Formative Years

Born in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York in 1845, William A. Force (1845-1888) was a son of New Jersey native James L. Force (1819-1896) and Baltimore, Maryland native Sedilia Matilda (Deleree) Force (1821-1897; alternate spelling of given name: “Sedelia”).

Initially raised in Kings County, he resided there with his parents and siblings: David B. Force (1838-1855), who had reportedly been born in New Jersey in October 1838, according to state census records; James Edward Force (1847-1917), who was born in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York in October 1847 and would later wed Emma Cordelia Merrick (1847-1929); and Amelia L. Force (1849-1851), who was reportedly born in Franklin Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey on 10 October 1849.

Back in Brooklyn, New York by 1850, the Force family was whipped back and forth between grief and joy during the early part of that decade, with the loss of toddler Amelia Force (1849-1951), who died in Brooklyn on 1 February 1851, according to one family tree on Geneanet; the birth of Ella Virginia Force (1853-1892/3), who was born in Brooklyn in 1853; and the loss of David Force (1838-1855), who died in Brooklyn on 4 December 1855, according to his Geneanet profile. Another son, Arthur Force (1855-1936), was then born in Brooklyn in January 1856 (alternate birth years: 1855, 1857); he would ultimately survive and would go on to marry Katherine Miller (1858-1890) in Morris County, New Jersey in 1876.

* Note: According to the New York State Census of 1855, which was enumerated in the Borough of Brooklyn in Kings County on 18 June of that year (roughly six months before the death of David B. Force), the Force family lived in that borough’s Eighth Ward and included patriarch James L. Force, a thirty-seven-year-old New Jersey native who was employed as a painter; matriarch Sedilia Force, a thirty-two-year-old Maryland native; and their children: David B. Force, a sixteen-year-old native of New Jersey; William Force [middle initial “A” or “H”], an eleven-year-old native of New York; James E. Force, a seven-year-old native of Kings County, New York; and three-year-old Ella Virginia Force, who was also a native of Kings County. That 1855 state census also noted that James L. and Sedilia Force had both resided in Brooklyn for 10 years, as had their sons David and William, while their son James had lived in Brooklyn for seven years and daughter Ella for three — possible indicators that Sedilia Force may have given birth to one or both of her New Jersey-born children whike visiting New Jersey, rather than as a resident of that state (or that she and her husband had only resided briefly in New Jersey one or both times before returning to New York). Researchers have not yet identified the burial locations of James and Sedilia Force’s children, Amelia and David Force, who died in 1851 and 1855, respectively.

By 1860, however, William A. Force and his family had relocated to Greenwich Township, Warren County, New Jersey, where their father supported their family on the wages of a shoemaker. That year’s federal census noted that they were likely a family that was struggling financially. Their father’s personal estate was valued at just fifty dollars (the equivalent of roughly two thousand U.S. dollars in 2026).

American Civil War

William Force enrolled for military service in Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania on 2 September 1861. He then officially mustered in for duty at Camp Curtin in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania on 16 September as a private with Company E of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Military records at the time described him as a twenty-year-old boatman and resident of Warren County, New Jersey who was five feet, five inches tall with light hair, gray eyes and a light complexion.

* Note: Company E was commanded by Captain Charles Hickman Yard, who had been a second lieutenant with Company C of the 1st Pennsylvania Volunteers during his initial period of Three Months’ Service at the beginning of the war. According to Lewis Schmidt, author of A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers:

“Capt. Yard had been enrolling men at Yard’s Saloon in Easton and took part of his company to Harrisburg on Friday, August 23, to be attached to Col. Good’s ‘Zouaves’ (a title that did not remain long with the 47th). The Captain had been recruiting men since August 13, and a number of men were still needed to fill the unit which would become Company E in the 47th.… By Monday the 26th, an additional 40 men were ready and another group left for Harrisburg. But the company was still not filled and the Captain planned to return to recruit the remaining members.

“These groups were ‘sworn’ (probably enrolled) into the state service on the 28th, and placed in the hands of 1st Lt. Bonstein [sic, “Lawrence Bonstine”] for instruction in the drill, while the Captain returned to Easton to ‘shanghai’ some more recruits at Yard’s Saloon.

