Alternate Spellings of Surname: Engelman, Engleman

 

His story is the story of the millions of blue collar Americans whose brawn helped build the United States of America into an economic powerhouse. A laborer for much of his entire life, he was one of the many ironworkers who moulded and refined the cast iron pipes that delivered water and gas to city and county government buildings and residential homes throughout the nation during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

His name was Milton Engelman, and he was just a regular guy who lived during extraordinary times.

Formative Years

Born in Pennsylvania on 30 August 1839, Milton Addison Engelman was a son of Jacob Engelman (1809-1882), a carpenter, and Margaretta Rebecca (Stahler) Engelman (1810-1880).

In 1850, he resided in Upper Milford Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania with his parents and siblings: Maria E. Engelman (1837-1917), who was born on 11 March 1837 and later wed and was widowed by William Engelman (1835-1902), before marrying Aaron Artman (1834-1916); Owen Benjamin Engelman (1844-1932), who was born on 3 November 1844 and later wed Anna Maria Horlacher (1843-1904) on 12 September 1868; and William Henry Engelman (1850-1927), who was born on 17 May 1850 and later wed Elamina Schaffer (1845-1900).

By 1860, his older sister had moved out of the family home to begin her own life while Milton resided with his parents and younger brothers, Owen and William, in Dillingersville, Lower Milford Township, Lehigh County. His father, who was still employed as a carpenter, owned real estate and personal property that was valued at two thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars (the equivalent of roughly one hundred and six thousand U.S. dollars in 2025).

American Civil War

On 8 September 1862, Milton A. Engelman enrolled for military service in the city of Allentown in Lehigh County. He then officially mustered in at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg on 17 September 1862 as a private with Company G of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Military records at the time described him as a twenty-four-year-old farmer who resided in Lehigh County.

Transported to the nation’s Deep South by train and by ship, he subsequently connected with his regiment at its duty station in Beaufort, South Carolina on 13 October 1862 — after the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers had participated in the capture of Saint John’s Bluff in Florida, and after the 47th Pennsylvania had become an integrated regiment with the enrollment of several formerly enslaved Black men — but before the regiment took part in the Battle of Pocotaligo.

Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina

From 21-23 October 1862, under the brigade and regimental commands of Colonel Tilghman Good and Lieutenant-Colonel George Warren Alexander, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers joined with other Union troops in engaging heavily protected Confederate forces in and around Pocotaligo, South Carolina, including at the Frampton Plantation and the Pocotaligo Bridge, a key piece of railroad infrastructure that senior Union military leaders wanted to see eliminated, in order to disrupt the Confederate States Army’s ability to move troops and supplies throughout the region.

Harried by snipers while en route to destroy the bridge, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers also met resistance from Confederate artillerymen who opened fire as they entered an open cotton field. Those headed toward higher ground at the Frampton Plantation fared no better as they encountered rifle and cannon fire from the surrounding forests. But the Union soldiers would not give in. Grappling with Rebel troops wherever they found them, they pursued them for four miles as the Confederate Army retreated to the bridge. Once there, the 47th Pennsylvania relieved the 7th Connecticut.

The engagement proved to be a costly one for the 47th Pennsylvania, however, with multiple members of the regiment killed instantly or so grievously wounded that they died the next day or within weeks of the battle. Among those killed in action was Captain Charles Mickley of Company G; one of the mortally wounded was K Company Captain George Junker.

Following the 47th Pennsylvania’s return to Hilton Head on 23 October, members of the regiment mourned their lost friends and attempted to heal from the physical and mental trauma they had sustained. A week later, several 47th Pennsylvanians were called upon to serve as the funeral honor guard for Major-General Ormsby M. Mitchel, commander of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps (X Corps) and Department of the South, who died from yellow fever on 30 October.

*Note: Having only just connected with his regiment less than two weeks before the Battle of Pocotaligo, it is highly likely that Private Milton Engelman did not actually participate in that battle because he had had very little military training prior to that day and would likely have been deemed not yet ready to fight alongside his far more experienced comrades (many of whom, though well trained, were still killed instantly or mortally wounded by rifle and artillery fire that day). Researchers currently theorize that he remained behind in Beaufort with other members of the 47th Pennsylvania who had been directed to guard the regiment’s camp there.

