Alternate Surname Spellings: Daitzes, Datzius, Detzins, Detzius

 

A native of what is, today, the Rhineland-Palatinate state in Germany, Philip William Datzius (alternate surname spellings: Daitzes, Detzins, Detzius) was raised during an era in which families across Europe endured tremendous change, sparked by moments of political uncertainty and upheaval. As a result, when he was old enough to do so, he joined the mid-nineteenth century wave of German emigrants who made the difficult choice to leave all they had come to know behind with the hope of finding better lives in a new land.

He barely had time enough to begin that new life with a new family in the United States of America before his adopted homeland descended into the madness of discord and disunion.

Formative Years

Born circa 1825 in the Duchy of Nassau, Philip William Datzius arrived in America sometime during the 1840s or early 1850s. Choosing to settle in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, he made his home in Hanover Township, Northampton County. It was there that he met his bride-to-be, Pennsylvania native Carolina Gross, whom he subsequently married in the Borough of Bethlehem on 10 or 12 January 1855. Their wedding ceremony was performed by the Rev. J. C. Becker of their local German Reformed Church.

The children produced by their union were: “Susy Ann,” who was born circa 1853; Ellen Jane Louisa (1856-1920), who was born on 19 May 1856 (alternate date of birth: 5 May 1856), baptized on 5 August 1856 and later wed John A. Moser (1863-1915); and Rebecca (1859-1926), who was born on 13 January 1859, baptized on 5 June 1859 and later wed Henry H. Bachman (1858-1933). Ellen and Rebecca were both baptized at St. Paul’s Indianland Church in the village of Cherryville in Northampton County.

By 1860, Philip Datzius had moved his young family to Danielsville in Lehigh Township, Northampton County, where he was employed as a day laborer. By 1862, he was documented as a working shoemaker.

Civil War — Nine Months’ Service (153rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry)

On 22 September 1862, Philip W. Datzius enrolled for military service in Lehigh Township, Northampton County. Having made the choice to enroll on the side of his adopted home state, which meant that he would be fighting to preserve the union of the United States of America, he then officially mustered in at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg, Dauphin County as a private with Company G of the 153rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry on 10 October of that same year.

Military records at the time described him as a thirty-seven-year-old shoemaker and resident of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.

Following basic training at Camp Curtin, Private Philip Datzius and his fellow members of the 153rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry were transported by rail to Washington, D.C., where they were attached to the First Brigade of the First Division of the United States Army’s 11th Corps, Army of the Potomac. They continued to serve with that army through 24 July 1863, when Company G was officially mustered out and sent back to Pennsylvania.

Involved in the defense of the nation’s capital until December 1862, they were assigned to reconnaissance duties in the areas around Chantilly, Snicker’s Ferry and Berryville, Virginia. From 9-16 December, they marched toward Fredericksburg, Virginia. Assigned to occupation duties at Stafford Courthouse from late December 1862 through 19 January 1863, they next participated, from 20-24 January, in the “Mud March” led by General Ambrose Burnside, after which they returned to Stafford Court House, where they remained until 27 April.

Battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg (1863)

Assigned to participate in the Chancellorsville Campaign from 27 April to 6 May, Private Philip Datzius and his fellow 153rd Pennsylvanians fought in the Battle of Chancellorsville from 1-5 May 1863, during which time they took on the Confederate force led by Lieutenant-General Stonewall Jackson. Overwhelmed by the enemy, they lost their fight, but were not dissuaded from pursuing their mission to end the war and preserve America’s Union. Subsequently marched north toward Pennsylvania, they ultimately helped to make history by turning the tide of the war in the Union’s favor during one of the nation’s most epic battles.

