Alternate Spellings of Surname: Haldeman, Halderman, Haltiman

 

Born into the blue collar-world of a nineteenth-century, Pennsylvania canal employee and his wife, the Haltiman brothers — William, Henry and Peter — were much like the sons of other Lehigh County laborers — sturdy, outdoor-loving lads who were raised to appreciate the value of hard work.

Following in their father’s footsteps while still just teenagers, they each obtained work as boatmen — a collective career path that would be set aside when their nation descended into the darkness of discord as government officials from South Carolina to Texas announced the intent of their respective states to secede from the United States of America between 20 December 1860 and 1 February 1861.

By the time that Fort Sumter fell to Confederate States Army troops in mid-April 1861, this fraternal trio and their family, friends and neighbors already understood that their nation was in trouble.

Formative Years

Opening their eyes for the first time during the 1830s and 1840s, respectively, infants William H. Haltiman (circa 1831-1865), Henry A. Haltiman (circa 1838-1903) and Peter H. Haltiman (circa 1843-1864) were sons of Lehigh County boatman Peter and Margaretha Haldeman. By 1850, the brothers were residing in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania with their parents and siblings: Allaverts [sic, Oliver?], who had been born circa 1836, and Christina, who had been born circa 1849.

When the federal census enumerator arrived at the Haltimans’ home in 1850, he noted that the Haltimans’ eldest child, William, was already employed as a boatman. Sometime later that same decade, both William and Henry Haltiman opted to join local militia units that were widely respected not only in Lehigh County, but statewide.

William Haltiman became a member of the Allen Rifles, which had been formed during the early to mid-1800s. Captained by Tilghman H. Good, “who was noted as one of the ablest tacticians in the State of Pennsylvania” and would later go on to become a three-time mayor of Allentown. Private Haltiman and the other men of the Allen Rifles “wore regulation blue uniforms, carried Minie rifles, and under the instruction of Captain Good … attained a degree of proficiency in Hardee’s tactics and the Zouave drill which won for them a reputation extending beyond the borders of the state,” according to Alfred Mathews and Austin N. Hungerford, authors of History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, William’s younger brother, Henry, joined the Jordan Artillerists. Also known as the “Jordan Artillery,” it had been established in 1856, was largely composed of men who lived in Allentown’s First Ward, and was captained by William H. Gausler, who “gave faithful attention to the company, which was clothed in the regulation U.S. Army uniform and fully equipped with Springfield rifles, belts, canteens, etc.,” according to historian James L. Schaadt. “The Hardee tactics were followed, and under his instruction the company became noted for its double-quick maneuvering and its drill in the manual of arms at the tap of the drum.”

Also around this same time (the late 1850s), Henry Haltiman married and began a new life in Allentown’s First Ward with his wife, Susannah Ehrig (1839-1897), who was a daughter of Reuben Ehrig (1812-1880) and Harriet (Acker) Ehrig (1811-1833). Their son, Henry A. Haltiman, Jr., was subsequently born in Allentown circa 1858.

By 1860, Henry Haltiman, Sr., was also employed as a boatman. In June, when that year’s federal census taker arrived at the nearby home of William H. Haltiman, the enumerator noted that William was the head of his household, which included his wife, Sarah Emilia (Nonnemacher) Haltiman (1835-1914), and their son, Charles William, who had been born just five months earlier — on 26 January 1860 (alternate birth date: 27 September 1860). Also residing in William’s household at this time were twenty-one-year-old Tilghman Bergenstock and twenty-one-year-old William Kleckner, both of whom would later serve with him in the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War.

Meanwhile, that same month, on 6 June 1860, William and Henry’s youngest brother, Peter, was documented by another enumerator as an eighteen-year-old boatman who was residing at the Hanover Township, Lehigh County home of Israel Kramer, a successful carter. Also residing and working at Kramer’s home was fifty-one-year-old Rebecca Haltiman, a housekeeper who may have been a relative of Peter’s.

Although they appeared to be living in reasonably stable environments, their lives were, in reality, grueling experiences that offered little in the way of “work-life balance.” According to Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper:

Transportation on the Lehigh Canal was not what one might call fast freight.

A two-mule-power boat loaded with freight averaged two miles per hour, so that a one-day trip from Mauch Chunk to Allentown was considered average, while a trip from Mauch Chunk to Easton or vice versa was exceptional when made in one day.

But many of their days were rarely “exceptional.” Even as late as the early 1900s:

The mules were unhitched and bedded down in one of the barns along the canal at 10 in the evening. At 4 in the morning they were again on the move.

It was a 16-hour day for man and beast, six days a week. In the fall of the year, when the pressure to move goods before the ice came was heaviest, it frequently was a seven-day week, the boatmen working on Sundays too.

According to historian Martha Capwell Fox:

Whole families — dad, mom, and kids — ran many boats on the Lehigh, Delaware and Morris Canals. Dad was the captain; he steered the boat and kept the records of their cargo deliveries. From the age of six or seven, the kids were in charge of the mules that pulled their boat. Not just 18 hours a day on the towpath with the mules — kids were also responsible for feeding, cleaning, harnessing and bedding them down.

And the moms did everything mothers do on land—make sure everyone had food, cooked meals, took care of little hurts and ailments, and tried to keep everyone (including the mules) healthy and relatively clean. All in an eight foot by ten foot cabin and on the narrow decks on either side of the cargo holds.

It comes as no surprise then that, even if working conditions were slightly better for the Haltiman brothers, that they and many of their fellow Pennsylvania boatmen would choose to enlist in the United States Army while still only just teenagers. Better pay for less demanding work seemed like a good move, career-wise, but no one — not their parents and not even highly experienced federal military officials — had any inkling of what awaited the hundreds of thousands of men who were about to become participants in America’s deadliest tragedy.

Civil War — Three Months’ Service

The first of the Haltiman brothers to enlist for military service during the opening months of the American Civil War were William and Henry Haltiman. Early responders to President Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteers “to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union,” following the fall of Fort Sumter, the brothers enrolled with their respective militia units at a military recruiting depot in Allentown between 17-20 April 1861, and were then officially mustered in with those militia units on 20 April in Harrisburg, Dauphin County at what would eventually become known as Camp Curtin. Both of the Haltiman brothers entered at the rank of private, and both were assigned to Company I of the 1st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.

* Note: The ongoing confusion surrounding the spelling variants of the Haltiman brothers’ surname (Haldeman, Halderman, Haltiman) appears to have begun prior to the American Civil War, and seems to have been exacerbated by the variants used for the individual brothers on various war-time military rosters. Their parents’ surname was frequently spelled as “Haldeman” prior to the war — a spelling that was used on early Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry rosters which documented the Three Months’ Service of William and Henry Haltiman, beginning in April 1861.

Transported by Northern Central Railway with their regiment to Cockeysville, Maryland, the 1st Pennsylvanians spent time at Camp Scott near York, Pennsylvania before being ordered to assume railroad guard duties along the rail lines between Pennsylvania and Druid Park in Baltimore, Maryland from 14-25 May.

From there, the 1st Pennsylvanians were assigned to Catonsville (25 May) and Franklintown (29 May) before being ordered back across the border with their regiment and stationed at Chambersburg (3 June). There, they were attached to the 2nd Brigade (under Brigadier-General George Wynkoop), 2nd Division (under Major-General William High Keim), in the Union Army corps commanded by Major-General Robert Patterson.

Ordered on to Hagerstown, Maryland on 18 June and then to Funkstown, Goose Creek and Edward’s Ferry, the regiment remained in that vicinity until 22 June, when it was ordered to Frederick, Maryland.

Assigned with other Union regiments to occupy the town of Martinsburg, Virginia from 8-21 July (following the Battle of Falling Waters earlier that month), the 1st Pennsylvanians were ordered to Harpers Ferry on 21 July. Following the completion of their Three Months’ Service, they honorably mustered out on 23 July 1861.

Civil War — Three Years’ Service

Realizing that the war was far from over, William and Henry Haltiman both opted to reenlist in order to help preserve America’s Union. After re-enrolling at a recruiting station in Allentown on 5 August 1861 — the same date on which the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was officially formed — William Haltiman re-mustered for duty at Camp Curtin on 30 August as a sergeant with the 47th Pennsylvania’s I Company. Military records at the time noted that he was a boatman from Allentown who was five feet, eight inches tall with black hair, black eyes and a dark complexion.

On the same day that Sergeant William Haltiman was re-mustering in at Camp Curtin, his younger brother, Henry A. Haltiman, Sr., was also re-mustering there with the 47th Pennsylvania — but this time, Henry made the decision to serve in a different company from his brother — likely to ensure that at least one of the brothers would survive should they both be ordered into combat. Now about to become a private with Company B with the 47th Pennsylvania, he had re-enrolled for military service in Allentown, but had done so on 20 August. Military records at the time described him as a twenty-three-year-old boatman from Lehigh County who was five feet, eight-and-one-half-inches tall with brown hair, gray eyes and a light complexion.

