He was the son of a prosperous farmer in Pennsylvania’s bucolic Lehigh Valley. After fighting to preserve America’s Union during the American Civil War, John W. Glick became one of the countless Pennsylvanians who packed up their scant belongings and migrated west, hoping to find peace and prosperity in the nation’s developing heartland.

Formative Years

Born in South Whitehall Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania on 12 September 1842, John W. Glick was a son of native Pennsylvanians Reuben C. Glick (1809-1892) and Elizabeth (Allen) Glick (1807-1869).

He was raised on his family’s farm near the Little Cedar Creek with his Lehigh County-born siblings: William Wallace Glick (1830-1908), who was born on 19 December 1830; Moses Amos Glick (1833-1892), who was born on 26 February 1833 and later wed Abigail Wiser (1832-1925); Joseph Miller Glick (1840-1894), who was born on 13 April 1840, went on to serve with Company C of the 133rd Indiana Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War and later wed and was widowed by Mary Margaret Hower (1845-1887), before marrying Margaret Fudge (1867-1957); Edward Allen Glick (1845-1918), who was born in Cetronia on 16 February 1845 and later wed and was widowed by Hope Priscilla Oliphant (1846-1879), before marrying Emma Maria Trumbauer (1878-1930); and James M. Glick (1847-1930), who was born on 12 August 1847 and later wed Emma Achenbach (1852-1896).

Tragedy then struck the Glick family when the family’s matriarch, Elizabeth (Allen) Glick, passed away at the age of forty, on 25 March 1848. Following funeral services, John Glick’s mother was laid to rest at what is now the Trexler Park Cemetery in Allentown.

Before that decade ended, John Glick’s father, Reuben Glick, was remarried — to Elizabeth Boyer (1816-1869), who was a native of Howertown in Northampton County. More children then followed: Henry J. Glick (1850-1921), who was born on 10 November 1850 and later became a minister and the husband and widower of Martha Catharine Kemmerer (1858-1887), before marrying Savilla Heydt (1862-1954); Elden B. Glick (1851-1944), who was born in Cetronia on 16 December 1851 and later married Sallie E. Woodring (1850-1912); and Ella Glick (1855-1885), who was born on 16 September 1855 and later wed Reverend James Daniel Woodring (1855-1908).

By 1860, the Glick farmhouse in South Whitehall Township was home to John Glick, who was helping his father with farm work. Also residing at the farmhouse were John’s stepmother, Elizabeth (Boyer) Glick; John’s full siblings: Wallace, Joseph and Edward, who were all also helping out with work on the family’s farm; and James; John’s half-siblings: Henry, Edwin, and Ellen; Catharine Glick, Reuben Glick’s fifty-six-year-old sister; and Sibilia Young, a twenty-year-old domestic worker.

Their lives were clearly comfortable ones, as evidenced by their father’s personal property and real estate holdings, which were valued in 1860 at twenty-seven thousand dollars (the equivalent of more than one million U.S. dollars in 2025). Reuben Glick had achieved such success by becoming “one of the best cattle and swine breeders in the county,” as well as a  grain farmer, according to The Allentown Democrat.

Before that year was out, however, they would watch and worry, like so many other Pennsylvanians, as their nation was thrown into turmoil when South Carolina seceded from the United States on 20 December 1860.

American Civil War

John W. Glick enrolled for military service in Allentown on 30 August 1862. He then officially mustered in for duty at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg, Dauphin County on 11 September 1862 as a private with Company G of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. After a brief training period, he was transported by ship to America’s Deep South, where he connected with his regiment at its encampment in Beaufort, South Carolina.

Military records at the time described him as a nineteen-year-old farmer residing in Lehigh County.

Saint John’s Bluff and the Capture of a Confederate Steamer

During an expedition to Florida beginning 30 September, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers 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, they subsequently captured artillery and ammunition stores (on 3 October) that had been abandoned by Confederate forces during a bombardment of the bluff by Union gunboats.

According to C Company Musician 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.

Boarding the Union gunboat Darlington (formerly a Confederate steamer), they moved upriver, along the Saint John’s, with protection from the Union gunboat Hale, ultimately traveling a distance of two hundred miles. Charged with locating and capturing Confederate ships that had been engaged in furnishing troops, ammunition and other supplies to Confederate Army units scattered throughout the region, including the batteries at Saint John’s Bluff and Yellow Bluff, they played a key role in capturing the Governor Milton, a Confederate steamer that was docked near Hawkinsville.