Engaged in the Gettysburg Campaign from 11 June through 24 July, they fought in the Battle of Gettysburg from 1-3 July 1863. On the first day of that tide-burning battle, they fought valiantly from their position on the northeast side of Barlow’s Knoll (located north of the town of Gettysburg, along what is, today, Howard Avenue), holding that knoll until late afternoon, when they were outflanked by Confederate troops. They then moved with their corps to the foot of East Cemetery Hill, where they helped to hold that spot by repulsing a Confederate attack during the second night of the fight, and then continued to hold that position until the Union finally won the three-day encounter. Afterward, Private Datzius and his fellow 153rd Pennsylvanians helped to chase the army of Confederate General Robert E. Lee out of the Great Keystone State. They continued to pursue those Confederate troops from 5-12 July, and subsequently received word that they would be honorably mustered out, upon completion of their nine-month terms of enlistment on 24 July. Following his honorable discharge from the military, Philip Datzius returned home to Northampton County, where he resumed his job and life with his family. Seven months later, he decided he could no longer sit on the sidelines as the American Civil War dragged on. Bidding his wife and children goodbye, he headed off to the Borough of Easton, where he re-enlisted with a different unit of the Union Army and fought, once again, to preserve the union of the United States of America.

Civil War — Three Years’ Service (47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry)

After re-enrolling for military service in Easton on 29 February 1864, Philip W. Datzius officially re-mustered that same day as a private with Company K of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, which was known as “the all-German company” of the regiment. Military records at the time described him as a forty-two-year-old native of Germany and laborer, who was five feet, five inches tall with light hair, gray eyes and a ruddy complexion.

A battle-hardened veteran of the Union Army who was joining a battle-hardened regiment that had also served as an occupying force in America’s Deep South, he and his new comrades were about to make history as members of the only regiment from Pennsylvania to fight in the Union’s 1864 Red River Campaign across Louisiana.

Red River Campaign

Transported via ship to Louisiana, Private Philip W. Datzius connected with his regiment while it was on the move toward the top of the L-shaped state. From 14-26 March, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers had headed out from Algiers, Louisiana (now part of New Orleans) and marched toward Alexandria and Natchitoches, by way of New Iberia, Vermilionville (now part of Lafayette), Opelousas, and Washington.

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

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

Rushed into battle ahead of other regiments in the 2nd Division, sixty members of the 47th were cut down on 8 April during the volley of fire unleashed 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 as those who were uninjured collapsed beside the gravely wounded. Finally, after midnight, the surviving Union troops were ordered to withdraw to Pleasant Hill.

The next day, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were ordered into a critically important defensive position at the far right of the Union lines, their right flank spreading up onto a high bluff. By 3 p.m., after enduring a midday charge by the troops of Confederate Major-General Richard Taylor (a plantation owner who was the son of Zachary Taylor, former president of the United States), the brutal fighting still showed no signs of ending. Suddenly, just as the 47th was shifting to the left side of the massed Union forces, the men of the 47th Pennsylvania were forced to bolster the 165th New York’s buckling lines by blocking another Confederate assault.

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

Alexander, Walls and Pyers all survived the day and continued to fight on with the 47th, but many others, like Second Lieutenant Alfred Swoyer, were killed in action during the two days of chaotic fighting, or wounded so severely that they were unable to continue their service with the 47th. (Swoyer’s final words were, “They’re coming nine deep!” His body was never recovered.)

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

Meanwhile, as the captured 47th Pennsylvanians were being spirited away to Texas, the bulk of the regiment was carrying out orders from senior Union Army leaders to head for Grand Ecore, Louisiana. Encamped there from 11 April t0 22 April 1864, they engaged in the hard labor of strengthening regimental and brigade fortifications.

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

The next morning (23 April 1864), episodic skirmishing quickly roared into the flames of a robust fight. As part of the advance party led by Union Brigadier-General William Emory, the 47th Pennsylvanians took on the Confederate cavalry of Brigadier-General Hamilton P. Bee in the Battle of Cane River (also known as “the Affair at Monett’s Ferry” or the “Cane River Crossing”).

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

Meanwhile, other troops in Emory’s command worked their way across the Cane River, attacked Bee’s flank, forced a Rebel retreat, and erected a series of pontoon bridges, enabling the 47th and other remaining Union troops to make the Cane River Crossing by the next day. As the Confederates retreated, they torched their own food stores, as well as the cotton supplies of their fellow southerners.

