Alternate Spellings of Given Name: Geoffrey, Godfrey, Gotfried, Gottfried. Alternate Spellings of Surname: Betts, Betz

 

One of the many German immigrants who settled in the Great Keystone State of Pennsylvania during the mid-nineteenth century, Godfrey Betz was also one of the many German immigrants who enlisted with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the opening months of the American Civil War.

Still thinking he could build a better life for his wife and children when he left his Lehigh Valley home for basic training, he was ultimately transported so far from their loving arms by the middle of the war that it became impossible for him to return home for a visit.

His hope, like the hope of so many during those terrible years, was that “cooler heads would prevail” and find a way to end the disunion.

Formative Years

Born in the Kingdom of Württemberg circa 1814, Godfrey Betz grew to manhood as a citizen of the German Confederation. But as increasingly autocratic rulers began to restrict political speech and other freedoms more and more, while raising taxes on the Betz family and their friends and neighbors (the majority of whom were still peasants trying to eke out their existence in serfdom), life became increasingly difficult — so difficult that those diminishng freedoms sparked the German Revolutions of the mid to late 1840s and led to a mass emigration of Germans to America, motivating Gottfried Betz to make his way across the ocean and settle in northeastern Pennsylvania during the early to middle years of that decade.

Still known as “Gottfried” and still single as of 22 August 1850, when a federal census enumerator documented his status as a German immigrant residing in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, he was employed as a laborer and was living at the home of laborer George Kuntz and his family that year. Also residing with the Kuntz family at that time was Pennsylvania native Cecilia Hower (1822-1891).

Shortly thereafter, Gottfried and Cecilia married and began making a new life together in the Borough of Catasauqua in Lehigh County, as they welcomed the births at their home of: Fayetta/Fyetta Betz, who was born later that same year (1850); James F. Betz (1852-1941), who was born on 3 January 1852 and later wed Anna Maria Shoemacher (1858-1921; alternate surname spelling: “Shoemaker”); and Camilla C. Betz (1858-1933), who was born on 19 February 1859 and later wed William Henry Hower (1841-1915).

When a federal census enumerator arrived at the Betz home in Catasauqua in late June 1860, he confirmed that Gottfried Betz was now known as Godfrey Betz, a local laborer. The enumerator also noted that Godfrey had amassed personal property worth one hundred dollars (the equivalent of more than three thousand, eight hundred dollars in 2025).

But the Betz family’s security would soon be threatened as the likelihood of civil war between northern and southern areas of the United States increased with each passing day — a daily stressor that Godfrey thought he had escaped by emigrating from the increasingly unstable German Confederation.

American Civil War

During the fateful summer of 1861, Godfrey Betz chose to sign up for military service in the expanding American Civil War. Following his enrollment in Catasauqua in Lehigh County on 21 August, he officially mustered in for duty at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg, Dauphin County on 30 August as a private with Company F, of the newly-formed 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.

Downplaying his age by more than a decade at the time of his enlistment, he would be described for posterity by Union Army clerks as being a thirty-four-year-old laborer and resident of Catasauqua who was five feet, ten inches tall with brown hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion. In reality, he was already in his late forties.

* Note: Company F of the 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was the first company of this Union regiment to muster in for duty. The initial recruitment for members to staff this unit was conducted in Catasauqua, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania by Henry Samuel Harte, a native of Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse (now Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany) who had become a naturalized American citizen in New York on 15 October 1851 and had been appointed captain of the Lehigh County militia unit known as the Catasauqua Rifles during the late 1850s. Harte was then also commissioned as captain of Company F of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers during that fateful summer of 1861.

Following a brief training period in light infantry tactics at Camp Curtin, the remaining soldiers of Company F and their fellow members of the 47th Pennsylvania were transported south by rail to Washington, D.C. Stationed roughly two miles from the White House, they pitched their tents at “Camp Kalorama” on the Kalorama Heights near Georgetown beginning 21 September. Henry D. Wharton, a musician from the regiment’s C Company, penned an update the next day to the Sunbury American, his hometown newspaper:

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 for an occasional ‘pop’ at the enemy.

While at Camp Kalorama, Captain Harte issued his first directive (Company Order No. 1), that his company drill four times per day, each time for one hour.

On 24 September, the 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry finally became part of the United States Army when its men were officially mustered into federal service. On 27 September—a rainy day, the 47th Pennsylvania was assigned to the 3rd Brigade of Brigadier-General Isaac 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 47th Pennsylvanians marched behind their Regimental Band until reaching Camp Lyon, Maryland on the Potomac River’s eastern shore. At 5 p.m., they joined the 46th Pennsylvania in moving double-quick (one hundred and sixty-five steps per minute using thirty-three-inch steps) across the “Chain Bridge” marked on federal maps, and continued on for roughly another mile before being ordered to make camp.

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

Once again, Company C Musician Henry Wharton recapped the regiment’s activities, noting, via his 29 September letter home to the Sunbury American, that the 47th had changed camps three times in three days:

On Friday last we left Camp Kalorama, and the same night encamped about one mile from the Chain Bridge on the opposite side of the Potomac from Washington. The next morning, Saturday, we were ordered to this Camp [Camp Advance near Fort Ethan Allen, Virginia], one and a half miles from the one we occupied the night previous. I should have mentioned that we halted on a high hill (on our march here) at the Chain Bridge, called Camp Lyon, but were immediately ordered on this side of the river. On the route from Kalorama we were for two hours exposed to the hardest rain I ever experienced. Whew, it was a whopper; but the fellows stood it well – not a murmur – and they waited in their wet clothes until nine o’clock at night for their supper. Our Camp adjoins that of the N.Y. 79th (Highlanders.)….