Following a brief light infantry training period, the Haltiman brothers and their respective companies were sent by train with the 47th Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C., where they were stationed at “Camp Kalorama” on the Kalorama Heights near Georgetown, about two miles from the White House, beginning 21 September. Henry Wharton, a musician with the regiment’s C Company, penned the following update the next day to his hometown newspaper, the Sunbury American:

After a tedious ride we have, at last, safely arrived at the City of ‘magnificent distances.’ We left Harrisburg on Friday last at 1 o’clock A.M. and reached this camp yesterday (Saturday) at 4 P.M., as tired and worn out a sett [sic] of mortals as can possibly exist. On arriving at Washington we were marched to the ‘Soldiers Retreat,’ a building purposely erected for the benefit of the soldier, where every comfort is extended to him and the wants of the ‘inner man’ supplied.

After partaking of refreshments we were ordered into line and marched, about three miles, to this camp. So tired were the men, that on marching out, some gave out, and had to leave the ranks, but J. Boulton Young, our ‘little Zouave,’ stood it bravely, and acted like a veteran. So small a drummer is scarcely seen in the army, and on the march through Washington he was twice the recipient of three cheers.

We were reviewed by Gen. McClellan yesterday [21 September 1861] without our knowing it. All along the march we noticed a considerable number of officers, both mounted and on foot; the horse of one of the officers was so beautiful that he was noticed by the whole regiment, in fact, so wrapt [sic] up were they in the horse, the rider wasn’t noticed, and the boys were considerably mortified this morning on dis-covering they had missed the sight of, and the neglect of not saluting the soldier next in command to Gen. Scott.

Col. Good, who has command of our regiment, is an excellent man and a splendid soldier. He is a man of very few words, and is continually attending to his duties and the wants of the Regiment.

…. Our Regiment will now be put to hard work; such as drilling and the usual business of camp life, and the boys expect and hope an occasional ‘pop’ at the enemy.

Two days later, Sergeant William Haltiman became a father for the second time with the birth of his daughter, Ellen Emilia Haltiman, in Allentown on 23 September 1861. She later became known to family and friends as “Ella.”

On 24 September, the Hiskey brothers and their fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers became part of the federal service when the regiment officially mustered into the U.S. Army. On 27 September, the 47th Pennsylvania was assigned to the 3rd Brigade of Brigadier-General Isaac Ingalls Stevens, which also included the 33rd, 49th and 79th New York regiments. By that afternoon, the 47th Pennsylvania was on the move again. Ordered onward by Brigadier-General Silas Casey, the Mississippi rifle-armed 47th Pennsylvania infantrymen marched behind their regimental band until reaching Camp Lyon, Maryland on the Potomac River’s eastern shore. At 5 p.m., they joined the 46th Pennsylvania in moving double-quick (one hundred and sixty-five steps per minute using thirty-three-inch steps) across the “Chain Bridge” marked on federal maps, and continued on for roughly another mile before being ordered to make camp.

The next morning, they broke camp and moved again. Marching toward Falls Church, Virginia, they arrived at Camp Advance around dusk. There, about two miles from the bridge they had crossed a day earlier, they re-pitched their tents in a deep ravine near a new federal fort under construction (Fort Ethan Allen). They had completed a roughly eight-mile trek, were situated fairly close to the headquarters of Brigadier-General William Farrar Smith (also known as “Baldy”) and were now part of the massive Army of the Potomac (“Mr. Lincoln’s Army”). Under Smith’s leadership, their regiment and brigade would help to defend the nation’s capital from the time of their September arrival through late January when the men of the 47th Pennsylvania would be shipped south.

Once again, Company C Musician Henry Wharton recapped the regiment’s activities, noting, via his 29 September letter home to the Sunbury American, that the 47th 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….

There was a nice little affair came off at Lavensville [sic, Lewinsville], a few miles from here on Wednesday last; our troops surprised a party of rebels (much larger than our own.) killing ten, took a Major prisoner, and captured a large number of horses, sheep and cattle, besides a large quantity of corn and potatoes, and about ninety six tons of hay. A very nice day’s work. The boys are well, in fact, there is no sickness of any consequence at all in our Regiment….

Sometime during this phase of duty, as part of the 3rd Brigade, the 47th Pennsylvanians were moved to a site they initially christened “Camp Big Chestnut” in reference to a large chestnut tree located nearby. The site would eventually become known to the Keystone Staters as “Camp Griffin,” and was located roughly ten miles from Washington, D.C.

On 11 October, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers marched in the Grand Review at Bailey’s Cross Roads. In a letter home in mid-October, Captain John Peter Shindel Gobin (the leader of C Company who would be promoted in 1864 to lead the entire 47th Regiment) reported that companies D, A, C, F and I (the 47th Pennsylvania’s right wing) were ordered to picket duty after the left-wing companies (B, G, K, E, and H) had been forced to return to camp by Confederate troops. In his letter of 13 October, Henry Wharton described their duties, as well as their new home:

The location of our camp is fine and the scenery would be splendid if the view was not obstructed by heavy thickets of pine and innumerable chesnut [sic] trees. The country around us is excellent for the Rebel scouts to display their bravery; that is, to lurk in the dense woods and pick off one of our unsuspecting pickets. Last night, however, they (the Rebels) calculated wide of their mark; some of the New York 33d boys were out on picket; some fourteen or fifteen shots were exchanged, when our side succeeded in bringing to the dust, (or rather mud,) an officer and two privates of the enemy’s mounted pickets. The officer was shot by a Lieutenant in Company H [?], of the 33d.

Our own boys have seen hard service since we have been on the ‘sacred soil.’ One day and night on picket, next day working on entrenchments at the Fort, (Ethan Allen.) another on guard, next on march and so on continually, but the hardest was on picket from last Thursday morning ‘till Saturday morning – all the time four miles from camp, and both of the nights the rain poured in torrents, so much so that their clothes were completely saturated with the rain. They stood it nobly – not one complaining; but from the size of their haversacks on their return, it is no wonder that they were satisfied and are so eager to go again tomorrow. I heard one of them say ‘there was such nice cabbage, sweet and Irish potatoes, turnips, &c., out where their duty called them, and then there was a likelihood of a Rebel sheep or young porker advancing over our lines and then he could take them as ‘contraband’ and have them for his own use.’ When they were out they saw about a dozen of the Rebel cavalry and would have had a bout with them, had it not been for…unlucky circumstance – one of the men caught the hammer of his rifle in the strap of his knapsack and caused his gun to fire; the Rebels heard the report and scampered in quick time….

On Friday, 22 October, the 47th engaged in a morning divisional review, described by historian Lewis Schmidt as massing “about 10,000 infantry, 1000 cavalry, and twenty pieces of artillery all in one big open field.”

In his letter of 17 November, Henry Wharton revealed still more details about life at Camp Griffin:

This morning our brigade was out for inspection; arms, accoutrements [sic], clothing, knapsacks, etc, all were out through a thorough examination, and if I must say it myself, our company stood best, A No. 1, for cleanliness. We have a new commander to our Brigade, Brigadier General Brannen [sic], of the U.S. Army, and if looks are any criterion, I think he is a strict disciplinarian and one who will be as able to get his men out of danger as he is willing to lead them to battle….

The boys have plenty of work to do, such as piquet [sic] duty, standing guard, wood-chopping, police duty and day drill; but then they have the most substantial food; our rations consist of fresh beef (three times a week) pickled pork, pickled beef, smoked pork, fresh bread, daily, which is baked by our own bakers, the Quartermaster having procured portable ovens for that purpose, potatoes, split peas, beans, occasionally molasses and plenty of good coffee, so you see Uncle Sam supplies us plentifully….

A few nights ago our Company was out on piquet [sic]; it was a terrible night, raining very hard the whole night, and what made it worse, the boys had to stand well to their work and dare not leave to look for shelter. Some of them consider they are well paid for their exposure, as they captured two ancient muskets belonging to Secessia. One of them is of English manufacture, and the other has the Virginia militia mark on it. They are both in a dilapidated condition, but the boys hold them in high estimation as they are trophies from the enemy, and besides they were taken from the house of Mrs. Stewart, sister to the rebel Jackson who assassinated the lamented Ellsworth at Alexandria. The honorable lady, Mrs. Stewart, is now a prisoner at Washington and her house is the headquarters of the command of the piquets [sic]….

Since the success of the secret expedition, we have all kinds of rumors in camp. One is that our Brigade will be sent to the relief of Gen. Sherman, in South Carolina. The boys all desire it and the news in the ‘Press’ is correct, that a large force is to be sent there, I think their wish will be gratified….

On 21 November, the 47th participated in another morning divisional review, which was monitored this time by Colonel Tilghman H. Good. Brigade and division drills were then held that afternoon. According to Schmidt, “each man was supplied with ten blank cartridges.” Afterward, “Gen. Smith requested Gen. Brannan to inform Col. Good that the 47th was the best regiment in the whole division.