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

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

At 5 p.m. that same evening, the regiment sailed for Florida, during what was described by several members of the 47th as a treacherous and nerve-wracking voyage. According to historian Lewis Schmidt, the ship’s captain “steered a course along the coast of Florida for most of the voyage,” which made the voyage more precarious “because of all the reefs.” On 16 December, “the second night, the ship was jarred as it ran aground on one during a storm, but broke free, and finally steered a course further from shore, out in the Gulf Stream.”

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

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

According to Corporal George Nichols of Company E, “When we got to Key West the Steamer had Six foot of water in her hole [sic, hold]. Waves Mountain High and nothing but an old river Steamer. With Eleven hundred Men on I looked for her to go to the Bottom Every Minute.” Although the Cosmopolitan arrived at 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, while the men from Companies B and E were assigned to older barracks that had previously been erected by the U.S. Army. Members of Companies A and G were marched to the newer “Lighthouse Barracks” located on “Lighthouse Key.”

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

We landed here [Fort Taylor] on last Thursday at noon, and immediately marched to quarters. Company I. and C., in Fort Taylor, Company E. and B. in the old Barracks, and A. and G. in the new Barracks. Lieut. Col. Alexander, with the other four companies proceeded to Tortugas, Col. Good having command of all the forces in and around Key West. Our regiment relieved the 90th Regiment N. Y. 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 superiors, I merely mention, judging from the expression of the citizens, they were very glad of the return of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers….

1863

Stationed in Florida during most of 1863, Private Milton Engelman and his fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were literally ordered to “hold the fort.” Their primary duty was to prevent foreign powers from assisting the Confederate Army and Navy in gaining control over federal installations and other territories across the Deep South. Periodically, entire companies or small detachments were moved from Fort Taylor in Key West to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas and back.

In addition to the artillery training they received and the guard duties they performed, members of the regiment were also called upon to play an ongoing role in weakening Florida’s ability to supply and transport food and troops throughout areas held by the Confederate States of America.

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

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

But once again, they were performing their duties in often dangerous conditions. The weather was frequently hot and humid as spring turned to summer, mosquitos and other insects were an ever-present annoyance (and a serious threat when they were carrying tropical diseases), and there were also scorpions and snakes that put the health of the 47th Pennsylvanians at further risk. In addition, there was a serious shortage of clean water for drinking and bathing at both of the regiment’s duty stations in Key West and the Dry Tortugas.

1864

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

Red River Campaign

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

Upon the second group’s arrival, the now almost-fully-reunited-regiment moved by train to Brashear City (now Morgan City), before heading to Franklin by steamer through the Bayou Teche. There, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry joined the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division of the 19th Corps (XIX) of the United States’ Army of the Gulf, and became the only regiment from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to serve in the Red River Campaign commanded by Union Major-General Nathaniel P. Banks. (Unable to reach Louisiana until 23 March, the soldiers from Company A were assigned to detached duty while awaiting transport that enabled them to reconnect with their regiment at Alexandria, Louisiana on 9 April.)

The early days on the ground quickly woke Private Milton Engelman and his fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers up to just how grueling their new phase of duty would be. From 14-26 March, most members of the 47th marched for Alexandria and Natchitoches, near the top of the L-shaped state. Among the towns that the 47th Pennsylvanians passed through were 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 officially mustered into the regiment on 22 June at Morganza, Louisiana. 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, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers 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 second division, sixty members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry were cut down on 8 April 1864 during the intense volley of fire in the Battle of Sabine Cross Roads (also known as the Battle of Mansfield due to its proximity to the town of Mansfield). The fighting waned only when darkness fell. The exhausted, but uninjured collapsed beside the gravely wounded and dead. After midnight, the surviving Union troops withdrew to Pleasant Hill.

