Alternate Spellings of Surname: Hebler, Hepler.

* Note: The George K. Hepler/Hebler (1841-1913) profiled in this biography mustered in for duty with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry’s C Company on 2 September 1861, and was not the George Heppler (circa 1838-1879), who mustered in for duty with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers’ G Company on 18 September 1864.

 

The son and younger brother of prosperous farmers who left their imprints on the rolling hills and meadows of Pennsylvania’s Mahantongo Valley during the mid-nineteenth century, George Kuder Hepler would come of age during one of the most turbulent periods of American History. His descendants would each later make their own marks as artists, builders, civic leaders, educators, and philanthropists in multiple communities of the United States’ Mid-Atlantic Region.

Family History

Born in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania on 21 August 1841, George Kuder Hepler was the oldest son of farmer Benjamin Wagner Hepler (1800-1869) and his second wife, Lydia (Kuder) Hepler (1820-1864), who were both natives of Upper Mahantongo Township in Schuylkill County.

George K. Hepler’s older half-siblings were: Daniel Schneider Hepler (1822-1908), who had been born on 23 October 1822, in Schuylkill County’s Eldred Township, as the oldest son of Benjamin Wagner Hepler and Benjamin’s first wife, Maria (Schneider) Hepler (1799-1840); Benjamin Schneider Hepler (1825-1904), who had been born in Eldred Township on 14 March 1825; Benneville Schneider Hepler (1827-1904), who had been born in Eldred Township on 1 June 1827; Samuel Schneider Hepler (1829-1912), who had been born in Eldred Township on 26 November 1829; Jacob Schneider Hepler (1832-1907), who had been born in Eldred Township on 4 June 1832; Elizabeth Hepler (1834-1904), who had been born in Schuylkill County on 19 November 1834; and Hanna Hepler (1838-1840), who had been born in Upper Mahantongo Township, Schuylkill County on 11 October 1838. Twin tragedies had then struck the Hepler family when Hanna died in Upper Mahantongo Township on 14 July 1840, just three months shy of her second birthday, followed by the death of Hepler family matriarch, Maria (Schneider) Hepler, who passed away at the age of forty in that same township on 16 July 1840.

His father having then married Lydia Kuder (1820-1864) in late 1840 or early 1841, George K. Hepler became the first child of that union. More children soon followed: John K. Hepler (1844-1891), who was born in Schuylkill County on 12 February 1844 and would later wed Emma J. Snyder (1849-1908), who was the youngest sister of 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Timothy M. Snyder (1840-1889); Nathan Kuder Hepler (1847-1921), who was born in Schuylkill County on 1 February 1847; Lavina Hepler (1850-1914), who was born in Schuylkill County on 27 March 1850; Josiah Kuder Hepler (1852-1930), who was born in Pitman, Schuylkill County on 31 December 1852; William Kuder Hepler (1855-1875), who was born in Schuylkill County on 6 January 1855; Catharine Hepler (1860-1906), who was born in the Mahantongo Valley in August 1860; Lydia Hepler (1861-1862), who was born in Schuylkill County on 23 October 1861, but died there at the age of six months on 10 May 1862; and Ellen Mary Hepler (1864-1951), who was born in Eldred Township on 22 October 1863.

The lives of the Heplers were filled with hard work as farmers, but were also prosperous ones. By 1860, family patriarch Benjamin Hepler had amassed real estate and personal property that was valued at nearly twelve thousand dollars (the equivalent of more than four hundred and thirty-six thousand U.S. dollars in 2025), while his sons, Benjamin and Benneville, operated their own, adjoining family farms situated on either side of their father’s farm near the village of Zimmermanstown (which was renamed as Pitman with the establishment of a United States Post Office branch there on 15 April 1850). By 1860, Benjamin and Benneville Hepler had amassed real estate and personal property valued, respectively, at one thousand one hundred and twenty-three dollars and two thousand eight hundred and forty-one dollars (the respective equivalents in 2025 of nearly forty-four thousand U.S. dollars and nearly one hundred and eleven thousand U.S. dollars).

That prosperity, however, did not insulate the Hepler family from tragedy. Six months after the birth of his youngest sister, George K. Hepler lost his mother, Lydia (Kuder) Hepler, when she died at the age of forty-three in Schuylkill County, on 24 April 1864. Following funeral services, she was laid to rest at Zions Evangelical Congregational Church Cemetery in Pitman.

His father was then married for the third time — to Elisabeth Christina (Montelius) Schneider (1806-1871). The widow of Johannes Matthias Schneider (1815-1863), who was also known as “John M. Snyder,” Elisabeth was also the mother of 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Timothy Matthias Snyder (1840-1889), who would fight side by side with George K. Hepler in the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry in tenures of military service that both began during the first months of the American Civil War.

American Civil War Service

On 19 August 1861, George K. Hepler became one of the early responders to President Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteers to help bring an end to the American Civil War when he enrolled for military service in the city of Sunbury in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania on 18 August 1861. He then officially mustered in for duty on 2 September at Camp Curtin in Dauphin County as a corporal with Company C of the newly-formed 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Also enrolling in Sunbury on 19 August 1861 and mustering in with Company C of the 47th Pennsylvania at Camp Curtin on 2 September was Timothy M. Snyder, who would later become George’s relative when two of their respective siblings married.

Military records at the time described Corporal George K. Hepler as a twenty-year-old blacksmith who lived in Schuylkill County and was five feet, nine inches tall with light hair, gray eyes and a light complexion. His company was commanded by Captain John Peter Shindel Gobin, an attorney from Sunbury who would later become Pennsylvania’s seventh lieutenant governor.

Following a brief training period in light infantry tactics, the men of Company C were then sent by train with their fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers to Washington, D.C. where, beginning 21 September, they were stationed roughly two miles from the White House at “Camp Kalorama” on the Kalorama Heights near Georgetown.

“It is a very fine location for a camp,” wrote Captain Gobin. “Good water is handy, while Rock Creek, which skirts one side of us, affords an excellent place for washing and bathing.”

Henry Wharton, a field musician from C Company penned the following update for the Sunbury American on 22 September:

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.

I am happy to inform you that our young townsman, Mr. William Hendricks, has received the appointment of Sergeant Major to our Regiment. He made his first appearance at guard mounting this morning; he looked well, done up his duties admirably, and, in time, will make an excellent officer. 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 for an occasional ‘pop’ at the enemy.

Then, on 24 September, the soldiers of Company C became part of the federal service when the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry officially mustered into the U.S. Army. On 27 September — a rainy day, 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 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 to the nation’s Deep 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 the 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 Gobin reported that the right wing of the 47th Pennsylvania (companies A, C, D, F and I) was ordered to picket duty after the left wing’s companies (B, G, K, E, and H) were forced to return to camp by Confederate troops:

I was ordered to take my company to Stewart’s house, drive the Rebels from it, and hold it at all hazards. It was about 3 o’clock in the morning, so waiting until it was just getting day, I marched 80 men up; but the Rebels had left after driving Capt. Kacy’s company [H] into the woods. I took possession of it, and stationed my men, and there we were for 24 hours with our hands on our rifles, and without closing an eye. I took ten men, and went out scouting within half a mile of the Rebels, but could not get a prisoner, and we did not dare fire on them first. Do not think I was rash, I merely obeyed orders, and had ten men with me who could whip a hundred; Brosius, Piers [sic, “Pyers”], Harp and McEwen were among the number. Every man in the company wanted to go. The Rebels did not attack us, and if they had they would have met with a warm reception, as I had my men posted in such a manner that I could have whipped a regiment. My men were all ready and anxious for a “fight.”

