“He had an abiding faith in the future of Golden and often declared that it was truly home to him. His death is deeply mourned by veterans of the Grand Army and just as deeply by other citizens among whom he had lived for years.”

— The Colorado Transcript, 1908

 

Formative Years

Born in Bloomfield, Perry County, Pennsylvania in November 1842, Washington Alexander Power was a son of George Washington Power (1799-1855), a Cumberland County, Pennsylvania native who was a son of Revolutionary War Patriot Captain William Power (1758-1835). Washington A. Power’s mother was Eliza (Marshall) Power (1799-1854), a native of  Centre Township, Perry County who was a daughter of Revolutionary War Patriot Michael Marshall (1755-1830) and Elizabeth (Beatty) Marshall (1764-1822).

In 1850, Washington A. Power was residing in Bloomfield, Perry Township, Pennsylvania with his parents and older siblings: Sarah Elizabeth Power (1824-1908), who was born in Altoona, Blair County, Pennsylvania and later wed Mexican War veteran Peter S. Reed (1824-1882) in 1853 before moving with him to Golden, Colorado; Jane Mary Power (alternate given name: Mary Jane), who was born circa 1827; Margaret Ann Power (1828-1899), who was born in New Bloomfield on Christmas Eve in 1828 and later wed Daniel Okeson (1823-1892) on 27 January 1858, before moving with him to Illinois and then Kansas; William Marshall Power (circa 1844-1893), who was born sometime around 1844 and later moved west to work for his brother-in-law, Peter Reed, in Golden, Colorado as a policeman, before switching careers to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad and then making his way west again to re-settle in Idaho and then Colorado; Ellen Amelia Power (1836-1912), who was born on 6 September 1836 and later wed American Civil War veteran Captain James H. Marshall (1833-1877), before moving with him to Altoona; and Permilia A. Power (1839-1924), who was born near New Bloomfield on 17 April 1839 and later wed William A. Adams (1836-1885) in March 1869, before settling with him in Altoona, where they became two of “Altoona’s pioneer residents … which was then a straggling village,” according to her 1924 obituary in the Altoona Tribune.

Washington A. Power’s father supported their large family on the wages of a laborer. Theophilus Charles Power, another brother of Washington A. Power, was reportedly born after the federal census of 1850 and later made his way west to Golden, Colorado (by the 1890s).

Less than halfway into the 1850s, twin tragedies struck when Washington Power’s mother died from pulmonary consumption (tuberculosis) in Centre Township on 24 March 1854, and his father died in New Bloomfield, Perry County on 15 January 1855. Following their respective funeral services, she was laid to rest at the Poplar Hill Burying Ground in Perry County. George W. Power was subsequently buried beside her.

Still residing in Perry County as the new decade of the 1860s progressed, nineteen-year-old Washington Power was employed by a railroad company and looking forward to building a brighter future for himself. Those dreams would be derailed, however, as one state after another began seceding from the United States of America, putting the nation on a path toward civil war.

American Civil War — 2nd Pennsylvania Volunteers

As the months of January and February 1861 ticked away, community gathering spots in Perry County were filled with talk hushed and animated regarding the growing tensions between America’s North and South. Then, in mid-April 1861, Fort Sumter fell to Confederate forces, prompting Washington A. Power to become one of the earliest responders to President Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteer troops to help defend the nation’s capital.

Following his enrollment for military service in Harrisburg, Dauphin County on 20 April 1861, he mustered in as a private with Company D of the 2nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He then began his military service under Captain Henry Durant Woodruff, a former teacher and innkeeper who had been a member of Bloomfield’s local militia unit.

Transported to Cockeysville, Maryland with his regiment the next day, via Northern Central Railway cars, and then to York, Pennsylvania, Private Washington Power and the 2nd Pennsylvania Volunteers remained in York until 1 June 1861 when they moved to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. There, they were attached to the 2nd Brigade (under Brigadier-General George Wynkoop), 2nd Division (under Major-General William High Keim), in the Union Army corps commanded by Major-General Robert Patterson.

Ordered to Hagerstown, Maryland on 16 June and then to Funkstown, the regiment remained in that vicinity until 23 June.

On 2 July, the 2nd Pennsylvanians served in a support role during the Battle of Falling Waters, which was the first Civil War battle to be fought in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. (A second battle with a different military configuration was fought there in 1863.) Known as the Battle of Hainesville or Hoke’s Run, the first Battle of Falling Waters paved the way for a Confederate Army victory at Manassas (Bull Run) on 21 July and also, according to several historians, tempered Union General Robert Patterson’s later combat assertiveness (due to the resistance displayed by the Confederate Army).

