let us know what you learn about your ancestor!!

 

Sources:

  1. “Ancestry Pennsylvania,” in “Agencies: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission,” in “Pennsylvania State Archives.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, retrieved online October 25, 2025.
  2. Civil War Veterans Card File, 1861-1866” (resource description). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives, retrieved online October 25, 2025.
  3. Pennsylvania,” in Collections. Lehi, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2021 (retrieved online October 25, 2025).

 

One Special September Day: Four 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers Shake Hands with President Abraham Lincoln in 1861 (part two)

White House, Washington, D.C., 1861 (Matthew Brady, U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).

“There is another chapter to the story of how four young soldiers from Allentown, members of the Forty-Seventh Regiment, managed to see President Lincoln in 1861 after they had made two ineffectual efforts to see the great man. The young soldiers were Allen Wolf, William H. Smith, Jacob Worman, and George Hepler. They were members of Captain Mickley’s Company G and the pass which they had expired at 5 p.m. of that day.”

The Allentown Democrat, April 5, 1911

 

Their mission to shake the hand of President Abraham Lincoln accomplished, Private George Heppler, Drummer William N. Smith, Private Allen David Wolf, and Private Jacob Peter Worman, of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, had a second mission to accomplish in late September of 1861 — to make it back to their regiment’s encampment, safely and quickly — because the pass that they had received from one of their superior officers was about to expire.

But their new mission would prove to be even more difficult than had their successful White House meeting with President Lincoln. According to The Allentown Democrat:

“It was growing late in the afternoon when the young soldiers left the White House and they made tracks for the camp. What followed can best be told in Mr. Wolf’s own words:

‘When we got to the point where our regiment had been encamped in the morning we saw nothing but strange faces. We asked for Company G, and were directed to a point. When we came there we found that during our absence the Forty-seventh had been ordered to move and a Wisconsin regiment was encamped there. We decided to return to the city [Washington, D.C.] and in due time fell into the hands of the patrol. We showed our pass and were sent to the headquarters of General McClellan. The general met us personally. We told him of our predicament and he told us that our regiment was now encamped in a different location. He directed us to cross the chain bridge. The general also informed us that a wagon train would go that way and that we should follow it. We did as he instructed us to do. What a march that was, however! It was raining all night and we were drenched to the skin by the time we reached our regiment. But we felt amply repaid. We had seen the greatest man in the country and had spoken to General McClellan.’

Chain Bridge across the Potomac above Georgetown looking toward Virginia, 1861 (The Illustrated London News, public domain).

The inability of the four 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers to locate their regiment’s camp is more easily understood when reading a letter penned on 29 September by Company C Musician Henry Wharton, in which he informed readers of the Sunbury American that the 47th Pennsylvania had changed camps three times in three days:

“On Friday last we left Camp Kalorama, and the same night encamped about one mile from the Chain Bridge on the opposite side of the Potomac from Washington. The next morning, Saturday, we were ordered to this Camp [Camp Advance near Fort Ethan Allen, Virginia], one and a half miles from the one we occupied the night previous. I should have mentioned that we halted on a high hill (on our march here) at the Chain Bridge, called Camp Lyon, but were immediately ordered on this side of the river. On the route from Kalorama we were for two hours exposed to the hardest rain I ever experienced. Whew, it was a whopper; but the fellows stood it well – not a murmur – and they waited in their wet clothes until nine o’clock at night for their supper. Our Camp adjoins that of the N.Y. 79th (Highlanders.)….

“We had not been in this Camp more than six hours before our boys were supplied with twenty rounds of ball and cartridge, and ordered to march and meet the enemy; they were out all night and got back to Camp at nine o’clock this morning, without having a fight. They are now in their tents taking a snooze preparatory to another march this morning…. I don’t know how long the boys will be gone, but the orders are to cook two days’ rations and take it with them in their haversacks….”

Despite that confusion, all four of the adventurous 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers eventually did manage to reconnect with their regiment at its encampment in Virginia. They then went on to follow President Lincoln’s directive to them: “Be good and above all obey your commander.”

Private Allen David Wolf, who was ultimately promoted up through the ranks to become Corporal Wolf, and Drummer William N. Smith both survived their initial three-year terms of enlistment and were both honorably discharged from the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry’s encampment near Berryville, Virginia on September 18, 1864.

Private George Heppler, who was also ultimately promoted to the rank of corporal, and Private Worman, who was promoted to the rank of sergeant, served far longer — until the 47th was mustered out for the final time on Christmas Day in 1865.

All four witnessed both the worst and best of humanity and were forever changed by all that they had seen and heard as they fought to save their nation from disunion.