We had not been in this Camp more than six hours before our boys were supplied with twenty rounds of ball and cartridge, and ordered to march and meet the enemy; they were out all night and got back to Camp at nine o’clock this morning, without having a fight. They are now in their tents taking a snooze preparatory to another march this morning…. I don’t know how long the boys will be gone, but the orders are to cook two days’ rations and take it with them in their haversacks….

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

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

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

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

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

On Friday morning, 22 October 1861, the 47th engaged in a divisional review, described by regimental historian Lewis 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 21 November, the 47th participated in a morning divisional headquarters review that was monitored by the regiment’s founder and 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 bigger things to come, Brigadier-General John Milton Brannan obtained brand new Springfield rifles for every member of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers.

1862

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

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

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

Private Godfrey Betz and the other members of Company F arrived in Key West in early 1862 and were assigned with their fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers to garrison Fort Taylor. During the weekend of Friday, 14 February, the 47th Pennsylvanians introduced their presence to Key West residents as the regiment paraded through the streets of the city. That Sunday, soldiers from the 47th Pennsylvania also mingled with locals by attending services at area churches.

Drilling daily in heavy artillery tactics, they also strengthened the fortifications at this federal installation. On 1 April 1862, Sergeant Augustus Eagle was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant.

In addition to their exhausting military duties, the 47th Pennsylvanians also encountered the persistent and formidable foe of disease. Several members of the regiment fell ill, largely due to poor sanitary conditions and water quality. As a result, Privates W. H. Moyer, II and Frederick Eagle were discharged on surgeons’ certificates of disability and Second Lieutenant Henry H. Bush and Private Edward Bartholomew died at Fort Taylor, respectively, on 31 March and 3 April. Privates Samuel Smith and John G. Seider were then also both discharged on surgeons’ certificates on 12 April 1862.

But there were lighter moments as well.

According to a letter penned by Henry Wharton on 27 February 1862, the regiment commemorated the birthday of former U.S. President George Washington with a parade, a special ceremony involving the reading of Washington’s farewell address to the nation (first delivered in 1796), the firing of cannon at the fort, and a sack race and other games on 22 February. The festivities resumed two days later when the 47th Pennsylvania’s Regimental Band hosted an officers’ ball at which “all parties enjoyed themselves, for three o’clock of the morning sounded on their ears before any motion was made to move homewards.” This was then followed by a concert by the Regimental Band on Wednesday evening, 26 February.

According to Schmidt, 4 June 1862 was also a festive day for the regiment. As the USS Niagara sailed for Boston after transferring its responsibilities as the flagship of the Union Navy squadron in that sector to the USS Potomac, the guns of fifteen warships anchored nearby fired a salute, as did the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Captain Harte and F Company played a prominent role in the day’s events as they “fired 15 of the heavy casemate guns from Fort Taylor at 4 PM.”

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

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

During the second week of July, according to Schmidt, Major William H. Gausler and Captain Henry S. Harte returned home to the Lehigh Valley to resume their recruiting efforts. After arriving in Allentown on 15 July, they quickly re-established an efficient operation, which they would keep running through early November 1862. During this time, Major Gausler was able to persuade fifty-four new recruits to join the 47th Pennsylvania while Harte rounded up an additional twelve.

Meanwhile, back in the Deep South, Captain Harte’s F Company men were commanded by Harte’s direct subordinates, First Lieutenant George W. Fuller and Second Lieutenant August G. Eagle.

On 12 September, Colonel Tilghman Good and his adjutant, First Lieutenant Washington H. R. Hangen, issued Regimental Orders, No. 207 from the 47th Pennsylvania’s Headquarters in Beaufort, South Carolina:

I. The Colonel commanding desires to call the attention of all officers and men in the regiment to the paramount necessity of observing rules for the preservation of health. There is less to be apprehended from battle than disease. The records of all companies in climate like this show many more casualties by the neglect of sanitary post action then [sic] by the skill, ordnance and courage of the enemy. Anxious that the men in my command may be preserved in the full enjoyment of health to the service of the Union. And that only those who can leave behind the proud epitaph of having fallen on the field of battle in the defense of their country shall fail to return to their families and relations at the termination of this war.

II. All the tents will be struck at 7:30 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday of each week. The signal for this purpose will be given by the drum major by giving three taps on the drum. Every article of clothing and bedding will be taken out and aired; the flooring and bunks will be thoroughly cleaned. By the same signal at 11 a.m. the tents will be re-erected. On the days the tents are not struck the sides will be raised during the day for the purpose of ventilation.

III. The proper cooking of provisions is a matter of great importance more especially in this climate but have not yet received from a majority of officers of the regiment that attention that should be paid to it.

IV. Thereafter an officer of each company will be detailed by the commander of each company and have their names reported to these headquarters to superintend the cooking of provisions taking care that all food prepared for the soldiers is sufficiently cooked and that the meats are all boiled or seared (not fried). He will also have charge of the dress table and he is held responsible for the cleanliness of the kitchen cooking utensils and the preparation of the meals at the time appointed.

