Brothers by blood, Pennsylvanians Peter and Samuel Batt would also become brothers-in-arms who would fight to save their nation during a national emergency, before helping to rebuild it during an era of reconstruction and technological advancement.

This is their story — and the story of the United States of America.

Formative Years

Born 19 February 1842 in the Borough of Easton in Northampton County, Pennsylvania and baptized at the First Church of Easton (now the First United Church of Christ) in Easton on 29 August 1843, Peter Batt (1842-1910) was a son of Pennsylvania natives Jacob Batt (1806-1886) and Mary Ann (Walters) Batt (1811-1893).

In 1850, Peter resided in Easton with his parents and siblings: David Batt (born 1832-died before May 1893), who had been born in Easton on 15 May 1832, had been baptized at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Easton on 13 December 1833; Susanna Batt (born 1834-died circa 1901-1908), who had been born in Easton on 8 May 1834, had been baptized at the First Church of Easton (now the First United Church of Christ) on 29 August 1843 and would later be known as “Susan”; Sarah Batt (1837-1915), who had been born in Easton on 4 February 1837 and would later wed James H. Humphreys (1833-1872; alternate surname spelling: “Humphries”); Sophia Batt (1839-1909), who had been born in South Easton on 1 August 1839 and would later wed Thomas Stoneback (1861-1922; alternate surname spelling: “Stonebach”) on 4 January 1859; Samuel Batt (1845-1913), who had been born in Easton on 10 April 1845 and would later serve with Peter Batt in the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War; Jacob Batt (1846-died 1927), who had been born on 3 March 1846 (alternate birth years: 1844, 1848, 1853), would serve with the 198th Pennsylvania Volunteers during the American Civil War, would marry Mary LeGrand (1843-1921), and would later settle in Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania; and Mary Anna Batt (born circa 1855-died after 1909), who was born circa 1855, was confirmed at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Easton on 21 March 1869 would later become a dressmaker in Easton before relocating to Philadelphia. Their father suported their family on the wages of a shoemaker, with help from the wages earned by Peter’s older brother, David, who was employed as a boatman that year. Meanwhile, Sarah, Sophia and Peter were all enrolled in, and attending, classes at their local public school.

In 1860, Peter Batt resided in the Bushkill Ward of Easton with his parents and siblings: Susan, Mary, Samuel, and Jacob. Their father continued to work as a shoemaker. But their lives and the lives of their neighbors and friends would soon be filled with worry as their nation descended into a major secession crisis that would quickly devolve into a full-blown civil war.

American Civil War

Peter Batt enrolled for military service in Easton on 15 August 1861. He then officially mustered in for duty at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg, Dauphin County on 16 September 1861 as a private with Company A of the recently-formed 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Military records described him as an eighteen-year-old blacksmith and resident of Stockertown in Northampton County who was five feet, eight inches tall with dark hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion.

* Note: According to historian Lewis Schmidt, “The Easton Express reported on August 14 that … 33 year old Capt. Richard A. Graeffe, a merchant from Easton who would command Company A of the 47th, was recruiting at Glantz’s’ [sic] in Easton.” That saloon was operated by Charles Frederick William Glanz, an 1845 emigrant from Germany who had gone into the brewery business in Easton with W. Kuebler in 1852, and had then also been appointed later that same decade as the captain of the Northampton County militia unit known as the “Easton Jaegers.” Having performed his Three Months’ Service with the 9th Pennsylvania Volunteers during the opening months of the American Civil War, Graeffe  was then commissioned as a captain of the newly-formed 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and placed in charge of that regiment’s Company A on 16 September 1861. The first ninety-three members of Graeffe’s company were then also officially mustered in that same day. Representatives for Graeffe then continued to recruit members for Company A, even after the 47th Pennsylvania was assigned to duties in Virginia.

Following a brief light infantry training period at Camp Curtain, the men of Company A and the 47th Pennsylvania headed for Washington, D.C. where they were stationed at “Camp Kalorama” on the Kalorama Heights near Georgetown, beginning 21 September. Henry D. Wharton, a musician with the regiment’s C Company, wrote to the Sunbury American newspaper the next day with the following update:

After a tedious ride we have, at last, safely arrived at the City of ‘magnificent distances.’ We left Harrisburg on Friday last at 1 o’clock A.M. and reached this camp yesterday (Saturday) at 4 P.M., as tired and worn out a sett [sic] of mortals as can possibly exist. On arriving at Washington we were marched to the ‘Soldiers Retreat,’ a building purposely erected for the benefit of the soldier, where every comfort is extended to him and the wants of the ‘inner man’ supplied.

After partaking of refreshments we were ordered into line and marched, about three miles, to this camp. So tired were the men, that on marching out, some gave out, and had to leave the ranks, but J. Boulton Young, our ‘little Zouave,’ stood it bravely, and acted like a veteran. So small a drummer is scarcely seen in the army, and on the march through Washington he was twice the recipient of three cheers.

We were reviewed by Gen. McClellan yesterday [21 September 1861] without our knowing it. All along the march we noticed a considerable number of officers, both mounted and on foot; the horse of one of the officers was so beautiful that he was noticed by the whole regiment, in fact, so wrapt [sic] up were they in the horse, the rider wasn’t noticed, and the boys were considerably mortified this morning on dis-covering they had missed the sight of, and the neglect of not saluting the soldier next in command to Gen. Scott.

Col. Good, who has command of our regiment, is an excellent man and a splendid soldier. He is a man of very few words, and is continually attending to his duties and the wants of the Regiment.

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

On 24 September 1861, Private Peter Batt and his fellow 47th Pennsylvanians became members of the U.S. Army when they were officially mustered into federal service. They were then assigned to the 3rd Brigade of Brigadier-General Isaac Ingalls Stevens, which also included the 33rd, 49th and 79th New York regiments. By that afternoon, the 47th Pennsylvania was on the move again. Ordered onward by Brigadier-General Silas Casey, the Mississippi rifle-armed 47th Pennsylvania infantrymen marched behind their Regimental Band until reaching Camp Lyon, Maryland on the Potomac River’s eastern shore. At 5 p.m., they joined the 46th Pennsylvania in moving double-quick (one hundred and sixty-five steps per minute using thirty-three-inch steps) across the “Chain Bridge” marked on federal maps, and continued on for roughly another mile before being ordered to make camp.

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

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

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

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

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

Sometime during that phase of duty, while attached to the 3rd Brigade, Private Peter Batt and his fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were moved to a site they called “Camp Big Chestnut” in reference to a large chestnut tree growing nearby. The site would eventually become known to the Keystone Staters as “Camp Griffin,” and was located roughly ten miles from Washington, D.C.

On 11 October, the 47th Pennsylvania marched in the Grand Review at Bailey’s Cross Roads. Also around that time, companies D, A, C, F and I (the 47th Pennsylvania’s right wing) were ordered to picket duty after the left-wing companies (B, G, K, E, and H) had been forced to return to camp by Confederate troops. In his letter of 13 October, Henry Wharton described their duties, as well as their new home:

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

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

On Friday, 22 October, the 47th engaged in a division review, described by Schmidt as “about 10,000 infantry, 1000 cavalry, and twenty pieces of artillery all in one big open field.” Less than a month later, in his letter of 17 November, Henry Wharton revealed more details about life at Camp Griffin:

This morning our brigade was out for inspection; arms, accoutrements [sic], clothing, knapsacks, etc, all were out through a thorough examination, and if I must say it myself, our company stood best, A No. 1, for cleanliness. We have a new commander to our Brigade, Brigadier General Brannen [sic, Brannan], of the U.S. Army, and if looks are any criterion, I think he is a strict disciplinarian and one who will be as able to get his men out of danger as he is willing to lead them to battle….

The boys have plenty of work to do, such as piquet [sic] duty, standing guard, wood-chopping, police duty and day drill; but then they have the most substantial food; our rations consist of fresh beef (three times a week) pickled pork, pickled beef, smoked pork, fresh bread, daily, which is baked by our own bakers, the Quartermaster having procured portable ovens for that purpose, potatoes, split peas, beans, occasionally molasses and plenty of good coffee, so you see Uncle Sam supplies us plentifully….

A few nights ago our Company was out on piquet [sic]; it was a terrible night, raining very hard the whole night, and what made it worse, the boys had to stand well to their work and dare not leave to look for shelter. Some of them consider they are well paid for their exposure, as they captured two ancient muskets belonging to Secessia. One of them is of English manufacture, and the other has the Virginia militia mark on it. They are both in a dilapidated condition, but the boys hold them in high estimation as they are trophies from the enemy, and besides they were taken from the house of Mrs. Stewart, sister to the rebel Jackson who assassinated the lamented Ellsworth at Alexandria. The honorable lady, Mrs. Stewart, is now a prisoner at Washington and her house is the headquarters of the command of the piquets [sic]….

Since the success of the secret expedition, we have all kinds of rumors in camp. One is that our Brigade will be sent to the relief of Gen. Sherman, in South Carolina. The boys all desire it and the news in the ‘Press’ is correct, that a large force is to be sent there, I think their wish will be gratified….

On 21 November, the 47th participated in a morning divisional headquarters review that was monitored by their regiment’s founder and most senior commanding officer, Colonel Tilghman H. Good, followed by brigade and division drills all afternoon. According to Schmidt, “each man was supplied with ten blank cartridges.” Afterward, “Gen. Smith requested Gen. Brannan to inform Col. Good that the 47th was the best regiment in the whole division.” As a reward — and in preparation for bigger things to come, Brannan obtained new Springfield rifles for every member of the 47th Pennsylvania.

While at Camp Griffin, the 47th PennsylvaniaVolunteers continued to receive training in light infantry tactics, but thought more and more about friends and family as Christmas Day and the New Year approached. Their days were brightened somewhat with a surprise delivery of sauerkraut by the 47th Pennsylvania’s regimental quartermaster.

1862

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

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

During the afternoon of Monday, 27 January, they began lining up at the wharf for the final time. Ferried to the big steamship by smaller steamers, the enlisted men boarded the Oriental first, followed by the officers. Then, per the directive of Brigadier-General Brannan, they steamed away for the Deep South at 4 p.m. — headed for Florida which, despite its secession from the United States, remained strategically important to the Union due to the presence of Forts Taylor and Jefferson in Key West and the Dry Tortugas.