Captain Gobin had been referring to Brigadier-General James Ewell Brown (“J.E.B.”) Stuart, commanding officer of the Confederate Army of the Potomac (later known as the Army of Northern Virginia), under whose authority the 4th Virginia Cavalry (“Black Horse Cavalry”) fell. Stuart’s Fairfax County, Virginia home had been commandeered by the Union Army and used by the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers and other Union regiments as the base of operations for their picket lines in that area.

In his own letter of this period (on 13 October to the Sunbury American), Henry Wharton described the typical duties of the 47th Pennsylvanians, 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….

Wharton had also reported that all of the men were well; unfortunately, he was proven wrong.

A Sad, Unwanted Distinction

On 17 October 1861, death claimed the first member of the entire regiment — the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers’ little drummer boy, John Boulton Young. The pain of his loss was deeply and widely felt; Boulty (also spelled as “Boltie”) had become a favorite not just among the men of his own C Company, but of the entire 47th. After contracting Variola (smallpox), he was initially treated in camp, but was shipped back to the Kalorama eruptive fever hospital in Georgetown when it became evident that he needed more intensive care than could be provided at the 47th’s regimental hospital in Virginia.

According to Lewis Schmidt, author of A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers, Captain Gobin wrote to Boulty’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell Young of Sunbury, “It is with the most profound feelings of sorrow I ever experienced that I am compelled to announce to you the death of our Pet, and your son, Boulton.” After receiving the news of Boulty’s death, Gobin said that he had “immediately started for Georgetown, hoping the tidings would prove untrue.”

Alas! when I reached there I found that little form that I had so loved, prepared for the grave. Until a short time before he died the symptoms were very favorable, and every hope was entertained of his recovery… He was the life and light of our company, and his death has caused a blight and sadness to prevail, that only rude wheels of time can efface… Every attention was paid to him by the doctors and nurses, all being anxious to show their devotion to one so young. I have had him buried, and ordered a stone for his grave, and ere six months pass a handsome monument, the gift of Company C, will mark the spot where rests the idol of their hearts. I would have sent the body home but the nature of his disease prevented it. When we return, however, if we are so fortunate, the body will accompany us… Everything connected with Boulty shall by attended to, no matter what the cost is. His effects that can be safely sent home, together with his pay, will be forwarded to you.

According to Schmidt, Gobin added the following details in a separate letter to friends:

The doctor… told me it was the worst case he ever saw. It was the regular black, confluent small pox… I had him vaccinated at Harrisburg, but it would not take, and he must have got the disease from some of the old Rebel camps we visited, as their army is full of it. There is only one more case in our regiment, and he is off in the same hospital.

Boulty’s death even made the news nationally via Washington newspapers and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Just barely thirteen years old when he died, John Boulton Young was initially interred at the Military Asylum Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Established in August 1861 on the grounds of the Soldiers’ Home, the cemetery was easily seen from a neighboring cottage that was used by President Abraham Lincoln and his family as a place of respite. In letters sent home later that month, Captain Gobin asked Sunbury residents to donate blankets for the Sunbury Guards:

The government has supplied them with one blanket apiece, which, as the cold weather approaches, is not sufficient…. Some of my men have none, two of them, Theodore Kiehl and Robert McNeal, having given theirs to our lamented drummer boy when he was taken sick… Each can give at least one blanket, (no matter what color, although we would prefer dark,) and never miss it, while it would add to the comfort of the soldiers tenfold. Very frequently while on picket duty their overcoats and blankets are both saturated by the rain. They must then wait until they can dry them by the fire before they can take their rest.

On Friday morning, 22 October 1861, the 47th participated in a Divisional Review, described by Schmidt as massing “about 10,000 infantry, 1000 cavalry, and twenty pieces of artillery all in one big open field.”

By early November, Gobin was reporting that “the health of the Company and Regiment are in the best condition. No cases of small pox have appeared since the death of Boultie.” A few patients remained in the hospital with fever, including D. W. Kembel and another from Company C. Gobin reported that Kembel was “almost well.”

Half of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, including Company C, were next ordered to join parts of the 33rd Maine and 46th New York in extending the reach of their division’s picket lines, which they did successfully to “a half mile beyond Lewinsville,” according to Gobin. In another letter home on 17 November, Henry Wharton revealed 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 a morning divisional headquarters review overseen by Colonel Tilghman H. Good, followed by brigade and division drills all afternoon. According to Schmidt, “each man was supplied with ten blank cartridges…. After the reviews and inspections, Gen. Smith requested Gen. Brannan to inform Col. Good that the 47th was the best regiment in the whole division.” As a reward for the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers’ outstanding performance during this review and in preparation for the even bigger adventures yet to come, Brigadier-General John Milton Brannan directed his staff to ensure that new Springfield rifles were obtained and distributed to every member of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers.

On 30 November 1861, the Sunbury American announced that Captain Gobin had helped multiple Sunbury Guardsmen to send a total of nine hundred dollars from their collective pay back home to their families and friends in Pennsylvania.

Shortly before Christmas, the newspaper reported that Regimental Quartermaster James Van Dyke, who was enjoying an approved furlough at home in Sunbury, had procured “various articles of comfort, for the inner as well as the outer man.” Upon his return to camp, many of the 47th Pennsylvanians of German heritage were pleasantly surprised to learn that the well-liked former sheriff of Sunbury had thoughtfully brought a sizable supply of sauerkraut with him. The German equivalent of “comfort food,” this favored treat warmed stomachs and lifted more than a few spirits that first cold winter away from loved ones.

1862

Having been 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 transported by train to Alexandria, Virginia, where they boarded the steamship City of Richmond and subsequently sailed the Potomac River to the Washington Arsenal. After disembarking there, they were reequipped with weapons and ammunition before being marched off again for dinner and rest at the Soldiers’ Retreat in Washington, D.C.

The next afternoon, the 47th Pennsylvanians hopped aboard a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad train 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.

Ferried to the big steamship by smaller steamers during the afternoon of 27 January 1862, with the officers boarding last, they sailed away for the Deep South at 4 p.m., per the direction of Brigadier-General Brannan. 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, Corporal George Kuder Hepler arrived in Key West with his 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 there 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.

But while there were pleasant moments, there were also many episodes of frustration and heartache. The time here for the 47th was made more difficult by the presence of typhoid fever and other tropical diseases, as well as the always likely dysentery from soldiers living in close, unsanitary conditions.

Next ordered to Hilton Head, South Carolina from mid-June through July, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers camped near Fort Walker before relocating to the Beaufort District in the United States Army’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 47th Pennsylvanians 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).

Victory and First Blood

Sent on a return expedition to Florida as September 1862 waned, Corporal George Kuder Hepler and his fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers saw their first truly intense moments of military service when their respective companies participated with 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 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. According to Henry Wharton:

On the day following our occupation of these works the guns were dismounted and removed on board the steamer Neptune, together with the shot and shell, and removed to Hilton Head. The powder was all used in destroying the batteries.