Integration of the Regiment

The 47th Pennsylvania also made history during the month of October 1862 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

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 felt should be eliminated.

Harried by snipers while en route to destroy the bridge, they also met resistance from Confederate artillerymen who opened fire as they entered an open cotton field.

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.

Having been ordered to Key West, Florida 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 once again 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 for the entire year of 1863, Private John W. Glick 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. In addition, the regiment was 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 Private Glick and his comrades at further risk. In addition, there was a serious shortage of clean water for drinking and bathing.

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 Glick 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 John Glick, 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, U.S. Army of the Shenandoah, beginning in early August of 1864, and placed under the command of Union Major-General Philip H. Sheridan, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was assigned to defensive duties in and around Halltown, and also engaged over the next several weeks in a series of back-and-forth movements between Halltown, Berryville, Middletown, Charlestown, and Winchester as part of a “mimic war” being waged by Sheridan’s Union forces with those commanded by Confederate Lieutenant-General Jubal Early.

From 3-4 September 1864, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers re-engaged with Confederate forces in the Battle of Berryville. Two weeks later, multiple 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers opted to depart from the army by honorably mustering out upon expiration of their respective terms of service on 18 September.

Those members of the 47th who remained on duty, like Private John Glick, 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

As the New Year of 1865 dawned, John Glick was beginning his soldier’s work day as Corporal John W. Glick, having been promoted that day at Camp Fairview in West Virginia. He and other members of the regiment would continue to patrol key Union railroad lines in the vicinity of Charlestown, and chase down Confederate guerrillas who had repeatedly attempted 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.

On 1 May 1865, Corporal John W. Glick was promoted to the rank of sergeant.

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.

On 1 June 1865, Sergeant John W. Glick was honorably discharged from the military at Camp Brightwood, by General Orders, No. 53.

Return to Civilian Life

Following his honorable discharge from the military, John W. Glick set out in search of peace and prosperity by migrating west. By 1885, he was employed as a cook and was living as a boarder at the home of Willis Barnard in Wood Lake Precinct, Cherry County, Nebraska.

A resident of Council Bluffs, Iowa during the 1890s, John Glick received word in 1892 that his nearly eighty-three-year-old father, Reuben Glick, had passed away on New Year’s Day in Cetronia, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. Ailing with the grippe (the flu) and pneumonia, he had succumbed to disease-related complications, and had been buried at the cemetery of that town’s Evangelical Church (now known as the Trexler Park Memorial Cemetery in Allentown).

On 19 March 1899, John Glick wed fellow Council Bluffs resident, Carrie Elizabeth Noonen (1872-1944), in the city of Omaha, Nebraska. A native of Cayuga County in the State of New York, she was a daughter of James and Elizabeth (MacKay) Noonen. She had migrated west to Nebraska at the age of twenty-one.

In 1900, he and his wife were living on Chicago Street in Omaha’s Fourth Ward. John supported his new bride on the wages he earned working as a coachman for an Omaha family. Together, they welcomed the birth of a son, Earl Wesley Glick (1908-1996), who was born in Douglas County, Nebraska on 25 March 1908 and later served in the United States Army.

Illness, Death and Interment

By mid-April of 1910, John Glick and his wife and son were residing in Sarpy County, Nebraska. But their homelife changed roughly four months later, as an aging John Glick found that he could no longer tolerate the chronic back pain he had been enduring.

Ailing with sciatica and haematuria, he was admitted, on 2 August 1910, to the Battle Mountain Sanitarium (Hot Springs, South Dakota), which was part of the network of U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. Admissions records described him as a sixty-seven-year-old farmer who was five feet, eight inches tall with gray hair, gray eyes and a light complexion.

He was subsequently discharged from that facility at his own request on 9 November 1911 — but his days were numbered. He died in his early seventies in the city of Omaha, on 26 April 1913, and was laid to rest at that city’s Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

What Happened to John W. Glick’s Widow and Son?