Arriving in Key West in early February 1862, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers initially re-erected their Sibley tents on the beach. Assigned to garrison Fort Taylor, they introduced their presence to Key West residents by parading through the streets of the city during the weekend of Friday, 14 February. That Sunday, a number of soldiers from the regiment attended local church services, where they met and mingled with residents from the area as part of the first of many community outreach efforts to build support for the army’s efforts to preserve the nation’s Union. Drilling daily in heavy artillery tactics, they also strengthened the fortifications at that federal installation, felled trees and built new roads.

Sometime during that phase of service, a number of 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantrymen began suffering problems with chronic diarrhea. Diagnosed with typhoid fever, several members of the regiment were confined to the post hospital at the fort.

Next ordered to Hilton Head, South Carolina from mid-June through July, they camped near Fort Walker before relocating to the Beaufort District in the U.S. Army’s Department of the South, roughly thirty-five miles away. Frequently assigned to hazardous picket detail north of their main camp, they were put at increased risk from enemy sniper fire when sent out on those special teams. According to historian Samuel P. Bates, during that phase of their service, the men of the 47th “received the highest commendation from Generals Hunter and Brannan” for their “attention to duty, discipline and soldierly bearing.”

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

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

Meanwhile, the remainder of the regiment continued to soldier on. From 20-31 August 1862, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers resumed picket duty, including at “Barnwells” (so labeled by Company C Captain J. P. S. Gobin) with others positioned near or at Point Royal Ferry.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meanwhile, back home in Easton, Pennsylvania, Private Peter Batt’s younger brother, Samuel Batt, was also joining the fight to preserve America’s Union by mustering in as a private with Company E of the 153rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.

* Note: Samuel Batt would continue to serve with the 153rd Pennsylvania Volunteers until his honorable discharge in late July 1863, during which time he would participate in: reconnoissance duties from Chantilly to Snicker’s Ferry and Berryville, Virginia (28-30 November 1862); the Union Army’s march to Fredericksburg, Virginia (6-19 December); duty at Stafford Court House (until 19 January 1863); General Ambrose Burnside’s “Mud March” (20-24 January 1863); duty at Stafford Court House (until 27 April); the Battle of Chancellorsville (1-5 May); the Battle of Gettysburg (1-3 July); and the Union Army’s pursuit of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his army (5-12 July).

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

During a return 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, the 47th captured artillery and ammunition stores (on 3 October) that had been abandoned by Confederate forces during the bluff’s bombardment by Union gunboats.

* Note: The capture of Saint John’s Bluff followed a string of U.S. Army and Navy successes that had enabled the Union to gain control over key southern towns and transportation hubs. In November 1861, the Union’s South Atlantic Blockading Squadron had established a base at Port Royal, South Carolina to facilitate Union expeditions in Georgia and Florida, during which U.S. troops took possession of Fort Clinch and Fernandina, Florida (3-4 March 1862), secured the surrender of Fort Marion and Saint Augustine (11 March) and established a Union Navy base at Mayport Mills (mid-March).

That summer, Brigadier-General Joseph Finnegan, commanding officer of the Confederate States of America’s Department of Middle and Eastern Florida, had ordered the placement of earthworks-fortified gun batteries atop Saint John’s Bluff and at nearby Yellow Bluff, hoping to disable the Union’s naval and ground force operations at Mayport Mills by deploying eighteen cannon, including three eight-inch siege howitzers and four eight-inch smoothbores and Columbiads (two of each).

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

Backed by U.S. gunboats Cimarron, E. B. Hale, Paul Jones, Uncas, and Water Witch that were armed with twelve-pound boat howitzers, the fifteen-hundred-strong Union Army force of Brigadier-General Brannan moved up the Saint John’s River and further inland along the Pablo and Mt. Pleasant Creeks on 1 October 1862 before disembarking and marching for Saint John’s Bluff. But when the 47th Pennsylvanians reached Saint John’s Bluff with their fellow Union brigade members on 3 October 1862, they found the battery abandoned. (Other Union troops later discovered that the Yellow Bluff battery was also Rebel free.) According to Henry Wharton, “On the day following our occupation of these works the guns were dismounted and removed on board the steamer Neptune, together with the shot and shell, and removed to Hilton Head. The powder was all used in destroying the batteries.”

Meanwhile that same weekend (Friday and Saturday, 3-4 October 1862), Brigadier-General Brannan, who was quartered on board the Ben Deford as the Union expedition’s commanding officer, was busy penning reports to his superiors while also planning the next move of his expeditionary force. That Saturday, Brannan ordered officers to direct their men 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 that mission were 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers from Company C, Company E and Company K.

According to Schmidt, the small force steamed upriver roughly one to two hundred miles “to Lake Beresford, where they then assisted in capturing the [68-ton] steamer Governor Milton,” which had been renamed in honor of Florida’s governor after having been “formerly known as the George M. Bird [under its previous owners] a New England family named ‘Swift’, who were timber cutters and used it as a tug boat to tow rafts loaded with live oak to the lumber market.”

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

That return trip did not happen without complications, however; in a letter penned to The New York Times on October 14, Wharton reported that:

Finding that the Cosmopolitan, which had been sent to Hilton Head for provisions, had struck heavily in crossing the bar, on her return to the St. John’s River, and was temporarily disabled for service, the Seventh Connecticut Regiment was sent to Hilton Head on the Boston, with the request that she should return for the remainder of the troops, and she got back on the 11th, when the command was reembarked, reaching this plane yesterday, excepting one company of the Forty-seventh Pennsylvania, which is left for the protection of the Cosmopolitan. The accident to this valuable steamer is severe. A large hole was made in her bottom and she filled, but she will not be a wreck, as was at first feared.

Integration of the Regiment

On 5 and 15 October 1862, respectively, the 47th Pennsylvania made history as it became an integrated regiment, adding to its muster rolls several Black men who had escaped from chattel enslavement on plantations near Beaufort, South Carolina. Among the formerly enslaved men who enlisted 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 T. H. Good and Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Alexander, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers next engaged the heavily protected Confederate forces in and around Pocotaligo, South Carolina — including at Frampton’s Plantation and the Pocotaligo Bridge — a key piece of southern railroad infrastructure that Union leaders had ordered to be destroyed in order to disrupt the flow of Confederate troops and supplies in the region.

Harried by snipers en route to the Pocotaligo Bridge, they met resistance from an entrenched, heavily fortified Confederate battery which opened fire on the Union troops as they entered an open cotton field. Those headed toward higher ground at the Frampton Plantation fared no better as they encountered artillery and infantry fire from the surrounding forests. The Union soldiers grappled with Confederates where they found them, pursuing the Rebels for four miles as they retreated to the bridge. There, the 47th relieved the 7th Connecticut. But the enemy was just too well armed. After two hours of intense fighting in an attempt to take the ravine and bridge, depleted ammunition forced the 47th to withdraw to Mackay’s Point.

The next day — 23 October 1862 — the regiment returned to Hilton Head, South Carolina, where a significant number of men were admitted to the Union Army’s general hospital for treatment of the wounds they had sustained in combat. Shortly thereafter, a group of 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were assigned to serve as the honor guard for the funeral of Union Major-General Ormsby Mitchel, who had succumbed to yellow fever on 30 October.

Having been ordered back to Key West on 15 November 1862, the 47th Pennsylvanians did not know it, yet, but much of 1863 for them would be spent garrisoning federal installations in Florida as part of the 10th Corps, U.S. Army, Department of the South. Companies A, B, C, E, G, and I would once again garrison Fort Taylor in Key West, but this time, the men from Companies D, F, H, and K 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 equipment onto the U.S. Steamer Cosmopolitan, the officers and enlisted members of the 47th Pennsylvania sailed for the mouth of the Broad River on 15 December 1862, and anchored briefly at Port Royal Harbor to allow the regiment’s medical director, Elisha W. Baily, M.D., and wounded 47th Pennsylvanians to rejoin the regiment.

At 5 p.m. that same evening, the regiment headed for Florida, during what was later described by several 47th Pennsylvanians as a treacherous, stressful voyage. According to Schmidt, the ship’s captain “steered a course along the coast of Florida for most of the voyage,” which made the voyage precarious “because of all the reefs.” On 16 December, “the ship was jarred as it ran aground … during a storm, but broke free, and finally steered a course further from shore, out in the Gulf Stream.” In a letter penned to the Sunbury American on 21 December, Henry Wharton explained that:

We had heavy sea all the time. I had often heard of ‘waves as big as a house,’ and thought it was a sailor’s yarn, but I have seen ‘em and am perfectly satisfied; so now, not having a nautical turn of mind, I prefer our movements being done on terra firma, and leave old neptune to those who have more desire for his better acquaintance. A nearer chance of a shipwreck never took place than ours, and it was only through Providence that we were saved. The Cosmopolitan is a good river boat, but to send her to sea, loadened [sic, loaded] with U.S. troops is a shame, and looks as though those in authority wish to get clear of soldiers in another way than that of battle. There was some sea sickness on our passage; several of the boys ‘casting up their accounts’ on the wrong side of the ledger.

According to Corporal George Nichols of Company E, “When we got to Key West the Steamer had Six foot of water in her hole [sic]. Waves Mountain High and nothing but an old river Steamer. With Eleven hundred Men on I looked for her to go to the Bottom Every Minute.”

Although they arrived at the Key West Harbor on Thursday, 18 December, the 47th Pennsylvanians did not set foot on Florida soil until noon the next day. The men from Companies C and I were immediately marched to Fort Taylor, where they were placed under the command of Major William Gausler, the regiment’s third-in-command. The men from Companies B and E were assigned to the older barracks that had been erected by the United States Army and were placed under the command of B Company Captain Emanuel P. Rhoads while the men from Companies A and G were placed under the command of A Company Captain Richard A. Graeffe and stationed at newer facilities known as the “Lighthouse Barracks” on “Lighthouse Key.”

On Saturday, 21 December, Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander, the regiment’s second-in-command, sailed away on the Cosmopolitan with the men from the regiment’s remaining companies — Companies D, F, H, and K — and headed south to Fort Jefferson, where they would assume garrison duties in the Dry Tortugas (in the Gulf of Mexico). According to Henry Wharton:

We landed here on last Thursday at noon, and immediately marched to quarters. Company I. and C., in Fort Taylor, E. and B. in the old Barracks, and A. and G. in the new Barracks. Lieut. Col. Alexander, with the other four companies proceeded to Tortugas, Col. Good having command of all the forces in and around Key West. Our regiment relieves the 90th Regiment N.Y.S. Vols. Col. Joseph Morgan, who will proceed to Hilton Head to report to the General commanding. His actions have been severely criticized by the people, but, as it is in bad taste to say anything against ones [sic, one’s] superiors, I merely mention, judging from the expression of the citizens, they were very glad of the return of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers….