“It was not until the following Monday, September 2 that an additional group of 24 men had been recruited and Capt. Yard left with these men in the morning, planning to return and complete the enrollment of the unit later.”

Nine more men mustered into E Company on 19 September (with another, James Huff, joining as a private on 1 November for a total of ninety-three — a number that remained static until 1862). Also according to Schmidt, the men of E Company were issued:

“1 light blue overcoat, 1 extra good blouse, 1 pair dark pantaloons, 2 white flannel shirts, 2 pair drawers, 2 pair socks, 1 pair shoes, 1 cap, 1 knapsack (suspended from shoulder), 1 haversack (suspended from waist), 1 canteen, and received 71 rifles on the 19th.”

Following brief training in light infantry tactics at Camp Curtin, the men of Company E and their fellow 47th Pennsylvanians were transported by rail to Washington, D.C. Stationed roughly two miles from the White House, they pitched tents at “Camp Kalorama” on the Kalorama Heights near Georgetown, beginning 21 September. Henry D. Wharton, a musician with C Company, penned the following update to 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.

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

On the 24th of that same month, the 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry finally became part of the U.S. Army when its men were officially mustered into federal service. The next day, 25 September, George Washington Hahn of E Company, David Huber and F. J. Scott described their early days via a letter from Camp Kalorama to the Easton Daily Evening Express:

“A]fter a ride of about twenty-four hours in those delightful cattle cars, we came in sight of the Capitol of the U.S. with colors flying and the band playing and everyone in the best of spirits…. We have one of the best camps in the Union; plenty of shade trees, water and food at present; we have had no ‘Hardees’ [hardtack] yet in this camp, but no doubt we will have them in abundance by and by. But we can cook them in so many different ways, they are better than beef. We soak them over night, fry them for breakfast, stew them for dinner, and warm them over for supper…. The way we pass our time in the evening is as follows: first, after supper, we have a good Union song, then we read, write, crack jokes and sing again. We are ‘gay and happy’ and always shall be while the stars and stripes float over us.

“…. We have a noble Colonel and an excellent Band, and the company officers throughout are well drilled for their positions. Our boys are well and contented; satisfied with their clothing, satisfied with their rations, and more than all satisfied with their officers, from Captain to the 8th Corporal. Our boys will stand by the Captain till the last man falls….

“This morning we … visited Georgetown Heights; we stood on top of the reservoir and from there had a fine view of the Federal forts and forces on the other side of the Potomac. It looks impossible for an enemy to enter Washington, so strongly fortified is every hill and the camps connect for miles along the river. We saw General McClellan and Professor Lowe taking a view of the Confederate army from the balloon. The rebels are now only four miles from here….”

On 27 September — a rainy day, the 47th Pennsylvania was assigned to the 3rd Brigade of Union 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 General William Farrar Smith (nicknamed “Baldy”), and were now part of the Union’s 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 that phase of duty, as part of the 3rd Brigade, the 47th Pennsylvanians were moved to a site they initially christened “Camp Big Chestnut” in reference to a large chestnut tree located nearby. The site would eventually become known to the Keystone Staters as “Camp Griffin,” and was located roughly ten miles from Washington, D.C.

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

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

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

On Friday morning, 22 October 1861, the 47th engaged 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.” Less than a month later, in his letter of 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 20 November, Private William Force and his fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers marched in The Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac at Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia. According to National Portrait Gallery historian James Barber:

“For three hours some 70,000 polished troops marched passed the reviewing stand, where the president, members of his cabinet, and Washington dignitaries were in attendance. It was the largest military assemblage up to that time in North America. ‘The Grand Review went off splendidly,’ wrote McClellan that night in a letter to his wife, ‘not a mistake was made, not a hitch. I never saw so large a Review in Europe so well done—I was completely satisfied & delighted beyond expression.’ 

“Among the 20,000 spectators to witness the Grand Review was the poet and social activist Julia Ward Howe of Boston, Massachusetts, who was visiting the Washington area with her husband, Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe.