V. The following rules for the taking of meals and regulations in regard to the conducting of the company will be strictly followed. Every soldier will turn his plate, cup, knife and fork into the Quarter Master Sgt who will designate a permanent place or spot each member of the company and there leave his plate & cup, knife and fork placed at each meal with the soldier’s rations on it. Nor will any soldier be permitted to go to the company kitchen and take away food therefrom.

VI. Until further orders the following times for taking meals will be followed Breakfast at six, dinner at twelve, supper at six. The drum major will beat a designated call fifteen minutes before the specified time which will be the signal to prepare the tables, and at the time specified for the taking of meals he will beat the dinner call. The soldier will be permitted to take his spot at the table before the last call.

VII. Commanders of companies will see that this order is entered in their company order book and that it is read forth with each day on the company parade. All commanding officers of companies will regulate daily their time by the time of this headquarters. They will send their 1st Sergeants to this headquarters daily at 8 a.m. for this purpose.

Great punctuality is enjoined in conforming to the stated hours prescribed by the roll calls, parades, drills, and taking of meals; review of army regulations while attending all roll calls to be suspended by a commissioned officer of the companies, and a Captain to report the alternate to the Colonel or the commanding officer.

At 5 a.m., Commanders of companies are imperatively instructed to have the company quarters washed and policed and secured immediately after breakfast.

At 6 a.m., morning reports of companies request [sic] by the Captains and 1st Sgts and all applications for special privileges of soldiers must be handed to the Adjutant before 8 a.m.

By Command of Col. T. H. Good
W. H. R. Hangen Adj

In addition, First Lieutenant and Regimental Adjutant Hangen clarified the regiment’s schedule as follows:

• Reveille (5:30 a.m.) and Breakfast (6:00 a.m.)
• First and Second Calls for Guard (6:10 a.m. and 6:15 a.m.)
• Surgeon’s Call (6:30 a.m.)
• First and Second Calls for Company Drill (6:45 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.)
• Recall from Company Drill (8:00 a.m.)
• First and Second Calls for Squad Drill (9:00 a.m. and 9:15 a.m.)
• Recall from Squad Drill (10:30 a.m.) and Dinner (12:00 noon)
• Call for Non-commissioned Officers (1:30 p.m.)
• Recall for Non-commissioned Officers (2:30 p.m.)
• First and Second Calls for Squad Drills (3:15 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.)
• Recall from Squad Drill (4:30 p.m.)
• First and Second Calls for Dress Parade (5:10 p.m. and 5:15 p.m.)
• Supper (6:10 p.m.)
• Tattoo (9:00 p.m.) and Taps (9:15 p.m.)

As the one-year anniversary of the 47th Pennsylvania’s departure from the Great Keystone State dawned on 20 September, thoughts turned to home and Divine Providence as Colonel Tilghman Good issued Special Orders, No. 60 from the 47th’s Regimental Headquarters in Beaufort, South Carolina:

The Colonel commanding takes great pleasure in complimenting the officers and men of the regiment on the favorable auspices of today.

Just one year ago today, the organization of the regiment was completed to enter into the service of our beloved country, to uphold the same flag under which our forefathers fought, bled, and died, and perpetuate the same free institutions which they handed down to us unimpaired.

It is becoming therefore for us to rejoice on this first anniversary of our regimental history and to show forth devout gratitude to God for this special guardianship over us.

Whilst many other regiments who swelled the ranks of the Union Army even at a later date than the 47th have since been greatly reduced by sickness or almost cut to pieces on the field of battle, we as yet have an entire regiment and have lost but comparatively few out of our ranks.

Certain it is we have never evaded or shrunk from duty or danger, on the contrary, we have been ever anxious and ready to occupy any fort, or assume any position assigned to us in the great battle for the constitution and the Union.

We have braved the danger of land and sea, climate and disease, for our glorious cause, and it is with no ordinary degree of pleasure that the Colonel compliments the officers of the regiment for the faithfulness at their respective posts of duty and their uniform and gentlemanly manner towards one another.

Whilst in numerous other regiments there has been more or less jammings and quarrelling [sic] among the officers who thus have brought reproach upon themselves and their regiments, we have had none of this, and everything has moved along smoothly and harmoniously. We also compliment the men in the ranks for their soldierly bearing, efficiency in drill, and tidy and cleanly appearance, and if at any time it has seemed to be harsh and rigid in discipline, let the men ponder for a moment and they will see for themselves that it has been for their own good.

To the enforcement of law and order and discipline it is due our far fame as a regiment and the reputation we have won throughout the land.

With you he has shared the same trials and encountered the same dangers. We have mutually suffered from the same cold in Virginia and burned by the same southern sun in Florida and South Carolina, and he assures the officers and men of the regiment that as long as the present war continues, and the service of the regiment is required, so long he stands by them through storm and sunshine, sharing the same danger and awaiting the same glory.

A Regiment Victorious — and Bloodied

During a return expedition to Florida beginning 30 September, the 47th 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. Trekking and skirmishing through roughly twenty-five miles of dense swampland and forests after disembarking from ships at Mayport Mills on 1 October, the 47th captured artillery and ammunition stores (on 3 October) that had been abandoned by Confederate forces during the bluff’s bombardment by Union gunboats.