Key West has improved very little since we left last June, but there is one improvement for which the 90th New York deserve a great deal of praise, and that is the beautifying of the ‘home’ of dec’d. soldiers. A neat and strong wall of stone encloses the yard, the ground is laid off in squares, all the graves are flat and are nicely put in proper shape by boards eight or ten inches high on the ends sides, covered with white sand, while a head and foot board, with the full name, company and regiment, marks the last resting place of the patriot who sacrificed himself for his country….

1863

Life for members of the 47th Pennsylvania then went on, the hours taken up by training, drilling and inspections that were scheduled regularly to keep them in a perpetual state of readiness for anything that the Confederate Army or Navy could throw at them. In addition, they were also sent out on skirmishes and received training in operating the light and heavy artillery defenses of Forts Taylor and Jefferson. (Companies A, B, C, E, G, and I were based at Fort Taylor, while Companies D, F, H, and K were stationed at Fort Jefferson.)

On 10 June 1863, Private Peter Batt was promoted from the rank of private to corporal. Roughly a month later, his younger brother, Samuel Batt, was honorably discharged from the 153rd Pennsylvania Volunteers (after having recently fought in the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia in May and in the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania in early July, during the latter of which he had sustained an injury to his right knee, according to later medical records of the U.S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers).

Still soldiering on, Private Peter Batt continued to perform garrison duties at Fort Taylor in Key West.

Garrisoning Federal Forts to Weaken the Confederacy

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. 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, the officers and enlisted members of the regiment soon came to realize that disease would be a constant companion and foe — making it all the more remarkable when, during that phase of service, the majority of 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers chose to re-enlist as their three-year service terms began to expire. Among those opting to re-enlist during that time was Corporal Peter Batt who re-enrolled with the 47th Pennsylvania’s Company A at Fort Taylor in Key West on 18 December 1863, earning the coveted title of “Veteran Volunteer.”

1864

In early January 1864, Company A underwent a major transformation in response to orders that the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry expand the Union’s reach by reclaiming a federal installation at Fort Myers that had been abandoned in 1858 after the government’s third war with the Seminole Indians. So, Captain Graeffe and a detachment of his men traveled north by boat and foot, retook and refurbished that fort and then used it as a base from which they supported the Union’s Gulf Coast blockade, raided cattle herds to provide food for Union troops across Florida and created a safe haven for pro-Union supporters, Confederate Army deserters and children and adults escaping chattel slavery. According to Schmidt:

Capt. Richard A. Graeffe, accompanied by Assistant Surgeon William F. Reiber, commanded the main portion of Company A which boarded ship on Monday, January 4 and sailed the following day, Tuesday, for Fort Myers, on the Caloosahatchee River fifteen air miles southeast of Charlotte Harbor. The company was transported on board the Army quartermaster schooner Matchless, after having embarked the day before, and was accompanied by the steamer U.S.S. Honduras commanded by Lt. Harris, and with Gen. Woodbury aboard. Lt. Harris was directed to tow the Matchless if necessary.

Punta Rassa was probably the location where the troops disembarked, and was located on the tip of the southwest delta of the Caloosahatchee River … near what is now the mainland or eastern end of the Sanibel Causeway… Fort Myers was established further up the Caloosahatchee at a location less vulnerable to storms and hurricanes. In 1864, the Army built a long wharf and a barracks 100 feet long and 50 feet wide at Punta Rassa, and used it as an embarkation point for shipping north as many as 4400 Florida cattle….

Capt. Graeffe and company were disembarked on the evening of January 7, and Gen. Woodbury ordered the company to occupy Fort Myers on the south side of the Caloosahatchee, about 12 miles from its mouth and 150 miles from Key West. Shortly after, [a detachment of men from the 47th Pennsylvania’s A Company stationed on Useppa Island] was also ordered to proceed to Fort Myers and join the main body of Company A, the entire command under direct orders of the General who was in the area…. Gen. Woodbury returned to Key West on the Honduras prior to January 19, and the command was left in charge of Capt. Graeffe who dispatched various patrols in search of refugees for enlistment and for activities involving Confederate cattle shipments.

Company A’s muster roll provides the following account of the expedition under command of Capt. Graeffe: ‘The company left Key West Fla Jany 4. 64 enroute to Fort Meyers Coloosahatche River [sic] Fla. were joined by a detachment of the U.S. 2nd Fla Rangers at Punta Rossa Fla took possession of Fort Myers Jan 10. Captured a Rebel Indian Agent and two other men.’

Schmidt also noted that Graeffe’s hand drawings included depictions of roughly twelve buildings “primarily situated along the river, with a log palisade protecting those portions not bounded by the Caloosahatchee; the whole in a densely wooded area and entered through an opening on the southeast protected by the river on the west near the area of the wharf, and a log blockhouse on the east.”

An 1856 survey of the fort contained in the Federal Register “suggest[ed] that the fort’s wooden stockade ran from just east of Broadway to just east of Royal Palm, and from Main Street on the south to the river bank, which meandered along what is Bay Street today,” according to Tom Hall, creator of a website about the arts in Southwest Florida:

It consisted of as many as three dozen hewn pine buildings which included officers’ quarters … barracks, administration offices, a 2½-story hospital with plastered rooms, warehouses for the storage of munitions and general supplies, a guard house … blacksmith’s and carpenter’s shops, a kitchen, bakery, laundry, a sutler’s store, stables for horses and mules, a gardener’s shack, and even a bowling alley and bathing pier and pavilion.

It also boasted a pier nearly 700 feet long that had wide dock and rails that enabled the soldiers to bring in supplies by tram without having to lighter them ashore. The buildings were sided and topped by cedar shingles shipped in from Pensacola and Apalachicola, together with doors, windows and flooring. The interior featured parade grounds, a carefully-tended velvety lawn, two immense vegetable gardens, rock-rimmed river banks, shell walks, lush palms and even citrus trees.

Also according to Hall:

By the time Captain Richard A. Graeffe and his soldiers arrived at the fort, most of the wood stockade had disappeared, so he ordered his men to construct an earthen wall 15 feet wide by 7 feet tall. Three guard towers were also constructed: one where the hospital had been; a second by the garden and bowling alley; and the third between the stables and riverside warehouse. Then Captain Graeffe sent his troops across the river to begin rounding up the herds of scrub cows being raised by ranchers between Punta Gorda and Tampa. As they did, resistance began to grow. Captain Graeffe realized he needed reinforcements and Companies D and I of the [U.S. Colored Troop’s] 2nd Regiment were brought up from Fort Zachary Taylor in Key West.

A draft Environmental Impact Statement prepared in 2010 for the Everglades National Park also documented that period of Company A’s service:

A small contingent of 20 men and two officers from the Pennsylvania 47th Regiment, led by Captain Henry Crain of the 2nd Regiment of Florida, arrived at the fort on January 7, 1864. A short time later, the party was joined by another small detachment of the 47th under the command of Captain Richard A. Graeffe. Over a short period, increasing reinforcements of the fort led to increasing cattle raids throughout the region. A Union force so far into Confederate land did not go well with Confederate loyalists. The fact that so many men stationed at the post were black soldiers from the newly created U.S. Colored Troops was particularly aggravating. The raids were so antagonizing that the Confederates created a Cattle Guard Battalion called the “Cow Cavalry” to repulse Union raiders. The unit remained a primary threat to the Union soldiers carrying out raids and reconnaissance missions from Brooksville to as far south as Lake Okeechobee and Fort Myers.

According to Schmidt, Captain Graeffe sent the following report to Major-General Daniel Woodbury:

‘At my arrival hier [sic] I divided my forces in three detachment, viz one at the Hospital one into the old guardhouse and one into the Comissary [sic] building, the Florida Rangers I quartered into one of the old Company quarters, I set all parties to work after placing the proper pickets and guards at the Hospital i have build [sic] and now nearly finished a two story loghouse of hewn and square logs 12 inches through seventeen by twenty-two fifteen feet high with a cupola onto the roof of six feet high and at right angle with two lines of picket fences seven feet high. i shall throw up a half a bastion around it as soon as completed. around the old guardhouse i have thrown up a bastion seven feet through at the foot and three feet on the top nine feet high from the bottom of the ditch and five on the inside. I also build [sic] a loghouse sixteen by eighteen of two storys [sic] Southeast of the Commissary building with a bastion around it at right angles with a picket fence each bastion has the distance you recomandet [sic] from the loghouses 20 feet on the sides and 20 to the salient angle, i caused to be dug a well close to bl. houses and inside of the bastions at each Station inside they are all comfortable fitted up with stationary bunks for the men without interfering with the defence [sic] of the work outside of the Bastions and inside the picket fense i have erected small kitchens and messrooms for each station, i am building now a guardhouse build [sic] of square hewn logs sixteen by sixteen two storys high the lower room to be used for the guard and the upper one as a prison, the building to be used for defence [sic] (in case of attack) by the Rangers each work is within view and supporting distance from the other; Capt. Crane with a detachment of his men repaired the wharf, which is in good condition now and fit for use, the bakehouse i got repaired, and the fourth day hier [sic] we had already very good fresh bread; the parade ground is in a good condition had all the weeds mowed off being to [sic] green to burn. i intend to fit up a schoolroom and church as soon as possible.’

Muster rolls for Company A from that period noted that “a detachment of 25 men crossed over to the north west side of the river” on 16 January and “scoured the country till up to Fort Thompson a distance of 50 miles,” where they “encountered a Rebel Picket who retreated after exchanging shots.” Making their way back, they swam across the river, and reached the fort on 23 January. Meanwhile, while that group was still away, Captain Graeffe ordered a smaller detachment of eight men to head out on 17 January in search of cattle. Finding only a few, they instead took possession of four barrels of Confederate turpentine, which were later disposed of by other Union troops.

Graeffe’s men also captured three Confederate sympathizers at the fort, including a blockade runner and spy named Griffin and an Indian interpreter and agent named Lewis. Charged with multiple offenses against the United States, they were transported to Key West, where they were kept under guard by Major William Gausler, the officer who was third-in-command of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry who was serving as the provost marshal of Key West at that time. That phase of duty lasted until sometime in February of 1864.

