Alternate Spellings of Surname: Dachradt, Dachrodt, Dachroth, Dackratt

 

“Sticktuitiveness” was the hallmark of this Union Army soldier. A lifelong Eastonian, who lived in the city of Easton, Pennsylvania for most of the ninety-plus years he trod the soil of the Great Keystone State (his time there diminshed only by roughly four years of military service during the American Civil War), Daniel Dachrodt was also a lifelong member of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Easton.

A butcher and meat seller like his father and older brothers before him, he became a trusted merchant that members of his community turned to for safe, high quality foods to nourish their families and make holidays and other special events happier and more memorable.

But what truly set Daniel Dachrodt apart from other nineteenth and twentieth century Pennsylvanians were his multiple, “last of” designations. The “last surviving charter member of the Amana Lodge No. 77, Knights of Pythias,” according to The Morning Call newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania, he was also the last surviving member of the Grand Army of the Republic in Easton and the last surviving member of the history-making 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.

Formative Years

Born in Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania on 11 February 1844, Daniel Lewis Dachrodt was a son of John A. Dachrodt (1797-1875), who was a native of Germany, and Julia Ann (Sweeney) Dachrodt (1807-1903), who was a native of Shamokin, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.

He was raised and educated in Easton with his siblings: Jacob Dachrodt (1828-1909), who was born on 11 September 1828; Charles Dachrodt (1833-1909), who was born on 2 September 1833; Louisa Dachrodt (1838-1922), who was born on 20 May 1838 and later wed John Schoen (1839-1875) in 1865; John A. Dachrodt, Jr., who was born circa 1839; Anna E. Dachrodt (1842-1892), who was born on 28 March 1842; and Henry Dachrodt (1848-1860), who was born on 25 September 1860).

In 1850, the Dachrodt family lived a comfortable life thanks to the wages earned by both John A. Dachrodt, Sr. and his son Jacob, who were confirmed by that year’s federal census enumerator as working butchers. That same census also documented that John Dachrodt owned real estate that was valued at ten thousand dollars (roughly four hundred and five thousand dollars in 2024 U.S. currency).

Confirmed by an 1860 federal census enumerator to be residents of Easton’s West Ward in 1860, the Dachrodt family members still residing together that year included patriarch and matriarch John and Julia Dachrodt and their children: Louisa, John Jr., Anna, Daniel, and Henry. Still employed as a butcher, patriarch John A. Dachrodt, Sr. was documented as owning real estate and personal property valued at six thousand dollars (roughly two hundred and twenty-nine thousand dollars in 2024 dollars), while his namesake, John Jr., was working as a carpenter. Also residing with the family at this time was a John Jean, a twenty-one-year-old butcher from Baden-Wurttemberg.

* Note: Jacob Dachrodt, the eldest of the Dachrodt siblings, had wed Isabelle Coleman (1830-1918) in 1851, and had become the father of John Jacob Dachrodt (1852-1943) in 1852. Still employed as a butcher in 1860, Jacob Dachrodt was living with his young family in Easton’s West Ward that year, and had real and personal property valued at just over two thousand dollars (roughly seventy-six thousand dollars in U.S. currency).

Sadly, the youngest of the Dachrodt children, Henry, died just over two months after the 1860 census was taken. Twelve years old at the time of his passing in Easton on 12 September, he was laid to rest at the Easton Cemetery.

Just over three months later, the Dachrodt family and their fellow Eastonians felt a shockwave of an entirely different sort–one that rippled across the entire nation when South Carolina seceded from the United States, beginning a series of secessions by southern states that would place America on a terrifying and disastrous journey toward disunion and civil war.

American Civil War — Three Months’ Service

Mississippi, Florida and Alabama (9-11 January 1861). Georgia (19 January). Louisiana (26 January). Texas (1 February).

One terrible week after another, the United States of America fell further and further into disunion as the New Year of 1861 progressed, leading to the fall of Fort Sumter on 13 April 1861. In response, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation, calling for seventy-five thousand volunteer soldiers to help defend the nation’s capital and end the secession crisis.

Jacob and John A. Dachrodt, Jr. quickly stepped up, becoming two of the early responders to President Abraham Lincoln’s call by enrolling for military service in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on 20 April 1861 with Company B of the 1st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Shortly after their enrollment, Jacob Dachrodt was commissioned as a captain and placed in command of their company, while John Dachrodt was entered on the regiment’s rosters as a private.

Given just a few days of basic training, the 1st Pennsylvania Volunteers were transported south by Northern Central Railway cars. Their first major assignment was to guard the railroad lines between Pennsylvania and Baltimore, Maryland (14-25 May). From there, they were assigned to Catonsville and Franklintown, Maryland (25-26 May), before assuming protective duties in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania on 3 June. Ordered to Hagerstown, Maryland on 18 June, they remained in the vicinity of Funkstown, Goose Creek and Edward’s Ferry until 22 June, when they were ordered to march for Frederick, Maryland. Subsequently stationed with other Union regiments in Martinsburg, Virginia from 8-20 July, and then Harper’s Ferry on 21 July, they were then honorably discharged on 27 July after completing their Three Months’ Service and returned home to Pennsylvania.

American Civil War — Three Years’ Service

Knowing the fight to preserve America’s Union was far from over, Daniel Dachrodt then also chose to enroll for military service–but opted, instead, to sign up for a much longer, three-year stretch. Joining the Union Army at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg on 14 August 1861, he subsequently traveled to Washington, D.C., where he officially mustered in at the rank of Musician (drummer) with the first Regimental Band of the recently-formed 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry on 24 September of that same year. That same day, he and his new comrades were officially mustered into the Army of the United States. Military records at the time described him as being an eighteen-year-old butcher who resided in Easton.