The next day, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were ordered into a critically important defensive position at the far right of the Union lines, their right flank spreading up unto 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, a 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 Union force, the men of the 47th were forced to bolster the 165th New York’s buckling lines by blocking another Confederate assault.

During that engagement (now known as the Battle of Pleasant Hill), the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers succeeded in recapturing a Massachusetts artillery battery that had been lost during the earlier Confederate assault. Unfortunately, the regiment’s second-in-command, Lieutenant-Colonel George Warren Alexander, and its two color-bearers, Sergeants Benjamin Walls and William Pyers, were wounded. Alexander sustained wounds to both of his legs, and Walls was shot in the left shoulder as he attempted to mount the 47th Pennsylvania’s colors on caissons that had been recaptured, while Pyers was wounded as he grabbed the flag from Walls to prevent it from falling into Confederate hands.

All three survived the day, however, and continued to serve with the regiment, but many others, like K Company Sergeant Alfred Swoyer, were killed in action during those two days of chaotic fighting, or were wounded so severely that they were unable to continue the fight. (Swoyer’s final words were, “They’re coming nine deep!” Shot in the right temple shortly afterward, his body was never recovered).

Still others 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 a series of prisoner exchanges that began on 22 July and continued through November. At least two members of the regiment never made it out of that prison camp alive; another died at a Confederate hospital in Shreveport.

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

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

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

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

Meanwhile, additional troops under Smith’s command attacked Bee’s flank to force a Rebel retreat, and then erected a series of pontoon bridges that enabled the 47th Pennsylvania and other Union regiments to make the Cane River Crossing by the next day. As the Confederates retreated, they torched their own food stores, as well as the cotton supplies of their fellow southerners. In a letter penned from Morganza, C Company Musician Henry Wharton described what had happened:

Our sojourn at Grand Score was for eleven days, during which time our position was well fortified by entrenchments for a length of five miles, made of heavy logs, five feet high and six feet wide, filled in with dirt. In front of this, trees were felled for a distance of two hundred yards, so that if the enemy attacked we had an open space before us which would enable our forces to repel them and follow if necessary. But our labor seemed to the men as useless, for on the morning of 22d April, the army abandoned these works and started for Alexandria. From our scouts it was ascertained that the enemy had passed some miles to our left with the intention of making a stand against our right at Bayou Cane, where there is a high bluff and dense woods, and at the same attack Smith’s forces who were bringing up the rear. This first day was a hard one for the boys, for at 10 o’clock at night they made Cloutierville, a distance of forty drive miles. On that day our rear was attacked which caused our forces to reverse their front and form in line of battle, expecting too, to go back to the relief of Smith, but he needed no assistance, sending word to the front that he had ‘whipped them, and could do it again.’ It was well that Banks made so long a march on that day, for on the next we found the enemy prepared to carry out their design of attacking us front and rear. Skirmishing commenced early in the morning and as our columns advanced he fell back towards the bayou, when we soon discovered the position of their batteries on the bluff. There was then an artillery duel by the smaller pieces, and some sharp fighting by the cavalry, when the ‘mule battery,’ twenty pound Parrott guns opened a heavy fire, which soon dislodged them, forcing the chivalry to flee in a manner not at all suitable to their boasted courage. Before this one cavalry, the 3d Brigade of the 1st Div., and Birges’ brigade of the second, had crossed the bayou and were doing good service, which, with the other work, made the enemy show their heels. The 3d brigade done some daring deeds in this fight, as also did the cavalry. In one instance the 3d charged up a hill almost perpendicular, driving the enemy back by the bayonet without firing a gun. The woods on this bluff was so thick that the cavalry had to dismount and fight on foot. During the whole of the day, our brigade, the 2d, was supporting artillery, under fire all the time, and could not give Mr. Reb a return shot.