The capture of Saint John’s Bluff followed a string of U.S. Army and Navy successes that enabled the Union to gain control over key southern towns and transportation hubs. In November 1861, the Union’s South Atlantic Blockading Squadron had established an operations base at Port Royal, South Carolina, facilitating Union expeditions to Georgia and Florida, during which U.S. troops were able to take possession of Fort Clinch and Fernandina, Florida (3-4 March 1862), secure the surrender of Fort Marion and Saint Augustine (11 March), and establish a Union Navy base at Mayport Mills (mid-March). That summer, Brigadier-General Joseph Finnegan, commanding officer of the Confederate States of America’s Department of Middle and Eastern Florida, ordered the placement of earthworks-fortified gun batteries atop Saint John’s Bluff overlooking the Saint John’s River and at Yellow Bluff nearby. Confederate leaders hoped to disable the Union’s naval and ground force operations at and beyond Mayport Mills with as many as eighteen cannon, including three eight-inch siege howitzers and eight-inch smoothbores and Columbiads (two of each).

After the U.S. gunboats Uncas and Patroon exchanged shell-fire with the Confederate battery at Saint John’s Bluff on 11 September, Rebel troops were initially driven away, but then returned to their battery on the bluff. When a second, larger Union gunboat flotilla tried and failed again six days later to shake the Confederates loose, Union military leaders ordered an army operation with naval support.

Backed by U.S. gunboats Cimarron, E. B. Hale, Paul Jones, Uncas, and Water Witch armed with twelve-pound boat howitzers, the fifteen-hundred-strong Union Army force commanded by Brigadier-General Brannan moved up the Saint John’s River and further 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 its advance. When the 47th Pennsylvanians reached Saint John’s Bluff with their fellow Union brigade members on 3 October 1862, they found the battery abandoned. (Other Union troops discovered that the Yellow Bluff battery was also Rebel free.)

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

Meanwhile that same weekend (Friday and Saturday, 3-4 October 1862), Brigadier-General Brannan, who was quartered on board the Ben Deford as the Union expedition’s commanding officer, was busy penning reports to his superiors while also planning the next move of his expeditionary force. That Saturday, Brannan chose several officers to direct their subordinates to prepare rations and ammunition for a new foray that would take them roughly twenty miles upriver to Jacksonville. (A sophisticated hub of cultural and commercial activities with a racially diverse population of more than two thousand residents, the city had repeatedly changed hands between the Union and Confederacy until its occupation by Union forces on 12 March 1862.) Among the Union soldiers selected for this mission were 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers from Company C, Company E and Company K.

One of the first groups to depart—Company C of the 47th Pennsylvania—did so that Saturday as part of a small force made up of infantry and gunboats, the latter of which were commanded by Captain Charles E. Steedman. Their mission was to destroy all enemy boats they encountered to stop the movement of Confederate troops throughout the region. Upon arrival in Jacksonville later that same day, the infantrymen were charged by Brannan with setting fire to the office of that city’s Southern Rights newspaper. Before that action was taken, however, Captain Gobin and his subordinate, Henry Wharton, who had both been employed by the Sunbury American newspaper in Sunbury, Pennsylvania prior to the war, salvaged the pro-Confederacy publication’s printing press so that Wharton could more efficiently produce the regimental newspaper he had launched while the 47th Pennsylvania was stationed at Fort Taylor in Key West, Florida.

On Sunday, 5 October, Brannan and his detachment sailed away for Jacksonville at 6:30 a.m. Per Wharton, the weekend’s events unfolded as follows:

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

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

According to Brigadier-General Brannan, the Union party “returned on the morning of the 9th with a Rebel steamer, Governor Milton, which they captured in a creek about 230 miles up the river and about 27 miles north [and slightly west] from the town of Enterprise.… On the return of the successful expedition after the Rebel steamers … I proceeded with that portion of my command to St. John’s Bluff, awaiting the return of the Boston.”

In his report on the matter, filed from Mount Pleasant Landing, Florida on 2 October 1862, Colonel Tilghman H. Good described the Union Army’s assault on Saint John’s Bluff:

In accordance with orders received I landed my regiment on the bank of Buckhorn Creek at 7 o’clock yesterday morning. After landing I moved forward in the direction of Parkers plantation, about 1 mile, being then within about 14 miles of said plantation. Here I halted to await the arrival of the Seventh Connecticut Regiment. I advanced two companies of skirmishers toward the house, with instructions to halt in case of meeting any of the enemy and report the fact to me. After they had advanced about three-quarters of a mile they halted and reported some of the enemy ahead. I immediately went forward to the line and saw some 5 or 6 mounted men about 700 or 800 yards ahead. I then ascended a tree, so that I might have a distinct view of the house and from this elevated position I distinctly saw one company of infantry close by the house, which I supposed to number about 30 or 40 men, and also some 60 or 70 mounted men. After waiting for the arrival of the Seventh Connecticut Volunteers until 10 o’clock, and it not appearing, I dispatched a squad of men back to the landing for a 6-pounder field howitzer which had been kindly offered to my service by Lieutenant Boutelle, of the Paul Jones. This howitzer had been stationed on a flat-boat to protect our landing. The party, however, did not arrive with the piece until 12 o’clock, in consequence of the difficulty of dragging it through the swamp. Being anxious to have as little delay as possible, I did not await the arrival of the howitzer, but at 11 a.m. moved forward, and as I advanced the enemy fled.