Three days later, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was 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 3rd Brigade was on the move, marching for Camp Lyon, Maryland on the eastern side of the Potomac River. At 5 p.m., armed with Mississippi rifles supplied by the Keystone State, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers joined the men from the 46th Pennsylvania in charging, double-quick, across the Chain Bridge, which took them into Virginia and onto enemy soil.

Marching onward for another mile or so, they were ordered to halt and make camp. The next morning, they broke camp and moved on again, heading for Falls Church, Virginia. Arriving at Camp Advance around dusk, roughly two miles from the Chain Bridge they had just crossed, they pitched their tents in a deep ravine near a new federal fort that was still 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 (who was known to soldiers as “Baldy”) and were now part of the massive Army of the Potomac (Mr. Lincoln’s Army). Under Smith’s leadership, they would help to defend the nation’s capital from the time of their arrival through late January when the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers would be ordered to sail for America’s Deep South.

On 29 September 1861, Henry D. Wharton, a field musician (drummer) from the 47th Pennsylvania’s C Company, recapped the regiment’s recent activities in a letter penned to his hometown newspaper, the Sunbury American:

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], 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 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 in the 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 that 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 nice day’s work. The boys are well, in fact, there is no sickness of any consequence at all in our Regiment….

* Note: Sadly, Henry Wharton’s words regarding his comrades’ health would prove to be incorrect. John Boulton Young, a thirteen-year-old drummer boy, became the first “man” from the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry to die in service to the nation when he succumbed to Variola (smallpox) during thst fateful October of 1861.

Sometime during this phase of duty, as part of the 3rd Brigade, Drummer Daniel Dachrodt and his fellow 47th Pennsylvanians were moved to a site that they initially christened as “Camp Chestnut,” in reference to a large chestnut tree growing there. The site would eventually become known to them as “Camp Griffin,” and was located roughly ten miles from Washington, D.C.

On 11 October, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers marched in the Grand Review at Bailey’s Cross Roads. In a mid-October letter to his own family and friends, Captain John Peter Shindel Gobin, the commanding officer of Company C, reported that Companies D, A, C, F, and I (the 47th Pennsylvana’s right wing) were ordered to picket duty after the regiment’s left-wing companies (B, E, G, H, and K) had been forced to return to camp by Confederate troops.

In his letter of 13 October to the Sunbury American, Field Musician Henry Wharton described the duties of the average 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer, as well as the regiment’s new home:

The location of our new camp is fine and the scenery would be splendid if the view was not obstructed by heavy thickets of pine and inumerable chesnut [sic, chestnut] 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 33rd.

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 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 the likelihood of a Rebel sheep or young porker advancing over our lines and then he could take them as ‘contraband’ and have them for his own use.’ When they were out they saw about a dozen of the Rebel cavalry and would have had a bout with them, had it not been for … unlucky circumstance – one of the men caught the hammer of his rifle in the strap of his knapsack and caused his gun to fire; the Rebels heard the report and scampered in quick time….

On Friday morning, 22 October, the 47th Pennsylvania engaged in a Divisional review, described by regimental historian Lewis Schmidt as massing “about 10,000 infantry, 1000 cavalry, and twenty pieces of artillery all in one big open field.”

In his letter of 17 November, Field Musician Henry Wharton revealed still more details about life at Camp Griffin:

This morning our brigade was out for inspection; arms, accoutrements, clothing, knapsacks, etc, all were out through a thorough examination, and if I must say it myself, our company [Company C] stood best, A No. 1, for cleanliness. We have a new commander to our brigade, Brigadier General Brannon [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, picket] 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 speas, beans, occassionally 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, picket]; 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, pickets]….

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 if 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 Pennsylvania Volunteers participated in a morning Divisional Review that was viewed by the 47th Pennsylvania’s founder and commanding officer, Colonel Tilghman H. Good, followed by brigade and division drills all afternoon. According to Schmidt, “each man was supplied with ten blank cartridges.” Afterward, “Gen. Smith requested Gen. Brannan to inform Col. Good that the 47th was the best regiment in the whole division.”

As a reward for the regiment’s impressive performance that day, and in preparation for the future, Brigadier-General John Milton Brannan ordered his staff to ensure that each member of the 47th Pennsylvania was equipped with a brand new Springfield rifle.

1862

Ordered to move from their Virginia encampment back to Maryland, Musician Daniel Dachrodt and his fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers left Camp Griffin at 8:30 a.m. on 22 January 1862. Marching through deep mud with their equipment for three miles in order to reach the railroad station at Falls Church, they were transported to Alexandria, where they boarded the steamship City of Richmond and sailed the Potomac River to the Washington Arsenal. Upon their arrival, they disembarked, were re-equipped and then marched to the Soldiers’ Rest in Washington, D.C., where they were fed and given the opportunity to relax. The next afternoon, they were marched to the railroad station, where they hopped aboard a train from the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and headed for Annapolis, Maryland.

Arriving around 10 p.m., they disembarked and were marched to a barracks at the United States Naval Academy, where they bedded down for the night. They then spent that Friday through Monday (24-27 January) loading their equipment and supplies onto the U.S.S. Oriental.

During the afternoon of 24 January, they began boarding the Oriental, enlisted men first, and then, per the directive of Brigadier-General John Milton Brannan, they steamed away at 4 p.m. and headed for Florida, which despite its secession from the United States, remained strategically important to the Union due to the presence of several important federal military installations there.

Arriving in Key West, Florida by early February 1862, Musician Daniel Dachrodt and his fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers disembarked and were ordered to pitch their tents on the beach, where they rested. Subsequently directed to their respective quarters inside and outside of Fort Taylor, they were assigned to garrison the fort. Drilling daily in infantry and artillery tactics, they also began strengthening the fortifications of that federal installation and also began improving the infrastructure of the city by felling trees and building new roads.

