Category Archives: Reconstruction, War’s End and Post-War

July 22, 1887: The Funeral of Tilghman H. Good, Founder of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry

Colonel Tilghman H. Good, the founder and first commanding officer of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, was a three-time mayor of the city of Allentown, Pennsylvania (public domain).

During the summer of 1887, time’s relentless march seemed to pause as Pennsylvanians came together to bid farewell to a lion of their commonwealth — Colonel Tilghman H. Good (1830-1887), the founder and first commanding officer of the history-making 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. A native of South Whitehall Township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania who had served three terms as mayor of the city of Allentown after the American Civil War, Colonel Good had died in the city of Reading in Berks County on July 18, 1887.

His funeral proved to be another memorable event in the history of Pennsylvania, one that unfolded in two cities and involved thousands in its planning, execution and viewing.

The Planning

According to historian Lewis G. Schmidt, members of the Good family worked with civic, community and religious officials in Reading, Allentown and Harrisburg to plan and carry out the funeral of Colonel Tilghman H. Good. On July 19, 1887, Colonel Good’s brother-in-law, “Russell A. Thayer, of Allentown, left in the morning for Reading to make arrangements to return the Colonel’s body to Allentown for burial; and Mayor Ruhe called for a meeting of the ex-Mayors of Allentown for 7:30 PM to make arrangements to attend the funeral.”

The next day (July 20), members of the Knights Templar, Reading Commandery, No. 42 met at the Board of Trade building in Reading “to make arrangements for attending the funeral of the late Col. Good,” acccording to the Reading Times.

Senior officials of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania also stepped in to help by calling members of the Pennsylvania National Guard into service. According to Schmidt, “Capt. W. D. Mickley and Company D of the 4th Regiment of Infantry, 3rd Brigade, of the National Guard of Pennsylvania [were ordered] to attend the funeral, and were to meet at the square in light marching order at 2 PM [on July 22]. One Corporal and three Privates were detailed to guard duty and were to report to the Armory at 9 AM.” (Captain W. D. Mickley, who would later be commissioned as a colonel with the Pennsylvania National Guard and would live to become the oldest veteran of the Spanish-American War in Allentown, was William Deshler Mickley, one of the sons of Captain Charles Mickley, who had been killed in action during the Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina in 1862, while serving with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers under Colonel Tilghman H. Good.)

Meanwhile, other officials in Reading and Allentown were busy preparing their cities and citizenry for their respective days of official mourning. Routes were chosen for the procession of Colonel Good’s funeral cortege, and city personnel and business owners were issued instructions regarding the proper ways to drape buildings along those routes with American flags and bunting — displays of red, white and blue mixed with black that would inspire reflection among the crowds expected to witness the events. (A particularly large turnout was anticipated in Allentown because Colonel Good’s family had chosen a cemetery in that city to be his final resting place.)

The Funeral in Reading

The first funeral service for Colonel Good was held at the Central House (formerly known as the Grand Central Hotel) on Penn Street near 4th Street in Reading, Pennsylvania during the very early hours of Friday, July 22, 1887. Good’s body, which had been viewed by family privately in a room at the hotel and prepared for burial by an undertaker, was “placed in a casket in the early morning” that day, and taken down to “one of the parlors of the Central House,” for a formal viewing ceremony for his friends which lasted “until 6:40 o’clock” that morning. “Sir Knights” of the Reading Commandery, Knights Templar (No. 42) then escorted Colonel Good’s casket to Reading’s railroad station, placed it aboard a train that departed for Allentown at 7:10 a.m., and continued to guard it for the duration of its forty-minute journey.

The Funeral in Allentown

The family monument of Colonel Tilghman H. Good, founder of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and three-time mayor of Allentown, Linden Street Cemetery, Allentown, Pennsylvania (public domain).

Upon the train’s arrival in Allentown at 8:30 a.m. on July 22, 1887, members of the Knights Templar’s Reading Commandery transferred their honor guard responsibilities to members of the Allen Commandery, which removed Colonel Good’s casket from the train and accompanied it on its transport to the home of Good’s brother-in-law, which was located at 532 Walnut Street in Allentown, according to Schmidt.

“From 12 to 2 PM, the body lay in state at St. John’s Reformed Church, where ‘several thousand people passed around the bier.’ The local military companies provided the guard of honor between 12 and 1 PM; and at 1 PM, the Knights Templar took charge….

“Col. Good wore a black broadcloth suit as he lay in his solid walnut casket with silver handles, and which was trimmed in black cloth. The lid bore a ‘massive silver plate bearing the name and dates of birth and death … on it rested the sword and chapeau which he wore as a member of the Allen Commandery.'”

St. John’s Reformed Church “was completely filled” for that second service, according to subsequent reports by area newspapers. Afterward, Colonel Good’s casket was carried from the sanctuary by its military escort and prepared for transport for additional graveside services at Colonel Good’s final resting place. According to Schmidt, “The route was up 6th to Hamilton, up Hamilton to 9th, out 9th to Linden, and up Linden to the cemetery. The band played a solemn dirge and the route was lined with people.”

“The order of the street column that accompanied the body to the grave was as follows: Platoon of Police; Allentown Band; Company D, 4th Regiment; Company B, 4th Regiment; Allen Commandery No. 20, Knights Templar, with delegations of Reading and DeMolay Commanderies; Hearse; Pallbearers; The horse which Col. Good rode while Colonel of the 4th Regiment; Visiting officers and members of the National Guard; Mayor Ruhe and ex-Mayors; and Citizens in carriages.

“The side walk column moved in the following order: Ex-policemen who served under the deceased while he was Mayor of Allentown; Members of the original Allen Rifles; survivors of the 47th Regiment; Post 87, G.A.R; Post 13, G.A.R.; Sons of Veterans; City Officials, Councilmen, ex-City Officials and ex-Councilmen; and Citizens.”

A reporter for The Age, a Democratic-leaning newspaper in York, Pennsylvania, would later note that “An imposing procession of Masons, militia, war veterans and civilians followed the remains to the grave.” Standing near Colonel Good’s freshly-dug grave, the attendees witnessed a third service that included the lengthy burial rituals of the Knights Templar (K.T.) and the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.), followed by the appropriate military salute that was fired by serving members of the military.

How Did Tilghman H. Good Die?

Colonel Tilghman H. Good was just fifty-six years old when he was felled by heat exhaustion in Berks County, Pennsylvania on July 18, 1887, while overseeing a construction project in his capacity as the manager of the city of Reading’s Central House hotel. Realizing that he was unwell, he had left the construction site around 6:30 p.m. and had gone upstairs to the hotel room that he had occupied with his wife, Mary (Trexler) Good (1828-1899), hoping to rest and recover. Sadly, despite the best efforts of an attending physician who had been summoned for help, Colonel Good’s condition had quickly devolved into the far deadlier illness known as heat stroke, which had ended his life at 8:15 p.m. that same evening.

 

Sources:

  1. Beath, Robert B. History of the Grand Army of the Republic. New York, New York: Bryan, Taylor & Co., Publishers, 1889.
  2. “Col. Good’s Central House.” Reading, Pennsylvania: Reading Times, April 29, 1886.
  3. “Col. Good’s Funeral.” Reading, Pennsylvania: Reading Times, July 20, 1887.
  4. “Col. Good’s Funeral.” Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: The Record of the Times, July 29, 1887.
  5. “Col. Mickley, Noted Veteran, Is Found Dead.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, April 1, 1932.
  6. Col. T. H. Good, in “Other Deaths.” Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, July 28, 1887.
  7. “Col. T. H. Good’s Death.” Reading, Pennsylvania: Reading Times, July 19, 1887.
  8. Colonel T. H. Good (brief funeral report), in “News Condensed: Reading.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 23, 1887.
  9. Creigh, Alfred. History of the Knights Templar of the State of Pennsylvania, pp. 15, 167, 200 (Allen Commandery); 556-575 (burial rituals); 597-598 (Allen Commandery). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1868.
  10. “Funeral of Col. Good.” York, Pennsylvania: The Age, July 23, 1887.
  11. “Funeral of Colonel Good.” Hazleton, Pennsylvania: Hazleton Daily Sentinel, July 23, 1887.
  12. “Grand Central Hotel in New Hands” (transfer of the hotel’s management to “Col. T. H. Good, of Allentown”). Reading, Pennsylvania: Reading Times, December 10, 1885.
  13. Hartman, William L. The Mayors of Allentown, in Berlin’s Proceedings and Papers Read Before the Lehigh County Historical Society. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Lehigh County Historical Society, 1922.
  14. “Heat Exhaustion.” Scottsdale, Arizona: Mayo Clinic, retrieved online July 22, 2026.
  15. “Heat Stroke,” in “Diseases and Conditions.” Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Clinic, retrieved online July 22, 2026.
  16. Mathews, Alfred and Austin H. Hungerford. History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Everts & Richards, 1884.
  17. Moody, John Sheldon and Calvin Duvall Cowles, et. al. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, series 1, vol. 14. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885.
  18. Schmidt, Lewis G. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.
  19. “To Attend Col. Good’s Funeral.” Reading, Pennsylvania: Reading Times, July 21, 1887.
  20. “Trout Hall Formally Dedicated as Lehigh Co. Historical Society’s Home” (mention of Colonel Tilghman H. Good’s sword and its Key West presentation). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Democrat, May 17, 1918.
  21. Waskie, Anthony. “The Grand Army of the Republic,” in The Essential Civil War Curriculum. Blacksburg, Virginia: Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, Virginia Tech University, retrieved online July 22, 2026.
  22. Wharton, Henry D. Transcripts of the addresses made by Colonel Tilghman H. Good to the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Sunbury, Pennsylvania: Sunbury American, 1861-1864.