* Note: Captain Richard Graeffe’s detachment at Fort Myers became known as the “Florida Rangers,” according to The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, prepared by Lieutenant Colonel Robert N. Scott, et. al. (1891). His hand-drawn sketches of Fort Myers were later published in Images of America: Fort Myers by Gregg Tuner and Stan Mulford. 

Researchers for 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment’s Story have not yet determined if Corporal Peter Batt was one of the soldiers from Company A to be chosen by Captain Richard Graeffe for the Fort Myers assignment or not. If he was not selected by Graeffe for that mission, he most likely remained behind at Fort Taylor, where he continued to perform his duties as part of his regiment’s garrison function.

What is known for certain is that, around that same time, Peter Batt’s younger brother, Samuel Batt, decided to join the fight to save America’s Union by enrolling for military service in Easton on 2 February 1864. Samuel then became part of the same regiment in which Peter had been serving since September of 1861 — the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He would not serve side by side with Peter, however, because he was assigned to the 47th Pennsylvania’s E Company, rather than Company A (the company in which Peter had been serving) upon his official muster in at Easton on 5 February. Military records at the time described Private Samuel Batt as an eighteen-year-old blacksmith and resident of Easton who was five feet, six and one-half inches tall with brown hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion.

* Note: Company E had been led by Captain Charles Hickman Yard since its establishment during the summer of 1861. A number of its members had distinguished themselves by capturing a Confederate steamer, the Governor Milton, during the fall of 1862.

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 — on 25 February 1864, the men from Companies B, C, D, I, and K of the 47th Pennsylvania headed for Algiers, Louisiana (across the river from New Orleans), followed on 1 March by other members of the regiment from Companies E, F, G, and H who had been stationed at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. Upon the second group’s arrival, the now almost-fully-reunited regiment moved by train on 28 February to Brashear City (now Morgan City, Louisiana) before heading to Franklin by steamer through the Bayou Teche. There, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry joined the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division of the Department of the Gulf’s 19th Army Corps (XIX Corps), and became the only Pennsylvania regiment to serve in the Red River Campaign of Union Major-General Nathaniel P. Banks.

Unable to reach Louisiana until 23 March, the men from Company A were assigned to a different type of detached duty in New Orleans while they awaited transport to enable them to catch up with the main part of their regiment. Charged with guarding and overseeing the transport of two hundred and forty-five Confederate prisoners, they were finally able to board the Ohio Belle on 7 April, and reached Alexandria, Louisiana with those prisoners on 9 April.

* Note: Due to that delay, Corporal Peter Batt and his fellow A Company soldiers missed the two bloodiest combat engagements that their regiment would endure during the Red River Campaign — the Battle of Sabine Cross Roads (Mansfield) on 8 April and the Battle of Pleasant Hill on 9 April. According to Schmidt, Company A was so far away from the scene of those battles because its men had been ordered to return their Confederate prisoners to New Orleans, which kept them from rejoining their regiment until they reached Alexandria on 27 April. That timing meant that those A Company men also missed the Battle of Cane River (also known as “the Affair at Monett’s Ferry”), which took place on 23 April.

Peter Batt’s younger brother, Private Samuel Batt, who was serving with the 47th Pennsylvania’s E Company, however, was very likely involved in some or all of those Red River Campaign battles.

From late April through mid-May, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers helped to erect Bailey’s Dam on the Red River near Alexandria. In a letter penned from Morganza, Louisiana on 29 May, Henry Wharton described their mission and the weeks that followed:

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 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, the Batt brothers and their fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers “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, 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] 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.

Afterward, the Batt brothers and their fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers made their way through Simmesport and into the Atchafalaya Basin, and then moved on to Morganza, where they made camp again. While there, the nine formerly enslaved Black men who had enlisted with the 47th Pennsylvania in Beaufort, South Carolina (October-November 1862) and Natchitoches, Louisiana (5 April 1864) were officially mustered into the regiment between 20-24 June 1864. But once again, disease was proving to be a formidable foe, sickening a significant number of 47th Pennsylvanians who had been weakened by the long, grueling marches across challenging terrain in difficult weather.

The regiment was then ordered to head for New Orleans — which they did. Given new orders on the Fourth of July to return to the Eastern Theater of the war, they packed up their gear and then climbed aboard the U.S. Steamer McClellan three days later and prepared to sail away from America’s Deep South. Joining the men from the 47th Pennsylvania’s A and E companies on that voyage were the men from Companies C, D, F, H, and I. (The remaining companies then followed later that month, transported by the Blackstone.)

Following their arrival in Virginia and a memorable encounter with President Abraham Lincoln on 12 July, the Batt brothers and their fellow 47th Pennsylvanians joined up with Major-General David Hunter’s forces at Snicker’s Gap in mid-July 1864. Once there, they fought in the Battle of Cool Spring and assisted in defending Washington, D.C. while also helping to drive Confederate troops from Maryland.

Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign

Attached to the Middle Military Division, U.S. Army of the Shenandoah from August through November of 1864, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were assigned to defensive duties in and around Halltown, Virginia in early August 1864, and engaged in a series of back-and-forth movements between Halltown, Berryville, Middletown, Charlestown, and Winchester as part of a “mimic war” being waged by the Union forces commanded by Major-General Philip Sheridan with those commanded by Confederate Lieutenant-General Jubal Early.

From 3-4 September, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers fought in the Battle of Berryville and engaged in related post-battle skirmishes with the enemy over subsequent days.

Two weeks later, on 18 September 1864, multiple members of the 47th Pennsylvania opted to leave, content that they had fulfilled their obligations to the nation by completing their original three-year terms of enlistment. Among those ending their service that day were several of the most senior officers of Companies A and E. They were departing just one day before the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry would head into another significant battle.

Battles of Opequan and Fisher’s Hill, September 1864 

On 19 September 1864, Corporal Peter Batt of Company A, Private Samuel Batt of Company E and their fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers helped to inflict heavy casualties on Lieutenant-General Jubal Early’s Confederate forces during the Battle of Opequan (also spelled as “Opequon” and referred to as “Third Winchester”) as part of a large Union force led by Union Major-General Philip H. (“Little Phil”) Sheridan and Brigadier-General William H. Emory, commander of the 19th Corps. Still considered by many historians to be one of the most important battles of Sheridan’s 1864 campaign, that Union victory helped to ensure the reelection of President Abraham Lincoln.

The 47th Pennsylvania’s march toward destiny began at 2 a.m. as the regiment left camp and joined up with others in the Union’s 19th Corps. Advancing slowly from Berryville toward Winchester, their forward progress quickly bogged down in the face of the Union’s massive movement of troops and supply wagons, enabling Early’s Confederates to dig in. When they finally reached the Opequan Creek, Sheridan’s men came face to face with Early’s army. The fighting, which began in earnest at noon, was long and brutal as the Union’s left flank (6th Corps) took a beating from Early’s artillery, which was positioned on higher ground.

Meanwhile, the 47th Pennsylvanians and their fellow 19th Corps members were directed by Brigadier-General Emory to attack and pursue Major-General John B. Gordon’s Confederate forces. Casualties mounted as Confederate cannon opened fire on Union troops as they tried to cross a clearing. When a nearly fatal gap began to open between the 6th and 19th Corps, Sheridan responded by ordering the units of Brigadier-Generals Emory Upton and David A. Russell to plug the hole. Russell, hit twice — once in the chest — was mortally wounded.

The 19th Corps, with the 47th in the thick of the fighting, then began pushing the Confederates back. Early’s “grays” retreated in the face of the valor displayed by Sheridan’s “blue jackets.” Outnumbered three to one, the Rebels fled, leaving twenty-five hundred wounded behind. Continuing their retreat, they headed for Fisher’s Hill, eight miles south of Winchester, where they turned and faced the Union Army in the Battle of Fisher’s Hill (21-22 September) — another Union victory. Afterward, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were sent out on skirmishing parties before making camp at Cedar Creek. The regiment then lost its two most senior leaders when Colonel Tilghman H. Good and Good’s second-in-command, Lieutenant-Colonel George Alexander, mustered out upon the expiration of their terms of service (23-24 September).

Battle of Cedar Creek, 19 October 1864

It was during that phase of the American Civil War that Major-General Sheridan initiated the first use of the Union’s “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, but certainly helped to facilitate the war’s significant shift in the Union’s favor — especially during the Battle of Cedar Creek on 19 October 1864 as Early’s troops began peeling off, one by one and group by group, 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 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 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!’”

The Union’s counterattack punched Early’s forces into submission, and the men of the 47th fought so bravely that they would later be 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.

But, once again, casualties for the 47th were high. The 47th Pennsylvania lost the equivalent of nearly two full companies of soldiers alone — men who were killed, wounded, missing in action, or captured by Confederate troops. Among those killed in action were Company A Privates Thomas J. Bower, Samuel E. Breidinger, Lawrence Gatence, Ambrose Koch, Daniel McCalla, and Lewis Werkheiser. Listed among the names on the rosters of wounded Union men were those of Company A’s Corporal Amandus Sandt, who had sustained a gunshot wound to his hip but survived; Corporal John Savits, who had sustained a gunshot wound to his left thigh but later died from wound-related complications; Private Daniel S. Crawford, whose right leg was later amputated due to the severe leg wound he had sustained; Private John M. Cohler, who had sustained a gunshot wound to his left thigh but survived and was eventually able to return to active duty with the 47th Pennsylvania; Private Charles Detweiler, who sustained a musket ball wound to his thigh but later died from wound-related complications; and Private John Price, whose left arm was later amputated below the elbow due to the severe wound he had sustained. Still others were captured by Confederate troops and held as prisoners of war (POWs), including Company A Privates Levi Fraunfelder, Lewis Bauer/Bower, Joseph Miller, Edwin C. Sandt, and John Schweitzer.

Miraculously, First Sergeant John H. Stein had somehow managed to survive being wounded and avoid capture. According to his 1887 obituary in The Times of Philadelphia:

He was wounded at Cedar Springs [sic, “Cedar Creek”] and while being carried off the field was shot in the head. His comrades deserted him, thinking he would soon die, the enemy being in pursuit. The Union forces finally drove their opponents back and Stein was again among friends.