 

Sources:

  1. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
  2. “Gleanings by the Way.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Democrat, April 4, 1911.
  3. “Gleanings By the Way.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Democrat, April 5, 1911.
  4. Wharton, Henry D. “Letters from the Sunbury Guards.” Sunbury, Pennsylvania: The Sunbury American, September 1861.

 

One Special September Day: Four 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers Shake Hands with President Abraham Lincoln in 1861 (part one)

Abraham Lincoln in New York City on Monday morning, February 27, 1860, several hours before he delivered his Cooper Union address (Matthew Brady, U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).

“In the eyes of the young men who went to the front during the dark days of the Civil War, the greatest man in the country was President Lincoln. It was every young soldier’s ambition to get the opportunity to see the great Lincoln, to shake him by the hand and to hear words fall from his lips. It was not an easy matter to have this ambition gratified. But comparatively few soldiers ever got within speaking distance of the great statesman. It was a physical impossibility for the president to see all those who wished to meet him and the attaches [sic] of the White House had to exercise great diplomacy with the eager throngs that haunted the executive mansion.”

— The Allentown Democrat, April 4, 1911

 

The vast majority of average Americans will never have the opportunity to shake the hand of a United States president. The schedules of modern office holders are too hectic and security protections are too tight to allow for such encounters on anything more than an infrequent basis — a reality that was true even for many U.S. citizens in the nineteenth century.

So, it is striking to learn that four young Pennsylvanians actually were able to shake President Abraham Lincoln’s hand on one very special day in late September 1861. All four were members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, which would go on to make history as the only regiment from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to participate in the Union’s Red River Campaign across Louisiana, and all four were members of that regiment’s G Company — a unit that would sustain heavy casualties as it fought valiantly in the Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina in 1862 and the Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia in 1864.

Those memorable handshakes between President Lincoln and Private George Heppler, Drummer William N. Smith, Private Allen David Wolf, and Private Jacob Peter Worman, unfolded as follows, according to Wolf (who was interviewed by The Allentown Democrat in 1911):

“Our regiment went in 1861 from Harrisburg to Washington where we were encamped just outside the city limits. It was our dream to see Lincoln. Accordingly one day the four of us secured a pass to go into the city, but the time set for our return was 5 o’clock. We were all young fellows — I was seventeen years of age — and thrown into a new world. Everything seemed so wonderful to us and so different from Allentown. We were enjoying our holiday immensely, when some one suggested that we try to see President Lincoln. We had heard so much about this great man and when the matter was suggested we were all agreed.

“Let me tell you, however, that to start out to see the president and to actually see him in those days was [sic] two different things. Little did we dream of the difficulties that we would encounter. We started for the White House and arrived in due time. We got into the green room, where a negro servant met us and asked us our business. We told him that we were young soldiers from Pennsylvania and were very eager to see the president. The black man retired and returned a few moments later with the message that the president was very busy and could not see us at that time. We were disappointed, of course.

“We walked around the city for about an hour, but we were not satisfied. The disappointment over our failure to see the president weighed heavily on our minds. It was then that we determined to make another effort to have our ambition gratified and presented ourselves at the White House again. The negro servant recognized us and laughed when he saw us. We prevailed upon him to see the president and to find out whether we couldn’t see him. The negro again went up stairs and returned with the message that the president was still busy. We went away the second time disappointed.

“Again we walked about the city. Nothing seemed to interest us, however. We nursed our disappointment as best we could, but we simply could not rid ourselves of the desire to see the president. At four o’clock in the afternoon we determined to make a final effort. Again we ascended the White House steps and again we were met by our negro friend.He consented to intercede for us and went up stairs. A few moments later the president came down the stairway. We were standing at the bottom. There was a kindly, patient smile on his face. He greeted us cordially, shook each by the hand and said: ‘Boys, you are young soldiers. Be good and above all obey your commander.’ With that he retired. We were satisfied and went away brimful of happiness and patriotism.'”

What happened next for those four soldiers? Find out in part two of our look back at one of several encounters that members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry had with President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War.

 

Sources:

  1. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
  2. “Gleanings by the Way.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Democrat, April 4, 1911.
  3. “Gleanings By the Way.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Democrat, April 5, 1911.

 

National Poetry Month: The Meaning of Life During War and Peace

“Launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996, National Poetry Month is a special occasion that celebrates poets’ integral role in our culture and that poetry matters. Over the years, it has become the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K–12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events curators, publishers, families, and — of course — poets, marking poetry’s important place in our lives.”