The next day, Private Washington Power and his fellow 2nd Pennsylvania Volunteers occupied Martinsburg, Virginia. On 15 July, they advanced on Bunker Hill, and then moved on to Charlestown on 17 July, before reaching Harper’s Ferry on 23 July.

He was then honorably mustered out on 24 July 1861, upon expiration of his three-month term of enlistment. Sent back home to Perry County, he tried to resume his old life, even as men across his county were enrolling for service with the Union Army.

American Civil War — 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers

As the war raged on, twenty-year-old Washington Power realized that he could no longer continue to “sit on the sidelines” as others from his community fought to end slavery and preserve America’s Union. So, he re-enrolled for military service in Bloomfield, Perry County on 19 August 1862.

He then officially re-mustered for duty at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg — but did so, this time, on 26 August 1862 as a drummer boy and private with Company D of the 47th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Transported by ship to America’s Deep South, he connected with his regiment from a recruiting depot on 17 September. He could not have known it at the time, but he was arriving just as his new comrades were about to receive their first intense tastes of battle.

The Capture of Saint John’s Bluff, Florida and the Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina

From 1-3 October 1862, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers joined other Union regiments in the Expedition to Saint John’s Bluff, Florida. Led by Brigadier-General John Milton Brannan, a fifteen-hundred-plus Union force disembarked at Mayport Mills and Mount Pleasant Creek from troop carriers guarded by Union gunboats. Taking point, the 47th 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 brigade had forced the Confederate Army to abandon its artillery battery atop Saint John’s Bluff, had captured a Confederate steamer, and had paved the way for the Union to occupy the town of Jacksonville, Florida.

Then, from 21-23 October, under the brigade and regimental commands of Colonel Tilghman H. Good and Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Alexander, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers and other Union troops engaged Confederate forces in and around Pocotaligo, South Carolina. Landing at Mackay’s Point, the men of the 47th were placed on point once again, but they and the 3rd Brigade were less fortunate this time.

Harried by snipers en route to the Pocotaligo Bridge, they met resistance from an entrenched, heavily fortified Confederate battery which opened fire on the Union troops as they entered an open cotton field. Those headed toward higher ground at the Frampton Plantation fared no better as they encountered artillery and infantry fire from the surrounding forests.

The Union soldiers grappled with the Confederates where they found them, pursuing the Rebels for four miles as they retreated to the bridge. There, the 47th relieved the 7th Connecticut. But the enemy was just too well armed. After two hours of intense fighting in an attempt to take the ravine and bridge, depleted ammunition forced the 47th to withdraw to Mackay’s Point.

The engagement proved to be a costly one for the 47th Pennsylvania with multiple members of the regiment killed instantly or so grievously wounded that they died the next day or within weeks of the battle. On 23 October, the 47th Pennsylvania returned to the Union’s base of operations at Hilton Head.

Roughly a week later, members of the regiment served as the honor guard during the funeral of General Ormsby McKnight Mitchel, the commander of the U.S. Army’s 10th Corps and Department of the South who had succumbed to yellow fever on 30 October. The Mountains of Mitchel, a part of Mars’ South Pole discovered by Mitchel in 1846 while working as a University of Cincinnati astronomer, and Mitchelville, the first freedmen’s town created after the Civil War, were both later named for him.

Men from the 47th Pennsylvania were given the honor of firing the salute over his grave.

Having been ordered back to Key West on 15 November 1862, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers would spend much of 1863 guarding federal installations in Florida as part of the 10th Corps, Department of the South. Companies A, B, C, E, G, and I would once again garrison Fort Taylor in Key West, while the men of Companies D, F, H, and K would garrison Fort Jefferson, the Union’s remote outpost in the Dry Tortugas off the southern coast of Florida.

After packing their belongings at their Beaufort, South Carolina encampment and loading their equipment onto the U.S. Steamer Cosmopolitan, the officers and enlisted members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry sailed toward the mouth of the Broad River on 15 December 1862, and anchored briefly at Port Royal Harbor in order to allow the regiment’s medical director, Elisha W. Baily, M.D., and members of the regiment who had recuperated enough from their Pocotaligo-related battle injuries at the Union’s general hospital at Hilton Head, to rejoin the regiment.

At 5 p.m. that same evening, the regiment sailed for Florida, during what was described by several members of the regiment as a treacherous and nerve-wracking voyage. According to regimental historian Lewis Schmidt, the ship’s captain “steered a course along the coast of Florida for most of the voyage,” which made the voyage more precarious “because of all the reefs.” On 16 December, “the second night, the ship was jarred as it ran aground on one during a storm, but broke free, and finally steered a course further from shore, out in the Gulf Stream.”