A restructuring of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was then undertaken in order to fill staffing gaps caused by recent casualties and prior honorable discharges from the regiment on 18 September. Among those important changes were the re-enrollment of Adolph Dennig, who was commissioned as a captain and given command of Company A on 1 November 1864, the promotion of Corporal Peter Batt to the rank of sergeant on 3 November 1864 and the promotion of Major John Peter Shindel Gobin, who was commissioned as a lieutenant-colonel and placed in charge of the entire regiment on 4 November 1864. Four days later, on 8 November 1864, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers did their civic duty in that year’s presidential election as a majority voted to return their beloved commander-in-chief, President Abraham Lincoln, to office for a second term.

Based at Camp Russell near Winchester from November through most of December 1864, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers received new orders as winter was beginning to take hold — to assume outpost and railroad guard duties at Camp Fairview in Charlestown, West Virginia. So, five days before Christmas, they trudged through a driving snowstorm in order to reach their new home.

1865 — 1866

Still stationed at Camp Fairview near Charlestown, West Virginia, from late December 1864 through early April 1865, the Batt brothers and their fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were “on constant active duty, guarding the railroad and constructing works for defense against the incursions of guerrillas, “according to an 1870 edition of The Lehigh Register. The regiment also “participated in a number of reconnoissances [sic] and skirmishes during the winter.” Attached to the Provisional Division of the 2nd Brigade of the U.S. Army of the Shenandoah, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were also engaged in “building blockhouses at all the railroad ‘posts’ (meaning loading stations)” during that phase of duty, according to historians at the Pennsylvania State Archives who uncovered details about the 47th Pennsylvania’s time at Camp Fairview by reading the diaries of Jeremiah Siders of Company H.

Then, as the end of March 1865 loomed, according to The Lehigh Register, “The command was ordered to proceed up the valley to intercept the enemy’s troops, should any succeed in making their escape in that direction.” By 4 April 1865, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers had made their way back to Winchester, Virginia and were headed for Kernstown. Five days later, they received word that General Robert E. Lee had surrendered the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox on 9 April 1865. The long war appeared to be over.

In a letter penned to the Sunbury American on 12 April, 47th Pennsylvanian Henry Wharton described the celebration that took place following Lee’s surrender, adding that Union Army operations in Virginia were still continuing in order to ensure that the Confederate surrender would hold:

Letter from the Sunbury Guards.
CAMP NEAR SUMMIT POINT, Va.,

April 12, 1865

Since yesterday a week we have been on the move, going as far as three miles beyond Winchester. There we halted for three days, waiting for the return or news from Torbett’s cavalry who had gone on a reconnoisance [sic] up to the valley. They returned, reporting they were as far up as Mt. Jackson, some sixty miles, and found nary an armed reb. The reason of our move was to be ready in case Lee moved against us, or to march on Lynchburg, if Lee reached that point, so that we could aid in surrounding him and [his] army, and with Sheridan and Mead capture the whole party. Grant’s gallant boys saved us that march and bagged the whole crowd. Last Sunday night our camp was aroused by the loud road of artillery. Hearing so much good news of late, I stuck to my blanket, not caring to get up, for I suspected a salute, which it really was for the ‘unconditional surrender of Lee.’ The boys got wild over the news, shouting till they were hoarse, the loud huzzas [sic, huzzahs] echoing through the Valley, songs of ‘rally round the flag,’ &c., were sung, and above the noise of the ‘cannons opening roar,’ and confusion of camp, could be heard ‘Hail Columbia’ and Yankee Doodle played by our band. Other bands took it up and soon the whole army let loose, making ‘confusion worse confounded.’

The next morning we packed up, struck tents, marched away, and now we are within a short distance of our old quarters. – The war is about played out, and peace is clearly seen through the bright cloud that has taken the place of those that darkened the sky for the last four years. The question now with us is whether the veterans after Old Abe has matters fixed to his satisfaction, will have to stay ‘till the expiration of the three years, or be discharged as per agreement, at the ‘end of the war.’ If we are not discharged when hostilities cease, great injustice will be done.

The members of Co. ‘C,’ wishing to do honor to Lieut. C. S. Beard, and show their appreciation of him as an officer and gentleman, presented him with a splendid sword, sash and belt. Lieut. Beard rose from the ranks, and as one of their number, the boys gave him this token of esteem.

A few nights ago, an aid [sic] on Gen. Torbett’s staff, with two more officers, attempted to pass a safe guard stationed at a house near Winchester. The guard halted the party, they rushed on, paying no attention to the challenge, when the sentinel charged bayonet, running the sharp steel through the abdomen of the aid [sic], wounding him so severely that he died in an hour. The guard did his duty as he was there for the protection of the inmates and their property, with instruction to let no one enter.

The boys are all well, and jubilant over the victories of Grant, and their own little Sheridan, and feel as though they would soon return to meet the loved ones at home, and receive a kind greeting from old friends, and do you believe me to be

Yours Fraternally,
H. D. W.

Two days later, that fragile peace was shattered when a Confederate loyalist fired the bullet that ended the life of President Abraham Lincoln.

By 19 April 1865, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were responsible, once again, for helping to ensure that the nation’s capital was safe — but this time, they were doing so in the wake of a presidential assassination that threatened to reignite the civil war they had just helped to end. Making camp near Fort Stevens, they were issued new uniforms and additional ammunition.

Letters sent to friends and family back home during that period and newspaper interviews that were conducted, post-war, with survivors of the 47th Pennsylvania confirm that at least one 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer was given the high honor of guarding President Lincoln’s funeral train while others may have guarded the Lincoln assassination conspirators during the early days of their imprisonment and trial, which began on 9 May 1865. During that phase of duty, the regiment was head quartered at Camp Brightwood.

Attached to Dwight’s Division of the 2nd Brigade, Department of Washington’s 22nd Corps, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry also participated in the Union’s Grand Review of the National Armies on 23 May.

Reconstruction

On their final swing through the South, the Batt brothers and their fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers served in Savannah, Georgia in early June. Attached again to Dwight’s Division, this time, they were assigned to the 3rd Brigade, U.S. Department of the South. Relieving the 165th New York in July, they were housed in a mansion formerly owned by the Confederate Secretary of the Treasury. During that Reconstruction Era-phase of service, they were frequently engaged in provost-related duties (keeping the peace and ensuring the smooth operation of court systems and other government bodies), or duties that involved the repair or rebuilding of city and regional infrastructure.

Finally, on Christmas Day, 1865, Sergeant Peter Batt of Company A, and his younger brother, Private Samuel Batt of Company E, joined the majority of their fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers in mustering out for the final time in Charleston, South Carolina — a process that continued through early January 1866. Following a stormy voyage north, they disembarked in New York City, and were then transported to Philadelphia by train, where the regiment was officially honorably discharged at Camp Cadwalader between 9-11 January 1866.

Post-Civil War Life — Private Samuel Batt

Following his honorable discharge from the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, Samuel Batt returned home briefly, but then opted to return to military life by re-enlisting as a private with Company A of the U.S. Army’s 1st Infantry in New Orleans, Louisiana on 8 June 1868. By 1870, he was a soldier stationed at Fort Wayne in Springwells, Wayne County, Michigan, according to that year’s federal census, which also noted that the fort was under the command of Major-General Charles Buchanan and Lieutenant-General Charles Hall. After completing his period of enlistment, Samuel Batt was honorably discharged at Fort Brady in Sault Ste. Marie on 8 June 1871. He then returned to Pennsylvania, where he evidently re-enlisted in the military again — this time in Philadelphia with the U.S. Marine Corps — but he fell ill with erysipelas shortly afterward, was confined to his unit’s barracks on 28 October 1871 and received medical care from physicians at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Philadelphia until 30 December 1871.

* Note: Although admissions ledgers for the U.S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers reported that Samuel Batt had served with the U.S. Marines from 16 May 1864 to 16 May 1868, those dates appear to be incorrect because they conflict with his documented period of service with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, as well as with patient records for the U.S. Naval Hospital in Philadelphia.

Employed as a laborer but still unmarried as of the summer of 1880, Samuel Batt was still residing at his parents’ home at 613 Northampton Street in the northern district of Easton’s Sixth Ward. Also living there was his unmarried older sister, Susan, who was employed as a seamstress. Four years later, Samuel was still living with his mother, according to Easton’s city directory.

But, as happened with so many of his fellow veterans of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Samuel Batt struggled with health problems as he aged, making it increasingly difficult for him to work. By the 1890s, his condition was serious enough that he needed more consistent medical care than he could find at home. So, he sought admission to the U.S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. Admitted to that network’s Southern Branch in Hampton, Virginia on 1 May 1894, he was diagnosed with hemorrhoids, hypertrophy, partial paralysis in his right leg, and a slight toe drop. Transferred to that network’s Central Branch in Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio on 21 April 1896, he remained there until he was transferred to the network’s Marion Branch in Marion, Grant County, Indiana on 21 April 1899. (His residency there was also documented by the federal census of 1900.) He remained under the care of physicians at Marion until 2 September 1906 when he was transferred back to the Southern Branch in Virginia, where he remained until 5 February 1907 when he was transferred to the Mountain Branch in Tennessee, according to admissions records of the U.S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. (His residency at Mountain Branch was also documented by the federal census of 1910.) Records throughout that entire period of his life also confirmed that he had been employed as a gardener prior to admission, that he was a Protestant, could read and write, had never been married, was five feet, seven inches tall with gray hair, gray eyes and a fair complexion, and that his next of kin were his unmarried sister, Susan Batt, and his married sister, “Sophia Stonebach,” of 216 South Bank Street in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Eventually discharged from the network of soldiers’ homes, Samuel Batt returned home to Easton. But he was in bad shape — both physically and financially. As a result, he was admitted to the Northampton County Alms House (also known as Gracedale) in Upper Nazareth Township on 10 February 1913. His stay there, however, was brief.

Death and Interment — Private Samuel Batt

Ailing with kidney disease, Samuel Batt died at the age of sixty-eight at the Northampton County Alms House on 13 February 1913, and was laid to rest at the Easton Cemetery in Easton on 15 February.

The occupation listed for him on his Pennsylvania death certificate was “soldier.” Although that certificate indicated that he was a widower, researchers have not yet located records that identify the name of a potential spouse. (All other records found to date indicate that he was never married.)