— American Academy of Poets

 

As we come to the close of National Poetry Month in 2025, we take a look back at poems that were written during the American Civil War, Reconstruction, Gilded Age, Progressive, World War I, and Roaring Twenties eras of American History by the famous (Thomas Buchanan Read and Walt Whitman) and less famous (Martha A. John), as well as by members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and their families who penned poems to express their insights about life and death during and after the war.

Read, reflect, remember, and share because humanities education programs really still do matter.

  • A Comet” (Martha A. John, a sister of Private George Dillwyn John, in A Souvenir: Incidents, Experiences, and Reflections,” 1902);
  • An Evening in Camp” (in The Sunbury American, December 28, 1861);
  • Drum-Taps” (Walt Whitman, in Leaves of Grass, October 1865);
  • The Battle of Cedar Creek” (Private H. B. Robinson, October 1864);
  • The Friendly Trio” (Jesse L. Bernheisel, a son of Private Luther Bernheisel, in Berny’s Poems; Hints Towards Happiness, 1927); and
  • Sheridan’s Ride” (Thomas Buchanan Read, in The Daily Evening Telegraph, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 9, 1864).

Inkwell and book (excerpt of an illustration by F. Y. Cory, in Memoirs of a Baby, Josephine Daskam, author, 1893, public domain).

 

Sources:

  1. “An Evening in Camp.” Sunbury, Pennsylvania: The Sunbury American, December 28, 1861; and West Chester, Pennsylvania: The West Chester (Pa.) Times.
  2. Bernheisel, Jesse L. Berny’s Poems; Hints Towards Happiness. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1927.
  3. John, Martha A. “A Comet, in A Souvenir: Incidents, Experiences, and Reflections. Sterling, Illinois: Sterling Gazette Print, 1902-3.
  4. Robinson, H. B. “The Battle of Cedar Creek.” Cedar Creek, Virginia: Composed following the October 19, 1864 battle; preserved in The H. B. Robinson Collection, in The Maurer Family Archives, Amy Lowers Maurer, curator).
  5. “Sheridan’s Ride.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Daily Evening Telegraph, November 9, 1864; Cleveland, Ohio: The Evening Post, November 17, 1864; Davenport, Iowa: The Democrat, November 25, 1864; Brownsville, Nebraska Territory: Nebraska Advertiser, December 1, 1864; and Sacramento, California: The Sacramento Bee (in “Entertainment”), December 17, 1864.
  6. Whitman, Walt. “Drum-Taps,” in Leaves of Grass. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: David McKay, 1891 (first published by Whitman in Drum-Taps, New York, October 1865).

 

April 15th: A Date of Decision and Death for President Abraham Lincoln

This 1865 photograph of President Abraham Lincoln by Alexander Gardner is believed by historians to be the final photo taken of Lincoln (1865, U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).

There were multiple key moments in the life of the man who would become the sixteenth president of the United States of America. Some, like the deaths of his mother and sister, would dramatically alter the trajectory of his life; others, like his decision to embark upon a life of public service, would reshape the future of a nation.

But his actions on one particular date, during two entirely different years, did both.

So pivotal in history, that particular date’s annual arrival still stops average Americans in their tracks each year, prompting them to reflect on the legacy of that one man — and the question, “What if?”

That man was U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and that date is April 15.

Lincoln’s Call for Seventy-Five Thousand Volunteers (April 15, 1861)

Proclamation issued by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, calling for seventy-five thousand state militia troops to bring an end to the secession of, and insurrection by, eleven of fifteen southern slaveholding states, April 15, 1861 (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, public domain; click to enlarge).

In response to the fall of Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina to Confederate States troops on April 14, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation in which he called for seventy-five thousand men across the United States to risk their lives to defend the nation’s capital and bring a swift end to the secession crisis and insurrection initiated by eleven of fifteen southern slave holding states. That proclamation, which was issued on April 15, 1861 read as follows:

By the President of the United States.

A Proclamation.

Whereas the laws of the United States have been, for some time past, and now are, opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the Marshals by law:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed.

The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the State authorities through the War Department.

I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular Government, and to redress wrongs already long enough endured.

I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of or interference with property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the country.

And I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date.

Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress.

Senators and Representatives are therefore summoned to assemble at their respective Chambers, at 12 o’clock, noon, on Thursday, the fourth day of July next, then and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.

Abraham Lincoln

By the President: William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

Four years later, on the exact same date, President Abraham would draw his last breath.

Lincoln’s Death from an Assassin’s Bullet (April 15, 1865)

President Abraham Lincoln on his deathbed at the Petersen House in Washington, D.C., April 15, 1865 (Harper’s Weekly, 1865, public domain; click to enlarge).