 

Women’s History: A 47th Pennsylvania Wife Who Was “Married by Slave Custom”

“I was married about 14 years before the late War of the Rebellion, on Mr. Pringle plantation, in Georgetown County, S.C. I do not know the date, but from our crops we make for our former master I judged it was about 14 years before the war that I got married to Bristo Geddes by slave custom.” — Rachael (Richardson) Gethers, excerpt from an affidavit filed by her attorney on February 12, 1895

 

Attestation made February 12, 1895 by Rachael (Richardson) Gethers of her 1847 marriage “by slave custom” on the Pringle plantation in Georgetown County, South Carolina to Bristor Gethers (affidavit excerpt, U.S. Civil War Widow’s Pension File of Bristor and Rachael Gethers, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, public domain; click to enlarge).

We do not know the names of this woman’s parents, but we do know her name and the names of her husband and their closest friends, thanks to documents that were filed on her behalf by an attorney in Beaufort County, South Carolina, as part of her application for a U.S. Civil War Widow’s Pension during the late 1890s.

Her name was Rachael (Richardson) Gethers, and she was born into slavery in South Carolina circa 1825. Her parents, who had also been born in South Carolina, according to Rachael’s U.S. Census entries for 1870 and 1880, had also likely been born into slavery.

Virtually nothing else is known at present about her childhood and teen years. What researchers do know is that Rachael was still enslaved at the time of her marriage in Georgetown County, South Carolina, circa 1847 — during her early twenties, to Bristor Gethers, a man who was enslaved on the same plantation in that county.

* Note: The plantation where Rachael Richardson and Bristor Gethers were enslaved was owned by one of the largest family of enslavers in the United States — the Pringles. Among their multiple plantations and other Georgetown County properties were Beneventum and the White House Plantation, both of which were devoted primarily to rice production and profited from the labor of hundreds of enslaved Black men, women and children. (The Pringles had been actively engaged in the slave trade since the 1700s, and had broadened their wealth and power by marrying members of other families that were also heavily involved in chattel slavery, including the Allstons.)

Unfortunately, the first and last names of Rachael (Richardson) Gethers’ husband were repeatedly misspelled in multiple civic, Freedmen’s Bureau, and military records throughout the nineteenth century. Variants of his given name between 1862 and 1893 included: Brista, Brister, Bristo, Bristor, Presto, Prestor, and Pristo; variants of his surname included: Gaddis, Garres, Garrees, Garris, Gathers, Geddes, Geddis, Gethers, Gettes. Affidavits filed in later life by Bristor Gethers and his attorney during the early 1890s finally confirmed the correct spelling of his name as “Bristor Gethers.” Rachael’s married surname was also spelled in various ways during her lifetime. In later years, an attorney who filed documents on her behalf for her application for a U.S. Civil War Widow’s Pension chose to spell her married surname as “Geddes.” Written as “Rachael” by that same attorney, her given name was spelled as “Rachel” on other records of the mid to late nineteenth century.

American Civil War

Spelling variants for Rachael (Richardson) Gethers and Bristor Gethers (U.S. Civil War General Pension Index Cards, U.S. National Archives, public domain).

The exact details of what happened to Rachael (Richardson) Gethers and her husband between the time of her marriage and the first years of the American Civil War are presently not known, but researchers do know that a new chapter in their life story began when her husband enlisted with a Union Army regiment in the city of Beaufort, South Carolina during the fall of 1862. Freed or escaped from slavery by that time, he joined the Union Army as a “Negro Under-Cook,” was entered onto the roster of Company F of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry on October 5, 1862, would go on to receive promotions to the rank of cook and then private during his three-year term of enlistment, and would travel with the 47th Pennsylvania as a member of its F Company to multiple duty stations and battle sites in Florida, Louisiana, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. during that war — and then to Georgia and South Carolina during five post-war months of the Reconstruction Era, at which point he was honorably discharged and allowed to return home to his wife.

Researchers have not yet determined what happened to Rachel during that same period, however; she may have escaped with Bristor and traveled with him to Beaufort or may have been freed herself by Union troops — or she may have remained behind, still enslaved on the Georgetown County plantation where they had been married, hoping that her husband would eventually return to free her.

What is known for certain is that Bristor did find her again.

Post-War Years

Horse Island, slightly above and to the left of Parris Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina (public domain; click to enlarge).

Following her husband’s honorable discharge from the Union Army, Rachael (Richardson) Gethers and her husband, Bristor, resumed life as a married couple. U.S. Census and Freedmen’s Bureau records confirm that they initially made their home in or near the city of Beaufort, South Carolina. Sometime around 1869, however, they relocated to Horse Island, in Beaufort Township, Beaufort County. According to the 1870 federal census, they resided there with their six-year-old son, Peter. By the time that the federal census was enumerated in 1880, however, their Horse Island household no longer included Peter.

Throughout their post-war years, Rachael and Bristor Gethers were farmers who often struggled to make ends meet. This was largely due to the fact that they were often required to turn over a significant portion of the funds they earned from their crops each harvest — under the terms of Freedmen’s Bureau contracts and other legal agreements that favored the wealthy White landowners whose land they were hired to farm. Adding to their worries was Bristor’s failing health. Having fallen seriously ill with dysentery during his military service, he was plagued by lifelong heart problems and chronic diarrhea that often left him too disabled to work.

But they persisted and managed to build a life together on Horse Island that lasted for nearly three decades. Preceded in death by her husband when he passed away on Horse Island in Beaufort Township on June 25, 1894, Rachael was so financially insecure at that point in her life that she was unable to pay for his burial. So, she reached out to friends for help.

Her husband’s close friend, Samuel Gilliard, was among the first to come to her rescue. He brought a coffin to the Gethers’ home, placed Bristor’s body in it and enlisted the help of Rachael’s neighbors in carrying the coffin down to the water, where they placed it on a boat, enabling Sam to transport it to Beaufort County’s Parris Island. Met there by William Green and other able-bodied men, Sam and his friends carried the coffin to a graveyard somewhere on that island, dug a new grave and laid Bristor to rest on June 26, 1894, according to affidavits that Sam and William both filed in support of Rachael’s Civil War widow’s pension application.

Life as a Widow

U.S. Pension Agency’s confirmation of Rachael (Richardson) Gethers’ date of death (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, public domain; click to enlarge).

With a small U.S. Civil War Widow’s Pension of eight dollars per month (roughly three hundred and fifteen dollars per month in 2026 dollars), Rachael (Richardson) Gethers managed to survive her late husband by roughly four years. A certificate prepared by J. T. Wilder on behalf of the U.S. Pension Agency on June 30, 1899 confirmed that she died in Beaufort County, South Carolina on July 8, 1898.

Her exact burial location remains unknown, but is believed by researchers to be located somewhere on Parris Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, based on U.S. Civil War Pension records which confirm that Parris Island was the burial location of her husband, Bristor Gethers.

* Note: To learn more about Rachael (Richardson) Gethers and her husband, Bristor, please read their full biography here and view their census and pension records, which are located on our website, Freedmen of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (part of our special project dedicated to documenting the life histories of the nine formerly enslaved Black men who enlisted with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers).