“After leaving the review, during the carriage ride back to Washington, she heard troops singing the song ‘John Brown’s Body.’ A companion suggested that she should write new lyrics to the song, the melody of which lingered in her mind that night in her room at Willard’s Hotel in Washington. She awoke ‘in the gray of the morning twilight’ with the song still in her head and ‘the long lines of the desired poem began to twine themselves in my mind.’ She arose quickly and in the dimness of the early hour she began scribbling the verses on stationery ‘almost without looking at the paper.’

“Her poem, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, was first published in The Atlantic Monthly in February 1862; the magazine paid her five dollars. Soon thereafter her verse was set to music and her inspirational song became a wartime favorite….”

The next day, according to Schmidt, the regiment participated in a morning divisional headquarters review that was overseen by the regiment’s commanding officer, Colonel Tilghman H. Good, followed by brigade and division drills all afternoon. According to Schmidt, “each man was supplied with ten blank cartridges.” Afterward, “Gen. Smith requested Gen. Brannan to inform Col. Good that the 47th was the best regiment in the whole division.” As a reward for their performance — and in preparation for even bigger adventures and honors to come, Brannan obtained brand new Springfield rifles for every member of the 47th Pennsylvania.

1862

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

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

* Note: During that phase of duty, E Company Sergeant John Callahan was reduced to the rank of private on 25 January 1862. Regimental historian Lewis Schmidt was unable to find a definitive explanation for that significant demotion, but theorized that it may have been an indicator that Sergeant Callahan had either failed to prevent two E Company privates from deserting and evading capture around that same time, or because members of the 47th Pennsylvania had been caught drinking alcohol. (Whatever had occurred, the incident had evidently been serious. John Callahan never rose above the rank of private again while serving with the 47th Pennsylvania.)

Meanwhile, the officers of Company I were also having a serious problem with one of their own subordinates. According to Schmidt and letters that were later sent by 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantrymen to their families, the loading of the Oriental ceased on Monday, 27 January, at 10 a.m. when:

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

After that public shaming, the remaining 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantrymen resumed their duties. Finally finished loading weapons, ammunition, food, and other supplies onto the Oriental by that afternoon (27 January), they were then ferried to the big steamship by smaller steamers, and began boarding the Oriental for the final time — enlisted men first, followed by their officers. Per the directive of Brigadier-General John Milton Brannan, they then steamed away for the Deep South at 4 p.m. and headed for Florida which, despite its secession from the Union, was still strategically important to the Union due to the presence of Fort Taylor in Key West and Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas.

Florida and South Carolina

Private William Force and his fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers arrived in Key West, Florida and disembarked from the Oriental in early February in 1862. Initially directed to pitch their tents on the beach, they were then assigned to garrison duties at Fort Taylor. During the weekend of Friday, 14 February, the regiment officially introduced its presence to locals by parading through the city’s streets. That Sunday, a number of 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers also attended services at area churches.

They were now diplomats, as well as soldiers. In addition to defending the fort, they were also charged with inspiring area residents to support the efforts of the United States government to end the secession crisis and civil war. By April 1862, according to Schmidt, E Company Captain Charles H. Yard had been placed in charge of three regiments that were responsible for “clearing land and cutting roads” and creating a “fine military road … cut by the brigade from Fort Taylor directly through the island.”

Drilled daily in heavy artillery and light infantry tactics, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers also continued to work on strengthening the fortifications at Fort Taylor. But as their stay there lingered on, the quality of water available to them for drinking and bathing became increasingly problematic — just as Florida’s punishing heat and humidity worsened. As a result, multiple members of the regiment fell ill with dysentery or typhoid fever. Far too many died. Others lived, but found it harder and harder to perform their duties because they were weakened by the weather or disease.

Next ordered to Hilton Head, South Carolina from mid-June through July, Private William A. Force and his fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers made camp near Fort Walker before relocating to the Beaufort District, 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.