As a reward for their performance that day — and in preparation for the even bigger events which were yet to come, Brigadier-General John Milton Brannan ordered that brand new Springfield rifles be obtained for every member of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers.

But these frequent marches and their guard duties in rainy weather gradually began to wear the men down; more fell ill with fever and other ailments; more died.

1862

Next ordered to move from their Virginia encampment back to Maryland, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers left Camp Griffin at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, 22 January 1862. Marching through deep mud with their equipment for three miles in order to reach the railroad station at Falls Church, they were then transported by train to Alexandria, where they boarded the steamship City of Richmond, and sailed the Potomac to the Washington Arsenal, where they were reequipped before being marched off for dinner and rest at the Soldiers’ Retreat in Washington, D.C.

The next afternoon, the 47th Pennsylvanians hopped cars on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and headed for Annapolis, Maryland. Arriving around 10 p.m., they were assigned quarters in barracks at the United States Naval Academy. They then spent that Friday through Monday (24-27 January 1862) loading their equipment and other supplies onto the steamship U.S. Oriental.

Those preparations ceased on Monday, 27 January, at 10 a.m. for a very public dismissal of one member of the regiment — I Company’s Private James C. Robinson who was dishonorably discharged from the 47th Pennsylvania (effective 27 January 1862). According to Schmidt and letters home from members of the regiment:

The regiment was formed and instructed by Lt. Col. Alexander ‘that we were about drumming out a member who had behaved himself unlike a soldier.’ …. The prisoner, Pvt. James C. Robinson of Company I, was a 36 year old miner from Allentown who had been ‘disgracefully discharged’ by order of the War Department. Pvt. Robinson was marched out with martial music playing and a guard of nine men, two men on each side and five behind him at charge bayonets. The music then struck up with ‘Robinson Crusoe’ as the procession was marched up and down in front of the regiment, and Pvt. Robinson was marched out of the yard.

Reloading then resumed. Ferried to the big steamship by smaller steamers on 27 January, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers commenced boarding the Oriental with the officers boarding last. Then, per the directive of Brigadier-General John Milton Brannan, they steamed away for the Deep South at 4 p.m. They were headed for Florida which, despite its secession from the Union, remained strategically important to the Union due to the presence of Fort Taylor (Key West) and Fort Jefferson (Dry Tortugas).

In February 1862, the Haltiman brothers arrived in Key West with their fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers in order to garrison Fort Taylor. Initially pitching their Sibley tents on the beach after disembarking, they were gradually reassigned to improved quarters. During this phase of duty, they drilled daily in heavy artillery tactics and other military strategies, felled trees, helped to build new roads, and strengthened the fortifications in and around the Union Army’s presence at Key West and began to introduce themselves to locals by parading through the town’s streets during the weekend of Friday, 14 February. They also attended area church services that Sunday — a community outreach activity they would continue to perform on and off for the duration of their Key West service.

That comfortable routine shifted for Sergeant William Haltiman on Saturday, 12 April 1862 when the reporting structure of Company I was altered due to Regimental Order No. 4, which reassigned his immediate superior, Captain Coleman Keck, to recruiting duties (a responsibility that would keep Keck at home in Allentown until sometime after 11 June of that year, according to military records.).

Additional reshuffling of I Company leadership continued that spring as Private William Frack was promoted to the rank of corporal on 1 May while Private Robert R. Kingsborough replaced Private William O’Brien as company cook and began reporting to the company quartermaster, per Regimental Order No. 22. On 17 May, Private John W. H. Diehl was also promoted to the rank of corporal.

Tragically, a senseless “friendly fire” incident then further altered I Company’s makeup. On 9 June 1862, Sergeant Charles Nolf, Jr. was accidentally killed by a member of the 90th New York Volunteers on while collecting shells on a beach in the southern part of Key West. According to Schmidt and letters from soldiers who recounted the incident:

The 24 year old bricklayer from Allentown was shot through the brain and killed instantly while he was on the beach gathering shells with a few of his friends from the company. In front of the Sergeant and his friends were four members of the 90th New York with loaded rifles on their shoulders. One of them was carelessly playing with the trigger of his gun, ‘when bang! off went the load, the ball entering the forehead of Nolf, killing him instantly.’ Some members of his company ‘were bent on revenge’, but an investigation proved it an accident, although the carrying of loaded rifles was strictly prohibited….

Next ordered to Hilton Head, South Carolina from mid-June through July, the Haltiman brothers and their fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers camped near Fort Walker before relocating to the Beaufort District, U.S. Department of the South, roughly thirty-five miles away. Frequently assigned to hazardous picket detail north of their main camp, which put them at increased risk from enemy sniper fire, the members of the 47th Pennsylvania became known for their “attention to duty, discipline and soldierly bearing,” and “received the highest commendation from Generals Hunter and Brannan,” according to historian Samuel P. Bates.

Detachments from the regiment were also assigned to the Expedition to Fenwick Island (9 July) and the Demonstration against Pocotaligo (10 July).

On 4 September 1862, the Haltiman Civil War duo became a trio when the Haltimans’ youngest brother, Peter H. Haltiman (alternate spellings: Haldeman, Halderman), also enrolled for military service in Allentown and then mustered in at Camp Curtin. Entering as private with the same company as his older brother Henry (Company B of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers), Peter was described in military records as an eighteen-year-old boatman from Allentown.

Victory and First Blood

Sent on a return expedition to Florida as September 1862 waned, the Haltiman brothers saw their first truly intense moments of military service when their respective companies participated with the 47th Pennsylvania and other Union regiments in the capture of Saint John’s Bluff from 1 to 3 October.

Commanded by Brigadier-General Brannan, the 47th Pennsylvanians disembarked with a fifteen-hundred-plus Union force at Mayport Mills and Mount Pleasant Creek from troop carriers guarded by Union gunboats.

Taking point, the 47th Pennsylvanians then led the 3rd Brigade through twenty-five miles of dense, pine forested swamps populated with deadly snakes and alligators. By the time the expedition ended, the Union brigade had forced the Confederate Army to abandon its artillery battery atop Saint John’s Bluff, and had paved the way for the Union Army to occupy the town of Jacksonville, Florida. Along the way, two companies from the 47th Pennsylvania (E and K) also helped capture the GovernorMilton, a Confederate steamer that had equipped the bluff and surrounding Rebel troop placements with men and supplies.

Integration of the Regiment

On 5 and 15 October 1862, respectively, the 47th Pennsylvania made history as it became an integrated regiment, adding to its muster rolls several Black men who had escaped chattel enslavement from plantations near Beaufort, South Carolina. Among the formerly enslaved men who enlisted at this time were Bristor Gethers, Abraham Jassum and Edward Jassum.

More men of color would then continue to be added to the 47th Pennsylvania’s rosters in the weeks and years to come.

Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina

From 21-23 October, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers engaged Confederate forces in the Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina. Landing at Mackay’s Point under the regimental command of Colonel Tilghman H. Good and Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Alexander, the men of the 47th were placed on point once again as part of the U.S. 10th Army’s 1st Brigade. This time, however, their luck would run out. Their brigade was bedeviled by snipers and faced massive resistance from an entrenched Confederate battery, which opened fire on the Union troops as they headed through an open cotton field. Those trying to reach the higher ground of the Frampton Plantation were pounded by Confederate artillery and infantry hidden in the surrounding forests.

Part-way into the conflict, their brigade’s commanding officer was wounded, requiring Colonel Good to assume command of the 1st Brigade and Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander to assume command of the 47th Pennsylvania.

Charging into the fire, Union forces fought the Confederates where they found them, pushing them into a four-mile retreat to the Pocotaligo Bridge. At this juncture, the 47th then relieved the 7th Connecticut, but after two hours of exchanging fire while attempting, unsuccessfully, to take the ravine and bridge, the men of the 47th were forced by their dwindling ammunition to withdraw to Mackay’s Point.

Losses for the 47th Pennsylvania at Pocotaligo were significant. Two officers and eighteen enlisted men died; an additional two officers and one hundred and fourteen enlisted were wounded.

On 23 October, the 47th Pennsylvania headed back to Hilton Head. Just over a week later, members of the regiment were assigned to serve on the honor guard during the funeral of Major-General Ormsby M. Mitchel, commander of the U.S. Army’s 10th Corps and Department of the South. Mitchel, who had died from yellow fever at the Union Army’s hospital at Hilton Head on 30 October, had initially gained fame in 1846 as an astronomer at the University of Cincinnati, following his discovery of The Mountains of Mitchel on Mars. The town of Mitchelville, the first Freedmen’s self-governed community created after the Civil War, was also named for him.

1863

Having been ordered back to Key West on 15 November 1862, the Haltiman brothers and their fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers spent the year of 1863 and first two months of 1864 guarding federal installations in Florida as part of the U.S. Army’s 10th Corps (X Corps) and Department of the South. Companies A, B, C, E, G, and I were assigned to garrison Fort Taylor in Key West, under the command of Colonel Good, while Companies D, F, H, and K were placed under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander and assigned to garrison Fort Jefferson in Florida’s Dry Tortugas.