In a letter penned to the Sunbury American on 21 December, Musician Henry Wharton provided the following details about the regiment’s trip:

On the passage down, we ran along almost the whole coast of Florida. Rather all dangerous ground, and the reefs are no playthings. We we jarred considerably by running on one, and not liking the sensation our course was altered for the Gulf Stream. We had heavy sea all the time. I had often heard of ‘waves as big as a house,’ and thought it was a sailors yarn, but I have seen ’em and am perfectly satisfied; so now, not having a nautical turn of mind, I prefer our movements being done on terra firma, and leave old neptune to those who have more desire for his better acquaintance. A nearer chance of a shipwreck never took place than ours, and it was only through Providence that we were saved. The Cosmopolitan is a good riverboat, but to send her to sea, loadened [sic, loaded] with U.S. troops is a shame, and looks as though those in authority wish to get clear of soldiers in another way than that of battle. There was some sea sickness on our passage; several of the boys ‘casting up their accounts’ on the wrong side of the ledger.

According to Corporal George Nichols of Company E, “When we got to Key West the Steamer had Six foot of water in her hole [sic, hold]. Waves Mountain High and nothing but an old river Steamer. With Eleven hundred Men on I looked for her to go to the Bottom Every Minute.”

Although the Cosmopolitan arrived at the Key West Harbor on Thursday, 18 December, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers did not set foot on Florida soil until noon the next day. The men from Companies C and I were immediately marched to Fort Taylor, where they were placed under the command of Major William Gausler, the regiment’s third-in-command. The men from Companies B and E were assigned to the older barracks that had been erected by the United States Army, and were placed under the command of B Company Captain Emanuel P. Rhoads, while the men from Companies A and G were placed under the command of A Company Captain Richard Graeffe, and stationed at newer facilities known as the “Lighthouse Barracks,” which were located on “Lighthouse Key.”

On Saturday, 21 December, Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Alexander, the regiment’s second-in-command, sailed away aboard the Cosmopolitan with the men from Companies D, F, H, and K, and headed south to Fort Jefferson, roughly seventy miles off the coast of Florida (in the Gulf of Mexico) to assume garrison duties there. According to Musician Henry Wharton:

We landed here [Fort Taylor] on last Thursday at noon, and immediately marched to quarters. Company I. and C., in Fort Taylor, Company E. and B. in the old Barracks, and A. and G. in the new Barracks. Lieut. Col. Alexander, with the other four companies proceeded to Tortugas, Col. Good having command of all the forces in and around Key West. Our regiment relieved the 90th Regiment N. Y. S. Vols. Col. Joseph Morgan, who will proceed to Hilton Head to report to the General commanding. His actions have been severely criticized by the people, but, as it is in bad taste to say anything against ones [sic, one’s] superiors, I merely mention, judging from the expression of the citizens, they were very glad of the return of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers….

Key West has improved very little since we left last June, but there is one improvement for which the 90th New York deserve a great deal of praise, and that is the beautifying of the ‘home’ of dec’d soldiers. A neat and strong wall of stone encloses the yard, the ground is laid off in squares, all the graves are flat and are nicely put in proper shape by boards eight or ten inches high on the end sides, covered with white sand, while a head and foot board, with the full name, company and regiment, marks the last resting place of the patriot who sacrificed himself for his country….

1863

Although water quality was a challenge for members of the regiment at both of their duty stations in Florida throughout 1863, it was particularly problematic for the 47th Pennsylvanians who were stationed at Fort Jefferson. According to Schmidt:

‘Fresh’ water was provided by channeling the rains from the city’s barbette through channels in the interior walls, to filter trays filled with sand; and finally to the 114 cisterns located under the fort which held, 1,231,000 gallons of water. The cisterns were accessible in each of the first level cells or rooms through a ‘trap hole’ in the floor covered by a temporary wooden cover…. Considerable dirt must have found its way into these access points and was responsible for some of the problems resulting in the water’s impurity…. The fort began to settle and the asphalt covering on the outer walls began to deteriorate and allow the sea water (polluted by debris in the moat) to penetrate the system…. Two steam condensers were available … and distilled 7000 gallons of tepid water per day for a separate system of reservoirs located in the northern section of the parade ground near the officers [sic, officers’] quarters. No provisions were made to use any of this water for personal hygiene of the [planned 1,500-soldier garrison force]….

As a result, the soldiers stationed there washed themselves and their clothes, using saltwater from the ocean. As if that weren’t difficult enough, “toilet facilities were located outside of the fort,” according to Schmidt:

At least one location was near the wharf and sallyport, and another was reached through a door-sized hole in a gunport and a walk across the moat on planks at the northwest wall…. These toilets were flushed twice each day by the actions of the tides, a procedure that did not work very well and contributed to the spread of disease. It was intended that the tidal flush should move the wastes into the moat, and from there, by similar tidal action, into the sea. But since the moat surrounding the fort was used clandestinely by the troops to dispose of litter and other wastes … it was a continuous problem for Col. Alexander and his surgeon.