John Glick’s widow, Carrie (Noonen) Glick (1872-1944), survived her husband by more than three decades. As a widow with a son who was not yet even old enough to attend school, she was now the head of her own household, with bills to pay and a child she would need to keep safe and healthy as she guided him into his teen and early adult years. One of the first steps she took to make that happen was to secure help from an attorney in filing for a U.S. Civil War Minor Child’s Pension on behalf her son, on 14 March 1913. She then also filed for a U.S. Civil War Widow’s Pension on 14 September 1916. Ultimately awarded both pensions, she was able to use both of those pensions to keep a roof over her son’s head until the mid-1920s, when her son turned sixteen, making him ineligible for further support from the federal government. Still able to collect her own war widow’s pension, she soldiered on. In 1928, she moved into the home of her soldier-son at Fort Robinson in Crawford, Dawes County, Nebraska. Living with them was her son’s wife, Thelma Wilma (Baun) Glick (1910-1983), a native of Ohio whom Earl Glick had married circa 1927. Their household grew by one in 1929, with the birth of Carrie’s first grandchild, Elizabeth Marie Glick (1929-1984), who was born on 13 February 1929 and would later wed Harry George Dingis (1921-1972). Carrie (Noonen) Glick then continued to reside with her son and his growing family at their home at Fort Robinson in Crawford into the 1940s. Ailing during the final months of her life, she succumbed to disease-related complications at her son’s Crawford residence, on 2 April 1944, while her son was stationed overseas with the U.S. Army. Seventy-one years old at the time of her passing, she was subsequently laid to rest at that city’s Crawford Cemetery. She was survived by her son, his wife and their four children, as well as her two brothers, Charles F. Noonen (Council Bluffs, Iowa) and John F. Noonen (Cayuga County, New York).

Having welcomed the birth of his first child (Elizabeth) with his wife, Thelma Wilma (Baun) Glick, John Glick’s son, Earl Wesley Glick (1908-1996), then welcomed the Crawford, Nebraska births of: Earline W. Glick (1930-2012), who was born on 23 July 1930 and would later wed George Floyd Hanna (1922-2009); and John Wesley Glick (1932-1993), who was born on 2 May 1932 and would later become a chief warrant officer with the United States Navy, serving in Korea and Vietnam, and would also become the husband of Addie Lou Hayles (1934-1994); and Marguerite R. Glick, who was born circa 1944. Predeceased by his wife, Thelma, Earl W. Glick married for a second time — to Velma (Dicks) Ellerbeck. A resident of Crawford prior to relocating to Kearney and then Ainsworth in Nebraska, he died at the age of eighty-eight in Ainsworth on 30 October 1996, and was cremated by the Hoch Funeral Home in Ainsworth.

What Happened to John W. Glick’s Full Siblings?

William Wallace Glick, who was known to family and friends as “Wallace,” was a lifelong resident of South Whitehall Township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. A farm laborer who never married, he died at the age of seventy-seven, at the home of his brother, Edward Glick, near Dorney Park in Allentown, on 13 March 1908, and was interred at the Trexler Park Cemetery in Allentown.

Following his marriage to Abigail Wiser, Moses Amos Glick initially settled with her in Lehigh County. Together, they welcomed the births of: Allen M. Glick (1856-1876), who was born on 20 April 1856 but died at the age of twenty; Colletta Rebecca Glick (1857-1934), who was born in South Whitehall Township, Lehigh County on 17 August 1857 and later wed William Thomas Graffin (1853-1930); Naomi Glick (1859-1934), who was born in Lehigh County on 7 June 1859 and later wed David L. Williams (1863-1915); Charles Reuben Glick, who was born in Lehigh County on 27 February 1862; Uriah Grant Glick (1863-1920), who was born in East Allen Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania on 7 August 1863; Emma J. Glick (1867-1884), who was born in East Allen Township on 26 September 1867 but died in Northampton County at the age of sixteen; and Amanda H. Glick (1873-1911), who was born on 8 June 1873 and later wed John C. Mannering (1862-1956) and settled with him in Delaware. By 1880, Moses Glick was a successful baker who resided with his wife, Abigail, in Bangor, Northampton County, along with their children: Naomi, a milliner; Charles, a tailor’s apprentice; Uriah, who was employed at his father’s bakery; Emma, and Amanda. Also residing with them was Moses Glick’s four-year-old niece, Mary D. Glick. Moses did not live to see the turn of the century, however; he died at the age of fifty-nine in Bangor, on 31 August 1892, and was laid to rest at Saint Johns Cemetery in Bangor.