Far from being a punishment for the regiment’s recent combat performance, though, as several historians have claimed over the years, the return to Florida of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers was viewed by senior Union military officers as a critically important assignment because both forts were at continuing risk of attack and capture by foreign powers, as well as by Confederate States Army troops. The 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were specifically chosen for this mission because of their “bravery and praiseworthy conduct” during the Battle of Pocotaligo,” as well as for their “attention to duty, discipline and soldierly bearing” since the regiment’s founding in 1861.

Weakening Florida’s abilities to supply and transport food and troops throughout the area to the Confederate States by conducting raids on cattle ranches and salt production facilities, they also prevented foreign powers from assisting the Confederate Army and Navy in gaining control key points of entry in the Deep South.

Once again, though, water quality was a challenge for members of the regiment; as a result, disease became their constant companion and most dangerous foe. Even so, when their initial three-year terms of enlistment were about to expire, more than half of the officers and enlisted members of the 47th Pennsylvania opted to re-enroll for additional tours of duty with the regiment.

On 8 October 1863, Sergeant William H. Haltiman became one of those men, earning the coveted distinction of “Veteran Volunteer” when he re-enlisted with Company I of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Four days later, his brother, Henry A. Haltiman, then also earned the title of Veteran Volunteer” by re-enlisting with Company B of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers. That same day, Henry was promoted to the rank of sergeant.

1864

In early January 1864, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was ordered to expand the Union’s reach by sending part of the regiment north to retake possession of Fort Myers, a federal installation that had been abandoned in 1858 following the U.S. government’s third war with the Seminole Indians. Per orders issued earlier in 1864 by Major-General D. P. Woodbury, Commanding Officer, U.S. Department of the Gulf, District of Key West and the Tortugas, that the fort be reclaimed to facilitate the Union’s Gulf Coast blockade, Captain Richard Graeffe and a group of men from Company A were charged with expanding the fort and conducting raids on area cattle herds to provide food for the growing Union troop presence across Florida. Graeffe and his men subsequently turned the fort into both their base of operations and a shelter for pro-Union supporters, escaped slaves, Confederate Army deserters, and others fleeing Rebel troops.

Meanwhile, all of the other companies of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry were preparing for the regiment’s history-making journey to Louisiana, but Sergeant William Haltiman’s unit (Company I) would be making that journey without their commanding officer — Captain Coleman A. G. Keck, who had resigned his commission on 22 February 1864 due to disability. Three days after his resignation, the 47th Pennsylvania began its phased departure for a new military campaign.

Boarding yet another steamer — the Charles Thomas — on 25 February 1864, the men from Companies B, C, D, I, and K headed for Algiers, Louisiana (across the river from New Orleans), followed on 1 March by other members of the regiment from Companies E, F, G, and H who had been stationed at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas.

Upon the second group’s arrival, the now almost-fully-reunited regiment moved by train on 28 February to Brashear City (now Morgan City, Louisiana) before heading to Franklin by steamer through the Bayou Teche. There, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry joined the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division of the Department of the Gulf’s 19th Army Corps (XIX Corps), and became the only Pennsylvania regiment to serve in the Red River Campaign of Union Major-General Nathaniel P. Banks. (Unable to reach Louisiana until 23 March, the men from Company A were effectively placed on a different type of detached duty in New Orleans while they awaited transport to enable them to catch up with the main part of their regiment. Charged with guarding and overseeing the transport of two hundred and forty-five Confederate prisoners, they were finally able to board the Ohio Belle on 7 April, and reached Alexandria, Louisiana with those prisoners on 9 April.)

Red River Campaign

The early days on the ground in Louisiana quickly woke the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers up to just how grueling this new phase of duty would be. From 14-26 March, most members of the regiment marched for Alexandria and Natchitoches, Louisiana, by way of New Iberia, Vermilionville (now part of Lafayette), Opelousas, and Washington.

From 4-5 April 1864, the regiment added to its roster of young Black soldiers when Aaron Bullard (later known as Aaron French), James Bullard, John Bullard, Samuel Jones, and Hamilton Blanchard (also known as John Hamilton) enrolled for military service with the 47th Pennsylvania at Natchitoches. According to their respective entries in the Civil War Veterans’ Card File at the Pennsylvania State Archives and on regimental muster rolls, the men were then officially mustered in for duty on 22 June at Morganza. Several of their entries noted that they were assigned the rank of “(Colored) Cook” while others were given the rank of “Under Cook.”

Often short on food and water throughout their long harsh-climate trek through enemy territory, the 47th Pennsylvania encamped briefly at Pleasant Hill (now the Village of Pleasant Hill) the night of 7 April before continuing on the next day.

Rushed into battle ahead of other regiments in the 2nd Division, sixty members of the 47th were cut down on 8 April during the volley of fire unleashed in the Battle of Sabine Cross Roads. The fighting waned only when darkness fell as those who were uninjured collapsed beside the gravely wounded and the dead. Finally, after midnight, the surviving Union troops were ordered to withdraw to Pleasant Hill.

The next day, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were ordered into a critically important defensive position at the far right of the Union lines, their right flank spreading up onto a high bluff. By 3 p.m., after enduring a midday charge by the troops of Confederate Major-General Richard Taylor (a plantation owner and son of Zachary Taylor, former president of the United States), the brutal fighting still showed no signs of ending. Suddenly, just as the 47th was shifting to the left side of the massed Union forces, the men of the 47th Pennsylvania were forced to bolster the 165th New York’s buckling lines by blocking another Confederate assault, during what has since become known as the Battle of PleasantHill.

Casualties were once again high. Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander was severely wounded in both legs, and the regiment’s two color-bearers, both from Company C, were also wounded while preventing the American flag from falling into enemy hands. Still others from the 47th were captured, marched roughly one hundred and twenty-five miles to Camp Ford, a Confederate Army prison camp near Tyler, Texas, and held there as prisoners of war (POWs) until released during prisoner exchanges beginning 22 July 1864. At least two men from the 47th never made it out of that camp alive; another member of the regiment died while being treated at the Confederate Army hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Following what some historians have called a rout by Confederates at Pleasant Hill and others have labeled a technical victory for the Union or a draw for both sides, the 47th fell back to Grand Ecore, where the men engaged in the hard labor of strengthening regimental and brigade fortifications. After eleven days at Grand Ecore, they then moved back to Natchitoches Parish on 22 April. Marching forty-five miles that day, they arrived in Cloutierville at 10 p.m. While en route, they were attacked again—this time at the rear of their brigade, but they were able to quickly end the encounter and continue on.

The next morning (23 April 1864), episodic skirmishing quickly roared into the flames of a robust fight. As part of the advance party led by Union Brigadier-General William Emory, the 47th Pennsylvanians took on the Confederate cavalry of Brigadier-General Hamilton P. Bee in the Battle of Cane River (also known as “the Affair at Monett’s Ferry” or the “Cane River Crossing”).

Responding to a barrage from the Confederate artillery’s twenty-pound Parrott guns and raking fire from enemy troops situated near a bayou and on a bluff, Brigadier-General Emory directed one of his brigades to keep Bee’s Confederates busy while sending the other two brigades to find a safe spot where his Union troops could ford the Cane River. As part of the “beekeepers,” the 47th Pennsylvania supported Emory’s artillery.

Meanwhile, other troops in Emory’s command worked their way across the Cane River, attacked Bee’s flank, forced a Rebel retreat, and erected a series of pontoon bridges, enabling the 47th and other remaining Union troops to make the Cane River Crossing by the next day. As the Confederates retreated, they torched their own food stores, as well as the cotton supplies of their fellow southerners.

In a letter penned from Morganza, Louisiana on 29 May, Henry Wharton described what had happened to the 47th Pennsylvanians during and immediately after making camp at Grand Ecore:

Our sojourn at Grand Ecore was for eleven days, during which time our position was well fortified by entrenchments for a length of five miles, made of heavy logs, five feet high and six feet wide, filled in with dirt. In front of this, trees were felled for a distance of two hundred yards, so that if the enemy attacked we had an open space before us which would enable our forces to repel them and follow if necessary. But our labor seemed to the men as useless, for on the morning of 22d April, the army abandoned these works and started for Alexandria. From our scouts it was ascertained that the enemy had passed some miles to our left with the intention of making a stand against our right at Bayou Cane, where there is a high bluff and dense woods, and at the same attack Smith’s forces who were bringing up the rear. This first day was a hard one on the boys, for by ten o’clock at night they made Cloutierville, a distance of forty-five miles. On that day the rear was attacked which caused our forces to reverse their front and form in line of battle, expecting too, to go back to the relief of Smith, but he needed no assistance, sending word to the front that he had ‘whipped them, and could do it again.’ It was well that Banks made so long a march on that day, for on the next we found the enemy prepared to carry out their design of attacking us front and rear. Skirmishing commenced early in the morning and as our columns advanced he fell back towards the bayou, when we soon discovered the position of their batteries on the bluff. There was then an artillery duel by the smaller pieces, and some sharp fighting by the cavalry, when the ‘mule battery,’ twenty pound Parrott guns, opened a heavy fire, which soon dislodged them, forcing the chivalry to flee in a manner not at all suitable to their boasted courage. Before this one cavalry, the 3d Brigade of the 1st Div., and Birges’ brigade of the second, had crossed the bayou and were doing good service, which, with the other work, made the enemy show their heels. The 3d brigade done some daring deeds in this fight, as also did the cavalry. In one instance the 3d charged up a hill almost perpendicular, driving the enemy back by the bayonet without firing a gun. The woods on this bluff was so thick that the cavalry had to dismount and fight on foot. During the whole of the day, our brigade, the 2d was supporting artillery, under fire all the time, and could not give Mr. Reb a return shot.