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

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

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

Having finally reached Alexandria on 26 April, they learned that they would remain at their latest new camp for at least two weeks. Placed temporarily under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Bailey, they were assigned yet again to the hard labor of construction work, helping to erect “Bailey’s Dam,” a timber structure that was designed to enable Union gun boats to safely navigate the fluctuating water levels of the Red River. According to Musician Henry Wharton:

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

Continuing their march, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers headed toward Avoyelles Parish. According to Wharton:

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

“Resting on their arms” (half-dozing, without pitching their tents, and with their rifles right beside them), they were now positioned just outside of Marksville, on the eve of the 16 May 1864 Battle of Mansura, which unfolded as follows, according to Wharton:

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

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

Continuing on, the healthy members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry marched for Simmesport and then Morganza, where they made camp again. While encamped there, the nine formerly enslaved Black men who had enlisted with the regiment in Beaufort, South Carolina (1862) and Natchitoches, Louisiana (1864) were officially mustered into the regiment between 22-24 June.

The regiment then moved on and arrived in New Orleans in late June. On the Fourth of July, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers received orders to return to the East Coast. Three days later, they began loading the regiment and its men onto ships, a process that unfolded in two stages. Companies A, C, D, E, F, H, and I boarded the U.S. Steamer McClellan on 7 July and departed that day, while the members of Companies B, G and K, including Private Milton Engelman, remained behind, awaiting transport. They subsequently departed aboard the Blackstone, weighing anchor and sailing forth at the end of that month. Arriving in Virginia, on 28 July, the second group reconnected with the first group at Monocacy, having missed an encounter with President Abraham Lincoln and the Battle of Cool Spring at Snicker’s Gap in mid-July (a battle in which the first group of 47th Pennsylvanians had participated).

Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign 

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

From 3-4 September, Private Milton Engelman and the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers took on Early’s Confederates again — this time in the Battle of Berryville. But that month also saw the departure of several 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers who had served honorably, on 18 September 1864, upon expiration of their respective service terms.

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

Battles of Opequan and Fisher’s Hill, September 1864

Together with other regiments under the command of Union Major-General Philip H. (“Little Phil”) Sheridan and Brigadier-General William H. Emory, commander of the 19th Corps, the members of Company D and their fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers helped to inflict heavy casualties on Lieutenant-General Jubal Early’s Confederate forces at Opequan (also spelled as “Opequon” and referred to as “Third Winchester”). The battle is still considered by many historians to be one of the most important during Sheridan’s 1864 campaign; the Union’s victory here helped to ensure the reelection of President Abraham Lincoln.

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

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

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

Fortunately, they were replaced by others equally admired both for their temperament and their front line experience: John Peter Shindel Gobin, Charles W. Abbott and Levi Stuber, who ultimately became the three most senior leaders of the regiment.

Battle of Cedar Creek, October 1864

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

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

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

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

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

Once again, the casualties for the 47th were high. Sergeant William Pyers, the C Company man who had so gallantly rescued the flag at Pleasant Hill was cut down and later buried on the battlefield. Even Perry County resident and Regimental Chaplain William Rodrock suffered a near miss as a bullet pierced his cap.

Following those major engagements, the 47th was ordered to Camp Russell near Winchester from November through most of December. Rested and somewhat healed, the 47th was then ordered to outpost and railroad guard duties at Camp Fairview in Charlestown, West Virginia five days before Christmas.

1865 — 1866

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

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

Joyous News and Then Tragedy

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

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

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

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

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

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

Still stationed at Camp Brightwood on 1 June 1865, Private Milton A. Engelman received word that he was being honorably discharged from the Army of the United States and the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry by General Orders, No. 53.

Return to Civilian Life

Following his separation from the military, Milton Engelman returned home to Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, where he wed Diana Smith (1843-1921; alternate spelling of surname: “Schmidt”) and settled with her in Lehigh County. Together, they welcomed the births of: Agnes A. R. Engelman (1869-1872), who was born on 13 January 1869 but died in Allentown at the age of three, on 23 August 1872, according to Salem United Church of Christ burial records; Lord Byron Engelman (1870-1959), who was born in Allentown on 19 April 1870 and later became a foreman at the Donaldson Iron Company in Emmaus and the husband of Annie Eltz (1875-1968); and Milton Jacob Engelman (1876-1909), who was born in Lehigh County on 8 April 1876 and later wed Katie S. Erb (1883-1942) in 1902.