On Saturday, 4 October 1862, Brigadier-General Brannan directed several officers to order their subordinates to prepare rations and ammunition for a new expedition that would take them roughly twenty miles upriver to Jacksonville. (A sophisticated hub of cultural and commercial activities with a racially diverse population of slightly more than two thousand residents, the city had repeatedly changed hands between the Union and Confederacy until its occupation by Union forces on 12 March 1862.) Among the Union soldiers selected for this mission were 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers from Company C, Company E and Company K.

One of the first groups to depart — Company C of the 47th Pennsylvania — did so that Saturday as part of a small force made up of infantrymen aboard gunboats, the latter of which were commanded by Captain Charles E. Steedman. Their mission was to destroy all Confederate vessels they encountered in order to hamper the movement of enemy troops throughout the region. Upon arrival in Jacksonville later that same day, the infantrymen were charged by Brannan with setting fire to the office of that city’s Southern Rights newspaper.

Before that action was taken, however, C Company’s Captain Gobin and his subordinate, Henry Wharton, who had both been employed by the Sunbury American newspaper in Sunbury, Pennsylvania prior to the war, salvaged the pro-Confederacy publication’s printing press so that Wharton could more efficiently produce the regimental newspaper he had launched while the 47th Pennsylvania was stationed at Fort Taylor in Florida. That salvage operation also gave Wharton and several of his C Company comrades the opportunity to take a parting, verbal “shot” at Confederate sympathizers in the region by publishing a snarky, final edition of the paper. Dated 4 October 1862, its text included the following:

On account of the presence of distinguished visitors, the election is indefinitely postponed. A few lines have been taken from the matter of this page to make room for explanation.

The form from which we strike off a few copies, is the same taken from Secession Printing Office at Jacksonville, Fla., on the expedition of Gen. J.M. Brannan to the St. John’s River.

Wishing to know whether secesh type would print under Federal rule, we concluded to bring along with us the press and fixtures; to our surprise and gratification we find the machine prints almost alone, satisfying us that it rejoices at the change. We have no doubt it will continue the good spirit already manifested and will make itself generally useful under the kind treatment already received, in printing various blanks required by the Post. It is possible it may get patriotic and issue a Constitutional Union Paper.

Beaufort, S.C. Oct. 17, 1862
Notice

The editor of this paper is absent from town for a few days on urgent business in the interior. It is therefore announced that the publication of this Paper will hereafter be weekly suspended as it has been heretofore, weakly continued.

The taking of our battery after a loss of courage, but no blood, and the presence of the yankee [sic] fleet, and the fearful proximity of Gen. Brannan and his forces, render the Southern Rights precarious.

The friends of Col. Hopkins are informed that the Colonel declines to run as a candidate for the office of Senator, notwithstanding the good time he made running from St. John’s Bluff.

The original newspaper had also included the announcement of a twenty-five dollar reward for the capture of Ned, a twenty-eight-year-old Black man who had escaped slavery near Jacksonville. On Sunday, 5 October, Brannan and his detachment sailed away for Jacksonville at 6:30 a.m. Per Wharton, the weekend’s events unfolded as follows:

As soon as we had got possession of the Bluff, Capt. STEEDMAN and his gunboats went to Jacksonville for the purpose of destroying all boats and intercepting the passage of the rebel troops across the river, and on the 5th Gen. BRANNAN also went up to Jacksonville in the steamer Ben Deford, with a force of 785 infantry, and occupied the town. On either side of the river were considerable crops of grain, which would have been destroyed or removed, but this was found impracticable for want of means of transportation. At Yellow Bluff we found that the rebels had a position in readiness to secure seven heavy guns, which they appeared to have lately evacuated, Jacksonville we found to be nearly deserted, there being only a few old men, women, and children in the town, soon after our arrival, however, while establishing our picket line, a few cavalry appeared on the outskirts, but they quickly left again. The few inhabitants were in a wretched condition, almost destitute of food, and Gen. BRANNAN, at their request, brought a large number up to Hilton Head to save them from starvation, together with 276 negroes — men, women, and children, who had sought our protection.

Receiving word soon after his arrival at Jacksonville that “Rebel steamers were secreted in the creeks up the river,” Brigadier-General Brannan immediately ordered Captain Charles Yard of the 47th Pennsylvania’s Company E to take a detachment of one hundred men from his own company and those of the 47th’s Company K, and board the steamer Darlington “with two 24-pounder light howitzers and a crew of 25 men.” All would be under the command of Lt. Williams of the U.S. Navy, who would command the “convoy of gunboats to cut them out.”

Also according to Schmidt, the small force steamed upriver roughly one to two hundred miles “to Lake Beresford, where they then assisted in capturing the [sixty-eight-ton] steamer Governor Milton,” which had been renamed in honor of Florida’s governor after having been “formerly known as the George M. Bird [under its previous owners] a New England family named ‘Swift’, who were timber cutters and used it as a tug boat to tow rafts loaded with live oak to the lumber market.” After the boiler on the Governor Milton was repaired, it was moved back down the river and placed safely behind Union Army lines. Meanwhile, Brigadier-General and his men had begun making their way back to Saint John’s Bluff.

Integration of the Regiment

While all of that action was unfolding, other members of the 47th Pennsylvania, who had remained at their duty station back in South Carolina, were making history by processing the enlistments on 5 and 15 October 1862 of several Black men who had escaped chattel enslavement from plantations near Beaufort and Hilton Head. Among the formerly enslaved men who enlisted at this time were Bristor Gethers, Abraham Jassum and Edward Jassum.

As that integration of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was taking place in Beaufort, South Carolina, Brigadier-General Brannan’s expeditionary force was winding down its activities in Duval County, Florida. According to a letter penned by Private William Brecht of the 47th Pennsylvania’s K Company, once the artillery pieces were carried away from Saint John’s Bluff by Brannan’s troops, Brannan ordered Captain Henry D. Woodruff of the 47th’s D Company to take his company as well men from Company F and Company I to “blow up the fort, which was done with the most terrific explosions, filling the air for a great distance with fragments of timber and sand.”

During this expedition, C Company Captain Gobin “contracted intermittent fever during the expedition and was hospitalized as soon as he returned” to Hilton Head, according to Schmidt. Fortunately, he survived and was able to return to active duty on 20 October. Crediting his recovery to “good nursing and an abundance of quinine,” he resumed leadership of the 47th Pennsylvania’s C Company, which had returned to South Carolina nine days earlier.