While we were fighting in front, Smith was engaged some miles in the rear, but he done his part well and drove them back. The rebel commanders thought by attacking us in the rear, and having a large face on the bluffs, they would be able to capture our train and take us all prisoners, but in this they were mistaken, for our march was so rapid that we were on them before they had thrown up the necessary earthworks. Besides they underrated the amount of our artillery, calculating from the number engaged at Pleasant Hill. The rebel prisoners say it ‘seems as though the Yankees manufacture, on short notice, artillery to order, and the men are furnished with wings when they wish to make a certain point.

The damage done to the Confederate cause by the burning of cotton was immense. On the night of the 22d our route was lighted up for miles and millions of dollars worth of this production was destroyed. This loss will be felt more by Davis & Co., than several defeats in this region, for the basis of the loan in England was on the cotton of Western Louisiana.

After the rebels had fled from the bluff the negro troops put down the pontoons, and by ten that night we were six miles beyond the bayou safely encamped. The next morning we moved forward and in two days were in Alexandria. Johnnys followed Smith’s forces, keeping out of range of his guns, except when he had gained the eminence across the bayou, when he punished them (the rebs) severely.

Having finally reached Alexandria on 26 April, the 47th Pennsylvanians learned they would remain at their latest new camp for at least two weeks. Placed temporarily under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Bailey, they were assigned yet again to the hard labor of fortification work, helping to erect “Bailey’s Dam,” a timber structure that enabled Union gunboats to more easily make their way back down the Red River. While stationed in Rapides Parish in late April and early May, according to Wharton:

We were at Alexandria seventeen days, during which time the men were kept busy at throwing up earthworks, foraging and three times went out some distance to meet the enemy, but they did not make their appearance in numbers large enough for an engagement. The water in the Red river had fallen so much that it prevented the gunboats from operating with us, and kept our transports from supplying the troops with rations, (and you know soldiers, like other people, will eat) so Banks was compelled to relinquish his designs on Shreveport and fall back to the Mississippi. To do this a large dam had to be built on the falls at Alexandria to get the ironclads down the river. After a great deal of labor this was accomplished and by the morning of May 13th the last one was through the shute [sic], when we bade adieu to Alexandria, marching through the town with banners flying and keeping step to the music of ‘Rally around the flag,’ and ‘When this cruel war is over.’ The next morning, at our camping place, the fleet of boats passed us, when we were informed that Alexandria had been destroyed by fire – the act of a dissatisfied citizen and several negroes. Incendiary acts were strictly forbidden in a general order the day before we left the place, and a cavalry guard was left in the rear to see the order enforced. After marching a few miles skirmishing commenced in front between the cavalry and the enemy in riflepits [sic] on the bank of the river, but they were easily driven away. When we came up we discovered their pits and places where there had been batteries planted. At this point the John Warren, an unarmed transport, on which were sick soldiers and women, was fired into and sunk, killing many and those that were not drowned taken prisoners. A tin-clad gunboat was destroyed at the same place, by which we lost a large mail. Many letters and directed envelopes were found on the bank – thrown there after the contents had been read by the unprincipled scoundrels. The inhumanity of Guerrilla bands in this department is beyond belief, and if one did not know the truth of it or saw some of their barbarities, he would write it down as the story of a ‘reliable gentleman’ or as told by an ‘intelligent contraband.’ Not satisfied with his murderous intent on unarmed transports he fires into the Hospital steamer Laurel Hill, with four hundred sick on board. This boat had the usual hospital signal floating fore and aft, yet, notwithstanding all this, and the customs of war, they fired on them, proving by this act that they are more hardened than the Indians on the frontier.

On Sunday, May 15, we left the river road and took a short route through the woods, saving considerable distance. The windings of Red river are so numerous that it resembles the tape-worm railroad wherewith the politicians frightened the dear people during the administration of Ritner and Stevens. – We stopped several hours in the woods to leave cavalry pass, when we moved forward and by four o’clock emerged into a large open plain where we formed in line of battle, expecting a regular engagement. The enemy, however, retired and we advanced ‘till dark, when the forces halted for the night, with orders to rest on their arms. – ‘Twas here that Banks rode through our regiment, amidst the cheers of the boys, and gave the pleasant news that Grant had defeated Lee.

Having entered Avoyelles Parish, they “rested on their arms” for the night, half-dozing without pitching their tents, but with their rifles right beside them. They were now positioned just outside of Marksville, Louisiana on the eve of the 16 May 1864 Battle of Mansura, which unfolded as follows, according to Wharton:

Early next morning we marched through Marksville into a prairie nine miles long and six wide where every preparation was made for a fight. The whole of our force was formed in line, in support of artillery in front, who commenced operations on the enemy driving him gradually from the prairie into the woods. As the enemy retreated before the heavy fire of our artillery, the infantry advanced in line until they reached Mousoula [sic], where they formed in column, taking the whole field in an attempt to flank the enemy, but their running qualities were so good that we were foiled. The maneuvring [sic] of the troops was handsomely done, and the movements was [sic] one of the finest things of the war. The fight of artillery was a steady one of five miles. The enemy merely stood that they might cover the retreat of their infantry and train under cover of their artillery. Our loss was slight. Of the rebels we could not ascertain correctly, but learned from citizens who had secreted themselves during the fight, that they had many killed and wounded, who threw them into wagons, promiscuously, and drove them off so that we could not learn their casualties. The next day we moved to Simmsport [sic, Simmesport] on the Achafalaya [sic, Atchafalaya] river, where a bridge was made by putting the transports side by side, which enabled the troops and train to pass safely over. – The day before we crossed the rebels attacked Smith, thinking it was but the rear guard, in which they, the graybacks, were awfully cut up, and four hundred prisoners fell into our hands. Our loss in killed and wounded was ninety. This fight was the last one of the expedition. The whole of the force is safe on the Mississippi, gunboats, transports and trains. The 16th and 17th have gone to their old commands.

It is amusing to read the statements of correspondents to papers North, concerning our movements and the losses of our army. I have it from the best source that the Federal loss from Franklin to Mansfield, and from their [sic] to this point does not exceed thirty-five hundred in killed, wounded and missing, while that of the rebels is over eight thousand.*

* Note: Disease continued to be a truly formidable foe, claiming yet more members of the 47th Pennsylvania. Private Josiah Stocker died at the University General Hospital in New Orleans on 17 May, and Private Elvin Knauss (alternate spelling: “Kneuss”) succumbed to disease-related complications at the Union’s Marine Memorial Hospital in New Orleans on 3 August, while Sergeant John Gross Helfrich and Private Joseph Smith died in New Orleans on 5 August and 2 September, respectively.

Continuing on, the surviving members of the 47th marched for Simmesport and then Morganza, where they made camp again. While encamped there, the nine formerly enslaved Black men who had enlisted with the 47th Pennsylvania in Beaufort, South Carolina (1862) and Natchitoches, Louisiana (April 1864) were officially mustered into the regiment between 20-24 June 1864.

The regiment then moved on once again, and arrived in New Orleans in late June.

As they did during their tour through the Carolinas and Florida, the men of the 47th had battled the elements and disease, as well as the Confederate Army, in order to continue to defend their nation. One of those who survived the Red River experience, after being struck down early on in combat, was Sergeant William Haltiman, who was able to return to duty with the 47th Pennsylvania after receiving medical treatment for his wounds.

Ironically, on the Fourth of July — “Independence Day” — the Haltiman brothers learned from their superior officers that their independence from military life would not be happening anytime soon because the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers had received new orders to return to the Eastern Theater of the war. This time, though, the trio would not all travel together.

On 7 July 1864, Sergeant William Haltiman was the first to depart Bayou Country. Boarding the U.S. Steamer McClellan, he sailed out of the harbor at New Orleans with his fellow I Company soldiers, along with the members of Companies A, C, D, E, F, and H.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Henry Haltiman and his younger brother, Private Peter Haltiman, awaited transport, along with their fellow B Company members and members of Companies G and K. They departed later that month aboard the Blackstone.