In a letter written from Morganza, Louisiana to the editor of the Sunbury American newspaper in Pennsylvania on 29 May, C Company soldier Henry Wharton described what had happened to the 47th Pennsylvanians during and immediately after making camp at Grand Ecore:

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

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

The damage done to the Confederate cause by the burning of cotton was immense. On the night of the 22d our route was lighted up for miles and millions of dollars worth of this production was destroyed. This loss will be felt more by Davis & Co., than several defeats in this region, for the basis of the loan in England was on the cotton of Western 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, the 47th Pennsylvanians learned they would remain at their latest new camp for at least two weeks. Placed temporarily under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Bailey, they were assigned, once again, to the hard labor of fortification work, helping to erect “Bailey’s Dam,” a timber structure that enabled Union gunboats to more easily make their way back down the Red River. While stationed in Rapides Parish in late April and early May, according to Wharton:

We were at Alexandria seventeen days, during which time the men were kept busy at throwing up earthworks, foraging and three times went out some distance to meet the enemy, but they did not make their appearance in numbers large enough for an engagement. The water in the Red river had fallen so much that it prevented the gunboats 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 ironclads 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], 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 the day 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 [sic] 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.

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

Having entered Avoyelles Parish, they “rested on their arms” for the night, half-dozing without pitching their tents, but with their rifles right beside them. They were now positioned just outside of Marksville, Louisiana 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, the infantry advanced in line until they reached Mousoula [sic], 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] of the troops was handsomely done, and the movements was [sic] one of the finest things of the war. The fight of artillery was a steady one of five miles. The enemy merely stood that they might cover the retreat of their infantry and train under cover of their artillery. Our loss was slight. Of the rebels we could not ascertain correctly, but learned from citizens who had secreted themselves during the fight, that they had many killed and wounded, who threw them into wagons, promiscuously, and drove them off so that we could not learn their casualties. The next day we moved to Simmsport [sic, Simmesport] on the Achafalaya [sic, Atchafalaya] river, where a bridge was made by putting the transports side by side, which enabled the troops and train to pass safely over. – The day before we crossed the rebels attacked Smith, thinking it was but the rear guard, in which they, the graybacks, were awfully cut up, and four hundred prisoners fell into our hands. Our loss in killed and wounded was ninety. This fight was the last one of the expedition. The whole of the force is safe on the Mississippi, gunboats, transports and trains. The 16th and 17th have gone to their old commands.

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

Continuing on, the surviving members of the 47th marched for Simmesport and then Morganza, where they made camp again. While encamped there, nine formerly enslaved Black men who had enlisted with the 47th Pennsylvania in Beaufort, South Carolina (1862) and Natchitoches, Louisiana (April 1864) were officially mustered into the regiment between 20-24 June 1864.

The regiment then moved on once again and arrived in New Orleans in late June.

As they did during their tour through the Carolinas and Florida, the men of the 47th had battled the elements and disease, as well as the Confederate Army, in order to continue to defend their nation.

After arriving in New Orleans, they received orders on the 4th of July to return to the East Coast and loaded their men onto ships in two stages. Companies A, C, D, E, F, H, and I steamed for the Washington, D.C. area beginning 7 July while the men from Companies B, G and K, including Private Philip Datzius, remained behind on detached duty while awaiting transportation. Led by F Company Captain Henry S. Harte, the 47th Pennsylvanians who had been left behind in Louisiana finally sailed away at the end of the month aboard the Blackstone. Arriving in Virginia on 28 July, they reconnected with the bulk of the regiment at Monocacy, Virginia on 2 August, having missed the opportunity the earlier departing men had to have a memorable encounter with President Abraham Lincoln on 12 July 1864. They also missed the mid-July Battle of Cool Spring at Snicker’s Gap, Virginia.

On 24 July 1864, Captain John Peter Shindel Gobin was promoted from his leadership of Company C to the rank of major and appointed as third-in-command of the 47th Pennsylvania.

Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign

On 1 August, Private Philip Datzius and his fellow K Company members received word that their own First Sergeant Matthias Miller would be promoted to the rank of second lieutenant; in addition, Corporal Franklin Beisel became First Sergeant Beisel that same day, and Private Samuel Reinert was promoted to the rank of corporal. Attached to the Middle Military Division, U.S. Army of the Shenandoah beginning in early August, and placed under the command of legendary Union Major-General Philip H. Sheridan (“Little Phil”), 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.