Mortally wounded by a shot to his head, which was fired by an assassin and Confederate sympathizer while President Abraham Lincoln was watching a performance of the popular stage play, Our American Cousin, at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., on the evening of Good Friday, April 14, 1865, President Lincoln was initially examined on site in the presidential box, by fellow theatre attendee and physician Charles Leale, before being carried downstairs by Union Army soldiers and taken across Tenth Street — and into a room at the Petersen boarding house, where he was then gently lowered onto the bed of Willie Clark.

As additional physicians arrived and assessed the president’s condition, a decision was made to make him as comfortable as possible, when it was determined that he would likely not survive the night.

A remarkably strong man, even as he waged his toughest battle, President Lincoln managed to hang onto until the following morning, drawing his final ragged breath at 7:22 a.m. on April 15, 1865 — and leaving the work of national healing and Reconstruction in far less capable hands.

One hundred and sixty years later, Americans still wonder, “Would we be a better nation if Lincoln had survived?”

 

Sources:

  1. A Proclamation by the President of the United States, April 15, 1861.” Washington, D.C.: U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, retrieved online April 15, 2025.
  2. Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination,” in “History Channel: Civil War.” New York, New York: A&E Television Networks, February 27, 2025.
  3. Eric Foner: Reconstruction and the Constitution” (video). Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Humanities Festival, 2019.
  4. Lincoln’s Death,” in “Lincoln Assassination.” Washington, D.C.: Ford’s Theatre, retrieved online December 1, 2024.
  5. The Petersen House.” Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Park Service, December 1, 2024.

 

April 12th: This Date in 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry History

April 12th would prove to be an important date for the men who served with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War and Reconstruction eras. This abridged timeline illustrates why:

1861

The bombardment of Fort Sumter 12-14 April 1861 (Currier & Ives, public domain).

At 4:30 a.m., on April 12, 1861, artillery batteries of the Confederate States Army open fire on United States Army troops stationed at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. A long and disastrous period of civil war begins in America.

The majority of Pennsylvanians and residents of other states throughout America who will ultimately serve with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry are at home, asleep in their beds — or just rising and readying themselves for their work days on family farms, as canal boatmen, in iron foundries, silk mills, tanneries or tobacco factories, as quarrymen toiling away in the slate industry, or as miners tunneling deeper inside of the Earth in poorly-lighted coal mines, along with countless other blue collar laborers who are risking their own health and safety just to keep their families housed and fed.

The 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry isn’t even “a glimmer” in anyone’s eyes — yet. (It won’t be founded until August 5, 1861.)

1862

In 1862, The Gazette, one of two hometown newspapers read by the majority of men serving with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry’s C Company, carries the following news in its April 12th edition:

Jeff. Davis is becoming desperate. He has issued an extraordinary Message ordering the enrollment of all citizens of the Confederate States between the ages of 18 and 35, for military service, the residue of the fighting population, above 35 to form a fighting force.

Although that particular edition of the newspaper has not yet reached the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers who are stationed in Florida, a warning about the Confederate Conscription Act’s pending passage has likely been telegraphed by the U.S. War Department to senior officers at the 47th Pennsylvania’s headquarters at Fort Taylor in Key West in order to prepare them for the increased threat they and their troops will face.

1864

On April 12, 1864, Captain Charles William Abbott, commanding officer of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry’s K Company, pens a brief report from his regiment’s camp at Grand Ecore, Louisiana to his superior officers in the United States Army of the Gulf, which partially documents the losses in soldiers and supplies sustained by his regiment during the Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana on April 9, 1864. That report also contains details about the regiment’s movements during this phase of duty.

Sergeant John Gross Helfrich then describes this same battle in a letter to his parents on May 5th, in which he notes:

I have learned additional news of the late fight of our boys of the “Nineteenth Corps”…. The casualties of our boys amounted to a great deal more than at first reported. The Lt. Col. of our Forty-seventh Regt. is missing, and supposed he is wounded or perhaps killed. Lt. Swoyer is dead.