Joseph Miller Glick went on to become a successful shoemaker in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, where he was also appointed as the postmaster of the U.S. Post Office in Girardville. Following his marriage to Mary Margaret Hower, he welcomed the births with her of: Lucetta Jane Glick (1867-1871), who was born on 11 February 1867 but died at the age of four on 18 May 1871; Bertha E. Glick (1869-1871), who was born on 19 July 1861 but died on 8 April 1871 — just three months shy of her second birthday and roughly one month before the death of her older sister, Lucetta; George W. Glick (1872-1937), who was born on 2 February 1872 and later wed Mary T. Traylore (1872-1959); Reuben John Glick (1874-1927), who was born in Girardville on 15 August 1874; and Albert Hower Glick (1883-1957), who was born on 9 December 1883. Widowed by his wife, Mary Margaret (Hower) Glick, when she passed away at the age of forty-two on 20 October 1887, Joseph Miller Glick ensured that his wife would not be forgotten by arranging for the placement of a gravestone for her with the inscription, “Dearest Loved One, We Must Lay Thee In The Peaceful Grave’s Embrace, But Thy Memory Will Be Cherished ‘Til We See Thy Heavenly Face.” Subsequently married to Margaret Fudge (1867-1957), he then welcomed the births with her of: Oliver Henry Glick (1890-1954), who was born in Girardville on 3 May 1890 and later wed Lillian C. Sell (1894-1956); and Allen Joseph Glick (1893-1959), who was born on 25 November 1893 and later wed Nellie M. Heine (1897-1992). Six months later, Joseph Miller Glick was gone, having died by suicide at the age of fifty-four at the shoemaking shop on his property in Girardville, on 14 May 1894. Following a coroner’s inquest, which described his gunshot wound in detail but failed to offer a reason for Joseph Glick’s decision to end his life, Joseph Miller Glick was laid to rest at the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Girardville, leaving his family, friends and community in bewildered anguish.

Edward Allen Glick, who had been educated in the public schools of Lehigh County before attending the New Berlin Academy, and had helped out on his father’s farm from childhood through his teen years, went on to become a teacher, operating a school from his Lehigh County home in 1872. From 1873 until 1900, he also farmed eighty acres of his family’s farm in South Whitehall Township, which he then sold to H. C. Trexler. A member of the Republican Party, he also served his community as a tax collector. Married to Hope Priscilla Oliphant sometime during the late 1860s or early 1870s, he welcomed the births with her of: Sallie O. Glick (1871-1937), who was born in Cedarville, Lehigh County on 20 August 1871 and later wed Charles A. Strauss (1866-1952); Elizabeth B. Glick (1873-1906), who was born on 21 June 1873 and later wed George M. DeWitt (1860-1906); and Edward G. Glick (1879-1956), who was born in Allentown on 19 January 1879 and later wed Jennie Irene Rauch (1881-1970). Sadly, the birth of his namesake son had been a difficult one — one that caused childbirth complications that ended the life of Edward A. Glick’s wife, Hope Priscilla (Oliphant) Glick, who died at the age of thirty-two in South Whitehall Township, on 22 January 1879. Soldiering on, Edward A. Glick continued to farm the land and teachwhile also raising his children. Then, sometime around 1896, he married for the second time — to Emma Maria Trumbauer (1878-1930), with whom he welcomed the births of: Ira Elijah Glick (1897-1959), who was born in South Whitehall Township on 19 May 1897 and later wed Mabel K. Spaar (1908-1982); Reuben Wallace Glick (1900-1970), who was born in South Whitehall Township on 7 April 1900 and later wed Helen May Drey (1907-1961); Ella Ruth Glick (1902-1943), who was born in Cetronia on 20 February 1902 and later wed Alfred J. Burkhart (1902-1982); and Hilda Florence Glick (1914-2004), who was born in Cetronia on 28 October 1914 and later wed Walter N. Gombert (1899-1967). During the early morning hours of 29 November 1918, Edward A. Glick suffered a stroke at his home in Cetronia, and died shortly thereafter. Following funeral services, he was also buried at the Trexler Park Cemetery in Allentown.

Following his marriage to Emma Achenbach, James M. Glick settled with her in the Philadelphia area, where he worked as a carpenter. Widowed by Emma when she passed away in her early forties in Hazleton, Luzerne County, on 27 March 1896, James Glick survived her by more than three decades. Ailing with kidney disease during his final years, he died at the age of eighty-three in Sellersville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania on 22 December 1930 and was laid to rest at the Fernwood Cemetery in Royersford, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He was survived by his children: Joseph Glick (Florida), William Glick (Fair Hill, Hilltown Township, Bucks County), and Mrs. William Shriver (Hilltown Township).