Employed by the Donaldson Iron Company from 1888 until his retirement in 1908, the elder Milton A. Engelman and his co-workers cast and shaped the iron pipes, foot bridges and other infrastructure items that would carry water and gas supplies to countless family homes, businesses and municipal buildings across the United States. Among Donaldson’s Pennsylvania customers during this time were the: City of Philadelphia (1888), Lehigh County Prison (1889), Shippensburg Town Council (1893), City of Allentown (1894, 1895, 1897, 1899), City of Emmaus Water Board (1895), City of Lancaster (1897), and City of Lebanon (1900).

According to The Allentown Democrat, “The demand for the cast iron water pipes of the Donaldson Iron Co., at Emaus,” was “so great” in 1895, that Donaldson pipes were often “shipped away as rapidly as made — in some instances before they [had even] cooled off.” By the summer of that same year, the company had “nineteen pits running” to supply an industrial plant described by local newspapers as “immense.” Coal and water were just two of Pennsylvania’s natural resources that powered plant operations.

During this same phase of his life, Milton Engelman was an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic’s E. B. Young Post (No. 87).

Death and Interment

Ailing with multiple health issues during the final years of his life, including rheumatism that had begun during his American Civil War-era military service, Milton A. Engelman died at his home in Vera Cruz, Lehigh County, at the age of seventy-nine, on 28 February 1918, and was laid to rest at the Vera Cruz Evangelical Congregational Church Cemetery in Emmaus, Lehigh County.

What Happened to the Wife and Children of Milton A. Engelman?

After the death of her husband, Diana (Smith/Schmidt) Engelman continued to reside in Lehigh  County. Ailing with lobar pneumonia during her final weeks, she succumbed to disease-related complications in Upper Milford Township, Lehigh County at the age of seventy-seven, on 9 March 1921. Following funeral services, she was laid to rest beside her husband at the Vera Cruz Evangelical Congregational Cemetery.

Milton A. Engelman’s son, Milton Jacob Engelman (1876-1909), who followed in his blue-collared father’s footsteps by securing employment as a foundry worker with the Donaldson Iron Company before marrying Katie S. Erb (1883-1942) in 1902, lived an apparently unhappy existence for many of his final years. A heavy drinker by 1909, according to his obituary, he ended his life in the kitchen of his home in Emmaus by drinking most of a quart bottle of wood alcohol on 15 April 1909 — an act that proved to be a fatal one. Summoned to the scene, M. J. Backenstoe, M.D. subsequently determined that the death was a suicide. Just thirty-three years old at the time of his passing that day, Milton Jacob Engelman was subsequently buried at the Emmaus Moravian Cemetery in Emmaus.

Milton A. Engelman’s son, Lord Byron Engelman, who was known to family and friends as “Byron” and was also employed as a foundry worker with the Donaldson Iron Company, ultimately rose through the company’s ranks to become a foreman, and remained with the company until his retirement. Married to Annie Eltz, he welcomed the Emmaus births with her of: Paul Winfield Engelman (1895-1967), who was born on 9 February 1895 and later wed Helen Kline (1900-1961) in 1917; Robert Milton Engelman (1896-1961; alternate surname spelling: “Engleman”), who was born on 8 October 1896 and later wed Carrie M. Stickler (1897-1964); and Matthew L. Engelman (1901-1956), who was born on 24 February 1901 who later became a silk weaver and volunteer fireman.

After moving his wife and children to the nearby community of Vera Cruz, Byron Engelman then welcomed the births of: Lula Mae Engelman (1903-1989; alternate surname spelling: ” Engleman”), who was born on 4 September 1903 and later wed Sylvester G. Marks (1894-1978); Laura K. Engelman (1905-1975), who was born in 1905 and later wed Lewis S. Wolfinger (1901-1971); and twins Annie Victoria Engelman (1908-1995) and Byron L. Engelman (1908-2001), who were born on 23 September 1908 and, respectively, later wed Miles Leighton Hallman (1898-1975) and remained unmarried as a weaver and volunteer fireman.