 

Sources:

  1. Gaddis, Rachael, in U.S. Freedmen’s Bureau Hospital Records (Beaufort, South Carolina, December 1867), in Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
  2. Garris, Presto [sic, “Bristor Gethers”], in Civil War Muster Rolls and Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1866 (Company F, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
  3. Garris, Presto (alias “Geddes, Bristor” and “Gethers, Bristor”) and Gethers, Rachel, in U.S. Civil War General Pension Index Cards (veteran’s application no.: 773063, veteran’s certificate no.: 936435, filed by the veteran from South Carolina, February 1, 1890; veteran’s widow’s application no.: 598937, veteran’s widow’s certificate no.: 447893, filed by the veteran’s widow from South Carolina, July 27, 1894). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
  4. Geddes, Brister [sic, “Bristor Gethers”], Rachel and Peter, in U.S. Census (Beaufort, Beaufort Township, Beaufort County, South Carolina, 1870). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
  5. Geddis, Brista [sic, “Bristor Gethers”] and Rachel, in U.S. Census (Beaufort Township, Beaufort County, South Carolina, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
  6. Power, J. Tracy and Sherry Piland. “National Register of Historic Places Form: Beneventum Plantation” (filed by historians at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina, September 15, 1987). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service.
  7. Roldán-Shaw, Michele. “Exploring the Sea Islands of Beaufort County.” Hilton Head, South Carolina: Local Life Insiders, retrieved online March 31, 2026.

 

A Past That Seems Distant — But Wasn’t

47th Pennsylvania veteran John Edward Saylor with his sister, Mary Alice (Saylor) Hangen, and his son, Robert Henry Saylor, (The Morning Call, Allentown, Pennsylvania, August 1929, public domain).

Many Americans tend to think of the American Civil War as part of the United States’ long distant past. Waged more than one hundred and sixty years ago, it began at a time when the art of photography was still in its infancy and the average newspaper contained mostly written text without any accompanying illustration.

As the war dragged on, though, newspaper publishers began sending Winslow Homer and other artists to far-flung locations, hoping that any sketches they sent back would give readers a better sense of the battles that were killing countless young men and destroying entire communities. Matthew B. Brady and Alexander Gardner, who had gained a measure of fame by photographing President Abraham Lincoln and members of his cabinet, went on to revolutionize war reporting by turning their cameras on carnage so horrific that it could not be conveyed by mere words or pencil illustrations. Their black and white photographs are the ones still viewed most often by history students in classrooms across the nation, contributing to the persistent notion that the American Civil War is distant, rather than recent history.

But that’s not quite correct, as the lives of Robert Henry Saylor and Edward John Saylor will show us. Born in the city of Toledo, Ohio during the early 1920s, the Saylor brothers could both lay claim to have been cradled in the arms of their father, John Edward Saylor (1846-1931), a veteran of the American Civil War who had served with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry’s K Company from early 1864 until early 1866.

Veterans of World War II, both brothers also made it through their respective tenures of military service and lived well into the last decades of the twentieth century, with the youngest brother nearly surviving long enough to witness the dawn of the twenty-first, making him a genuine “living bridge” between the not-so-distant past and present.

Their life stories help us to better understand just how recent so much of American History is. Reflect on that as you learn more about the Saylors’ lives by reading our new bio of Corporal John Edward Saylor.

 

Sources:

  1. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
  2. Conway, William (boarding house operator) and Ollena; Saylor, John [sic, “John Edward Saylor”] (lodger and eighty-four-year-old Civil War veteran) and Robert (lodger and Civil War veteran’s ten-year-old son); et. al., in U.S. Census (Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio, 1930). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
  3. “Edward Saylor” (obituary of a son of John Edward Saylor). Coshocton, Ohio: The Coshocton Tribune, August 5, 1999.
  4. “Former Resident Dies” (death notice of John Edward Saylor). Port Clinton, Ohio: News-Herald, September 4, 1931.
  5. John Saylor [sic, “John Edward Saylor”], in Death Certificates (registration district no.: 769, death of death: August 28, 1931). Columbus, Ohio: State of Ohio, Department of Health, Division of Vital Statistics.
  6. “Man, 84, Has Son Aged 9” (photo with caption of John Edward Saylor and his son, Robert, and John’s sister, Mary A. (Saylor) Hangen). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, August 25, 1929.
  7. Mary Alice Hangen (a sister of John Edward Saylor), in Death Certificates (file no.: 67765, registered no.: 858, date of death: July 12, 1932). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
  8. “Mrs. Mary A. Hangen” (obituary of a sister of John Edward Saylor). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, July 13, 1932.
  9. “Putnam Group Inducted Into Armed Forces” (notice of the impending World War II service of John Edward Saylor’s son, Robert Henry Saylor). Lima, Ohio: The Lima News, May 11, 1943.
  10. Robert Henry Saylor, in U.S. Headstone Applications for Military Veterans (Vista Memorial Gardens, Hialeah, Florida, year of death: 1977). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
  11. “Saylor” (obituary of Robert Henry Saylor, a son of John Edward Saylor). Coshocton, Ohio: The Coshocton Tribune, January 4, 1977).
  12. Saylor, Edward J. (the groom and the youngest son of John Edward Saylor), John Saylor [sic, “John Edward Saylor”] (father of the groom) and Catherine Pyfer [sic, ” Pfeiffer”] (mother of the groom); and Loretta Wehrly (the bride), in Marriage Records (Putnam County, Ohio, June 10, 1946). Ottawa, Ohio: Putnam County Probate Court.
  13. Saylor, Edward J. (the youngest son of John Edward Saylor), Loretta, and Gloria J., in U.S. Census (Pleasant Township, Putnam County, Ohio, 1950). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
  14. Saylor, John, in Civil War Muster Rolls (Company K, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
  15. Saylor, John, in Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1866 (Company K, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
  16. Saylor Robert (a son of John Edward Saylor) and Edwina, in U.S. Census (Coshocton, Coshocton County, Ohio, 1950). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
  17. “Saylor, Robert H.” (obituary of a son of John Edward Saylor). Miami, Florida: The Miami Herald, January 4, 1977.

 

Black History Month: Say His Name, Then Share His Story

Page one of the U.S. Army’s Civil War enlistment paperwork for Bristor Gethers (mistakenly listed as “Presto Garris”), 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Company F, 5 October 1862 (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, public domain; click to enlarge).

Our realization, as researchers, that there were at least nine formerly enslaved Black men who enlisted with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War was sparked by a single index card for a soldier named “Presto Garris” that we found in the Pennsylvania Civil War Veterans’ Card File, which is maintained by the Pennsylvania State Archives.

Our ability to determine the true name of that soldier and correct the historical record about his life by researching and writing his biography was made possible by reading the dozens of pages contained in his U.S. Civil War Pension file and Compiled Military Service Records, which are maintained by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

It was worth every penny of the roughly one hundred and ten dollars that we spent to obtain copies of those records from the National Archives because one of those documents confirmed the precise location of where that soldier had been enslaved prior to the war while others told us that he had survived the war and had lived out his life as a farmer. Another document even provided clues to the location of his grave.

That knowledge was so much more than we could have ever have hoped to gain because so many of the millions of men, women and children who were sold into, born into and re-sold throughout the American system of chattel slavery were never identified by name on state and federal census records prior to the war or were listed under names that had been created for them by their enslavers.

So, it matters that we’re able to tell you, for certain, that the true name of the soldier listed on that aforementioned index card was Bristor Gethers, that he lived near Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina after the war and that he resided with his wife and son near Beaufort, South Carolina after that. Please take the time to learn more about him by reading his bio on our educational program’s special website, Freedmen of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Then, look through the records that document his life’s journey.

Mr. Gethers’ story teaches us all that it is possible to find a new way forward after surviving the darkest of times.

 

Sources:

  1. “Garris, Presto,” in Civil War Muster Rolls (Company F, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
  2. “Garris, Presto,” in Pennsylvania Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1866 (Company F, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
  3. “Geddis, Brista” and “Geddis, Rachel,” in U.S. Census (Beaufort Township, Beaufort County, South Carolina, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
  4. “Geddis, Brister,” in “Agreement Between B. J. Whitesides and Fifteen Freedmen” (Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, 12 February 1868), in “Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.” Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
  5. “Gethers, Bristor,” “Garris, Presto” and “Geddes, Bristor,” in U.S. Civil War Pension and U.S. Civil War Widows’ Pension Files (widow’s pension application no.: 598937, widow’s certificate no.: 447893, filed by the widow, Rachel Geddes, from South Carolina, 27 July 1894). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

 

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, 1861-5 — a 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).