As for daily operations in the Dry Tortugas, there was a fort post office and the “interior parade grounds, with numerous trees and shrubs in evidence, contained officers’ quarters, [a] magazine, kitchens and out houses,” per Schmidt, as well as “a ‘hot shot oven’ which was completed in 1863 and used to heat shot before firing.”

Most quarters for the garrison … were established in wooden sheds and tents inside the parade [grounds] or inside the walls of the fort in second-tier gun rooms of ‘East’ front no. 2, and adjacent bastions  … with prisoners housed in isolated sections of the first and second tiers of the southeast, or no. 3 front, and bastions C and D, located in the general area of the sallyport. The bakery was located in the lower tier of the northwest bastion ‘F’, located near the central kitchen….

Additional Duties: Diminishing Florida’s Role as the “Supplier of the Confederacy”

On top of the strategic role played by the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers in preventing foreign powers from assisting the Confederate Army and Navy in gaining control over federal forts in the Deep South, the regiment was also called upon to play an ongoing role in weakening Florida’s abilities to supply and transport food and troops throughout areas held by the Confederate States of America.

Prior to intervention by the Union Army and Navy, the owners of plantations and livestock ranches, as well as the operators of small, family farms across Florida, had been able to consistently furnish beef and pork, fish, fruits, and vegetables to Confederate troops stationed throughout the Deep South during the first year of the American Civil War. Large herds of cattle were raised near Fort Myers, for example, while orchard owners in the Saint John’s River area were actively engaged in cultivating sizeable orange groves (while other types of citrus trees were found growing throughout more rural areas of the state).

Florida was also a major producer of salt, which was used as a preservative for food. As a result, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers and other Union troops across Florida were ordered to capture or destroy salt manufacturing facilities in order to further curtail the enemy’s access to food.

But they were undertaking all of these duties in conditions that were far more challenging than any they had previously faced (and that were far more challenging than what many other Union troops were facing up north). The weather was frequently hot and humid as spring turned to summer, mosquitos and other insects were an ever-present annoyance (and serious threat when they were carrying tropical diseases) and there were also scorpions and snakes that put the men’s health at further risk.

As part of their efforts to ensure the efficacy of their ongoing operations, regimental officers periodically tweaked the assignments of individual companies during that year of garrison duty. One of those changes occurred on 16 May 1863 when D Company Captain Henry D. Woodruff and his men marched to the wharf at Fort Jefferson and climbed aboard yet another ship — this time for their return to Fort Taylor in Key West, where they resumed garrison duties under the command of Colonel Tilghman H. Good.

Four days later, enlisted members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry were finally given eight months’ worth of their back pay—a significant percentage of which was quickly sent home to family members who had been struggling to make ends meet.

Despite all of those hardships, when members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry were offered the opportunity to re-enlist during the fall of 1863, more than half of the regiment’s personnel did so without hesitation.

1864

In early January 1864, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers experienced yet another significant change when they were ordered to expand the Union’s reach by sending part of their regiment north to retake possession of Fort Myers, a federal installation that had been abandoned in 1858, following the federal government’s third war with the Seminole Indians. In response, Captain Richard Graeffe and a group his soldiers from Company A traveled north, captured the fort and began conducting cattle raids to provide food for the growing Union troop presence across Florida. They subsequently turned the fort not only into their base of operations, but into a shelter for pro-union supporters, escaped slaves, Confederate deserters, and others fleeing Rebel troops.

Red River Campaign

Meanwhile, all of the other companies of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry had begun preparing for the regiment’s history-making journey to Louisiana. Boarding yet another steamer, the Charles Thomas, 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 the men from Companies E, F, G, and H.

Upon the second group’s arrival, the now almost-fully-reunited regiment moved by train to Brashear City (now Morgan City, Louisiana) before heading to Franklin by steamer through the Bayou Teche. There, the 47th Pennsylvania Infantry joined the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division of the U.S. 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 soldiers from Company A were assigned to detached duty while awaiting transport that enabled them to reconnect with their regiment at Alexandria, Louisiana on 9 April).

From 14-26 March, the 47th passed through New Iberia, Vermilionville (now part of Lafayette), Opelousas, and Washington while en route to Alexandria and Natchitoches. Often short on food and water, the regiment encamped briefly at Pleasant Hill the night of 7 April before continuing on the next day, marching until mid-afternoon.