After reaching the house I awaited the arrival of the Seventh Connecticut and the howitzer. After they arrived I moved forward to the head of Mount Pleasant Creek to a bridge, at which place I arrived at 2 p.m. Here I found the bridge destroyed, but which I had repaired in a short time. I then crossed it and moved down on the south bank toward Mount Pleasant Landing. After moving about 1 mile down the bank of the creek my skirmishing companies came upon a camp, which evidently had been very hastily evacuated, from the fact that the occupants had left a table standing with a sumptuous meal already prepared for eating. On the center of the table was placed a fine, large meat pie still warm, from which one of the party had already served his plate. The skirmishers also saw 3 mounted men leave the place in hot haste. I also found a small quantity of commissary and quartermasters stores, with 23 tents, which, for want of transportation, I was obliged to destroy. After moving about a mile farther on I came across another camp, which also indicated the same sudden evacuation. In it I found the following articles … breech-loading carbines, 12 double-barreled shot-guns, 8 breech-loading Maynard rifles, 11 Enfield rifles, and 96 knapsacks. These articles I brought along by having the men carry them. There were, besides, a small quantity of commissary and quartermasters stores, including 16 tents, which, for the same reason as stated, I ordered to be destroyed. I then pushed forward to the landing, where I arrived at 7 p.m.

We drove the enemys [sic] skirmishers in small parties along the entire march. The march was a difficult one, in consequence of meeting so many swamps almost knee-deep.

Integration of the Regiment

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

Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina

Serving under the brigade and regimental commands of Colonel Tilghman H. Good and Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Alexander, respectively, Private Godfrey Betz and his fellow 47th  Pennsylvanians courageously engaged Confederate forces in and around Pocotaligo, South Carolina on what turned out to be a date so difficult that surviving members of the 47th would continue to honor it for decades after the end of the Civil War.

Landing at Mackay’s Point, the men of the 47th were placed on point once again, leading their 3rd Brigade comrades into a direct faceoff with a larger and better-equipped Confederate force than senior Union Army officials had anticipated. Harried by snipers en route to the Pocotaligo Bridge during what would come to be known as the Second Battle of Pocotaligo, they also 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.

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

Following their return to Hilton Head, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers recuperated from their wounds and resumed their normal duties. In short order, several members of the 47th were called upon to serve as the funeral honor guard for Major-General Ormsby M. Mitchel, and given the high honor of firing the salute over this grave. (Commander of the U.S. Army’s 10th Corps and Department of the South, Mitchel succumbed to yellow fever on 30 October 1862. The Mountains of Mitchel, a part of Mars’ South Pole discovered in 1846 by Mitchel as a University of Cincinnati astronomer, and Mitchelville, the first Freedmen’s town created after the Civil War, were both named after him.)

Having been ordered back to Key West on 15 November 1862, much of 1863 would be spent garrisoning federal installations in Florida as part of the 10th Corps, U.S. Department of the South. Companies A, B, C, E, G, and I would once again garrison Fort Taylor in Key West, but this time, the men from Companies D, F, H, and K, including Private Godfrey Betz, 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 later described by several members of the regiment as a treacherous and nerve-wracking voyage. According to 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, 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 a dangerous ground, and the reefs are no playthings. We were 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 sailor’s 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 river boat, 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]. 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 H. 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 A. Graeffe, and stationed at newer facilities known as the “Lighthouse Barracks” on “Lighthouse Key.”

Three days later, on Saturday, 21 December, Lieutenant-Colonel George Warren Alexander, the regiment’s second-in-command, sailed away aboard the Cosmopolitan with the men from the regiment’s remaining companies—Companies D, F, H, and K—and headed south to Fort Jefferson, where they would assume garrison duties at the Union’s remote outpost in the Dry Tortugas, roughly seventy miles off the coast of Florida (in the Gulf of Mexico). According to Henry Wharton:

We landed here on last Thursday at noon, and immediately marched to quarters. Company I. and C., in Fort Taylor, 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 relieves 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 ends 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 the 47th Pennsylvania’s duty stations in Florida in 1863, it was particularly problematic for Private Godfrey Betz and the other 47th Pennsylvanians who were stationed at Fort Jefferson. According to Schmidt:

‘Fresh’ water was provided by channeling the rains from the fort’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 1,231,200 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 Lt. 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,” according to 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, members of this regiment would also be called upon to play an ongoing role in weakening Florida’s abilities to supply and transport food and troops throughout the area held by the Confederate States of America.

Prior to intervention by Union Army and Navy forces, 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 large orange groves (while other types of citrus trees were easily found growing throughout the state’s wilderness areas).

The state was also a major producer of salt, which was used as a preservative for the foods. 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.

And they would be undertaking all of these duties in conditions that were far more challenging than what many other Union Army units were experiencing up north in the Eastern Theater. The weather was frequently hot and humid as spring turned to summer, the 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.

1864

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

Meanwhile, all of the other companies of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry had begun preparing for the regiment’s history-making journey to Louisiana. Boarding yet another steamer—the Charles Thomas—on 25 February 1864, the men from Companies B, C, D, I, and K of the 47th Pennsylvania headed for Algiers, Louisiana (across the river from New Orleans), followed on 1 March by other members of the regiment from Companies E, F, G, and H who had been stationed at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas.