During this phase of duty, K Company continued to lose members. Among those who were honorably discharged were: Privates Martin Reifinger and Elenois Druckenmiller who departed via surgeons’ certificates of disability on 3 and 18 August, respectively, and Private Conrad Nagle (alternate spellings: “Nagel,” “Neihl,” “Niehl”), who fell ill and was confined to the Union Army’s hospital at Virginia’s Fairfax Seminary near Alexandria, Virginia before succumbing to disease-related complications on 22 August. Private Charles Richter subsequently died at the Union Army’s Newton General Hospital in Baltimore on 1 September. The likely cause of his death was dysentery.

The 47th Pennsylvania then engaged with Confederate troops in the Battle of Berryville, Virginia from 3-4 September. Several men were killed or wounded in action, including Private George Kilmore (alternate spelling “Killmer”), who sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the abdomen on 5 September.

On 14 September, K Company Corporal Elias F. Benner was promoted to the rank of sergeant.

Additional men departing around this time from the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were: Company D’s Captain Henry Woodruff, E Company’s Captain Charles H. Yard and Captain Harte of F Company, as well as K Company’s Sergeant-Major Conrad Volkenand, Sergeant Peter Reinmiller, Corporals Lewis Benner and George Knuck, and Privates Valentine Amend, M. Bornschier, Charles Fisher, Charles Heiney, Jacob Kentzler, John Koldhoff, Anthony Krause, Elias Leh, Samuel Madder, Lewis Metzger, Alfred Muthard, John Schimpf, John Scholl, and Christopher Ulrich. All mustered out at Berryville, Virginia on 18 September 1864 upon expiration of their respective three-year terms of service.

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

Battles of Opequan and Fisher’s Hill

Together with other regiments under the command of Union Major-General Sheridan and Brigadier-General William H. Emory, commander of the 19th Corps (XIX Corps), the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers helped to inflict heavy casualties on Lieutenant-General Early’s Confederate forces in the Battle of 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. 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. Finally reaching the Opequon Creek, Sheridan’s men came face to face with Early’s Confederate Army. 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 Emory to attack and pursue Major-General John B. Gordon’s Confederate forces. Some success was achieved, but casualties mounted as a 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 subsequently opened its lines long enough to enable the Union cavalry under William Woods Averell and the foot soldiers of Brigadier-General George Crook to charge the Confederates’ left flank. As the 19th Corps began pushing the Confederates back, with the 47th involved in the thick of the fight, Sheridan’s “blue jackets” went on to win the day as Early’s “grays” fled.

That same day (on 19 September), Privates Samuel Kunfer, William Landis and Christian Weidenbach were promoted to the rank of corporal.

Leaving 2,500 wounded behind, the Rebels retreated to Fisher’s Hill, eight miles south of Winchester (21-22 September). Among the 47th Pennsylvanians listed on the casualty rosters following the Battle of Fisher’s Hill was Private James M. Sieger of Company K, who had sustained a wound above one of his knees but would survive after receiving treatment from army surgeons.

Following a successful early morning flanking attack by Sheridan’s Union men which outnumbered Early’s three to one, Early’s Confederates then fled to Waynesboro. The 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were among those sent out in skirmishing parties.

Afterward, they made camp at Cedar Creek. They would continue to distinguish themselves in battle, but they would do so without two more of their respected commanders: Colonel Tilghman H. Good and Good’s second in command, Lieutenant-Colonel George Alexander, who mustered out 23-24 September upon the expiration of their respective terms of service. Fortunately, they were replaced with leaders who were equally respected for their front-line experience and temperament, including Major John Peter Shindel Gobin, formerly of the 47th’s Company C, who had been promoted up from the command of a regimental company to a command position with the regiment’s field and staff officers’ corps (and who would be promoted again on 4 November to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, making him the 47th Pennsylvania’s commanding officer).

Battle of Cedar Creek

During the fall of 1864, Major-General Sheridan began the first of the Union’s true “scorched earth” campaigns, starving the enemy into submission by destroying Virginia’s 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 and win the day.

From a military standpoint, it was another impressive, but heartrending encounter. 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 rode 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!’”

In response, Union troops staged a decisive counterattack that punched Early’s forces into submission. Afterward, 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, 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. Privates Lewis Berliner and Lewis Schneck of K Company were killed in action, as was Private Moses Klotz, who sustained a fatal head wound.