On 9 and 10 July, respectively, detachments from the regiment were assigned to the Expedition to Fenwick Island and the Demonstration against Pocotaligo.

Capture of Saint John’s Bluff

During a return expedition to Florida beginning 30 September, the 47th Pennsylvania joined with the 1st Connecticut Battery, 7th Connecticut Infantry, and part of the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry in assaulting Confederate forces at their heavily protected camp at Saint John’s Bluff overlooking the Saint John’s River area.

Backed by the U.S. gunboats Cimarron, E.B. Hale, Paul Jones, Uncas, and Water Witch and their twelve-pound boat howitzers, the fifteen hundred-strong Union Army force commanded by Brigadier-General Brannan advanced up the Saint John’s River and inland along the Pablo and Mt. Pleasant Creeks on 1 October 1862 before disembarking and marching for the battery atop Saint John’s Bluff. The next day, Union gunboats exchanged shellfire with the Rebel battery while the Union ground force continued on. When the 47th Pennsylvanians reached Saint John’s Bluff with their fellow brigade members on 3 October 1862, they found an abandoned battery. (Other Union troops discovered that the Yellow Bluff battery was also Rebel-free.)

Companies E and K of the 47th Pennsylvania were then led by Captain Yard on a special mission with other Union Army soldiers in the reconnaissance and recapture of the city of Jacksonville, Florida on 5 October 1862. A day later, after receiving intelligence that a Confederate steamer — the Governor Milton — had been engaged in furnishing troops, ammunition and other supplies to Confederate Army units scattered throughout the region, men from the 47th Pennsylvania’s Companies E and K boarded the Union gunboat Darlington (a former Confederate steamer) — and set out in search of the ship. Traveling two hundred miles along the Saint John’s River — with protection from the Union gunboat Hale — th 47th Pennsylvanians found their prize near Hawkinsville, captured it and steamed it back down the river to place it safely behind Union Navy lines. According to Schmidt, Corporal George R. Nichols of E Company was one of the men involved in that ship’s capture and later described that mission:

“At 9 PM … October 7, discovered the steamer Gov. Milton in a small creek, 2 miles above Hawkinsville; boarded her in a small boat, and found that she had been run in there but a short time before, as her fires were not yet out. Her engineer and mate, then in charge, were asleep on board at the time of her capture. They informed us that owing to the weakness of the steamer’s boiler we found her where we did….

“I commanded one of the Small Boats that went in after her. I was Boatman and gave orders when the headman jumped on Bord [sic] take the Painter with him. That however Belongs to Wm. Adams or Jacob Kerkendall. It was So dark I could not tell witch [sic] Struck the deck first. But when I Struck the deck I demanded the Surrend [sic] of the Boat in the name of the U.S. after we had the boat an offercier [sic] off [sic] the Paul Jones, a Gun Boat was with us he ask me how Soon could I move her out in the Stream I said five minuts [sic]. So an Engineer one of coulered [sic] Men helped Me. and I will Say right hear [sic] he learned Me More than I ever knowed about Engineering. Where we started down the River we was one hundred and twenty five miles up the river. When we Stopped at Polatkey [Palatka] to get wood for the Steamer I went out and Borrowed a half of a deer that hung up in a [sic] out house and a bee hive for some honey for the Boys. I never forget the boys.”

Integration of the Regiment

Meanwhile, back at its South Carolina base of operations, the 47th Pennsylvania was making history as it became an integrated regiment. On 5 and 15 October 1862, respectively, the regiment added to its muster rolls several young Black men who had endured plantation enslavement in the Beaufort vicinity, including sixteen-year-old Abraham Jassum, twenty-two-year-old Edward Jassum and thirty-three-year-old Bristor Gethers — all of whom would go on to successfully complete their three-year periods of enlistment and be honorably discharged in October 1865.

Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina

From 21-23 October, under the brigade and regimental commands of Colonel Tilghman H. Good and Lieutenant-Colonel George Warren Alexander, members of the 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry joined with other Union regiments to engage the heavily protected Confederate forces in and around Pocotaligo, South Carolina.