That day [20 October] also proved to be important for the regiment because The New York Times published a letter that had been penned six days earlier by 47th Pennsylvanian Henry Wharton, in which he recapped the events of the St. John’s Bluff Expedition and subsequent successes by Brigadier-General Brannan’s troops. Among the remarkable details included by Wharton was this description of the 12 October 1862 dedication of the First African Baptist Church on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina by Union Major-General Ormsby Mitchel, commander of the U.S. Army’s 10th Corps and Department of the South — during which Mitchel outlined his plans for the creation of Mitchelville — the first self-governed town created for formerly enslaved people:

On Sunday the negro church at Hilton Head was dedicated to Divine service. Gen. HUNTER authorized the construction of the building, and before he left the work was nearly finished. The situation of the church is good; the appearance is neat, though plain as a Quaker meeting-house, and in all respects the building meets the requirements of the case. Three hundred persons may be comfortably seated. The Pastor is a black man from Savannah, named ABRAM MURCHISON, who has been in due form ordained a Baptist minister by the army Chaplains, and installed in office. ABRAM, though able to read and write, is not polished in his manners; but what he lacks in culture is more than compensated in earnest eloquence, a vigorous and clear expression of his views, deep piety, and a powerful influence over the colored people. The dedication exercises were interesting in themselves, being conducted by Rev. H.N. HUDSON, Chaplain of the New-York Volunteer Engineer Regiment, and elocutionist of celebrity. Gen. MITCHEL was present, with the members of this Staff, and, by invitation, addressed the audience. His remarks were pointed, impressive and instructive. They were listened to attentively, and indorsed [sic] with nods of approbation from young and old. I do not think that a portion of the TIMES could be better filled than with this frank and unmistakable expression of the Gen. MITCHEL’s views on the negro question. He said:

‘I have been requested to say a few words to you by your teacher, who is a good man. Any good man I like, regardless of color. I respect him as much whether he is black or white. If he be a bad man I shall treat him as such, whether he is white or black. Most of you know that I have talked to all my soldiers since I came here, and now I am talking to you who are another set of soldiers, who have not yet arms in their hands, but are under my protection and guidance, and in whom I take interest. With your past life I fully sympathize. I know and understand it all. I was reared in the midst of Slavery, born in Kentucky, and know all about it. While there are many things connected with it that are pleasant, to which you will testify, there are a vast many other things which are not pleasant, and I think that God intends all men shall be free, because he intends that all men shall serve him with their whole heart. I think this is true. I am not certain. I don’t know. But in any condition we can all love and serve God. That privilege cannot be taken away. I care not how savage and wicked the master may be, he cannot prevent you from praying in the midst of the night, and God hears and answers the prayer of all, slave or free.

But it seems to me that there is a new time coming for you colored people; a better day is dawning for you oppressed and down-trodden blacks. I don’t know that this is true, but I hope that the door is being opened for your deliverance. And now, how deeply you should ponder these words. If now you are unwilling to help yourselves nobody will be willing to help you. You must trust yourselves to the guidance of those who have had better opportunities and have acquired superior wisdom, if you would be carried through this crisis successfully. And I believe the good God will bless your efforts, and lift you up to a higher level than you have yet occupied, so that you and your children may become educated and industrious citizens. You must organize yourselves into families. Husbands must love their wives and children, clinging to them and turning from all others, and feeling that their highest object in life, next to serving the good God, is to do all they can for their families, working for them continually.

Good colored friends, you have a great work to do, and you are in a position of responsibility. The whole North, all the people in the Free States, are looking at you and the experiment now tried on your behalf with the deepest interest. This experiment is to give you freedom, position, home and your own families — wives, property, your own soil. You shall till and cultivate your own crops; you shall gather and sell the products of your industry for your own benefit; you shall own your own savings, and you shall be able to feel that God is prospering you from day to day and from year to year, and raising you to a higher level of goodness, religion and a nobler life.

Supposing you fail down here; that will be an end to the whole matter. It is like attaching a cable to a stranded vessel, and all the strength that can be mustered is put upon this rope to haul her off. If this only rope breaks the vessel is lost. God help you all and help us all to help you. If you are idle, vicious, indolent and negligent, you will fail and your last hope is gone; if you are not faithful you rivet eternally the fetters upon those who to-day are fastened down by fetters and suffer by the driver’s goad. You have in your hands the rescuing of those sufferers over whose sorrows you mourn continually. If you fail, what a dreadful responsibility it will be when you come to die to feel that the only great opportunity you had for serving yourselves and your oppressed race was allowed to slip.

And you, women, you must be careful of your children. You must teach them to be industrious, cleanly, obedient, and dutiful at all times. You must keep your houses neat and tidy, working all day, if necessary, to have them in the best possible condition, always thinking and contriving to make them cleaner and more comfortable. When your husband comes home from the labors and fatigues of the day, always have something good and nice for his supper, and speak kindly to him, for these little acts of love and attention will bring you happiness and joy.

And when you men go out to work, you must labor with diligence and zeal. It seems to me, had I the stimulus to work that you have that I could labor like a giant. Now you know who I am. My first duty here is to deal justly; second, to love mercy, and third, to walk humbly. First, justly—I shall endeavor to get you to do your duty faithfully. If you do I shall reward you; and if you refuse, then what comes next? Why, the wicked must be punished and made to do right. I will take the bad man by the throat and force him to his duty. I do not mean that I will take hold of him with my own hands, but with the strong arm of military power. Now do we understand each other? I am working for you already. I am told by your Superintendent that a gang of fifty men are building your houses at the rate of six a day. These houses are to make you more comfortable. You are to have a patch of ground, which you can call your own, to raise your own garden truck, and you may work for the Government for good wages. And you women must make your houses shine; you must plaster them and whitewash them, and gradually get furniture in your cabins, and a cooking-stove. I have arranged in such a way that you will get your clothing cheaper and better than before, and you are to have a school for your children. And you must have flowers in your gardens and blossoms before your doors. You will see in a little while how much happier you will be made. Are you not willing to work for this? Yes, God helping, you will all work. This is only for yourselves; but if you are successful, this plan will go all through the country, and we will have answered the question that has puzzled all good, thinking men in the world for one hundred years. They have asked, ‘What will you do with the black man after liberating him?’ We will show them what we will do. We will make him a useful, industrious citizen — give him the earnings of the sweat of his brow, and as a man, we will give him what the Lord ordained him to have.

I shall watch everything closely respecting this experiment. It is something to be permanent — more than for a day, more than for a year. Upon you depends whether this mighty result shall be worked out, and the day of jubilee come to God’s ransomed people.’

Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina

Later that same month, the 47th Pennsylvania’s fight to preserve America’s Union while also helping to eradicate slavery across the Deep South went on. 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, including Privates John Bartlow and Samuel Billington of Company C.

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, who had died from yellow fever at the Union Army’s hospital at Hilton Head on 30 October.

1863

Having been ordered back to Key West on 15 November 1862, Corporal George Kuder Hepler and his 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. Among those choosing to reenlist during this time was Corporal George Kuder Hepler, who was honorably discharged at Fort Taylor in Key West, Florida — per General Orders, No. 191 on 11 October 1863, in preparation for his re-enlistment there at the same rank (corporal), with the same company and regiment (Company C, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry) the next day — on 12 October 1863. Also honorably discharged and re-enrolled with Company C of the 47th Pennsylvania on those same dates was Private Timothy M. Snyder.

As a result, both men earned the coveted title of “Veteran Volunteer.”

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. Boarding yet another steamer — the Charles Thomas — on 25 February 1864, Corporal George Kuder Hepler and 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 lined up and marched toward 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 volley of fire unleashed during the Battle of Sabine Cross Roads (also known as the Battle of Mansfield due to its proximity to the town of Mansfield). The fighting waned only when darkness fell. The exhausted, but uninjured collapsed beside the gravely wounded. After midnight, the surviving Union troops withdrew 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 who was the son of Zachary Taylor, former president of the United States), the brutal fighting of the Battle of Pleasant Hill 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.