Sometime around this same time, several other 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers fell ill. Some, like Private John Kolb, were diagnosed with typhoid fever and shipped north for more advanced medical care at Union Army general hospitals while others, like Private Philip Datzius, were diagnosed simply as having “chronic diarrhea”—a condition that became so serious for Datzius that he, too, was eventually shipped north. Confined to the Union Army’s Lovell General Hospital in Portsmouth Grove, Rhode Island, he succumbed to disease-related complications there on 9 November 1864.

Following his death, Private Datzius was initially laid to rest at Lovell General Hospital’s cemetery. His remains were later exhumed, however, during the federal government’s large-scale reburial of Union soldiers at national cemeteries. After his remains were transported to the State of New York, they were reinterred at the Cypress Hills National Cemetery in Brooklyn, Kings County.

What Happened to the Widow and Children of Philip W. Datzius?

Thrust into the roles of single mom and sole head of the household when her soldier-husband died in Rhode Island, Carolina (Gross) Datzius subsequently filed for a U.S. Army Civil War Widow’s Pension to obtain much-needed support for herself and her young children.

A resident of Danielsville in Lehigh Township in Northampton County when her husband marched off to war, she continued to reside there with her two young daughters following his passing. She was ultimately awarded a widow’s pension of eight dollars per month, which was made retroactive to the date of military service-related death in Rhode Island (9 November 1864). That award amount was then increased by four dollars per month to provide support for each of her two children (two dollars per month, per child) beginning 25 July 1866.

* Note: Throughout the extended period of time that it took Carolina (Gross) Datzius to secure a U.S. Civil War Widow’s Pension, her married surname was spelled in various ways on pension claim documents that were submitted by her attorney on her behalf and on paperwork completed by officials of the United States government. The spelling most often used for her married surname was “Detzius.” Researchers for 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment’s Story have chosen to use the spelling of “Datzius” throughout this article, however, because the the 47th Pennsylvania’s own muster rolls and other military records, including a U.S. Surgeon General’s letter that documented the military service-related death of Philip Datzius, spelled his surname as “Datzius.”

By 1880, Carolina (Gross) Datzius was living alone in the Eastern District of Lehigh Township. Her daughter, Ellen Jane Datzius, had married Erasmus Bartholomew on 15 March 1874, and her youngest daughter, Rebecca Datzius, had married Henry H. Bachman circa 1878.

As Ellen Jane (Datzius) Bartholomew and her husband progressed through their married life, they welcomed the births of: Mary C. Bartholomew (1874-1920), who was born on 7 June 1874, was known to family and friends as “Carrie” and later wed Ellis Lloyd in Cherryville, Northampton County on 6 April 1890; Lewis Henry Bartholomew (1876-1960), who was born on 18 April 1876 and later grew up to be a councilman of the Borough of Northampton; Robert F. Bartholomew (1878-1955), who was born in Catasauqua, Lehigh County on 26 May 1878; and Lizzie S. Bartholomew (1886-1956), who was born in Danielsville, Northampton County on 19 July 1886 and later wed Lloyd William Koons on 25 August 1904 in Siegfried, Northampton County.

In 1880, Ellen Jane (Datzius) Bartholomew resided with Erasmus and their three children in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, where her husband was employed as a blacksmith. Researchers have not yet determined what happened to Erasmus, but what is known for certain is that, sometime around 1894, Ellen Jane (Datzius) Bartholomew remarried—this time. to John A. Moser. In 1900, they resided together in Allen Township, Northampton County, where her second husband was employed as a laborer at a cement mill. Also living with them were her three children from her first marriage, Carrie, Lewis and Lizzie, and her one-year-old grandson, Ralph Bartholomew. Also residing at the home were three unrelated boarders.

Meanwhile, Rebecca (Datzius) Bachman was building a new life with her husband, Henry, in western Lehigh Township, Northampton County, where he was employed as a laborer. They subsequently welcomed the births of: George S. Bachman (1880-1944), who was born on 27 July 1880 and later became the operator of a bakery and ice cream parlor in Danielsville; Benjamin F. Bachman (1883-1947), who was born in Danielsville on 16 June 1883 and later followed in the footsteps of his older brother, George, to become an employee of the New Jersey Zinc. Co.; and Harry R. Bachman (1888-1953), who was born on 12 August 1888.