During the weekend of 14 February 1862, the regiment introduced itself to the inhabitants of Key West by parading through the streets of the city, led by the 47th Pennsylvania’s Regimental Band under the baton of Thomas Coates. That Sunday, members of the regiment began mingling with locals at area church services in an effort to build rapport with the citizens of Key West.

That rapport building continued as the regiment commemorated the birthday of former President George Washington on 22 February with a parade, a special ceremony involving the reading of Washington’s Farewell Address to the nation (which had initially been delivered by Washington in 1796), the firing of cannon at the fort, and a sack race and other games.

The festivities resumed two days later when the Regimental Band hosted an officers’ ball at which “all parties enjoyed themselves, for three o’clock of the morning sounded on their ears before any motion was made to move homeward,” according to C Company Field Musician Henry Wharton. This was then followed by a Regimental Band Concert on 26 February.

Next ordered to Hilton Head, South Carolina, from early June through July, Musician Daniel Dachrodt and his fellow 47th Volunteers made camp near Fort Walker before relocating roughly thirty-five miles away in the Beaufort District of the U.S. Army’s Department of the South. Frequently assigned to hazardous picket duty north of their main camp, the 47th Pennsylvanians who were sent forth on these excursions faced an increased risk of enemy sniper fire. Despite this danger, though, the men of the 47th Pennsylvania “received the highest commendation from Generals Hunter and Brannan” for their “attention to duty, discipline and soldierly bearing,” according to historian Samuel P. Bates.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, D.C., the bean counters were busy tallying up the costs of a war now entering its second year. Deeming regimental bands an unnecessary expense in light of those rising federal expenses, the U.S. Congress passed legislation on 17 July 1862, ordering that all such bands be promptly, but honorably mustered out. Signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln, that change was effected by the U.S. War Department via General Orders, No. 91 (issued on 29 July).

In response, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry’s founder and commanding officer, Colonel Tilghman H. Good, expressed his thoughts about the situation in a letter to the members of his Regimental Band:

Headquarters 47th Regiment P. V.
Beaufort, S.C., Sept. 9, 1862

Gentleman of the Band,

In accordance with an enactment of Congress and an order from the War Department, you have been regularly mustered out of the service of the United States, and are consequently detached from the regiment. I had vainly hoped when you were with us, united to do battle for our country, that we should remain together to share the dangers and reap the same glory, until every vestige of the present wicked rebellion should be forever crushed, and we unitedly return again to our homes in peace, and receive of our fellow creatures the welcome plaudit, ‘well done’.

But fate has decreed otherwise, and you are about to bid ‘farewell’, and in taking leave of you, gentlemen, I beg leave to compliment you on your good deportment and manly bearings whilst connected with the regiment, and when you shall have departed from amongst us the sweet strains of music which emanated from you and so often swelled the breeze during dress parade, shall still ring in our ears.

Invoking heaven’s choicest gifts upon you collectively and individually, I bid you god speed on your homeward voyage and through all your future career. May your future course through life be as bright and happy as your past has been prosperous and safe.

I am, Gents,
Your obedient servant,
T. H. Good, Col. Regt. 47th Penna. Vols.

Among the musicians who were honorably discharged that September of 1862 was Daniel Dachrodt, who returned home to Easton.

Band 2

It didn’t take long, however, for those in charge to realize the error of that decision. The music performed by regimental bands buoyed spirits and strengthened backbones, and band personnel provided added value by helping medical staff to carry wounded comrades from battlefields and by comforting dying soldiers as they drew their final breaths.

So, because the war was not yet won and the work of the 47th not yet done, the leaders of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry pulled together private funds to support their own Regimental Band, and named Anton (Anthony) Bush as the new Bandmaster. Accorrding to Schmidt, “[t]he order discharging the bands included no provision authorizing musicians for the companies, but two musicians might be enlisted for each company and paid and rated as privates, providing 20 men for the new unofficial band, supported by the regiment’s private funds in the form of subsidies to the musicians.”

Around this same time, a directive (Regimental Orders, No. 206) was issued by Colonel Good at Beaufort, South Carolina, detailing his plans for the 47th Pennsylvania’s field musicians–the fifers and drummer boys assigned to each individual company who were viewed as separate from the musicians assigned to the regimental band:

I. All the field musicians will for the time being be dropped from the morning reports of their companies.

II. They will be enrolled in a separate squad under the charge of the drum major. Commanders of companies will cause them to report to him immediately.

III. Pvt. H. V. Heckman, Company E, is hereby detailed on daily duty as a cook for the field musicians. Commanders of companies will furnish him with the number of rations due the musicians drawn in kind.

* Note: As that situation was unfolding with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, Daniel Dachrodt’s older brother, thirty-four-year-old Jacob Dachrodt, was being encouraged to re-enroll for military service. Commissioned as a lieutenant-colonel on 11 October 1862, he was then awarded a command position with the Field and Staff Officers’ corps of the 153rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. (Organized in Easton, Pennsylvania the previous month, his regiment would become part of the 1st Brigade, 1st Division of the 11th Corps of the U.S. Army of the Potomac, in short order, and would be involved in the defense of Wahington, D.C. from mid-October through December 1862, the infamous “MudMarch” of Union General Ambrose Burnside (January 1863); the Chancellorsville Campaign (27 April-6 May 1863), including the Battle of Chancellorsville; the Gettysburg Campaign (11 June-24 July 1863), including the Battle of Gettysburg and the subsequent pursuit of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army as it fled Pennsylvania after its defeat in that tide-turning battle.)

Return to Service

No longer content to sit on the sidelines while his brother was off at war, Daniel Dachrodt chose to re-enlist with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Re-mustered as a Musician and Drummer on 10 December 1862, he was placed on the roster of the regiment’s K Company (the “all-German company”), which was scheduled to be shipped to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, a remote area located roughly seventy miles off the coast of Florida.