 

Reconstruction and Diplomacy: The 47th Pennsylvania in Georgia (Summer 1865)

War-damaged houses in Savannah, Georgia, 1865 (Sam Cooley, U.S. Army, U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).

Stationed in Savannah, Georgia since June 7, 1865, the soldiers still serving with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry that first summer after the American Civil War were assigned to provost duties — as peacekeepers, public information specialists and public works officials, during what has since become known as the Presidential Reconstruction Era (1865-1867) of American History.

Commanded by Colonel John Peter Shindel Gobin, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles William Abbott and Major Levi Stuber, multiple members of the regiment were literally involved in the re-construction of small southern towns and larger cities, helping to shore up war-damaged structures that could be restored — and in tearing down others that were deemed too dangerous for civilians to leave standing.

John Young Shindel, M.D., assistant surgeon, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1865 (public domain).

It was hazardous work, according to John Young Shindel, M.D., an assistant regimental surgeon who had joined the medical staff of the 47th Pennsylvania earlier that same year. On Wednesday, June 18, 1865, he noted that:

10 o’clock wall fell in and buried 15 or 20 men. 6 or 7 were taken out some dead. Zellner Co. K badly hurt. Sent him to Hosp. Capt. Hoffman, Chief of Police, seriously hurt. In P.M. was with Capt. Hoffman.

The 47th Pennsylvanian mentioned by Dr. Young was Private Ben Zellner, who had survived repeated battle wounds and confinement as a prisoner of war (POW) at two Confederate States Army prison camps, only to nearly lose his life while assigned to police duty during peacetime. According to Private Zellner’s 1896 account of that 1865 accident, his jawbone had been broken during the wall’s collapse “and he sustained 11 scalp wounds”; as a result, he “lost the sight of his left eye and the hearing of his left ear.”

The 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry’s Regimental Band performed in concert for James Johnson, provincial governor of the State of Georgia, at the Pulaski Hotel in Savannah on June 30, 1865 (Pulaski Hotel, Savannah, Georgia, circa 1906, U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).

Meanwhile, other 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were being transformed into diplomats. Officers and enlisted members of the regiment, for example, helped to facilitate a warm welcome for James Johnson, the provisional governor of Georgia, during his official visit to Savannah in early July. According to the Charleston Daily Courier, Governor Johnson (who had been appointed to his gubernatorial post by U.S. President Andrew Johnson (but was not related to the president), had been invited to Savannah by members of the city council “to address the citizens … at some suitable place.” In that invitation, council members also suggested that “military and naval commanders of the United States army and navy at this post and their respective staffs be respectfully invited to attend said meeting.” Johnson subsequently accepted the invitation and made the trip to Savannah in late June. The night of his arrival (June 30), “the fine band of the 47th Pennsylvania Regiment, Eugene Walter, Leader, serenaded the Governor at the Pulaski House.”

Several patriotic airs were played, and as soon as practicable the Governor appeared on one of the balconies, in response to repeated calls. He was loudly welcomed. He made no elaborate speech, but addressed the immense assembly substantially as follows:

“Fellow-Citizens — I thank you for the consideration, on your part, which has occasioned this demonstration. I know that you have called on me as the Provisional Governor of the State of Georgia, and in the discharge of the high duties now incumbent upon me, I promise you to act to the best of my ability. I know that you will not expect, on this occasion, any very full remarks. Hoping to meet you hereafter, and then to have an opportunity to explain my sentiments and position, I will bid you good night.”

This brief address was received with loud cheers by the crowd, and the band then played several other appropriate airs.

Joseph Eugene Walter, Regimental Band, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, circa 1861.

On July 1, the Savannah Republican newspaper published a more detailed description of that evening’s events:

Last evening, through the exertions of a few citizens, an impromptu call was made upon Gov. Johnson at the Pulaski by a delegation of loyal men, accompanied by the fine band of the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers, now stationed in this city. The object of the call was simply to manifest the joy of the people at the return of a loyal civil magistrate, who, in a measure, holds the future destiny of Georgia in his hands, and to pay the Governor the compliment of a serenade. After the band had performed several appropriate pieces of music, loud calls and cheers were given for the Governor, who at length appeared, and in a few brief remarks thanked the assemblage for their demonstrations of respect, and informed them that, being wearied with traveling he begged to be excused from making any formal speech. Before bidding the crowd good night, the Governor informed them that it would be his pleasure to address the people tonight at the Theatre, where he would state his position and give his views on the state of the country. Upon retiring, the crowd applauded and cheered the Governor lustily, while Johnson square was ablaze with the discharge of fire works, the shooting of rockets, roman candles, and the illumination of blue lights, gave the scene a very brilliant appearance and made the vicinity of Savannah lively for one hour. At a late hour the crowd quietly dispersed to their homes, well pleased with the impromptu ovation to the Governor. Governor Johnson was afterwards introduced to a large number of army officers, each of whom expresses the wish that the day was near when bayonets would not be necessary to maintain order in Georgia. The Governor, who is a most unostentatious gentleman, spoke very encouragingly of the future, and shook hands with all who were introduced.

The thanks of our citizens are due Colonel Gobin, of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, for the services of his excellent band, whose presence made the hasty reception a success. The Colonel has very kindly offered the use of his band for the meeting this evening at the theatre, and we may expect a brilliant gathering of the masses tonight at 8 o’clock.

James Johnson, provisional governor of the State of Georgia, 1865 (Lawton B. Evans, A History of Georgia for Use in Schools, 1898, public domain).

On Saturday evening (July 1), Governor Johnson fulfilled his promise. During a lengthy address, he spoke about cooperation and the rule of law, the true meaning of citizenship and the path forward following the nationwide eradication of chattel slavery. The crowd, which had been attentive throughout his speech, gave him a robust round of applause, and peacefully dispersed, according to subsequent newspaper reports. The festivities, which continued into the next week, also included a “Grand Review of the Garrison,” which was held in Savannah on Monday afternoon, July 3. According to the Savannah Republican:

The review of the entire garrison by Major General H. W. Birge, on Monday afternoon, was certainly one of the finest military pageants that we have witnessed since the departure of Gen. Sherman’s army. For perfection of military movements, neatness of appearance and true soldierly bearing on the part of privates as well as officers, won encomiums from the vast crowd of spectators who witnessed the review. We don’t blame Gen. Birge to feel proud of such a noble body of gallant men as he has the honor to command, and we are fortunate in having so excellent a command garrisoning our city.

The following composes the troops that participated in the review:

Brigadier General Joseph D. Fessenden, commanding 1st Division.

1st Brigade, 1st Division, Col. L. Peck commanding. — 90th New York, Lt. Col. Schamman; 173d New York, Lt. Col. Holbrook; 160th New York, Lt. Col. Blanchard; 47th Pennsylvania, Col. Gobin.

2d Brigade, Col. H. Day commanding. — 131st New York, Capt. Tilosting commanding; 128th New York, Capt. _____ ; 14th New Hampshire, Lt. Col. Mastern.

3d Brigade, 2d Division, Col. Graham commanding. — 22d Iowa, Lt. Col. _____ ; 24th Iowa, Lt. Col. Wright; 28th Iowa, Lt. Col. Wilson.

4th Brigade, Brevet Brig. Gen. E. P. Davis commanding. — 153d _____ , Lt. Col. Loughlin; 30th Maine, Col. Hubbard; 12th Connecticut, Lt. Col. Lewis; 26th Massachusetts, Lt. Col. Chapman; 75th New York, Lt. Col. York; 103rd U.S.C.T., Major Manning.

Civil conversation, community concerts and displays of kindness toward strangers were indeed replacing bayonets — becoming the most powerful tools ever wielded by the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers as they helped to rescue their nation from disunion.