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

Red River Campaign

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

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

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

Rushed into battle ahead of other regiments in the 2nd Division, sixty members of the 47th were cut down on 8 April during the intense volley of fire unleashed during the Battle of Sabine Cross Roads (also known as the Battle of Mansfield because of its proximity to the community of Mansfield). The fighting waned only when darkness fell. The exhausted, but uninjured collapsed beside the gravely wounded and the 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 who was the 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 is now known as the Battle of Pleasant Hill.

During that engagement, the 47th Pennsylvania succeeded in recapturing a Massachusetts artillery battery lost during the earlier Confederate assault. Unfortunately, the regiment’s second-in-command, Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander, was nearly killed during the fight that day, and Color-Sergeant Benjamin Walls was shot in the left shoulder while mounting the 47th Pennsylvania’s colors on one of the recaptured caissons. Sergeant William Pyers was then also wounded while grabbing the American flag from Walls as he fell to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.

Alexander, Walls and Pyers all survived the day and continued to fight on with the 47th, but many others were killed in action or wounded so severely that they were unable to continue their service with the 47th. Still others from the 47th were captured by Confederate troops, marched roughly one hundred and twenty-five miles to Camp Ford, a Confederate Army prison camp near Tyler, Texas, and held there as prisoners of war until they were released during prisoner exchanges that began in July and continued through November. At least two members of the 47th Pennsylvania never made it out of there alive. Private Samuel Kern of Company D died there on 12 June 1864, and Private John Weiss of F Company, who had been wounded in action at Pleasant Hill, died from those wounds on 15 July.

Another member of Company F who died during this phase of duty was Private Godfrey Betz — although his foe was an entirely different one — disease. Ailing with dysentery, which was most likely contracted due to a lack of safe drinking water and the close, unsanitary living conditions that were typical for soldiers were engaged in long marches across difficult territory, Private Betz became so ill that regimental surgeons ordered that he be transported to New Orleans, where he could receive more advanced medical treatment by Union Army physicians who were working at that city’s Charity Hospital.

But physicians were unable to help him. He died there on 8 May 1864, and was buried with military honors on 10 May at the Monument Cemetery in New Orleans (now known as the Chalmette National Cemetery).

Note: Although historian Samuel P. Bates indicated that a “Godfrey Betz” was discharged from the 47th Pennsylvania on 18 September 1864, the real Godfrey Betz was listed in the U.S. Registers of Deaths of Volunteer Soldiers as having died on 8 May 1864 from chronic dysentery at the Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was then buried with military honors at the Monument Cemetery in New Orleans. (Bates appears to have based his incorrect statement on two muster roll entries that were made in error by a clerk of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, which had been completed more than nineteen months after Godfrey Betz had died while in service in New Orleans, Louisiana.)

What Happened to the Family of Godfrey Betz?

On 31 July 1865, Godfrey Betz’s widow, Cecilia, filed for a U.S. Civil War Widow’s Pension, which was subsequently awarded. By 1870, she was residing in South Whitehall, Lehigh County with their children, Fayetta/Fyetta, James and Camilla. By 1880, Cecilia (Hower) Betz had relocated to a residence on Walnut Street in Allentown, Lehigh County. Although her three children were no longer living with her, her ten-year-old granddaughter, Flora Shoneberger, was.

*Note: Flora Shoneberger, the granddaughter of Godfrey and Cecilia (Hower) Betz, was born circa 1870 and was the daughter of their oldest child, Fayetta/Fyetta Betz. Researchers for 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment’s Story, have not yet determined what happened to Fayetta/ Fyetta, but currently theorize that she died sometime before the 1880 federal census was conducted, because she was not listed on the same census sheet as her daughter, Flora. 

Having survived her Civil War soldier-husband by nearly three decades, Cecilia (Hower) Betz died in Allentown on 12 November 1891. Her estate was submitted to the Lehigh County Register of Wills for probate on 18 November 1891. Her burial location was not disclosed in The Allentown Democrat’s brief notice of her death.

Following her marriage to William Henry Hower in 1880, Godfrey Betz’s youngest daughter, Camilla (Betz) Hower, welcomed the birth of a daughter, Hattie Henrietta May Hower (1884-1962), who was born in Allentown, Lehigh County on 3 May 1884 and later wed Edward Henry Berryman (1879-1965). Sadly, like her father, Camilla (Betz) Hower’s life was shortened by disease. An arthritis sufferer, she contracted facial erysipelas during the summer of 1932 and died from the condition at the age of seventy-four at her home in Wescosville on 8 May 1933. She was subsequently laid to rest beside her husband at the Fairview Cemetery in Allentown.

Following his marriage to Anna Maria Shoemacher (alternate spelling: “Shoemaker”) circa 1874, Godfrey Betz’s son, James F. Betz, welcomed the births with her of: Abner F. Betz (1875-1957), who was born in 1857 and later wed Irena Schoch (1875-1898); William J. Betz (1878-1935), who was born in Catasauqua on 6 January 1878 and later wed Gertrude M. Strunk (1882-1935); and Helen M. Betz (1892-1960), who had been born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on 25 April 1892 and later married a man with the surname of Buck.

* Note: Abner F. Betz (1875-1957), who initially wed Irena Schoch, a daughter of Tobias Breisch Schoch (1834-1892) and Amanda Yost (Nicholas Souder) Schoch (1848-1929), was widowed by Irena in 1898.  He then wed Alberta Swartz (1882-1975), who was a daughter of Levi Swartz (1838-1924) and Isabella Y. (Landes) Swartz (1846-1887).