* Note: Having been ordered back to Key West, Florida on 15 November 1862 (after six hundred members of the regiment had participated in the bloody Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina on 22 October), the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were slated to spend the entire year of 1863 as a divided regiment, with the men from Companies A, B, C, E, G, and I stationed at Fort Taylor in Key West, under the command of Colonel Tilghman Good, the men from Companies D, F, H, and K stationed at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel George Warren Alexander, and the Regimental Band stationed primarily at Fort Taylor, with expectations that its members would travel to Fort Jefferson periodically.

After packing their belongings at their Beaufort, South Carolina encampment, and loading their equipment onto the U.S. Steamer Cosmopolitan, the enlisted men and officers of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry sailed to the mouth of the Broad River on 15 December 1862, anchored briefly at Port Royal Harbor to allow wounded members of the regiment and the regiment’s medical director, Elisha W. Baily, M.D., to board, and then resumed their journey for Florida at 5 p.m. that same evening. After dropping off the members of the regiment who were assigned to garrison Fort Taylor in Key West on 18 December, Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander and the members of Companies D, F, H, and K then proceeded on to Fort Jefferson on 21 December.

1863

Although water quality was a challenge for members of the regiment at both of their duty stations in Florida throughout 1863, it was particularly problematic for the 47th Pennsylvanians who were stationed at Fort Jefferson. According to Schmidt:

‘Fresh’ water was provided by channeling the rains from the city’s barbette through channels in the interior walls, to filter trays filled with sand; and finally to the 114 cisterns located under the fort which held 1,231,000 gallons of water. The cisterns were accessible in each of the first level cells or rooms through a ‘trap hole’ in the floor covered by a temporary wooden cover…. Considerable dirt must have found its way into these access points and was responsible for some of the problems resulting in the water’s impurity…. The fort began to settle and the asphalt covering on the outer walls began to deteriorate and allow the sea water (polluted by debris in the moat) to penetrate the system…. Two steam condensers were available … and distilled 7000 gallons of tepid water per day for a separate system of reservoirs located in the northern section of the parade ground near the officers’ quarters. No provisions were made to use any of this water for the personal hygiene of the [planned 1,500-soldier garrison force]….

As a result, the soldiers stationed there washed themselves and their clothes by using saltwater from the ocean. As if that weren’t difficult enough, “toilet facilities were located outside of the fort,” according to Schmidt.

At least one location was near the wharf and sallyport, and another was reached through a door-sized hole in a gunport and a walk across the moat on planks at the northwest wall…. These toilets were flushed twice each day by the actions of the tides, a procedure that did not work very well and contributed to the spread of disease. It was intended that the tidal flush should move the wastes into the moat, and from there, by similar tidal action, into the sea. But since the moat surrounding the fort was used clandestinely by the troops to dispose of litter and other wastes … it was a continuous problem for Col. Alexander and his surgeon.

As for daily operations in the Dry Tortugas, there was a fort post office and the “interior parade grounds, with numerous trees and shrubs in evidence, contained officers’ quarters, [a] magazine, kitchens and out houses,” per Schmidt, as well as “a ‘hot shot oven’ which was completed in 1863 and used to heat shot before firing.”

Most quarters for the garrison … were established in wooden sheds and tents inside the parade [grounds] or inside the walls of the fort in second-tier gun rooms of ‘East’ front no. 2, and adjacent bastions  … with prisoners housed in isolated sections of the first and second tiers of the southeast, or no. 3 front, and bastions C and D, located in the general area of the sallyport. The bakery was located in the lower tier of the northwest bastion ‘F’, located near the central kitchen….

By June of 1863, two former members of the Easton Band, plus a full brass section from Allentown, had joined the 47th Pennsylvania’s second Regimental Band at Fort Taylor in Key West. In a letter to the Sunbury American on 23 August 1863, Musician Henry Wharton described Thanksgiving celebrations held by the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers in collaboration with the residents of Key West, as well as a yacht race the following Saturday at which participants had an “opportunity of tripping the ‘light, fantastic toe,’ to the fine music of the 47th Band, led by that excellent musician, Prof. Bush.”

Additional Duties: Diminishing Florida’s Role as the “Supplier of the Confederacy”

On top of the strategic role played by the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers in preventing foreign powers from assisting the Confederate Army and Navy in gaining control over federal forts in the Deep South, the regiment was also called upon to play an ongoing role in weakening Florida’s abilities to supply and transport food and troops throughout areas held by the Confederate States of America.

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

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

But they were undertaking all of these duties in conditions that were far more challenging than any they had previously faced (and that were far more challenging than what many other Union troops were facing up north). The weather was frequently hot and humid as spring turned to summer, mosquitos and other insects were an ever-present annoyance (and serious threat when they were carrying tropical diseases) and there were also scorpions and snakes that put the men’s health at further risk.

Despite all of these hardships, when members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry were offered the opportunity to re-enlist during the fall of 1863, more than half of the regiment’s personnel did so without hesitation.

Others received promotions during this time, including Musician Daniel Dachrodt, who was advanced in rank by Colonel Good to Principal Musician on 1 September 1863. He was then transferred to the regiment’s ranks of non-commissioned staff and placed on the rosters of the 47th Pennsylvania’s corps of Field and Staff Officers as a Principal Musician on 20 October.

His job responsibilities included serving as the Drum Major of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, a role that placed him in command of the regiment’s drum corps, which was composed of the drummers in each company who had been designated as field musicians, including: William Williamson (Company A), Adam Garrecht (Company B), Samuel Hunter Pyers (Company C), James Quinn (Company E), David Tombler (Company F), Allen McCabe (Company H), and Hyppolite Bankhardt (Company I). He trained them to master multiple drum cadences, which conveyed their respective company commanding officers’ directions to subordinates during dress parades and on the field of battle. According to Civil War historian Michael Aubrecht:

Each drummer was required to play variations of the 26 rudiments. The rudiment that meant attack was a long roll. The rudiment for assembly was a series of flams while the rudiments for drummers call were a mixture of flams and rolls. The rudiment for simple cadence was open beating with a flam repeat. Additional requirements included the double stroke roll, paradiddles, flamadiddles, flam accents, flamacues, ruffs, single and double drags, ratamacues, and sextuplets….