 

Sources:

  1. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1865-1, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
  2. “Comrade Zellner’s Birthday” (includes description of Private Benjamin F. Zellner’s injury in 1865 while serving with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers during the Reconstruction Era). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Leader, March 27, 1896.
  3. Evans, Lawton B. A History of Georgia for Use in Schools, p. 304. New York, New York: Universal Publishing Company, 1898.
  4. Foner, Eric. “Reconstruction.” Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Park Service, retrieved online July 1, 2025.
  5. “Governor Johnson’s Patriotic Address: A Stirring Appeal to Georgians.” Savannah, Georgia: Savannah Republican, July 6, 2025.
  6. “House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College.” Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Dickinson College, accessed July 1, 2025.
  7. “James Johnson,” in New Georgia Encyclopedia. Atlanta, Georgia: Georgia Humanities, retrieved online July 1, 2025.
  8. “Savannah Intelligence.” Charleston, South Carolina: Charleston Daily Courier, July 4, 1865.
  9. “Serenade to Our New Governor: The Pulaski House and Johnson Square Radiant with Fireworks: Remarks of the Governor: Music and Pyrotechnics.” Savannah, Georgia: Savannah Republican, July 1, 1865.
  10. Shindel, John Young. Diary and Personal Letters, 1865-1866. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Personal Collection of Lewis Schmidt.
  11. Wharton, Henry D. Letters from the Sunbury Guards, 1865. Sunbury, Pennsylvania: Sunbury American, 1865-1866.
  12. “The Grand Review of the Garrison.” Savannah, Georgia: Savannah Republican, July 6, 1865.
  13. “The History of the Forty-Seventh Regt. P. V.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Lehigh Register, July 20, 1870.

 

Reconstruction and Provost Duties: The 47th Pennsylvania Heads for Georgia (Early to Late June 1865)

U.S. President Andrew Johnson, circa 1865 (Matthew Brady, U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).

With the American Civil War officially over, and the shock of his assassinated predecessor beginning to ease, U.S. President Andrew Johnson was now in charge of healing a divided, battered nation. According to historian Eric Foner, President Johnson “inaugurated the period of Presidential Reconstruction (1865-67) in May of 1865.”

Johnson offered a pardon to all southern Whites except Confederate leaders and wealthy planters (although most of these subsequently received individual pardons), restoring their political rights and all property except for slaves. He also outlined how new state governments would be created.

In order to facilitate the rebuilding of those new local and state governments, President Johnson also made the decision to station federal troops in key locations throughout the nation’s southern and western states. Among the federal troops ordered to assist with the operations were members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (who were known by this time as the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers).

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

A New Mission Begins

The Reconstruction Era for the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers effectively began with the regiment’s departure for America’s Deep South on June 3, 1865, according to Assistant Regimental Surgeon John Young Shindel, M.D., who wrote these words on that day in history:

At about 10 o’clock, went on board the U.S.S. North Star…. Some of the Reg. went on Board the “Haze”. Dr. S. [and] Some on board the “Metis” from W. [Washington]. Started down the Potomac. Passed Mt. Vernon….

Reaching Fortress Monroe the next morning circa 11:00 a.m., the North Star continued south through the Atlantic Ocean and on to the waters off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina around 10:00 p.m. on June 4, according to Dr. Young. Suffering from seasickness the following day, he noted that his ship had already reached Cape Fear in North Carolina.

U.S.S. North Star, circa 1863 (Harper’s Weekly, January 10, 1863, public domain).

By Tuesday, June 6, the North Star had steamed to the mouth of the Savannah River, where it stopped, briefly, in order to allow a pilot to board. That pilot then moved the ship along the river, past Fort Pulaski, across the bar, and toward the harbor in the city of Savannah, Georgia, where it finally then dropped its anchor. The ship’s passengers were then directed to effect their transfer to smaller troop transports — the General Grant and the Oneita, according to Private Luther Horn of Company E. Those smaller steamers then took the 47th Pennsylvanians directly into the city. Upon their arrival at their designated landing spots at 4:00 a.m. the next morning (June 7), they disembarked, setting their feet on the soil of Georgia for the first time in the regiment’s history.

War-damaged houses in Savannah, Georgia, 1865 (Sam Cooley, U.S. Army, U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).

Using the next three hours to unload their equipment, they then lined up, by company, and stepped forward into their new mission at 7:30 a.m. Marching through the streets of Savannah, they headed one mile south, toward the city’s southern section, where they began erecting their Sibley tents.

* Note: Meanwhile, the steamships carrying the remaining 47th Pennsylvanians (the Metis and the Haze) were still en route. The Metis arrived later that day (June 7); the Haze arrived during the afternoon of June 8 with the members of Companies A, D, H, and I.

As the reunited 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers began settling in to their new routine, Regimental Orders, No. 67 directed members of Regimental Band No. 2 to practice between 9:00 and 10:00 every morning and perform every evening at 7:00 outside of the tent of the regiment’s commanding officer, Colonel John Peter Shindel Gobin.

On Friday, June 9, the entire regiment took part in a brigade parade. Five days later, Regimental Orders, No. 69 directed that “the first call for dress parade would be at 6 PM, and commanders were instructed to fall in their companies and drill them in the manual of arms until the second call at 6:30 PM,” according to regimental historian Lewis Schmidt. By mid-June the regiment was staffed by a total of eight hundred and sixty-three officers and enlisted men.

C Company’s Adam Maul and G Company’s Benjamin Neur, both privates, were subsequently detached to duties as clerks at the U.S. Department of the South’s headquarters. On June 21, Regimental Orders, No. 70 directed the captains of each company to “have their respective companies policed every morning and see that the tents and quarters of the men are properly ventilated and kept scrupulously clean, necessary for health,” adding that “one of the medical officers will inspect.”

Battling the elements once again, the 47th Pennsylvanians broke camp and relocated a short distance away — to drier ground — on Monday, June 26.

Confident in his regiment’s abilities to keep the peace, even as other Union Army regiments were receiving orders to depart from Georgia, leaving the 47th Pennsylvania with far less support, Colonel Gobin “requested permission from Maj. Wilkinson, AA Gen. of the District of Savannah, to turn in excess ordnance and ordnance stores” on June 27. The diplomacy phase of their new mission had begun.

 

Sources:

  1. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania VolunteersVolunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
  2. Civil War Muster Rolls (47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
  3. Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1866 (47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
  4. Foner, Eric. “Reconstruction.” Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Park Service, retrieved online June 3, 2025.
  5. “From Charleston and Savannah.” Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Pittsburgh Daily Gazette, July 13, 1865.
  6. “From the South,” in “By Telegraph from Charleston.” Baraboo, Wisconsin: Baraboo Republic, July 19, 1865.
  7. “Savannah Intelligence.” Charleston, South Carolina: Charleston Daily Courier, July 4, 1865.
  8. Schmidt, Lewis. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.
  9. Shindel, John Young. Diary and Personal Letters, 1865-1866. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Personal Collection of Lewis Schmidt.
  10. “The History of the Forty-Seventh Regt. P. V.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Lehigh Register, July 20, 1870.

 

Camp Brightwood, Washington, D.C.: Medical Issues and Personnel Changes (April-Early June 1865)

Spectators gather for the Grand Review of the Armies, 23-24 May 1865, beside the crepe-draped U.S. Capitol, flag at half-staff following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln (U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).

Headquartered at Camp Brightwood in the Brightwood district of Washington, D.C.’s northwestern section since late April 1865, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were attached to Dwight’s Division of the 2nd Brigade of the U.S. Department of Washington’s 22nd Corps. Their job was to prevent former Confederate States military troops and their sympathizers from reigniting the flames of civil war in the wake of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.

Multiple members of the regiment had only recently completed their detached duties as guards at the military prison where the key conspirators in their commander-in-chief’s murder were being held during their historic trial, and the regiment as a whole had just marched in the Union’s Grand Review of the National Armies on May 23.

Unidentified Union infantry regiment, Camp Brightwood, Washington, D.C., circa 1865 (public domain).

Now, as the majority of Union Army soldiers were being granted honorable discharges from the military, the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers were hurriedly packing their belongings — but for transport to south, rather than back home. Meanwhile, as that frenzy of activity was unfolding, a “lucky few” of their comrades were being transferred to other federal military units, while others were receiving word that they would be honorably discharged via general orders that had been issued by the United States War Department — or by surgeons’ certificates of disability that had been approved by regimental or more senior ranking Union Army physicians.

Sergeant-Major William M. Hendricks, central regimental command, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, circa 1863 (public domain).

Among the more startling departures were those of First Lieutenant William M. Hendricks of Company C, Private William Kennedy of Company G, and Private Daniel Kochendarfer (alternate spellings: Kochenderfer, Kochendorfer) of Company H. First Lieutenant Hendricks had simply had his fill of military life and had resigned his commission on May 9, 1865 and Private Kennedy had died from phthisis at Mower General Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 25, but Private Kochendarfer was ordered to remain behind for an entirely different reason — an arrest and conviction (the details of which remain murky to this day).