In 1900, Rebecca (Datzius) Bachman and her husband and three sons were still residing in Lehigh Township; her husband was described on that year’s federal census as a block maker at a slate quarry while her sons, George and Benjamin, were described as slate quarrymen. Their son, Henry Bachman, was still in school.

A year later, the Datzius family lost their matriarch when Carolina (Gross) Detzius died on 12 February 1901 and was laid to rest at Saint Paul’s United Church of Christ of Indianland Cemetery in Northampton County. Her pension support at the time of her death was twelve dollars per month (roughly $3,650 per month in 2024 dollars).

* Note: The carver of the gravestone of the military headstone of Philip W. Datzius spelled his surname as “Datzius” while the carver of the gravestone of his widow, Carolina Datzius, spelled her married surname as “Detzius,” adding to the confusion surrounding the spelling of this family’s surname.

By 1910, Rebecca (Datzius) Bachman and her husband were living alone in Lehigh Township—a status that appears to have continued through the time of the federal census in 1920. That same year, she also appears to have become the sole surviving child of Private Philip W. Datzius and Carolina (Gross) Datzius when their daughter and her sister, Ellen Jane (Datzius Bartholomew) Moser, passed away at the age of sixty-three in the Borough of Northampton on 12 March 1920, after having spent her remaining years battling arthritis deformans (rheumatoid arthritis) and endocarditis (an inflammation of the inner heart chambers and valves). Following funeral services, Ellen was also laid to rest at Saint Paul’s United Church of Christ Indianland Cemetery.

Diagnosed with hypertension in later life, Rebecca (Datzius) Bachman suffered a stroke at the age of sixty-seven and died in Lehigh Township, Northampton County on 15 January 1926. She was then laid to rest at the Danielsville Union Cemetery in Danielsville, Northampton County.

Researchers have not located the burial location of Ellen and Rebecca’s older sister, who was identified on the 1860 federal census as “Susy Ann”/”Lucy Ann,” but theorize that she may have passed away sometime during the 1860s since her mother, Carolina (Gross) Datzius, did not include her on the list of children that was filed with her family’s application for U.S. Civil War Widow’s and Orphans’ support. (Born circa 1853, according to the 1860 census, “Susy Ann” Datzius would have been roughly twelve years old when Carolina filed her initial pension paperwork and would have been as eligible for the same two dollars per month in pension support that her younger sisters were ultimately awarded because the U.S. Pension Bureau provided that type of support to the majority of children of deceased Union Army soldiers who were under the age of sixteen. Since “Suzy Ann” would clearly have still been too young to marry and was not listed as one of the children of Philip Datzius on the Datzius family’s pension paperwork, and because “Suzy Ann” was also not documented as living with her mother and two younger sisters on the 1870 federal census, it is probable that “Susy Ann” Datzius died sometime after the 1860 census was conducted but before April 1866, when Carolina Datzius filed one of her pension-related affidavits that mentioned daughters Ellen and Rebecca but not “Susy Ann.”)

* To view more of the key U.S. Civil War Pension records related to the Datzius family, visit our Datzius Family Collection.

 

Sources:

1. Bachman, George S. (obituary of a grandson of Philip W. Datzius). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 21 May 1944.
2. Bachman, Henry and Rebecca (daughter of Philip W. Datzius), in U.S. Census (Western Lehigh Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
3. Bachman, Henry, Rebecca (daughter of Philip W. Datzius), George S., Benjamin F., and Harry R., in U.S. Census (Lehigh Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
4. Bachman, Henry and Rebecca (daughter of Philip W. Datzius), in U.S. Census (Lehigh Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1910 and 1920). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
5. Bachman, Rebecca (death notice of a daughter of Philip W. Datzius). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 20 February 1926.
6. Bartholomew, Erasmus, Ellen J. (daughter of Philip W. Datzius), Mary C., Lewis, and Robert, in U.S. Census (Hanover Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
7. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
8. Benjamin F. Bachman (a grandson of Philip W. Datzius), in Death Certificates (file no.: 52439, registered no.: 60; date of death: 7 June 1947). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
9. “Benj. F. Bachman Dies at Palmerton Hospital” (obituary of a grandson of Philip W. Datzius). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 9 June 1947.
10. “Carolina, widow of Detzins, Philip W.,” in U.S. Census (“Special Schedule—Surviving Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, and Widows, etc.,” Lehigh Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1890). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
11. Daitzis [sic], Carolina, in U.S. Census (Eastern District, Lehigh Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
12. Datsus [sic], Carolina, Eliza and Rebecca, in U.S. Census (Danielsville, Lehigh Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1870). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
13. Datzins, Philip, in Lovell General Hospital Cemetery Records (1864), in “Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries.” Warwick, Rhode Island: Rhode Island Historic Cemetery Commission, retrieved online March 12, 2024.
14. Datzius, Philip, in Civil War Muster Rolls (Co. G, 153rd Pennsylvania Infantry, 1862-1863). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
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19. Decins [sic], Phillip, Caroline, Susy Ann, Ellen, and Rebecca, in U.S. Census (Danielsville, Lehigh Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1860). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
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21. Detzius [sic], Phillip W., and Caroline, in U.S. Civil War Pension General Index Cards (Co. G, 153rd Pennsylvania Infantry and Co. K, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry; application no.:128801, certificate no.: 94660; filed by the widow on 23 June 1866). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
22. Ellen Jane Datzeous [sic] and Erasmus Bartholomer [sic], in Marriage Records. Schoenersville, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania: Christ Reformed Church, 15 March 1874.
23. Ellen J. Moser, in Death Certificates (registered no.: 41249, file no.: 26; date of death, 12 March 1920). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
24. Ellis Lloyd, Mary C. Bartholomew (a granddaughter of Philip W. Datzius) and Ellen J. Bartolomew (mother of Mary C. Bartholomew and a daughter of Philip W. Datzius), in Marriage License Docket, p. 385 (marriage license no.: 1872, 15 March 1890). Northampton County, Pennsylvania: Clerk of the Orphans’ Court.
25. George S. Bachman (a grandson of Philip W. Datzius), in Death Certificates (file no.: 43986, registered no.: 44; date of death: 20 May 1944). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
26. Harry Bachman (a grandson of Philip W. Datzius), in Death Certificates (file no.: 86468, registered no.: 134; date of death: 12 October 1953). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
27. Kiefer, Rev. W. R. One Hundred and Fifty-third Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers Infantry. Easton, Pennsylvania: The Chemical Publishing Co., 1909.
28. “Lewis H. Bartolomew” (obituary of a grandson of Philip W. Datzius). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 22 June 1960.
29. Lloyd, Carrie M. (a granddaughter of Philip W. Datzius) and Esther R. Lloyd (a great-granddaughter of Philip W. Datzius); Moser, Ellen J. (Carrie Lloyd’s mother and a daughter of Philip W. Datzius); and Peiffly, Samuel S., a boarder, in U.S. Census (Allen Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1920). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
30. Lloyd W. Koons and Lizzie S. Bartholomew (a granddaughter of Philip W. Datzius), in Marriage Records (20 August 1904). Northampton, Pennsylvania: St. Paul’s United Church of Christ.
31. Moser, John, Ellen J. (a daughter of Philip W. Datzius), Lizzie Bartholomew (Ellen’s daughter), Mary Bartholomew (Ellen’s daughter), Lewis H. Bartholomew (Ellen’s son), and Ralph Bartholomew (Ellen’s grandson); and three boarders: Elmer Roth, James Hambold and James Hawk, in U.S. Census (Allen Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
32. Carrie Lloyd (a daughter of Ellen Jane Datzius and a granddaughter of Philip W. Datzius), in Death Certificates (file no.: 92761, registered no.: 1039; date of death: 23 September 1920). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
33. Rebecca Bachman, in Death Certificates (registered no.: 17041, file no.: 11; date of death: 15 February 1926. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
34. Robert Bartholomew (a grandson of Philip W. Datzius), in Death Certificates (file no.: 52163, registered no.: 919; date of death: 23 June 1955). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
35. “Robert S. Bartolomew” (obituary of a grandson of Philip W. Datzius). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 24 June 1955.
36. Schmidt, Lewis G. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.