* Note: During that same eventful year of 1863, Daniel Dachrodt’s older brother, Lieutenant-Colonel Jacob Dachrodt, continued to serve with the 153rd Pennsylvania Volunteers until he was honorably mustered out on 24 July 1863.

1864

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

Red River Campaign

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

Upon the second group’s arrival, the now almost-fully-reunited regiment moved by train to Brashear City (now Morgan City, Louisiana) before heading to Franklin by steamer through the Bayou Teche. There, the 47th Pennsylvania 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 soldiers from Company A were assigned to detached duty while awaiting transport that enabled them to reconnect with their regiment at Alexandria, Louisiana on 9 April).

The early days on the ground quickly woke the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers up to just how grueling their new phase of duty would be. From 14-26 March, most members of the 47th marched for Alexandria and Natchitoches, near the top of the L-shaped state. Among the towns that the 47th Pennsylvanians passed through during their long marches were New Iberia, Vermilionville (now part of Lafayette), Opelousas, and Washington.

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

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

Rushed into battle ahead of other regiments in the second division, sixty members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry were cut down on 8 April 1864 during the intense volley of fire unleashed in the Battle of Sabine Cross Roads (also known as the Battle of Mansfield due to its proximity to the town of Mansfield). The fighting waned only when darkness fell. The exhausted, but uninjured collapsed beside the gravely wounded and dead. After midnight, the surviving Union troops withdrew to Pleasant Hill.

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

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

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

Still others were captured by Confederate troops, marched roughly one hundred and twenty-five miles to Camp Ford, a Confederate Army prison camp near Tyler, Texas, and held there as prisoners of war until they were released during prisoner exchanges that began on 22 July and continued through November. At least two members of the regiment never made it out of that prison camp alive; another died at a Confederate hospital in Shreveport.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On Sunday, May 15th, we left the river road and took a short route through the woods, saving considerable distance. The windings of the Red river are so numerous that it resembles the tape-worm railroad where with the politicians frightened the dear people during the administration of Ritner and Stevens. – We stopped several hours in the woods to leave cavalry pass, when we moved forward and by four o’clock emerged into a large open plain where we formed 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.

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

Early next morning we marched through Marksville into a prairie nine miles long and six wide where every preparation was made for a fight. The whole of our force was formed in line, in support of artillery in front, who commenced operations on the enemy driving him gradually from the prairie into the woods. As the enemy retreated before the heavy fire of our artillery, they reached Missoula [sic, Mansura], where they formed in column, taking the whole field in an attempt to flank the enemy, but their running qualities were so good that we were foiled. The maneuvring [sic, maneuvering] of the troops was handsomely done, and the movements was [sic, were] one of the finest things of the war. The fight of artillery was a steady one of five miles. The enemy merely stood that they might cover the retreat of their infantry and train under cover of their artillery. Our loss was slight. Of the rebels we could not ascertain 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 the army. I have it from the best source that the Federal loss from Franklin to Mansfield, and from their [sic, there] to this point does not exceed thirty-five hundred in killed, wounded and missing, while that of the rebels is over eight thousand.

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

The regiment then moved on and arrived in New Orleans in late June. On 4 July, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers received orders to return to the East Coast. Three days later, they began loading their men onto ships, a process that unfolded in two stages. Companies A, C, D, E, F, H, and I boarded the U.S. Steamer McClellan on 7 July and steamed away that day, while the members of Companies B, G and K remained behind, awaiting transport. They subsequently departed aboard the Blackstone, weighing anchor and sailing forth at the end of that month. Arriving in Virginia on 28 July, the second group reconnected with the first group at Monocacy, having missed out on the Battle of Cool Spring, the fight in which the first group had engaged at Snickers Gap, Virginia in mid-July.

Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign

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

The 47th Pennsylvania then engaged with Confederate forces in the Battle of Berryville, from 3-4 September.

Battles of Opequan and Fisher’s Hill

Together, with other regiments under the command of Union Major-General Philip Sheridan and Brigadier-General William Emory, commander of the 19th Corps (XIX Corps), the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers then helped to inflict heavy casualties on Lieutenant-General Jubal Early’s Confederate forces in the Battle of Opequan (also spelled as “Opequon” and known as “Third Winchester”).

The 47th Pennsylvania’s march toward destiny began at 2 a.m. on 19 September as the regiment left camp and joined up with other regiments in the Union’s 19th Corps. Advancing from Berryville toward Winchester, the 19th Corps bogged down for several hours as Union wagon trains made their way slowly across the terrain. As a result, Early’s Confederates were able to dig in and wait.

The fighting, which began in earnest at noon, was long and brutal. The Union’s left flank (6th Corps) took a beating from Confederate artillery that was positioned on higher ground.

Meanwhile, the 47th Pennsylvania and other 19th Corps regiments were directed by Brigadier-General Emory to attack and pursue Major-General John B. Gordon’s Confederate forces. Some success was achieved, but casualties mounted as a Confederate artillery group opened fire on Union troops that were trying to cross a clearing. When a nearly fatal gap began to open between the 6th and 19th Corps, Sheridan sent in units that were led by Brigadier-Generals Emory Upton and David A. Russell. Russell, hit twice (once in the chest), was mortally wounded.

The 47th Pennsylvania subsequently opened its lines long enough to enable the Union troops of William Woods Averell and the foot soldiers of Brigadier-General George Crook to charge the Confederates’ left flank. As the 19th Corps began pushing the Confederates back, with the 47th Pennsylvania involved in the thick of the fight, Early’s “grays” retreated.