* Note: Having distinguished himself earlier in his career by nursing his sick and wounded comrades during their final moments of life in 1862, Private Daniel Kochendarfer was convicted during a court martial trial and sent to a federal military prison on June 1, 1865. He remained imprisoned there even as the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Infantry was mustering out for the final time on Christmas Day in 1865. Dishonorably discharged on March 7, 1866, he was never able to clear his name, despite petitioning the U.S. War Department for redress during the 1890s.

Medical Discharges

Other discharges that were issued to 47th Pennsylvanians at Camp Brightwood that spring were granted for entirely different reasons — physical or mental fitness for new duties that would require both brains and brawn. Among those deemed no longer fit to serve were:

  • Private George W. Lightfoot of Company G, who was transferred to Company I in the 24th Regiment of the U.S. Army’s Veteran Reserve Corps, which was also known as the “Invalid Corps” (April 25, 1865);
  • Private Joseph H. Schwab of Company F, who was honorably discharged on a surgeon’s certificate of disability (April 25, 1865);
  • Private William Leinberger of Company C, who was transferred to the 1st Battalion of the 21st Regiment of the Veteran Reserve Corps (April 28, 1865);
  • Private William M. Michael of Company C, who had been wounded in action during the Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia on October 19, 1864 and was honorably discharged per General Orders, No. 77, issued by the Office of the U.S. Adjutant General (May 3, 1865);
  • Private William H. Guptill of Company G, who was honorably discharged on a surgeon’s certificate of disability (May 15, 1865);
  • Private Josiah D. Rabenold of Company B, who had been wounded in action during the Battle of Opequan, Virginia, also known as “Third Winchester,” on 19 September 1864, was treated by Union Army physicians and was honorably discharged (May 15, 1865);
  • Private Joseph Young of Company G, who had been hospitalized at a Union Army facility in Cumberland, Maryland and was honorably discharged on a surgeon’s certificate (May 17, 1865);
  • Private Charles Acher of Company K, who was honorably discharged on a surgeon’s certificate (May 19, 1865);
  • Private George P. Blain of Company C, who had been wounded in action during the Battle of Cedar Creek and was honorably discharged per General Orders, No. 77, issued by the Office of the U.S. Adjutant General (May 19, 1865);
  • Private Adam Lyddick of Company H, who had been severely wounded above the knee during the Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia on October 19, 1864 and was honorably discharged on a surgeon’s certificate (May 19, 1865);
  • Private George Turpin of Company H, who had been hospitalized at the Union’s Mower General Hospital in Philadelphia (May 19, 1865);
  • Private Charles Buss of Company F, who had endured captivity as a prisoner of war (POW) at the Confederate Army’s prison camp near Tyler, Texas (Camp Ford) until his release on January 1, 1865 and was honorably discharged on a surgeon’s certificate (May 25, 1865);
  • Private Joel Michael of Company F was honorably discharged on a surgeon’s certificate (May 25, 1865);
  • Private Allen L. Kramer of Company B, who was wounded in action during the Battle of Creek, was treated at a Union Army General Hospital in Philadelphia and was honorably discharged on a surgeon’s certificate (May 26, 1865);
  • Private Charles F. Stuart of Company C, who had endured captivity as a POW at a Confederate Army prisoner of war camp until his release on 4 March 1865 and was honorably discharged (May 29, 1865);
  • Private Daniel S. Crawford of Company A, whose leg had been amputated to save his life after being wounded during the Battle of Cedar Creek and was honorably discharged on a surgeon’s certificate (May 31, 1865);
  • Private Michael Fitzgibbon of Company I, who was initially alleged to have deserted from Camp Brightwood, but had, in reality, been receiving treatment for malaria from Union Army physicians and was honorably discharged (May 31, 1865);
  • Private Lewis Brong of Company B, who had developed a chronic medical condition during Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign and was honorably discharged per General Orders, No. 53, issued by the U.S. War Department (June 1, 1865);
  • Regimental Quartermaster Francis Z. Heebner, who had endured captivity as a POW at a Confederate Army officers’ prison in Richmond or Danville, Virginia until his release in late February 1865 and was honorably discharged (June 1, 1865);
  • Private Jenkin J. Richards of Company E, who had been hospitalized at the Union’s Fairfax Seminary Hospital in Fairfax, Virginia and was honorably discharged on a surgeon’s certificate (June 3, 1865);
  • Private Augustus Deitz/Dietzof Company H, who had been hospitalized in Washington, D.C. and was honorably discharged on a surgeon’s certificate (June 6, 1865); and
  • Private Andrew Mehaffie of Company D, who had also been wounded during the Battle of Cedar Creek and was also honorably discharged on a surgeon’s certificate (June 9, 1865).

Honorable Discharge by General Orders

Per General Orders, No. 53 or General Orders, No. 272, the more able-bodied 47th Pennsylvanians mustering out at Camp Brightwood were:

  • Private Richard Ambrum (Company G, June 1, 1865);
  • Private George W. Baltozer (Company D, June 14, 1865);
  • Private William H. Barber (Company K, June 1, 1865);
  • Sergeant Samuel H. Barnes (Company E, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Alfred Biege (Company F, June 1, 1865);
  • Private David K. Bills (Company A, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Tilghman Boger (Company K, June 1, 1865);
  • Private David Buskirk (Company G, May 26, 1865);
  • Private William Christ (Company F, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Michael Deibert (Company F, June 1, 1865);
  • Private George Diehl (Company B, May 23, 1865);
  • Private William Earhart (Company D, June 1, 1865);
  • Corporal William H. Eichman (Company E, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Milton A. Engleman (Company G, June 1, 1865);
  • Private George Felger (Company E, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Isaac Fleishhower (Company A, May 19, 1865);
  • Private William Fowler (Company E, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Charles H. Frey (Company E, June 1, 1865);
  • Musician and Private James A. Gaumer (Regimental Band No. 2 and Company G, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Solomon Gildner (Company A, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Benedict Glichler (Company K, May 19, 1865);
  • Sergeant John W. Glick (Company G, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Solomon Gross (Company I, June 2, 1865);
  • Private Emanuel Guera (Company H, June 19, 1865);
  • Private James Hall (Company H, June 1, 1865);
  • Privates Adam and Jacob Hammaker (Company H, June 1, 1865);
  • Private William George Harper (Company D, June 1, 1865);
  • Private William P. Heller (Company K, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Henry Henn (Company G, May 15, 1865);
  • Corporal George K. Hepler (Company C, June 1, 1865);
  • Privates Levinus and Solomon Hillegass (Company G, June 1, 1865);
  • Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant Henry J. Hornbeck (June 1, 1865);
  • Private Ananias Horting (Company H, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Daniel Houser (Company E, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Joseph Hausman (Company B, June 1, 1865);
  • Corporal Benjamin Huntzberger/Hunsberger (Company I, June 2, 1865);
  • Private Abraham F. Keim (Company D, May 23 or 28, 1865);
  • Musician Simon P. Kieffer (Company F, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Charles King (Company F, June 1, 1865);
  • Private David F. Knerr (Company I, June 1, 1865);
  • Corporal Daniel J. Kramer (Company I, June 1, 1865);
  • Private William H. Kramer (Company G, June 1, 1865);
  • Private John J. Lawall (Company I, June 1, 1865);
  • Private James Lay (Company H, June 1, 1865);
  • Private William Leiby (Company G, June 1, 1865);
  • Private George W. Levers (Company E, June 1, 1865);
  • Private John F. Liddick (aka John Liddick 2 and John Liddick 3 per Bates’ History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, Company H, June 1, 1865);
  • Private William H. Liddick (Company H, June 1, 1865);
  • Private James T. Lilly (Company F, May 31, 1865);
  • Private August Loeffelman (Company A, June 1, 1865);
  • Private George Malick (Company C, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Jesse Moyer (Company I, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Aamon Myers (Company D, June 1, 1865);
  • Private William Noll (Company K, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Thomas H. O’Donald (Company A, May 5, 1865);
  • Private Andrew J. Osmun (Company B, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Abraham Osterstock (Company A, May 5, 1865);
  • Private Jacob Paulus (Company A, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Washington A. Power (Company D, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Israel Reinhard (Company G, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Edward Remaly (Company F, June 1, 1865);
  • Corporal Allen J. Reinhard (Company B, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Henry Rinek (Company E, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Charles Rohrbacher (Company F, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Steven Schechterly (Company I, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Lewis Schmohl (Company A, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Joseph Benson Shaver (Company D, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Peter Shireman (Company F, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Franklin Sieger (Company B, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Samuel H. Smith (Company I, June 1, 1865);
  • Private John G. Snyder (Company F, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Erwin S. Stahler (Company G, June 1, 1865);
  • Private H. Stoutsaberger (Company H, June 1, 1865);
  • George Stroop (Captain, Company D, June 2, 1865);
  • Private Charles Stump (Company A, May 15, 1865);
  • Private George Sweger (Company H, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Samuel Transue, (Company E, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Israel Troxell (Company I, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Oliver Van Billiard (Company B, May 26, 1865);
  • Corporal Walter H. Van Dyke (Company F, June 1, 1865);
  • Corporal William M. Wallace (Company H, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Daniel H. Wannamaker/Wannermaker (Company I, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Cornelius Wenrich/Wenrick (Company C, June 6, 1865);
  • Corporal Solomon Wieder (Company G, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Andrew J. Williams (Company D, June 1, 1865);
  • Private Franklin H. Wilson (Company F, June 1, 1865);
  • and Private Daniel S. Zook (Company D, May 17, 1865).