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.

Meanwhile, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were making their new home at Grand Ecore, after having retreated there following the Battle of Pleasant Hill. Stationed there for eleven days, they were engaged yet again in the hard labor of strengthening regimental and brigade fortifications. They then headed back to Natchitoches Parish, beginning 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 Brigadier-General William Emory, the 47th Pennsylvania 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’s twenty-pound Parrott guns and raking fire from enemy troops situated near a bayou and on a bluff, 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 Pennsylvanians 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.

Continuing on, the healthy 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. In a new letter penned around this same time (which ran in the 18 June 1864 edition of the Sunbury American), Henry Wharton reported that:

Company C, on last Saturday [21 May 1864] was detailed by the General in command of the Division to take one hundred and eighty-seven prisoners (rebs) to New Orleans. This they done [sic] satisfactorily and returned yesterday [28 May 1864] to their regiment, ready for duty. While in the City some of the boys made Captain Gobin quite a handsome present, to show their appreciation of him as an officer gentleman. The boys are well.

The full 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. Ironically, on the Fourth of July — “Independence Day” — the men of Company C 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.

On 7 July 1864, Corporal George Kuder Hepler and his fellow C Company soldiers boarded the U.S. Steamer McClellan and sailed out of the harbor at New Orleans, along with the members of Companies A, D, E, F, H, and I. (Meanwhile, the remaining men from Companies B, G and K remained behind, awaiting transport. 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, 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.

Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign

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

On 1 September 1864, First Lieutenant Daniel Oyster was commissioned as captain of Company C. William Hendricks was promoted from second to first lieutenant, Sergeant Christian S. Beard was promoted to second lieutenant, Sergeant William Fry was promoted to the rank of first sergeant, and Private John Bartlow was promoted to the rank of sergeant. Private Timothy M. Snyder was also promoted to the rank of corporal that same day.

From 3-4 September, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers then fought in the Battle of Berryville, and engaged in related post-battle skirmishes with the enemy over subsequent days. On one of those days (5 September 1864), Captain Oyster and a subordinate, Private David Sloan, were wounded at Berryville.

On 18 September, Color-Sergeant Benjamin Walls, the oldest member of the entire regiment, was mustered out upon expiration of his three-year term of service — despite his request that he continued to be allowed to continue his service to the nation. In addition, Privates D. W. and Isaac Kemble, David S. Beidler, R. W. Druckemiller, Charles Harp, John H. Heim, former POW Conrad Holman, George Miller, William Pfeil, William Plant, and Alex Ruffaner also mustered out the same day upon expiration of their respective service terms.

Battles of Opequan and Fisher’s Hill, September 1864

Together with other regiments under the command of Union Major-General Sheridan and Brigadier-General William H. Emory, commander of the 19th Corps (XIX Corps), the members of Company C and their fellow 47th Pennsylvanians helped to inflict heavy casualties on Lieutenant-General Jubal Early’s Confederate forces during the Battle of Opequan (also spelled as “Opequon” and referred to as “Third Winchester”). The battle is still considered by many historians to be one of the most important during Sheridan’s 1864 campaign; 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 (XIX Corps). 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. Finally reaching the Opequan Creek, Sheridan’s men came face to face with Early’s Confederate Army.

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 General William 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 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 two thousand five hundred wounded behind, the Rebels retreated to Fisher’s Hill, eight miles south of Winchester (21-22 September), and then to Waynesboro, following a successful early morning flanking attack by Sheridan’s Union men which outnumbered Early’s three to one. Afterward, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were sent out on skirmishing parties before making camp at Cedar Creek.

Moving forward, the surviving members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers would continue to distinguish themselves in battle, but they would do so without two of their senior and most respected commanders: Colonel Tilghman H. Good and Good’s second in command, Lieutenant-Colonel George Alexander, who mustered out 23-24 September upon the expiration of their respective terms of service. Fortunately, they were replaced with leaders who were equally respected for their front-line experience and temperament, including Major John Peter Shindel Gobin, formerly of the 47th’s Company C, who had been promoted up through the regimental staff and would be promoted again on 4 November to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and regimental commanding officer.

Battle of Cedar Creek

It was also 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 C Company Privates Jasper B. Gardner and Theodore Kiehl, who were both killed in action, and Corporal George Kuder Hepler, who had sustained a slight wound to his head. While many of the Union wounded were treated by their respective regimental surgeons, many of the most seriously hurt were transported by horse-drawn army ambulances to the Sheridan Field Hospital.

In recounting the events of that terrible day in a letter later sent to the Sunbury American, Corporal Henry Wharton wrote, “This victory was, to us, of company C, dearly brought, and will bring with it sorrow to more than one in Sunbury.” Deeply moved by his own combat experience, C Company Private H. B. Robinson later wrote a poem to express his thoughts:

“…. Then Oyster grasped the colors — the balls flew thick around
One of which was fairly aimed and brought him to the ground
The colors did not fall but were held high up in the air
‘Don’t give up the colors’ was Oyster’s parting word
‘I’d rather see them burned’ said he ‘Than possessed by rebel horde’
The men who heard the captain make this last request
Resolved to fight beneath its fold if needs be sink to rest….”

Soldiering On

Ordered to move from their encampment near Cedar Creek, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers who were physically able to do so marched to Camp Russell, a newly-erected, temporary Union Army installation that was located south of Winchester, just west of Stephens City, on grounds that were adjacent to the Opequon Creek. Housed here from November through 20 December 1864, they remained attached to the U.S. Army of the Shenandoah.

Five days before Christmas, the 47th Pennsylvanians were on the move again — this time, marching through a snowstorm to reach Camp Fairview, which was located just outside of Charlestown, West Virginia. Following their arrival, they were assigned to guard and outpost duties.

1865 -1866

Stationed at Camp Fairview, outside of Charlestown, West Virginia from late December 1864 through early April 1865, Corporal George Kuder Hepler and other members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry continued to help fulfill the directive of Major-General Sheridan that the Army of the Shenandoah search out and eliminate the ongoing threat posed by Confederate States guerrilla soldiers who had been attacking federal troops, railroad systems and supply lines throughout Virginia and West Virginia.

This was not “easy duty” as some historians and Civil War enthusiasts have claimed but critically important because it kept vital supply lines open for the Union Army, as a whole, as it battled to finally bring the American Civil War to a close with the surrender of General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army at Appomattox Court House on 9 April 1865. In point of fact, it proved to be a dangerous time for the regiment, as evidenced by regimental casualty reports, which noted that several members of the 47th Pennsylvania were wounded or killed by Confederate guerrillas.

Assigned in February 1865 to the Provisional Division of the 2nd Brigade, Army of the Shenandoah, the regiment was in an “improved condition and general good health,” according to a report penned at the end of that month by Regimental Chaplain William DeWitt Clinton Rodrock to his superiors.

A large influx of recruits has materially increased our numbers; making our present aggregate 954 men, including 35 commissioned officers.