Following the arrival of the McClellan in Virginia and a memorable encounter with President Abraham Lincoln on 12 July, Sergeant William Haltiman and the members of Companies A, C, D, E, F, H, and I joined up with Major-General David Hunter’s forces at Snicker’s Gap in mid-July 1864. There, they fought in the Battle of Cool Spring and assisted, once again, in defending Washington, D.C. while also driving Confederate troops from Maryland. (Led by F Company Captain Henry S. Harte, Sergeant Henry Haltiman, Private Peter Haltiman and the members of Companies B, G and K finally departed New Orleans at the end of the month. Arriving in Virginia on 28 July, they reconnected with the bulk of their regiment at Monocacy, Virginia on 2 August.)

Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign

Attached to the Middle Military Division, U.S. Army of the Shenandoah in Virginia, beginning in August 1864, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was initially assigned to defensive duties in and around Halltown during the opening days of that month before engaging in a series of back-and-forth movements over the next several weeks between Halltown, Berryville and other locations within that vicinity (Middletown, Charlestown and Winchester) as part of a “mimic war” being waged by the Union forces of Major-General Philip H. Sheridan with those commanded by Confederate Lieutenant-General Jubal Early.

After the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers fought in the Battle of Berryville, Virginia from 3-4 December, clean-up skirmishes were waged with Confederate stragglers over the next several days.

The month of September was also noteworthy for the departure of several 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, including Second Lieutenant James Stuber of Company I, and the 47th Pennsylvania’s first and second-in-command, Colonel Tilghman Good and Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander. These departures occurred when these men opted not to re-enlist following the expiration of their respective terms of service.

On 18 September 1864, Sergeant Henry A. Haltiman, Sr. became one of those men who were honorably discharged at Berryville — but this change in his status was granted for an entirely different reason. He was actually discharged so that he could accept a promotion within his own company and regiment. The next day — 19 September 1864 (the day of the Battle of Opequan, Virginia, also known as “First Winchester”), he was commissioned as a second lieutenant, which made him the third-in-command of Company I.

Exactly one month later, his younger brother, Private Peter H. Haltiman of Company B, was severely wounded in combat on 19 October, during the Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia. Initially treated on the battlefield, Peter was carried behind Union Army lines, stabilized further, and then transported to the Union Army’s General Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, where he succumbed to complications from his wounds — possibly pyemia/septicemia — on 20 November 1864. Although he was reportedly laid to rest at the Loudon Park National Cemetery in what is now part of Baltimore, Maryland, according to federal cemetery records, other records indicate that his grave is actually located at the Union-West End Cemetery in Allentown. (A  memorial has been created for him on Find A Grave, and includes a photo of his headstone.)

* Note: Together with other regiments under the command of Major-General Sheridan and Brigadier-General Emory, commander of the 19th Corps, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers helped to inflict heavy casualties on Lieutenant-General Jubal Early’s Confederate forces in the Battle of Opequan — a battle that is still considered by many historians to be one of the most important during Sheridan’s 1864 campaign because the Union’s victory here helped to ensure the reelection of President Abraham Lincoln.

The 47th Pennsylvania’s march toward destiny at Opequan began at 2 a.m. on 19 September 1864 as the regiment left camp and joined up with others in the Union’s 19th Corps. After advancing slowly from Berryville toward Winchester, the 19th Corps became bogged down for several hours by the massive movement of Union troops and supply wagons, enabling Early’s men to dig in. After finally reaching the Opequan Creek, Sheridan’s men came face to face with the Confederate Army commanded by Early. The fighting, which began in earnest at noon, was long and brutal. The Union’s left flank (6th Corps) took a beating from Confederate artillery stationed on high ground.

Meanwhile, the 47th Pennsylvania and the 19th Corps were directed by Brigadier-General Emory to attack and pursue Major-General John B. Gordon’s Confederate forces. Some success was achieved, but casualties mounted as another Confederate artillery group opened fire on Union troops trying to cross a clearing. When a nearly fatal gap began to open between the 6th and 19th Corps, Sheridan sent in units led by Brigadier-Generals Emory Upton and David A. Russell. Russell, hit twice –once in the chest, was mortally wounded. The 47th Pennsylvania opened its lines long enough to enable the Union cavalry under William Woods Averell and the foot soldiers of Brigadier-General George Crook to charge the Confederates’ left flank.

The 19th Corps, with the 47th in the thick of the fighting, then began pushing the Confederates back. Early’s “grays” retreated in the face of the valor displayed by Sheridan’s “blue jackets.” Leaving twenty-five hundred wounded behind, the Rebels retreated to Fisher’s Hill (21-22 September), eight miles south of Winchester, and then to Waynesboro, following a successful early morning flanking attack by Sheridan’s Union men which outnumbered Early’s three to one.

On the day of the Union’s success at Opequan (19 September 1864), several men from I Company received promotions, including First Sergeant Theodore Mink, who advanced to the rank of second lieutenant. Corporals William H. Meyers and Edwin Kemp were promoted to the rank of sergeant while Privates Thomas N. Burke and Allen Knauss became corporals. Private Oscar Miller was then mustered out the next day, on 20 September, upon expiration of his term of service.

Afterward, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were sent out on skirmishing parties before making camp at Cedar Creek.

Battle of Cedar Creek, 19 October 1864

It was during the fall of 1864 that Major-General Sheridan began the first of the Union’s true “scorched earth” campaigns, starving the enemy into submission by destroying Virginia’s crops and farming infrastructure. Viewed through today’s lens of history as inhumane, the strategy claimed many innocents — civilians whose lives were cut short by their inability to find food. This same strategy, however, almost certainly contributed to the further turning of the war’s tide in the Union’s favor during the Battle of Cedar Creek on 19 October 1864. Successful throughout most of their engagement with Union forces at Cedar Creek, Early’s Confederate troops began peeling off in ever growing numbers to forage for food, thus enabling the 47th Pennsylvania and others under Sheridan’s command to rally.

From a military standpoint, it was another impressive, but heartrending day. During the morning of 19 October, Early launched a surprise attack directly on Sheridan’s Cedar Creek-encamped forces. Early’s men were able to capture Union weapons while freeing a number of Confederates who had been taken prisoner during previous battles—all while pushing seven Union divisions back. According to Bates:

When the Army of West Virginia, under Crook, was surprised and driven from its works, the Second Brigade, with the Forty-seventh on the right, was thrown into the breach to arrest the retreat…. Scarcely was it in position before the enemy came suddenly upon it, under the cover of fog. The right of the regiment was thrown back until it was almost a semi-circle. The brigade, only fifteen hundred strong, was contending against Gordon’s entire division, and was forced to retire, but, in comparative good order, exposed, as it was, to raking fire. Repeatedly forming, as it was pushed back, and making a stand at every available point, it finally succeeded in checking the enemy’s onset, when General Sheridan suddenly appeared upon the field, who ‘met his crest-fallen, shattered battalions, without a word of reproach, but joyously swinging his cap, shouted to the stragglers, as he rode rapidly past them – “Face the other way, boys! We are going back to our camp! We are going to lick them out of their boots!’”

The Union’s counterattack punched Early’s forces into submission, and the men of the 47th were commended for their heroism by General Stephen Thomas who, in 1892, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his own “distinguished conduct in a desperate hand-to-hand encounter, in which the advance of the enemy was checked” that day. Bates described the 47th’s actions:

When the final grand charge was made, the regiment moved at nearly right angles with the rebel front. The brigade charged gallantly, and the entire line, making a left wheel, came down on his flank, while engaging the Sixth Corps, when he went “whirling up the valley” in confusion. In the pursuit to Fisher’s Hill, the regiment led, and upon its arrival was placed on the skirmish line, where it remained until twelve o’clock noon of the following day. The army was attacked at early dawn…no respite was given to take food until the pursuit was ended.

On this day alone, the 47th Pennsylvania lost the equivalent, in killed and wounded, of nearly two full companies of men, including Color-Sergeant William Pyers, who had so gallantly saved the American flag from capture by Confederate troops during the Red River Campaign, and Private Peter Haltiman, the youngest of the Haltiman brothers.

Sadly, the Grim Reaper was not yet done with the Haltiman family. While the 47th Pennsylvania was stationed at Camp Russell, near Winchester, Virginia, Sergeant William Haltiman received word that his son, Charles William Haltiman, had died in Allentown on 11 December. Unable to make it back home to witness Charles’ burial at Allentown’s Union-West End Cemetery, he barely even had time to mourn the boy’s death before he and his fellow 47th Pennsylvanians were ordered to depart camp and head for West Virginia. Marching through a driving snow storm, five days before Christmas, they were finally allowed to make camp just outside of Charlestown at Camp Fairview, which would serve as their base of operations from late December 1864 through early April 1865. Their new duties involved protecting the Union’s key railroad lines and thwarting attempted guerrilla raids on key Union infrastructure points by Confederate troops and their supporters.

1865

Still assigned to Camp Fairview in West Virginia as the New Year of 1865 dawned, the future looked somewhat more hopeful for Sergeant William H. Haltiman due to his promotion that day (1 January 1865) from the rank of sergeant to first sergeant. Three days later, on 4 January 1865, Second Lieutenant Henry A. Haltiman, Sr. also received an advancement in rank when he was commissioned as a first lieutenant.