Harried by snipers en route to the Pocotaligo Bridge, which had been targeted for destruction during that expedition (in order to further disrupt the Confederacy’s ability to transport troops and ammunition), they met resistance from yet another 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. But the Union soldiers would not give in; grappling with Rebels wherever they met them, they pursued the enemy for four miles as the Confederate Army retreated to the bridge. Once there, the 47th Pennsylvania relieved the 7th Connecticut. Unfortunately, the enemy was just too well armed. After two hours of intense fighting in an unsuccesful attempt to take the ravine and bridge, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were finally forced to withdraw by their depleted ammunition, and retreated to Mackay’s Point.

Losses for the regiment were particularly high. Captain Charles Mickley of G Company was killed, and Captain George Junker of Company K was mortally wounded. Privates Henry A. Backman, Nathan George, Samuel Minnich, George B. Rose and fourteen other enlisted men died; a total of one hundred and fourteen had been wounded in action.

Also among the injured was E Company Private William Force, who had been wounded in the wrist during the battle.

On 23 October, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers returned to Hilton Head, where several members were appointed later that month to serve as the honor guard for the funeral of Major-General Ormsby M. Mitchel, the commander of the U.S. Army’s 10th Corps and Department of the South who 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.) The men selected from the 47th Pennsylvania for that special detail were given the high honor of firing the salute over his grave.

Meanwhile, Private William Force was continuing to receive medical treatment from Union Army physicians for his wounded wrist.

1863

Having been ordered back to Key West on 15 November 1862, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers then spent the entire year of 1863 garrisoning federal installations in Florida as part of the U.S. Army’s 10th Corps, Department of the South. Once again, the men of E Company joined with Companies A, B, C, G, and I in guarding Key West’s Fort Taylor while Companies D, F, H, and K garrisoned Fort Jefferson, the Union’s remote outpost in the Dry Tortugas off the coast of Florida.

According to the U.S. Army’s records collection known as “Returns from Military Posts,” sometime shortly after returning to Key West, Company E’s First Lieutenant Lawrence Bonstine was assigned to special duty as post adjutant. Reporting directly to the regiment’s commanding officer, Colonel Tilghman Good, he was essentially Good’s right hand, and was responsible for ensuring that regimental records and reports to senior military officials were kept up to date. On 5 March 1863, Private William H. Eichman was promoted to the rank of corporal, and exactly one month later, on 5 April 1863, Second Lieutenant W. Scott Johnston was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant and also appointed as adjutant with the central regimental staff.

Still trying to recover from the wound that he had sustained to his wrist during the Battle of Pocotaligo, Private William Force was then honorably discharged on a surgeon’s certificate of disability on 10 April 1863.

Return to Civilian Life

Following his honorable discharge from the military, William A. Force returned home to New Jersey, where he tried to regain some semblance of a normal life after all that he had experienced during the war. He then married Pennsylvania native Mary E. Kothe (1847-1887) sometime during the mid to late 1860s and settled with her in Greenwich Township, Warren County, New Jersey, where they became the parents of: an unnamed infant (1868-1868), who was born and died in November 1868, and was buried at the Easton Cemetery in Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania in what would later become the Force family plot (E-368); and William L. Force (1869-1880), who was born on 15 September 1869 in Still Valley, Warren County (now part of the city of Phillipsburg). According to his son’s birth record, patriarch William A. Force was employed as a painter that year. By the summer of 1870, he was residing with his wife and son in the Borough of South Easton in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, where he was employed as a huckster. Based on that year’s federal census, it appears that his standard of living had improved from the previous situation he had endured in his father’s lower income household. Per the notes of the census enumerator, William owned real estate that was valued at three hundred dollars and personal property worth one hundred dollars (the equivalent total of roughly ten thousand U.S. dollars in 2026).