Sheridan’s “blue jackets” ultimately went on to win the day.

Leaving 2,500 wounded behind, the Rebels retreated to Fisher’s Hill, eight miles south of Winchester, where a second engagement, the Battle of Fisher’s Hill, was waged from 21-22 September. Following a successful morning flanking attack by Sheridan’s Union forces, which outnumbered Early’s Confederates three to one, Early’s troops fled to Waynesboro, but were pursued by the 47th Pennsylvania and other Union regiments. Afterward, the 47th Pennsylvanians made camp at Cedar Creek.

They would continue to distinguish themselves in battle, but they would do so without their two most senior leaders, Colonel Tilghman H. Good and Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Alexander, who mustered out upon expiration of their respective terms of service, 23-24 September. Fortunately, they were replaced by leaders who were equally respected for their front-line experience and temperament, including Major John Peter Shindel Gobin, formerly of Company C, who had been promoted up through the regimental officers’ corps (and who would be promoted again on 4 November to lieutenant-colonel and appointed as the regiment’s final commanding officer).

Battle of Cedar Creek 

During the fall of 1864, Major-General Philip Sheridan began the first of the Union’s true “scorched earth” campaigns, starving the enemy into submission by destroying Virginia’s farming infrastructure. Viewed today through the lens of history as inhumane, the strategy claimed many innocent civilians, whose lives were uprooted or even cut short by the inability to find food or adequate shelter. This same strategy, however, almost certainly contributed to the further turning of the war in the Union’s favor during the Battle of Cedar Creek on 19 October 1864.

Successful throughout most of their engagement with Union forces at Creek, Virginia, Early’s Confederates began peeling off in ever-growing numbers to forage for food, thus enabling Sheridan’s well-fed, stronger army to rally and win the day.

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

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

In response, Union troops staged a decisive counterattack that punched Early’s forces into submission. Afterward, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were commended for their heroism by General Stephen Thomas, who, in 1892, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his own “distinguished conduct in a desperate hand-to-hand encounter, in which the advance of the enemy was checked” that day.

But the day proved to be a particularly costly one for the 47th Pennsylvania Infantry. The regiment lost the equivalent of nearly two full companies of men in killed, wounded and missing, as well as soldiers who were captured by rebel troops and dragged off to prisoner of war (POW) camps, including the Confederates’ Libby Prison in Virginia, the notorious Salisbury Prison in North Carolina and the hellhole known as “Andersonville” in Georgia. Subjected to harsh treatment at the latter two, many of the 47th Pennsylvanians confined there never made it out alive. Those who did either died soon after their release, or were never the same again.

Following those major battles, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were ordered to march to Camp Russell near Winchester, where they rested and began the long recovery process from their physical and mental wounds. Stationed there throughout most of the fall and early winter, they were subsequently ordered to pack up their weapons and ammunition, yet again, and ready themselves for yet another trek during difficult weather.

Five days before Christmas, they marched through a driving snowstorm until they finally reached Camp Fairview, on the outskirts of Charlestown, West Virginia.

1865 — 1866

New responsibilities arrived with the New Year of 1865 as K Company Captain Charles W. Abbott was commissioned as a lieutenant-colonel and promoted to the position of second-in-command of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Still stationed at Camp Fairview in West Virginia, members of the regiment were to guard key Union railroad lines in the vicinity of Charlestown, while other 47th Pennsylvanians chased down Confederate guerrillas who had made repeated attempts to disrupt railroad operations and kill soldiers from other Union regiments.

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

Joyous News and Then Tragedy

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

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

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

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

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

During this phase of duty, their regiment was headquartered at Camp Brightwood.

Attached to Dwight’s Division of the 2nd Brigade of the U.S. Department of Washington’s 22nd Corps, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers also participated in the Union’s Grand Review of the National Armies, which took place in Washington, D.C. on 23 May 1865.

Helping a Shattered Nation Rebuild

On their final tour of America’s Deep South, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were initially stationed in Savannah, Georgia. Assigned to provost (military) and other Reconstruction-related duties there in early June 1865, as part of Dwight’s Division, 3rd Brigade, Department of the South, they were subsequently ordered to Charleston, South Carolina, where they were assigned to similar duties from early July through the remainder of the year.

As the Christmas season approached, Drum Major Daniel Dachrodt was given an early gift — the promise of an honorable discharge before another New Year would dawn. He was officially mustered out in Charleston on 8 December 1865.

Return to Civilian Life

Following his honorable discharge from the military, Daniel L. Dachrodt returned home to Easton, where he began life anew.

On 12 November 1867, he wed Ellen Siegenthal (1849-1880; alternate spelling: Siegendall), a Pennsylvania native who was a daughter of George W. Siegenthal (1805-1870; alternate spelling: Siegendall), who was a native of Baden-Wurttemburg, and Catharine Siegenthal (1804-1866; alternate spelling: Siegendall).

In 1870, Daniel and Ellen Dachrodt resided in South Easton. Employed as a butcher that year, his personal property was valued by that year’s federal census enumerator at three hundred dollars (roughly seven thousand two hundred and fifty dollars in 2024 U.S. currency).

Together, Daniel and Ellen Dachrodt welcomed the births in Easton of two daughters: Elizabeth Julia Dachrodt (1873-1948), who was born on 26 October 1873 and was known to family and friends as “Lizzie”; and Emily Dachrodt, who was born on 22 August 1877 and later wed Harry Ray Snyder (1865-1946) in Easton on 27 December 1899.

Sadly, Daniel Dachrodt went on to experience a series of losses between the mid-1870s and the dawn of a new century. On 5 May 1875, his father, John A. Dachrodt, Sr., died and was buried at the Easton Cemetery.