Return to Civilian Life — Sergeant Peter Batt

After returning home from the war, Peter Batt married Susan E. Carmine (1850-1930) on 23 January 1868 in Philadelphia, and took up the iron working trade. They then became the parents of Samuel D. Batt (1868-1952), who was born on 27 August 1868 and would later wed Laura Susan Kindt (1874-1914) in Philadelphia in 1894. Employed at a rolling mill in 1870, Peter Batt resided with his wife and infant son in Philadelphia’s Fifty-Ninth District. Another son, David Batt (1870-1941), was then born in Philadelphia later that year — in December 1870; David would later go on to marry Katie Rieble (1870-1945).

An iron cutter who lived in apartment number sixty-five in an apartment building at 22 Philip Street in Philadelphia during the summer of 1880, Peter Batt resided there with his wife, Susan, and their sons, Samuel and David, as well as Rose Morthon, a twenty-four-year-old dressmaker from Virginia. Grief then descended on the Batt family when its patriarch, Jacob Batt, died in his late seventies or early eighties in Northampton County in June 1886. (Initially interred at the Easton Cemetery in Easton, Jacob’s remains would later be exhumed and re-interred beside his wife, Mary, at that city’s Easton Heights Cemetery on 21 October 1893.)

Roughly four years after his father’s death, Peter Batt became a father again as he and his wife, Susan, welcomed the birth of daughter Ada May Batt (1890-1971), who was born in Philadelphia on 4 February 1890 and would later wed Joseph Dixon Mayberry (1880-1914) in 1910 and settle with him in Philadelphia, before divorcing him during the summer of 1914 and marrying Edwin F. Nesbitt (1889-1953) later that same year.

Grief then returned when the Batt family’s matriarch, Mary Ann (Walters) Batt, died in her early eighties in Philadelphia on 11 May 1893, and was laid to rest at the Easton Heights Cemetery in Easton. She was survived by her children: Jacob Batt (Wilkes-Barre); Mary and Peter Batt and Sarah (Batt) Humphreys (Philadelphia); and Samuel and Susan Batt and Sophia (Batt) Stonebach (Easton).

Employed as an iron moulder in 1900, Peter Batt was finally living in a home that he owned, which was located at 2214 Second Street in Philadelphia’s Nineteenth Ward. Still residing with him were his wife, Susan, and their children: Samuel, who was employed as an electrician; David, who was employed as a plumber; and Ada, who was still attending school. Also providing income to the Batt family were three female boarders who were all employed as saleswomen: twenty-year-old Emma Kilmer and May and Violet Wright.

By the spring of 1910, Peter and Susan Batt were residing at the home of their married son, David Batt, and his family at 2551 Bouvier Street in Philadelphia’s Twenty-Eighth Ward. David, who had married Katie Rieble (1870-1945) circa 1893, had become the parents of: Albert Batt (1896-1971) and Edwin R. Batt (1900-1982). Also living there were Peter and Susan’s unmarried daughter (and David’s younger sister), Ada Batt (1890-1971). The household was supported through the wages earned by David as a gas fitter at a gas fixture manufacturer, by Peter Batt as an iron cutter at a foundry, by Peter’s wife, Susan (Carmine) Batt, as a “layer-out-of-dead,” and by their daughter, Ada Batt, as a billing clerk at the Philadelphia Pickling Company.

Sometime between April and June of that same year, Peter, Susan and Ada Batt moved into their own home at 2520 Napa Street in Philadelphia. Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, he had been involved with a variety of civic and social organizations, including the Apollo Lodge No. 3, Shield of Honor, the S. W. Newhall Post No. 7 of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.), and the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers’ Association.

Illness Death and Interment — Sergeant Peter Batt

Still employed as an iron worker at the Fairhill Rolling Mill during the spring of 1910, Peter Batt fell ill that summer, became paralyzed in early July and died at the age of sixty-eight at his home at 2520 North Napa Street in Philadelphia on 16 July 1910. Following funeral services at his home at 1 p.m. on 19 July, he was laid to rest at the Ardsley Burial Park (now known as the Hillside Cemetery in Roslyn, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania).

What Happened to the Widow and Children of Sergeant Peter Batt?

Following Peter Batt’s death, his widow, Susan (Carmine) Batt (1859-1930), continued to reside at her home at 2520 North Napa Street in Philadelphia with her daughter, Ada. Ada then applied for a marriage license with  Joseph Dixon Mayberry (1880-1914) in Philadelphia in August 1910, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, and was married to him later that same year. Ada then divorced him on 13 July 1914, according to a 1914 edition of that same newspaper. Roughly two weeks later, she applied for a marriage license as “Ada M. Batt” with Edwin F. Nesbitt (1889-1953). Meanwhile, Susan (Carmine) Batt, was making plans to relocate to New Jersey to be closer to her son, David Batt, and his family. By early 1930, Susan (Carmine) Batt was residing at David’s home in Woodbury, Gloucester County, New Jersey. After a long, full life, she died at the age of seventy-nine or eighty in Woodbury Heights on 2 March 1930 and was laid to rest beside her husband at the former Ardsley Burial Park (now known as the Hillside Cemetery in Roslyn, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania).

Following his marriage to Katie Rieble (1870-1946) circa 1893, Peter Batt’s son, David Batt (1870-1941), settled with his wife in Philadelphia, where they became the parents of Albert Batt (1896-1971), who was born on 24 August 1896, and would later wed Virginia Turner Gibson (1895-1955). Employed as a gas fitter in 1900, David Batt rented a home at 2551 Bouvier Street in Philadelphia’s Twenty-Eighth Ward with his wife, Kate, and their son, Albert. Also living with them were Kate’s father and brother, Jacob Rieble, Sr. and Jacob Rieble, Jr. Another son was then born to David and Kate Batt — Edwin Russell Batt (1900-1982), who arrived on 19 November 1900 and would later wed Hannah T. Walls (1901-1955). During the spring of 1910, David Batt was employed as a gas fitter at a gas fixture manufacturing company and still resided at 2551 Bouvier Street in Philadelphia’s Twenty-Eighth Ward with his wife, Katie, and their sons, Albert and Edwin. Also living with them were: David’s father, Peter Batt, who was still working as an iron cutter at a foundry; David’s mother, Susan (Carmine) Batt, who was employed as a “layer-out-of-dead”; and by David’s younger sister, Ada Batt, who was a billing clerk at the Philadelphia Pickling Company. Sometime between April and June of that same year, Peter and Susan Batt moved into their own home at 2520 Napa Street in Philadelphia, where Peter died on 16 July 1910. Still residing in Philadelphia’s Twenty-Eighth Ward by 1920, David Batt was employed as a fitter for an electric company. In addition to his wife and two sons, his household also included his wife’s ten-year-old niece, Elsie Riebel. Employed as a chandelier hanger in 1930, David Batt had relocated with his wife by that time to 26 Fairview Avenue in the Borough of Woodbury Heights. Living just around the corner at 20 Glassboro Avenue was his son, Albert Batt, Albert’s wife, Virginia Turner (Gibson) Batt (1895-1955), and their daughter, Virginia Low Batt (1923-2012), who had been born on 20 February 1923 and would later wed Donald R. Bennett (1919-1986). Still an empty nester with his wife in Woodbury Heights in 1940, David Batt was still working as a chandelier hanger that year. Required to undergo surgery roughly a year later, he died from a heart attack at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia on 31 October 1941. In his early seventies at the time of his passing, he was laid to rest at the Hillside Cemetery and Memorial Gardens in Roslyn, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Following his marriage to Laura Susan Kindt (1874-1914) in Philadelphia in 1894, Peter Batt’s son, Samuel D. Batt (1868-1952), also settled in Philadelphia. He and his wife subsequently became the parents of: Leslie Carmine Batt (1896-1976), who was born on 18 September 1896 and would later serve with the U.S. Army in World War I before marrying Emma Pedrick (1898-1991) in 1928; and Stanley R. Batt (1899-1952), who was born on 8 November 1899. Like his father before him, Samuel D. Batt had become an iron moulder. By 1900, he was residing with his wife, Laura, and their two sons, Leslie and Stanley, at the home of his wife’s parents, William and Susan Kindt, in Philadelphia’s Thirty-Seventh Ward. Also residing there were Laura’s unmarried sisters: Anna Lilly Kindt (1873-1966), who was employed as a clerk; Emma Henrietta Kindt (1876-1962), who was employed as an embroiderer and would later wed Frank Wynkoop Scheer (1877-1954); Carrie Mae Kindt (1879-1941), who would later wed Joseph Jefferies Wilkinson Deal (1875-1941); and Bertha L. Kindt (1882-1938), who would later wed Albert H. Anderson (1876-1965). Still an iron moulder in 1910, Samuel D. Batt resided with his wife and two sons at the home of his widowed mother-in-law in Philadelphia’s Forty-Third Ward. Also still living with them were Samuel’s sisters-in-law, Anna and Bertha Kindt. Widowed by his wife, Laura Susan (Kindt) Batt, when she fell ill and died from lobar pneumonia in Philadelphia on 11 April 1914, Samuel D. Batt continued to raise their sons in Philadelphia. Still employed as an iron moulder in 1930, he resided in that city’s Forty-Second Ward with his unmarried son, Stanley, who was employed as a drafter at an electrical manufacturing company. That living arrangement continued into the early 1950s. Ailing with heart disease, Samuel D. Batt died at the age of eighty-three in Philadelphia on 22 February 1952, and was subsequently buried at the Hillside Cemetery in Rosslyn, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Following her marriage to Philadelphia native Joseph Dixon Mayberry (1880-1914) circa August 1910, Peter Batt’s daughter, Ada M. Batt (1890-1971), settled with her husband in Philadelphia but then divorced him there on 13 July 1914. Roughly two weeks later, she applied for a marriage license as “Ada M. Batt” and subsequently married furniture salesman Edwin F. Nesbitt (1889-1953). After settling with him in Philadelphia, they became the parents of Edwin Solomon Nesbitt (1915-1984), who was born on 3 May 1915 and would later wed Mary Dennison (1910-1975), before being widowed by her and marrying Marie Theresa Benckert (1921-2007). By 1920, the trio resided in Philadelphia’s Forty-Second Ward. More children soon followed: Florence M. Nesbitt (1920-1931), who was born in 1920 but would later die in childhood in 1931; and Ruth Ada Nesbitt (1925-2020), who was born on 21 March 1925 and would later wed Wallace L. Sheets (1923-1999) in 1946. Sometime after Ruth’s birth, Ada M. (Batt Mayberry) Sheets and her family packed up their belongings and relocated to Cape May County in New Jersey (circa 1926). In 1930, she resided in the Borough of Wildwood Crest with her husband, Edwin, who was still employed as a furniture merchant, and their children, Edwin, Florence and Ruth. Still residing in that same borough in 1940, the household included just Edwin, Ada and Ruth. By 1950, she and Edwin were “empty nesters.” Widowed by her second husband when he fell ill at their home in Erma and died in his early sixties at the Tomlin Memorial Hospital in Cape May Court House, Cape May County in October 1953, she arranged for his burial at the Fairview Memorial Cemetery in Cape May Court House. Afterward, Ada M. (Batt Maybery) Nesbitt continued to reside at her home on Shore Road in Erma until she was hospitalized at the Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital in Cape May Court House. Following her death there at the age of eighty-two on 14 April 1971, she was laid to rest beside her husband at the Fairview Memorial Cemetery in Cape May Court House.