Two years later, however, William A. Force and his family were back in Greenwich Township, Warren County, New Jersey. On 1 August 1872, he and his wife welcomed the birth of another son, Paul Force (1872-1936), who was born in that township and would later wed Ella May Dodd and settle with her in New York City, New York, where he would own a piano store before moving to Kingston, New York, where he would then own a confectionary business; Henry A. Force (circa 1876-1880/4), who was born circa 1876 but would die in childhood, sometime between 1880-1884, according to various family trees on Ancestry.com; and another unnamed infant (1879-1879), who was born and died in August 1879 and was also buried in the Force family plot (E-368) at the Easton Cemetery in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Employed as a painter in June 1880, William A. Force still resided in Greenwich Township with his wife, Mary, and their children, William, Paul and Henry. Sadly, just over three months later, his oldest son, William, (1869-1880), passed away there at the age of twelve, on 16 September 1880 (the day after young William’s birthday). Following funeral services, he was also laid to rest in the Force family plot (E-368) at the Easton Cemetery in Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania.

William A. Force and his wife, Mary, then became the parents of Ella Force (1881-1881), who was born in January 1881 but died roughly four months later (in May 1881), and was also buried in the Force family plot (E-368) at the Easton Cemetery. Another daughter, Mary Ruth Force (born 1883-died after 1936), was then born circa 1883.

In 1885, William A. Force resided in Pohatcong Township, Warren County, with his wife, Mary, and their children, Paul, Arthur and Mary. Roughly two years later, he became a widower when his wife, Mary (Kothe) Force, died in her late forties or early fifties in October 1887. Following funeral services, she was also laid to rest in the Force family plot (E-368) at the Easton Cemetery.

Death and Interment

Sadly, the loss of his wife and children, combined with the lingering effects of the wound that he had sustained during the Battle of Pocotaligo in 1862, took a toll on the health of William A. Force. Barely four months after his wife died, he answered his own final bugle call on 12 February 1888. Still in his early forties when he passed away in Greenwich Township, he was not buried with his wife and children at his family’s plot at the Easton Cemetery in Pennsylvania. Instead, he was laid to rest at the Phillipsburg Cemetery in New Jersey. A closer look at the photo of his grave shown above reveals that he was buried near other veterans of the American Civil War.

What Happened to William A. Force’s Parents and Siblings?

William Force’s parents and sister each survived him by nearly a decade. His sister, Ella Virginia Force (1853-1892/3), continued to reside in New Jersey for the remainder of her life. According to Ancestry.com’s “Geneanet Community Trees Index,” she died in her late thirties or early forties in the city of Newark in Essex County, New Jersey on 3 March 1892; however, her memorial on Find A Grave reports that she died in Newark on 5 March 1893, and was buried at the Clinton Cemetery in Irvington, Essex County.

William A. Force’s father and mother, James L. Force (1819-1896) and Sedilia M. (Deleree) Force (1821-1897), who had resided in Greenwich Township, Warren County for much of their lives, had continued to live in Warren County after William’s death. Employed as a painter in 1870, James L. Force owned real estate that was valued by that year’s federal census enumerator at six hundred dollars and also owned personal property worth two hundred dollars (roughly the total equivalent of more twenty thousand four hundred U.S. dollars in 2026). Residents of Carpentersville in Greenwich Township that year, James and his wife, Sedilia, were living there as “empty nesters” (without their children). After a long, challenging life, James died at the age of seventy-seven in Phillipsburg, Warren County on 13 September 1896, according to The Belividere Apollo newspaper’s 18 September 1896 edition and New Jersey death records. Following funeral services, he was buried at the Phillipsburg Cemetery. William A. Force’s mother, Sedilia M. (Deleree) Force (1821-1897), died roughly six months later at the age of seventy-five. Following her death in Phillipsburg on 20 March 1897 (alternate death year: 1896), she was also buried at the Phillipsburg Cemetery.

Following his marriage to Emma Cordelia Merrick (1847-1929) circa 1873, William A. Force’s brother, James Edward Force (1847-1917) settled with his wife in Stanhope, Sussex County, New Jersey, where they became the parents of Frederick Ernest Force (1876-1918), who was born in Stanhope on 10 April 1876 (alternate birth date: 15 April 1876) and would later wed Jane Louise Tuthill in 1904 and settle with her in the communities of Elizabeth and Netcong in Morris County, New Jersey.