Assigned first to the Provisional Division of the 2nd Brigade of the Army of the Shenandoah in February, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was ordered to head for Washington, D.C. — by way of Winchester and Kernstown. Beginning 19 April, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were again responsible for helping to defend the nation’s capital — this time following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Encamped near Fort Stevens, they were issued new uniforms and were resupplied with ample amounts of fresh ammunition in order to prevent Confederate sympathizers from attempting to reignite the flames of insurrection.

Letters written to family members back home during this time and interviews that were conducted by newspaper reporters with veterans of the 47th Pennsylvania, post-war, document that at least one 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer was given the high honor of guarding President Lincoln’s funeral train while others may have guarded the key conspirators in the Lincoln assassination during the early days of their imprisonment and trial, which began on 9 May 1865. During this phase of duty, the regiment was headquartered at Camp Brightwood in the Brightwood section of Washington, D.C.

As part of Dwight’s Division of the 2nd Brigade of the U.S. Department of Washington’s 22nd Corps, the 47th Pennsylvania also participated in the Union’s Grand Review on 23 May. It was also during this phase of duty that Captain Levi Stuber, the commanding officer of I Company was promoted to the rank of major with the regiment’s central command staff, and First Lieutenant Theodore Mink was advanced to the rank of captain, I Company (22 May 1865).

On 27 May 1865, First Sergeant William Haltiman was also promoted again — this time to the rank of second lieutenant of Company I.

An early thinning of the 47th Pennsylvania’s ranks then began on 1 June 1865 when General Orders issued by the U.S. Office of the Adjutant General provided for the honorable discharge of multiple members of the regiment, including I Company’s Corporal Joseph Kramer, John J. Lawall, Jesse Moyer, Stephen Schechter, Samuel Smith, Israel Troxell, D. Wannamaker, and Sylvester McCape.

Reconstruction

During their final tour of duty, the Haltiman brothers and their fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers served in Savannah, Georgia in early June. Assigned again to Dwight’s Division, they were now attached to the 3rd Brigade, Department of the South.

Ordered to relieve the 165th New York Volunteers in July, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers subsequently quartered in the former mansion of the Confederate Secretary of the Treasury in Charleston, South Carolina.

As with their previous tours of duty in the Deep South, disease stalked the 47th as men who had survived the worst in battle were felled by fevers, tropical diseases and dysentery. Many of those who died during this phase of service were initially interred in Charleston’s Magnolia Cemetery before being exhumed and reinterred later at the Beaufort National Cemetery; others still rest in unidentified graves.

Among the men felled during this time was Second Lieutenant William H. Haltiman. Having survived being wounded in action during the Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana on 9 April 1864, he was unable to withstand the rising heat of a summer day. After collapsing due to sunstroke while on duty, he was transported to the 47th Pennsylvania’s Regimental Hospital. His death was reported in regimental rosters as having occurred on 21 July 1865 in Pineville, South Carolina, and was certified by Regimental Surgeon Samuel B. Sturdevant, M.D. He remains at rest in America’s Deep South—having been interred there at the Beaufort National Cemetery in Beaufort, South Carolina.

Following his older brother’s death, First Lieutenant Henry Haltiman, Sr. continued to soldier on. Still stationed with the 47th Pennsylvania in Charleston, South Carolina, his regiment’s assigned duties during this time were Provost (military police) and Reconstruction-related, including rebuilding railroads and other key aspects of the region’s infrastructure that had been damaged or destroyed during the long war.

Finally, on Christmas Day in 1865, First Lieutenant Henry Haltiman was mustered out for the final time, along with the majority of his fellow 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Following a stormy voyage north to New York City and a train trip to Philadelphia, they received their final discharge papers at Camp Cadwalader on 9 January 1866, and were returned to the arms of their loved ones and neighbors.

Return to Civilian Life — Henry A. Haltiman, Sr.

Following his honorable discharge from the military, Henry A. Haltiman, Sr. returned home to his wife and children in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley — but he did so without the older and younger brothers, William and Peter, who had fought beside him during America’s long and brutal Civil War. A resident of Allentown, he gradually began to readjust to life as a civilian. Rather than returning to his old job as a canal boatman, though, he found work as a house carpenter.

Sometime in late 1866 or 1867, he and his wife welcomed the birth of a daughter — Anna. By 1872, he had relocated to New Jersey with his wife and their children, Henry Jr. and Anna, and had established a new career there as a house carpenter. On 9 November 1872, the Haltimans’ first, New Jersey-born child — Gertrude L. Haltiman (1872-1908) — opened her eyes for the first time at the family’s home in Randolph Township, Morris County. A second daughter, Stella, was born circa 1873. And a second son, Stewart, was born circa 1878.

By 1880, forty-two-year-old Henry Haltiman, Sr. was employed at a furnace operation in Morris County, New Jersey and was residing in Port Oram, Randolph Township in Morris County with his forty-one-year-old wife, Susan, and their children: Henry, Jr., who was a twenty-one-year-old laborer; Anna, Gertrude, Stella, and Stewart. In January 1881, a third daughter, Mabel (1881-1929), was born.

But this decade was also one that held more tragedy for the Haltiman family. In 1885, Henry A. Haltiman’s son, Henry Haltiman, Jr., was killed at work during a railroad accident. According to the 25 April 1885 edition of The Iron Era:

On Saturday last our village [Port Oram] was greatly depressed with lamentation at the very sad intelligence which came by telegraph announcing the death of Henry Haltiman, Jr., of this place, which was caused by a frightful disaster on the P. & R. R. R. by a bridge giving way between Califon and High Bridge. From what we can learn of the sad affair, the bridge went down under the cars upon which Henry was standing to the distance of sixty feet, and he was carried to the bottom and mangled to death. We have been informed that he was covered with five cars of pig iron and about six hundred tons of iron ore. Work was immediately begun to procure the body which was not recovered until about noon on Sunday and arrived at Port Oram at four o’clock in the afternoon of the same day, after which Messrs. Jardine & Hance, undertakers, took possession of the body and carried it home. There were about five hundred people, or more, at the station awaiting the arrival of the corpse. The deceased was 27 years of age, and has lived in our village from youth. He leaves a father, mother, brothers and sisters and a host of friends to lament his loss. He was a very diligent, energetic and ingenious young man. Among his friends and associates he was held in high esteem and great respectability. He was of a kind and obliging disposition, was a very obedient and dutiful son, and did all in his power for the gratification of his parents and to make home as pleasant as possible. The funeral services took place on Tuesday afternoon in St. John’s M. E. Church with Rev. Joshua Mead officiating, taking for his text, ‘Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow,’ James IV.14. The remains were taken to Allentown, Pa., for interment. Frank McAvoy, another young brakeman from this place, narrowly escaped being killed at the same time. He was thirteen cars behind his comrade when he heard the crash, and with presence of mind leaped from the top of the cars and landed down the embankment about twelve feet from the abutment of the bridge and quite severely sprained his ankle.     KOSCIUSKO.

* Note: This newspaper was reporting on what is commonly referred to today as “The Gorge Bridge Train Wreck,” a catastrophic event that has been memorialized on a historical marker by the Hunterdon County, New Jersey Department of Recreation. It has been described as the “most memorable train wreck in the history of the High Bridge Branch” of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, and “occurred on the morning of Saturday, April 18, 1885 when the central and southern spans of the 250′ long Gorge Bridge (now called the Ken Lockwood Gorge Bridge) collapsed as a heavily laden iron ore train drawn by a powerful Baldwin 4-6-0 locomotive (#112) named Columbia, just started to cross the southern span of the wooden Howe Truss bridge.”

The 46 car train was coming from the iron mines in Chester, Port Oram (Wharton) and Hibernia, to High Bridge. It had 40 freight cars loaded with 500 tons of iron ore, 5 freight cars containing 90 tons of pig iron and a caboose. As the locomotive and first few cars of the ill-fated train passed over the bridge, the center and southern spans collapsed, dropping the locomotive to the hillside below. The remainder of the train plunged 60′ into the South Branch of the Raritan River. The northern span remained intact. Daniel Bryant, the engineer, jumped out of the locomotive window believing death was imminent and landed on several rocks, receiving only minor injuries. John McGran, the locomotive fireman, also jumped to safety.

FrankMcEvoy, the middle brakeman, saved his life by leaping from his position on top of the freight car just a second or two before it plunged into the river. John Bangham, the conductor, and August Gess, the rear brakeman, were both located in the caboose and looked on in horror as the tragedy unfolded before their eyes. They also jumped from the train with only seconds to spare.

Henry Haltiman of Port Oram, the head brakeman, was not so fortunate. He was on top of the fifth freight car when the bridge collapsed. The 26 year old tried desperately to apply the brakes on his freight car to stop the train, but it was too late and in an instant, rode the freight car to his death. He was buried under the twisted wreckage. This was the only fatality in the history of the High Bridge Branch. The following morning Mr. Haltiman’s body was recovered shortly before noon. His watch had stopped at the time of the accident: 10:05 A.M.