Abner’s brother, William J. Betz, wed Gertude M. Strunk, who was a daughter of Sanford Strunk (1842-1911) and Rachel (Heller) Strunk (1846-1909).

Abner’s sister, Helen (Betz) Buck, was divorced from her first husband in Northampton County, Pennsylvania in August 1934. Employed as a domestic by 1940, she was married for a second time, on New Year’s Eve in 1940, to railroad employee George W. Millheim, who was a native of Lower Saucon Township.

Employed as a teamster from 1880 through the turn of the century, Godfrey Betz’s son, James F. Betz, resided in Catasauqua’s First Ward with his wife and sons, Abner and William, in 1880. By 1900, he and his wife were residents of the Borough of South Bethlehem in Northampton County. Still living with them were their children, William and Helen.

Sometime during that period of his life, James F. Betz became active with volunteer firefighting efforts in the communities where he resided. Involved early on with the Liberty Fire Company No. 2 in South Bethlehem, which had initially been known as “The Good Intent Hose” when it was established in 1874, he was subsequently employed by the Borough of South Bethlehem to drive the borough’s horse-drawn fire equipment to and from the sites of numerous fires throughout the early part of his professional firefighting work — and then by the borough at its horse stables to care for the animals used by its mounted police division. According to a booklet that was issued in 1915 to commemorate the semi-centennial anniversary of South Bethlehem:

The first organization of the Liberty Fire Company was known as “The Good Intent Hose”, and met at the Five Points Hotel in July, 1874. Frequently, during 1875, application was made for apparatus and hose, but Council did not do anything until April, 1876, when they decided on buying, and appointed a committee. They went to Philadelphia and purchased a White Hose carriage, formerly the property of the Schuylkill Hose, of Philadelphia, afterward the property of the Liberty Fire Company, of Reading, from Thos. Peto, of Philadelphia, a dealer in second-hand apparatus, with 500 feet of Oak Leather Hose and two brass nozzles. The Company then took new life and changed its name to Liberty Fire Company, No. 1, and was incorporated May 3, 1876. The carriage was the first apparatus in the South Bethlehem Fire Department, and the very night it arrived, it was put into service. While the Company was meeting in Alfred Gradwohl’s Hall, situated on Fourth Street, east of New Street, next to the Merchants Hotel, and the carriage stored in a wagon-shed back of Rennig’s Hotel, Church Street east of New, May 8, 1876, at 9:20 P.M., an alarm of fire was given in thr meeting, and the new volunteers responded to a man…. The fire was in an old frame building, previously used as a school-house, situated in what is now known as Northampton Avenue, below Second Street…. The fire not being a very large one was soon overcome without much damage to the building. In 1881 a controversy arose in reference to the number of the Company and the number was changed to “No. 2”. This Company had some of the town’s best citizens as its members…. In 1877 the Company was furnished with a small brick building on Vine Street, on the site of their present house which was built in 1885. The motto of the Company is: “We labor for the public good”. The Company has now in service [in 1915] one two-horse hose truck and one Nott Steam Engine.

Horses were first used to draw the apparatus in 1887, being furnished by Erwin Heft, the first driver for the Company. He was succeeded by Richard Woodring who in turn was followed by James Betz, who supplied the horses until 1911, when the Borough bought horses. Mr. Betz continues in the position [as of 1915] and has given good and faithful service.

Widowed when his wife unexpectedly died from a heart attack in 1921, James F. Betz went on to live a long, full life. On 13 February 1941, he suffered an episode of apoplexy, which ultimately culminated in his death eleven days later. Following his passing at the age of eighty-nine in Bethlehem, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania on 24 February, he was laid to rest at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Bethlehem, Northampton County, Pennsylvania on 28 February. His son, Abner Betz, served as the informant on his death certifcate. According to Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper:

James F. Betz, 89, Bethlehem’s oldest volunteer fireman, answered the final alarm at 6:40 p.m. Monday, at his home, 1136 W. North St., Bethlehem, where he resided with his son Abner F. Betz.

On Jan. 15, Mr. Betz was one of the honored guests at the 41st annual banquet of the South Bethlehem Volunteer Firemen’s Relief Assn. in the Masonic Temple. He was employed by the city for over 50 years.

For many years prior to the advent of the motorized apparatus in the fire department, Mr. Betz drove the horses for the Liberty Fire Co. and was a familiar figure at all fires.

Horses used to draw the Liberty fire carriage in 1887 were furnished by the late Erwin Heft, the first driver for the company.

He was succeeded by the late Richard Woodring, who in turn was followed by Mr. Betz, who supplied horses until 1911, when the then South Bethlehem borough bought horses.

Later the horse drawn apparatus was discarded to make way for the up-to-date motor equipment.

As years went by, Betz continued in the employ of the city, looking after the horses in the stables and grooming them for the mounted policemen who patrolled the outskirts of the city.

For the past few years Betz was employed at the gas and oil station of the city.

A son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Godfrey Betz he was born in Catasauqua Jan. 3, 1852, and was a member of the Zion Reformed congregation of Allentown.

He was affiliated with the Royal Arcanum, the Liberty Fire Co., the Four County Firemen’s Assn. and the South Bethlehem Volunteer Firemen’s Relief Assn.

Mr. Betz, who always pointed with pride to his association with the fire department, located in South Bethlehem in 1887.