Rushed into battle ahead of other regiments in the 2nd Division, sixty members of the 47th were cut down on 8 April during the volley of fire unleashed during the Battle of Sabine Cross Roads. The fighting waned only when darkness fell. Exhausted, those who were uninjured collapsed between the bodies of the gravely wounded and dead. 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 and son of Zachary Taylor, former president of the United States), the brutal fighting still showed no signs of ending. Suddenly, just as the 47th was shifting to the left side of the massed Union forces, the men of the 47th Pennsylvania were  forced to bolster the 165th New York’s buckling lines by blocking another Confederate assault during what has since become known as the Battle of Pleasant Hill.

Casualties were once again severe. Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander was nearly killed, and the regiment’s two color bearers, both from Company C, were also wounded while preventing the regimental flag from falling into enemy hands. Private Ephraim Clouser of Company D was shot in his right knee, and Corporal Isaac Baldwin was also wounded.

Still others from the 47th were captured and held as prisoners of war (POWs) until released during a prisoner exchange on 22 July. Sergeant James Crownover was wounded in action before being taken captive. He, Private James Downs, Corporal John Garber Miller and Private William J. Smith were four of the fortunate who survived. Downs, Miller and Smith were released from captivity on 22 July; Crownover was released on 25 November 1864. While held as a POW, Crownover had been commissioned, but not mustered as a second lieutenant (31 August 1864) because regimental leaders hoped that his status as a higher-ranking officer might prompt his Confederate captors to treat him more leniently.

Sadly, Private Samuel Kern of Company D was less fortunate. He had died at Camp Ford on 12 June 1864. Buried somewhere on the grounds of the POW camp, his final resting place remains unknown.

Meanwhile, as the captured 47th Pennsylvanians were being spirited away to Camp Ford, Private Washington Power and the bulk of his regiment were carrying out orders from senior Union Army leaders to head for Grand Ecore, Louisiana. Encamped there from 11-22 April, they engaged in the hard labor of strengthening regimental and brigade fortifications.

They then moved back to Natchitoches Parish on 22 April. While en route, they were attacked again, this time, at the rear of their retreating brigade, but they were able to end the encounter quickly and move on to reach Cloutierville at 10 p.m. that same night (after a forty-five-mile march).

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

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

Meanwhile, additional troops under Smith’s command, attacked Bee’s flank to force a Rebel retreat, and then erected a series of pontoon bridges that enabled the 47th Pennsylvania and other 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, C Company’s Henry Wharton described what had happened:

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 at 10 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 rebels 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 in 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, they 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 construction work, helping to erect “Bailey’s Dam,” a timber structure that was designed to enable Union Navy gunboats to safely navigate the fluctuating waters of the Red River. 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 gun boats 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 iron clads 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, chute], 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 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 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 gun boat 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.

Continuing their march, Private Washington Power and his fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers headed toward Avoyelles Parish. According to Wharton:

On Sunday, May 15th, we left the river road and took a short route through the woods, saving considerable distance. The windings of the Red river are so numerous that it resembles the tape-worm railroad where with 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.

“Resting on their arms,” (half-dozing, without pitching their tents, and with their rifles right beside them), they were now positioned just outside of Marksville, 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, they reached Missoula [sic, Mansura], 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, maneuvering] of the troops was handsomely done, and the movements was [sic, were] 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 the army. I have it from the best source that the Federal loss from Franklin to Mansfield, and from their [sic, there] 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 surviving members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry 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 regiment in Beaufort, South Carolina (October 1862) and Natchitoches, Louisiana (April 1864) were officially mustered into the regiment between 20-24 June 1864.

The regiment then moved on and arrived in New Orleans in late June. On 4 July, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers received orders to return to the East Coast. Three days later, they began loading their men onto ships, a process that unfolded in two stages. Companies A, C, D, E, F, H, and I boarded the U.S. Steamer McClellan on 7 July and steamed away that day, while the members of Companies B, G and K remained behind, awaiting transport. (The latter group subsequently departed aboard the Blackstone, weighing anchor and sailing forth at the end of that month.)

As a result of this twist of fate, Private Washington Power and his fellow “early travelers” had the good fortune to have a memorable encounter with President Abraham Lincoln on 12 July 1864. They then took part in the mid-July Battle of Cool Spring near Snicker’s Gap, Virginia.

Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign

Attached to the Middle Military Division, Army of the Shenandoah beginning in August, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was assigned to defensive duties in and around Halltown, Virginia 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 with those commanded by Confederate Lieutenant-General Jubal Early.

From 3-4 September, Private Washington Power and the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers took on Early’s Confederates again — this time in the Battle of Berryville. But that month also saw the departure of several 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers who had served honorably, including Company D’s Captain Henry Woodruff, First Lieutenant Samuel Auchmuty, Sergeants Henry Heikel and Alex Wilson, and Corporals Cornelius Stewart and Samuel A. M. Reed — many of whom mustered out on 18 September 1864, upon expiration of their respective service terms.