Following the accident, the railroad quickly cleared the wreckage to restore train service. To keep the locomotive from falling, workers tied it to nearby trees, then jacked it up and built an earthen support under it to bring it back up to track level.

When the wreckage was gradually removed from the bottom of the rocky gorge and the waters of the South Branch, it was apparent the bridge and the train were a total loss. For a few days the site attracted hundreds of curiosity seekers from miles around. Six days later, trains began using the new temporary bridge. The flagman’s shack, which stood near this sign, served as a telegraph station for communication with railroad officials during the removal of the wreck and repair to the bridge.

A new steel bridge was built in 1891 to replace the temporary wooden structure that was in use before the collapse and in 1931 this new steel bridge was strengthened to accommodate much larger, more powerful and heavier locomotives. This is the bridge that stands today.

Locomotive 112 was quickly repaired and returned to service. However, since this was its third serious wreck on the Branch, many railroaders considered it to be jinxed and it was transferred to the main line, where it hauled coal trains for the next 17 years. It was sold in 1902 to the New York Equipment Company for re-sale to another railroad.

When the 1885 New Jersey Census enumerator arrived later that year at the Haltiman family’s home in Randolph Township, the Haltiman household was confirmed to include Henry, Sr., Susan, Annie, Gertie, Estella, Stewart, Mabel, and Beula, the latter two of whom were documented as being five years of age or younger.

Sometime after that census Henry Haltiman was widowed. His wife’s remains were returned to Allentown and interred at the Union-West End Cemetery. Still residing in Port Oram, New Jersey as of 1890, Henry A. Haltiman, Sr. filed for his U.S. Civil War Pension that year on 16 August.

By the time that the federal census enumerator arrived at his home in 1900, he was a widower who was employed as a lumberman, and was residing in Port Oram with his daughters, Gertrude, a public school teacher, and Mabel, and his ten-year-old granddaughter, Jennie Apgar.

By the late summer or early fall of 1903, he had become “a respected citizen of Wharton,” according to his obituary.

Death and Interment

In 1903, Henry A. Haltiman, Sr. suffered an episode of apoplexy and died at the age of sixty-five in Wharton, New Jersey on 17 October. After his remains were returned to Allentown aboard a Central Railroad train, he was laid to rest at the Union-West End Cemetery in Allentown. On 21 October, The Allentown Democrat wrote:

DEATH OF TWO VETERANS OF THE CIVIL WAR. – Henry A. Haldeman [sic, Haltiman], formerly of this city, died at Wharton, New Jersey, on Saturday last, of apoplexy, aged 65 years. His remains were brought here for interment, and laid to rest by the side of his wife in Union cemetery on Monday last. He was a house carpenter by trade, and followed that occupation at his adopted home. He was a brave soldier, and served Uncle Sam during the entire period of the civil war as a member of  Co. B. Capt. E. B. Rhoads, 47th Penna. Regiment, Col. Good, during the latter part of his term as first Lieutenant of the company.

Reuben A. Hilliard, second Lieutenant of the same company, died recently at Mendocino, California, where he was in charge of a large lumbering camp.

When paying tribute to Henry A. Haltiman, Sr. in May 1905, The Iron Era wrote:

In reviewing the roll of honor this veteran record of a worthy citizen and gallant soldier, now deceased, was compiled.

Lieutenant Henry A. Haltiman enlisted as a private in Co.. I, First Pennsylvania Volunteers, a three months regiment, April 17, 1861.

He re-enlisted as a private in Co. B 47th Regt. Pa. Vols., Aug. 20, 1861, was promoted to sergeant and discharged Oct. 11, 1863 on account of re-enlistment. Enlisted in the same company and regiment Oct. 12, 1863, was promoted to first lieutenant and honorably discharged Sept. 18, 1864.

He then became First Lieutenant of Co. E, 47th Regt. Veteran Volunteers of Pennsylvania, Jan. 4, 1865, and was finally mustered out Dec. 25, 1865, having served from the very outcome of the Civil War to its close.

He was a respected citizen of Wharton where he died Oct. 17, 1903, and was buried at Allentown, Pa., among his kindred.

What Happened to the Mother of the Haltiman Brothers?

After surviving the American Civil War deaths of two of her sons, Margaretha Haldeman continued to live out her life in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. In December 1880, she filed for, and was subsequently awarded a U.S. Civil War Mother’s Pension, based on the death of her youngest son, Peter, who had never married and had died while in service to the nation. Her date of death and burial location have not yet been determined by researchers.

What Happened to the Wife and Children of Henry A. Haltiman, Sr.?

Henry A. Haltiman, Sr. was survived by the following children: Mrs. John Eddy, of Spencer, Massachusetts; Mrs. Fred Fox (Flora Estella Haltiman, aka “Minnie”), of Newton, New Jersey; and William Foley, Mrs. Charles McLaughlin (Mabel Haltiman), and Gertrude Haltiman, all of whom were residents of Wharton, New Jersey at the time of their father’s death.

Henry Haltiman’s daughter, Flora Estella, wed Frederick Fox in Port Oram on 4 February 1898. In 1900, she and her husband, Fred, resided with their seven-month-old daughter, Miriam, in Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey. By 1905, they were still residing in Newton Township, with their four-year-old daughter, “Flora.”

In 1901, Henry Haltiman’s daughter, Mabel, wed fellow New Jersey native Charles McLaughlin (1878-1940). By 1910, her husband was employed as a railroad laborer; their household included daughter Florence, who had been born circa 1902; son Charlie, who had been born circa 1903; and daughter Mabel, who had been born circa 1908. Their son, William, was then born circa 1911. Still living in Mount Olive as of 1920, their household now also included a housekeeper. Sadly, Mabel’s life was not destined to be a long one. She died in New Jersey in 1929, while still in her late forties, and was laid to rest at the Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Chester, Morris County.

Henry Haltiman’s daughter, Gertrude, died in Wharton, New Jersey on 19 September 1908. Like her father before her, her remains were returned to Allentown by train and were then interred at Allentown’s Union-West End Cemetery.

What Happened to the Wife and Daughter of William H. Haltiman

Following Second Lieutenant William H. Haltiman’s death from sunstroke in South Carolina, while he was serving on Reconstruction duty with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, his widow, Sarah, filed for a U.S. Civil War Widow’s Pension on 6 April 1866. That application was subsequently approved. Sometime before the end of the decade, she remarried. A guardian, Peter Moll, was then appointed to oversee and manage the U.S. Civil War Orphan’s Pension for her underage daughter, Ellen Emilia Haltiman, who was also shown on records of this period as “Ella.” That pension, for which an application was filed on 13 December 1876, was also awarded.

When Sarah Emilia (Nonnemacher) Haltiman (1861-1914) remarried, she became the wife of Franklin Hiskey (circa 1843-1884), who had served with William Haltiman’s brother, Henry and Peter, as a private in Company B of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War.

She then gave birth to three more children (Ella Haltiman’s Allentown-born half-brothers): William D. Hiskey (1869-1934); Charles H. Hiskey (1875-1962), who was born on 8 February 1875; and Harvey H. Hiskey (1878-1893), who was born on 2 September 1878. Four years later, she was widowed by her second husband. Afterward, she continued to reside in Allentown, but did so at the home of her son, William, where she died at the age of seventy-eight on 4 September 1914. She was buried at Allentown’s Union West End Cemetery. Her obituary made no mention of her first husband, William Haltiman, but did mention “Mrs. Amos Wright,” her daughter, Ella, from her first marriage.

William Haltiman’s only surviving child, Ellen Emilia Haltiman, who was known to family and friends as “Ella,” had wed Amos Wright (1850-1928) sometime around 1878 and had then relocated with him to Freemansburg, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Together, they welcomed the births of: Howard Asa, who was born on 15 June 1880; George, who was born in April 1882; Florance, who was born in September 1884; and Weston Haltiman Wright, who was born on the Fourth of July in 1889.

As she aged, Ella (Haltiman) Wright developed rheumatism and heart disease, which led to her death in Freemansburg on 15 April 1918. She was subsequently laid to rest at that community’s Trinity United Church of Christ Cemetery.

 

* To view more of the key U.S. Civil War Military and Pension records related to the Haltiman and Hiskey families, visit our Haltiman-Hiskey Family Collection.

 

Sources:

1. “A Fitting Tribute to a Dead Comrade.” Dover, New Jersey: The Iron Era, 26 May 1905.
2. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
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50. “The Gorge Bridge Train Wreck: The High Bridge Branch of the Central Railroad of New Jersey” (historical marker memorializing the location where Henry Haltiman, Jr. was killed). Hunterdon County, New Jersey: Department of Parks and Recreation, County of Hunterdon, New Jersey, retrieved online via the Historical Marker Database, 20 January 2024.
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