More children soon followed: Minnie Florence Force (born 1877-died after 1940), who was born in November 1877 and would later become a cashier before marrying William C. Daviet (alternate surname spelling: “Dariet”) in 1903; Ada Leona Force (1879-1895), who was born in Mt. Olive, Morris County on 15 August 1879; Raymond R. Force (1881-1884), who was born in Roxbury, Morris County on 29 December 1881, but would die in early childhood in Phillipsburg on 29 September 1884; Ella V. Force (1883-1970), who was born in Roxbury or Netcong in Morris County on 21 April 1883 (alternate birth year: 1884) and would later wed John Frederick Schmidt (1883-1970); and Hugh Andrew Force (1887-1979), who was born in Phillipsburg on 13 June 1887 (alternate birth year: 1888) and would later wed Julia E. Day (1895-1961).

Sadly, the Force family experienced another tragedy when James E. Force’s daughter, Ada Leona Force (1879-1895), died in Phillipsburg on 19 November 1895. Following funeral services, she was interred at the Phillipsburg Cemetery. Five years later, James and Emma Force witnessed the dawn of a new century. Employed as a painter during the summer of 1900, he rented an apartment at 811 Park Avenue in the city of Hoboken’s Fifth Ward in Hudson County, New Jersey with his wife and their unmarried children, Minnie, Ella and Hugh.

By 1910, however, James Edward Force was employed as an engineer at an electric light company and he and and his wife were finally residing in their own home on Pickerel Place in the Borough of Netcong in Morris County. Also living with them were their unmarried son, Hugh A. Force, and their married son, Frederick E. Force (an electric light engineer), and Frederick’s wife, Jane (Tuthill) Force, and their children, Alice Tuthill Force (1905-1987), a native of Hoboken who would spend most of her life in Netcong and would wed Netcong native Alfred H. Young, Jr. (1904-1991); and Edward Merrick Force (1908-1998), who had been born in Hoboken and would later wed Simonne Irene LeBel (1905-1998).

Roughly seven years later, James E. Force was gone. Still in his late sixties or early seventies when he passed away in Netcong in September 1917, he was also interred at the Phillipsburg Cemetery.

Following his marriage to Katherine Miller (1858-1890) in Morris County, New Jersey in 1876, William Force’s brother, Arthur Force (1855-1936), settled with her in that county. They then became the parents of: Lewis L. Force, who was born circa 1877; and Albert Roland Force (1879-1960; alternate birth year: 1880), who was born in Mt. Olive, Morris County on 17 July 1879 and would later wed Lillian Alberta Davis. By the summer of 1880, Arthur Force was employed by a railroad company, and was residing in the town of Rockaway, Morris County with his wife, Katherine, who was also known as “Katie,” and their sons, Lewis and Albert Force. More children soon followed: Sedilia Matilda Force (1881-1900), who was born in Springtown, Greenwich Township, Warren County on 23 September 1881 (alternate spelling of given name: “Sedelia”; alternate birth year: 1882); Caroline Force (1883-1927), who was born on 15 September 1883, became known to family and friends as ” Carrie” and would later wed Chester Smith Stewart (1879-1932); and Clarance Force (1886-1941), who was born on 26 May 1886 and would later wed Sarah Nelson in Kings County, New York on 26 June 1904.

In late October of that same year, newspapers across New Jersey, New York and the nation reported on the unveiling and dedication of the Statue of Liberty (on 28 October 1886). Just over two years later, Arthur and Katherine (Miller) Force became the parents of another daughter — Clara Leona Force (1889-1943) — who was born on 8 February 1889 and would later wed Selah Louis Sammis (1880-1971). Weakened by that childbirth, however, Katherine (Miller) Force subsequently died at the age of thirty-three in Rockaway on 7 April 1889.