Those members of the 47th who remained on duty were about to engage in their regiment’s greatest moments of valor.

Battles of Opequan and Fisher’s Hill, September 1864

Together with other regiments under the command of Union Major-General Philip H. (“Little Phil”) Sheridan and Brigadier-General William H. Emory, commander of the 19th Corps, the members of Company D and their fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers helped to inflict heavy casualties on Lieutenant-General Jubal Early’s Confederate forces at 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. After advancing slowly from Berryville toward Winchester, the 19th Corps became bogged down for several hours by the massive movement of Union troops and supply wagons, enabling Early’s men to dig in. After finally reaching the Opequan Creek, Sheridan’s men came face to face with the Confederate Army commanded by Early. The fighting, which began in earnest at noon, was long and brutal. The Union’s left flank (6th Corps) took a beating from Confederate artillery stationed on high ground.

Meanwhile, the 47th Pennsylvania and the 19th Corps were directed by Brigadier-General 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.

Afterward, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were sent out on skirmishing parties before making camp at Cedar Creek. Moving forward, they would continue to distinguish themselves in battle, but would do so without two more of their respected commanders: Colonel Tilghman Good, founder of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers; and Good’s second-in-command, Lieutenant-Colonel George Alexander, who mustered out from 23-24 September upon the expiration of their respective terms of service.

Fortunately, they were replaced by others equally admired both for their temperament and their front line experience: Second Lieutenant George Stroop, who was promoted to lead Company D, and John Peter Shindel Gobin, Charles W. Abbott and Levi Stuber, who ultimately became the three most senior leaders of the regiment.

Battle of Cedar Creek, October 1864

It was during the fall of 1864 that Major-General Philip 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 road 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.

Once again, the casualties for the 47th were high. Sergeant William Pyers, the C Company man who had so gallantly rescued the flag at Pleasant Hill was cut down and later buried on the battlefield. Corporal Edward Harper of Company D was wounded, but survived, as did Corporal Isaac Baldwin, who had been wounded earlier at Pleasant Hill. Even Perry County resident and Regimental Chaplain William Rodrock of Perry County suffered a near miss as a bullet pierced his cap.

Following these major engagements, the 47th was ordered to Camp Russell near Winchester from November through most of December. On 14 November, Second Lieutenant George Stroop was promoted to the rank of captain.

Rested and somewhat healed, the 47th was then ordered to outpost and railroad guard duties at Camp Fairview in Charlestown, West Virginia five days before Christmas.

1865 — 1866

Still stationed at Camp Fairview in West Virginia as the New Year of 1865 dawned, members of the regiment continued to patrol and guard key Union railroad lines in the vicinity of Charlestown, while other 47th Pennsylvanians chased down Confederate guerrillas who had made repeated attempts to disrupt railroad operations and kill soldiers from other Union regiments.

Assigned in February 1865 to the Provisional Division of the 2nd Brigade of the U.S. Army of the Shenandoah, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers continued to perform their guerrilla-fighting duties until late March, when they were ordered to head back to Washington, D.C., by way of Winchester and Kernstown, Virginia.

Joyous News and Then Tragedy

As April 1865 opened, the battles between the Army of the United States and the Confederate States Army intensified, finally reaching the decisive moment when the Confederate troops of General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox on 9 April.

The long war, it seemed, was finally over. Less than a week later, however, the fragile peace was threatened when an assassin’s bullet ended the life of President Abraham Lincoln. Shot while attending an evening performance of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre on 14 April 1865, he had died from his wound at 7:22 a.m. the next morning.

Shocked, and devastated by the news, which was received at their Fort Stevens encampment, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were given little time to mourn their beloved commander-in-chief before they were ordered to grab their weapons and move into the regiment’s assigned position, from which it helped to protect the nation’s capital and thwart any attempt by Confederate soldiers and their sympathizers to re-ignite the flames of civil war that had finally been stamped out.

So key was their assignment that the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were not even allowed to march in the funeral procession of their slain leader. Instead, they took part in a memorial service with other members of their brigade that was officiated by the 47th Pennsylvania’s regimental chaplain, the Reverend William D. C. Rodrock.

Present-day researchers who read letters sent by 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers to family and friends back home in Pennsylvania during this period, or post-war interviews conducted by newspaper reporters with veterans of the regiment in later years, will learn that the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were collectively heartbroken by Lincoln’s death and deeply angry at those whose actions had culminated in his murder. Researchers will also learn that at least one member of the regiment, C Company Drummer Samuel Hunter Pyers, was given the high honor of guarding President Lincoln’s funeral train, while other members of the regiment were assigned to guard duty at the prison where the key assassination conspirators were being held during the early days of their imprisonment and trial, which began on 9 May 1865. During this phase of duty, the regiment was headquartered at Camp Brightwood.