Byron and Annie Engelman’s youngest child, Martin J. Engelman (1912-1985), was subsequently born in Upper Milford Township, Lehigh County on 15 May 1912. (Martin then also grew up to become an unmarried silk weaver.)

Following his death at the age of eighty-nine from bronchopneumonia, at his home in Emmaus, on 14 October 1959, Lord Byron Engelman was interred at the Vera Cruz Evangelical Congregational Church Cemetery in Emmaus.

What Happened to the Siblings of Milton A. Engleman?

Following her marriage to William Engelman, who was a son of David Engelman and Leah (Egner) Engelman, Milton Engeman’s older sister, Maria (Engelman) Engelman, settled with her husband in Lehigh County, where she welcomed the births of: Horace E. Engelman (1859-1959), who was born in Lower Milford Township on 18 April 1859 and later wed Amanda Miller (1864-1951); and Alice M. Engelman (1861-1928), who was born on 13 May 1861 and later wed and was widowed by Herman J. Keck (1952-1909), before marrying Oliver Samuel Jarrett (1859-1942). Widowed by her husband, William Engelman, when he passed away at the age of sixty-seven on 15 December 1902, Maria (Engelman) Engelman subsequently married Aaron Artman, and was then widowed by him on 27 November 1916. Ailing with pernicious anemia during the final weeks of her life, Maria (Engelman Engelman) Artman died at the age of eighty in Emmaus on 10 April 1917 and was laid to rest at Saint John’s Lutheran and Reformed Cemetery in Emmaus.

Following his marriage to Anna Maria Horlacher in 1868, Milton Engelman’s younger brother, Owen Benjamin Engelman, settled with her in Lehigh County, where he welcomed the births of: Emma Cenia Engelman (1871-1960), who was born in 1871 and later wed Edward Schleifer (1871-1934); Harvey Leo Engelman (1873-1955), who was born on 14 November 1873 and later wed Anna E. Roth (1881-1963); Calvin Jacob Engelman (1875-1958), who was born on 29 November 1875 and later wed Sarah M. Seigfried (1880-1965); Needa M. Engelman (1879-1968), who was born in 1878 and later wed Clinton H. Ackerman (1873-1912); and an unnamed son who died in infancy. After a long, full life, much of it spent with his family and working the land as a farmer in Coopersburg, Lehigh County, Owen Benjamin Engelman died at the age of eighty-seven, at the Center Valley home of his daughter, Emma (Engelman) Schleifer, on 21 April 1932, and was laid to rest at the Woodland Cemetery in Coopersburg.

Following his marriage to Elamina Schaffer, Milton Engelman’s brother, William Henry Engelman, welcomed the births of: Oliver Jacob Engelman (1872-1935), who was born on 13 January 1872 and later wed Katie Shelly Krammes (1874-1936); Regina Catharine Engelman (1876-1956), who was born on 3 August 1876 and later wed Harry Edgar Arnold (1875-1944); and Morgan Reuben Engelman (1883-1960), who was born in Limeport, Lehigh County on 16 May 1883 and later wed and was widowed by Gertrude May Kline (1877-1923), before marrying Helen Marie Pauza (1898-1974) in 1926. After a long, full life, William Henry Engelman died at the age of seventy-seven, at the Easton, Northampton County home of his son-in-law, Harry Arnold, on 2 June 1927, and was laid to rest at Saint Pauls Blue Church Cemetery in Coopersburg.

 

Sources:

1. “Artman” (death notice of the older sister of Milton A. Engelman), in “Deaths.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 11 April 1917.
2. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
3. Diana Engelman (the widow of Milton A. Engelman), in Death Certificates (file no.: 25524, registered no.: 15, date of death: 9 March 1921). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
4. Donaldson Iron Co. (cost of pipes sold to the city of Philadelphia’s gas board), in “Awarding Gas Contracts.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Times, 17 July 1888.
5. Donaldson Iron Co. (cost of pipes sold to the Emmaus city water board), in “Bidders for City Contracts.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Democrat, 26 March 1895.
6. Donaldson Iron Co. (cost of pipes and foot bridges sold to the city of Allentown), in “Held a Long Session.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Critic, 16 May 1894.
7. Donaldson Iron Co. (cost of pipes sold to the city of Lancaster’s water board), in “The City’s Water Department.” Lancaster, Pennsylvania: The Daily New Era, 23 April 1897.
8. Donaldson Iron Co. (cost of pipes sold to the Lehigh County prison), in “Treasurer’s Account for 1889.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Leader, 1 April 1895.
9. Donaldson Iron Co. (cost of pipes sold to the city of Lebanon’s water board), in “Water Board Repo.” Lebanon, Pennsylvania: The Daily News, 4 December 1900.
10. Donaldson Iron Co. (advertisement illustrating the demand for Donaldson’s pipe products), in “Northwestern Supply Co.” Tacoma, Washington: The News Tribune, 17 June 1890.
11. Donaldson Iron Co. (demand for pipe products), in “Water Pipe Shipments” and “The New Pits of the Emaus Pipe Mill.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Democrat, 3 July 1895.
12. Engelman, Milton A. and Dianna, in U.S. Civil War Pension General Index Cards (veteran’s application no.: 744716, certificate no.: 884939, filed from Pennsylvania by the veteran, 20 December 1899; widow’s application no.: 1117170, filed from Pennsylvania by the widow, 18 March 1918). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
13. “Engleman” [sic, “Engelman”] (death notice of Milton A. Engelman), in “Deaths.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Democrat, 5-6 March 1918.
14. Engleman, Jacob, Rebecca, Maria E., Milton, Owen, and William, in U.S. Census (Upper Milford Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1850). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
15. Engelman, Jacob, Rebecca, Milton, Owen, and William, in U.S. Census (Dillingersville, Lower Milford Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1860). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
16. Engleman [sic, “Engelman”], Milton, in Records of Burial Places of Veterans (Evangelical Cemetery, Vera Cruz, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Military Affairs.
17. “Florida’s Role in the Civil War,” in Florida Memory. Tallahassee, Florida: State Archives of Florida.
18. L. Byron Engelman (a son of Milton A. Engelman), in Death Certificates (file no.: 94039, registered no.: 56, date of death: 14 October 1959). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
19. “L. Byron Engelman” (obituary of a son of Milton A. Engelman). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 15 October 1959.
20. “M. A. Engleman” [sic, “Engelman”] (obituary of Milton A. Engelman), in “Obituary.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Leader, 2 March 1918.
21. Mary Engelman Artman (the older sister of Milton A. Engelman), in Death Certificates (file no.: 40939, registered no.: 34, date of death: 10 April 1917). Harrisburg Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
22. Milton A. Engelman, in Civil War Muster Rolls (Company G, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
23. Milton A. Engleman [sic, “Engelman”], in Civil War Veterans’ Card File (Company G, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
24. Milton A. Engleman [sic, “Engelman”] (mention of his illness with a lengthy description of his military service during the American Civil War), in “Vera Cruz.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 12 January 1911.
25. “Milton A. Engleman” [sic, “Engelman”] (obituary). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Democrat, 2 March 1918.
26. Milton A. Engelman, in U.S. Census (“Special Schedule: Surviving Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, and Widows, Etc.”, Borough of Emmaus, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1890). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
27. “Owen B. Engleman” [sic, “Engelman”] (obituary of a younger brother of Milton A. Engelman). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 22 April 1932.
28. “Roster of the 47th P. V. Inf.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 26 October 1930.
29. Schmidt, Lewis. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.
30. “The History of the Forty-Seventh Regt. P. V.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Lehigh Register, 20 July 1870.
31. “Victim Claimed by Wood Alcohol: Milton Engleman [sic, “Engelman”] Declared a Suicide at His Home in Emaus” (report regarding the death of Milton A. Engelman’s son, Milton J. Engelman). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Democrat, 16 November 1909.
32. “William H. Engleman” [sic, “Engelman”] (obituary of the youngest brother of Milton A. Engelman). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Mornng Call, 4 June 1927.