What Happened to John W. Glick’s Stepmother and Half-Siblings?

John W. Glick’s half-siblings were the children of Reuben Glick and his second wife, Elizabeth (Boyer) Glick (1816-1869), the latter of whom died at the age of fifty-three in Cetronia, Lehigh County, on 15 December 1869, and was laid to rest at the Trexler Park Cemetery in Allentown.

Ella Glick (1855-1885), who was John Glick’s youngest sibling, had married the Reverend James Daniel Woodring sometime during the 1870s. Together, she and her husband had then welcomed the births of: Durbin Elden Woodring (1879-1949), who was born in Freemansburg, Northampton County on 23 September 1879; and Grace Woodring (1885-1961), who was born on 7 March 1885. Just eight days after her daughter’s birth, Ella (Glick) Woodring was gone, having succumbed to complications from childbirth on 15 March 1885. Just twenty-nine years old at the time of her death, she was laid to rest at the Union-West End Cemetery in Allentown.

Henry J. Glick (1850-1921), who had attended Lehigh County’s public schools prior to entering college, graduated from Millersville Normal School (now Millersville State University) in 1871. He then pursued medical studies and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine in 1875. Subsequently ordained as a minister in 1879, he ministered to congregations in: Mongtomery, Bangor, Milford, Williamstown, Fleetwood, Friedensburg, Catasauqua, Shenandoah, Hazleton, Berlinsville, Mohnton, Mauch Chunk, Millersville, Pine Grove, Royersford, Lansdale, and Terre Hill, where he remained for more than nine years. Married in 1877 to Martha Catharine Kemmerer, who was a daughter of William G. Kemmerer of Catasauqua, Reverend Glick welcomed the births with her of William Henry Glick (1879-1958), who was born in East Greenville, Montgomery County on 25 August 1879 and grew up to become a physician; and Martha E. Glick, who later wed the Reverend Arthur Heck and settled with him in Myerstown, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. Widowed by his wife, Martha C. (Kemmerer) Glick when she passed away at the age of twenty-eight on 7 May 1887, Reverend Henry Glick subsequently wed Savilla D. Heydt (1862-1954) in 1888. A resident of Terre Hill in Lancaster County for the final nine years of his life, Reverend Henry Jacob Glick became ill during his final weeks and died from peritonitis at the age of seventy, at his home in Terre Hill, on 13 June 1921. Following funeral srrvices, he was laid to rest at the Greenwood Cemetery in Allentown.

Elden B. Glick (1851-1944), who had become a farmer like his father, had married Sallie E. Woodring (1850-1912) sometime during the 1870s. Together, they had welcomed the birth of a daughter, Annie E. Glick (1877-1882), who was born on 12 October 1877, but died at the age of four in May 1882. Widowed by his wife, Sallie, in 1912, he remained active as a longtime trustee of the Evangelical Congregational Church in Cetronia. After a full life, he died at the age of ninety-two, at his home outside of Wescosville, on 9 November 1944, and was also laid to rest at the Trexler Park Cemetery in Allentown.

 

Sources:

1. Barnard, Willis (head of household); Brewer, Alvin; and Glick, John (boarder), in Nebraska State Census (Wood Lake Precinct, Cherry County, Nebraska, 1885). Lincoln, Nebraska: Nebraska State Archives.
2. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
3. “Branches of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers,” in Prologue Magazine, vol. 36, no. 1, Spring 2004. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
4. “Death of One of South Whitehall’s Oldest and Best Citizens” (obituary of John W. Glick’s father, Reuben Glick). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Democrat, 6 January 1892.
5. “Death of Wallace Glick” (obituary of a full sibling of John W. Glick). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Leader, 14 March 1908.
6. “Earl W. Glick” (obituary of the son of John W. Glick). Council Bluffs, Iowa: The Daily Nonpareil, 2 November 1996.
7. “Edward A. Glick” (obituary of a full sibling of John W. Glick). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 30 November 1918.
8. “Elden Glick” (obituary of a half-brother of John W. Glick). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 10 November 1944.
9. “Florida’s Role in the Civil War,” in Florida Memory. Tallahassee, Florida: State Archives of Florida.
10. Glick, Earl W. (the son of John W. Glick), Thelma, Elizabeth M., and Carrie E. (Earl Glick’s mother and the widow of John W. Glick), in U.S. Census (Fort Robinson Military Reservation, Crawford, Dawes County, Nebraska, 1930). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
11. Glick, Earl W. (the son of John W. Glick), Thelma, Elizabeth M., Earline W., John W., and Carrie E. (Earl Glick’s mother and the widow of John W. Glick), in U.S. Census (Fort Robinson Military Reservation, Crawford, Dawes County, Nebraska, 1940). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
12. Glick, Earl W. (the son of John W. Glick), Thelma and Marguerite R.; and Dingus, Harry, Elizabeth (a daughter of Earl W. Glick and a granddaughter of John W. Glick), Diana, and Gary, in U.S. Census (Crawford, Dawes County, Nebraska, 1950). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
13. Glick, George H. Genealogy of the Glick Family, pp. 39-44. Indianapolis, Indiana: George H. Glick, 1918.
14. Glick, John W., in Admissions Records, U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (Battle Mountain Sanitarium, Hot Springs, South Dakota, 1910-1911). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
15. Glick, John W., in Civil War Muster Rolls (Company G, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
16. Glick, John W., in Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1866 (Company G, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
17. Glick, John W. and Carrie, in U.S. Census (Highland Precinct, Sarpy County, Nebraska, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
18. Glick, John W., Carrie and Earl, in U.S. Census (Omaha, Fourth Ward, Douglas County, Nebraska, 1910). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
19. Glick, John W. and Carrie E., in U.S. Civil War Pension General Index Cards (veteran’s application no.: 1093889, veteran’s certificate no.: 836587, filed by the veteran from Nebraska, 23 February 1892; minor child’s application no.: 1014376, minor child’s certificate no.: 764612, filed by the veteran’s widow on behalf of her minor child from Nebraska, 14 March 1913; widow’s application no.: 1072102, widow’s certificate no.: 879219, filed by the veteran’s widow from Nebraska, 14 September 1916). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
20. Glick, Moses (a full sibling of John W. Glick), Abigail, Naomi, Charles R., Uriah, Emma, and Amanda; and Glick, Mary D. (Moses Glick’s niece), in U.S. Census (Bangor, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
21. Glick, Ruben, Elizabeth, William, Moses, John W., Edward A., and James, in U.S. Census (South Whitehall Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1850). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
22. Glick, Ruben, Elizabeth, Wallace, Joseph M., John W., Edward A., James, Henry J., Edwin B., Ellen, and Cathrine (Reuben Glick’s sister); and Young, Sibila (domestic worker), in U.S. Census (South Whitehall Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1860). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
23. James M. Glick (a full sibling of John W. Glick), in Death Certificates (file no.: 113725; registered no.: 159, date of death: 22 December 1930). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
24. “James M. Glick Dies” (obituary of a full sibling of John W. Glick). Lansdale, Pennsylvania: North Penn Reporter, 23 December 1930.
25. John W. Glick (groom), Ruben Glick (father of the groom) and Elizabeth Allen (mother of the groom), and Carrie E. Noonen (bride), James Noonen (father of the bride) and Elizabeth MacKay (mother of the bride), in Marriage Records (Douglas County, Nebraska, date of marriage: 19 March 1899). Lincoln, Nebraska: Nebraska State Archives.
26. “Joseph M. Glick Commits Suicide Today” (report regarding the death of Joseph Miller Glick, one of the full siblings of John W. Glick). Pottsville, Pennsylvania: Pottsville Republican, 14 May 1894.
27. Moses A. Glick (death notice of a full sibling of John W. Glick), in “Died.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Democrat, 2 September 1892.
28. “Mrs. Carrie E. Glick Passes Away” (obituary of John W. Glick’s widow). Crawford, Nebraska: The Crawford Tribune, 7 April 1944.
29. “Rev. Henry J. Glick Called to Reward” (obituary of a half-sibling of John W. Glick). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 15 June 1921.
30. “Reuben Glick’s Will” (report on the provision of the last will and testament of John W. Glick’s father). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Critic, 23 January 1892.
31. “Roster of the 47th P. V. Inf.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 26 October 1930.
32. Schmidt, Lewis G. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.
33. “The Glick Suicide” (report regarding the death of Joseph Miller Glick, one of the full siblings of John W. Glick). Pottsville, Pennsylvania: Pottsville Republican, 15 May 1894.
34. “The History of the Forty-Seventh Regt. P. V.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Lehigh Register, 20 July 1870.