Attached to Dwight’s Division of the 2nd Brigade of the U.S. Department of Washington’s 22nd Corps, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers also participated in the Union’s Grand Review of the National Armies, which took place in Washington, D.C. on 23 May 1865.

After all of that heartache and excitement, Private Washington Alexander Power was finally mustered out of service on 1 June 1865 in Washington, D.C. by General Orders, No. 53, issued by Headquarters of the U.S. Army’s Middle Military Division.

* Note: According to his obituary in The Colorado Transcript, Washington A. Power “later enlisted as a soldier with the Fourth Pennsylvania volunteers and saw active service until the close of the war”; however, researchers have not yet found supporting documentation to corroborate that claim.

Return to Civilian Life

After returning home to Pennsylvania following his honorable discharge, Washington A. Power resumed employment with the railroad. In July 1870, he wed fellow Pennsylvanian Catherine Roberts (circa 1850-1898) in Altoona, Blair County, Pennsylvania. Known to family and friends as “Kate” or “Katie,” she was a daughter of Rebecca A. Roberts.

Settling with his wife in Altoona’s Third Ward, he worked as a baggage master for the railroad. Their household also included a thirteen-year-old domestic servant, Kate Renner.

That same year (1870), his sister, Sarah Elizabeth (Power) Reed, and her husband, Captain Peter S. Reed, became early pioneer settlers in Colorado, “arriving [there] on the very first train over the Colorado Central, Mr. Reed being one of the officials of the new road,” according to her 1908 obituary in The Colorado Transcript. That train arrived in Golden on 24 September 1870.

In 1871, Washington and Katie Power welcomed their daughter, Alice, to the world. Four years later, in 1875, he and his young family were migrating farther west, where they dreamed of making a new and better life in the community of Golden in Jefferson County, Colorado. A community that had only just been officially incorporated as a town on 3 January 1871, Golden was still very much a frontier village. Washington Power hoped that he would be able to begin forging his family’s better life there by accepting a position as foreman with the town’s Miner’s Smelter. (That smelting operation later became part of the Argo plant.)

On 1 August 1876, Colorado became the thirty-eighth state in the United States. Before that decade was out, residents of Jefferson County had their first access to telephone services, courtesy of the Golden Telephone and Dispatch Company.

By 1880, Washington Power was employed as a section foreman, and was residing with Katie and Alice in Golden, Colorado. The 1885 Colorado state census documented that the three Powers were still living in Jefferson County that year.

On 12 December 1893, the Altoona Tribune reported that Washington’s brother, William Power, had traveled from his home in Le Duc, Idaho to Washington’s home in Trinidad, Colorado. Starting out three weeks earlier with three companions, William Power had successfully made his way from Idaho via wagon, but was stricken with influenza shortly after arriving “at the place he was stopping” near his brother’s home. After being taken from that place to Washington’s home, “he sat up until a late hour talking with his brother after having eaten a hearty supper.”

When someone went to check on William the next morning (7 December 1893), however, he “was found cold in death, his demise being attributed to heart failure superinduced by the influenza with which he had been suffering.” Well-liked back home in Altoona, William had been a policeman before working as a brakeman, agent and then trainmaster for the railroad. William had then moved to Idaho, where he had been able to purchase land that he had hoped to improve.

By 1895, Washington Power was in charge of supervising the construction of the Copper King company’s smelter in Trinidad, Colorado — the community where he would ultimately be widowed by his wife, Kate, on 3 October 1898. Ailing since undergoing a surgical procedure at a hospital in Denver, she had been convalescing in Trinidad, and was reportedly also buried there, according to her obituary.

After the project’s completion, Washington Power returned to his adopted hometown of Golden.

Four years later, Washington Power received word that his widowed sister, Margaret Ann (Power) Okeson, had died at her home in Seneca, Kansas on 28 September 1899. In her early seventies at the time of her passing, she was laid to rest at the Seneca City Cemetery in Nemaha County, Kansas.

By 1900, Washington Power was widowed and living as a boarder, without his daughter, at the home of William Benson in Park Precinct, Jefferson County, Colorado.

Washington Power was then also preceded in death by his older sister, Sarah Elizabeth (Power) Reed, who passed away at the age of eighty-three in Golden, Colorado on 13 January 1908. She was laid to rest at the Golden Cemetery in Jefferson County.