Peacekeeping and Reconstruction

War-damaged houses in Savannah, Georgia, 1865 (Sam Cooley, U.S. Army, U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).

As spring gave way to summer, the new mission of the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Infantry would be to keep the peace across the United States of America’s Deep South while helping to rebuild shattered communities and restore local government operations during what has since become known as the Reconstruction Era. They arrived at their first new duty station (Savannah, Georgia) during the first week of June in 1865. Promotions during the Camp Brightwood and Reconstruction periods of duty were awarded to:

  • Adams, William (Company E): From corporal to sergeant, May 1865;
  • Brown, Amos T. (Company H): From private to corporal, June 2, 1865;
  • Bush, James M. (Company F): From private to corporal, April 25, 1865;
  • Clay, George W. (Company D): From second lieutenant to first lieutenant, June 2, 1865);
  • Cunningham, Robert (Company F): From private to corporal, June 2, 1865;
  • Dennis, Henry T. (Company G): From sergeant to first sergeant, May 14, 1865;
  • Eisenhard, John H. (Company B): From private to corporal, April 21, 1865;
  • Haltiman, William H. (Company I): From first sergeant to second lieutenant, May 27, 1865;
  • Hartzell, Israel Frank (Company I): From private to corporal, June 2, 1865;
  • Hettinger, Stephen (Company I): From private to corporal, June 2, 1865;
  • Hinckle, Willam H. (Company K): From private to corporal April 21, 1865;
  • Jacoby, Moses (Company E): From private to corporal, June 2, 1865;
  • Jones, John L. (Company F): From corporal to sergeant, June 2, 1865);
  • Kosier, George (Company D: From first lieutenant to captain, June 1, 1865);
  • Kuder, Owen (Company I): From private to corporal, June 2, 1865;
  • Lawall, Allen D. (Company I): From second to first lieutenant, May 30, 1865;
  • Lilly, Joseph M. (Company F): From corporal to sergeant, April 21, 1865;
  • Mayers, William H. (Company I, alternate surname spellings: Mayer, Meyers, Moyers; listed in Bates’ History of Pennsylvania Volunteers as “William H. Moyers I”): From sergeant to first sergeant, May 27, 1865;
  • Mink, Theodore (Company I): From first lieutenant to captain, May 22, 1865;
  • Moser, Owen (Company E): From private to corporal, May 27, 1865;
  • O’Brien, Martin (Company F): From private to corporal, April 25, 1865;
  • Rader, Reuben E. (Company A): From private to corporal, May 14, 1865;
  • Rockafellow, William (Company E): From corporal to sergeant, June 2, 1865;
  • Seneff, Henry (Company C): From private to corporal, April 22 1865;
  • Small, Charles H. (Company H): From company private to regimental quartermaster sergeant, June 2, 1865;
  • Stuber, Levi (Company I): From company captain to regimental major and third-in-command, May 22, 1865;
  • Walton, John F. (Company E): From private to corporal, May 1, 1865; and
  • Weise, Henry C. (Company H): From private to corporal, June 2, 1865.

Sadly, while all of those advancements in rank were occurring, Private Allen Faber of Company A, was fighting a battle that he was destined to lose. Still hospitalized for treatment of rheumatic carditis at the Union’s Harewood General Hospital in Washingon, D.C, he finally succumbed there to complications from his condition on June 7, 1865, and was subsequently interred with military honors at the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

 

Sources:

  1. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
  2. “Battleground National Cemetery: Battleround to Community — Brightwood Heritage Trail,” “Fort Stevens” and “Mayor Emery and the Union Army.” United States: Historical Marker Database, retrieved online May 20, 2025.
  3. “Battleground to Community: Brightwood Heritage Trail.” Washington, D.C.: Cultural Tourism DC, 2008.
  4. Civil War Muster Rolls (47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
  5. Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1866 (47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
  6. “Our Returned Prisoners: Names of 500 Released Officers Sent to Annapolis.” New York, New York: The New York Times, February 28, 1865.
  7. Schmidt, Lewis. 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, 20 July 1870.

 

“Propitious Weather and a Splendid Spectacle”: The United States of America’s Grand Review of the Armies (May 23, 1865)

Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant leans forward to have a better look at a Union regiment approaching the presidential reviewing stand, President Andrew Johnson to his left, Grand Review of the National Armies, Washington, D.C., May 23, 1865 (U.S. Library of Congress, public domain; click to enlarge).

It was a week to remember. The 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers had survived the bloody Battle of Pocotaligo in South Carolina (October 1862) to make history as the only regiment from the Great Keystone State to participate in the Union’s 1864 Red River Campaign across Louisiana and help firmly, finally turn the tide of the American Civil War in the Union’s favor during Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign — only to be brought to their knees in mourning, upon receiving the heartbreaking news that their beloved commander-in-chief had been assassinated — just as victory was at hand.

Now, they were joining more than one hundred and forty-five thousand other “boys in blue” in a triumphant march through the streets of Washington, D.C. that would subsequently be described by The New York Times as “The Grand Procession of Battle Stained Banners” and a “splendid spectacle” that was graced with “propitious weather.” The reporter penning those superlatives was describing the Union’s Grand Review of the National Armies, which took place from May 23 to 24.

The Army of the Potomac has passed in review. The first day’s pageant is over, and to the correspondent falls the duty of depicting a scene almost devoid of incident, save in its grand aspiration. Every circumstance has combined to make it a complete success. The weather has been magnificent; the air, delightfully tempered by the rains of the past week, is cool and fragrant, and dust, is for the time subdued….

Though the city is so crowded, it is yet gay and jovial with the good feeling that prevails, for the occasion is one of such grand import and true rejoicing, that small vexations sink out of sight. With many it is the greatest epoch of their lives; with the soldier it is the last act in the drama; with the nation it is the triumphant exhibition of the resources and valor which have saved it from disruption and placed it first upon earth.

So the scene of to-day (and that of to-morrow) will never be forgotten, and he who is privileged to be a witness will mark it as a white day in the calendar, from which to gather hope and courage for the future….

That Times reporter went on to describe the ways in which multiple Union Army regiments had made their way to the nation’s capital, where they had set up tents upon their respective arrivals and how they had assembled for the first day of the review, providing a list, line-by-line, of the long order of march — a list which included the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers. (Officially stationed at Camp Brightwood in the northwest corner of Washington, D.C. by early May 1865, the 47th Pennsylvanians had departed from that camp on Monday, May 22 to move closer to their assigned position for the Grand Review’s start, according to Private Henry Horn of Company G.)

19th Corps, Army of the United States, Grand Review of the National Armies, Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C., May 23, 1865 (Matthew Brady, U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).

The 47th Pennsylvania was just one of the one hundred and eighteen infantry regiments, twenty-nine cavalry regiments and thirty-three artillery batteries that boldly stepped forth from Capitol Hill on that first day of the Grand Review (May 23, 1865). Marching with the precision they were known for, under the banners of the Army of the Potomac (Mr. Lincoln’s Army), they were participants in a thrilling, six-hour parade, passing in front of a review stand that sheltered U.S. President Andrew Johnson, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant, and other high-ranking officials of the military and federal government. According to the Times, the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers were positioned behind the parade’s third division, as part of the Nineteenth Army Corps (XIX Corps) in Dwight’s Division:

Third Division.
Brevet Brig.-Gen. John G. Curtin commanding.

First Brigade, Col. A. B. McCalmon commanding — 51st Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers, Col. William J. Bolton; 208th Pennsylvania, Lieut.-Col. M. T. Heintzelman; 209th Pennsylvania, Col. T. B. Kaufman; 200th Pennsylvania, Maj. Jacob Rehm.