1865

In a letter that he is writing to the Sunbury American on April 12, 1865 from the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry’s camp near Summit Point, Virginia, 47th Pennsylvanian Henry D. Wharton describes a celebration that took place following the surrender at Appomattox by Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his army on April 9, 1865:

Since yesterday a week we have been on the move, going as far as three miles beyond Winchester. There we halted for three days, waiting for the return or news from Torbett’s cavalry who had gone on a reconnoisance [sic] up to the valley. They returned, reporting they were as far up as Mt. Jackson, some sixty miles, and found nary an armed reb. The reason of our move was to be ready in case Lee moved against us, or to march on Lynchburg, if Lee reached that point, so that we could aid in surrounding him and [his] army, and with Sheridan and Mead capture the whole party. Grant’s gallant boys saved us that march and bagged the whole crowd. Last Sunday night our camp was aroused by the loud road of artillery. Hearing so much good news of late, I stuck to my blanket, not caring to get up, for I suspected a salute, which it really was for the ‘unconditional surrender of Lee.’ The boys got wild over the news, shouting till they were hoarse, the loud huzzas [sic, huzzahs] echoing through the Valley, songs of ‘rally round the flag,’ &c., were sung, and above the noise of the ‘cannons opening roar,’ and confusion of camp, could be heard ‘Hail Columbia’ and Yankee Doodle played by our band. Other bands took it up and soon the whole army let loose, making ‘confusion worse confounded.’

The next morning we packed up, struck tents, marched away, and now we are within a short distance of our old quarters. – The war is about played out, and peace is clearly seen through the bright cloud that has taken the place of those that darkened the sky for the last four years. The question now with us is whether the veterans after Old Abe has matters fixed to his satisfaction, will have to stay ‘till the expiration of the three years, or be discharged as per agreement, at the ‘end of the war.’ If we are not discharged when hostilities cease, great injustice will be done.

The members of Co. ‘C,’ wishing to do honor to Lieut. C. S. Beard, and show their appreciation of him as an officer and gentleman, presented him with a splendid sword, sash and belt. Lieut. Beard rose from the ranks, and as one of their number, the boys gave him this token of esteem.

A few nights ago, an aid [sic] on Gen. Torbett’s staff, with two more officers, attempted to pass a safe guard stationed at a house near Winchester. The guard halted the party, they rushed on, paying no attention to the challenge, when the sentinel charged bayonet, running the sharp steel through the abdomen of the aid [sic], wounding him so severely that he died in an hour. The guard did his duty as he was there for the protection of the inmates and their property, with instruction to let no one enter.

The boys are all well, and jubilant over the victories of Grant, and their own little Sheridan, and feel as though they would soon return to meet the loved ones at home, and receive a kind greeting from old friends….

1866

On April 12, 1866, members of the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers who survived the American Civil War are three months into their post-war civilian lives. Many are back home in Pennsylvania, trying to regain some sense of their old selves with normal work and family routines. Others have already left their pre-war and war lives behind, choosing to migrate west in search of better opportunities — or a certain peace of mind they hope to find in knowing they will be far away from any decision-makers who might drag their communities and nation back down into another disastrous war in the future.

 

Sources:

  1. Abbott, Charles W. Report from Captain Charles W. Abbott, Captain, Company K, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, to Senior Officers of the U.S. Army of the Gulf’s XIX Corps (19th Corps), Grand Ecore, Louisiana, April 12, 1864. Nazareth, Pennsylvania: Personal Collection of Julian Burley.
  2. Agriculture and Rural Life,” in “Stories from PA History.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 2023.
  3. Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Park.” Washington, D.C.: National Park Foundation, retrieved online April 12, 2025.
  4. Harris, Howard and Perry K. Blatz. Keystone of Democracy: A History of Pennsylvania Workers. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1999.
  5. Helfrich, John Gross. Letter to His Parents, May 5, 1864. Mesa, Arizona: Personal Collection of the Colin Cofield Family Archives.
  6. Miller, Randall M. and William A. Pencak. Pennsylvania: A History of the CommonwealthUniversity Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2002.
  7. Mining Anthracite,” in “Stories from PA History.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 2023.
  8. Montgomery, Morton L. Early Furnaces and Forges of Berks County, Pennsylvania, in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 1884. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1884.
  9. News Regarding the Confederate States’ New Conscription Order. Sunbury, Pennsylvania: The Gazette, April 12, 1862.
  10. Palladino, Grace. Another Civil War: Labor, Capital, and the State in the Anthracite Regions of Pennsylvania, 1840-1868. New York, New York: Fordham University Press, March 30, 2006.
  11. Sacher, John M. Confederate Conscription and the Struggle for Southern Soldiers. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: LSU Press, 2021.
  12. The Industrial Age,” in “Stories from PA History: Science and Invention.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 2023.
  13. The Pennsylvania Iron Industry: Furnace and Forge of America,” in “Stories from PA History.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 2023.
  14. The Railroad in Pennsylvania,” in “Stories from PA History.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 2023.
  15. Timeline of Labor History in Pennsylvania.” Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Labor History Society, retrieved online April 12, 2025.