Death and Interment

Answering his own final bugle call in 1908, Washington Alexander Power passed away at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Harry M. Rubey in Golden, Colorado at 6 p.m. on Monday, 7 September. His obituary in the 15 September edition of the Altoona Tribune provided the following details of his life and death:

Word was received by friends in Altoona of the death of Washington A. Power, which occurred at the home of his daughter, Mrs. H. M. Rubey, of Golden, Colorado, Monday, September 7, after a short illness. Mr. Power was at one time a citizen of this city, and was well known by the older residents. He was a passenger conductor on the middle division. During his residence in Colorado he was prominently engaged in the mining business. He was a veteran of the Civil War and an active Grand Army man. He was married to Katharine Roberts, deceased, who was a sister of Councilman Herman Roberts. He is survived by one daughter and two sisters, Mrs. James Marshall and Mrs. P. M. Adams, both the latter being residents of Altoona.

His obituary in The Colorado Transcript noted that he had been ill for only “several days.”

Friday afternoon [4 September] he was stricken with violent pain which developed a fatal attack of heart trouble. The funeral was held yesterday afternoon from the Baptist church under auspices of Dodd post, G.A.R., of which he was a member, and of the W.R.C. The Rev. Ira Hall officiated.

He was interred in the Prospector and Frontier section of the Golden Cemetery in Golden, Jefferson County.

What Happened to His Daughter?

His daughter, Alice Power, who had married and taken the surname of McGregor, had relocated to Salt Lake City, Utah prior to her mother’s death in October 1898. Researchers are currently searching for additional details about her life.

What Happened to the Siblings of Washington A. Power?

Ellen Amelia (Power) Marshall survived her brother by just over three years. Preceded in death by her husband, she passed away in Altoona, Pennsylvania at the age of seventy-five, on 2 March 1912, and was laid to rest beside him at that city’s Oak Ridge Cemetery.

Permilia A. (Power) Adams survived her brother by roughly sixteen years. Also preceded in death by her husband, she also passed away in Altoona. In her mid-eighties when she died, she was laid to rest beside her husband at that city’s Fairview Cemetery.

 

Sources:

1. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
2. Bensen, William and Mary; and Power, Washington, in U.S. Census (Park Precinct, Jefferson County, Colorado, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
3. Eliza Power (mother of Washington A. Power), in Registration of Deaths in the County of Perry in the State of Pennsylvania A. D., eighteen hundred and fifty-four.” New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania: Office of the County Clerk, Perry County, Pennsylvania.
4. Hain, Harry Harrison. History of Perry County, Pennsylvania. Including Descriptions of Indians and Pioneer Life from the Time of Earliest Settlement. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Hain-Moore Company, 1922.
5. “Mrs. Catherine Powers” (obituary of Washington A. Power’s wife). Altoona, Pennsylvania: Altoona Mirror, 4 October 1898.
6. Mrs. Daniel Okeson (obituary of Washington A. Power’s sister, Margaret Ann Power Okeson). Corning, Kansas: Corning Gazette, 12 October 1899.
7. “Mrs. Parmelia A. Adams” (obituary of Washington A. Power’s sister, Parmelia A. Power Adams). Altoona, Pennsylvania: Altoona Tribune, 27 February 1924.
8. Mrs. Sarah E. Reed (obituary of Washington A. Power’s sister, Sarah Elizabeth Power Reed). Golden, Colorado: The Colorado Transcript, 16 January 1908.
9. Power, George W., Eliza, Sarah E., Jane Mary, Margaret, William, Ellen A., and Washington A., in U.S. Census (Borough of Bloomfield, Perry County, Pennsylvania, 1860). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
10. Power, W. A., Katie and Alice, in U.S. Census (Golden, Jefferson County, Colorado, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
11. Power, Washington, Kate and Alice in Colorado State Census (Jefferson County, Colorado, 1885). Denver, Colorado State Archives.
12. Power, in Civil War Muster Rolls (Company D, 2nd Pennsylvania Infantry and Company D, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
13. Power, in Civil War Veterans’ Card File (Company D, 2nd Pennsylvania Infantry and Company D, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
14. Power, Washington A., in U.S. Civil War General Index Cards (application no.: 1274115, certificate no.: 1046800, filed by the veteran from Colorado, 21 August 1901). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
15. Powers, Washington and Kate; and Renner, Kate, in U.S. Census (Altoona, Third Ward, Blair County, Pennsylvania, 1870). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
16. “Roster of the 47th P. V. Inf.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 26 October 1930.
17. Schmidt, Lewis. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.
18. “Taps Sound for Civil War Veteran: Washington A. Power Died Monday After a Brief Illness.” Golden, Colorado: The Colorado Transcript, 10 September 1908.
19. “The 1870s,” in “Archives: Historical Timeline.” Golden, Colorado: Jefferson County, retrieved online 8 January 2025.
20. Washington A. Power (obituary). Altoona, Pennsylvania: Altoona Tribune, 15 September 1908.
21. “William M. Power: Death of a Former Well Known Resident at Trinidad, Colorado.” Altoona, Pennsylvania: Altoona Tribune, 12 December 1893.