Survivors are his son Abner, a daughter, Helen, wife of George Millheim, of 7th Ave., Bethlehem, and one grandson.

Funeral services at 2 p.m. Friday in the Kenneth W. Frey funeral home 118 W. Fairview St., Bethlehem. Burial in Memorial Park. Viewing on Thursday evening.

 

Sources:

1. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
2. Betts/Betz Family, in Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records (baptismal, marriage, death and burial records of various churches across Pennsylvania). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
3. Betts, Godfrey, in, Burial Ledgers (Monument Cemetery, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1864), in Record Group 15, The National Cemetery Administration, and Record Group 92, U.S. Departments of Defense and Army (Quartermaster General). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
4. Betts, Godfrey, in Interment Control Forms (Chalmette National Cemetery, Louisiana, 1864), in Record Group 92, U.S. Office of the Quartermaster General (Record Group 92). College Park, Maryland: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
5. Betts, Godfrey, in Registers of Deaths of Volunteers (1864), in Records of the U.S. Adjutant General’s Office. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
6. Betz, Cecilia, Fyetta, James, and Comilla [sic, Camilla], in U.S. Census (South Whitehall, Whitehall Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1870). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
7. Betz, Godfrey, in Civil War Muster Rolls (Company F, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry), in Records of the Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs (Record Group 19, Series 19.11). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
8. Betz, Godfrey, in Civil War Veterans’ Card File (Company F, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
9. Betz, Godfrey, in Registers of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865, in Record Group 19, Records of the Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs (47th Regiment, Company F). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
10. Betz, Gotfried and Cecilia, in U.S. Civil War Pension General Index Cards (widow’s application no.: 104029, certificate no.: 152651, filed by the veteran’s widow, 31 July 1865). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
11. Betz, James, Maria, Abner, and William, in U.S. Census (Catasauqua, First Ward, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
12. Betz, James, Maria, William, and Helen, in U.S. Census (Borough of South Bethlehem, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
13. Camelia Hower [sic, Camilla], in Death Certificates (file no.: 47437, registered no.: 573, date of death: 8 May 1933). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
14. Cecilia Betz (widow of Godfrey Betz), in Wills and Probate Records (Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1891). Allentown, Pennsylvania: Lehigh County Register of Wills.
15. Cecilia S. Betz (widow of Godfrey Betz), in “Died.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Democrat, 18 November 1891.
16. “Florida’s Role in the Civil War,” in Florida Memory. Tallahassee, Florida: State Archives of Florida.
17. Ganey, Thomas. History of South Bethlehem, Pa. From Its Incorporation to Date. South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: Borough of South Bethlehem, 1915.
18. General Banks’s Report of the Red River Campaign, in Annual Report of the Secretary of War, in Message of the President of the United States, and Accompanying Documents, to the Two Houses of Congress, at the Commencement of the First Session of the Thirty-Ninth Congress. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1866.
19. Godfrey Betz, in “First Monument to Civil War Dead: Catasauqua in Front in Its Tribute to Patriotism.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Leader, 29 June 1914.
20. Godfrey Betz, Cecessilia [sic, Cecilia], Fayetta, James, and Commilia [sic, Camilla], in U.S. Census (Catasauqua, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1860). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
21. “Helen M. Buck” (bride; was a granddaughter of Godfrey Betz and a daughter of James F. Betz), James F. Betz (father of the bride) and Anna Shoemacher (mother of the bride); and George W. Millheim (groom), Henry Millheim (father of the groom) and Mary Schleifer (mother of the groom), in Marriage Records (Bethlehem, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 31 December 1940). Allentown, Pennsylvania: Clerk of the Orphans’ Court, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.
22. Helen M. Millheim (a granddaughter of Godfrey Betz and a daughter of James F. Betz), in Death Certificates (file no.: 9162, date of death: 25 January 1960). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
23. “Irish and German Immigration,” in U.S. History Online Textbook. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Independence Hall Association of Philadelphia, retrieved online 4 August 2022.
24. James F. Betz (a son of Godfrey Betz), in Death Certificates (file no.: 20610, registered no.: 72, date of death: 24 February 1941). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
25. “James F. Betz, Veteran Fireman, Dies in Bethlehem: Oldest Volunteer in City Was 89 — Funeral 2 p.m. Friday.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 25 February 1941.
26. Kuntz, George, Julia Ann, Mary Ann, Charles, Benjamin, and George; Betz, Gottfried; and Hower, Cecilia, in U.S. Census (Hanover Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1850). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
27. Levering, Joseph Mortimer. A History of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1741-1892: With Some Account of Its Founders and Their Early Activity in America. Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: Times Publishing Company, 1903.
28. “Mrs. Camilla C. Hower” (obituary of the youngest daughter of Godfrey Betz). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 9 May 1933.
29. Schmidt, Lewis. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.
30. Semi-Centennial: The Borough of South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: Souvenir History Issued in Connection with the Semi-Centennial Celebration, Oct. 3-9, 1915. South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: Quinlan Printing Co., 1915.
31. Wharton, Henry D. Letters from the Sunbury Guards. Sunbury, Pennsylvania: Sunbury American, 1861-1868.
32. Wm. J. Betz (a grandson of Godfrey Betz and a son of James F. Betz), in Death Certificates (file no.: 109487, registered no.: 286, date of death: 7 December 1935). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.