Whilst in a moral and religious point of view there is still a wide margin for amendment and improvement; it is nevertheless gratifying to state that all practicable and available means are employed for the promotion of the spiritual and physical welfare of the command.

The next month, Chaplain Rodrock described the regiment’s condition as “favorable and improved,” adding:

In a military sense it has greatly improved in efficiency and strength. By daily drill and a constant accession of recruits, these desirable objects have been attained. The entire strength of the Reg. rank and file is now 1019 men.

Its sanitary condition is all that can be desired. But 26 are on the sick list, and these are only transient cases. We have now our full number of Surgeons, – all efficient and faithful officers.

We have lost none by natural death. Two of our men were wounded by guerillas, while on duty at their Post. From the effects of which one died on the same day of the sad occurrence. He was buried yesterday with appropriate ceremonies. All honor to the heroic dead.

Sometime around this period, C Company Captain Daniel Oyster was authorized to take furlough; taking time out from visiting his family in Sunbury, he picked up the regiment’s Second State Colors — a replacement for the regiment’s very tattered, original battle flag. He later presented it to the regiment when he returned to duty.

Another New Mission, Another March

According to The Lehigh Register, as the end of March 1865 loomed, “The command was ordered to proceed up the valley to intercept the enemy’s troops, should any succeed in making their escape in that direction.” By 4 April 1865, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers had made their way back to Winchester, Virginia and were headed for Kernstown. Five days later, they received word that Lee surrendered the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant.

In a letter penned to the Sunbury American on 12 April 1864, 47th Pennsylvanian Henry Wharton, described the celebration that took place, adding that Union Army operations in Virginia were still continuing in order to ensure that the Confederate surrender would hold:

Letter from the Sunbury Guards
CAMP NEAR SUMMIT POINT, Va.,
April 12, 1865

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

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

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

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

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

Yours Fraternally,
H. D. W.

Two days later, that fragile peace was shattered when a Confederate loyalist fired the bullet that ended the life of President Abraham Lincoln. On 16 April 1865, U.S. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant issued General Orders, No. 66, confirming that President Abraham Lincoln had been murdered and informing all Union Army regiments about changes to their duties, effective immediately, in the wake of President Lincoln’s assassination. Those orders also explained to Union soldiers what the appropriate procedures were for mourning the president:

The distressing duty has devolved upon the Secretary of War to announce to the armies of the United States, that at twenty-two minutes after 7 o’clock, on the morning of Saturday, the 15th day of April, 1865, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, died of a mortal wound inflicted upon him by an assassin….

The Headquarters of every Department, Post, Station, Fort, and Arsenal will be draped in mourning for thirty days, and appropriate funeral honors will be paid by every Army, and in every Department, and at every Military Post, and at the Military Academy at West Point, to the memory of the late illustrious Chief Magistrate of the Nation and Commander-in-Chief of its Armies. 

Lieutenant-General Grant will give the necessary instructions for carrying this order into effect….

On the day after the receipt of this order at the Headquarters of each Military Division, Department, Army, Post, Station, Fort, and Arsenal and at the Military Academy at West Point the troops and cadets will be paraded at 10 o’clock a. m. and the order read to them, after which all labors and operations for the day will cease and be suspended as far as practicable in a state of war.

The national flag will be displayed at half-staff. 

At dawn of day thirteen guns will be fired, and afterwards at intervals of thirty minutes between the rising and setting sun a single gun, and at the close of the day a national salute of thirty-six guns.

The officers of the Armies of the United States will wear the badge of mourning on the left arm and on their swords and the colors of their commands and regiments will be put in mourning for the period of six months.

Reassigned to defend the nation’s capital, Corporal George Kuder Hepler and his fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were stationed just outside of Washington, D.C., prepared to intercept any former Confederate soldiers or their sympathizing followers bent on wreaking more havoc in the nation’s capital.

Prohibited from attending President Lincoln’s funeral in Washington, D.C., because they were expected to remain on duty, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers joined with other Union troops in mourning him during a special, separate memorial service conducted for their brigade that same day. Officiated by the 47th Pennsylvania’s Regimental Chaplain, the service enabled the men to voice their grief at losing their beloved former leader. Chaplain Rodrock later expressed the feelings of many 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers as he described Lincoln’s assassination as “a crime against God, against the Nation, against humanity and against liberty” and “the madness of Treason and murder!” Written as part of a report to his superiors on 30 April 1865, he added, “We have great duties in this crisis. And the first is to forget selfishness and passion and party, and look to the salvation of the Country.”

Letters penned by other 47th Pennsylvanians to family and friends back home during this period documented that C Company Drummer Samuel Hunter Pyers was given the honor of guarding the late president’s funeral train while other members of the regiment were involved in guarding the key conspirators in Lincoln’s assassination during the early days of their confinement in Washington, D.C. During this phase of duty, the majority of 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were stationed at Camp Brightwood in Washington, D.C.

On 11 May 1865, the 47th Pennsylvania’s First State Color was retired and replaced with the regiment’s Second State Color. Attached to Dwight’s Division, 2nd Brigade, U.S. Department of Washington’s 22nd Corps, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers next flexed their muscles in an impressive show of the Union Army’s power and indomitable spirit during the Union’s Grand Review of the National Armies, which was conducted in Washington, D.C. on 23 May 1865, under the watchful eyes of President Lincoln’s successor, President Andrew Johnson, and Lieutenant-General Grant.

Just over a week later, Corporal George Kuder Hepler was honorably discharged from the regiment at Camp Brightwood, on 1 June 1865.

Return to Civilian Life

Following his honorable discharge from the military, George K. Hepler returned home to his family in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. Sometime around this same time, his father, Benjamin Hepler, wed Elisabeth Christina (Montelius) Schneider (1806-1871). The mother of fellow 47th Pennsylvania veteran Timothy Matthias Snyder (1840-1889), Elisabeth  became George’s stepmother, which officially made George Hepler and Tim Snyder stepbrothers by marriage.

George K. Hepler then chose to begin his own family line in 1866 by marrying Precilla Fetter (1850-1914), who was a daughter of Northumberland County native Isaac Hartman Fetter (1810-1894) and Pennsylvanian Catharina (Kehler) Fetter (1812-1892). By early July of 1870, he was residing with his new bride in Upper Mahantongo, Eldred Township, Schuylkill County, where he was employed as a blacksmith who had already amassed real estate and personal property valued at one thousand five hundred dollars (the equivalent of roughly thirty-seven thousand U.S. dollars in 2025).

Together, they then welcomed the births of: Jane Margaret Heppler (1870-1957), who was born in Eldred Township, Schuylkill County in October 1870, was known to family and friends as “Jennie” and later wed John Franklin Otto (1870-1964); William Hepler (1875-1948), who was born in Eldred Township on 10 December 1875 and later wed Priscilla Osgood, who was a daughter of John and Mary Osgood; and Frank Fetter Hepler (1881-1968) who was born in Pitman, Eldred Township on 21 September 1881 and later settled in Atlantic City, New Jersey and wed Phoebe Caroline Salmon.