Battling through his grief, Arthur Force continued to work as a painter while raising his children in Rockaway, residing there until at least the early 1890s, according to city directories. After the turn of the century, however, he was living at 155 Greenpoint Avenue in the Borough of Brooklyn’s Seventeenth Ward in Kings County, New York, and was employed as a painter and paper hanger. Sadly, Arthur Force’s daughter, Sedilia Matilda Force (1882-1900), who was ailing with acute nephritis, died from uremia poisoning at the age of eighteen in Brooklyn on 29 January 1900 and was buried in Leadergrave, according to her State of New York death certificate (now known as the Cedar Grove Cemetery in Flushing, Queens County, New York). Roughly six months later, when a federal census enumerator appeared on Arthur’s doorstep, his household included his unmarried children: Albert, a twenty-year-old electrician; Caroline, aged sixteen; and Clarence R. and Clara L., who were aged fourteen and eleven, respectively, and were both still attending school.

When a state census enumerator knocked on his door in June of 1905, Arthur’s household at 182 Calyer Street in Brooklyn included his unmarried children, Albert, a house painter, and Clara; and Arthur’s married daughter, Caroline (Force) Stewart, and her husband, Chester Smith Stewart (1879-1932), and their eight month-old daughter, Helen B. Stewart (1904-unknown), who had been born in Canada circa October 1904. Also living with the Force family was Selah Sammis (1880-1971), a twenty-three-year-old roomer who was employed at a soda water manufacturing company and would later become the husband of Arthur’s daughter, Clara.

Married for a second time in 1919, Arthur Force wed Henrietta Graeff in New Jersey. Employed as a painter and decorator during the summer of 1920, Arthur Force resided at 3425 Fulton Street in Brooklyn’s Twenty-Second Ward with his second wife, Henrietta, and his son from his first marriage, Albert R. Force, who was still employed as a house painter. In addition, his second wife’s unmarried sons, Robert Weygant, a forty-year-old mechanic, and Albert Weygant, a sixteen-year-old clerk at a refining company, were also now living with him. By 1930, Arthur and his second wife, Henrietta, were “empty nesters.”

After a long, full life, Arthur Force died in his late seventies in Hempstead, Nassau County, New York on 15 August 1936, and was laid to rest at the Melville Cemetery in Melville, Suffolk County, New York.

What Happened to William A. Force’s Surviving Children?

Following his marriage to Ella May Dodd, William A. Force’s son, Paul Force (1872-1936), became the father of Ruth May Force (1892-1968). Widowed sometime before early April 1910, he was documented as a pianist and piano teacher who rented an apartment at 62 West 102nd Street in the Borough of Manhattan in New York City. Also living with him was his twenty-seven-year-old, unmarried sister, Mary Ruth Force (born 1883-died after 1936). By 1925, Paul Force was residing in Rosendale, Ulster County, New York, according to that year’s New York State Census. Also living with him were were Paul’s daughter, Ruth (Force) Beal, Paul’s five-year-old grandson, George L. Beal, and Paul’s unmarried, forty-three-year-old sister, Mary Ruth Force. Sometime after that 1925 state census was taken, however, Paul Force’s daughter, Ruth May Force (1892-1968) married Gustav Nickel (1897-1974).

The owner-operator of “a confectionary store at 10 Hoffman street, near Broadway,” in Kingston, Ulster County since the mid-1920s, according to his obituary in The Daily Freeman, Paul Force died in his early sixties at his home at 488 Hasbrouck Avenue in Kingston on 2 March 1936, and was laid to rest at that town’s Wiltwyck Cemetery. His sister, Mary Ruth Force (born 1883-died after 1936), who had remained single into at least the mid-1930s, had resided with him until his death in March 1936, according to his obituaries. Researchers have not yet determined what happened to her after Paul passed away.

 

Sources:

1. Ada Leona Force (an infant who was a niece of William A. Force and a daughter of James E. Force), in Birth Records (Mt. Olive, Morris County, New Jersey, date of birth: 15 August 1879). Trenton, New Jersey: New Jersey State Archives.
2. Albert Roland Force (an infant who was a nephew of William A. Force and a son of Arthur Force), in Birth Records (Mt. Olive, Morris County, New Jersey, date of birth: 17 July 1879). Trenton, New Jersey: New Jersey State Archives.
3. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
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