Second Brigade, Col. J. A. Mathews commanding — 207th Pennsylvania, Col. R. C. Cox; 211th Pennsylvania, Lieut.-Col. Coulter; 205th Pennsylvania, Lieut.-Col. W. F. Walter.

Dwight’s Division.
Nineteenth Army Corps, Brig.-Gen. William Dwight commanding.

First Brigade, Brig.-Gen. G. L. Beal commanding — 15th Maine, Col. Isaac Dyer; 114th New York, Col. S. R. Per Lee; 29th Maine, Col. George H. Nye; 30th Massachusetts, Lieut.-Col. N. Shardman; 1st Maine Battalion, Capt. C. S. Brown.

Second Brigade, Brevet Brig.-Gen. E. P. Davis commanding — 153rd New York, Lieut.-Col. J. A. McLaughlin; 8th Vermont, Col. J. B. Mead; 12th Connecticut, Lieut.-Col. G. W. Lewis; 26th Massachusetts, Lieut.-Col. W. H. Chapman; 47th Pennsylvania, Col. J. P. S. Gobin.

Third Brigade, Brig.-Gen. J. D. Fessenden commanding — 173rd New York, Col. L. M. Peck; 160th New York, Col. C. C. Dwight; 162nd New York, Col. J. W. Blanchard; 133rd New York, Col. L. D. Currie; 30th Maine, Col. T. H. Hubbard.

Artillery Brigade, Brevet Brig.-Gen. J. C. Tidball commanding — 34th New York Battery, Brevet Maj. J. Roemer; 7th Maine Battery, Capt. A. B. Twitchell; 19th New York Battery, Capt. E. W. Rogers; Battery D, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Artillery; Capt. S. H. Rhoads; 11th Massachusetts Battery, Capt. E. J. Jones; 27th New York Battery, Capt. J. B. Eaton.

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

Lest one be tempted to think that the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers were placed further back in the line of march because they were being accorded less respect, one only need look at the rosters of the men who immediately followed the 47th. The division positioned directly behind them was composed of general staff of the Army of the United States and regiments led by American Civil War icon and Gettyburg hero Joshua L. Chamberlain. Observed U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, “You see in these armies, the foundation of the Republic: our future railroad managers, congressmen, bank presidents, senators, manufacturers, judges, governors and diplomats; yes and not less than half a dozen presidents.”

John Peter Shindel Gobin, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, shown here as a captain in 1863, went on to become lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania after the war (public domain).

Among the 47th Pennsylvanians who would continue to serve their communities, commonwealth and nation faithfully were future city councilmen, industrialists, inventors, judges, a three-time mayor, newspaper publishers, physicians, policemen, federal postmasters, local school board members, and a state senator who would be publicly elected as Pennsylvania’s seventh lieutenant governor. Each one had experienced the horrors of war. All were forever changed. So, please take time this Memorial Day weekend to read and share their stories with your family, friends and neighbors — and say their names as you offer a toast in tribute to their valor. We owe them at least that much for the sacrifices they made to save our nation.

 

Sources:

  1. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
  2. “Grand Military Review: Streets Crowded with Spectators: Sherman Greeted with Deafening Cheers.” Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Daily Post, May 25, 1865.
  3. “Our Heroes! The Grand Review at Washington. Honor to the Brave. Immense Outpouring of the People. The Troops Reviewed by Gen. Grant.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Daily Telegraph, May 23, 1865.
  4. “Review of the Armies; Propitious Weather and a Splendid Spectacle. Nearly a Hundred Thousand Veterans in the Lines.” New York, New York: The New York Times, May 24, 1865, front page.
  5. Rodrock, Rev. William D. C. Chaplain’s Reports (47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, 1865). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
  6. Schmidt, Lewis. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.
  7. “Serenade to General Grant” (performance for Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant by the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers’ Regimental Band), in “Washington.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Inquirer, May 22, 1865.
  8. “The Final March: Grand Review of the Armies.” Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Park Service, retrieved online May 20, 2025.
  9. “The Grand Review: A Grand Spectacle Witnessed.” Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Daily Post, May 24, 1865.
  10. “The Grand Review: Immense Crowds in Washington: Fine Appearance of the Troops: Their Enthusiastic Reception.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Daily Telegraph, May 24, 1865; and West Chester, Pennsylvania: The Record, May 17, 1865.
  11. “The Grand Review: The City Crowded with Visitors: Order of Corps, Divisions, Brigades and Regiments.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Daily Constitutional Union, May 23, 1865.
  12. “The History of the Forty-Seventh Regt. P. V.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Lehigh Register, 20 July 1870.

 

A Musical Tribute to Beloved Commanding Officers: The 47th Pennsylvania’s Regimental Band “Serenades” Generals Grant and Sheridan (May 22, 1865)

Willard’s Hotel, Washington, D.C., circa 1860-1865 (public domain; click to enlarge).

On the eve of the headline-making Grand Review of the National Armies in the nation’s capital in late May 1865, members of the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers’ Regimental Band made their own small headlines in newspapers nationwide when they performed a selection of patriotic and popular musical numbers during an hour-long, impromptu concert for Union Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant and Major-General Philip H. Sheridan, who were engaged in a meeting at Willard’s Hotel. Also joining in the musical tribute were musicians from one of Maine’s volunteer infantry regiments.

Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant (public domain).

As the 47th Pennsylvanians performed, a crowd gathered nearby to listen. When the music ceased, calls of “Speech! Speech!” to Grant and Sheridan began to ripple through the crowd. Both men demurred, however, choosing instead to continue their “parting interview,” according to the Bangor Daily Whig and Courier — a decision which evidently did not disappoint the throng for long. Per The Philadelphia Inquirer, “The music was very fine, both bands rivaling each other in doing honor to the greatest General of the age” (General Grant).

Joseph Eugene Walter, Regimental Band, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, circa 1861.

Among the 47th Pennsylvanians who may very well have performed for Grant and Sheridan that evening were Private Joseph Eugene Walter and Principal Musician Daniel Dachrodt. (Walter, a private with Company E, had been a cornetist with Pomp’s Cornet Band in Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania prior to the start of the American Civil War and had previously served with the 47th Pennsylvania’s highly-regarded first Regimental Band, which had been led by Thomas Coates, the “Father of Band Music in America.” Dachrodt, who had been promoted to the rank of Drum Major and had then been placed in charge of all of the regiment’s field drummers, would ultimately survive the war — and all of his comrades — to become the last living member of the regiment in 1939.)

Major-General Philip Sheridan, U.S. Army (c. 1864, U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).

Standing on the balcony of Willard’s Hotel again the next morning (May 23), Major-General Sheridan was treated to another rousing tribute as members of his cavalry “passed before him to pay a farewell salute … while the bands played ‘Hail to the Chief!'” Those same units would take part, later that morning and afternoon, in the Army of the Potomac’s march down Pennsylvania Avenue during the parade on day one of the Grand Review. That evening, Sheridan would depart for the train depot in Baltimore, Maryland, for transportation to his new assignment — spearheading regional Reconstruction efforts as the military governor of Louisiana and Texas.

Sources:

  1. “Discover Our History.” Washington, D.C.: Willard Intercontinental Hotel, retrieved online May 20, 1865.
  2. “General Philip H. Sheridan.” Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Park Service, retrieved online, May 20, 2025.
  3. “Grant” (television mini-series). New York, New York: History Channel Education, 2020.
  4. “Our Heroes! The Grand Review at Washington. Honor to the Brave. Immense Outpouring of the People. The Troops Reviewed by Gen. Grant.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Daily Telegraph, May 23, 1865.
  5. Regimental Band of the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers (report on the band’s performance for Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant in Washington, D.C.), in “Special Dispatch to the Boston Journal.” Bangor, Maine: Bangor Daily Whig and Courier, May 23, 1865.
  6. “Review of the Armies; Propitious Weather and a Splendid Spectacle. Nearly a Hundred Thousand Veterans in the Lines.” New York, New York: The New York Times, May 24, 1865, front page.
  7. “Serenade to General Grant” (performance for Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant by the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers’ Regimental Band), in “Washington.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Inquirer, May 22, 1865.
  8. “The Final March: Grand Review of the Armies.” Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Park Service, retrieved online May 20, 2025.
  9. “The Grand Review: The City Crowded with Visitors: Order of Corps, Divisions, Brigades and Regiments.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Daily Constitutional Union, May 23, 1865.