In 1883, George K. Hepler relocated to Mount Carmel in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, where he resided for the remainder of his life. Still living in Mount Carmel by the time that the federal government’s special veterans’ census was conducted there in June 1890, he was then documented as a resident of South Chestnut Street in Mount Carmel in 1900. Employed as a day laborer at that time, he lived there with his wife and son, William, a miner, and Retta Shaffer, a fourteen-year-old servant.

By mid-April 1910, however, he and his wife were “empty nesters” who resided alone in their home at 140 Chestnut Street in Mount Carmel’s Third Ward. Sixty-eight years old at that time, he was still working as a timberman in a coal mine, according to a federal census enumerator, who also noted that he and his wife had given birth to five children, only three of whom were still alive at that time.

Death and Interment

Ailing with liver disease during his final years, George Kuder Hepler was admitted to the State Hospital in Fountain Springs, Schuylkill County for gallbladder surgery in early September 1913. He died there from toxemia at the age of seventy-two, on 10 September 1913. Following funeral services, he was laid to rest at at the same cemetery where his mother had been buried (Zions Evangelical Congregational Church Cemetery in Pitman).

What Happened to the Widow and children of George Kuder Hepler?

George Kuder Hepler’s widow, Precilla (Fetter) Hepler, left Mount Carmel after George’s passing, and relocated to the Borough of Bound Brook in Somserset County, New Jersey, where she resided with her daughter, Jane Margaret (Hepler) Otto and her family. Roughly five months later, Precilla was also gone. Following her passing at the age of sixty-four at her daughter’s home on 4 February 1914, Jane’s remains were returned to Schuylkill County for interment beside her husband at the Zions Evangelical Congregational Church Cemetery in Pitman.

Married to Priscilla Osgood in Mount Carmel, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania on 25 February 1898, George K. Hepler’s son, William F. Hepler, was subsequently divorced from her. Diagnosed with cardiovascular disease in early November of 1942, he then suffered a coronary thrombosis on 5 June 1948, and was admitted to the Lancaster County Hospital in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, but died there the next morning. His remains were subsequently returned to Pennsylvania for burial in the same plot at the same cemetery where his parents were buried (Zions Evangelical Congregational Church Cemetery in Pitman).

Following her marriage to John Franklin Otto (1870-1964), George K. Hepler’s daughter, Jane Margaret Hepler (1870-1957), who was known to family and friends as “Jennie,” settled with her husband in Mount Carmel. Together, they welcomed the births there of: Mahlon Thurman Otto (1894-1953), who was born on 28 November 1894, wed Elsie Wirtz (TBD-TBD) and became comptroller of the Eastern Division of the Kraft Foods Company; and George Bodo Otto (1897-1965), who was born on 29 September 1897, later wed Helen Plummer Young (1899-1972) and became a chemist and executive at DuPont in Delaware. By 1900, Jennie (Hepler) Otto had relocated with her husband and sons to the city of Philadelphia, where her husband was employed as a railroad conductor.

By 1910, the quartet lived on East Union Street in the Borough of Bound Brook in Bridgewater Township, Somerset County, New Jersey. Still residing together in 1930, Jennie’s husband was still working as a railroad conductor while her sons, Mahlon and George, were respectively employed as a slate mine foreman and a chemist at a chemical factory — a household grouping that continued until her sons were married, leaving Jennie and her husband as “empty nesters” who periodically took in boarders as they aged, according to federal census records for 1930 and 1940. By the spring of 1950, however, life had changed dramatically for the Otto family. Diagnosed as mentally ill, Jennie (Hepler) Otto had been hospitalized at the Bellemead Sanitarium — a private facility located in Montgomery Township, Somerset County. She subsequently died in her mid-eighties in Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey, on 27 December 1957, and was laid to rest at Bound Brook Cemetery in Bound Brook.

After relocating to Atlantic City, New Jersey sometime around the turn of the century, George K. Hepler’s son, Frank Fetter Hepler, embarked upon a career in the construction industry. On 23 December 1905, he wed Phoebe Caroline Salmon at the United Methodist Church in Atlantic City on 23 December 1905. A resident of Atlantic City, she was a daughter of Lewis H. Salmon and Emily M. (Gardner) Salmon, and was known to family and friends as “Carrie.” Together, they welcomed the births of: Emily Salmon Hepler (1906-2004), who was born in Atlantic City on 21 October 1906 and grew up to become a talented harpist and mezzo soprano, who graduated from the renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, before marrying educator Samuel Gillingham, who became a prominent civic leader as the superintendent of Atlantic City’s public school system; and Esther C. Hepler (1909-2000), who was born in Atlantic City and grew up to become a talented painter, who graduated from the respected School of Industrial Art in Philadelphia, before marrying Edward Joseph Inglesby, who became a prominent attorney in New Jersey.

By September 1918, Frank F. Hepler was managing the Somers Lumber Company in Atlantic City. In 1920, he resided in the city of Ventnor in Atlantic County, New Jersey, where he was employed as a builder. Living with him were his wife, Carrie, and their daughters, Esther and Emily.  the latter of whom was a private music teacher working from home.

Still residing with his wife and two daughters in the city of Ventnor in 1930, Frank F. Hepler was also still employed as a building contractor. Despite their nation’s ongoing economic struggles during the Great Depression, his daughter, Emily, was still able to concertize as a harpist and mezzo soprano, while daughter, Esther, would go on to receive support, later that same decade, for her painting career, via the U.S. Works Progress Administration (WPA), which was created via an Executive Order that was issued by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 6 May 1935.

By 1940, Frank F. Hepler and his wife, Carrie, were “empty nesters” at their home in Ventnor, where he continued to work as a building contractor, insurance broker and realtor well into the 1950s. In addition, he served as a member of the City of Ventnor’s Planning Board and as a member of Ventnor’s Board of Adjustment, as well as a member of the boards of directors of the Boardwalk National Bank and the Chelsea Title Company. A resident of the Senator Convalescent Home in Atlantic City after retiring, he died there at the age of eighty-six, on 19 April 1968, and was laid to rest at the Laurel Memorial Park and Cemetery in Egg Harbor Township, Atlantic County.

 

Sources:

1. “Aged Man Died at Hospital” (obituary of George Kuder Hepler). Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania: Mount Carmel Item, 10 September 1913.
2. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
3. Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, p. 1589. Des Moines, Iowa: The Dyer Publishing Company, 1908.
4. Emma Mervine (a sister of 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Timothy M. Snyder and the widow of George K. Hepler’s brother, John K. Hepler), in Death Certificates (file no.: 88698, registered no.: 1396, date of death: 22 September 1908). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
5. Esther Carolyn Hepler (a granddaughter of George K. Hepler and a daughter of Frank Fetter Hepler), in “June Calendar Filled with Important Wedding Dates.” Atlantic City, New Jersey: Atlantic City Press, 23 June 1935.
6. “Florida’s Role in the Civil War: Supplier of the Confederacy.” Tampa, Florida: Florida Center for Instructional Technology, University of South Florida (College of Education), retrieved online, 15 January 2020.
7. “Former Resident Dead” (obituary of Precilla (Fetter) Hepler, the widow of George K. Hepler). Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania: Mount Carmel Item, 5 February 1914.
8. “Frank F. Hepler, Broker, Dies in Atlantic City” (obituary of a son of George K. Hepler). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, 21 April 1968.
9. Frank Fetter Hepler (a son of George K. Hepler), in U.S. World War I and World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1917 and 1942. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
10. Frank Fetter Hepler (the groom) and George K. Hepler (father of the groom); and Phoebe Caroline Salmon (the bride) and Lewis H. Salmon and Emily M. Gardner (parents of the bride), in Marriage Records (Methodist Church, Atlantic City, New Jersey, marriage date, 23 December 1905). Atlantic City, New Jersey: United Methodist Church.
11. George K. Hepler, in Death Certificates (file no.: 87469, registered no.: 214, date of death: 10 September 1913). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
12. George K. Hepler, in U.S. Census (“Special Schedule. — Surviving Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, and Widows, etc.”: Mount Carmel, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, 1890). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
13. “Gillingham, Emily Salmon Hepler, 97” (a granddaughter of George K. Hepler and a daughter of Frank Fetter Hepler). Atlantic City, New Jersey: The Press, 23 April 2004.
14. Gore, Betty. “Crescendo Club to Give Yearly Concert” (mention of mezzo soprano Emily Salmon (Hepler) Gillingham, who was a granddaughter of George K. Hepler and a daughter of Frank Fetter Hepler). Atlantic City, New Jersey: Sunday Press, 9 December 1962.
15. Hepler, Benjamin (father), Lydia, Benjamin (son), Beneville, Samuel, Jacob, Elizabeth, George, John, Nathan, and Laney [sic, “Lavina”], in U.S. Census (Upper Mahantongo Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, 1850). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
16. Hepler, Benjamin (father and head of the household of the primary Hepler family farm), Liddy [sic, “Lydia”], Jacob, George, Elithabeth [sic, ” “Elizabeth”], John, Nathan, Lana [sic “Lavina”], Jessias [sic, “Josiah”], William, and Catharine; and Koehler, Henry; Hepler, Benjamin (son of Benjamin Hepler, brother of George K. Hepler, and the head of a second Hepler family farm), Elizabeth, Hannah, and William H.; Hepler, Benneville (son of Benjamin Hepler, brother of George K. Hepler, and the head of a third Hepler family farm), Matilda, Sarah, Aaron, and George (Benneville Hepler’s son and a cousin of George K. Hepler), in U.S. Census (Upper Mahantongo Post Office, Eldred Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, 1860). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
17. Hepler, Emily S. (a granddaughter of George K. Hepler and a daughter of Frank Fetter Heppler). “Curtis Institute of Music,” in “Returned Students Tell of Activities in Colleges and ‘Prep’ Schools.” Atlantic City, New Jersey: Atlantic City Daily Press, 4 April 1926.
18. Hepler, Frank F. (a son of George K. Hepler), Carrie S., Emily S., and Esther C., in U.S. Census (City of Ventnor, Atlantic County, New Jersey, 1920, 1930). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
19. Hepler, Frank F. (a son of George K. Hepler) and Carrie S., in U.S. Census (City of Ventnor, Atlantic County, New Jersey, 1940, 1950). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
20. Hepler, George and Presilla [sic, “Precilla”], in U.S. Census (Upper Mahantongo Post Office, Eldred Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, 1870). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
21. Hepler, George K., Priscilla [sic, “Precilla”], Jane M., and William, in U.S. Census (Eldred Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
22. Hepler, George K., Percilla [sic, “Precilla”] and William; and Shaffer, Retta (a servant), in U.S. Census (Mount Carmel, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
23. Hepler, George and Priscilla [sic, “Precilla”], in U.S. Census (Mount Carmel, Third Ward, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, 1910). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
24. Hepler, George K. and Precilla, in U.S. Civil War Pension General Index Cards (veteran’s application no.: 1051266, veteran’s certificate no.: 1053908, filed by the veteran from Pennsylvania, 24 August 1891; widow’s application no: 1015181, filed by the widow from Pennsylvania, 3 October 1913). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
25. Hepler, George K. and Snyder, Timothy, in Civil War Muster Rolls (Company C, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
26. Hepler, George K. and Snyder, Timothy, in Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1866 (Company C, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
27. Hepler, William F. (groom) and George K. and Precilla (parents of the groom); and Osgood, Priscilla (bride), and John and Mary (parents of the bride), in Marriage Records (Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, date of marriage: 25 February 1898). Sunbury, Pennsylvania: Clerk of the Orphans’ Court of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.
28. History of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers. New York, New York: W. W. Munsell & Co., 1881.
29. “IMPORTANT FROM PORT ROYAL.; The Expedition to Jacksonville, DESTRUCTION OF THE REBEL BATTERIES. CAPTURE OF A STEAMBOAT. Another Speech from Gen. Mitchell. His Policy and Sentiments on the Negro Question.” New York, New York: The New York Times, 20 October 20 1862.
30. Irwin, Richard Bache. History of the Nineteenth Army Corps. New York, New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1893.
31. Maurer, Amy. The Horace Brady Robinson Collection, in The Maurer Family Archives.
32. “Mahlon T. Otto” (obotuary of a grandson of George K. Hepler and a son of Jane Margaret (Heppler) Otto). Plainfield, New Jersey: Courier-News, 7 July 1953.
33. “Mitchelville: Freedom’s Home,” in “Think Like a Historian.” Beaufort County, South Carolina: Finding Freedom’s Home: Archaeology at Mitchelville, retrieved online, January 18, 2021.
34. Otto, Jane M. (a daughter of George K.Hepler), in U.S. Census (Bellemead Sanitarium, Montgomery Township, Somerset County, New Jersey, 1950).
35. Otto, John, Jennie [sic, “Jane”] (a daughter of George K. Hepler), Mahlon, and George, in U.S. Census (City of Philadelphia, Twenty-Eighth Ward, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
36. Otto, John, Jennie [sic, “Jane”] (a daughter of George K. Hepler), Mahlon, and George, in U.S. Census (Borough of Bound Brook, Bridgewater Township, Somerset County, New Jersey, 1910, 1920). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
37. Otto, John and Jennie [sic, “Jane”] (a daughter of George K. Hepler), in U.S. Census (Borough of Bound Brook, Bridgewater Township, Somerset County, New Jersey, 1930, 1940). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
38. “Post Offices By Established Date” (Pitman, Pennsylvania, 15 April 1850). Washington, D.C.: United States Postal Service, retrieved online 11 October 1865.
39. Proctor, Samuel. “Jacksonville During the Civil War,” in Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 41, no. 4, 1962, pp. 343-355. Orlando, Florida STARS (Showcase of Text, Archives, Research & Scholarship), University of Central, Florida.
40. Reports and Other Correspondence of W. D. C. Rodrock, Chaplain, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (Record Group R29). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
41. Reports of Lieut. Col. Tilghman H. Good, Forty-seventh Pennsylvania Infantry, in Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1861-1865 (Microfilm M262). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
42. Schmidt, Lewis G. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.
43. “The History of the Forty-Seventh Regt., P. V.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Lehigh Register, 20 July 1870.
44. Wharton, Henry D. “Letters from the Sunbury Guards,” 1861-1866. Sunbury, Pennsylvania: Sunbury American.
45. William F. Hepler (a son of George K. Hepler), in Death Certificates (file no.: 53383, registered no.: 80, date of death: 6 June 1948. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.