What Happened to the Siblings of the Batt Brothers?

Researchers have not yet determined what happened to Peter and Samuel Batts’ oldest brother, David Batt. Born in Easton on 15 May 1832, he predeceased their mother, who died on 11 May 1893, according to her obituary, which did not list David among her surviving children.

Peter and Samuel Batt’s older sister, Susanna Batt (born 1834-died circa 1901-1908), who was also known as “Susan Batt,” became the natural or adoptive mother of Minnie Batt (1870-1949), who was born in Easton on 5 August 1870 and would later use the adoptive or married surname of “Schiver” before marrying George T. Neeley (circa 1868-1938) in Phillipsburg, Warren County, New Jersey on 23 December 1893. Employed as a seamstress during the summer of 1870, according to the federal census, Susan Batt resided with her daughter, Minnie, at the Easton home of Susan’s parents, Jacob and Mary Batt. Also still residing there was Susan’s younger sister, Mary Batt, who was also still single. Still unmarried as of the summer of 1880 and still residing at her parents’ home at 613 Northampton Street in the northern district of Easton’s Sixth Ward, Susan Batt resided there without her daughter, Minnie, but with her unmarried younger brother, Samuel Batt, who was employed as a laborer. Following the death of her father in 1886, Susan Batt continued to reside in Easton with her mother until her mother’s death in May 1893. The following year (1894), Susan Batt was employed at the United States Hotel at 57 North Bank Street in Easton, according to that year’s Easton City Directory. She was also listed that year as the next of kin for her brother, Samuel Batt, who was living at the Hampton, Virginia branch of the U.S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, according to the admissions ledger for that facility. (That ledger also noted that Susan Batt resided at 57 North Bank Street in Easton.) By 1900, Susan Batt was residing in Easton at the Tenth Ward home of her married daughter, Minnie (Batt Schiver) Neeley, and Minnie’s husband, George T. Neeley, who was employed as a blacksmith. By 1910 however, Susan Batt was no longer residing with her daughter, Minnie, according to that year’s federal census. Researchers continue to search for her burial location and currently theorize that she remained unmarried at the time of her death in Easton, which likely occurred sometime after the federal census of June 1900 but before July 1909, because she was not listed as a surviving sibling in the July 1909 obituary of her sister, Sophia (Batt) Stoneback.

Following her marriage to bricklayer Thomas W. Stoneback (1836-1902; alternate spelling of surname: “Stonebach”) at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Easton on 4 January 1859, Peter and Samuel Batts’ sister, Sophia (Batt) Stonebach (1838-1909), settled with her husband in Easton’s Lehigh Ward, according to the 1860 federal census. They then became the parents of: Elmer Ellsworth Stoneback (1861-1922), who was born on 15 June 1861 and would later wed Amanda Matilda Unangst (1864-1923). Still residing in Easton’s Lehigh Ward in 1870, Sophia’s household included her brick mason-husband and their son, Elmer. By 1880, however, their living circumstances had improved significantly because the trio resided in Easton’s First Ward and their patriarch, Thomas Stoneback, was employed as Easton’s chief of police. Residents of Bank Street in Easton’s First Ward in 1900, the two Stonebacks were “empty nesters” who were supported by the wages Thomas earned as a laborer. Widowed by her husband, Thomas W. Stoneback, when he died in his late sixties in Easton in September 1902, and was laid to rest at the Easton Cemetery in Easton, Sophia (Batt) Stoneback “soldiered on” despite her grief. A member of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Easton, she had also been actively involved with multiple civic and social organizations throughout her lifetime, including the ladies’ auxiliary of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.). She then died in her sleep at her home at 216 South Bank Street in Easton at 1:30 a.m. on 27 July 1909. Just days shy of her seventieth birthday, she had reportedly been in good health, according to her obituary. Following funeral services, she was laid also laid to rest at the Easton Cemetery on 29 July. She was survived by her son, Elmer E. Stoneback (Easton), and by the following siblings: Jacob Batt (Wilkes-Barre); Mary Batt, Peter Batt and Sarah (Batt) Humphreys (Philadelphia); and Samuel Batt (Easton).

Following her marriage to lamp maker James H. Humphreys (1833-1872; alternate surname spelling: “Humphries”) circa the mid to late 1850s, Peter and Samuel Batt’s sister, Sarah (Batt) Humphreys (1837-1915), became the mother of: James Humphreys (1857-1928), who was born in Baltimore, Maryland on 21 June 1857; Margaret Humphreys (1859-1941), who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 30 March 1859 and would become known to family and friends as “Maggie”; and Henry Humphreys (1864-1939), who was born on 24 September 1864 and would later wed Bessie Anna Wadhams (1866-1919) in Cuyahoga County, Ohio on 24 September 1886, become the “assistant secretary of the Society for Savings and confidential aid of the late Col. Myron T. Herrick, former ambassador to France,” according to a 1939 report by Cleveland, Ohio’s Plain Dealer. Widowed by her husband when he died at the age of thirty-nine in Philadelphia from Morbus Brightii (a kidney ailment later known as “Bright’s Disease”), in early September 1872, Sarah (Batt) Humphreys arranged for his burial at the Mount Peace Cemetery in Philadelphia, which occurred on 13 September 1872. (His remains would later be exhumed and reinterred at the West Laurel Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania on 6 November 1913.) By 1880, Sarah (Batt) Humphreys was residing at the home of her father-in-law, James Humphries (1808-1881), a rope maker who lived on Mount Vernon Street in Philadelphia. Also living with them were her children, as well as her niece, Annie Batt. During the spring of 1910, Sarah (Batt) Humphreys resided at 1542 North Frazier Street in Philadelphia’s Thirty-Fourth Ward with her unmarried daughter, Margaret Humphreys, who was described by that year’s federal census enumerator as an artist and designer. That enumerator also noted that Sarah was a widow who had given birth to four children, all four of whom were still alive. (Researchers are currently still trying to identify her fourth child.) Five years after that 1910 census was conducted, Sarah (Batt) Humphreys was gone. Following her passing at the age of seventy-eight in Philadelphia on 1 June 1915, she was buried at the West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Montgomery County on 3 June, according to her Philadelphia death certificate and records of the Oliver Bair Funeral Home in Philadelphia, the latter of which noted that she had gray hair and blue eyes, had resided at 5702 Kingessing Avenue in Philadelphia and had weighed one hundred thirty pounds at the time of her death. Her son, Henry Humphreys, who was residing in Cleveland, Ohio at the time of her death, had made the arrangements for her funeral, which included the opening of one “new grave next to James H. Humphries buried 11-6-13.”

Confirmed at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Easton on 21 March 1867, Peter and Samuel Batt’s sister, Mary Anna Batt (born circa 1855-died between August 1909-December 1926) was employed as a seamstress and still unmarried during the summer of 1870. According to that year’s federal census, she resided at the Easton home of her parents, Jacob and Mary Batt. Also residing there was Mary’s sister, Susan Batt, and Susan’s daughter, Minnie Batt. An Easton city directory noted that she was still living in that borough in 1884. By the summer of 1909, however, she was living in the city of Philadelphia, according to the July 1909 obituary of her sister, Sophia (Batt) Stoneback. Researchers have not yet located records to confirm what happened to Mary Anna Batt in subsequent years, but believe that she died sometime between August 1909 and December 1926 because the January 1927 obituary of her brother Jacob Batt (1846-1927) did not list her as one of his surviving relatives.

Peter and and Samuel Batts’ brother, Jacob Batt (1846-1927, alternate birth years: 1844, 1848, 1853), who had reportedly served with the 198th Pennsylvania Volunteers during the American Civil War, according to his index card in the Pennsylvania Department of Military Affairs’ “Records of Burial Places of Veterans,” returned to Pennsylvania after his honorable discharge from the Union Army, and settled in Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, where he “was associated with the business of Lewis LeGrand (1818-1902), pioneer wagon builder, remaining with that organization until his [Jacob’s] retirement” in 1919. Married to Lewis LeGrand’s daughter, Mary (LeGrand) Batt (1843-1921), in Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania sometime during the 1870s, he settled with her there, and became a stepfather to her daughters: Mary LeGrand Malven (1873-1957), who would never marry, but would rise up through the ranks of the U.S. Postal Service to become a supervising clerk at the U.S. Post Office in Wilkes-Barre, as well as a prominent member of civic and social organizations in her community; and Elizabeth Ridgeway Malven (1876-1931), who was known to family and friends as “Lizzie” and would later wed Frederick Charles House, MD (1877-1927; alternate surname spelling: “Haus).

* Note: The stepdaughters of Jacob Batt were the natural-born daughters of David Malven.

During the summer of 1879, Jacob and Mary (LaGrand Malven) Batt became the parents of their own son, Harry Batt (1879-unknown), who was born circa July 1879. In 1880, the quintet resided at 351 Main Street in Wilkes-Barre. Another son, William W. Batt (circa 1885-1925), was then born circa 1885 and would later become a musician with the United Army’s Ninth Infantry Band, would migrate west to Michigan circa 1915, would settle in the city of Detroit in Wayne and would marry Alma Ohms (1892-1932) there on 21 June 1919. By 1900, however, Jacob Batt’s household was located at 17 Legrand Avenue in Wilkes-Barre’s Eleventh Ward and no longer included his son, Harry, who may have married or died prior to the enumeration of the 1900 federal census in Luzerne County. An active member of the Conyngham Post No. 97 of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.), Jacob Batt was described by his adopted hometown’s newspapers as “a quiet and modest man, by one whose kindliness of disposition acquired for him a host of friends.” A resident of 304 South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre by the summer of 1920, he lived there with his wife and stepdaughter, Mary. Less than seven years later, the old soldier was gone. Ailing with bladder issues and cystitis during his final months, Jacob Batt died at the age of eighty-two at his home on Main Street on 27 January 1927, and was laid to rest with miliary honors at the Hollenback Cemetery in Wilkes-Barre on 31 January.