Then, Daniel’s wife, Ellen (Siegenthal) Dachrodt, who had been diagnosed with consumption (tuberculosis), also passed away. She, too, was laid to rest at the Easton Cemetery.

Still employed in the meat industry, Daniel Dachrodt was documented by that year’s Easton city directory as working at the market at 609 Northampton. By 1890, he was living in Easton’s Sixth Ward. That year’s special veterans’ census noted that he was deaf in his right ear.

Two years later, his sister, Anna E. Dachrodt, died at the age of fifty on 16 April 1892. She was also buried at the Easton Cemetery.

He then re-married on 3 May 1892, taking as his second bride, Emily Tilton (1850-1938), a Pennsylvania native who was a daughter of Easton native Charles Tilton (1807-1891) and Charlotte (VanFossen) Tilton (1813-1895). Their wedding ceremony was held at Daniel’s home on South 4th Street in Easton.

The Dawn of a New Century

In June 1900, Daniel Dachrodt was documented by that year’s federal census enumerator as residing Easton’s First Ward with his second wife, Emily, and his daughter from his first marriage, Elizabeth. He was employed as a salesman for a meat market.

In 1903, Daniel Dachrodt’s mother, Julia Ann (Sweeney) Dachrodt, died at the age of ninety-five in Easton on 17 April. She was laid to rest beside her husband at the Easton Cemetery.

The year of 1909 proved to be another year of loss for Daniel Dachrodt. On 11 April, his brother, Charles Dachrodt, died in Easton and was buried at the Easton Cemetery. His brother, Jacob, then died in Easton on 4 June. Jacob, who had wed Isabelle Coleman (1830-1918) in 1851 and was the father of John Dachrodt (1852-1943), had been employed a butcher after the war and had also been elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1886. He, too, was interred at the Easton Cemetery.

Still employed as a salesman at a meat shop in 1910, Daniel Dachrodt was documented as residing at 156 South Fourth Street with his second wife, Emily, and his daughter from his first marriage, Elizabeth.

In 1922, Daniel Dachrodt’s sister, Louisa (Dachrodt) Schoen died in Upper Dublin Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania on 5 December, and was also buried at the Easton Cemetery. She and her husband, John Schoen, had become the parents of two children: Isabelle Schoen (1865-1891) and Charles F. Schoen (1871-1953).

Active throughout his post-war years with his local chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.), as well as with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers’ “alumni association,” an aging Daniel Dachrodt was photographed several times by Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper during the multiple annual reunions that were hosted by members of the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers over the years, including a regimental gathering that was held in Allentown in October 1930.

Around that same time, he was also photographed in front of the Soldiers’ Home in Easton with fellow American Civil War veterans as part of a group photo that was taken of members of the Grand Army of the Republic’s Lafayette Post.

In poor and declining health since 1932, Daniel Dachrodt’s second wife, Emily (Tilton) Dachrodt ultimately became so ill that she was confined to bed in September 1937. She then fell ill with broncho-pneumonia in January 1938, and was confined to the Allentown State Hospital in Allentown, Lehigh County, where she died from complications related to that disease on 15 February. She was also interred at the Easton Cemetery.

Roughly eighteen months later, Daniel Dachrodt was photographed by Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper in August 1939. Described as “Easton’s sole surviving veteran,” he was captured playing a drum during a concert by the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ Trumbull Post (No. 2652) for a crowd of six thousand attendees at the Easton High School football stadium.

As he aged, he gradually developed arteriosclerosis and myocarditis.

Death and Interment

When his final bugle call came, Daniel Dachrodt drew his last breath in Easton on 25 March 1941 at the age of ninety-six years, one month, and fourteen days. The indefatigable old soldier had become the last surviving member of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. His daughter, Emily (Dachrodt) Snyder served as the informant for his death certificate.

Following funeral services, he was laid to rest in the Dachrodt family plot at the Easton Cemetery on 28 March. According to his obituary in Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper:

Daniel Dachrodt, 96, Easton’s last surviving member of the Grand Army of the Republic, died at 5:15 a.m. Tuesday at his home, 156 S. 4th St., Easton. He had been in failing health for several years and was confined to his bed for the past four weeks.

Mr. Dachrodt was born in Easton, a son of the late John A. and Julia Swinnay Dachrodt. He resided in Easton all his life, with the exception of the four years and four months he served with the 47th Regiment. The regiment left Allentown on Aug. 14, 1861. It visited Washington, D.C. on Sept. 16 of that year, when Mr. Dachrodt played his drum before President Abraham Lincoln.

He was the last surviving charter member of Amana Lodge No. 77, Knights of Pythias. At the death of Commander Joseph Bruch on Aug. 9, 1939, he became the last surviving member of Lafayette Post No. 217, G.A.R. He was a member of St. John’s Lutheran church and belonged to the Sunday school of that church at the age of four years.

He was twice married, both wives preceding him in death. He is survived by two daughters by his first marriage, Elizabeth Dachrodt, at home, and Mrs. Emily Dachrodt Snyder, New York City. Nephews and nieces also survive.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday [28 March] at the Shillinger funeral home, 801 Lehigh St., Easton, in charge of the Rev. Dr. F. K. Fretz, pastor of St. John’s. Burial in Easton cemetery. S. S. Horn, past national commander of the Sons of Union Veterans, said it is hoped to have military services. The draft and the encampment of the National Guard, he said, have so depleted the ranks of the local camp that military services may not be possible. A conference of camp officers will be held today to determine what arrangements may be made.

When the time came, average Eastonians joined with city and state leaders to do the just and honorable thing by giving Daniel Dachrodt an inspiring, yet dignified send off. According to Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper:

Easton fire bells tolled Friday afternoon [28 March 1941] as the city paid tribute to Daniel Dachrodt, 96, drum major in the 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, and last survivor of the field and staff officers of the regiment. Mr. Dachrodt died Tuesday at his home, 156 S. 4th St., Easton.