 

Sources:

1. Ada M. Batt [sic, “Ada May (Batt) Mayberry”] (a daughter of Peter Batt), in “Marriage Licenses Issued.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, 14 August 1914.
2. Ada May Mayberry [sic, “Ada May (Batt) Mayberry”] (a daughter of Peter Batt), in “29 Divorces Are Granted by Court.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, 14 July 1914.
3. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
4. “Batt” (death notice of Peter Batt). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, 18-19 July 1910.
5. “Batt” (death notice of Susan (Carmine) Batt, the widow of Peter Batt). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, 4 March 1930.
6. Batt, David (the head of the household and a son of Peter Batt), Kate and Albert; and Riebel, Jacob Sr. and Jr. (Kate’s father and brother), in U.S. Census (Philadelphia, Twenty-Eighth Ward, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
7. Batt, David (the head of the household and a son of Peter Batt), Kate, Albert, and Edwin R.; Batt, Peter (the father of David Batt), Susan E. and Ada, in U.S. Census (Philadelphia, Twenty-Eighth Ward, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, 1910). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
8. Batt, David (the head of the household and a son of Peter Batt), Kate, Albert, and Edwin; and Reibel, Elsie (Kate’s niece), in U.S. Census (Philadelphia, Twenty-Eighth Ward, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, 1920). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
9. Batt, David (the head of the household and a son of Peter Batt) and Kate, in U.S. Census (Woodbury Heights, Gloucester County, New Jersey, 1930, 1940). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
10. Batt, Jacob (the father of Peter and Samuel Batt), Mary, David, Susan, Sarah, Sophia, Peter, Samuel, and Jacob, in U.S. Census (Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1850). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
11. Batt, Jacob (the father of Peter and Samuel Batt), Mary (mother), Susan, Mary (daughter), Peter, Samuel, and Jacob B., in U.S. Census (Easton, Bushkill Ward, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1860). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
12. Batt, Jacob (the father of Peter and Samuel Batt), Mary, Susan, Mary (daughter of Jacob and Mary Batt), and Minnie (natural or adopted daughter of Susan Batt) in U.S. Census (Easton, West Ward, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1870). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
13. Batt, Jacob (the father of Peter and Samuel Batt), Mary, Susan, and Samuel, in U.S. Census (Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
14. Batt, Jacob (the brother of Peter and Samuel Batt), Mary E. and Harry; Malvern, Lizzie R. and Mary L. (Jacob Batt’s stepdaughters), in U.S. Census (Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
15. Batt, Jacob (the brother of Peter and Samuel Batt), Mary, Lizzie (Jacob Batt’s stepdaughter), Mary L. (Jacob Batt’s stepdaughter) and William W. (Jacob Batt’s son), in U.S. Census (Wilkes-Barre, Eleventh Ward, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
16. Batt, Mary and Samuel, in West’s Guide to Easton, Phillipsburg, Bethlehem, South Bethlehem, South Easton, Glendon, Freemansburg, Bangor and Pen Argyl, Which Contains the Names of Inhabitants and Their Residences, Places of Business, etc., 1884, p. 8. Easton, Pennsylvania: G. W. West, 1884.
17. Batt, Peter, in Civil War Muster Rolls (Company A, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
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22. Batt, Peter, Susan, Samuel, David, and Ada; Wright, May and Violet (boarders); and Kilmer, Emma (boarder), in U.S. Census (Philadelphia, Nineteenth Ward, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
23. Batt, Samuel, in Civil War Muster Rolls (Company A, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
24. Batt, Samuel, in Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1866 (Company A, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
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27. Batt, Samuel, in U.S. Census (U.S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Marion Branch, Marion, Grant County, Indiana, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
28. Batt, Samuel, in U.S. Census (U.S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Mountain Branch, Johnson City, Washington County, Tennessee, 1910). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
29. Batt, Samuel in U.S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (Southern Branch, Hampton, Virginia, 1 May 1894-21 April 1896; Central Branch, Dayton, Ohio, 21 April 1896-21 April 1899; Marion Branch, Marion, Indiana, 21 April 1899-2 September 1906; Southern Branch, Hampton, Virginia, 2 September 1906-2 May 1907; Mountain Branch, Johnson City, Tennessee, 2 May 1907-discharge at his own request circa 1913). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
30. Batt, Samuel in “Register of Enlistments in the U.S. Army, 1798-1914” (microfilm M233, NAID: 1184717, 575272 and 1223563; term of enlistment 8 June 1868-8 June 1871), in “Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917” (record group 94). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
31. Batt, Samuel B., in “Register of Patients” (U.S. Naval Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, date of admission: 28 October 1871, date of discharge: 30 December 1871). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
32. Batt, Samuel D. (a son of Peter Batt) and Stanley R., in U.S. Census (Philadelphia, Forty-Second Ward, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, 1930, 1940, 1950). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
33. Batts [sic, “Batt”], Peter, Susan E. and Samuel, in U.S. Census (Philadelphia, Fifty-Ninth District, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, 1870). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
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35. Buchanan, Charles (major-general and commanding officer, Fort Wayne); Hall, Charles (lieutenant-general, Fort Wayne); Batt, Samuel (soldier), et. al., in U.S. Census (Fort Wayne, Springwells, Wayne County, Michigan, 1870). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
36. “Campaign Aid of Herrick Is Dead: Humphreys Long Active in Society for Savings” (obituary of Henry Humphreys, who was a nephew of Peter and Samuel Batt and a son of Sarah (Batt) Humphreys). Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Plain Dealer, 8 July 1939.
37. “Capt. Stonebach’s Widow Passes Away” (obituary of Peter and Samuel Batts’ sister, Sophia (Batt) Stonebach). Easton, Pennsylvania: The Daily Free Press, 27 July 1909.
38. Condit A.M., Rev. Uzal. The History of Easton, Penn’a from the Earliest Times to the Present, 1739-1885. Washington, D.C.: West & Condit, 1885.
39. David Batt (an infant who became the older brother of Peter Batt) and Jacob and Maria Batt (parents), in Birth and Baptismal Records (St. John’s Lutheran Church, Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, date of birth: 15 May 1832, baptism: 13 December 1833). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
40. “David Batt” (obituary of a son of Peter Batt). Woodbury, New Jersey: Woodbury Daily Times, 15 October 1941.
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44. Grodzins, Dean and David Moss. “The U.S. Secession Crisis as a Breakdown of Democracy,” in When Democracy Breaks: Studies in Democratic Erosion and Collapse, from Ancient Athens to the Present Day (chapter 3). New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2024.
45. Humphreys, Jas. (head of household), Sarah [sic, “Sarah (Batt) Humphreys”] (the daughter-in-law of James Humphreys, the widow of James H. Humphreys and a sister of Peter and Samuel Batt), and James H., Maggie and Harry (Sarah’s children); and Batt, Annie (Sarah’s niece), in U.S. Census (Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
46. Humphreys, Sarah B. (a sister of Peter and Samuel Batt), in Burial Records (Oliver Bair Funeral Home, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, date of death: 1 June 1915, burial: West Laurel Hill Cemetery, 3 June 1915). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
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49. Irwin, Richard Bache. History of the Nineteenth Army Corps. New York, New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1893.
50. “Jacob Batt” (brief description of the funeral of a younger brother of Peter and Samuel Batt). Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: Times-Leader, 31 January 1927.
51. “Jacob Batt, Aged Veteran, Dies After Long Siege: Grim Reeper Ends Career of Old Soldier of Rebellion” (obituary of a younger brother of Peter and Samuel Batt). Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: Times-Leader, 28 January 1927.
52. “Jacob Batt, Civil War Veteran, Dies” (brief description of the funeral of a younger brother of Peter and Samuel Batt). Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: The Evening News, 28 January 1927.
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55. Joseph D. Mayberry (the groom) and Ada Batt (the bride, who was a daughter of Peter Batt), in “Marriage Licenses Issued.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, 16 August 1910.
56. Kempton, Barbara Fretz. A History of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Easton, Pennsylvania, 1740-1940. Easton, Pennsylvania: The John S. Correll Co., Inc., Easter 1940.
57. Kindt, William F., Susan C., Anna L., Emma H., Carrie M., and Bertha L.; and Batt, Samuel D. (a son of Peter Batt), Laura S. (a daughter of William F. Kindt and the wife of Samuel D. Batt), Leslie C., and Stanley R., in U.S. Census (Philadelphia, Thirty-Seventh Ward, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
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85. Stoneback, Thomas, Sophia (a sister of Peter and Samuel Batt) and Elmer, in U.S. Census (Easton, First Ward, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
86. Stoneback, Tho. and Sophia (a sister of Peter and Samuel Batt), in U.S. Census (Easton, First Ward, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
87. Susanna Batt (an infant who was an older sister of Peter Batt) and Jacob Batt (father), in Birth and Baptismal Records (First United Church of Christ, Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, date of birth: 8 May 1834, baptism: 29 August 1843). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
88. “Tamiami Trail Modifications: Next Steps,” in Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Washington, D.C. and Everglades National Park, Florida: U.S. National Park Service, 2010.
89. “The History of the Forty-Seventh Regt. P. V.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Lehigh Register, 20 July 1870.
90. Thomas Stonebach [sic, “Stoneback” (the groom) and George and Mary S. (the groom’s parents); and Sophia Batt (the bride, who was a sister of Peter and Samuel Batt) and Jacob and Mary B. (the parents of the bride), in “Marriages, Benjamin Sadler, Pastor” (St. John’s Lutheran Church, Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, date of marriage: 4 January 1859). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
91. Wharton, Henry D. Letters from the Sunbury Guards. Sunbury, Pennsylvania: Sunbury American, 1861-1868.
92. “William W. Batt Dead” (obituary of a nephew of Peter and Samuel Batt and a son of Jacob Batt). Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: Times-Leader, 17 March 1925.