Funeral services were held at the Shillinger funeral parlor, 801 Lehigh St., Easton. The body, dressed in a Grand Army uniform, lay in a casket draped with an American flag and surrounded with flowers. The Rev. Dr. F. K. Fretz, pastor of St. John’s Lutheran church, conducted the services.

Burial was in Easton cemetery. Active pallbearers were: Samuel S. Horn, William S. Stoneback and Harry Ballantyne, past commanders of Camp 233, Sons of Union Veterans; William D. Nicholas, past commander of Camp 43, United Spanish War Veterans; Clarence Demmer, past commander of Brown and Lynch Post No. 9, American Legion; Albert L. Miller, past commander of Lieut. E. C. Baker Post No. 1290, Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Honorary pallbearers included members of the Northampton county bench and bar; city and State officials, and citizens prominent in business and civic Easton.

The firing squad of Co. A, 2nd Regiment, Sons of Veterans Reserves, fired three volleys at the grave. Clarence Seip, bugler from the V. F. W., sounded taps.

What Happened to Daniel Dachrodt’s Daughters?

Elizabeth Julia Dachrodt died at the age of seventy-four in New York County, New York on 5 January 1948. Her remains were returned to Northampton County, Pennsylvania for burial at the Easton Cemetery.

Emily (Dachrodt) Snyder, who had wed H. Ray Snyder in December 1899, relocated with him to New York City sometime after the turn of the century. By 1940, she and her husband were living on 85th Street in the Borough of Manhattan, where her husband was employed as a salesman for a rope company. Widowed by him in 1946, when he passed away in Shandaken, Ulster County, New York on 13 June of that year, she was documented as living alone in New York County in 1950 by that year’s federal census enumerator.

Researchers for 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment’s Story have not yet determined how or where she spent her final years, but are continuing to search for more information, and will post any new data if and when it is uncovered.

 

Sources:

1. “94-year-old Veteran Turns Drummer Boy.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 28 August 1939.
2. Aubrecht, Michael. “A History of Civil War Drummer Boys (Part 1).” Fredericksburg, Virginia: Emerging Civil War, 27 July 2016.
3. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
4. “Civil War Military Bands Their Purpose and Composition.” Washington, D.C.: American Battlefield Trust, 28 September 2020.
5. Dachradt, Dachroat, Dachrodt, and Dackratt, Daniel, in Civil War Veterans’ Card File (Regimental Band and Company K, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
6. Dachrodt, Daniel, in Civil War Muster Rolls (Regimental Band and Company K, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania State Archives.
7. Dachrodt, Daniel, in Easton, South Easton, Phillipsburg, Bethlehem, and South Bethlehem Directory for 1884-5. Easton, Pennsylvania: J. H. Lant, 1884.
8. Dachrodt, Daniel, in U.S. Census (Special Schedule: Surviving Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, and Widows, etc., Easton, Sixth Ward, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1890). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
9. Dachrodt, Daniel, in U.S. Civil War Pension General Index Cards (application no.: 727605, certificate no.: 716346, filed from Pennsylvania by the veteran, 7 September 1889). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
10. Dachrodt, Daniel and Ellen, in U.S. Census (South Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1870). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
11. Dachrodt, Daniel, Emily and Elizabeth, in U.S. Census (City of Easton, First Ward, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1900 and 1910). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
12. Dachrodt, Jacob, Isabelle and John, in U.S. Census (Borough of Easton, West Ward, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1860). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
13. Dachrodt, Jacob and John A., in Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1866 (Company B, 1st Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
14. Dachrodt, Jacob, in Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1866 (Field and Staff, 153rd Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
15. Dachrodt, John, Julia, Jacob, Charles, Louisa, John Jr., Ann, Daniel, and Henry, in U.S. Census (Borough of Easton, Northampton County, 1850). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
16. Dachrodt, John, Julia, Louisa, John Jr., Anna, Daniel, and Henry; and Jean, John, in U.S. Census (Borough of Easton, West Ward, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1860). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
17. “Daniel Dachrodt Is Laid to Rest: Fire Bells Toll During Funeral of Easton’s Last Civil War Veteran.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 29 March 1941.
18. Daniel L. Dachrodt, in Death Certificates (file no.: 28414, registered no.: 184, date of death: 25 March 1941). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
19. Daniel L. Dachrodt and Ellen Siegenthal, in Marriage Records, 1867. Easton, Pennsylvania: St. John’s Lutheran Church.
20. Daniel L. Dachrodt and Emily Tilton, in Marriage Records, 1892. Easton, Pennsylvania: St. John’s Lutheran Church.
21. “Easton’s Last Veteran of Civil War Dies at 96.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 26 March 1941.
22. Ellen Dachrodt, in Death and Burial Records, 1880. Easton, Pennsylvania: St. John’s Lutheran Church.
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24. “G.A.R. and Civil War Veterans Gather at Annual Reunion” (photo with caption) and “Roster of the 47th P. V. Inf.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 26 October 1930.
25. H. Ray Snyder and Emily Dachrodt, in Marriage Licenses (Orphans’ Court of Northampton County, Pennsylvania, marriage license no.: 8123, issued: 1 January 1900). Northampton County, Pennsylvania: Orphans’ Court of Northampton County.
26. Manjerovic, Maureen and Michael J. Budds. “More Than a Drummer Boy’s War: A Historical View of Musicians in the American Civil War, in College Music Symposium: Exploring Diverse Perspectives. Missoula, Montana: College Music Society, 1 October 2002.
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28. Salazar, Neil. “Drumming Youths: The Practical and Symbolic Value of Drummer Boys to the Union Cause.” Charlottesville, Virginia: John L. Nau III Center for Civil War History, University of Virginia, 19 January 2023.
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